Erm...if you read it carefully, that is not backing for the "Rwanda Scheme" as it operates. The poll shows 55% support for asylum seekers being "removed to their home country or to a safe country, such as Rwanda". "Such as Rwanda" is doing a lot of work there
Well, a policy of removal is supported 55 to 22. I think we can assume given that Rwanda is specifically named that those polled are not opposed to the policy by the majority as given. There is a majority in favour of removal. Starmer today has not addressed that. As such, risky for him, but would want to see polling on 'flights versus Starmers plan' to see if it shifts the dial
99% of people won't have the first clue what Starmer's plan is. And it doesn't matter what it is - the average person doesn't follow that sort of detail.
In contrast, if a plane actually takes off to Rwanda on TV that is one of the few things that will cut through with the public.
Now my own view is it's still pretty unlikely a plane will take off to Rwanda pre General Election - because some Court somewhere will stop it or Civil Servants will all refuse to process people or whatever.
But at the same time, this does feel high risk for Starmer. Because if the unlikely event of a plane going were to happen that will cut through with the public. And if Starmer has said he will stop flights that would then be seriously damaging for him.
What are you talking about?
Starmer is going to use MI5 to stop them. *MI5*. And special super anti-terrorist powers.
Sir Harry Pearce KBE will no doubt watch things regularly whilst Tom Quinn mopes about Kent and the Pas de Calais looking intensely purposeful. A few extra Union Jacks will be flown about too for good measure.
It will turn the tide.
It's pathetic. 'Set the police on them' is his solution. Silly turd.
All over Europe the authorities are tearing up their plans and going all in on the Neeson/Starmer intervention.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Define an "innocent Palestinian"
Does that include Palestinians whose wish is for their children to become "martyrs"?
Because there are a fuck load of those there
And again, you avoid the question
Fuck off with your stupid fucking barcharts / number comparisons of deaths
Hamas are an evil fucking death cult
My definition of an innocent Palestinian is someone who has never hurt an Israeli, otherwise known as a non-combatant, what's yours?
People who cheer in the street when they see a dead, raped, bloodied, naked Israeli girl paraded in front of them definitely don't count, even if they've never personally harmed a Jew
Those people want all the Jews to be murdered, and deserve what's come to them
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
The owner of the AirBnB I’ve been in this week, which is a house by a lake surrounded by a few fields (which you could see at the bottom of the photo I posted this morning taken from up on the hill), has just dropped by to give me a bottle of sparking, by way of goodbye, since I move on tomorrow.
Since we’ve had a guy out in his tractor all day ploughing the fields around the house, I ask her what crop they’ll be planting, thinking it will be some edible vegetable, since the soil here looks very good. She said it will be flowers for the bees. After a bit of back and forth in my intermediate Italian, I establish that they don’t actually have any bees, but are doing it for the general good of those in the area that do. Isn’t that remarkable? That guy’s been working all day, and presumably will be out another day sowing seed, and there’s no financial payback at all (unless somehow the beekeepers are paying them to do this?).
Too modest, Ian. You can't have a conversation about the bio-economy as it pertains to bees in "intermediate" Italian.
“i fiori per le api”. You can work all of it out, apart from Api, and since they call the little lorries that farmers use, running off a motorcycle engine, ‘api’ because of the buzzing noise they make, that one’s easy to remember.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
You are in a foreign country. You have identified two young women as prostitutes because they are young women, and you are fantasizing about intrusively questioning them about their mothers and their skin decoration. Thank god for normal blokes like you and I wish there were more like you
Well that is interesting. You made the assumption about being prostitutes not me. The street are full of girls in these outfits for picture opportunities. They are not showgirls, although dressed like them. They are also not obviously prostitutes. It seemed you have the warped mind not me
There are lots of Israelis who want all the Palestinians to be dead - some of them in Bibi's war cabinet. I don't believe in thought-crime, you can think anything you like, as long as it stays in your head that's okay.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
I’ll help. These are runic inscriptions. Yes RUNES. But who wrote them and why?
If you’re into history it’s a fabulously surprising answer
Here’s another one. There are several. Nullifico googlissimi!
THat's much clearer - I did wonder about runes but thought it's some prat called Hurrell or Hurren.
They'll be Danes or Orcadians en route to the Holy Land, and doing a bit if sightseeing/allying/plundering en route. Wonder if it's the same lot as in the Orkneyinga Saga, which is partly about just such an adventure holiday? It's a long time since I read i t, so no idea if the places match up. But you won't let me google.
Close but no cigarillo
The answer surprised me completely. 7th century
No googling it ruins the fun
Ok here’s a big clue. The first one looks less obviously runic - as you noticed. That’s because it incorporates Roman lettering styles albeit it is in runes… oooooh
Too early for the Norse. Visigoths, then?
Very good guesses but no
Incredibly - to me - these five runic inscriptions are five Anglo Saxons from England in the 7th century. Leofwin, Herraed, Hereberehct, etc. I wasn’t aware Anglo Saxons ever used runes? Apparently they did: it is thought these five men were Anglo Saxon churchmen working - at least temporarily - in the shrine. Some had training in Latin as well, it is thought, hence the Romaniaed runes
The 7th century!!! England would still have been partly pagan back then. And these men would have called themselves… what? Jutes? Saxons? Kentish?
Anglo Saxon runes are available free at Ruthwell (I was there a fortnight ago) on the Scottish side of the Solway just beyond Annan. This astonishing cross has not only magnificent sculptures but also a variant text in Runic script of lines 39-64 of the Dream of the Rood, one of the greatest of the Anglo Saxon poems (I read English so long ago that we had to study it in the original).
Less noomy than its sister cross at Bewcastle, but both are unmissable.
Yes Anglo Saxons used runes.
I did medieval history A Level with an emphasis on England from 400-1066 so I don’t know why I forgot that Anglo Saxons used runes. I’ve always wanted to see those crosses!
But somehow I forgot. And yet today I was reminded in - of all places - a 1500 year old Christian shrine in southern Italy. I love travel
And now peace; perfect peace. And a glass of primitivo
Wine quiz, but I’m sure you already know the answer.
What popular grape variety was thought for decades to be unique to a small area of the New World but actually turns out to be Primitivo?
I know that Zinfandel is actually Primitivo, but aren’t aware that it was ever thought to be unique to the New World.
The vines that actually are unique to the New World - which are actually a different grape genus from the one that makes all European wines - make disgusting wine, under such names as Norton and Concord, and were turned to by the early settlers when they failed to get European grape varieties to grow. If you were desperate for wine, you might settle for them, but they usually taste most peculiar indeed.
Interestingly, Primitivo/Zinfandel produced tons of cheap red plonk for the gold rush diggers, but afterwards was mostly forgotten about in the US. It was by accident that during the 1970s a wine maker’s fermentation went wrong, but he thought he might be able to sell the light pale wine he ended up with, and so the ‘White Zinfandel’ craze swept across the US, mirroring the craze for Mateus Rose in Europe, filling the same spot of bringing non-wine drinkers to a drink that could, just about, be considered as wine. That rescued the grape from obscurity and in later decades other US winemakers set about making serious red wines from it, as they’ve always been doing in the part of Italy where Leon is.
I find most “serious” primitivos too dark and dense. It is highly fashionable now but it’s not really for me. It also doesn’t especially suit the Mezzogiorno climate. Unless you are up in the gargano hills (as I am)
I’m also fairly immune to the charms of Zinfandel, for that matter
Of the classics I like a strong fruity Aussie Shiraz, one of the new argie malbecs, or a great Rhone valley blend
There speaks a drinker who knocks back a bottle without food.
The Italians around you know that wine is to be enjoyed with a meal, and the Italian styles of wine are almost always too acidic to drink when not eating.
Yes, probably true. Also I drink much MORE than them, they are such lightweights
They certainly weigh less, on average. And live longer.
Jeez, my jokes about you’re “a lonely man with only a frightened dog for a friend” really sting, don’t they?
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
I thought you were in New York? In your answer to your own quiz?
I'm intrigued @Leon . I didn't answer it, unless I have been hacked.
Fair enough, maybe i was hallucinating during my ENORMOUS pilgrimage
Anyway i guessed Vegas so I guessed right so that means I guessed Vegas right and Zinfandel right and I WIN PB TODAY
Yep you guessed right, although it wasn't exactly mastermind stuff. Funnily enough the best part so far is seeing hummingbirds. Off to Death Valley tomorrow and the Grand Canyon later. I have booked the helicopter ride on your advice.
Although we often don't agree on the woke stuff the like of @megasaur could turn me. Honestly you can't even make a mildly inappropriate joke these days as far as some people are concerned.
I was going to guess Blackpool. Glad I didn't. I'd have looked right out of touch.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I’ve been given to understand by more tissue skinned PBers that my occasional barb has had a chilling effect on Scotch commentary on here. Certainly if there is one thing missing on PB it’s a surfeit of opinions on Scotland from those not governed by Scotland. I just want to make it clear that no one should feel restrained on making such comments just as I will feel free to describe them as I wish. Let free speech reign..
Did you never consider that your endlessly repeated McBarbarella of barbs, basically a short version of "what do you, a non Scot, know about Scotland, and how dare you pretend you do", might be a bit off-putting in the end?
There's only so much wittering by people whose knowledge of Scotland amounts to a few half remembered episodes of the Family-Ness a man can take before being compelled to make a caustic remark or three on an internet community forum.
Erm...if you read it carefully, that is not backing for the "Rwanda Scheme" as it operates. The poll shows 55% support for asylum seekers being "removed to their home country or to a safe country, such as Rwanda". "Such as Rwanda" is doing a lot of work there
Well, a policy of removal is supported 55 to 22. I think we can assume given that Rwanda is specifically named that those polled are not opposed to the policy by the majority as given. There is a majority in favour of removal. Starmer today has not addressed that. As such, risky for him, but would want to see polling on 'flights versus Starmers plan' to see if it shifts the dial
99% of people won't have the first clue what Starmer's plan is. And it doesn't matter what it is - the average person doesn't follow that sort of detail.
In contrast, if a plane actually takes off to Rwanda on TV that is one of the few things that will cut through with the public.
Now my own view is it's still pretty unlikely a plane will take off to Rwanda pre General Election - because some Court somewhere will stop it or Civil Servants will all refuse to process people or whatever.
But at the same time, this does feel high risk for Starmer. Because if the unlikely event of a plane going were to happen that will cut through with the public. And if Starmer has said he will stop flights that would then be seriously damaging for him.
What are you talking about?
Starmer is going to use MI5 to stop them. *MI5*. And special super anti-terrorist powers.
Sir Harry Pearce KBE will no doubt watch things regularly whilst Tom Quinn mopes about Kent and the Pas de Calais looking intensely purposeful. A few extra Union Jacks will be flown about too for good measure.
It will turn the tide.
Natalie will sort it out 👍
I'm a bit late to the Natalie Elphicke party, having been busy this week, but it does seem to me a definite but not fatal Starmer mistake. The Elphicke phenomenon in every respect represents exactly why a couple of million normally Tory voters have defected to Labour. Starmer should have said 'I am pleased she has left the Tories, but she has a long road to travel before she could be a Labour MP'.'
Warning: this is from a notoriously pro-Putin account
Caveat: despite that, it is sometimes accurate. If this is true then Ukraine is in trouble
“The Ukrainian command is in a panic. The Russians gathered a force of 50,000 soldiers for the first wave of the offensive. It is obvious that after the first wave of attacks, there will be new ones. In total, it is planned that up to two hundred thousand soldiers will be deployed in the direction of Kharkiv by the end of this year. Everything depends on the success and progress of the Russian soldiers.”
Everything is ready for the offensive operation in Kharkiv.”
Oh, I'm sure that's correct. Russia is massing its forces for an all attack, and to capture Kharkov.
The thing is, so far massed attacks - from both sides - have been horrendously costly for the attackers. Whenever Ukraine has tried to go on the offensive, even with modern Western tanks, they've failed. And when Russia has throw massive troops at an offensive, they've taken terrible casualties. Just like in the First World War, if you dig in, you're very difficult to overrrun.
If Russia breaks the mold this time, and successfully takes Kharkov, it's possible Ukraine folds. It's also possible that Russia will find themselves taking terrible casualties and having "shot their bolt". Where are the next 200,000 troops for Russia if this offensive only captures a few tens of miles of territory?
When the war was more dynamic in terms of territory gains and losses I used to look at the maps quite often. Back when Ukraine captured Izium, Kherson etc. Which was all well over a year ago now.
What is most notable looking now is how little has changed. Little bits of land exchanges here and there, but nothing big and nothing strategic. It's a costly stalemate at present.
I know others are more optimistic (or pessimistic), but I'm not convinced that's going to change in the foreseeable future. I certainly doubt this new Russian offensive will get anywhere near Kharkiv which is far away from from the battlefield at present.
Have just been on the receiving end of my first piece of anti-English hate. Competition with the shop across the road (vs our shop). Posted a comment onto her Facebook post onto the community page wondering if we should go and buy the stuff she sells. Which I then deleted, and sent her a polite email instead. Got a nice response back - lets have a coffee etc.
Anyway, I'm mowing the side lawn (big garden). Old man (but sizeably built) walks in asking about our shop. He then gets in my face telling me to fuck off and leave his granddaughter's shop alone. Er, we support it mate. We repost her posts on Facebook. We send customers over when she has stuff people are asking for.
Anyway, lots of English abuse shouted in my face, coming up here to rule over them, got called the ban hammer word. In my own garden. And then he walks off shouting more abuse. No real threats. He pulled a ski mask over his head though. But I know who you are, you just said. And then says "the van's fucked" having left it outside our gate where it'll get hit by a truck.
Didn't call the police. Want to de-escalate. Instead emailed his daughter(?) to progress the business chat. And mentioned it to her. Hoping that he will calm down and get that we are supporting her...
We Think find a YouGov style bounce and confirm the reform sink back trend
Labour up 3 points.
🔴 Lab 47% (+3) 🔵 Con 24% (NC) 🟠 LD 9% (+1) ⚪ Ref 10% (-3) 🟢 Green 6% (NC) 🟡 SNP 2% (NC)
Back in the day UKIP seemed to be something of a stepping stone for previously tribal Labour voters to vote Tory. Could something similar in reverse be happening with Reform?
That. Is actually. A very intriguing thought.
So people go Con > Ref > Lab ??
Yes. My thinking is that the first step is the hardest. It involves having to admit to making a mistake in the past.
But then. Having taken that step, subsequent steps become easier.
Most of us on here are more ideological than most voters. So we assume voters move in ideologically fixed routes towards more right-wing, or the centre, or left-wing, and that a route from the right of the Tories to the left of the Tories doesn't exist. But voters may not be quite so predictable.
I think you can even see this with Nathalie Elphicke. Her political views as an individual are a lot more complicated than simply being very right-wing. Here detection to Labour has prompted a lot of very simplistic comment, but I think it's a pretty interesting example of the way in which people's individual political views are more heterogenous than the simple labels we put on them are.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
I’ll help. These are runic inscriptions. Yes RUNES. But who wrote them and why?
If you’re into history it’s a fabulously surprising answer
Here’s another one. There are several. Nullifico googlissimi!
THat's much clearer - I did wonder about runes but thought it's some prat called Hurrell or Hurren.
They'll be Danes or Orcadians en route to the Holy Land, and doing a bit if sightseeing/allying/plundering en route. Wonder if it's the same lot as in the Orkneyinga Saga, which is partly about just such an adventure holiday? It's a long time since I read i t, so no idea if the places match up. But you won't let me google.
Close but no cigarillo
The answer surprised me completely. 7th century
No googling it ruins the fun
Ok here’s a big clue. The first one looks less obviously runic - as you noticed. That’s because it incorporates Roman lettering styles albeit it is in runes… oooooh
Too early for the Norse. Visigoths, then?
Very good guesses but no
Incredibly - to me - these five runic inscriptions are five Anglo Saxons from England in the 7th century. Leofwin, Herraed, Hereberehct, etc. I wasn’t aware Anglo Saxons ever used runes? Apparently they did: it is thought these five men were Anglo Saxon churchmen working - at least temporarily - in the shrine. Some had training in Latin as well, it is thought, hence the Romaniaed runes
The 7th century!!! England would still have been partly pagan back then. And these men would have called themselves… what? Jutes? Saxons? Kentish?
Anglo Saxon runes are available free at Ruthwell (I was there a fortnight ago) on the Scottish side of the Solway just beyond Annan. This astonishing cross has not only magnificent sculptures but also a variant text in Runic script of lines 39-64 of the Dream of the Rood, one of the greatest of the Anglo Saxon poems (I read English so long ago that we had to study it in the original).
Less noomy than its sister cross at Bewcastle, but both are unmissable.
Yes Anglo Saxons used runes.
I did medieval history A Level with an emphasis on England from 400-1066 so I don’t know why I forgot that Anglo Saxons used runes. I’ve always wanted to see those crosses!
But somehow I forgot. And yet today I was reminded in - of all places - a 1500 year old Christian shrine in southern Italy. I love travel
And now peace; perfect peace. And a glass of primitivo
Wine quiz, but I’m sure you already know the answer.
What popular grape variety was thought for decades to be unique to a small area of the New World but actually turns out to be Primitivo?
I know that Zinfandel is actually Primitivo, but aren’t aware that it was ever thought to be unique to the New World.
The vines that actually are unique to the New World - which are actually a different grape genus from the one that makes all European wines - make disgusting wine, under such names as Norton and Concord, and were turned to by the early settlers when they failed to get European grape varieties to grow. If you were desperate for wine, you might settle for them, but they usually taste most peculiar indeed.
Interestingly, Primitivo/Zinfandel produced tons of cheap red plonk for the gold rush diggers, but afterwards was mostly forgotten about in the US. It was by accident that during the 1970s a wine maker’s fermentation went wrong, but he thought he might be able to sell the light pale wine he ended up with, and so the ‘White Zinfandel’ craze swept across the US, mirroring the craze for Mateus Rose in Europe, filling the same spot of bringing non-wine drinkers to a drink that could, just about, be considered as wine. That rescued the grape from obscurity and in later decades other US winemakers set about making serious red wines from it, as they’ve always been doing in the part of Italy where Leon is.
I find most “serious” primitivos too dark and dense. It is highly fashionable now but it’s not really for me. It also doesn’t especially suit the Mezzogiorno climate. Unless you are up in the gargano hills (as I am)
I’m also fairly immune to the charms of Zinfandel, for that matter
Of the classics I like a strong fruity Aussie Shiraz, one of the new argie malbecs, or a great Rhone valley blend
There speaks a drinker who knocks back a bottle without food.
The Italians around you know that wine is to be enjoyed with a meal, and the Italian styles of wine are almost always too acidic to drink when not eating.
Yes, probably true. Also I drink much MORE than them, they are such lightweights
Primitivo is not a classic Italian grape though. It’s lower acidity, higher sugar and alcohol and not really a food wine.
The acidic Italian red variety and style Ian is thinking of is Sangiovese, as are a few others like Montepulciano and Barbera, but Nebbiolo and Lagrein are fairly low acid and don’t need to be drunk with food either. Nor does Nero d’Avola, which I love (and is similar to Saperavi).
Oh plus Cannonau from Sardinia - good with or without food.
Primitivo made well is medium to high acidity, and does normally demand a good meal to go with it.
Neither Nebbiolo nor Lagrein are low acid.
Cannonau is just the local name for Grenache, or Garnacha, probably the most widely planted red grape in the world that produces tons of Spanish and southern French plonk.
Grenache is not a plonk grape. And by no means the most planted red grape in the world, or for that matter in southern France of Spain.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
You are in a foreign country. You have identified two young women as prostitutes because they are young women, and you are fantasizing about intrusively questioning them about their mothers and their skin decoration. Thank god for normal blokes like you and I wish there were more like you
Well that is interesting. You made the assumption about being prostitutes not me. The street are full of girls in these outfits for picture opportunities. They are not showgirls, although dressed like them. They are also not obviously prostitutes. It seemed you have the warped mind not me
I was thinking just earlier, one big change in Italy since the pandemic is that you no longer see young women hanging about of an evening along main roads and junctions outside any town of size.
I’ll help. These are runic inscriptions. Yes RUNES. But who wrote them and why?
If you’re into history it’s a fabulously surprising answer
Here’s another one. There are several. Nullifico googlissimi!
THat's much clearer - I did wonder about runes but thought it's some prat called Hurrell or Hurren.
They'll be Danes or Orcadians en route to the Holy Land, and doing a bit if sightseeing/allying/plundering en route. Wonder if it's the same lot as in the Orkneyinga Saga, which is partly about just such an adventure holiday? It's a long time since I read i t, so no idea if the places match up. But you won't let me google.
Close but no cigarillo
The answer surprised me completely. 7th century
No googling it ruins the fun
Ok here’s a big clue. The first one looks less obviously runic - as you noticed. That’s because it incorporates Roman lettering styles albeit it is in runes… oooooh
Too early for the Norse. Visigoths, then?
Very good guesses but no
Incredibly - to me - these five runic inscriptions are five Anglo Saxons from England in the 7th century. Leofwin, Herraed, Hereberehct, etc. I wasn’t aware Anglo Saxons ever used runes? Apparently they did: it is thought these five men were Anglo Saxon churchmen working - at least temporarily - in the shrine. Some had training in Latin as well, it is thought, hence the Romaniaed runes
The 7th century!!! England would still have been partly pagan back then. And these men would have called themselves… what? Jutes? Saxons? Kentish?
Anglo Saxon runes are available free at Ruthwell (I was there a fortnight ago) on the Scottish side of the Solway just beyond Annan. This astonishing cross has not only magnificent sculptures but also a variant text in Runic script of lines 39-64 of the Dream of the Rood, one of the greatest of the Anglo Saxon poems (I read English so long ago that we had to study it in the original).
Less noomy than its sister cross at Bewcastle, but both are unmissable.
Yes Anglo Saxons used runes.
I did medieval history A Level with an emphasis on England from 400-1066 so I don’t know why I forgot that Anglo Saxons used runes. I’ve always wanted to see those crosses!
But somehow I forgot. And yet today I was reminded in - of all places - a 1500 year old Christian shrine in southern Italy. I love travel
And now peace; perfect peace. And a glass of primitivo
Wine quiz, but I’m sure you already know the answer.
What popular grape variety was thought for decades to be unique to a small area of the New World but actually turns out to be Primitivo?
I know that Zinfandel is actually Primitivo, but aren’t aware that it was ever thought to be unique to the New World.
The vines that actually are unique to the New World - which are actually a different grape genus from the one that makes all European wines - make disgusting wine, under such names as Norton and Concord, and were turned to by the early settlers when they failed to get European grape varieties to grow. If you were desperate for wine, you might settle for them, but they usually taste most peculiar indeed.
Interestingly, Primitivo/Zinfandel produced tons of cheap red plonk for the gold rush diggers, but afterwards was mostly forgotten about in the US. It was by accident that during the 1970s a wine maker’s fermentation went wrong, but he thought he might be able to sell the light pale wine he ended up with, and so the ‘White Zinfandel’ craze swept across the US, mirroring the craze for Mateus Rose in Europe, filling the same spot of bringing non-wine drinkers to a drink that could, just about, be considered as wine. That rescued the grape from obscurity and in later decades other US winemakers set about making serious red wines from it, as they’ve always been doing in the part of Italy where Leon is.
I find most “serious” primitivos too dark and dense. It is highly fashionable now but it’s not really for me. It also doesn’t especially suit the Mezzogiorno climate. Unless you are up in the gargano hills (as I am)
I’m also fairly immune to the charms of Zinfandel, for that matter
Of the classics I like a strong fruity Aussie Shiraz, one of the new argie malbecs, or a great Rhone valley blend
There speaks a drinker who knocks back a bottle without food.
The Italians around you know that wine is to be enjoyed with a meal, and the Italian styles of wine are almost always too acidic to drink when not eating.
Have just been on the receiving end of my first piece of anti-English hate. Competition with the shop across the road (vs our shop). Posted a comment onto her Facebook post onto the community page wondering if we should go and buy the stuff she sells. Which I then deleted, and sent her a polite email instead. Got a nice response back - lets have a coffee etc.
Anyway, I'm mowing the side lawn (big garden). Old man (but sizeably built) walks in asking about our shop. He then gets in my face telling me to fuck off and leave his granddaughter's shop alone. Er, we support it mate. We repost her posts on Facebook. We send customers over when she has stuff people are asking for.
Anyway, lots of English abuse shouted in my face, coming up here to rule over them, got called the ban hammer word. In my own garden. And then he walks off shouting more abuse. No real threats. He pulled a ski mask over his head though. But I know who you are, you just said. And then says "the van's fucked" having left it outside our gate where it'll get hit by a truck.
Didn't call the police. Want to de-escalate. Instead emailed his daughter(?) to progress the business chat. And mentioned it to her. Hoping that he will calm down and get that we are supporting her...
Crikey, Sympathies. That’s not nice
This is the virus that breeds in the cess splurged by the Nats, especially the cybernats
Would any Scot have been emboldened to say this hideous drivel before the SNP came to power riding a wave of absurd Anglophobia? I mean, it’s always been there, and always insane (the Scots benefited massively from the British Empire, our joint endeavour) but it was seldom voiced like this
I’ve encountered anti-English feeling in Scotland but never anything as crude and blatant as this - more like dark muttering about “Londoners” or some snide behaviour in pubs. Most Scots are, of course, as perfectly kind and polite as most English people
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
Have just been on the receiving end of my first piece of anti-English hate. Competition with the shop across the road (vs our shop). Posted a comment onto her Facebook post onto the community page wondering if we should go and buy the stuff she sells. Which I then deleted, and sent her a polite email instead. Got a nice response back - lets have a coffee etc.
Anyway, I'm mowing the side lawn (big garden). Old man (but sizeably built) walks in asking about our shop. He then gets in my face telling me to fuck off and leave his granddaughter's shop alone. Er, we support it mate. We repost her posts on Facebook. We send customers over when she has stuff people are asking for.
Anyway, lots of English abuse shouted in my face, coming up here to rule over them, got called the ban hammer word. In my own garden. And then he walks off shouting more abuse. No real threats. He pulled a ski mask over his head though. But I know who you are, you just said. And then says "the van's fucked" having left it outside our gate where it'll get hit by a truck.
Didn't call the police. Want to de-escalate. Instead emailed his daughter(?) to progress the business chat. And mentioned it to her. Hoping that he will calm down and get that we are supporting her...
What a dickhead, unfortunately there are always some of them everywhere. Very restrained not taking him by the breek arse and ejecting him.
I’ll help. These are runic inscriptions. Yes RUNES. But who wrote them and why?
If you’re into history it’s a fabulously surprising answer
Here’s another one. There are several. Nullifico googlissimi!
THat's much clearer - I did wonder about runes but thought it's some prat called Hurrell or Hurren.
They'll be Danes or Orcadians en route to the Holy Land, and doing a bit if sightseeing/allying/plundering en route. Wonder if it's the same lot as in the Orkneyinga Saga, which is partly about just such an adventure holiday? It's a long time since I read i t, so no idea if the places match up. But you won't let me google.
Close but no cigarillo
The answer surprised me completely. 7th century
No googling it ruins the fun
Ok here’s a big clue. The first one looks less obviously runic - as you noticed. That’s because it incorporates Roman lettering styles albeit it is in runes… oooooh
Too early for the Norse. Visigoths, then?
Very good guesses but no
Incredibly - to me - these five runic inscriptions are five Anglo Saxons from England in the 7th century. Leofwin, Herraed, Hereberehct, etc. I wasn’t aware Anglo Saxons ever used runes? Apparently they did: it is thought these five men were Anglo Saxon churchmen working - at least temporarily - in the shrine. Some had training in Latin as well, it is thought, hence the Romaniaed runes
The 7th century!!! England would still have been partly pagan back then. And these men would have called themselves… what? Jutes? Saxons? Kentish?
Anglo Saxon runes are available free at Ruthwell (I was there a fortnight ago) on the Scottish side of the Solway just beyond Annan. This astonishing cross has not only magnificent sculptures but also a variant text in Runic script of lines 39-64 of the Dream of the Rood, one of the greatest of the Anglo Saxon poems (I read English so long ago that we had to study it in the original).
Less noomy than its sister cross at Bewcastle, but both are unmissable.
Yes Anglo Saxons used runes.
I did medieval history A Level with an emphasis on England from 400-1066 so I don’t know why I forgot that Anglo Saxons used runes. I’ve always wanted to see those crosses!
But somehow I forgot. And yet today I was reminded in - of all places - a 1500 year old Christian shrine in southern Italy. I love travel
And now peace; perfect peace. And a glass of primitivo
Wine quiz, but I’m sure you already know the answer.
What popular grape variety was thought for decades to be unique to a small area of the New World but actually turns out to be Primitivo?
I know that Zinfandel is actually Primitivo, but aren’t aware that it was ever thought to be unique to the New World.
The vines that actually are unique to the New World - which are actually a different grape genus from the one that makes all European wines - make disgusting wine, under such names as Norton and Concord, and were turned to by the early settlers when they failed to get European grape varieties to grow. If you were desperate for wine, you might settle for them, but they usually taste most peculiar indeed.
Interestingly, Primitivo/Zinfandel produced tons of cheap red plonk for the gold rush diggers, but afterwards was mostly forgotten about in the US. It was by accident that during the 1970s a wine maker’s fermentation went wrong, but he thought he might be able to sell the light pale wine he ended up with, and so the ‘White Zinfandel’ craze swept across the US, mirroring the craze for Mateus Rose in Europe, filling the same spot of bringing non-wine drinkers to a drink that could, just about, be considered as wine. That rescued the grape from obscurity and in later decades other US winemakers set about making serious red wines from it, as they’ve always been doing in the part of Italy where Leon is.
I find most “serious” primitivos too dark and dense. It is highly fashionable now but it’s not really for me. It also doesn’t especially suit the Mezzogiorno climate. Unless you are up in the gargano hills (as I am)
I’m also fairly immune to the charms of Zinfandel, for that matter
Of the classics I like a strong fruity Aussie Shiraz, one of the new argie malbecs, or a great Rhone valley blend
There speaks a drinker who knocks back a bottle without food.
The Italians around you know that wine is to be enjoyed with a meal, and the Italian styles of wine are almost always too acidic to drink when not eating.
A bottle is only for apperitifs.
There’s only one p in aperitifs. Just saying.
Depends how unpopular you are with the waiting staff.
I’ll help. These are runic inscriptions. Yes RUNES. But who wrote them and why?
If you’re into history it’s a fabulously surprising answer
Here’s another one. There are several. Nullifico googlissimi!
THat's much clearer - I did wonder about runes but thought it's some prat called Hurrell or Hurren.
They'll be Danes or Orcadians en route to the Holy Land, and doing a bit if sightseeing/allying/plundering en route. Wonder if it's the same lot as in the Orkneyinga Saga, which is partly about just such an adventure holiday? It's a long time since I read i t, so no idea if the places match up. But you won't let me google.
Close but no cigarillo
The answer surprised me completely. 7th century
No googling it ruins the fun
Ok here’s a big clue. The first one looks less obviously runic - as you noticed. That’s because it incorporates Roman lettering styles albeit it is in runes… oooooh
Too early for the Norse. Visigoths, then?
Very good guesses but no
Incredibly - to me - these five runic inscriptions are five Anglo Saxons from England in the 7th century. Leofwin, Herraed, Hereberehct, etc. I wasn’t aware Anglo Saxons ever used runes? Apparently they did: it is thought these five men were Anglo Saxon churchmen working - at least temporarily - in the shrine. Some had training in Latin as well, it is thought, hence the Romaniaed runes
The 7th century!!! England would still have been partly pagan back then. And these men would have called themselves… what? Jutes? Saxons? Kentish?
Anglo Saxon runes are available free at Ruthwell (I was there a fortnight ago) on the Scottish side of the Solway just beyond Annan. This astonishing cross has not only magnificent sculptures but also a variant text in Runic script of lines 39-64 of the Dream of the Rood, one of the greatest of the Anglo Saxon poems (I read English so long ago that we had to study it in the original).
Less noomy than its sister cross at Bewcastle, but both are unmissable.
Yes Anglo Saxons used runes.
I did medieval history A Level with an emphasis on England from 400-1066 so I don’t know why I forgot that Anglo Saxons used runes. I’ve always wanted to see those crosses!
But somehow I forgot. And yet today I was reminded in - of all places - a 1500 year old Christian shrine in southern Italy. I love travel
And now peace; perfect peace. And a glass of primitivo
Wine quiz, but I’m sure you already know the answer.
What popular grape variety was thought for decades to be unique to a small area of the New World but actually turns out to be Primitivo?
I know that Zinfandel is actually Primitivo, but aren’t aware that it was ever thought to be unique to the New World.
The vines that actually are unique to the New World - which are actually a different grape genus from the one that makes all European wines - make disgusting wine, under such names as Norton and Concord, and were turned to by the early settlers when they failed to get European grape varieties to grow. If you were desperate for wine, you might settle for them, but they usually taste most peculiar indeed.
Interestingly, Primitivo/Zinfandel produced tons of cheap red plonk for the gold rush diggers, but afterwards was mostly forgotten about in the US. It was by accident that during the 1970s a wine maker’s fermentation went wrong, but he thought he might be able to sell the light pale wine he ended up with, and so the ‘White Zinfandel’ craze swept across the US, mirroring the craze for Mateus Rose in Europe, filling the same spot of bringing non-wine drinkers to a drink that could, just about, be considered as wine. That rescued the grape from obscurity and in later decades other US winemakers set about making serious red wines from it, as they’ve always been doing in the part of Italy where Leon is.
I find most “serious” primitivos too dark and dense. It is highly fashionable now but it’s not really for me. It also doesn’t especially suit the Mezzogiorno climate. Unless you are up in the gargano hills (as I am)
I’m also fairly immune to the charms of Zinfandel, for that matter
Of the classics I like a strong fruity Aussie Shiraz, one of the new argie malbecs, or a great Rhone valley blend
There speaks a drinker who knocks back a bottle without food.
The Italians around you know that wine is to be enjoyed with a meal, and the Italian styles of wine are almost always too acidic to drink when not eating.
Yes, probably true. Also I drink much MORE than them, they are such lightweights
Primitivo is not a classic Italian grape though. It’s lower acidity, higher sugar and alcohol and not really a food wine.
The acidic Italian red variety and style Ian is thinking of is Sangiovese, as are a few others like Montepulciano and Barbera, but Nebbiolo and Lagrein are fairly low acid and don’t need to be drunk with food either. Nor does Nero d’Avola, which I love (and is similar to Saperavi).
Oh plus Cannonau from Sardinia - good with or without food.
Primitivo made well is medium to high acidity, and does normally demand a good meal to go with it.
Neither Nebbiolo nor Lagrein are low acid.
Cannonau is just the local name for Grenache, or Garnacha, probably the most widely planted red grape in the world that produces tons of Spanish and southern French plonk.
Grenache is not a plonk grape. And by no means the most planted red grape in the world, or for that matter in southern France of Spain.
Traditionally it made a lot of plonk, which isn’t to say that it can’t also be made well. And historically it was very widely planted; I’m sure it’s dropped down the table somewhat as wine tastes have evolved.
I’ll help. These are runic inscriptions. Yes RUNES. But who wrote them and why?
If you’re into history it’s a fabulously surprising answer
Here’s another one. There are several. Nullifico googlissimi!
THat's much clearer - I did wonder about runes but thought it's some prat called Hurrell or Hurren.
They'll be Danes or Orcadians en route to the Holy Land, and doing a bit if sightseeing/allying/plundering en route. Wonder if it's the same lot as in the Orkneyinga Saga, which is partly about just such an adventure holiday? It's a long time since I read i t, so no idea if the places match up. But you won't let me google.
Close but no cigarillo
The answer surprised me completely. 7th century
No googling it ruins the fun
Ok here’s a big clue. The first one looks less obviously runic - as you noticed. That’s because it incorporates Roman lettering styles albeit it is in runes… oooooh
Too early for the Norse. Visigoths, then?
Very good guesses but no
Incredibly - to me - these five runic inscriptions are five Anglo Saxons from England in the 7th century. Leofwin, Herraed, Hereberehct, etc. I wasn’t aware Anglo Saxons ever used runes? Apparently they did: it is thought these five men were Anglo Saxon churchmen working - at least temporarily - in the shrine. Some had training in Latin as well, it is thought, hence the Romaniaed runes
The 7th century!!! England would still have been partly pagan back then. And these men would have called themselves… what? Jutes? Saxons? Kentish?
Anglo Saxon runes are available free at Ruthwell (I was there a fortnight ago) on the Scottish side of the Solway just beyond Annan. This astonishing cross has not only magnificent sculptures but also a variant text in Runic script of lines 39-64 of the Dream of the Rood, one of the greatest of the Anglo Saxon poems (I read English so long ago that we had to study it in the original).
Less noomy than its sister cross at Bewcastle, but both are unmissable.
Yes Anglo Saxons used runes.
I did medieval history A Level with an emphasis on England from 400-1066 so I don’t know why I forgot that Anglo Saxons used runes. I’ve always wanted to see those crosses!
But somehow I forgot. And yet today I was reminded in - of all places - a 1500 year old Christian shrine in southern Italy. I love travel
And now peace; perfect peace. And a glass of primitivo
Wine quiz, but I’m sure you already know the answer.
What popular grape variety was thought for decades to be unique to a small area of the New World but actually turns out to be Primitivo?
I know that Zinfandel is actually Primitivo, but aren’t aware that it was ever thought to be unique to the New World.
The vines that actually are unique to the New World - which are actually a different grape genus from the one that makes all European wines - make disgusting wine, under such names as Norton and Concord, and were turned to by the early settlers when they failed to get European grape varieties to grow. If you were desperate for wine, you might settle for them, but they usually taste most peculiar indeed.
Interestingly, Primitivo/Zinfandel produced tons of cheap red plonk for the gold rush diggers, but afterwards was mostly forgotten about in the US. It was by accident that during the 1970s a wine maker’s fermentation went wrong, but he thought he might be able to sell the light pale wine he ended up with, and so the ‘White Zinfandel’ craze swept across the US, mirroring the craze for Mateus Rose in Europe, filling the same spot of bringing non-wine drinkers to a drink that could, just about, be considered as wine. That rescued the grape from obscurity and in later decades other US winemakers set about making serious red wines from it, as they’ve always been doing in the part of Italy where Leon is.
I find most “serious” primitivos too dark and dense. It is highly fashionable now but it’s not really for me. It also doesn’t especially suit the Mezzogiorno climate. Unless you are up in the gargano hills (as I am)
I’m also fairly immune to the charms of Zinfandel, for that matter
Of the classics I like a strong fruity Aussie Shiraz, one of the new argie malbecs, or a great Rhone valley blend
There speaks a drinker who knocks back a bottle without food.
The Italians around you know that wine is to be enjoyed with a meal, and the Italian styles of wine are almost always too acidic to drink when not eating.
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
Have just been on the receiving end of my first piece of anti-English hate. Competition with the shop across the road (vs our shop). Posted a comment onto her Facebook post onto the community page wondering if we should go and buy the stuff she sells. Which I then deleted, and sent her a polite email instead. Got a nice response back - lets have a coffee etc.
Anyway, I'm mowing the side lawn (big garden). Old man (but sizeably built) walks in asking about our shop. He then gets in my face telling me to fuck off and leave his granddaughter's shop alone. Er, we support it mate. We repost her posts on Facebook. We send customers over when she has stuff people are asking for.
Anyway, lots of English abuse shouted in my face, coming up here to rule over them, got called the ban hammer word. In my own garden. And then he walks off shouting more abuse. No real threats. He pulled a ski mask over his head though. But I know who you are, you just said. And then says "the van's fucked" having left it outside our gate where it'll get hit by a truck.
Didn't call the police. Want to de-escalate. Instead emailed his daughter(?) to progress the business chat. And mentioned it to her. Hoping that he will calm down and get that we are supporting her...
Crikey, Sympathies. That’s not nice
This is the virus that breeds in the cess splurged by the Nats, especially the cybernats
Would any Scot have been emboldened to say this hideous drivel before the SNP came to power riding a wave of absurd Anglophobia? I mean, it’s always been there, and always insane (the Scots benefited massively from the British Empire, our joint endeavour) but it was seldom voiced like this
I’ve encountered anti-English feeling in Scotland but never anything as crude and blatant as this - more like dark muttering about “Londoners” or some snide behaviour in pubs. Most Scots are, of course, as perfectly kind and polite as most English people
Yes, I've seen this kind of thing before the SNP came to power, and before the Scottish Parliament was even reconvened. It's not new.
Exactly , Leon is obviously totally pissed as usual and talking shit. There are dickheads like that north and south of the border.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
OK, a GE post. The Indy Akhmed Yakoob who got 12% in the West Mids Mayoral vote is standing at the GE in Brum Ladywood (backed by GG/WPB) vs Shabhana Mahmood Vote shares last week in Ladywood ⚪️ IND 40% (+40) 🔴 LAB 28% (-51) 🔵 CON 23% (+12)
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
You are in a foreign country. You have identified two young women as prostitutes because they are young women, and you are fantasizing about intrusively questioning them about their mothers and their skin decoration. Thank god for normal blokes like you and I wish there were more like you
Well that is interesting. You made the assumption about being prostitutes not me. The street are full of girls in these outfits for picture opportunities. They are not showgirls, although dressed like them. They are also not obviously prostitutes. It seemed you have the warped mind not me
I was thinking just earlier, one big change in Italy since the pandemic is that you no longer see young women hanging about of an evening along main roads and junctions outside any town of size.
Must be disappointing for you having driven all that far, and this is your seventh night of looking. Still, there’s always the dog. Again
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Do you know anything at all about the history of Palestinian refugees in the Arab states? Hint - someone took their land off them in the 1940s and took more of their land in almost every decade since, but they didn't just vanish.
NEW: Bombshell poll out tonight suggests SNP could lose 30 MPs and slump to 13 seats at the General Election - while Scottish Labour could gain 31 MPs and rise to 33. Comes as new First Minister John Swinney claims independence could be delivered in 5 yrs
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
I’ve been given to understand by more tissue skinned PBers that my occasional barb has had a chilling effect on Scotch commentary on here. Certainly if there is one thing missing on PB it’s a surfeit of opinions on Scotland from those not governed by Scotland. I just want to make it clear that no one should feel restrained on making such comments just as I will feel free to describe them as I wish. Let free speech reign..
Did you never consider that your endlessly repeated McBarbarella of barbs, basically a short version of "what do you, a non Scot, know about Scotland, and how dare you pretend you do", might be a bit off-putting in the end?
There's only so much wittering by people whose knowledge of Scotland amounts to a few half remembered episodes of the Family-Ness a man can take before being compelled to make a caustic remark or three on an internet community forum.
Perhaps I should coin a phrase for all the ignorant comments about London and Northern Ireland….
Have just been on the receiving end of my first piece of anti-English hate. Competition with the shop across the road (vs our shop). Posted a comment onto her Facebook post onto the community page wondering if we should go and buy the stuff she sells. Which I then deleted, and sent her a polite email instead. Got a nice response back - lets have a coffee etc.
Anyway, I'm mowing the side lawn (big garden). Old man (but sizeably built) walks in asking about our shop. He then gets in my face telling me to fuck off and leave his granddaughter's shop alone. Er, we support it mate. We repost her posts on Facebook. We send customers over when she has stuff people are asking for.
Anyway, lots of English abuse shouted in my face, coming up here to rule over them, got called the ban hammer word. In my own garden. And then he walks off shouting more abuse. No real threats. He pulled a ski mask over his head though. But I know who you are, you just said. And then says "the van's fucked" having left it outside our gate where it'll get hit by a truck.
Didn't call the police. Want to de-escalate. Instead emailed his daughter(?) to progress the business chat. And mentioned it to her. Hoping that he will calm down and get that we are supporting her...
While you are doing that, get a lawyer, register your complaint with them, get one of those body camera, and next time he comes around tape him. If he doesn't de-escalate, you're going to have to go on the front foot, so report him to the cops if he comes around again and staple the original complaint to your second one. I'm assuming you haven't got relatives who can get heavy back?
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.
Which is to say, the first and most important question is why there are refugees in the first place. If you want to point the finger at the Saudis for not taking refugees, be my guest. But you might be missing the bigger picture: what are they fleeing?
Why was the palestinian response to rebuilding gaza as a port in 2005....a route to finally get gaza off its knees to elect hamas a group that thinks the only good jew is a dead one. The palestinians made there own bed let them die in it
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
I shall enjoy reading the Standard's ruthless deconstruction of Hall's failed campaign at my leisure tomorrow but I suspect it doesn't tell us anything we didn't know or suspect. London will have 75 rather than 73 parliamentary seats at the next election (the new seats are Stratford & Bow and Streatham & Croydon North) and with extensive boundary changes it's not going to be easy to call the capital in terms of Conservative losses.
Tonights' three polls all show Labour 20 or more points ahead with both the gold standard (according to some) Survation and Techne showing their biggest Labour leads of the year so far.
Monday's Redfield & Wilton will be interesting in respect of Reform who were 15% in this week's poll but have eased back among most other pollsters though only within margin of error and if Reform are down who are the beneficiaries and what proportion of the 2019 Conservative vote previously saying they would switch to reform would do so now.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
I thought you were in New York? In your answer to your own quiz?
I'm intrigued @Leon . I didn't answer it, unless I have been hacked.
Fair enough, maybe i was hallucinating during my ENORMOUS pilgrimage
Anyway i guessed Vegas so I guessed right so that means I guessed Vegas right and Zinfandel right and I WIN PB TODAY
Yep you guessed right, although it wasn't exactly mastermind stuff. Funnily enough the best part so far is seeing hummingbirds. Off to Death Valley tomorrow and the Grand Canyon later. I have booked the helicopter ride on your advice.
Although we often don't agree on the woke stuff the like of @megasaur could turn me. Honestly you can't even make a mildly inappropriate joke these days as far as some people are concerned.
I was going to guess Blackpool. Glad I didn't. I'd have looked right out of touch.
OK, a GE post. The Indy Akhmed Yakoob who got 12% in the West Mids Mayoral vote is standing at the GE in Brum Ladywood (backed by GG/WPB) vs Shabhana Mahmood Vote shares last week in Ladywood ⚪️ IND 40% (+40) 🔴 LAB 28% (-51) 🔵 CON 23% (+12)
Worth watching.
Jess P may also come under pressure imo
Shabana Mahmood got 79.2% of the Ladywood vote at the 2019 GE. I think she'll be okay.
I'm enjoying your excellent efforts to find reasons why Labour will under-perform. Starmer's complete failure to stop the boats thus far is obviously up there.
I’ll help. These are runic inscriptions. Yes RUNES. But who wrote them and why?
If you’re into history it’s a fabulously surprising answer
Here’s another one. There are several. Nullifico googlissimi!
THat's much clearer - I did wonder about runes but thought it's some prat called Hurrell or Hurren.
They'll be Danes or Orcadians en route to the Holy Land, and doing a bit if sightseeing/allying/plundering en route. Wonder if it's the same lot as in the Orkneyinga Saga, which is partly about just such an adventure holiday? It's a long time since I read i t, so no idea if the places match up. But you won't let me google.
Close but no cigarillo
The answer surprised me completely. 7th century
No googling it ruins the fun
Ok here’s a big clue. The first one looks less obviously runic - as you noticed. That’s because it incorporates Roman lettering styles albeit it is in runes… oooooh
Too early for the Norse. Visigoths, then?
Very good guesses but no
Incredibly - to me - these five runic inscriptions are five Anglo Saxons from England in the 7th century. Leofwin, Herraed, Hereberehct, etc. I wasn’t aware Anglo Saxons ever used runes? Apparently they did: it is thought these five men were Anglo Saxon churchmen working - at least temporarily - in the shrine. Some had training in Latin as well, it is thought, hence the Romaniaed runes
The 7th century!!! England would still have been partly pagan back then. And these men would have called themselves… what? Jutes? Saxons? Kentish?
Anglo Saxon runes are available free at Ruthwell (I was there a fortnight ago) on the Scottish side of the Solway just beyond Annan. This astonishing cross has not only magnificent sculptures but also a variant text in Runic script of lines 39-64 of the Dream of the Rood, one of the greatest of the Anglo Saxon poems (I read English so long ago that we had to study it in the original).
Less noomy than its sister cross at Bewcastle, but both are unmissable.
Yes Anglo Saxons used runes.
I did medieval history A Level with an emphasis on England from 400-1066 so I don’t know why I forgot that Anglo Saxons used runes. I’ve always wanted to see those crosses!
But somehow I forgot. And yet today I was reminded in - of all places - a 1500 year old Christian shrine in southern Italy. I love travel
And now peace; perfect peace. And a glass of primitivo
Wine quiz, but I’m sure you already know the answer.
What popular grape variety was thought for decades to be unique to a small area of the New World but actually turns out to be Primitivo?
I know that Zinfandel is actually Primitivo, but aren’t aware that it was ever thought to be unique to the New World.
The vines that actually are unique to the New World - which are actually a different grape genus from the one that makes all European wines - make disgusting wine, under such names as Norton and Concord, and were turned to by the early settlers when they failed to get European grape varieties to grow. If you were desperate for wine, you might settle for them, but they usually taste most peculiar indeed.
Interestingly, Primitivo/Zinfandel produced tons of cheap red plonk for the gold rush diggers, but afterwards was mostly forgotten about in the US. It was by accident that during the 1970s a wine maker’s fermentation went wrong, but he thought he might be able to sell the light pale wine he ended up with, and so the ‘White Zinfandel’ craze swept across the US, mirroring the craze for Mateus Rose in Europe, filling the same spot of bringing non-wine drinkers to a drink that could, just about, be considered as wine. That rescued the grape from obscurity and in later decades other US winemakers set about making serious red wines from it, as they’ve always been doing in the part of Italy where Leon is.
I find most “serious” primitivos too dark and dense. It is highly fashionable now but it’s not really for me. It also doesn’t especially suit the Mezzogiorno climate. Unless you are up in the gargano hills (as I am)
I’m also fairly immune to the charms of Zinfandel, for that matter
Of the classics I like a strong fruity Aussie Shiraz, one of the new argie malbecs, or a great Rhone valley blend
There speaks a drinker who knocks back a bottle without food.
The Italians around you know that wine is to be enjoyed with a meal, and the Italian styles of wine are almost always too acidic to drink when not eating.
A bottle is only for apperitifs.
There’s only one p in aperitifs. Just saying.
sausage fingers OKC , can you forgive me!
There are plenty of Italian wines that aren’t very acidic.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.
Which is to say, the first and most important question is why there are refugees in the first place. If you want to point the finger at the Saudis for not taking refugees, be my guest. But you might be missing the bigger picture: what are they fleeing?
Why was the Palestinian response to rebuilding gaza as a port in 2005....a route to finally get Gaza off its knees to elect Hamas a group that thinks the only good Jew is a dead one. The Palestinians made there own bed let them die in it
So the only good Palestinian is a dead one?
Given half the Gaza population is under 18, how many Palestinians alive today voted Hamas in 2006?
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
These selective histories don't really do any good. The way you put it, you make it seem like the main interaction with Israel up til that point was that Israel helped rebuild a port. I mean... you know there was a lot of OTHER stuff happening, right?
It doesn't fool anyone, and it really doesn't help in any way, to pretend that this conflict is simple or that horrible actions come from nothing. Anyone who tried to paint a picture of one side being mere victims until they were set upon by the savages on the other side is just stupid and indulgent.
Do you deny that israel had a plan to rebuild gaza as a port. Simple fact is everytime palestinians get offered anything that leads to a two state solution they spit in the face of people offering it. Fuck them and fuck the middle east the whole world would be just better off without the whole lot of the religious war fuckheads on all sides
I’ve been given to understand by more tissue skinned PBers that my occasional barb has had a chilling effect on Scotch commentary on here. Certainly if there is one thing missing on PB it’s a surfeit of opinions on Scotland from those not governed by Scotland. I just want to make it clear that no one should feel restrained on making such comments just as I will feel free to describe them as I wish. Let free speech reign..
Did you never consider that your endlessly repeated McBarbarella of barbs, basically a short version of "what do you, a non Scot, know about Scotland, and how dare you pretend you do", might be a bit off-putting in the end?
There's only so much wittering by people whose knowledge of Scotland amounts to a few half remembered episodes of the Family-Ness a man can take before being compelled to make a caustic remark or three on an internet community forum.
I used to like Family Ness! Along with Jimbo and the Jet Set!
Have just been on the receiving end of my first piece of anti-English hate. Competition with the shop across the road (vs our shop). Posted a comment onto her Facebook post onto the community page wondering if we should go and buy the stuff she sells. Which I then deleted, and sent her a polite email instead. Got a nice response back - lets have a coffee etc.
Anyway, I'm mowing the side lawn (big garden). Old man (but sizeably built) walks in asking about our shop. He then gets in my face telling me to fuck off and leave his granddaughter's shop alone. Er, we support it mate. We repost her posts on Facebook. We send customers over when she has stuff people are asking for.
Anyway, lots of English abuse shouted in my face, coming up here to rule over them, got called the ban hammer word. In my own garden. And then he walks off shouting more abuse. No real threats. He pulled a ski mask over his head though. But I know who you are, you just said. And then says "the van's fucked" having left it outside our gate where it'll get hit by a truck.
Didn't call the police. Want to de-escalate. Instead emailed his daughter(?) to progress the business chat. And mentioned it to her. Hoping that he will calm down and get that we are supporting her...
I am so sorry to hear that @RochdalePioneers and it is not acceptable
As you know I have strong family ties with NE Scotland, and Lossiemouth in particular, and when I travelled north in 1962, with my future wife to be, from Edinburgh to meet her family I received a wonderful reception and bear in mind in those days most everyone in the fishing community were related to one another and indeed it took me years to sort out who was who
Of course I was known as an English man (not that it is entirely true as I am half Welsh) but I do remember one of my future Aunts recounting how she had had to admit I was an English man to another relative but she qualified it by saying 'he is nae bad'
The large family of fishermen and their wives did travel to Lowestoft with the fishing and one of my uncles was an English man who met and married another of our aunts and moved to Lossiemouth and crewed on my father in laws boat and he was loved and accepted as one of their own as I was eventually
Please stay strong and not let it upset you - it does happen but most Scots are warm hearted and generous people
I shall enjoy reading the Standard's ruthless deconstruction of Hall's failed campaign at my leisure tomorrow but I suspect it doesn't tell us anything we didn't know or suspect. London will have 75 rather than 73 parliamentary seats at the next election (the new seats are Stratford & Bow and Streatham & Croydon North) and with extensive boundary changes it's not going to be easy to call the capital in terms of Conservative losses.
Tonights' three polls all show Labour 20 or more points ahead with both the gold standard (according to some) Survation and Techne showing their biggest Labour leads of the year so far.
Monday's Redfield & Wilton will be interesting in respect of Reform who were 15% in this week's poll but have eased back among most other pollsters though only within margin of error and if Reform are down who are the beneficiaries and what proportion of the 2019 Conservative vote previously saying they would switch to reform would do so now.
Chingford & Woodford Green almost certainly will fall to Labour.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
They took in the Palestinians where forced out of their country at creation of Israel in 1947. That led to the destabilisation of both Lebanon and Jordan with tragic consequences, particularly in the former case.
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
Looking forward to some more harmless fun from you about all the sambos and darkies out there. You gotta av a larf innit.
@Casino_Royale what should I do? You are right in what you said but how do I deal with this guy!
Ignore him?
You don't need to have the last word. Just the best word.
Sure. And are you happy with the contempt for young women evidenced here? Specifically, how happy would you be with an elderly foreigner fantasizing about asking your daughter (if you have one) about their mother and/or their skin?
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.
Which is to say, the first and most important question is why there are refugees in the first place. If you want to point the finger at the Saudis for not taking refugees, be my guest. But you might be missing the bigger picture: what are they fleeing?
Why was the palestinian response to rebuilding gaza as a port in 2005....a route to finally get gaza off its knees to elect hamas a group that thinks the only good jew is a dead one. The palestinians made there own bed let them die in it
Sharp analysis there. Irrefutable, even. I think you've finally solved it. Seems all so simple now, can't believe it's taken the world so long.
Be sure to pass your work on to someone important. The world needs to know.
Well I won't pass it onto you then as you arent important.
Which bit are you denying?
In 2005, Israel approved Palestinian plans to rebuild and complete the construction of a port a few miles south of Gaza City,
In 2007 they elected hamas
Seems to me israel held out an olive branch and got spat on by the palestinians with there election of a jew hating death cult
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I wonder who is the confidential source for the pivotal importance of Tory MP Paul Scully?
Did Susan Hall not poll better in London than the Tories do in the country?
On a like-for-like basis, which would be mayoralties and PCCs, I think she polled below or close to average.
Irrelevant, every Mayoral race had different local factors determining its outcome. My question is whether Hall outpolled the Tories national share - if she did, why are Tories discussing whether Hall let them down, not whether they let her down?
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
These selective histories don't really do any good. The way you put it, you make it seem like the main interaction with Israel up til that point was that Israel helped rebuild a port. I mean... you know there was a lot of OTHER stuff happening, right?
It doesn't fool anyone, and it really doesn't help in any way, to pretend that this conflict is simple or that horrible actions come from nothing. Anyone who tried to paint a picture of one side being mere victims until they were set upon by the savages on the other side is just stupid and indulgent.
Do you deny that israel had a plan to rebuild gaza as a port. Simple fact is everytime palestinians get offered anything that leads to a two state solution they spit in the face of people offering it. Fuck them and fuck the middle east the whole world would be just better off without the whole lot of the religious war fuckheads on all sides
No, I just don't think it's the ONLY thing that's relevant here. I know when you're writing with crayons there's not much room on the paper for much of an essay, but at least try to get the idea in your head that this is a little more complicated than "they could have had a port, but instead they must die".
You dont think the port was an olive branch that could lead to peace?
You dont think electing a jew hating death cult was a slap in the face 2 years later?
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I wonder who is the confidential source for the pivotal importance of Tory MP Paul Scully?
Did Susan Hall not poll better in London than the Tories do in the country?
On a like-for-like basis, which would be mayoralties and PCCs, I think she polled below or close to average.
Irrelevant, every Mayoral race had different local factors determining its outcome. My question is whether Hall outpolled the Tories national share - if she did, why are Tories discussing whether Hall let them down, not whether they let her down?
It's entirely relevant, if your idea of a "national share" excludes elections like her own.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
They took in the Palestinians where forced out of their country at creation of Israel in 1947. That led to the destabilisation of both Lebanon and Jordan with tragic consequences, particularly in the former case.
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Ukranians speak a different language to most european countries....hasn't stopped them taking in refugees from the war
OK, a GE post. The Indy Akhmed Yakoob who got 12% in the West Mids Mayoral vote is standing at the GE in Brum Ladywood (backed by GG/WPB) vs Shabhana Mahmood Vote shares last week in Ladywood ⚪️ IND 40% (+40) 🔴 LAB 28% (-51) 🔵 CON 23% (+12)
Worth watching.
Jess P may also come under pressure imo
Shabana Mahmood got 79.2% of the Ladywood vote at the 2019 GE. I think she'll be okay.
I'm enjoying your excellent efforts to find reasons why Labour will under-perform. Starmer's complete failure to stop the boats thus far is obviously up there.
She probably will be, yes, but the voting in Ladywood last week and Yakoobs much better than anticipated showing make it 'worth watching' which is all I said. I want Labour and the Tories to get their arses handed to them, so I guess I do look for reasons that might happen, I think they are both a cancer on the body politic right now.
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I wonder who is the confidential source for the pivotal importance of Tory MP Paul Scully?
Did Susan Hall not poll better in London than the Tories do in the country?
On a like-for-like basis, which would be mayoralties and PCCs, I think she polled below or close to average.
Irrelevant, every Mayoral race had different local factors determining its outcome. My question is whether Hall outpolled the Tories national share - if she did, why are Tories discussing whether Hall let them down, not whether they let her down?
It's entirely relevant, if your idea of a "national share" excludes elections like her own.
It's whataboutery to avoid the plain fact that Susan Hall is more popular with her electorate (in London of all places) than Rishi Sunak is with his - yet we are concerning ourselves with why she did so awfully badly.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
“Making Palestine a go”. Very generous of them. However Palestine was “a go” long before it was decided that Israel should take up most of its territory.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
They took in the Palestinians where forced out of their country at creation of Israel in 1947. That led to the destabilisation of both Lebanon and Jordan with tragic consequences, particularly in the former case.
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Ukranians speak a different language to most european countries....hasn't stopped them taking in refugees from the war
So why don’t we take in Palestinian refugees as well as Ukrainian ones them?
Erm...if you read it carefully, that is not backing for the "Rwanda Scheme" as it operates. The poll shows 55% support for asylum seekers being "removed to their home country or to a safe country, such as Rwanda". "Such as Rwanda" is doing a lot of work there
Well, a policy of removal is supported 55 to 22. I think we can assume given that Rwanda is specifically named that those polled are not opposed to the policy by the majority as given. There is a majority in favour of removal. Starmer today has not addressed that. As such, risky for him, but would want to see polling on 'flights versus Starmers plan' to see if it shifts the dial
99% of people won't have the first clue what Starmer's plan is. And it doesn't matter what it is - the average person doesn't follow that sort of detail.
In contrast, if a plane actually takes off to Rwanda on TV that is one of the few things that will cut through with the public.
Now my own view is it's still pretty unlikely a plane will take off to Rwanda pre General Election - because some Court somewhere will stop it or Civil Servants will all refuse to process people or whatever.
But at the same time, this does feel high risk for Starmer. Because if the unlikely event of a plane going were to happen that will cut through with the public. And if Starmer has said he will stop flights that would then be seriously damaging for him.
What are you talking about?
Starmer is going to use MI5 to stop them. *MI5*. And special super anti-terrorist powers.
Sir Harry Pearce KBE will no doubt watch things regularly whilst Tom Quinn mopes about Kent and the Pas de Calais looking intensely purposeful. A few extra Union Jacks will be flown about too for good measure.
It will turn the tide.
Natalie will sort it out 👍
I'm a bit late to the Natalie Elphicke party, having been busy this week, but it does seem to me a definite but not fatal Starmer mistake. The Elphicke phenomenon in every respect represents exactly why a couple of million normally Tory voters have defected to Labour. Starmer should have said 'I am pleased she has left the Tories, but she has a long road to travel before she could be a Labour MP'.'
I'm starting to wonder if Starmer is Labour's Sunak, a bright administrator with a tin ear for politics.
Someone asked William how Kate was doing today and he responded 'Kate is doing well'
This is now lead in the media, but what on earth does anyone expect him to say and is this really news with everything else going on
Next you'll be wanting the media to cover Sudan. The media spotlight is like a lighthouse - all only able to point in one direction at once. Ideally a very simple direction.
I shall enjoy reading the Standard's ruthless deconstruction of Hall's failed campaign at my leisure tomorrow but I suspect it doesn't tell us anything we didn't know or suspect. London will have 75 rather than 73 parliamentary seats at the next election (the new seats are Stratford & Bow and Streatham & Croydon North) and with extensive boundary changes it's not going to be easy to call the capital in terms of Conservative losses.
Tonights' three polls all show Labour 20 or more points ahead with both the gold standard (according to some) Survation and Techne showing their biggest Labour leads of the year so far.
Monday's Redfield & Wilton will be interesting in respect of Reform who were 15% in this week's poll but have eased back among most other pollsters though only within margin of error and if Reform are down who are the beneficiaries and what proportion of the 2019 Conservative vote previously saying they would switch to reform would do so now.
Ref London, if we take 26 and 27% list/constituency as a benchmark they'd probably be ok in anything they hold by 15% or better (or is notionally there)
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
“Making Palestine a go”. Very generous of them. However Palestine was “a go” long before it was decided that Israel should take up most of its territory.
There was never a country called palestine for a start and no dont deny it was wrong the west just arbitrarily allocating land to a jewish state.....however there have been times when there could have been a peace forged and everytime its been palestine leaders fucking it over from yasser to electing hamas
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I wonder who is the confidential source for the pivotal importance of Tory MP Paul Scully?
Did Susan Hall not poll better in London than the Tories do in the country?
On a like-for-like basis, which would be mayoralties and PCCs, I think she polled below or close to average.
Irrelevant, every Mayoral race had different local factors determining its outcome. My question is whether Hall outpolled the Tories national share - if she did, why are Tories discussing whether Hall let them down, not whether they let her down?
It's entirely relevant, if your idea of a "national share" excludes elections like her own.
It's whataboutery to avoid the plain fact that Susan Hall is more popular with her electorate (in London of all places) than Rishi Sunak is with his - yet we are concerning ourselves with why she did so awfully badly.
She did poorly compared to other Conservatives in elections like her own, where people vote on a typically two-party basis.
You are instead looking for a comparison to neighbourhood elections where Tory households end up voting for local council bods under labels like "Residents", "Ratepayers" and "Green Party of England and Wales".
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I wonder who is the confidential source for the pivotal importance of Tory MP Paul Scully?
Did Susan Hall not poll better in London than the Tories do in the country?
On a like-for-like basis, which would be mayoralties and PCCs, I think she polled below or close to average.
Irrelevant, every Mayoral race had different local factors determining its outcome. My question is whether Hall outpolled the Tories national share - if she did, why are Tories discussing whether Hall let them down, not whether they let her down?
If you read the story, there is some discussion of a poor CCHQ campaign, or in your words, letting Hall down.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
They took in the Palestinians where forced out of their country at creation of Israel in 1947. That led to the destabilisation of both Lebanon and Jordan with tragic consequences, particularly in the former case.
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Ukranians speak a different language to most european countries....hasn't stopped them taking in refugees from the war
So why don’t we take in Palestinian refugees as well as Ukrainian ones them?
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I wonder who is the confidential source for the pivotal importance of Tory MP Paul Scully?
Did Susan Hall not poll better in London than the Tories do in the country?
On a like-for-like basis, which would be mayoralties and PCCs, I think she polled below or close to average.
One example - in the Mayoral contest, Hall won the Ealing & Hillingdon count by 2000 but in the GLA Constituency election on the same boundaries, Labour won by 5000.
Another example - in the Bexley & Bronley boroughs, Hall won the Mayoral contest by 63,000 but the Conservative candidate won the GLA seat by only 40,000. Here's a clue - the Conservative vote for the GLA election was 20,000 lower than for the Mayoral contest - the Reform vote was 18,000 higher.
Final example - Hall won the Mayoral contest in Brent & Harrow by 8,000 - Labour won the GLA Constituency contest by 8,000. The Conservative vote was 11,000 higher for the Mayoral contest than for the GLA contest, the Labour vote was 5,000 higher,.
You can look at the Mayoral contest numbers, you can look at the GLA Constituency election numbers - they will tell two very different stories of how London voted on May 2nd.
Thanks for the comments guys. I felt threatened by the guy mainly because he was angry and abusive and very close. So I backed off and he closed in again. And again. At which point I put a hand on his chest and asked him to back off, then took a big step sideways.
Have got the first 30 seconds on doorbell cam. Can't see his face, but he said who he is and i assume its his van passively-aggressively dumped outside. Looks to be a work van so won't be left there forever. Didn't call the police - was happy he had gone and frankly gobsmacked. Didn't think he would hit me, didn't hear any explicit threats against me or my property, he was too crap to make them.
Ironically we get on with the mother and daughter who run the other shop - we repost their stuff, we buy stuff in their shop. It isn't reciprocated but its not hostile.
This will teach me. I posted a 1 line comment on their post on our facebook group. Deadpan, saying "interesting new products range, shall we sell flowers" which is what they do - they're a florist. Who dabble in all kids of other stuff including - the new products they posted about - a load of stationery and kids items identical to what we have. Post was on for perhaps 5 minutes then I deleted it and sent a friendly email which generated a friendly reply.
Me unveiling myself as the ENGLISH [banhammer] LD candidate could be fun!
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
“Making Palestine a go”. Very generous of them. However Palestine was “a go” long before it was decided that Israel should take up most of its territory.
There was never a country called palestine for a start and no dont deny it was wrong the west just arbitrarily allocating land to a jewish state.....however there have been times when there could have been a peace forged and everytime its been palestine leaders fucking it over from yasser to electing hamas
There was a defined geographic and cultural entity called Palestine. Slovenia had never been a nation state either. There had never been a nation state called “Greece” until the 19th century but no one in Europe denied the Greek claim to statehood.
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I wonder who is the confidential source for the pivotal importance of Tory MP Paul Scully?
Did Susan Hall not poll better in London than the Tories do in the country?
On a like-for-like basis, which would be mayoralties and PCCs, I think she polled below or close to average.
Irrelevant, every Mayoral race had different local factors determining its outcome. My question is whether Hall outpolled the Tories national share - if she did, why are Tories discussing whether Hall let them down, not whether they let her down?
If you read the story, there is some discussion of a poor CCHQ campaign, or in your words, letting Hall down.
That's true, and there are some valid points in there.
Paul Scully would have been a good candidate, but he was a Boris person. CCHQ decided it wanted one of its standard identikit Lib Dems, who turned out to be a groper, and there were no backups apart from Hall. That's not 'amateur apparatchiks' though, it's been standard operating procedure for 30 years.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
These selective histories don't really do any good. The way you put it, you make it seem like the main interaction with Israel up til that point was that Israel helped rebuild a port. I mean... you know there was a lot of OTHER stuff happening, right?
It doesn't fool anyone, and it really doesn't help in any way, to pretend that this conflict is simple or that horrible actions come from nothing. Anyone who tried to paint a picture of one side being mere victims until they were set upon by the savages on the other side is just stupid and indulgent.
Do you deny that israel had a plan to rebuild gaza as a port. Simple fact is everytime palestinians get offered anything that leads to a two state solution they spit in the face of people offering it. Fuck them and fuck the middle east the whole world would be just better off without the whole lot of the religious war fuckheads on all sides
No, I just don't think it's the ONLY thing that's relevant here. I know when you're writing with crayons there's not much room on the paper for much of an essay, but at least try to get the idea in your head that this is a little more complicated than "they could have had a port, but instead they must die".
You dont think the port was an olive branch that could lead to peace?
You dont think electing a jew hating death cult was a slap in the face 2 years later?
Is the Israeli Government an Arab-hating death cult?
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.
Which is to say, the first and most important question is why there are refugees in the first place. If you want to point the finger at the Saudis for not taking refugees, be my guest. But you might be missing the bigger picture: what are they fleeing?
Why was the palestinian response to rebuilding gaza as a port in 2005....a route to finally get gaza off its knees to elect hamas a group that thinks the only good jew is a dead one. The palestinians made there own bed let them die in it
Sharp analysis there. Irrefutable, even. I think you've finally solved it. Seems all so simple now, can't believe it's taken the world so long.
Be sure to pass your work on to someone important. The world needs to know.
Well I won't pass it onto you then as you arent important.
Which bit are you denying?
In 2005, Israel approved Palestinian plans to rebuild and complete the construction of a port a few miles south of Gaza City,
In 2006 they elected Hamas
Seems to me Israel held out an olive branch and got spat on by the Palestinians with there election of a Jew-hating death cult
Given half the Gaza population is under 18, how many Palestinians alive today voted Hamas in 2006?
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
They took in the Palestinians where forced out of their country at creation of Israel in 1947. That led to the destabilisation of both Lebanon and Jordan with tragic consequences, particularly in the former case.
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Ukranians speak a different language to most european countries....hasn't stopped them taking in refugees from the war
So why don’t we take in Palestinian refugees as well as Ukrainian ones them?
Because we don't want to take extremists in?
If you’re worried about “extremists” perhaps we could just take the kids.
Erm...if you read it carefully, that is not backing for the "Rwanda Scheme" as it operates. The poll shows 55% support for asylum seekers being "removed to their home country or to a safe country, such as Rwanda". "Such as Rwanda" is doing a lot of work there
Well, a policy of removal is supported 55 to 22. I think we can assume given that Rwanda is specifically named that those polled are not opposed to the policy by the majority as given. There is a majority in favour of removal. Starmer today has not addressed that. As such, risky for him, but would want to see polling on 'flights versus Starmers plan' to see if it shifts the dial
99% of people won't have the first clue what Starmer's plan is. And it doesn't matter what it is - the average person doesn't follow that sort of detail.
In contrast, if a plane actually takes off to Rwanda on TV that is one of the few things that will cut through with the public.
Now my own view is it's still pretty unlikely a plane will take off to Rwanda pre General Election - because some Court somewhere will stop it or Civil Servants will all refuse to process people or whatever.
But at the same time, this does feel high risk for Starmer. Because if the unlikely event of a plane going were to happen that will cut through with the public. And if Starmer has said he will stop flights that would then be seriously damaging for him.
What are you talking about?
Starmer is going to use MI5 to stop them. *MI5*. And special super anti-terrorist powers.
Sir Harry Pearce KBE will no doubt watch things regularly whilst Tom Quinn mopes about Kent and the Pas de Calais looking intensely purposeful. A few extra Union Jacks will be flown about too for good measure.
It will turn the tide.
Natalie will sort it out 👍
I'm a bit late to the Natalie Elphicke party, having been busy this week, but it does seem to me a definite but not fatal Starmer mistake. The Elphicke phenomenon in every respect represents exactly why a couple of million normally Tory voters have defected to Labour. Starmer should have said 'I am pleased she has left the Tories, but she has a long road to travel before she could be a Labour MP'.'
I'm starting to wonder if Starmer is Labour's Sunak, a bright administrator with a tin ear for politics.
Listening to his 'stop the boats' proposals today most of them are currently being undertaken by the government but he has stated publicly that Rwanda will stop on day one of his Premiership, thereby handing the gangs all they need to gain many more asylum seekers to their disgusting business
Whilst Rwanda is not the best policy, there are some early indications it is having some effect and a wise politician would have said that they will review the scheme once in office, rather than raise the prospect of many more crossings this summer
Erm...if you read it carefully, that is not backing for the "Rwanda Scheme" as it operates. The poll shows 55% support for asylum seekers being "removed to their home country or to a safe country, such as Rwanda". "Such as Rwanda" is doing a lot of work there
Well, a policy of removal is supported 55 to 22. I think we can assume given that Rwanda is specifically named that those polled are not opposed to the policy by the majority as given. There is a majority in favour of removal. Starmer today has not addressed that. As such, risky for him, but would want to see polling on 'flights versus Starmers plan' to see if it shifts the dial
99% of people won't have the first clue what Starmer's plan is. And it doesn't matter what it is - the average person doesn't follow that sort of detail.
In contrast, if a plane actually takes off to Rwanda on TV that is one of the few things that will cut through with the public.
Now my own view is it's still pretty unlikely a plane will take off to Rwanda pre General Election - because some Court somewhere will stop it or Civil Servants will all refuse to process people or whatever.
But at the same time, this does feel high risk for Starmer. Because if the unlikely event of a plane going were to happen that will cut through with the public. And if Starmer has said he will stop flights that would then be seriously damaging for him.
What are you talking about?
Starmer is going to use MI5 to stop them. *MI5*. And special super anti-terrorist powers.
Sir Harry Pearce KBE will no doubt watch things regularly whilst Tom Quinn mopes about Kent and the Pas de Calais looking intensely purposeful. A few extra Union Jacks will be flown about too for good measure.
It will turn the tide.
Natalie will sort it out 👍
I'm a bit late to the Natalie Elphicke party, having been busy this week, but it does seem to me a definite but not fatal Starmer mistake. The Elphicke phenomenon in every respect represents exactly why a couple of million normally Tory voters have defected to Labour. Starmer should have said 'I am pleased she has left the Tories, but she has a long road to travel before she could be a Labour MP'.'
I'm starting to wonder if Starmer is Labour's Sunak, a bright administrator with a tin ear for politics.
He is a faintly plausible 'not this lot' grey mist, as far as I'm concerned. I have the choice between Labour or the SNP come the election - and I'm not sure I can muster the enthusiasm to apply for the right voter ID to pick between them.
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I wonder who is the confidential source for the pivotal importance of Tory MP Paul Scully?
Did Susan Hall not poll better in London than the Tories do in the country?
On a like-for-like basis, which would be mayoralties and PCCs, I think she polled below or close to average.
One example - in the Mayoral contest, Hall won the Ealing & Hillingdon count by 2000 but in the GLA Constituency election on the same boundaries, Labour won by 5000.
Another example - in the Bexley & Bronley boroughs, Hall won the Mayoral contest by 63,000 but the Conservative candidate won the GLA seat by only 40,000. Here's a clue - the Conservative vote for the GLA election was 20,000 lower than for the Mayoral contest - the Reform vote was 18,000 higher.
Final example - Hall won the Mayoral contest in Brent & Harrow by 8,000 - Labour won the GLA Constituency contest by 8,000. The Conservative vote was 11,000 higher for the Mayoral contest than for the GLA contest, the Labour vote was 5,000 higher,.
You can look at the Mayoral contest numbers, you can look at the GLA Constituency election numbers - they will tell two very different stories of how London voted on May 2nd.
Perfect! This is exactly the kind of comparison that is needed. If I had to guess - I would say that London Conservative suburbs responded well to a right-wing candidate and to the higher salience of the mayoral election where you can beat Khan instead of a local Labour type. Without these factors it looks like some of them went Reform. Now, this might not generalise to the whole country - perhaps outer London Tories are more right-wing than in the rest of the country. But it gives us a good guess of an answer.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
They took in the Palestinians where forced out of their country at creation of Israel in 1947. That led to the destabilisation of both Lebanon and Jordan with tragic consequences, particularly in the former case.
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Ukranians speak a different language to most european countries....hasn't stopped them taking in refugees from the war
So why don’t we take in Palestinian refugees as well as Ukrainian ones them?
Because we don't want to take extremists in?
So we only want centrist refugees? Whilst good to know, I'm not entirely sure how that would work in practice.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
“Making Palestine a go”. Very generous of them. However Palestine was “a go” long before it was decided that Israel should take up most of its territory.
There was never a country called Palestine for a start
Yes there was, it was a League of Nations Mandate under our formal control from 1923 to 1948.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
“Making Palestine a go”. Very generous of them. However Palestine was “a go” long before it was decided that Israel should take up most of its territory.
There was never a country called palestine for a start and no dont deny it was wrong the west just arbitrarily allocating land to a jewish state.....however there have been times when there could have been a peace forged and everytime its been palestine leaders fucking it over from yasser to electing hamas
Okayyy... There was no Palestine, so there can't be any Palestinians either, the identity was created out of pure wickedness, and the so-called "Palestinians" aren't like the Jews who've been rightful owners of the land for 3000 years. Except that the kingdom of David and Solomon probably didn't exist, at least not on the physical plane, but let's not allow facts to intrude.
Do you have any clue why Hamas was elected? Clue: take a look at the apartheid wall. And the way you talk about Israel stooping to help "good" Palestinians out of the kindness of their hearts makes me want to vomit.
Jewish forces (I can't call them "Israeli" because Israel hadn't been created yet) poisoned the water in Acre in April 1948, causing a fucking typhoid epidemic. Right now, look at the huge concentrations of terrorised populations building up in southern Gaza, with all supplies having been cut off since Tuesday. The fascists who dare so disgustingly hypocritically to keep referring to genocide that happened in Europe in the early 1940s are making it ever clearer what their plans are - see e.g. the 40000 12-man tents. Today their tanks have taken the main road that divided western and eastern Rafah.
Libya has joined the South African case against Israel for genocide at the ICJ. Colombia joined it before. Ireland was going to join it...but then Varadkar unexpectedly resigned, and since then for some reason they haven't joined it. Most Arab governments don't give a shit about the Palestinians - that's one thing you are right about. Libya now clearly being an honourable exception.
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
Looking forward to some more harmless fun from you about all the sambos and darkies out there. You gotta av a larf innit.
@Casino_Royale what should I do? You are right in what you said but how do I deal with this guy!
Ignore him?
You don't need to have the last word. Just the best word.
Sure. And are you happy with the contempt for young women evidenced here? Specifically, how happy would you be with an elderly foreigner fantasizing about asking your daughter (if you have one) about their mother and/or their skin?
I did none of those things and never would. It was a harmless joke. I certainly wasn't famtizing.
I might also add it was you that jumped to the conclusion they were prostitutes, which they weren't which I think says it all that you interpreted what I said to mean that.
Can I suggest you read some of my past post rather than keeping this nonsense up and you will see how spectacularly wrong you are about me re discrimination.vas will regular boosters on here confirm.
I’ll help. These are runic inscriptions. Yes RUNES. But who wrote them and why?
If you’re into history it’s a fabulously surprising answer
Here’s another one. There are several. Nullifico googlissimi!
THat's much clearer - I did wonder about runes but thought it's some prat called Hurrell or Hurren.
They'll be Danes or Orcadians en route to the Holy Land, and doing a bit if sightseeing/allying/plundering en route. Wonder if it's the same lot as in the Orkneyinga Saga, which is partly about just such an adventure holiday? It's a long time since I read i t, so no idea if the places match up. But you won't let me google.
Close but no cigarillo
The answer surprised me completely. 7th century
No googling it ruins the fun
Ok here’s a big clue. The first one looks less obviously runic - as you noticed. That’s because it incorporates Roman lettering styles albeit it is in runes… oooooh
Too early for the Norse. Visigoths, then?
Very good guesses but no
Incredibly - to me - these five runic inscriptions are five Anglo Saxons from England in the 7th century. Leofwin, Herraed, Hereberehct, etc. I wasn’t aware Anglo Saxons ever used runes? Apparently they did: it is thought these five men were Anglo Saxon churchmen working - at least temporarily - in the shrine. Some had training in Latin as well, it is thought, hence the Romaniaed runes
The 7th century!!! England would still have been partly pagan back then. And these men would have called themselves… what? Jutes? Saxons? Kentish?
Anglo Saxon runes are available free at Ruthwell (I was there a fortnight ago) on the Scottish side of the Solway just beyond Annan. This astonishing cross has not only magnificent sculptures but also a variant text in Runic script of lines 39-64 of the Dream of the Rood, one of the greatest of the Anglo Saxon poems (I read English so long ago that we had to study it in the original).
Less noomy than its sister cross at Bewcastle, but both are unmissable.
Yes Anglo Saxons used runes.
I did medieval history A Level with an emphasis on England from 400-1066 so I don’t know why I forgot that Anglo Saxons used runes. I’ve always wanted to see those crosses!
But somehow I forgot. And yet today I was reminded in - of all places - a 1500 year old Christian shrine in southern Italy. I love travel
And now peace; perfect peace. And a glass of primitivo
Wine quiz, but I’m sure you already know the answer.
What popular grape variety was thought for decades to be unique to a small area of the New World but actually turns out to be Primitivo?
I know that Zinfandel is actually Primitivo, but aren’t aware that it was ever thought to be unique to the New World.
The vines that actually are unique to the New World - which are actually a different grape genus from the one that makes all European wines - make disgusting wine, under such names as Norton and Concord, and were turned to by the early settlers when they failed to get European grape varieties to grow. If you were desperate for wine, you might settle for them, but they usually taste most peculiar indeed.
Interestingly, Primitivo/Zinfandel produced tons of cheap red plonk for the gold rush diggers, but afterwards was mostly forgotten about in the US. It was by accident that during the 1970s a wine maker’s fermentation went wrong, but he thought he might be able to sell the light pale wine he ended up with, and so the ‘White Zinfandel’ craze swept across the US, mirroring the craze for Mateus Rose in Europe, filling the same spot of bringing non-wine drinkers to a drink that could, just about, be considered as wine. That rescued the grape from obscurity and in later decades other US winemakers set about making serious red wines from it, as they’ve always been doing in the part of Italy where Leon is.
I find most “serious” primitivos too dark and dense. It is highly fashionable now but it’s not really for me. It also doesn’t especially suit the Mezzogiorno climate. Unless you are up in the gargano hills (as I am)
I’m also fairly immune to the charms of Zinfandel, for that matter
Of the classics I like a strong fruity Aussie Shiraz, one of the new argie malbecs, or a great Rhone valley blend
There speaks a drinker who knocks back a bottle without food.
The Italians around you know that wine is to be enjoyed with a meal, and the Italian styles of wine are almost always too acidic to drink when not eating.
A bottle is only for apperitifs.
There’s only one p in aperitifs. Just saying.
I’d prefer no p in my aperitifs thank you very much. Careful in those Scottish pubs, mind..
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
These selective histories don't really do any good. The way you put it, you make it seem like the main interaction with Israel up til that point was that Israel helped rebuild a port. I mean... you know there was a lot of OTHER stuff happening, right?
It doesn't fool anyone, and it really doesn't help in any way, to pretend that this conflict is simple or that horrible actions come from nothing. Anyone who tried to paint a picture of one side being mere victims until they were set upon by the savages on the other side is just stupid and indulgent.
Do you deny that israel had a plan to rebuild gaza as a port. Simple fact is everytime palestinians get offered anything that leads to a two state solution they spit in the face of people offering it. Fuck them and fuck the middle east the whole world would be just better off without the whole lot of the religious war fuckheads on all sides
No, I just don't think it's the ONLY thing that's relevant here. I know when you're writing with crayons there's not much room on the paper for much of an essay, but at least try to get the idea in your head that this is a little more complicated than "they could have had a port, but instead they must die".
You dont think the port was an olive branch that could lead to peace?
You dont think electing a jew hating death cult was a slap in the face 2 years later?
Is the Israeli Government an Arab-hating death cult?
No... they build PORTS. Haven't you listened to a damn thing?
They were funding the rebuilding of the port of Gaza.....The palestinian response was to elect a group that hates jews.....now if we were funding the rebuilding of germany after the second world war and they elected hitler2....you dont think that might be a slap in the face and why the fuck are we helping them?
Not sure the Tories could have saved Halls campaign . She was clueless and made some unfortunate comments , she also was a Trump and Brexit supporter , not exactly a great fit for London . Without ULEZ she would have done even worse .
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
They took in the Palestinians where forced out of their country at creation of Israel in 1947. That led to the destabilisation of both Lebanon and Jordan with tragic consequences, particularly in the former case.
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Ukranians speak a different language to most european countries....hasn't stopped them taking in refugees from the war
So why don’t we take in Palestinian refugees as well as Ukrainian ones them?
Because we don't want to take extremists in?
If you’re worried about “extremists” perhaps we could just take the kids.
Or we just dig a big hole and throw all christians, muslims and jews down it and fill it in.....would make the world a more pleasant place
Revealed: How the Tories blew the London mayoral election ... Tory party grandees and activists have admitted that a “negative” campaign, the lack of a “knockout” candidate and “ruthless” Labour targeting of Lib-Dem and Green voters made it impossible for Ms Hall to win. Other reasons included:-
The lack of a positive message. Infighting among candidates vying for the Tory mayoral nomination. A lack of campaign funds for Ms Hall and a “late” manifesto. Amateur “party apparatchiks” put in charge of the shortlisting of candidates. The failure to include Tory MP Paul Scully on the shortlist. The decision not to restart the search for a mayoral candidate. Making the Ulez central to Ms Hall’s campaign. Ms Hall being selected despite some MPs believing she was not good enough.
I wonder who is the confidential source for the pivotal importance of Tory MP Paul Scully?
Did Susan Hall not poll better in London than the Tories do in the country?
On a like-for-like basis, which would be mayoralties and PCCs, I think she polled below or close to average.
One example - in the Mayoral contest, Hall won the Ealing & Hillingdon count by 2000 but in the GLA Constituency election on the same boundaries, Labour won by 5000.
Another example - in the Bexley & Bronley boroughs, Hall won the Mayoral contest by 63,000 but the Conservative candidate won the GLA seat by only 40,000. Here's a clue - the Conservative vote for the GLA election was 20,000 lower than for the Mayoral contest - the Reform vote was 18,000 higher.
Final example - Hall won the Mayoral contest in Brent & Harrow by 8,000 - Labour won the GLA Constituency contest by 8,000. The Conservative vote was 11,000 higher for the Mayoral contest than for the GLA contest, the Labour vote was 5,000 higher,.
You can look at the Mayoral contest numbers, you can look at the GLA Constituency election numbers - they will tell two very different stories of how London voted on May 2nd.
There is a role in politics for the feisty oppositionalist. Never going to get anywhere near being in charge, but able to get the odd issue to go their way, and important in keeping the government honest.
For a long time, it was the role of the Liberals at Westminster. More recently, the various Farage parties have done the same. It's an honourable role, and a valuable one if done well. That's true even if you wouldn't want the oppositionalist in actual power in a million years.
For better or worse, that's the niche that Susan Hall fills, and fills well. That means that she had a relatively high floor, probably higher than a more sensible smooth centrist One Nation Tory would have done. She minimised the leakage to Reform, who were the threat to the Conservatives in outermost London. After all, one of the reasons that the Conservative national polling is so bad is Reform being in the mid teens. But it also limits her ceiling- and in a Mayoral election, second place is first loser. 32.7% is still a blooming awful score.
It just occured to me that Sunak, by requiring University bosses to clamp down on pro-Palestinians protests, may be in breach of his own free-speech Czar appointment, whose name I sadly forget. I remember his photo with an open-necked shirt, the sloven. Has anybody thought of bringing a private action against Sunak on those grounds?
Plus, have any of the protestors joined Tobe's Free Speech Union? I'm sure that would help
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
They took in the Palestinians where forced out of their country at creation of Israel in 1947. That led to the destabilisation of both Lebanon and Jordan with tragic consequences, particularly in the former case.
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Ukranians speak a different language to most european countries....hasn't stopped them taking in refugees from the war
So why don’t we take in Palestinian refugees as well as Ukrainian ones them?
Because we don't want to take extremists in?
If you’re worried about “extremists” perhaps we could just take the kids.
Or we just dig a big hole and throw all christians, muslims and jews down it and fill it in.....would make the world a more pleasant place
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
Not one arab country has come forward and said they would accept one palestinian , they shut all the gates and barricaded them.
What many seem to neglect to mention is back in 2005 israel was helping rebuild the port in gaza....a route to making palestine a go....those innocent palestinians responded by electing hamas
“Making Palestine a go”. Very generous of them. However Palestine was “a go” long before it was decided that Israel should take up most of its territory.
There was never a country called palestine for a start and no dont deny it was wrong the west just arbitrarily allocating land to a jewish state.....however there have been times when there could have been a peace forged and everytime its been palestine leaders fucking it over from yasser to electing hamas
Funny - I thought Yasser shook hands with Rabin and there was a Gaza plus Jericho casino first agreement. And then Rabin got assassinated...and then whaddayaknow, this guy called Netanyahu turns up...and then a few years later the tanks go into Jenin and Ramallah...but you can find this all out for yourself.
Eurovision betting has seen a mild swing back. Croatia is again odds-on, and Israel back to 7/2 (still shorter than they started the day).
It would be wonderful is Israel win and then host the show in Gaza next year so all the Palestinian/Eurovision lovers can get a taste of the intolerance they are supporting. They love the usual Eurovision demographic in Gaza.
Indeed. Killing 35,000 Palestinians is pretty intolerant.
How many Hamas terrorists/rapists/murderers do you think it would be acceptable for Israel to kill?
And how many of their captive, innocent civilians do you think would be acceptable collateral in that context?
Or do you really believe that Israel should only go for about a thousand of them, in order to keep Sunal Jazeera's barchart roughly equal?
Even the US State Department believes the Hamas figures for dead and wounded are an UNDERestimate, due to bodies lying under the rubble produced by Israeli bombs and shells.
You haven't answered any of my questions
How many Hamas rapist murderers dead would be too many, in your view?
You forget that 1,000 of the Hamas Terrorists were actually killed by the IDF on 7/10 itself.
I didn't forget that
You just don't want to say how many Hamas rapists and murderers you'd want to save in that hypothetical situation
Because you think Israel killed enough of them before October 7th, according to your barchart
You think that Hamas's actions were perfectly proportionate, given the Israelis' previous brutality towards them
Or..
If you don't, answer the question
How many Hamas rapists and murderers is it acceptable for Israel to kill?
How many innocent Palestinians do you want Israel to kill?
Why do other arab countries not take refugees? Simple answer is to many palestinians are extremists and they worry about having them in their own country. Yes there are innocent palestinians....I suspect not as many as you think
They took in the Palestinians where forced out of their country at creation of Israel in 1947. That led to the destabilisation of both Lebanon and Jordan with tragic consequences, particularly in the former case.
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Ukranians speak a different language to most european countries....hasn't stopped them taking in refugees from the war
So why don’t we take in Palestinian refugees as well as Ukrainian ones them?
Because we don't want to take extremists in?
If you’re worried about “extremists” perhaps we could just take the kids.
Or we just dig a big hole and throw all christians, muslims and jews down it and fill it in.....would make the world a more pleasant place
The Nazis made a start on that, didn’t end well.
The nazi's only concentrated on one of the 3.
And while I wasn't making a serious suggestion which I am sure you realised. It does seem to be the people of the book causing most of the worlds problems from evangelical far right christians to extremist jihadi muslims
Only in Vegas. While having breakfast we witness Elvis on mobility scooter meeting two showgirls (that is being polite) and having a chat.
My first thoughts if I spoke to them would be along the lines of does your mother know you dress like this and what made you think that tattoo was a good idea?
And this is supposed to make you look good?
It is a good job I didn't post my third thought as otherwise @megasaur would have had kittens because it was along the lines of g strings and the need for dieting.
Hole, dig.
Similarly. Prat. Prude. Someone who doesn't understand a joke when he sees one. As I said get a life.
If you don't I understand the difference between a joke and real life you are really sad.
Looking forward to some more harmless fun from you about all the sambos and darkies out there. You gotta av a larf innit.
@Casino_Royale what should I do? You are right in what you said but how do I deal with this guy!
Ignore him?
You don't need to have the last word. Just the best word.
Sure. And are you happy with the contempt for young women evidenced here? Specifically, how happy would you be with an elderly foreigner fantasizing about asking your daughter (if you have one) about their mother and/or their skin?
I did none of those things and never would. It was a harmless joke. I certainly wasn't famtizing.
I might also add it was you that jumped to the conclusion they were prostitutes, which they weren't which I think says it all that you interpreted what I said to mean that.
Can I suggest you read some of my past post rather than keeping this nonsense up and you will see how spectacularly wrong you are about me re discrimination.vas will regular boosters on here confirm.
Sure
Please post a picture of yourself and, if you have one, your spouse. Naked. It's just otherwise impossible to assess the ribtiklingosity of your original joke.
Comments
Those people want all the Jews to be murdered, and deserve what's come to them
On my list, Vegas is. Love to go there.
What is most notable looking now is how little has changed. Little bits of land exchanges here and there, but nothing big and nothing strategic. It's a costly stalemate at present.
I know others are more optimistic (or pessimistic), but I'm not convinced that's going to change in the foreseeable future. I certainly doubt this new Russian offensive will get anywhere near Kharkiv which is far away from from the battlefield at present.
Competition with the shop across the road (vs our shop). Posted a comment onto her Facebook post onto the community page wondering if we should go and buy the stuff she sells. Which I then deleted, and sent her a polite email instead. Got a nice response back - lets have a coffee etc.
Anyway, I'm mowing the side lawn (big garden). Old man (but sizeably built) walks in asking about our shop. He then gets in my face telling me to fuck off and leave his granddaughter's shop alone. Er, we support it mate. We repost her posts on Facebook. We send customers over when she has stuff people are asking for.
Anyway, lots of English abuse shouted in my face, coming up here to rule over them, got called the ban hammer word. In my own garden. And then he walks off shouting more abuse. No real threats. He pulled a ski mask over his head though. But I know who you are, you just said. And then says "the van's fucked" having left it outside our gate where it'll get hit by a truck.
Didn't call the police. Want to de-escalate. Instead emailed his daughter(?) to progress the business chat. And mentioned it to her. Hoping that he will calm down and get that we are supporting her...
But then. Having taken that step, subsequent steps become easier.
Most of us on here are more ideological than most voters. So we assume voters move in ideologically fixed routes towards more right-wing, or the centre, or left-wing, and that a route from the right of the Tories to the left of the Tories doesn't exist. But voters may not be quite so predictable.
I think you can even see this with Nathalie Elphicke. Her political views as an individual are a lot more complicated than simply being very right-wing. Here detection to Labour has prompted a lot of very simplistic comment, but I think it's a pretty interesting example of the way in which people's individual political views are more heterogenous than the simple labels we put on them are.
This is the virus that breeds in the cess splurged by the Nats, especially the cybernats
Would any Scot have been emboldened to say this hideous drivel before the SNP came to power riding a wave of absurd Anglophobia? I mean, it’s always been there, and always insane (the Scots benefited massively from the British Empire, our joint endeavour) but it was seldom voiced like this
I’ve encountered anti-English feeling in Scotland but never anything as crude and blatant as this - more like dark muttering about “Londoners” or some snide behaviour in pubs. Most Scots are, of course, as perfectly kind and polite as most English people
I’ve seen some surprising numbers - 200.000 - 250.000 per year on the Camino in the 11th - 12th C.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Scully
Vote shares last week in Ladywood
⚪️ IND 40% (+40)
🔴 LAB 28% (-51)
🔵 CON 23% (+12)
Worth watching.
Jess P may also come under pressure imo
All being well, I am on the way to becoming a Scrots Expert.
NEW: Bombshell poll out tonight suggests SNP could lose 30 MPs and slump to 13 seats at the General Election - while Scottish Labour could gain 31 MPs and rise to 33. Comes as new First Minister John Swinney claims independence could be delivered in 5 yrs
https://x.com/chrismusson/status/1788986418150220155?
This is what happens when you take people for fools.
No, independence will not be delivered in 5 years.
No, you cannot change your sex.
You seem incapable of distinguishing between a harmless joke and real view. It is this that gives credence to right wing attacks on woke.
I shall enjoy reading the Standard's ruthless deconstruction of Hall's failed campaign at my leisure tomorrow but I suspect it doesn't tell us anything we didn't know or suspect. London will have 75 rather than 73 parliamentary seats at the next election (the new seats are Stratford & Bow and Streatham & Croydon North) and with extensive boundary changes it's not going to be easy to call the capital in terms of Conservative losses.
Tonights' three polls all show Labour 20 or more points ahead with both the gold standard (according to some) Survation and Techne showing their biggest Labour leads of the year so far.
Monday's Redfield & Wilton will be interesting in respect of Reform who were 15% in this week's poll but have eased back among most other pollsters though only within margin of error and if Reform are down who are the beneficiaries and what proportion of the 2019 Conservative vote previously saying they would switch to reform would do so now.
You don't need to have the last word. Just the best word.
I'm enjoying your excellent efforts to find reasons why Labour will under-perform.
Starmer's complete failure to stop the boats thus far is obviously up there.
https://www.majestic.co.uk/wines/contesa-pecorino-13153 Is a good light wine for casual drinking for parties etc.
Given half the Gaza population is under 18, how many Palestinians alive today voted Hamas in 2006?
As you know I have strong family ties with NE Scotland, and Lossiemouth in particular, and when I travelled north in 1962, with my future wife to be, from Edinburgh to meet her family I received a wonderful reception and bear in mind in those days most everyone in the fishing community were related to one another and indeed it took me years to sort out who was who
Of course I was known as an English man (not that it is entirely true as I am half Welsh) but I do remember one of my future Aunts recounting how she had had to admit I was an English man to another relative but she qualified it by saying 'he is nae bad'
The large family of fishermen and their wives did travel to Lowestoft with the fishing and one of my uncles was an English man who met and married another of our aunts and moved to Lossiemouth and crewed on my father in laws boat and he was loved and accepted as one of their own as I was eventually
Please stay strong and not let it upset you - it does happen but most Scots are warm hearted and generous people
In any event the Arab world is not homogeneous. Linguistically, there are over 30 different varieties of spoken Arabic not all of which are mutually intelligible. Palestinians speak Levantine Arabic which is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan (see above). One can draw an analogy between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian - all have their roots in Latin, and for many years written Latin was how elites communicated, but speakers do not automatically understand one another. Similar for vernacular Arabic and liturgical, written, Arabic, which is to the Arab world what Latin used to be in Europe.
So when people say why can’t the other Arab countries take them in you’re assuming that groups as distinct as different countries in Europe should have free movement. Which, given those voices are often opposed free movement across this continent, is a tad ironic.
Which bit are you denying?
In 2005, Israel approved Palestinian plans to rebuild and complete the construction of a port a few miles south of Gaza City,
In 2007 they elected hamas
Seems to me israel held out an olive branch and got spat on by the palestinians with there election of a jew hating death cult
Listen to me and you too could be a Slots Expert.
You dont think electing a jew hating death cult was a slap in the face 2 years later?
I want Labour and the Tories to get their arses handed to them, so I guess I do look for reasons that might happen, I think they are both a cancer on the body politic right now.
This is now lead in the media, but what on earth does anyone expect him to say and is this really news with everything else going on
You are instead looking for a comparison to neighbourhood elections where Tory households end up voting for local council bods under labels like "Residents", "Ratepayers" and "Green Party of England and Wales".
Another example - in the Bexley & Bronley boroughs, Hall won the Mayoral contest by 63,000 but the Conservative candidate won the GLA seat by only 40,000. Here's a clue - the Conservative vote for the GLA election was 20,000 lower than for the Mayoral contest - the Reform vote was 18,000 higher.
Final example - Hall won the Mayoral contest in Brent & Harrow by 8,000 - Labour won the GLA Constituency contest by 8,000. The Conservative vote was 11,000 higher for the Mayoral contest than for the GLA contest, the Labour vote was 5,000 higher,.
You can look at the Mayoral contest numbers, you can look at the GLA Constituency election numbers - they will tell two very different stories of how London voted on May 2nd.
Have got the first 30 seconds on doorbell cam. Can't see his face, but he said who he is and i assume its his van passively-aggressively dumped outside. Looks to be a work van so won't be left there forever. Didn't call the police - was happy he had gone and frankly gobsmacked. Didn't think he would hit me, didn't hear any explicit threats against me or my property, he was too crap to make them.
Ironically we get on with the mother and daughter who run the other shop - we repost their stuff, we buy stuff in their shop. It isn't reciprocated but its not hostile.
This will teach me. I posted a 1 line comment on their post on our facebook group. Deadpan, saying "interesting new products range, shall we sell flowers" which is what they do - they're a florist. Who dabble in all kids of other stuff including - the new products they posted about - a load of stationery and kids items identical to what we have. Post was on for perhaps 5 minutes then I deleted it and sent a friendly email which generated a friendly reply.
Me unveiling myself as the ENGLISH [banhammer] LD candidate could be fun!
Paul Scully would have been a good candidate, but he was a Boris person. CCHQ decided it wanted one of its standard identikit Lib Dems, who turned out to be a groper, and there were no backups apart from Hall. That's not 'amateur apparatchiks' though, it's been standard operating procedure for 30 years.
Whilst Rwanda is not the best policy, there are some early indications it is having some effect and a wise politician would have said that they will review the scheme once in office, rather than raise the prospect of many more crossings this summer
Do you have any clue why Hamas was elected? Clue: take a look at the apartheid wall. And the way you talk about Israel stooping to help "good" Palestinians out of the kindness of their hearts makes me want to vomit.
Jewish forces (I can't call them "Israeli" because Israel hadn't been created yet) poisoned the water in Acre in April 1948, causing a fucking typhoid epidemic. Right now, look at the huge concentrations of terrorised populations building up in southern Gaza, with all supplies having been cut off since Tuesday. The fascists who dare so disgustingly hypocritically to keep referring to genocide that happened in Europe in the early 1940s are making it ever clearer what their plans are - see e.g. the 40000 12-man tents. Today their tanks have taken the main road that divided western and eastern Rafah.
Libya has joined the South African case against Israel for genocide at the ICJ. Colombia joined it before. Ireland was going to join it...but then Varadkar unexpectedly resigned, and since then for some reason they haven't joined it. Most Arab governments don't give a shit about the Palestinians - that's one thing you are right about. Libya now clearly being an honourable exception.
I might also add it was you that jumped to the conclusion they were prostitutes, which they weren't which I think says it all that you interpreted what I said to mean that.
Can I suggest you read some of my past post rather than keeping this nonsense up and you will see how spectacularly wrong you are about me re discrimination.vas will regular boosters on here confirm.
For a long time, it was the role of the Liberals at Westminster. More recently, the various Farage parties have done the same. It's an honourable role, and a valuable one if done well. That's true even if you wouldn't want the oppositionalist in actual power in a million years.
For better or worse, that's the niche that Susan Hall fills, and fills well. That means that she had a relatively high floor, probably higher than a more sensible smooth centrist One Nation Tory would have done. She minimised the leakage to Reform, who were the threat to the Conservatives in outermost London. After all, one of the reasons that the Conservative national polling is so bad is Reform being in the mid teens. But it also limits her ceiling- and in a Mayoral election, second place is first loser. 32.7% is still a blooming awful score.
Plus, have any of the protestors joined Tobe's Free Speech Union? I'm sure that would help
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And while I wasn't making a serious suggestion which I am sure you realised. It does seem to be the people of the book causing most of the worlds problems from evangelical far right christians to extremist jihadi muslims
Please post a picture of yourself and, if you have one, your spouse. Naked. It's just otherwise impossible to assess the ribtiklingosity of your original joke.