Rishi really good in the debate. Probably too late in the day to save them but if he keeps this new passionate self up in the coming days, could save them a few seats.
Starmer, seriously! Is he deliberately trying to be as boring as humanly possible?
Squeeze Reform and the LDs, get other polls to push Labour down to Yougov levels and you could get something like Labour 36%, Tories 27%, Reform 13%, LDs 10% ie closer to a Brown 2010 defeat for Rishi than Major 1997.
Result - Tories over 200 seats again and Labour majority down to about 50
It`s possible but needs a few things to go the Tories` way in the next 13 days. Recently that`s not been the case and everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for them.
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
Britain in mid June-July is the centre of much of the cultured, sporting and wealthy universe, sun is out more often, Royal Ascot, Wimbledon, British GP, British Open, Henley regatta, Glyndebourne (oh and a general election too this year I suppose)
9 minutes past the solstice. Start of astronomical summer 🌞🌞
So the nights are drawing in. Wonderful.
You have to bank the plusses that you can. On 21st December I tell myself it's all getting better for the next 6 months. Great. On 21st June I tell myself that summer is not over till at least well into September and there is 3 months to go. And then, I say, autumn is often the best of all. And then it's December again. Snowdrops...and so it goes on.
Autumn is far from "Best of all". Drizzle, winter jackets taken out of the wardrobe to be used every day for the next 5 months, humidity jumps through the roof, central heating turned on. No more evenings outside at the pub ... and term starts again. The only savng grace is colourful leaves and it not being as cold as January!
Autumn is a good season for stargazing, in that the night sky is darker, but it's not yet so cold that you don't want to spend a lot of time out in the dark.
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
Rishi really good in the debate. Probably too late in the day to save them but if he keeps this new passionate self up in the coming days, could save them a few seats.
Starmer, seriously! Is he deliberately trying to be as boring as humanly possible?
Squeeze Reform and the LDs, get other polls to push Labour down to Yougov levels and you could get something like Labour 36%, Tories 27%, Reform 13%, LDs 10% ie closer to a Brown 2010 defeat for Rishi than Major 1997.
Result - Tories over 200 seats again and Labour majority down to about 50
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
Thanks everyone for the absurd number of likes for my post and for the kind words afterwards. I would have done a husting in a shed where nobody cares and the candidates are all nonentities. But instead I'm doing it with the leader of the Scottish Tories on Sky News.
That might sound like a nightmare - and I will confess to have been stressed. But I know enough about how to debate and how to sell an idea to have given myself a great opportunity and I think I largely acquitted myself well. Will be interesting to see what the audience made of it - they were also being interviewed by Sky afterwards.
I am 66/1. I know that. I'm almost certainly not going to win. And that is what I expected going into this. But as this election has come alive locally like nothing you would believe, its been fascinating to be on the ground watching the fun. Once it is over I promise to write a thread or two - a couple of things which I am not going to talk about until its all over. An amateur's seat at ringside of the best political circus in town.
As for 66/1 or lucky to get 10%, lets see. What was fascinating was that I managed to get Ross and Logan to confirm that their own canvassing has people on the doors saying the same things to them as they are saying to us - the economy is borked, public services are in crisis and nobody is doing anything about it. That is the word according to the Tory and SNP candidates. I then of course asked when at any point they intended to take ownership of their own party's mistakes. That the cuts being raised on the doors are their cuts, and all they promise is more cuts...
NB. According to Matthew Thompson of Sky News, Ed Davey is cutting through. Seriously cutting through. In a compare and contrast fashion against both Starmer and Sunak. He brought it up unprompted.
DYOR - you invite Sky News to interview outside your home and see what they tell YOU unprompted...
I must correct the characterisation that I am on 'the right'. I have said several times that I am voting for Labour. I have however made a prediction that the next political movement in the UK will be on what people describe as the 'far right'. This is not something I want to happen, I just think it will, because of the likely failure of 'centrism' to take in to account opposing views on matters like immigration and cultural issues, views which a lot of people hold. This, and the fact of 'reactive dynamics', together with other global political shifts, mean that it seems very likely to me that people will start to look to the 'far right' for answers, as the 'left' has run out of road. The concern expressed in the last comment was that, if we have a situation where 40% of people vote for right wing parties, and these positions are barely represented in Parliament, then the situation starts to become worrying for democracy. The reaction to this point is quite revealing, it is just something that people have to just 'suck up'...
I have said before that the best model for dealing with the 'far right' is what has happened in Finland for the last 20 years, the people involved are bought in to the system, and it is somehow made to work.
When I was criticising the right for pushing the idea that the next Labour government would be illegitimate because of its super-massive majority, I was not necessarily including you in that (it can be hard to keep track of every poster's political position), but more commenting on the many interventions to that effect from Conservative politicians and commentators.
'Illegitimate' is a very poor choice of words - and it's beyond rich for the Tories to criticise a system which has benefitted them for so long, as soon as its effects turn against them.
But the criticism of FPTP is entirely correct. It's better than no democracy at all, but it's a half arsed, often unfair version of democracy.
Any for of electoral system that makes it explicitely about the parties is worse than what we have now. At least here we make an effort to say it is about the individual candidates and some of us still vote on that basis. Most PR systems give more power to the parties at a time when we should be doing the exact oposite and trying to reduce the power of parties in our democracy.
I would have been extremely happy if AV had won out but of course the Lib Dems had a tantrum over it.
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
This election is getting me worried about the future of democracy. It seems likely that Labour will get a disproportionate majority which is a serious distortion of their share of the vote. The 'right' on the other hand will be severely underrepresented in Parliament relative to their eventual share of the vote (probably circa 40%). The driving force for Labour in power will be passing legislation they want, which they will effectively be able to do with no opposition. I suppose this is the 'supermajority' fear that the conservatives are trying to play to , but it seems to me like a big danger for democracy, because the position of the party in power will not be seen as legitimate.
I don't get this argument. I mean I don't want any sort of Labour majority but I recognise there will be one.
And if that majority is 100 or 300, what difference does it make? Starmer will be in exactly the position Blair, Thatcher and many other PMs before them have been in. With a majority large enough that they can enact whatever laws they see fit but always with a weather eye to the next election. They won so they get to run things. Personally I find this preferable to the situation May or even Johnson with his 80 seat majority found themselves in where there is a significant clique within their own party who are able to undermine what the PM and the Cabinet want to do and cause chaos.
I am sure I am gouing to hate much of what Starmer wants to do but that is democracy. He still has to take the vast majority of his party with him which is a moderating factor on his actions. He does not ahve absolute power - if you think he does then see what would happen if he proposed banning pets or compulsory pole dancing for grannies.
What I do think is that the Lords becomes very important as an amending/checking chamber. One of the problems of the last decade has been too many acts that have not been fit for purpose, ill considered and ill written. The Lords can do a great service by making sure that Starmer's new laws and policies are actually coherent, lawful and practical.
I agree with this to a point. I think the moderating factor is that there is hardly anything meaningful in Labour's manifesto, which indeed sets them up for endless fights with the Lords. But as per my other posts, the issue for me is having a situation where there is severe underrepresentation of a significant quantum of political opinion.
But it doesn't actually matter because even if they had more representation they would still have no more power to influence things in Parliament.
9 minutes past the solstice. Start of astronomical summer 🌞🌞
So the nights are drawing in. Wonderful.
You have to bank the plusses that you can. On 21st December I tell myself it's all getting better for the next 6 months. Great. On 21st June I tell myself that summer is not over till at least well into September and there is 3 months to go. And then, I say, autumn is often the best of all. And then it's December again. Snowdrops...and so it goes on.
Autumn is far from "Best of all". Drizzle, winter jackets taken out of the wardrobe to be used every day for the next 5 months, humidity jumps through the roof, central heating turned on. No more evenings outside at the pub ... and term starts again. The only savng grace is colourful leaves and it not being as cold as January!
Pulling the curtains, lighting the fire and engaging in your own form of nesting, love it.
Thanks everyone for the absurd number of likes for my post and for the kind words afterwards. I would have done a husting in a shed where nobody cares and the candidates are all nonentities. But instead I'm doing it with the leader of the Scottish Tories on Sky News.
That might sound like a nightmare - and I will confess to have been stressed. But I know enough about how to debate and how to sell an idea to have given myself a great opportunity and I think I largely acquitted myself well. Will be interesting to see what the audience made of it - they were also being interviewed by Sky afterwards.
I am 66/1. I know that. I'm almost certainly not going to win. And that is what I expected going into this. But as this election has come alive locally like nothing you would believe, its been fascinating to be on the ground watching the fun. Once it is over I promise to write a thread or two - a couple of things which I am not going to talk about until its all over. An amateur's seat at ringside of the best political circus in town.
As for 66/1 or lucky to get 10%, lets see. What was fascinating was that I managed to get Ross and Logan to confirm that their own canvassing has people on the doors saying the same things to them as they are saying to us - the economy is borked, public services are in crisis and nobody is doing anything about it. That is the word according to the Tory and SNP candidates. I then of course asked when at any point they intended to take ownership of their own party's mistakes. That the cuts being raised on the doors are their cuts, and all they promise is more cuts...
NB. According to Matthew Thompson of Sky News, Ed Davey is cutting through. Seriously cutting through. In a compare and contrast fashion against both Starmer and Sunak. He brought it up unprompted.
DYOR - you invite Sky News to interview outside your home and see what they tell YOU unprompted...
Why do we care what a distant relation to Churchill thinks?
As he lives in in the only Palace in the UK which is not royal or episcopal and is the 'Dook' as Trump calls him (he also is mates with Don as well as Nige and has stayed at Mar a Lago and hosted Trump at Bleinham Palace in 2018 on his state visit). He also managed to get himself elected to Woodstock Town Council in 2021 https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
Britain in mid June-July is the centre of much of the cultured, sporting and wealthy universe, sun is out more often, Royal Ascot, Wimbledon, British GP, British Open, Henley regatta, Glyndebourne (oh and a general election too this year I suppose)
I got that English June feeling this evening. A session with some academics in a club above King Edward St in Oxford, then ambling over to Balliol for dinner in the SCR, students (presumably graduates as the undergrads will have gone home for summer by now) lounging around on the manicured lawns chatting, late afternoon sun turning the buildings golden, and then walking along Broad St as the pedestrianised streets of central Oxford's LTN filled with semi-drunken Thursday "revellers". The whole thing let down only by a bit of hayfever and that bittersweet nostalgia for lost youth.
Then back to earth with a bump on a bus to the Travelodge Abingdon Rd.
9 minutes past the solstice. Start of astronomical summer 🌞🌞
So the nights are drawing in. Wonderful.
You have to bank the plusses that you can. On 21st December I tell myself it's all getting better for the next 6 months. Great. On 21st June I tell myself that summer is not over till at least well into September and there is 3 months to go. And then, I say, autumn is often the best of all. And then it's December again. Snowdrops...and so it goes on.
For me autumn and winter are the best seasons of the year. July and August are my least favourite months.
I must correct the characterisation that I am on 'the right'. I have said several times that I am voting for Labour. I have however made a prediction that the next political movement in the UK will be on what people describe as the 'far right'. This is not something I want to happen, I just think it will, because of the likely failure of 'centrism' to take in to account opposing views on matters like immigration and cultural issues, views which a lot of people hold. This, and the fact of 'reactive dynamics', together with other global political shifts, mean that it seems very likely to me that people will start to look to the 'far right' for answers, as the 'left' has run out of road. The concern expressed in the last comment was that, if we have a situation where 40% of people vote for right wing parties, and these positions are barely represented in Parliament, then the situation starts to become worrying for democracy. The reaction to this point is quite revealing, it is just something that people have to just 'suck up'...
I have said before that the best model for dealing with the 'far right' is what has happened in Finland for the last 20 years, the people involved are bought in to the system, and it is somehow made to work.
When I was criticising the right for pushing the idea that the next Labour government would be illegitimate because of its super-massive majority, I was not necessarily including you in that (it can be hard to keep track of every poster's political position), but more commenting on the many interventions to that effect from Conservative politicians and commentators.
'Illegitimate' is a very poor choice of words - and it's beyond rich for the Tories to criticise a system which has benefitted them for so long, as soon as its effects turn against them.
But the criticism of FPTP is entirely correct. It's better than no democracy at all, but it's a half arsed, often unfair version of democracy.
Any for of electoral system that makes it explicitely about the parties is worse than what we have now. At least here we make an effort to say it is about the individual candidates and some of us still vote on that basis. Most PR systems give more power to the parties at a time when we should be doing the exact oposite and trying to reduce the power of parties in our democracy.
I would have been extremely happy if AV had won out but of course the Lib Dems had a tantrum over it.
Our current crooked voting system gives much of the power to unelected selection committees and member gatherings meeting in private and accountable to absolutely no-one. We should just be pleased that the expected huge swing will negate many such Tory committees’ expectation of choosing our legislators, at the expense of giving way too many Labour ones a free ride.
The two things voters will remember most from this campaign: 1. Sunak leaving D-Day celebrations early. 2. Tories betting on the election date.
You couldn’t have designed a worse backdrop.
Honourable mention also for Ed Davey falling into Lake Windermere.
I can't remember anything that Sir Keir has done, but that's probably how he likes it. The Ming Vase has made it another 50 yards along Downing Street unscathed.
The real problem is that the vase is empty.
And that ming vase makes me think Sir Menzies' bedpan.
I must correct the characterisation that I am on 'the right'. I have said several times that I am voting for Labour. I have however made a prediction that the next political movement in the UK will be on what people describe as the 'far right'. This is not something I want to happen, I just think it will, because of the likely failure of 'centrism' to take in to account opposing views on matters like immigration and cultural issues, views which a lot of people hold. This, and the fact of 'reactive dynamics', together with other global political shifts, mean that it seems very likely to me that people will start to look to the 'far right' for answers, as the 'left' has run out of road. The concern expressed in the last comment was that, if we have a situation where 40% of people vote for right wing parties, and these positions are barely represented in Parliament, then the situation starts to become worrying for democracy. The reaction to this point is quite revealing, it is just something that people have to just 'suck up'...
I have said before that the best model for dealing with the 'far right' is what has happened in Finland for the last 20 years, the people involved are bought in to the system, and it is somehow made to work.
When I was criticising the right for pushing the idea that the next Labour government would be illegitimate because of its super-massive majority, I was not necessarily including you in that (it can be hard to keep track of every poster's political position), but more commenting on the many interventions to that effect from Conservative politicians and commentators.
'Illegitimate' is a very poor choice of words - and it's beyond rich for the Tories to criticise a system which has benefitted them for so long, as soon as its effects turn against them.
But the criticism of FPTP is entirely correct. It's better than no democracy at all, but it's a half arsed, often unfair version of democracy.
Any for of electoral system that makes it explicitely about the parties is worse than what we have now. At least here we make an effort to say it is about the individual candidates and some of us still vote on that basis. Most PR systems give more power to the parties at a time when we should be doing the exact oposite and trying to reduce the power of parties in our democracy.
I would have been extremely happy if AV had won out but of course the Lib Dems had a tantrum over it.
Under FPTP, parties still have the power of picking the candidate.
Apologies if this has been covered. Not quite on the scale or radar of "Gave my mate £300m" or "Overheard the PM - so bets on the 4th of July". But that's Holyrood for you.
SNP investigated over 'misuse' of election mail stamps
The SNP is being investigated by Scottish Parliament authorities over the potential misuse of postage stamps bought using MSPs' expenses.
In an email, seen by the BBC, an individual claims that stamps bought on expenses were passed to UK election candidates for campaigning activities, such as sending letters to voters.
9 minutes past the solstice. Start of astronomical summer 🌞🌞
So the nights are drawing in. Wonderful.
You have to bank the plusses that you can. On 21st December I tell myself it's all getting better for the next 6 months. Great. On 21st June I tell myself that summer is not over till at least well into September and there is 3 months to go. And then, I say, autumn is often the best of all. And then it's December again. Snowdrops...and so it goes on.
Autumn is far from "Best of all". Drizzle, winter jackets taken out of the wardrobe to be used every day for the next 5 months, humidity jumps through the roof, central heating turned on. No more evenings outside at the pub ... and term starts again. The only savng grace is colourful leaves and it not being as cold as January!
Pulling the curtains, lighting the fire and engaging in your own form of nesting, love it.
You are of course one of the PBers who is also a weather geek, like me.
It's always surprised me how many weather geeks - almost certainly a majority - love cold weather and particularly snow. They go mad for it. I've been a contributor to weather forums for a couple of decades now and my activity seems to be the inverse of most: I am most interested in summer weather, heatwaves and thunderstorms, and couldn't care less about winter.
Why do we care what a distant relation to Churchill thinks?
As he lives in in the only Palace in the UK which is not royal or episcopal and is the 'Dook' as Trump calls him (he also is mates with Don as well as Nige and has stayed at Mar a Lago and hosted Trump at Bleinham Palace in 2018 on his state visit). He also managed to get himself elected to Woodstock Town Council in 2021 https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
A golden advert for all that is wrong with inherited wealth and status.
Why do we care what a distant relation to Churchill thinks?
As he lives in in the only Palace in the UK which is not royal or episcopal and is the 'Dook' as Trump calls him (he also is mates with Don as well as Nige and has stayed at Mar a Lago and hosted Trump at Bleinham Palace in 2018 on his state visit). He also managed to get himself elected to Woodstock Town Council in 2021 https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
A golden advert for all that is wrong with inherited wealth and status.
To be fair he has also had problems with drugs and served time in prison for forging a prescription, criminal damage and dangerous driving, he has had a far from conventional life
I must correct the characterisation that I am on 'the right'. I have said several times that I am voting for Labour. I have however made a prediction that the next political movement in the UK will be on what people describe as the 'far right'. This is not something I want to happen, I just think it will, because of the likely failure of 'centrism' to take in to account opposing views on matters like immigration and cultural issues, views which a lot of people hold. This, and the fact of 'reactive dynamics', together with other global political shifts, mean that it seems very likely to me that people will start to look to the 'far right' for answers, as the 'left' has run out of road. The concern expressed in the last comment was that, if we have a situation where 40% of people vote for right wing parties, and these positions are barely represented in Parliament, then the situation starts to become worrying for democracy. The reaction to this point is quite revealing, it is just something that people have to just 'suck up'...
I have said before that the best model for dealing with the 'far right' is what has happened in Finland for the last 20 years, the people involved are bought in to the system, and it is somehow made to work.
When I was criticising the right for pushing the idea that the next Labour government would be illegitimate because of its super-massive majority, I was not necessarily including you in that (it can be hard to keep track of every poster's political position), but more commenting on the many interventions to that effect from Conservative politicians and commentators.
'Illegitimate' is a very poor choice of words - and it's beyond rich for the Tories to criticise a system which has benefitted them for so long, as soon as its effects turn against them.
But the criticism of FPTP is entirely correct. It's better than no democracy at all, but it's a half arsed, often unfair version of democracy.
Any for of electoral system that makes it explicitely about the parties is worse than what we have now. At least here we make an effort to say it is about the individual candidates and some of us still vote on that basis. Most PR systems give more power to the parties at a time when we should be doing the exact oposite and trying to reduce the power of parties in our democracy.
I would have been extremely happy if AV had won out but of course the Lib Dems had a tantrum over it.
Our current crooked voting system gives much of the power to unelected selection committees and member gatherings meeting in private and accountable to absolutely no-one. We should just be pleased that the expected huge swing will negate many such Tory committees’ expectation of choosing our legislators, at the expense of giving way too many Labour ones a free ride.
If you want a say in how a party picks its candidates, join the party.
Why do we care what a distant relation to Churchill thinks?
As he lives in in the only Palace in the UK which is not royal or episcopal and is the 'Dook' as Trump calls him (he also is mates with Don as well as Nige and has stayed at Mar a Lago and hosted Trump at Bleinham Palace in 2018 on his state visit). He also managed to get himself elected to Woodstock Town Council in 2021 https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
A golden advert for all that is wrong with inherited wealth and status.
To be fair he has also had problems with drugs and served time in prison for forging a prescription, criminal damage and dangerous driving, he has had a far from conventional life
Well I am even more inclined to ask the question...why should we care what he thinks.
Having come away from a debate with the leader of the Scottish Tories and managed to both get blows in on him and get him to agree to stuff he really shouldn't be, I have to say this:
I absolutely could do the job. I could hold my own against the seasoned professionals - its amateur vs career but sometimes that is an advantage.
I do not remotely expect an unexpected win - though in an election as crazy as this there will be all kinds of unexpected wins. But now that I have the taste for it, I intend to keep going for it.
Why do we care what a distant relation to Churchill thinks?
As he lives in in the only Palace in the UK which is not royal or episcopal and is the 'Dook' as Trump calls him (he also is mates with Don as well as Nige and has stayed at Mar a Lago and hosted Trump at Bleinham Palace in 2018 on his state visit). He also managed to get himself elected to Woodstock Town Council in 2021 https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
I must correct the characterisation that I am on 'the right'. I have said several times that I am voting for Labour. I have however made a prediction that the next political movement in the UK will be on what people describe as the 'far right'. This is not something I want to happen, I just think it will, because of the likely failure of 'centrism' to take in to account opposing views on matters like immigration and cultural issues, views which a lot of people hold. This, and the fact of 'reactive dynamics', together with other global political shifts, mean that it seems very likely to me that people will start to look to the 'far right' for answers, as the 'left' has run out of road. The concern expressed in the last comment was that, if we have a situation where 40% of people vote for right wing parties, and these positions are barely represented in Parliament, then the situation starts to become worrying for democracy. The reaction to this point is quite revealing, it is just something that people have to just 'suck up'...
I have said before that the best model for dealing with the 'far right' is what has happened in Finland for the last 20 years, the people involved are bought in to the system, and it is somehow made to work.
When I was criticising the right for pushing the idea that the next Labour government would be illegitimate because of its super-massive majority, I was not necessarily including you in that (it can be hard to keep track of every poster's political position), but more commenting on the many interventions to that effect from Conservative politicians and commentators.
'Illegitimate' is a very poor choice of words - and it's beyond rich for the Tories to criticise a system which has benefitted them for so long, as soon as its effects turn against them.
But the criticism of FPTP is entirely correct. It's better than no democracy at all, but it's a half arsed, often unfair version of democracy.
Any for of electoral system that makes it explicitely about the parties is worse than what we have now. At least here we make an effort to say it is about the individual candidates and some of us still vote on that basis. Most PR systems give more power to the parties at a time when we should be doing the exact oposite and trying to reduce the power of parties in our democracy.
I would have been extremely happy if AV had won out but of course the Lib Dems had a tantrum over it.
Our current crooked voting system gives much of the power to unelected selection committees and member gatherings meeting in private and accountable to absolutely no-one. We should just be pleased that the expected huge swing will negate many such Tory committees’ expectation of choosing our legislators, at the expense of giving way too many Labour ones a free ride.
If you want a say in how a party picks its candidates, join the party.
Why do we care what a distant relation to Churchill thinks?
As he lives in in the only Palace in the UK which is not royal or episcopal and is the 'Dook' as Trump calls him (he also is mates with Don as well as Nige and has stayed at Mar a Lago and hosted Trump at Bleinham Palace in 2018 on his state visit). He also managed to get himself elected to Woodstock Town Council in 2021 https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
But why do we care, was the question.
Leon would love him I am sure, they would get on like a house on fire!
9 minutes past the solstice. Start of astronomical summer 🌞🌞
So the nights are drawing in. Wonderful.
You have to bank the plusses that you can. On 21st December I tell myself it's all getting better for the next 6 months. Great. On 21st June I tell myself that summer is not over till at least well into September and there is 3 months to go. And then, I say, autumn is often the best of all. And then it's December again. Snowdrops...and so it goes on.
Autumn is far from "Best of all". Drizzle, winter jackets taken out of the wardrobe to be used every day for the next 5 months, humidity jumps through the roof, central heating turned on. No more evenings outside at the pub ... and term starts again. The only savng grace is colourful leaves and it not being as cold as January!
Pulling the curtains, lighting the fire and engaging in your own form of nesting, love it.
You are of course one of the PBers who is also a weather geek, like me.
It's always surprised me how many weather geeks - almost certainly a majority - love cold weather and particularly snow. They go mad for it. I've been a contributor to weather forums for a couple of decades now and my activity seems to be the inverse of most: I am most interested in summer weather, heatwaves and thunderstorms, and couldn't care less about winter.
Yep, hands up I love the snow and cold. But there are plenty who chase the summer warmth too. I think we are pretty lucky in the U.K. to have pretty decent seasons, albeit I am sad at the influence of climate change on U.K. winters.
It’s the world cup final, you’re 8-0 up at half time after your opponents, the four time cup holders, substituted their captain four times.
Half way through the second half the new captain decided to go home early during a set piece and the right wing have started doing their own thing playing a match on the side with some geriatric hooligan from Clacton who fancies himself as pele.
You’re now 10-0 up with injury time left. So you shut up shop and take the ball to the corner flag.
Why do we care what a distant relation to Churchill thinks?
As he lives in in the only Palace in the UK which is not royal or episcopal and is the 'Dook' as Trump calls him (he also is mates with Don as well as Nige and has stayed at Mar a Lago and hosted Trump at Bleinham Palace in 2018 on his state visit). He also managed to get himself elected to Woodstock Town Council in 2021 https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
A golden advert for all that is wrong with inherited wealth and status.
To be fair he has also had problems with drugs and served time in prison for forging a prescription, criminal damage and dangerous driving, he has had a far from conventional life
9 minutes past the solstice. Start of astronomical summer 🌞🌞
So the nights are drawing in. Wonderful.
You have to bank the plusses that you can. On 21st December I tell myself it's all getting better for the next 6 months. Great. On 21st June I tell myself that summer is not over till at least well into September and there is 3 months to go. And then, I say, autumn is often the best of all. And then it's December again. Snowdrops...and so it goes on.
Autumn is far from "Best of all". Drizzle, winter jackets taken out of the wardrobe to be used every day for the next 5 months, humidity jumps through the roof, central heating turned on. No more evenings outside at the pub ... and term starts again. The only savng grace is colourful leaves and it not being as cold as January!
Pulling the curtains, lighting the fire and engaging in your own form of nesting, love it.
You are of course one of the PBers who is also a weather geek, like me.
It's always surprised me how many weather geeks - almost certainly a majority - love cold weather and particularly snow. They go mad for it. I've been a contributor to weather forums for a couple of decades now and my activity seems to be the inverse of most: I am most interested in summer weather, heatwaves and thunderstorms, and couldn't care less about winter.
I spent my sons' childhoods feeling desperately guilty that I couldn't provide them with a white Christmas just like the ones I used to have. Now one of them lives in Kennington and the other is a semi professional snowboarder in Banff BC. Not sure what to make of that.
Why do we care what a distant relation to Churchill thinks?
As he lives in in the only Palace in the UK which is not royal or episcopal and is the 'Dook' as Trump calls him (he also is mates with Don as well as Nige and has stayed at Mar a Lago and hosted Trump at Bleinham Palace in 2018 on his state visit). He also managed to get himself elected to Woodstock Town Council in 2021 https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
A golden advert for all that is wrong with inherited wealth and status.
To be fair he has also had problems with drugs and served time in prison for forging a prescription, criminal damage and dangerous driving, he has had a far from conventional life
So all that advantage and he fucked it up. And now we're supposed to be swayed by what he says?
I must correct the characterisation that I am on 'the right'. I have said several times that I am voting for Labour. I have however made a prediction that the next political movement in the UK will be on what people describe as the 'far right'. This is not something I want to happen, I just think it will, because of the likely failure of 'centrism' to take in to account opposing views on matters like immigration and cultural issues, views which a lot of people hold. This, and the fact of 'reactive dynamics', together with other global political shifts, mean that it seems very likely to me that people will start to look to the 'far right' for answers, as the 'left' has run out of road. The concern expressed in the last comment was that, if we have a situation where 40% of people vote for right wing parties, and these positions are barely represented in Parliament, then the situation starts to become worrying for democracy. The reaction to this point is quite revealing, it is just something that people have to just 'suck up'...
I have said before that the best model for dealing with the 'far right' is what has happened in Finland for the last 20 years, the people involved are bought in to the system, and it is somehow made to work.
When I was criticising the right for pushing the idea that the next Labour government would be illegitimate because of its super-massive majority, I was not necessarily including you in that (it can be hard to keep track of every poster's political position), but more commenting on the many interventions to that effect from Conservative politicians and commentators.
'Illegitimate' is a very poor choice of words - and it's beyond rich for the Tories to criticise a system which has benefitted them for so long, as soon as its effects turn against them.
But the criticism of FPTP is entirely correct. It's better than no democracy at all, but it's a half arsed, often unfair version of democracy.
Any for of electoral system that makes it explicitely about the parties is worse than what we have now. At least here we make an effort to say it is about the individual candidates and some of us still vote on that basis. Most PR systems give more power to the parties at a time when we should be doing the exact oposite and trying to reduce the power of parties in our democracy.
I would have been extremely happy if AV had won out but of course the Lib Dems had a tantrum over it.
Our current crooked voting system gives much of the power to unelected selection committees and member gatherings meeting in private and accountable to absolutely no-one. We should just be pleased that the expected huge swing will negate many such Tory committees’ expectation of choosing our legislators, at the expense of giving way too many Labour ones a free ride.
If you want a say in how a party picks its candidates, join the party.
That’s a ludicrous and entirely unacceptable response.
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
Paging Leon (as I know he loves the AI stories)....
Apparently due to ChatGPT the web is getting flooded with content spamming blogs about different niches. Previously, people would use such blogs to write about products, increase SEO ranking, drive engagement with their own products and traffic to their e-commerce business. The upshot of all the spammy auto-AI generated blogs is google can't tell the difference so have basically dropped the hammer on all small blogs / websites for SEO and small e-commerce businesses are getting shafted.
But Google is still webcrawling all the spammy blogs for AI training data. I can see a problem here!
Paging Leon (as I know he loves the AI stories)....
Apparently due to ChatGPT the web is getting flooded with content spamming blogs about different niches. Previously, people would use such blogs to write about products, increase SEO ranking, drive engagement with their own products and traffic to their e-commerce business. The upshot of all the spammy auto-AI generated blogs is google can't tell the difference so have basically dropped the hammer on all small blogs / websites for SEO and small e-commerce businesses are getting shafted.
But Google is still webcrawling all the spammy blogs for AI training data. I can see a problem here!
It’s the world cup final, you’re 8-0 up at half time after your opponents, the four time cup holders, substituted their captain four times.
Half way through the second half the new captain decided to go home early during a set piece and the right wing have started doing their own thing playing a match on the side with some geriatric hooligan from Clacton who fancies himself as pele.
You’re now 10-0 up with injury time left. So you shut up shop and take the ball to the corner flag.
We will certainly never see the 8-0 / 10-0 under Southgate England team even if the Tory party were the opposition....
Paging Leon (as I know he loves the AI stories)....
Apparently due to ChatGPT the web is getting flooded with content spamming blogs about different niches. Previously, people would use such blogs to write about products, increase SEO ranking, drive engagement with their own products and traffic to their e-commerce business. The upshot of all the spammy auto-AI generated blogs is google can't tell the difference so have basically dropped the hammer on all small blogs / websites for SEO and small e-commerce businesses are getting shafted.
But Google is still webcrawling all the spammy blogs for AI training data. I can see a problem here!
Just a reminder that Leon’s comments are legally required to have the letters “A” and “I” separated by at least five other characters.
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
You want me to mention it in a piece for the gazette or whoever? I can do that. DM me
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
I must correct the characterisation that I am on 'the right'. I have said several times that I am voting for Labour. I have however made a prediction that the next political movement in the UK will be on what people describe as the 'far right'. This is not something I want to happen, I just think it will, because of the likely failure of 'centrism' to take in to account opposing views on matters like immigration and cultural issues, views which a lot of people hold. This, and the fact of 'reactive dynamics', together with other global political shifts, mean that it seems very likely to me that people will start to look to the 'far right' for answers, as the 'left' has run out of road. The concern expressed in the last comment was that, if we have a situation where 40% of people vote for right wing parties, and these positions are barely represented in Parliament, then the situation starts to become worrying for democracy. The reaction to this point is quite revealing, it is just something that people have to just 'suck up'...
I have said before that the best model for dealing with the 'far right' is what has happened in Finland for the last 20 years, the people involved are bought in to the system, and it is somehow made to work.
When I was criticising the right for pushing the idea that the next Labour government would be illegitimate because of its super-massive majority, I was not necessarily including you in that (it can be hard to keep track of every poster's political position), but more commenting on the many interventions to that effect from Conservative politicians and commentators.
'Illegitimate' is a very poor choice of words - and it's beyond rich for the Tories to criticise a system which has benefitted them for so long, as soon as its effects turn against them.
But the criticism of FPTP is entirely correct. It's better than no democracy at all, but it's a half arsed, often unfair version of democracy.
Any for of electoral system that makes it explicitely about the parties is worse than what we have now. At least here we make an effort to say it is about the individual candidates and some of us still vote on that basis. Most PR systems give more power to the parties at a time when we should be doing the exact oposite and trying to reduce the power of parties in our democracy.
I would have been extremely happy if AV had won out but of course the Lib Dems had a tantrum over it.
Our current crooked voting system gives much of the power to unelected selection committees and member gatherings meeting in private and accountable to absolutely no-one. We should just be pleased that the expected huge swing will negate many such Tory committees’ expectation of choosing our legislators, at the expense of giving way too many Labour ones a free ride.
If you want a say in how a party picks its candidates, join the party.
That’s a ludicrous and entirely unacceptable response.
And, as events in Basildon have shown, even that feeble check can be ignored.
I think that was pretty obviously quite a few months ago. He made it clear he wouldn't stand again and then in Janurary, that the Tories were wrong on net-zero and resigned from the party.
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
You want me to mention it in a piece for the gazette or whoever? I can do that. DM me
He wants them to STAY in business. A bunch of far right twats turning up might be fatal.
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
You want me to mention it in a piece for the gazette or whoever? I can do that. DM me
These guys, and my only interest is I want to be able to keep on eating their oysters when I am in Falmouth. So yes a heads up in the gazette would be awesome.
Why do we care what a distant relation to Churchill thinks?
As he lives in in the only Palace in the UK which is not royal or episcopal and is the 'Dook' as Trump calls him (he also is mates with Don as well as Nige and has stayed at Mar a Lago and hosted Trump at Bleinham Palace in 2018 on his state visit). He also managed to get himself elected to Woodstock Town Council in 2021 https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
A golden advert for all that is wrong with inherited wealth and status.
Even the Churchill dynasty produces Winstons and Randolphs more or less at random.
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
You want me to mention it in a piece for the gazette or whoever? I can do that. DM me
These guys, and my only interest is I want to be able to keep on eating their oysters when I am in Falmouth. So yes a heads up in the gazette would be awesome.
Sorry. @cicero and @TSE have told me not to mention any of this, apologies. Blame them
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
Will go there next time we're in the area. (Is the Simon Drew art studio/shop still open?)
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
Paging Leon (as I know he loves the AI stories)....
Apparently due to ChatGPT the web is getting flooded with content spamming blogs about different niches. Previously, people would use such blogs to write about products, increase SEO ranking, drive engagement with their own products and traffic to their e-commerce business. The upshot of all the spammy auto-AI generated blogs is google can't tell the difference so have basically dropped the hammer on all small blogs / websites for SEO and small e-commerce businesses are getting shafted.
But Google is still webcrawling all the spammy blogs for AI training data. I can see a problem here!
Having come away from a debate with the leader of the Scottish Tories and managed to both get blows in on him and get him to agree to stuff he really shouldn't be, I have to say this:
I absolutely could do the job. I could hold my own against the seasoned professionals - its amateur vs career but sometimes that is an advantage.
I do not remotely expect an unexpected win - though in an election as crazy as this there will be all kinds of unexpected wins. But now that I have the taste for it, I intend to keep going for it.
It must be tough fighting what is historically a very weak seat for the LDs/Alliance/Liberals.
Sunaks tactics pretty clear, positive reception for his performance tonight from the likes of Oakeshott and Patrick O'Flynn. The hunt for Reform votes is on
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
You want me to mention it in a piece for the gazette or whoever? I can do that. DM me
These guys, and my only interest is I want to be able to keep on eating their oysters when I am in Falmouth. So yes a heads up in the gazette would be awesome.
Sorry. @cicero and @TSE have told me not to mention any of this, apologies. Blame them
Nae bother, just eat the oysters if you are down that way. Awesome.
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
The SW is ridiculously good for food - for the price of a bottle of wine and a meal in London Pizza Express I got a One Michelin star level banquet + wine at the Sardine Factory in Looe (filming site of Beyond Paradise - currently bib gourmand - deputy head chef is a Master Chef professional Finalist and in his early 20s). SE Cornwall is one of the most neglected areas of the country relative to the rest of county but every time I've gone has been amazing.
Ask for the pickled mussels off-menu, they always have them and they are one of the best things I have ever had, even as someone repelled by the description.
Sunaks tactics pretty clear, positive reception for his performance tonight from the likes of Oakeshott and Patrick O'Flynn. The hunt for Reform votes is on
Makes sense when the combined Tory/Reform share is about 38% and Cameron won a majority in 2015 with less than that.
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
Will go there next time we're in the area. (Is the Simon Drew art studio/shop still open?)
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
The SW is ridiculously good for food - for the price of a bottle of wine and a meal in London Pizza Express I got a One Michelin star level banquet + wine at the Sardine Factory in Looe (filming site of Beyond Paradise - currently bib gourmand - deputy head chef is a Master Chef professional Finalist and in his early 20s). SE Cornwall is one of the most neglected areas of the country relative to the rest of county but every time I've gone has been amazing.
Ask for the pickled mussels off-menu, they always have them and they are one of the best things I have ever had, even as someone repelled by the description.
@Leon if you can get your editor to pay for a trip to Cornwall I'd pop here. Deputy Head chef is 22ish and came 4th in Masterchef the professionals, and the main chef came 3rd in Great British Menu this year. If it was in London they'd be debating how many Michelin stars they should have
On topic this is like half the public benefit of prediction markets: They give insiders with privileged access to information the incentive to turn it into public information.
Privileged insiders sharing their information with the public isn't always a good thing, but it's good more often than it's bad.
Sunaks tactics pretty clear, positive reception for his performance tonight from the likes of Oakeshott and Patrick O'Flynn. The hunt for Reform votes is on
Makes sense when the combined Tory/Reform share is about 38% and Cameron won a majority in 2015 with less than that.
It makes sense, though I'm baffled why those getting excited about voting Reform would at this stage be swayed by such a thing - at this point, the deeper the damage Reform can inflict the more the Tories will be, er, Reformed, after the election. Which seems better than impacting their pre-election promises.
Paging Leon (as I know he loves the AI stories)....
Apparently due to ChatGPT the web is getting flooded with content spamming blogs about different niches. Previously, people would use such blogs to write about products, increase SEO ranking, drive engagement with their own products and traffic to their e-commerce business. The upshot of all the spammy auto-AI generated blogs is google can't tell the difference so have basically dropped the hammer on all small blogs / websites for SEO and small e-commerce businesses are getting shafted.
But Google is still webcrawling all the spammy blogs for AI training data. I can see a problem here!
In my niche area this is already an issue. AI hallucinates an idea -> people use the AI to generate websites -> people do stuff that is so outrageous they could be criminally prosecuted. I feel very safe from AI.
Duke of Marlborough hails his ‘friend’ Nigel Farage as only person who can stop UK from being dragged into war
Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.
The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.'
Which one? The Reform and Labour candidates are both ex-services. Not the Green lady, and the LD website sets off security warnings. THough the Reform chap was REME, and the Labour chap RM.
Fred Thomas (Lab) apparently claimed he had seen combat but was unable to back that up and the hustings was abandoned as people stormed out. That's how Johnny tells it anyway
Not many people make me feel split on my zero seats agenda like Mr Mercer. He's extremely fallible, but there's a human wanting to do the best for the country element that has come through every time I've met him. Wishing him and his wife the best in the election.
Thanks everyone for the absurd number of likes for my post and for the kind words afterwards. I would have done a husting in a shed where nobody cares and the candidates are all nonentities. But instead I'm doing it with the leader of the Scottish Tories on Sky News.
That might sound like a nightmare - and I will confess to have been stressed. But I know enough about how to debate and how to sell an idea to have given myself a great opportunity and I think I largely acquitted myself well. Will be interesting to see what the audience made of it - they were also being interviewed by Sky afterwards.
I am 66/1. I know that. I'm almost certainly not going to win. And that is what I expected going into this. But as this election has come alive locally like nothing you would believe, its been fascinating to be on the ground watching the fun. Once it is over I promise to write a thread or two - a couple of things which I am not going to talk about until its all over. An amateur's seat at ringside of the best political circus in town.
As for 66/1 or lucky to get 10%, lets see. What was fascinating was that I managed to get Ross and Logan to confirm that their own canvassing has people on the doors saying the same things to them as they are saying to us - the economy is borked, public services are in crisis and nobody is doing anything about it. That is the word according to the Tory and SNP candidates. I then of course asked when at any point they intended to take ownership of their own party's mistakes. That the cuts being raised on the doors are their cuts, and all they promise is more cuts...
NB. According to Matthew Thompson of Sky News, Ed Davey is cutting through. Seriously cutting through. In a compare and contrast fashion against both Starmer and Sunak. He brought it up unprompted.
DYOR - you invite Sky News to interview outside your home and see what they tell YOU unprompted...
Sparring on PB is a great way to hone debating skills!
Which one? The Reform and Labour candidates are both ex-services. Not the Green lady, and the LD website sets off security warnings. THough the Reform chap was REME, and the Labour chap RM.
Fred Thomas (Lab) apparently claimed he had seen combat but was unable to back that up and the hustings was abandoned as people stormed out. That's how Johnny tells it anyway
Johnny Mercer — "I cannot believe I am standing against a real life Walter Mitty in Plymouth."
I'm sorry, this has to be a parody account. It cannot be genuine.
Why not? The Tories want to go hard on immigration, say that Labour will not, and tell Reform voters (who they believe to be most exercised by immigration) that they share their concerns and set out the risk if they let in a Labour government.
A video of a red carpet being rolled out on the beach if peopel vote Labour fits that message.
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
Will go there next time we're in the area. (Is the Simon Drew art studio/shop still open?)
I'm sorry, this has to be a parody account. It cannot be genuine.
Why not? The Tories want to go hard on immigration, say that Labour will not, and tell Reform voters (who they believe to be most exercised by immigration) that they share their concerns and set out the risk if they let in a Labour government.
A video of a red carpet being rolled out on the beach if peopel vote Labour fits that message.
They've had 14 years to do something about this and haven't. That's the problem.
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
You want me to mention it in a piece for the gazette or whoever? I can do that. DM me
These guys, and my only interest is I want to be able to keep on eating their oysters when I am in Falmouth. So yes a heads up in the gazette would be awesome.
Sorry. @cicero and @TSE have told me not to mention any of this, apologies. Blame them
Oh God, will this narcissistic twattery never cease? Considering you are a late boomer, you really might as well be 5.
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
Will go there next time we're in the area. (Is the Simon Drew art studio/shop still open?)
9 minutes past the solstice. Start of astronomical summer 🌞🌞
So the nights are drawing in. Wonderful.
You have to bank the plusses that you can. On 21st December I tell myself it's all getting better for the next 6 months. Great. On 21st June I tell myself that summer is not over till at least well into September and there is 3 months to go. And then, I say, autumn is often the best of all. And then it's December again. Snowdrops...and so it goes on.
Autumn is far from "Best of all". Drizzle, winter jackets taken out of the wardrobe to be used every day for the next 5 months, humidity jumps through the roof, central heating turned on. No more evenings outside at the pub ... and term starts again. The only savng grace is colourful leaves and it not being as cold as January!
Pulling the curtains, lighting the fire and engaging in your own form of nesting, love it.
You are of course one of the PBers who is also a weather geek, like me.
It's always surprised me how many weather geeks - almost certainly a majority - love cold weather and particularly snow. They go mad for it. I've been a contributor to weather forums for a couple of decades now and my activity seems to be the inverse of most: I am most interested in summer weather, heatwaves and thunderstorms, and couldn't care less about winter.
Yep, hands up I love the snow and cold. But there are plenty who chase the summer warmth too. I think we are pretty lucky in the U.K. to have pretty decent seasons, albeit I am sad at the influence of climate change on U.K. winters.
I like having different seasons. Hoar frost, snow, solemn November greyness, the whiff of autumn in September, the freshness and greenest of Spring.
It's variety that makes our climate so interesting.
Comments
There's a little caravan on Custom House Quay in Falmouth knocking out river Fal oysters at 4 for a tenner. It's important for my wellbeing that this place stays in business, so please patronise it. That is all.
A qualification which could impress only those already credulous enough to fall for Farage's patter.
That might sound like a nightmare - and I will confess to have been stressed. But I know enough about how to debate and how to sell an idea to have given myself a great opportunity and I think I largely acquitted myself well. Will be interesting to see what the audience made of it - they were also being interviewed by Sky afterwards.
I am 66/1. I know that. I'm almost certainly not going to win. And that is what I expected going into this. But as this election has come alive locally like nothing you would believe, its been fascinating to be on the ground watching the fun. Once it is over I promise to write a thread or two - a couple of things which I am not going to talk about until its all over. An amateur's seat at ringside of the best political circus in town.
As for 66/1 or lucky to get 10%, lets see. What was fascinating was that I managed to get Ross and Logan to confirm that their own canvassing has people on the doors saying the same things to them as they are saying to us - the economy is borked, public services are in crisis and nobody is doing anything about it. That is the word according to the Tory and SNP candidates. I then of course asked when at any point they intended to take ownership of their own party's mistakes. That the cuts being raised on the doors are their cuts, and all they promise is more cuts...
NB. According to Matthew Thompson of Sky News, Ed Davey is cutting through. Seriously cutting through. In a compare and contrast fashion against both Starmer and Sunak. He brought it up unprompted.
DYOR - you invite Sky News to interview outside your home and see what they tell YOU unprompted...
I would have been extremely happy if AV had won out but of course the Lib Dems had a tantrum over it.
It might be more effective than proclaiming things are terrible and they've not managed to fix them.
https://woodstock-tc.gov.uk/council-members/
Then back to earth with a bump on a bus to the Travelodge Abingdon Rd.
Rosies not happy
I'm sure.....Sunak and co will find a way to mess that up
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg334q4z0npo
SNP investigated over 'misuse' of election mail stamps
The SNP is being investigated by Scottish Parliament authorities over the potential misuse of postage stamps bought using MSPs' expenses.
In an email, seen by the BBC, an individual claims that stamps bought on expenses were passed to UK election candidates for campaigning activities, such as sending letters to voters.
It's always surprised me how many weather geeks - almost certainly a majority - love cold weather and particularly snow. They go mad for it. I've been a contributor to weather forums for a couple of decades now and my activity seems to be the inverse of most: I am most interested in summer weather, heatwaves and thunderstorms, and couldn't care less about winter.
I absolutely could do the job. I could hold my own against the seasoned professionals - its amateur vs career but sometimes that is an advantage.
I do not remotely expect an unexpected win - though in an election as crazy as this there will be all kinds of unexpected wins. But now that I have the taste for it, I intend to keep going for it.
Half way through the second half the new captain decided to go home early during a set piece and the right wing have started doing their own thing playing a match on the side with some geriatric hooligan from Clacton who fancies himself as pele.
You’re now 10-0 up with injury time left. So you shut up shop and take the ball to the corner flag.
You're really not making much of an argument.
Apparently due to ChatGPT the web is getting flooded with content spamming blogs about different niches. Previously, people would use such blogs to write about products, increase SEO ranking, drive engagement with their own products and traffic to their e-commerce business. The upshot of all the spammy auto-AI generated blogs is google can't tell the difference so have basically dropped the hammer on all small blogs / websites for SEO and small e-commerce businesses are getting shafted.
But Google is still webcrawling all the spammy blogs for AI training data. I can see a problem here!
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/20/former-tory-minister-vows-to-vote-labour-over-tories-climate-failures
These guys, and my only interest is I want to be able to keep on eating their oysters when I am in Falmouth. So yes a heads up in the gazette would be awesome.
Ask for the pickled mussels off-menu, they always have them and they are one of the best things I have ever had, even as someone repelled by the description.
Privileged insiders sharing their information with the public isn't always a good thing, but it's good more often than it's bad.
As far as I can see, he is the 3xgreat-nephew of WC's father.
Best of luck.
Tory Party deserves what is coming.
A video of a red carpet being rolled out on the beach if peopel vote Labour fits that message.
It's variety that makes our climate so interesting.
https://x.com/tyler/status/1803872859938549920