Ben Gartside @BenGartside · 16h Scoop: HS2 cancellation will mean fares increase between London and the north to reduce travellers amid capacity problems.
There will be 8% fewer seats on future trains after the high-speed line was scrapped, and prices are set to go up to reduce demand
The Isle of Wight is being split in two for this election. I was just thinking it would be funny if one of the seats went to the Greens and the other to RefUK.
That could lead to a Korea style partition.
More Cyprus surely. Island and all that. Maybe with a tiny bit of British crown territory somewhere near the Needles.
A surprising number of divided islands now I come to think of it. Timor, Borneo, Papua, Ireland, Hispaniola. Probably more I've forgotten.
Actually surprisingly few. There's also Tierra del Fuego, and I think somewhere in the Baltic, but I think that's all.
The Isle of Wight is being split in two for this election. I was just thinking it would be funny if one of the seats went to the Greens and the other to RefUK.
That could lead to a Korea style partition.
More Cyprus surely. Island and all that. Maybe with a tiny bit of British crown territory somewhere near the Needles.
A surprising number of divided islands now I come to think of it. Timor, Borneo, Papua, Ireland, Hispaniola. Probably more I've forgotten.
Actually surprisingly few. There's also Tierra del Fuego, and I think somewhere in the Baltic, but I think that's all.
On a foggy Fenland day, with the lantern of the cathedral rising above the silvery mist, the Isle of Ely is shared between the kingdom of England and the kingdom of Heaven
And it has that effect now.
God knows what effect it had on your standard issue medieval fenlander.
Exactly the same effect as the notion of increased tax on one of our more right wing PBers. The poor sods had to pay for it, one way or another.
As @david_herdson posted this on Twitter rather than here
One consequence of Reform surging in the polls is that reversing Brexit is off the agenda for at least a decade.
Even if there was the will to do so within Labour - and there obviously isn't - it's surely unlikely the EU would entertain the notion with Reform as a major party.
I think it comes down to the end polling figures - Reform get 20% of the votes and shifting to the EU is going to be hard, Reform getting 8% and they really are a dying problem...
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Although, in many respects, most smartphones now are dumb terminals with a camera.
Everything is in data centres. Wikipedia, music streaming, communication reliant on the network.
If you had a smartphone in 1372, and solar panels to charge it, you'd be able to: take photos, record videos, record audio, have a torch, measure time reasonably accurately, perform numerical calculations, act as a spirit level, and, um, that would be pretty much it.
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Depends on the signal, shirley?
(A smartphone with no signal but with a solar charger would still be an instrument of magic, though.)
And a free instant barbecue when the local priests got to hear about it.
I think I would take a modern mountain bike to 1372 rather than a smartphone.
I mean, you can mostly see how it works, so it isn't magic. And it requires no other infrastructure.
But try getting the local blacksmith to manufacture the parts...
Surely the only correct answer to the question of what to take on a trip to the medieval era is a 12 gauge, double barrel Remington...
As @david_herdson posted this on Twitter rather than here
One consequence of Reform surging in the polls is that reversing Brexit is off the agenda for at least a decade.
Even if there was the will to do so within Labour - and there obviously isn't - it's surely unlikely the EU would entertain the notion with Reform as a major party.
I think it comes down to the end polling figures - Reform get 20% of the votes and shifting to the EU is going to be hard, Reform getting 8% and they really are a dying problem...
I don't agree.
Reform surging means they are still enraged by "the forrin", but that doesn't equate to Brexit any more.
The Isle of Wight is being split in two for this election. I was just thinking it would be funny if one of the seats went to the Greens and the other to RefUK.
That could lead to a Korea style partition.
More Cyprus surely. Island and all that. Maybe with a tiny bit of British crown territory somewhere near the Needles.
A surprising number of divided islands now I come to think of it. Timor, Borneo, Papua, Ireland, Hispaniola. Probably more I've forgotten.
Actually surprisingly few. There's also Tierra del Fuego, and I think somewhere in the Baltic, but I think that's all.
The Isle of Wight is being split in two for this election. I was just thinking it would be funny if one of the seats went to the Greens and the other to RefUK.
That could lead to a Korea style partition.
More Cyprus surely. Island and all that. Maybe with a tiny bit of British crown territory somewhere near the Needles.
A surprising number of divided islands now I come to think of it. Timor, Borneo, Papua, Ireland, Hispaniola. Probably more I've forgotten.
Actually surprisingly few. There's also Tierra del Fuego, and I think somewhere in the Baltic, but I think that's all.
On a foggy Fenland day, with the lantern of the cathedral rising above the silvery mist, the Isle of Ely is shared between the kingdom of England and the kingdom of Heaven
And it has that effect now.
God knows what effect it had on your standard issue medieval fenlander.
I think the same way about Salisbury cathedral (and particularly the spire).
The tallest building in the world for thousands of years was the Great Pyramid which although impressive is just a pile of blocks.
Libdems are favs to win in 57 seats. SNP are favs to win in 18 seats.
Bookies' current o/u line for the Nats is 21.5. value on the underside? Not sure.
Thanks Paul.
The interesting thing about that LD figure is that is exactly the same as the buy price on the spreads.
IPSOS is significantly lower on the LD figure than other models/MRPS. As an example they have the Tories holding Newbury - everyone else thinks it is going yellow. Torbay is another IPSOS hold, going yellow elsewhere.
Ooh, goodie. Had a few quid on the Yellows to win Torbay. [Don't tell Marquee Mark.]
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
The first of those is odd but something I can happily get on board with and indeed have moved towards as I've got older - when I find a clothing item I like, I tend to buy several of them. The problem is, of course, when clothing manufacturers - who are addicted to novelty - change their product.
I don't know that I have a favourite novel or poem. I don't think that's odd. I mean, if I was to take a day or so to try to list all the books or poems I'd ever read, I could probably rank them, but I don't have one to hand. And fiction isn't a big part of my life.
Not dreaming is odd indeed. Does anyone else here not dream? That strikes me as being so singular as worthy of study by a psychologist. I mean, I don't think I particularly benefit from my dreams, but I have them - it's part of the human condition. Part of the mammalian condition, I'd suggest.
Talking about yourself in the third person is also very odd, but affected odd. You can only really carry that off if you're a fictional sitcom character like the Fonz, or Terry out of Brooklyn 911.And SKS is neither of those.
Not dreaming - I didn't dream for about 12 years.
Oddly enough I started dreaming again recently - still not often, but sometimes which is more than I was doing. Whether its change of diet, lifestyle, career or something else behind that I'm not sure.
AFAIUI, it's actually quite likely that you and SKS did/do dream - you just don't wake up during your dreams. The only dreams you remember are the ones you wake during. I don't know whether I envy you or not. On one hand, dreams are sometimes entertaining. But waking up from a not-dream is a rare and pleasant experience which presumably you had/SKS has all the time. It can't be more than once a month I wake up having not been dreaming.
I don't remember my dreams on waking either (which as you say I experience as "I don't dream"), except very occasionally (and even then I forget the details almost immediately). On the whole I'm glad of this, because on the few occasions I do remember something from a dream it's pretty confusing ("oh, wait, that's not something that actually happened"). I prefer my memory to only retain reality, not made up stuff, as far as possible...
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
The first of those is odd but something I can happily get on board with and indeed have moved towards as I've got older - when I find a clothing item I like, I tend to buy several of them. The problem is, of course, when clothing manufacturers - who are addicted to novelty - change their product.
I don't know that I have a favourite novel or poem. I don't think that's odd. I mean, if I was to take a day or so to try to list all the books or poems I'd ever read, I could probably rank them, but I don't have one to hand. And fiction isn't a big part of my life.
Not dreaming is odd indeed. Does anyone else here not dream? That strikes me as being so singular as worthy of study by a psychologist. I mean, I don't think I particularly benefit from my dreams, but I have them - it's part of the human condition. Part of the mammalian condition, I'd suggest.
Talking about yourself in the third person is also very odd, but affected odd. You can only really carry that off if you're a fictional sitcom character like the Fonz, or Terry out of Brooklyn 911.And SKS is neither of those.
Not dreaming - I didn't dream for about 12 years.
Oddly enough I started dreaming again recently - still not often, but sometimes which is more than I was doing. Whether its change of diet, lifestyle, career or something else behind that I'm not sure.
AFAIUI, it's actually quite likely that you and SKS did/do dream - you just don't wake up during your dreams. The only dreams you remember are the ones you wake during. I don't know whether I envy you or not. On one hand, dreams are sometimes entertaining. But waking up from a not-dream is a rare and pleasant experience which presumably you had/SKS has all the time. It can't be more than once a month I wake up having not been dreaming.
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
The first of those is odd but something I can happily get on board with and indeed have moved towards as I've got older - when I find a clothing item I like, I tend to buy several of them. The problem is, of course, when clothing manufacturers - who are addicted to novelty - change their product.
I don't know that I have a favourite novel or poem. I don't think that's odd. I mean, if I was to take a day or so to try to list all the books or poems I'd ever read, I could probably rank them, but I don't have one to hand. And fiction isn't a big part of my life.
Not dreaming is odd indeed. Does anyone else here not dream? That strikes me as being so singular as worthy of study by a psychologist. I mean, I don't think I particularly benefit from my dreams, but I have them - it's part of the human condition. Part of the mammalian condition, I'd suggest.
Talking about yourself in the third person is also very odd, but affected odd. You can only really carry that off if you're a fictional sitcom character like the Fonz, or Terry out of Brooklyn 911.And SKS is neither of those.
Not dreaming - I didn't dream for about 12 years.
Oddly enough I started dreaming again recently - still not often, but sometimes which is more than I was doing. Whether its change of diet, lifestyle, career or something else behind that I'm not sure.
AFAIUI, it's actually quite likely that you and SKS did/do dream - you just don't wake up during your dreams. The only dreams you remember are the ones you wake during. I don't know whether I envy you or not. On one hand, dreams are sometimes entertaining. But waking up from a not-dream is a rare and pleasant experience which presumably you had/SKS has all the time. It can't be more than once a month I wake up having not been dreaming.
How odd. I very seldom dream. I did have a dream the other night, and before that it must have been about six months.
Really?! Pretty much every time I wake up I have been dreaming. I don't have an alarm clock - so I don't tend to be woken at arbitrary times - perhaps if you wake naturally you're more likely to be in the light sleep of dream-sleep. Come to think of it, when I am woken by external sources (e.g. children), it's more often dreamless.
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Depends on the signal, shirley?
(A smartphone with no signal but with a solar charger would still be an instrument of magic, though.)
And a free instant barbecue when the local priests got to hear about it.
I think I would take a modern mountain bike to 1372 rather than a smartphone.
I mean, you can mostly see how it works, so it isn't magic. And it requires no other infrastructure.
But try getting the local blacksmith to manufacture the parts...
Surely the only correct answer to the question of what to take on a trip to the medieval era is a 12 gauge, double barrel Remington...
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Depends on the signal, shirley?
(A smartphone with no signal but with a solar charger would still be an instrument of magic, though.)
And a free instant barbecue when the local priests got to hear about it.
I think I would take a modern mountain bike to 1372 rather than a smartphone.
I mean, you can mostly see how it works, so it isn't magic. And it requires no other infrastructure.
But try getting the local blacksmith to manufacture the parts...
Surely the only correct answer to the question of what to take on a trip to the medieval era is...
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Only until the battery ran flat. Finding a signal would be pretty tough, too.
This is actually good to hear. Change and volatility is very necessary, and exciting too, but a life with all of its certainties removed would be unpleasant and hard to navigate.
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Although, in many respects, most smartphones now are dumb terminals with a camera.
Everything is in data centres. Wikipedia, music streaming, communication reliant on the network.
If you had a smartphone in 1372, and solar panels to charge it, you'd be able to: take photos, record videos, record audio, have a torch, measure time reasonably accurately, perform numerical calculations, act as a spirit level, and, um, that would be pretty much it.
I suspect cheap light (the torch) would be worth a lot.
As @david_herdson posted this on Twitter rather than here
One consequence of Reform surging in the polls is that reversing Brexit is off the agenda for at least a decade.
Even if there was the will to do so within Labour - and there obviously isn't - it's surely unlikely the EU would entertain the notion with Reform as a major party.
I think it comes down to the end polling figures - Reform get 20% of the votes and shifting to the EU is going to be hard, Reform getting 8% and they really are a dying problem...
I don't agree.
Reform surging means they are still enraged by "the forrin", but that doesn't equate to Brexit any more.
The boats are a result of Brexit
How do you work that one out? The boats are because we clamped down hard on other routes, such as the lorries.
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Only until the battery ran flat. Finding a signal would be pretty tough, too.
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
The first of those is odd but something I can happily get on board with and indeed have moved towards as I've got older - when I find a clothing item I like, I tend to buy several of them. The problem is, of course, when clothing manufacturers - who are addicted to novelty - change their product.
I don't know that I have a favourite novel or poem. I don't think that's odd. I mean, if I was to take a day or so to try to list all the books or poems I'd ever read, I could probably rank them, but I don't have one to hand. And fiction isn't a big part of my life.
Not dreaming is odd indeed. Does anyone else here not dream? That strikes me as being so singular as worthy of study by a psychologist. I mean, I don't think I particularly benefit from my dreams, but I have them - it's part of the human condition. Part of the mammalian condition, I'd suggest.
Talking about yourself in the third person is also very odd, but affected odd. You can only really carry that off if you're a fictional sitcom character like the Fonz, or Terry out of Brooklyn 911.And SKS is neither of those.
Not dreaming - I didn't dream for about 12 years.
Oddly enough I started dreaming again recently - still not often, but sometimes which is more than I was doing. Whether its change of diet, lifestyle, career or something else behind that I'm not sure.
AFAIUI, it's actually quite likely that you and SKS did/do dream - you just don't wake up during your dreams. The only dreams you remember are the ones you wake during. I don't know whether I envy you or not. On one hand, dreams are sometimes entertaining. But waking up from a not-dream is a rare and pleasant experience which presumably you had/SKS has all the time. It can't be more than once a month I wake up having not been dreaming.
How odd. I very seldom dream. I did have a dream the other night, and before that it must have been about six months.
Really?! Pretty much every time I wake up I have been dreaming. I don't have an alarm clock - so I don't tend to be woken at arbitrary times - perhaps if you wake naturally you're more likely to be in the light sleep of dream-sleep. Come to think of it, when I am woken by external sources (e.g. children), it's more often dreamless.
I also wake up naturally without an alarm clock, so I don't think that's the only reason for not remembering dreams. I do wonder whether the fact I don't have much visual memory (I'm quite close to the "aphantasic" end of the spectrum on that) contributes to not remembering I've been dreaming.
As @david_herdson posted this on Twitter rather than here
One consequence of Reform surging in the polls is that reversing Brexit is off the agenda for at least a decade.
Even if there was the will to do so within Labour - and there obviously isn't - it's surely unlikely the EU would entertain the notion with Reform as a major party.
I think it comes down to the end polling figures - Reform get 20% of the votes and shifting to the EU is going to be hard, Reform getting 8% and they really are a dying problem...
I suspect that the EU might think that support for Brexit dropping from 52% to 20% is a reasonably clear indication that the people of the UK have accepted that it is a failure. I do not expect it to happen but there is an interesting dynamic. If the Tories do genuinely want to be seen as a party of the young again they may take the sensible approach and become a party of re-join for 2029. It is the only way they could ever give themselves a chance of a quick return to power. Personally I suspect that their right wing is too powerful and they will just wither and die as an increasingly irrelevant and bitter party of the aging.
Still trying to work out why Farage decided to possibly knock 2-3% off Reform's vote share with his Putin comments. Maybe he thought it would solidify the party's support with the remainder.
As @david_herdson posted this on Twitter rather than here
One consequence of Reform surging in the polls is that reversing Brexit is off the agenda for at least a decade.
Even if there was the will to do so within Labour - and there obviously isn't - it's surely unlikely the EU would entertain the notion with Reform as a major party.
I think it comes down to the end polling figures - Reform get 20% of the votes and shifting to the EU is going to be hard, Reform getting 8% and they really are a dying problem...
SKS must be delighted. Brexit-haters who eg hate Reeves' comments over the weekend don't know whether to vote Cons or Reform.
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Although, in many respects, most smartphones now are dumb terminals with a camera.
Everything is in data centres. Wikipedia, music streaming, communication reliant on the network.
If you had a smartphone in 1372, and solar panels to charge it, you'd be able to: take photos, record videos, record audio, have a torch, measure time reasonably accurately, perform numerical calculations, act as a spirit level, and, um, that would be pretty much it.
I suspect cheap light (the torch) would be worth a lot.
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
The first of those is odd but something I can happily get on board with and indeed have moved towards as I've got older - when I find a clothing item I like, I tend to buy several of them. The problem is, of course, when clothing manufacturers - who are addicted to novelty - change their product.
I don't know that I have a favourite novel or poem. I don't think that's odd. I mean, if I was to take a day or so to try to list all the books or poems I'd ever read, I could probably rank them, but I don't have one to hand. And fiction isn't a big part of my life.
Not dreaming is odd indeed. Does anyone else here not dream? That strikes me as being so singular as worthy of study by a psychologist. I mean, I don't think I particularly benefit from my dreams, but I have them - it's part of the human condition. Part of the mammalian condition, I'd suggest.
Talking about yourself in the third person is also very odd, but affected odd. You can only really carry that off if you're a fictional sitcom character like the Fonz, or Terry out of Brooklyn 911.And SKS is neither of those.
Yes I agree. First two are just quirks (I’m similar on clothes I like now)
But the last two are decidedly strange, and a little unsettling
Very odd. And more than enough to prevent you voting Labour, I'd have thought.
Still trying to work out why Farage decided to possibly knock 2-3% off Reform's vote share with his Putin comments. Maybe he thought it would solidify the party's support with the remainder.
I don't think it was intentional - more the mask slipped.
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
The very top leadership calibre people are an odd bunch. One thing that is very characteristic of them is that despite their amazing abilities and width of experience they almost never write interesting or lasting books. I suspect they mostly don't read them either.
The last time Labour made a leader of a proper intellectual it was a disaster (Foot). The last PMs who were remotely normal were Home and Callaghan. Both are famous for not winning general elections.
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
The very top leadership calibre people are an odd bunch. One thing that is very characteristic of them is that despite their amazing abilities and width of experience they almost never write interesting or lasting books. I suspect they mostly don't read them either.
The last time Labour made a leader of a proper intellectual it was a disaster (Foot). The last PMs who were remotely normal were Home and Callaghan. Both are famous for not winning general elections.
It looks as if the Lib Dems really are within cooee of coming second, and any Alliance MPs might be critical, since there’s potential to share the whip in the Commons as they do already in the Lords.
I’m no expert. Talk seems to be of 1-3 Alliance MPs, but more likely the former than the latter. NI seats don’t change hands that often! The DUP are obviously not having a good time and the TUV standing in most seats harms them further.
Still trying to work out why Farage decided to possibly knock 2-3% off Reform's vote share with his Putin comments. Maybe he thought it would solidify the party's support with the remainder.
I don't think it was intentional - more the mask slipped.
The man is just a traitor to Western traditions and culture. They can't help their attacks. Trump and Corbyn are the same.
PM says he is not being investigated over betting scandal - as Tories launch own probe
Rishi Sunak has been speaking to journalists on the campaign trail this lunchtime.
He reveals the Conservatives are conducting their own investigation into the betting allegations surrounding the party.
But Mr Sunak says he is not aware of any further candidates being looked into than those who were named last week - and says he himself is not being investigated.
The prime minister confirms he has never placed a bet on politics.
It comes as the Gambling Commission conducts an investigation into several bets placed on the date of the general election.
Four Tory candidates and officials are being investigated - the last one named was the party's chief data officer, Nick Mason.
Mr Sunak has not been drawn on that investigation, saying it's "independent of government" and "independent of me".
"I don't have details of their investigation," he adds.
The Tories "will act on any relevant findings or information" from their own inquiry and "pass it on to the Gambling Commission".
NEW: Nigel Farage counters Boris Johnson's criticism of his Putin Ukraine comments by unveiling a huge i front page suggesting Boris made a similar argument back in 2016.
Farage: "Perhaps it’s Boris Johnson who is morally repugnant, not me"
Still trying to work out why Farage decided to possibly knock 2-3% off Reform's vote share with his Putin comments. Maybe he thought it would solidify the party's support with the remainder.
I don't think it was intentional - more the mask slipped.
I'm no longer sure the LDs won't poll more votes than Reform, they could both get around 15%, with the LDs doing better than the polls due to tactical voting.
NEW: Nigel Farage counters Boris Johnson's criticism of his Putin Ukraine comments by unveiling a huge i front page suggesting Boris made a similar argument back in 2016.
Farage: "Perhaps it’s Boris Johnson who is morally repugnant, not me"
PM says he is not being investigated over betting scandal - as Tories launch own probe
Rishi Sunak has been speaking to journalists on the campaign trail this lunchtime.
He reveals the Conservatives are conducting their own investigation into the betting allegations surrounding the party.
But Mr Sunak says he is not aware of any further candidates being looked into than those who were named last week - and says he himself is not being investigated.
The prime minister confirms he has never placed a bet on politics.
It comes as the Gambling Commission conducts an investigation into several bets placed on the date of the general election.
Four Tory candidates and officials are being investigated - the last one named was the party's chief data officer, Nick Mason.
Mr Sunak has not been drawn on that investigation, saying it's "independent of government" and "independent of me".
"I don't have details of their investigation," he adds.
The Tories "will act on any relevant findings or information" from their own inquiry and "pass it on to the Gambling Commission".
PM says he is not being investigated over betting scandal - as Tories launch own probe
Rishi Sunak has been speaking to journalists on the campaign trail this lunchtime.
He reveals the Conservatives are conducting their own investigation into the betting allegations surrounding the party.
But Mr Sunak says he is not aware of any further candidates being looked into than those who were named last week - and says he himself is not being investigated.
The prime minister confirms he has never placed a bet on politics.
It comes as the Gambling Commission conducts an investigation into several bets placed on the date of the general election.
Four Tory candidates and officials are being investigated - the last one named was the party's chief data officer, Nick Mason.
Mr Sunak has not been drawn on that investigation, saying it's "independent of government" and "independent of me".
"I don't have details of their investigation," he adds.
The Tories "will act on any relevant findings or information" from their own inquiry and "pass it on to the Gambling Commission".
As @david_herdson posted this on Twitter rather than here
One consequence of Reform surging in the polls is that reversing Brexit is off the agenda for at least a decade.
Even if there was the will to do so within Labour - and there obviously isn't - it's surely unlikely the EU would entertain the notion with Reform as a major party.
I think it comes down to the end polling figures - Reform get 20% of the votes and shifting to the EU is going to be hard, Reform getting 8% and they really are a dying problem...
I suspect that the EU might think that support for Brexit dropping from 52% to 20% is a reasonably clear indication that the people of the UK have accepted that it is a failure. I do not expect it to happen but there is an interesting dynamic. If the Tories do genuinely want to be seen as a party of the young again they may take the sensible approach and become a party of re-join for 2029. It is the only way they could ever give themselves a chance of a quick return to power. Personally I suspect that their right wing is too powerful and they will just wither and die as an increasingly irrelevant and bitter party of the aging.
The brexit voting block is over 70. By 2024 and definitely by 2034 they will have been thinned out drastically. Look at the statista brexit poll - is have been dropping remoselessly for years. Bit by bit. Omnisis has a 61/39 split in favour of rejoin. Yougov shows only 12% strongly oppose SM now. Brexiteers had their shot, but politics is a one way street. Time marches on and it never goes back.... ever. Brexit is a broken brand in politics.
I think Labour's plan has been for SM in a second labour term all along and they are sticking with that. First term is a prep for that... as close as possible without actually joining the sm.
Furthermore, I see Reform as a retreat, a Plan B for the populist right. The original plan was for the populists to inherit the entire conservative brand. This is what bj's 2019 intake of MPs was all about... and it failed spectacularly.
I think it is hilarious to see the expresserati and reform types complain about the conservatives. Arch brexiteers were put in hight office again and again and they all made a pigs ear of it every time. Every one of them. It was the erg and reform leaning MPs who disrupted governance again and again. They spend most of their time trying to retcon the immediate past to save face, that they have no time to think about what comes next.
There is no doubt: reform is a monument to the failure of the populist right to usurp the conservatives. They simply didn't have the skill or the numbers Sure their growth looks impressive, but they started from 2% and gave name to a declining and demoralised segment of voters who were always there (a bit like the british growth rates coming out of covid... sure but we also had the biggest economic collapse hahahaha in absolute numbers it was a catastrophe).
These voters didn't spring out of nothing. And if you want to see how little brexiteers have to offer: ask them what needs to be done to brexit so it becomes a true brexit... ask them why their budget makes corbyn and truss look like the epitome of sanity. Ask them how they will man the NHS to get rid of those waiting lists in 2 years .....and they will have nothing... . Their project is spent.
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Depends on the signal, shirley?
(A smartphone with no signal but with a solar charger would still be an instrument of magic, though.)
And a free instant barbecue when the local priests got to hear about it.
I think I would take a modern mountain bike to 1372 rather than a smartphone.
I mean, you can mostly see how it works, so it isn't magic. And it requires no other infrastructure.
But try getting the local blacksmith to manufacture the parts...
Surely the only correct answer to the question of what to take on a trip to the medieval era is...
“The next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns set after set of only two outfits; he says that he doesn’t dream, he doesn’t have a favourite novel or poem; he speaks about himself in the third person.”
The first of those is odd but something I can happily get on board with and indeed have moved towards as I've got older - when I find a clothing item I like, I tend to buy several of them. The problem is, of course, when clothing manufacturers - who are addicted to novelty - change their product.
I don't know that I have a favourite novel or poem. I don't think that's odd. I mean, if I was to take a day or so to try to list all the books or poems I'd ever read, I could probably rank them, but I don't have one to hand. And fiction isn't a big part of my life.
Not dreaming is odd indeed. Does anyone else here not dream? That strikes me as being so singular as worthy of study by a psychologist. I mean, I don't think I particularly benefit from my dreams, but I have them - it's part of the human condition. Part of the mammalian condition, I'd suggest.
Talking about yourself in the third person is also very odd, but affected odd. You can only really carry that off if you're a fictional sitcom character like the Fonz, or Terry out of Brooklyn 911.And SKS is neither of those.
Not dreaming - I didn't dream for about 12 years.
Oddly enough I started dreaming again recently - still not often, but sometimes which is more than I was doing. Whether its change of diet, lifestyle, career or something else behind that I'm not sure.
AFAIUI, it's actually quite likely that you and SKS did/do dream - you just don't wake up during your dreams. The only dreams you remember are the ones you wake during. I don't know whether I envy you or not. On one hand, dreams are sometimes entertaining. But waking up from a not-dream is a rare and pleasant experience which presumably you had/SKS has all the time. It can't be more than once a month I wake up having not been dreaming.
How odd. I very seldom dream. I did have a dream the other night, and before that it must have been about six months.
Everyone dreams every night. It’s just that we vary in whether we remember the dreams.
Bury St Edmunds is very very close according to all the MRPs.
As it should be given we are heading for a 1997 landslide defeat for the Tories at best and in 1997 the Tory majority in Bury St Edmunds was just 368.
I think Tanner will hold on though, he has some connections to the area at least unlike Holden in Basildon and Billericay who I think will lose, his family are Suffolk farmers. So while Labour probably edge it in the town itself Tanner should win enough of the rural part of the constituency and villages to win it overall
Admittedly I am slightly bored on a train down to the South-west and there’s nothing to moan about. It’s on time and air-conditioned. Most annoying as there’s nothing a Brit likes more than a damn good whinge.
NEW: Nigel Farage counters Boris Johnson's criticism of his Putin Ukraine comments by unveiling a huge i front page suggesting Boris made a similar argument back in 2016.
Farage: "Perhaps it’s Boris Johnson who is morally repugnant, not me"
Odd that Nigel is majoring on what silly old discredited Boris did or didn't say years ago. I get the impression Nigel has been seriously stung by the Putin stuff.
Admittedly I am slightly bored on a train down to the South-west and there’s nothing to moan about. It’s on time and air-conditioned. Most annoying as there’s nothing a Brit likes more than a damn good whinge.
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Depends on the signal, shirley?
(A smartphone with no signal but with a solar charger would still be an instrument of magic, though.)
And a free instant barbecue when the local priests got to hear about it.
I think I would take a modern mountain bike to 1372 rather than a smartphone.
I mean, you can mostly see how it works, so it isn't magic. And it requires no other infrastructure.
But try getting the local blacksmith to manufacture the parts...
Surely the only correct answer to the question of what to take on a trip to the medieval era is...
...a time machine that can get you back.
And a mega pack of antibiotics
Introducing antibiotics centuries earlier, adding to the selective pressure on bacteria, causes a microbial resistance apocalypse, meaning you died before you were sent back...
Either (a) Time paradox (b) Timey-Wimey Dr Who wave your hands...
The last data ended on 21st June and it’s now 3 days later. Scandal.
Anyone know when we can expect one?
All levity aside, if the tories are going to do any narrowing I’d expect two moments for it to happen. One is right now, 10 days out. The other is in the final 48-hours.
The Isle of Wight is being split in two for this election. I was just thinking it would be funny if one of the seats went to the Greens and the other to RefUK.
That could lead to a Korea style partition.
More Cyprus surely. Island and all that. Maybe with a tiny bit of British crown territory somewhere near the Needles.
A surprising number of divided islands now I come to think of it. Timor, Borneo, Papua, Ireland, Hispaniola. Probably more I've forgotten.
Actually surprisingly few. There's also Tierra del Fuego, and I think somewhere in the Baltic, but I think that's all.
The Isle of Wight is being split in two for this election. I was just thinking it would be funny if one of the seats went to the Greens and the other to RefUK.
That could lead to a Korea style partition.
More Cyprus surely. Island and all that. Maybe with a tiny bit of British crown territory somewhere near the Needles.
A surprising number of divided islands now I come to think of it. Timor, Borneo, Papua, Ireland, Hispaniola. Probably more I've forgotten.
Actually surprisingly few. There's also Tierra del Fuego, and I think somewhere in the Baltic, but I think that's all.
On a foggy Fenland day, with the lantern of the cathedral rising above the silvery mist, the Isle of Ely is shared between the kingdom of England and the kingdom of Heaven
And it has that effect now.
God knows what effect it had on your standard issue medieval fenlander.
I think the same way about Salisbury cathedral (and particularly the spire).
These Russian Trolls are getting better at disguise
Bury St Edmunds is very very close according to all the MRPs.
As it should be given we are heading for a 1997 landslide defeat for the Tories at best and in 1997 the Tory majority in Bury St Edmunds was just 368.
I think Tanner will hold on though, he has some connections to the area at least unlike Holden in Basildon and Billericay who I think will lose, his family are Suffolk farmers. So while Labour probably edge it in the city itself Tanner should win enough of the rural part of the constituency to win it overall
NEW: Nigel Farage counters Boris Johnson's criticism of his Putin Ukraine comments by unveiling a huge i front page suggesting Boris made a similar argument back in 2016.
Farage: "Perhaps it’s Boris Johnson who is morally repugnant, not me"
The last data ended on 21st June and it’s now 3 days later. Scandal.
Anyone know when we can expect one?
All levity aside, if the tories are going to do any narrowing I’d expect two moments for it to happen. One is right now, 10 days out. The other is in the final 48-hours.
I'm not convinced we will see any narrowing. If I was hankering after a Tory win (or even just narrow defeat) I think I'd be pinning all my hopes on the polls being wrong. I think they are likely understating the Tory vote a bit and overstating Reform. But by nowhere near enough to prevent the landslide that's coming.
The Isle of Wight is being split in two for this election. I was just thinking it would be funny if one of the seats went to the Greens and the other to RefUK.
That could lead to a Korea style partition.
More Cyprus surely. Island and all that. Maybe with a tiny bit of British crown territory somewhere near the Needles.
A surprising number of divided islands now I come to think of it. Timor, Borneo, Papua, Ireland, Hispaniola. Probably more I've forgotten.
Actually surprisingly few. There's also Tierra del Fuego, and I think somewhere in the Baltic, but I think that's all.
The Isle of Wight is being split in two for this election. I was just thinking it would be funny if one of the seats went to the Greens and the other to RefUK.
That could lead to a Korea style partition.
More Cyprus surely. Island and all that. Maybe with a tiny bit of British crown territory somewhere near the Needles.
A surprising number of divided islands now I come to think of it. Timor, Borneo, Papua, Ireland, Hispaniola. Probably more I've forgotten.
Actually surprisingly few. There's also Tierra del Fuego, and I think somewhere in the Baltic, but I think that's all.
On a foggy Fenland day, with the lantern of the cathedral rising above the silvery mist, the Isle of Ely is shared between the kingdom of England and the kingdom of Heaven
And it has that effect now.
God knows what effect it had on your standard issue medieval fenlander.
I think the same way about Salisbury cathedral (and particularly the spire).
These Russian Trolls are getting better at disguise
Comrade, I've put in the hard yards, have always backed vaccines, and talked about cricket. Only now have I been activated... Tovarich
The last data ended on 21st June and it’s now 3 days later. Scandal.
Anyone know when we can expect one?
All levity aside, if the tories are going to do any narrowing I’d expect two moments for it to happen. One is right now, 10 days out. The other is in the final 48-hours.
JL Partners this afternoon, Redfield and Deltapoll later, Focaldata MRP at 3pm
Admittedly I am slightly bored on a train down to the South-west and there’s nothing to moan about. It’s on time and air-conditioned. Most annoying as there’s nothing a Brit likes more than a damn good whinge.
The Newbury or Salisbury line? I do like the Kennet and Avon Canal stretch of the former.
That's a very different pattern from the rest of the country given it's movement since April. Reform not up at all, barely any movement in Conservative. It does suggest the Tories will do relatively much better in London than elsewhere.
It's also hard to see Tories on 19% nationally if on 22% in London imo, 22% London would be more in line with 25% nationally would be the assumption I worked from. They'd hold 8 to 12 on that polling in London
Depends. The typical Tory voter for Sunak is much posher, more educated and wealthier and higher earning on average than the average Conservative voter for Boris. Many working class Leavers and a fair number of pensioners who voted for Boris are now voting Reform. You get far more of the former in London and far more of the latter outside London.
Overall Savanta has the Tory + Reform vote still on 35% UK wide ie still ahead of the 30% Tory + Reform vote it has in London today. London is therefore better for the Tories now but still worse for the right overall than the rest of the UK
Dungaree, or not dungaree, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The singlets and ballgowns of outrageous fashion, Or to take arms against a sea of trappings And by opposing end them. Two ties — two shirts, No more; and buy one suit to say we end The sweatshirt and the thousand natural socks That flesh is Keir to: 'tis a constumation Devoutly to be wish'd. Two ties, two shirts; To sleep, no chance to dream — ay, there's the rub: For in that sleep of dress what tweeds may come, When we have cuffled off this mortal collar, Must give us purse — there's the respect That makes a panoply of so long scarf.
Bury St Edmunds is very very close according to all the MRPs.
As it should be given we are heading for a 1997 landslide defeat for the Tories at best and in 1997 the Tory majority in Bury St Edmunds was just 368.
I think Tanner will hold on though, he has some connections to the area at least unlike Holden in Basildon and Billericay who I think will lose, his family are Suffolk farmers. So while Labour probably edge it in the town itself Tanner should win enough of the rural part of the constituency and villages to win it overall
But if there are around 75,000 electors, how many of them does he have connections with?
Admittedly I am slightly bored on a train down to the South-west and there’s nothing to moan about. It’s on time and air-conditioned. Most annoying as there’s nothing a Brit likes more than a damn good whinge.
The Newbury or Salisbury line? I do like the Kennet and Avon Canal stretch of the former.
Salisbury. I agree with you about the other one, which is lovely. x
The last data ended on 21st June and it’s now 3 days later. Scandal.
Anyone know when we can expect one?
All levity aside, if the tories are going to do any narrowing I’d expect two moments for it to happen. One is right now, 10 days out. The other is in the final 48-hours.
JL Partners this afternoon, Redfield and Deltapoll later, Focaldata MRP at 3pm
Bury St Edmunds is very very close according to all the MRPs.
As it should be given we are heading for a 1997 landslide defeat for the Tories at best and in 1997 the Tory majority in Bury St Edmunds was just 368.
I think Tanner will hold on though, he has some connections to the area at least unlike Holden in Basildon and Billericay who I think will lose, his family are Suffolk farmers. So while Labour probably edge it in the town itself Tanner should win enough of the rural part of the constituency and villages to win it overall
But if there are around 75,000 electors, how many of them does he have connections with?
His family heritage is all over his literature too. I have met him, he campaigned in Epping in the locals, is bright and personable with a young family and the type of Tory MP we need in opposition to rebuild and hold the Starmer government to account so I hope he wins
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
One of my driving daydreams is imagining Brunel (*) suddenly appears in the car with me as I'm driving, and imagining the reaction to everything in the car - and he sees outside.
The thing is, Btunel would probably come to terms with it fairly easily. He would understand steam engines to a certain degree, and the structures he sees. Electricity was known to him, as was the telegraph. What would he think of the radio, let alone what they say on it? Lorries? What happens if he looked into the sky and saw a plane, or a helicopter?
But if you go further back in history, it'd be harder for people to come to terms with what they see and experience.
(*) Sometimes other people, e.g. Hooke.
Flying machines have been speculated about for centuries.
People had been trying to build powered road vehicles since before Brunel.
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Depends on the signal, shirley?
(A smartphone with no signal but with a solar charger would still be an instrument of magic, though.)
And a free instant barbecue when the local priests got to hear about it.
I think I would take a modern mountain bike to 1372 rather than a smartphone.
I mean, you can mostly see how it works, so it isn't magic. And it requires no other infrastructure.
But try getting the local blacksmith to manufacture the parts...
Surely the only correct answer to the question of what to take on a trip to the medieval era is...
...a time machine that can get you back.
And a mega pack of antibiotics
Introducing antibiotics centuries earlier, adding to the selective pressure on bacteria, causes a microbial resistance apocalypse, meaning you died before you were sent back...
Either (a) Time paradox (b) Timey-Wimey Dr Who wave your hands...
Or conversely a version of you was born that couldn't time travel. Hawking's Chronology Protection Conjecture: time travel is impossible because the minute it happens it writes itself out of existence.
The last data ended on 21st June and it’s now 3 days later. Scandal.
Anyone know when we can expect one?
All levity aside, if the tories are going to do any narrowing I’d expect two moments for it to happen. One is right now, 10 days out. The other is in the final 48-hours.
JL Partners this afternoon, Redfield and Deltapoll later, Focaldata MRP at 3pm
Brill. Thank you
Just pace yourself. Its a long campaign, take it easy. Read one, digest then take a break.
Ben Gartside @BenGartside · 16h Scoop: HS2 cancellation will mean fares increase between London and the north to reduce travellers amid capacity problems.
There will be 8% fewer seats on future trains after the high-speed line was scrapped, and prices are set to go up to reduce demand
Scrapping the bits of HS2 between Lichfield and Crewe and between Birmingham Internstional and Trent Junction was madness.
The cheapest, least controversial bits to build and huge capacity providers (by bypassing the two track bottleneck between Colwich and Stafford and bypassing the southern end of the Midland Main Line which is at capacity.
So now six tracks will converge just south of Colwich (four trent valley and two HS2) and turn into two tracks to Stafford and a branch to Stoke (with a flat, non grade separated junction at Colwich too).
'Since then, however, the Tories have faced mounting pressure from rural voters to abandon their commitment to building new pylons, and some candidates are now actively campaigning against them in their own constituencies.
They include Andrew Bowie, who was removed from his post as energy minister after it emerged he had campaigned against pylons in his own constituency. Bowie is now campaigning heavily in his West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine seat against what he calls “monster pylons”.'
That is presumably the SSEN Kintore-Tealing line which he has complained about - it's part of the 400kV East Coast line improvements.
NEW: Nigel Farage counters Boris Johnson's criticism of his Putin Ukraine comments by unveiling a huge i front page suggesting Boris made a similar argument back in 2016.
Farage: "Perhaps it’s Boris Johnson who is morally repugnant, not me"
Mr. Leon, while not quite mud huts, it was startling to learn (Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England) that the cookery equipment/utensils of a peasant's house were often worth more than the house itself.
Comparing prices over that length of time is nigh on impossible because the price of labour was so low whereas the price of objects was so high.
And they had so few objects
You’d get wills mentioning someone’s “five spoons and a kettle”
Imagine showing them a smartphone. It would be something BEYOND magic
“So yes through this box you can look at any other human in the world and talk to them. Also it contains all of human knowledge and can capture frozen images of everything you see and play you music of infinite variety and help you solve any problem. With this small metal box you become God”
Having a smartphone in 1372 would turn you into a god. Omniscient and omnipresent
Although, in many respects, most smartphones now are dumb terminals with a camera.
Everything is in data centres. Wikipedia, music streaming, communication reliant on the network.
If you had a smartphone in 1372, and solar panels to charge it, you'd be able to: take photos, record videos, record audio, have a torch, measure time reasonably accurately, perform numerical calculations, act as a spirit level, and, um, that would be pretty much it.
I suspect cheap light (the torch) would be worth a lot.
As soon as the electricity goes out everyone does reach for the light from their smartphone.
The arrival of cheap electric light changed the way we sleep. We're primed to sleep (much) longer in Winter than in Summer, but that changed with the arrival of electric light. It's one theory behind Seasonal Adjustment Disorder. And apparently it was very common to get up for a couple of hours in the night if you were sleeping for a long time.
Peter Hitchens: "Yes, it was a lawless putsch. My inch-by-inch and line-by-line examination of the illegal overthrow of Ukraine's legitimate President in 2014 (swiftly condoned, to their lasting shame, by the Western democracies)". [Plus link to an article he wrote on the subject in April 23
Bury St Edmunds is very very close according to all the MRPs.
As it should be given we are heading for a 1997 landslide defeat for the Tories at best and in 1997 the Tory majority in Bury St Edmunds was just 368.
I think Tanner will hold on though, he has some connections to the area at least unlike Holden in Basildon and Billericay who I think will lose, his family are Suffolk farmers. So while Labour probably edge it in the city itself Tanner should win enough of the rural part of the constituency to win it overall
Bury isn't a city, its a town, a quite small one
It should be, one of only 3 towns in the UK with a cathedral that does not have city status and it has an old Abbey as well.
Peter Hitchens: "Yes, it was a lawless putsch. My inch-by-inch and line-by-line examination of the illegal overthrow of Ukraine's legitimate President in 2014 (swiftly condoned, to their lasting shame, by the Western democracies)". [Plus link to an article he wrote on the subject in April 23
NEW: Nigel Farage counters Boris Johnson's criticism of his Putin Ukraine comments by unveiling a huge i front page suggesting Boris made a similar argument back in 2016.
Farage: "Perhaps it’s Boris Johnson who is morally repugnant, not me"
Odd that Nigel is majoring on what silly old discredited Boris did or didn't say years ago. I get the impression Nigel has been seriously stung by the Putin stuff.
It reminds everyone that Farage has some very very dodgy friends. It has really cut through and may have burst quite a lot of the RefUk bubble.
A lot of ppl think Rejoin is very difficult because the process officially entails adopting the Euro, Schengen, etc - things that even many Rejoiners don’t want.
But here’s the thing. If we asked the EU for a return to the 2015 status quo ante…the worst they could do is say no?
I understand that it wouldn’t be able to happen overnight. But if it would be a net GDP benefit to both the UK and the EU… could they not acquiesce? Or agree to something close to it, eventually?
Some would say “The EU would only allow the UK back in under the same terms as everyone else” because if it let us pick and choose, then other countries would demand the same.
But isn’t this partially negated by the ability of the EU to say to any country who wants to leave in the future, “Well look, the UK tried to leave, they regretted it, so much that we both went back to how things were before.”
I’ve long been a believer that 90% of Brexiteers cared predominantly about immigration - yes, austerity/a desire for levelling up etc might have motivated voters but I imagine many of those would probably prefer to be back in the EU now.
I don’t know whether Labour’s plan for closer integration basically gets us eventually to some kind of ‘rejoining in all but name’ which might satisfy people enough on both sides.
I think if the Lib Dems are the official opposition it could certainly accelerate calls to outright rejoin. Electorally it seems lucrative way to try and eat into the Labour vote and differentiate them from Starmer’s Govt.
Bury St Edmunds is very very close according to all the MRPs.
As it should be given we are heading for a 1997 landslide defeat for the Tories at best and in 1997 the Tory majority in Bury St Edmunds was just 368.
I think Tanner will hold on though, he has some connections to the area at least unlike Holden in Basildon and Billericay who I think will lose, his family are Suffolk farmers. So while Labour probably edge it in the town itself Tanner should win enough of the rural part of the constituency and villages to win it overall
But if there are around 75,000 electors, how many of them does he have connections with?
His family heritage is all over his literature too. I have met him, he campaigned in Epping in the locals, is bright and personable with a young family and the type of Tory MP we need in opposition to rebuild and hold the Starmer government to account so I hope he wins
Yes he’s an interesting chap. Still pretty young so quite precocious when you look at what he’s already done. I met him at a dinner his think tank hosted with Penny Mordaunt a couple of years ago and exchanged a few emails since on tax policy. Got the sense he’s broadly in the Nick Timothy school of Tories.
NEW: Nigel Farage counters Boris Johnson's criticism of his Putin Ukraine comments by unveiling a huge i front page suggesting Boris made a similar argument back in 2016.
Farage: "Perhaps it’s Boris Johnson who is morally repugnant, not me"
Comments
One consequence of Reform surging in the polls is that reversing Brexit is off the agenda for at least a decade.
Even if there was the will to do so within Labour - and there obviously isn't - it's surely unlikely the EU would entertain the notion with Reform as a major party.
I think it comes down to the end polling figures - Reform get 20% of the votes and shifting to the EU is going to be hard, Reform getting 8% and they really are a dying problem...
He is campaigning, on behalf of the Lib Dems
Everything is in data centres. Wikipedia, music streaming, communication reliant on the network.
If you had a smartphone in 1372, and solar panels to charge it, you'd be able to: take photos, record videos, record audio, have a torch, measure time reasonably accurately, perform numerical calculations, act as a spirit level, and, um, that would be pretty much it.
https://youtu.be/GULItNlBvJc?feature=shared&t=139
Reform surging means they are still enraged by "the forrin", but that doesn't equate to Brexit any more.
The boats are a result of Brexit
Until Lincoln Cathedral was built.
That must have been quite a sight.
Note to self: Wear your reading glasses!
I don't have an alarm clock - so I don't tend to be woken at arbitrary times - perhaps if you wake naturally you're more likely to be in the light sleep of dream-sleep. Come to think of it, when I am woken by external sources (e.g. children), it's more often dreamless.
(clicks on it)
Yup
"Boom stick"
Finding a signal would be pretty tough, too.
I remember reading something a while back that it's the cost of light that is as significant as anything else in human evolution https://www.statista.com/chart/10567/the-cost-of-light-through-the-ages/
One hour of light
1800 - $150
1900 - $5
2000 - 5c
2020 - 0.5c
A single smartphone would of course be useless.
Network Effects.
I think peasants suffering the Black Death would be astonished by vaccines, and even more astonished by the movement against them.
The last time Labour made a leader of a proper intellectual it was a disaster (Foot). The last PMs who were remotely normal were Home and Callaghan. Both are famous for not winning general elections.
It's 'maskirovka'.
Rishi Sunak has been speaking to journalists on the campaign trail this lunchtime.
He reveals the Conservatives are conducting their own investigation into the betting allegations surrounding the party.
But Mr Sunak says he is not aware of any further candidates being looked into than those who were named last week - and says he himself is not being investigated.
The prime minister confirms he has never placed a bet on politics.
It comes as the Gambling Commission conducts an investigation into several bets placed on the date of the general election.
Four Tory candidates and officials are being investigated - the last one named was the party's chief data officer, Nick Mason.
Mr Sunak has not been drawn on that investigation, saying it's "independent of government" and "independent of me".
"I don't have details of their investigation," he adds.
The Tories "will act on any relevant findings or information" from their own inquiry and "pass it on to the Gambling Commission".
https://news.sky.com/story/election-2024-sunak-starmer-conservatives-labour-reform-lib-dem-12593360
Never been in a bookies
Never watched a race
Farage: "Perhaps it’s Boris Johnson who is morally repugnant, not me"
https://x.com/benrileysmith/status/1805201208409284956/photo/1
Poor Princess Anne.
I've long regarded her as one of the least absurd royals of her generation.
We all post tripe at some point or other. I doubt you're that perfect.
I think Labour's plan has been for SM in a second labour term all along and they are sticking with that. First term is a prep for that... as close as possible without actually joining the sm.
Furthermore, I see Reform as a retreat, a Plan B for the populist right. The original plan was for the populists to inherit the entire conservative brand. This is what bj's 2019 intake of MPs was all about... and it failed spectacularly.
I think it is hilarious to see the expresserati and reform types complain about the conservatives. Arch brexiteers were put in hight office again and again and they all made a pigs ear of it every time. Every one of them. It was the erg and reform leaning MPs who disrupted governance again and again. They spend most of their time trying to retcon the immediate past to save face, that they have no time to think about what comes next.
There is no doubt: reform is a monument to the failure of the populist right to usurp the conservatives. They simply didn't have the skill or the numbers Sure their growth looks impressive, but they started from 2% and gave name to a declining and demoralised segment of voters who were always there (a bit like the british growth rates coming out of covid... sure but we also had the biggest economic collapse hahahaha in absolute numbers it was a catastrophe).
These voters didn't spring out of nothing. And if you want to see how little brexiteers have to offer: ask them what needs to be done to brexit so it becomes a true brexit... ask them why their budget makes corbyn and truss look like the epitome of sanity. Ask them how they will man the NHS to get rid of those waiting lists in 2 years .....and they will have nothing... . Their project is spent.
I think Tanner will hold on though, he has some connections to the area at least unlike Holden in Basildon and Billericay who I think will lose, his family are Suffolk farmers. So while Labour probably edge it in the town itself Tanner should win enough of the rural part of the constituency and villages to win it overall
Admittedly I am slightly bored on a train down to the South-west and there’s nothing to moan about. It’s on time and air-conditioned. Most annoying as there’s nothing a Brit likes more than a damn good whinge.
Either (a) Time paradox
(b) Timey-Wimey Dr Who wave your hands...
The last data ended on 21st June and it’s now 3 days later. Scandal.
Anyone know when we can expect one?
All levity aside, if the tories are going to do any narrowing I’d expect two moments for it to happen. One is right now, 10 days out. The other is in the final 48-hours.
Overall Savanta has the Tory + Reform vote still on 35% UK wide ie still ahead of the 30% Tory + Reform vote it has in London today. London is therefore better for the Tories now but still worse for the right overall than the rest of the UK
Climate experts and ministers say burying electricity cables could cost 10 times more than pylons
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/24/tory-pledge-review-pylons-energy-bill-hike-experts
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The singlets and ballgowns of outrageous fashion,
Or to take arms against a sea of trappings
And by opposing end them. Two ties — two shirts,
No more; and buy one suit to say we end
The sweatshirt and the thousand natural socks
That flesh is Keir to: 'tis a constumation
Devoutly to be wish'd. Two ties, two shirts;
To sleep, no chance to dream — ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of dress what tweeds may come,
When we have cuffled off this mortal collar,
Must give us purse — there's the respect
That makes a panoply of so long scarf.
And it's like burying HS2 - it doesn't help anyone really...
People had been trying to build powered road vehicles since before Brunel.
Reasons not too - cost, and harder to repair when/if they fail.
The cheapest, least controversial bits to build and huge capacity providers (by bypassing the two track bottleneck between Colwich and Stafford and bypassing the southern end of the Midland Main Line which is at capacity.
So now six tracks will converge just south of Colwich (four trent valley and two HS2) and turn into two tracks to Stafford and a branch to Stoke (with a flat, non grade separated junction at Colwich too).
They include Andrew Bowie, who was removed from his post as energy minister after it emerged he had campaigned against pylons in his own constituency. Bowie is now campaigning heavily in his West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine seat against what he calls “monster pylons”.'
That is presumably the SSEN Kintore-Tealing line which he has complained about - it's part of the 400kV East Coast line improvements.
https://www.andrewbowie.org.uk/news/andrew-vows-continue-fight-against-monster-pylons
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-67571476
https://x.com/ClarkeMicah/status/1805178596496916957?t=FbkrYEX9BLIRAmfyfRtbcg&s=19
Though you are right, apologies
A lot of ppl think Rejoin is very difficult because the process officially entails adopting the Euro, Schengen, etc - things that even many Rejoiners don’t want.
But here’s the thing. If we asked the EU for a return to the 2015 status quo ante…the worst they could do is say no?
I understand that it wouldn’t be able to happen overnight. But if it would be a net GDP benefit to both the UK and the EU… could they not acquiesce? Or agree to something close to it, eventually?
Some would say “The EU would only allow the UK back in under the same terms as everyone else” because if it let us pick and choose, then other countries would demand the same.
But isn’t this partially negated by the ability of the EU to say to any country who wants to leave in the future, “Well look, the UK tried to leave, they regretted it, so much that we both went back to how things were before.”
I’ve long been a believer that 90% of Brexiteers cared predominantly about immigration - yes, austerity/a desire for levelling up etc might have motivated voters but I imagine many of those would probably prefer to be back in the EU now.
I don’t know whether Labour’s plan for closer integration basically gets us eventually to some kind of ‘rejoining in all but name’ which might satisfy people enough on both sides.
I think if the Lib Dems are the official opposition it could certainly accelerate calls to outright rejoin. Electorally it seems lucrative way to try and eat into the Labour vote and differentiate them from Starmer’s Govt.
NEVER NEVER NEVER