Results for the first constituency to declare in the North Korean Parliamentary elections held on Sunday have just come in.
The Constituency first to declare is the symbolic Mount Paektu.
The candidate was Kim Fat Wun.
The result was a 100% vote on a 100% turnout for the sole candidate on the ballot.
"This is an expression of all the service personnel and people's absolute support and profound trust in supreme leader Kim Jong Un as they single-mindedly remain loyal to him," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
We await declarations for the remaining 686 constituencies.
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren't any tiresome customs/immigration forms to fill in as there used to be; smooth train run to the centre, lots of bilingual signs. RT Today extremely preoccupied with Ukraine and a mirror image of much of Western coverage, claiming increasing defections of Ukrainian troops, residents in tears over the threat of anti-Russian domination, etc. They are highlighting demos in further Ukrainian regions demanding to join Crimea. Lead western news is a large demo in Manchester against fracking (is that getting much domestic coverage?), and a critical piece about Obama disregarding bad treatment of gays in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren't any tiresome customs/immigration forms to fill in as there used to be; smooth train run to the centre, lots of bilingual signs. RT Today extremely preoccupied with Ukraine and a mirror image of much of Western coverage, claiming increasing defections of Ukrainian troops, residents in tears over the threat of anti-Russian domination, etc. They are highlighting demos in further Ukrainian regions demanding to join Crimea. Lead western news is a large demo in Manchester against fracking (is that getting much domestic coverage?), and a critical piece about Obama disregarding bad treatment of gays in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren't any tiresome customs/immigration forms to fill in as there used to be; smooth train run to the centre, lots of bilingual signs. RT Today extremely preoccupied with Ukraine and a mirror image of much of Western coverage, claiming increasing defections of Ukrainian troops, residents in tears over the threat of anti-Russian domination, etc. They are highlighting demos in further Ukrainian regions demanding to join Crimea. Lead western news is a large demo in Manchester against fracking (is that getting much domestic coverage?), and a critical piece about Obama disregarding bad treatment of gays in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
That was a good demolition of many of the sillier points of the NYT article. It did not, however, address the point that the morality of the UK's foreign policy was being downgraded behind London's courting of dirty Russian money.
Thatcher in the 1980s stood up for the oppressed nations of Eastern Europe. Cameron doesn't deserve to fill her shoes based on his courting of foreign oligarchs over the well-being of Ukraine.
Socrates
Your persistent line that the Maidan protestors and Ukrainian nationalists are a group of oppressed, freedom loving, democratic, western thinking, oligarch and corruption free saints is naive.
So too is your line that the Russians, whether in Moscow or in the Eastern and Southern Regions of the Ukraine, are totalitarian oppressors with diametrically opposite attributes.
Thatcher may well have taken a public line in the 1980s opposed to communist government in Eastern Europe, but it should be remembered that the abandonment of communism and breakup of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact counties between 1989 and 1991 resulted far more from internal combustion than external pressure. It was Gorbachev recognising the need to reform communism if it was to survive that led to partial reforms which were then extended in the nationalism cause to full abandonment. It was the Russian Federation which overthrew the USSR, not a Reagan-Thatcher moral crusade..
Undoubtedly Russia has greater economic, military and political power than rump Ukraine, but it also has a relatively less corrupt governance and economy and is the government favoured by large swathes of the population in the more prosperous areas of the Ukraine.
Does London show greater moral integrity by courting the money of Ukrainian rather than Russian oligarchs? Is the well-being of the Ukraine better served by allowing it to become a geo-political battlefield between the EU and Russia?
The solution to the current crisis lies in politicians on all sides moving away from extreme and simplistic interpretations of a very complex situation.
FWIW, all my *really* dodgy war stories are from the Ukraine, not Russia.
Like the person who said he didn't need my advice on hostile takeover defence because he already had 30 men with machine guns...
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren'ts in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
It's posts like that which make me appreciate the way you have imbibed russian culture tinged only with a little sadness that you have adopted their ways in economics.
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren'ts in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
It's posts like that which make me appreciate the way you have imbibed russian culture tinged only with a little sadness that you have adopted their ways in economics.
My guess is we will hear no more from Nick tonight.
But, in my defence, it is the safest place to go at night in Moscow and has been run since inception by a Swedish-Russian joint venture. Even the security is run visibly by Swedes.
I won't give the name because if Nick mentions it to the Taxi driver it will triple (at least) the fare he'll pay.
The institutions that blew up the UK economy were:
Northern Rock - NE England, retail banking Halifax Bank of Scotland - Scotland, NW England, retail banking Royal Bank of Scotland - Scotland, retail banking
So, remind me how the South of England blew up the economy, again?
During the credit crunch the federal reserve created **trillions** of dollars out of thin air and parceled it out in bundles of 100s of billions in under the counter loans to all the big banks round the world because they were **all** insolvent due to excessive leverage either directly or as a result of a domino effect.
If you skim the tables in that report it lists them all: 100 billion to bank x , 200 billion to bank y etc. **All** the big names are listed both here and abroad.
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren'ts in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
It's posts like that which make me appreciate the way you have imbibed russian culture tinged only with a little sadness that you have adopted their ways in economics.
My guess is we will hear no more from Nick tonight.
But, in my defence, it is the safest place to go at night in Moscow and has been run since inception by a Swedish-Russian joint venture. Even the security is run by visible Swedes.
I won't give the name because if Nick mentions it to the Taxi driver it will triple (at least) the fare he'll pay.
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren'ts in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
It's posts like that which make me appreciate the way you have imbibed russian culture tinged only with a little sadness that you have adopted their ways in economics.
My guess is we will hear no more from Nick tonight.
But, in my defence, it is the safest place to go at night in Moscow and has been run since inception by a Swedish-Russian joint venture. Even the security is run by visible Swedes.
I won't give the name because if Nick mentions it to the Taxi driver it will triple (at least) the fare he'll pay.
How long did you live in Moscow ?
I had an apartment (their word) for around five years. Prior to that (1986-93) I visited regularly and stayed in hotels.
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren'ts in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
It's posts like that which make me appreciate the way you have imbibed russian culture tinged only with a little sadness that you have adopted their ways in economics.
Mr. Brooke
You do me a disservice.
Corrupting Nick would be a PB career-defining achievement!
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren'ts in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
It's posts like that which make me appreciate the way you have imbibed russian culture tinged only with a little sadness that you have adopted their ways in economics.
Mr. Brooke
You do me a disservice.
Corrupting Nick would be a PB career-defining achievement!
I can only suppose you'll have a photo of him emerging from an abbatoir knife in hand.
OGH from last thread. While I wish you luck on your Rand Paul bet, the big difference between Obama and Paul is that Obama was always considered a mainstream prospect for high office, albeit a tad later than happened. I don't think anyone over here truly believes that Rand Paul is mainstream in the slightest (even if some of his issues and philosophy engender sympathy) or that he has any prospects for election to high office in a nationwide election. Things would have to get very bad in the world for the US electorate to get so isolationist that Rand Paul becomes their first choice. (Said by someone with strong libertarian leanings)
The institutions that blew up the UK economy were:
Northern Rock - NE England, retail banking Halifax Bank of Scotland - Scotland, NW England, retail banking Royal Bank of Scotland - Scotland, retail banking
So, remind me how the South of England blew up the economy, again?
During the credit crunch the federal reserve created **trillions** of dollars out of thin air and parceled it out in bundles of 100s of billions in under the counter loans to all the big banks round the world because they were **all** insolvent due to excessive leverage either directly or as a result of a domino effect.
If you skim the tables in that report it lists them all: 100 billion to bank x , 200 billion to bank y etc. **All** the big names are listed both here and abroad.
And many of those were forced to take the money rather than stigmatise those who needed it.
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren'ts in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
It's posts like that which make me appreciate the way you have imbibed russian culture tinged only with a little sadness that you have adopted their ways in economics.
Mr. Brooke
You do me a disservice.
Corrupting Nick would be a PB career-defining achievement!
Do Muscovites still wear animal furs at this time of year? Dr Palmer may be traumatized.
The institutions that blew up the UK economy were:
Northern Rock - NE England, retail banking Halifax Bank of Scotland - Scotland, NW England, retail banking Royal Bank of Scotland - Scotland, retail banking
So, remind me how the South of England blew up the economy, again?
During the credit crunch the federal reserve created **trillions** of dollars out of thin air and parceled it out in bundles of 100s of billions in under the counter loans to all the big banks round the world because they were **all** insolvent due to excessive leverage either directly or as a result of a domino effect.
If you skim the tables in that report it lists them all: 100 billion to bank x , 200 billion to bank y etc. **All** the big names are listed both here and abroad.
And many of those were forced to take the money rather than stigmatise those who needed it.
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren'ts in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
It's posts like that which make me appreciate the way you have imbibed russian culture tinged only with a little sadness that you have adopted their ways in economics.
Mr. Brooke
You do me a disservice.
Corrupting Nick would be a PB career-defining achievement!
Do Muscovites still wear animal furs at this time of year? Dr Palmer may be traumatized.
My Muscovite friends are reporting record breaking tropical weather and not a snowflake in site.
Sean, re Ben Judah. Not quite sure what Judah's real point is. How precisely is the UK betraying the US if it disagrees with proposed US policy which isn't even in place yet? And even if the UK is following a patently venal self-interest, what is wrong with that? And does the US not also sell residence to foreigners if they invest enough?
Hello from Moscow and the very comfortable Ibis hotel. Things smoother for foreigners than on my last visit a few years ago - passport control took about 2 minutes, and there aren'ts in Saudi Arabia - irony meter in full operation.
It is 12:30 am, Nick.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
It's posts like that which make me appreciate the way you have imbibed russian culture tinged only with a little sadness that you have adopted their ways in economics.
My guess is we will hear no more from Nick tonight.
But, in my defence, it is the safest place to go at night in Moscow and has been run since inception by a Swedish-Russian joint venture. Even the security is run by visible Swedes.
I won't give the name because if Nick mentions it to the Taxi driver it will triple (at least) the fare he'll pay.
How long did you live in Moscow ?
I had an apartment (their word) for around five years. Prior to that (1986-93) I visited regularly and stayed in hotels.
In days gone by, you would have been an MI5 defector !
Think about it, people like Blunt, Philby were not exactly proletarian, were they ?
Hills are paying 5 places at 1/4 odds in the Supreme Novices.
The overround on their book is 130% for the win, 383% for the place. Since they are paying 5 places does this mean their book is essentially over-broke on the place side and thus there must be some value there ?
I'm sure there's tonnes of other calculations for Cheltenham like this but just thought I'd point it out as a starter for 10.
Comments
Results for the first constituency to declare in the North Korean Parliamentary elections held on Sunday have just come in.
The Constituency first to declare is the symbolic Mount Paektu.
The candidate was Kim Fat Wun.
The result was a 100% vote on a 100% turnout for the sole candidate on the ballot.
"This is an expression of all the service personnel and people's absolute support and profound trust in supreme leader Kim Jong Un as they single-mindedly remain loyal to him," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
We await declarations for the remaining 686 constituencies.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10688532/Ukraine-crisis-Im-prepared-to-hit-City-to-punish-Putin-says-David-Cameron.html
I hear the Ice cream is excellent...
After the Jayson Blair scandal, I'm surprised the the NYT lets this type of fictional gibberish through;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair
America's paper of record, my arse.
My advice.
Hop into a taxi (a bit unfair to expect you to go for a private ride so early in your trip).
Ask driver to take you to Ulitsa Tverskaya 17. Tverskaya is the main road leading up from Revolution Square (or maybe now called Manezh Square) all the way eventually to Sheremetyevo Airport. You will not be going more than ten minute walking distance from the Kremlin.
Spend an hour there and come home unaccompanied.
It is one of the great wonders of the world and has to be viewed by all red blooded males.
I think that is all he can do though.
Like the person who said he didn't need my advice on hostile takeover defence because he already had 30 men with machine guns...
He is an insufferably dull man.
But, in my defence, it is the safest place to go at night in Moscow and has been run since inception by a Swedish-Russian joint venture. Even the security is run visibly by Swedes.
I won't give the name because if Nick mentions it to the Taxi driver it will triple (at least) the fare he'll pay.
During the credit crunch the federal reserve created **trillions** of dollars out of thin air and parceled it out in bundles of 100s of billions in under the counter loans to all the big banks round the world because they were **all** insolvent due to excessive leverage either directly or as a result of a domino effect.
If you skim the tables in that report it lists them all: 100 billion to bank x , 200 billion to bank y etc. **All** the big names are listed both here and abroad.
You do me a disservice.
Corrupting Nick would be a PB career-defining achievement!
(Gordonstoun and Cambridge - perhaps it's not Edward's fault that he's so dull...)
Universities on the other hand ......
I was talking about Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, not Prince Michael of Kent.
Time shifting means you have four hours on the night.
Report in please to ATC.
Now while the NYT aticle's description of London was clearly erroneus it did sound like a description of the cities SeanT so admires in China.
So shouldn't SeanT's tone have been more of a 'if only it was true' type ?
It is shorts and hawaiian shirt weather, Moniker.
Think about it, people like Blunt, Philby were not exactly proletarian, were they ?
Hills are paying 5 places at 1/4 odds in the Supreme Novices.
The overround on their book is 130% for the win, 383% for the place. Since they are paying 5 places does this mean their book is essentially over-broke on the place side and thus there must be some value there ?
I'm sure there's tonnes of other calculations for Cheltenham like this but just thought I'd point it out as a starter for 10.
Do my calculations sound correct too ?