Quite odd that nobody has stated the obvious conclusion that 'Hallett' has been completely pointless. You can see how all the commentators fancy a bit of the future long-running committee action.
We weren’t prepared for a once in a lifetime event that none of us saw coming seems to have been the conclusion. That most of us could have drawn 4 years ago.
The question about how well governments can prepare for events that no-one saw coming is a pertinent one to ask, and there are probable learnings that can be drawn from it. But of course this will all get drowned out by the chorus of how awful our awful government was by the media, who loved playing that game all the way through the pandemic. I do not give the government much credit as things go, and I am absolutely convinced they could have done better, but i see things as much more nuanced.
.....Much of it done by Johnson and Truss. Interestingly I count 25 women in the shot and 18 men. That rebalance is one of the great advances of this parliament and something that hints the country might be moving forward on several fronts
Why are people with different genitals a "great advance"? It is neither an advance nor a retreat in itself. What we need are the best people, regardless of their gender.
One of the positive things about May (perhaps unfairly) and especially Truss, is that they prove that women can be just as much a failure, or as incompetent, as men. The idea that putting a woman in charge is a magic solution to an organisation's woes is, I fear, a false one.
Nicola Sturgeon Cressida Dick Dido Harding Helen Pitcher Paula Vennells Alice Perkins Amanda Spielman Hillary Clinton
Lol I see the "what about white middle aged men?" brigade are out in force this afternoon.
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
Our van was broken into electronically in Dorset and if we hadn't had an old school Stoplock fitted to it, I think it would have been nicked. The thieves had pulled all the right fuses and messed with the OBD port, probably to to bypass the immobiliser, but had clearly been spooked or forgotten their battery angle grinder. They were caught on a neighbouring Airbnb apartment cctv, and had successfully nicked another Transporter just down the road. I couldn't speak to the rozzers to report it as they don't have staff to record crimes and it had to be done online. Literally 6 hours later, I get an automated email telling me the crime will be filed as "Undetected". I doubt any human spent more than a couple of minutes looking into it.
Interesting but somewhat different case recently here.
About 3 weeks ago, 3 or 4 scrotes went through the village one night breaking into cars, sheds and garages and nicking anything they could get their hands on> they were caught on various CCTVs which weer then given to the police.
Within about 24 hours the police had identifed them, arrested them and got a significant portion of the stolen goods back. They were well known to the local cops so it was a fairly straightforward arrest for them.
The problem being of course that it is extremely unlikely they youths will get any sort of sentence that actually serves as a deterent. So of course they will be back at it again soon.
But the police actually did their job and caught them which is all you can ask of them.
Do domestic burglary 3 times and it's a minimum sentence of 3 years (unless very exceptional circumstances apply). So even if they get a slap on the wrists this time, they're setting themselves up for something "proper".
Another reason to ditch the monarchy, it subverts democracy/the will of the people.
Sir Keir Starmer might be forced to keep two hereditary peers because of their links to the King.
The Prime Minister has pledged to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords by making all those aged 80 and above step down.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will remove their right to sit and vote in Parliament’s upper chamber after officials criticised the “outdated and indefensible” presence of those who were there solely by right of birth.
It is considered the first step in Sir Keir’s efforts to modernise the Lords and make it “fit for the 21st century”.
However, of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain are likely to be exempt because of the constitutional role they play on state occasions, sources admitted.
The Earl Marshal is a hereditary office that requires him to organise major ceremonial occasions.
No it doesn't, he had no manifesto commitment to remove the monarchy or the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
Indeed Tories should oppose all this act of constitutional vandalism, Labour may have had a manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers, the Tories didn't
The Salisbury-Addison convention applies, the King should shut the eff up or run for election.
He’s worse than that Nazi lover Edward VIII who actually listened to his government.
Oh dear, the republican virus infects the debate again.
It’s a debate about democracy.
The King is stopping a manifesto commitment of his elected government.
Nope, thats just you warped view of it. Thankfully it is not a view shared by anyone sane.
House of Lords = House of Unelected Has-Beens!
I am not arguing against the removal of the hereditaries, just TSE's fanatical and ill informed republicanism.
.....Much of it done by Johnson and Truss. Interestingly I count 25 women in the shot and 18 men. That rebalance is one of the great advances of this parliament and something that hints the country might be moving forward on several fronts
Why are people with different genitals a "great advance"? It is neither an advance nor a retreat in itself. What we need are the best people, regardless of their gender.
One of the positive things about May (perhaps unfairly) and especially Truss, is that they prove that women can be just as much a failure, or as incompetent, as men. The idea that putting a woman in charge is a magic solution to an organisation's woes is, I fear, a false one.
Nicola Sturgeon Cressida Dick Dido Harding Helen Pitcher Paula Vennells Alice Perkins Amanda Spielman Hillary Clinton
Lol I see the "what about white middle aged me?" brigade are out in force this afternoon.
No, the "what about competent people" brigade. Competent people seem to be viciously discriminated against.
Another reason to ditch the monarchy, it subverts democracy/the will of the people.
Sir Keir Starmer might be forced to keep two hereditary peers because of their links to the King.
The Prime Minister has pledged to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords by making all those aged 80 and above step down.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will remove their right to sit and vote in Parliament’s upper chamber after officials criticised the “outdated and indefensible” presence of those who were there solely by right of birth.
It is considered the first step in Sir Keir’s efforts to modernise the Lords and make it “fit for the 21st century”.
However, of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain are likely to be exempt because of the constitutional role they play on state occasions, sources admitted.
The Earl Marshal is a hereditary office that requires him to organise major ceremonial occasions.
No it doesn't, he had no manifesto commitment to remove the monarchy or the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
Indeed Tories should oppose all this act of constitutional vandalism, Labour may have had a manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers, the Tories didn't
The Salisbury-Addison convention applies, the King should shut the eff up or run for election.
He’s worse than that Nazi lover Edward VIII who actually listened to his government.
Oh dear, the republican virus infects the debate again.
It’s a debate about democracy.
The King is stopping a manifesto commitment of his elected government.
Nope, thats just you warped view of it. Thankfully it is not a view shared by anyone sane.
House of Lords = House of Unelected Has-Beens!
I am not arguing against the removal of the hereditaries, just TSE's fanatical and ill informed republicanism.
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
Our van was broken into electronically in Dorset and if we hadn't had an old school Stoplock fitted to it, I think it would have been nicked. The thieves had pulled all the right fuses and messed with the OBD port, probably to to bypass the immobiliser, but had clearly been spooked or forgotten their battery angle grinder. They were caught on a neighbouring Airbnb apartment cctv, and had successfully nicked another Transporter just down the road. I couldn't speak to the rozzers to report it as they don't have staff to record crimes and it had to be done online. Literally 6 hours later, I get an automated email telling me the crime will be filed as "Undetected". I doubt any human spent more than a couple of minutes looking into it.
Interesting but somewhat different case recently here.
About 3 weeks ago, 3 or 4 scrotes went through the village one night breaking into cars, sheds and garages and nicking anything they could get their hands on> they were caught on various CCTVs which weer then given to the police.
Within about 24 hours the police had identifed them, arrested them and got a significant portion of the stolen goods back. They were well known to the local cops so it was a fairly straightforward arrest for them.
The problem being of course that it is extremely unlikely they youths will get any sort of sentence that actually serves as a deterent. So of course they will be back at it again soon.
But the police actually did their job and caught them which is all you can ask of them.
Realistically, there probably isn't a lot the police could do in our case. It's just frustrating that I didn't even get to speak to human being. I just got the automated email response with a link to "victim support". All done and dusted in under 6 hours with no real work involved. I never heard from Dorset police again.
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
Our van was broken into electronically in Dorset and if we hadn't had an old school Stoplock fitted to it, I think it would have been nicked. The thieves had pulled all the right fuses and messed with the OBD port, probably to to bypass the immobiliser, but had clearly been spooked or forgotten their battery angle grinder. They were caught on a neighbouring Airbnb apartment cctv, and had successfully nicked another Transporter just down the road. I couldn't speak to the rozzers to report it as they don't have staff to record crimes and it had to be done online. Literally 6 hours later, I get an automated email telling me the crime will be filed as "Undetected". I doubt any human spent more than a couple of minutes looking into it.
Interesting but somewhat different case recently here.
About 3 weeks ago, 3 or 4 scrotes went through the village one night breaking into cars, sheds and garages and nicking anything they could get their hands on> they were caught on various CCTVs which weer then given to the police.
Within about 24 hours the police had identifed them, arrested them and got a significant portion of the stolen goods back. They were well known to the local cops so it was a fairly straightforward arrest for them.
The problem being of course that it is extremely unlikely they youths will get any sort of sentence that actually serves as a deterent. So of course they will be back at it again soon.
But the police actually did their job and caught them which is all you can ask of them.
Do domestic burglary 3 times and it's a minimum sentence of 3 years (unless very exceptional circumstances apply). So even if they get a slap on the wrists this time, they're setting themselves up for something "proper".
Only if there's a spare place in the nick for them!
In the light of this, you might consider the odd hedge bet sensible.
Shapiro in particular (and also in the light of his pitch perfect response to the Trump shooting) looks pretty good value at (what were when I hedged) his very long odds for the Presidency.
Another reason to ditch the monarchy, it subverts democracy/the will of the people.
Sir Keir Starmer might be forced to keep two hereditary peers because of their links to the King.
The Prime Minister has pledged to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords by making all those aged 80 and above step down.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will remove their right to sit and vote in Parliament’s upper chamber after officials criticised the “outdated and indefensible” presence of those who were there solely by right of birth.
It is considered the first step in Sir Keir’s efforts to modernise the Lords and make it “fit for the 21st century”.
However, of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain are likely to be exempt because of the constitutional role they play on state occasions, sources admitted.
The Earl Marshal is a hereditary office that requires him to organise major ceremonial occasions.
No it doesn't, he had no manifesto commitment to remove the monarchy or the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
Indeed Tories should oppose all this act of constitutional vandalism, Labour may have had a manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers, the Tories didn't
The Salisbury-Addison convention applies, the King should shut the eff up or run for election.
He’s worse than that Nazi lover Edward VIII who actually listened to his government.
No he shouldn't, the King has said nothing, the Telegraph has and is absolutely right that Labour has no mandate to remove the Earl Marshal and LGC.
I would expect a non Tory Liberal like you however not to stand up for our hereditary peers but Tory MPs certainly should do, they should oppose this Bill and Tory peers try and delay it as long as possible
You must be bald as a coot with all that forelock tugging.
.....Much of it done by Johnson and Truss. Interestingly I count 25 women in the shot and 18 men. That rebalance is one of the great advances of this parliament and something that hints the country might be moving forward on several fronts
Why are people with different genitals a "great advance"? It is neither an advance nor a retreat in itself. What we need are the best people, regardless of their gender.
One of the positive things about May (perhaps unfairly) and especially Truss, is that they prove that women can be just as much a failure, or as incompetent, as men. The idea that putting a woman in charge is a magic solution to an organisation's woes is, I fear, a false one.
Nicola Sturgeon Cressida Dick Dido Harding Helen Pitcher Paula Vennells Alice Perkins Amanda Spielman Hillary Clinton
Lol I see the "what about white middle aged me?" brigade are out in force this afternoon.
No, the "what about competent people" brigade. Competent people seem to be viciously discriminated against.
And what might be the mechanism for that discrimination?
I agree that mediocrity and ineptitude goes unchallenged because of the 'someone like us' syndrome but that's not the same as actively discriminating against competent people.
What happens is posts are filled by 'someone we know', 'someone like us', 'someone who will fit in' rather than through proper selection.
.....Much of it done by Johnson and Truss. Interestingly I count 25 women in the shot and 18 men. That rebalance is one of the great advances of this parliament and something that hints the country might be moving forward on several fronts
Why are people with different genitals a "great advance"? It is neither an advance nor a retreat in itself. What we need are the best people, regardless of their gender.
One of the positive things about May (perhaps unfairly) and especially Truss, is that they prove that women can be just as much a failure, or as incompetent, as men. The idea that putting a woman in charge is a magic solution to an organisation's woes is, I fear, a false one.
Nicola Sturgeon Cressida Dick Dido Harding Helen Pitcher Paula Vennells Alice Perkins Amanda Spielman Hillary Clinton
Lol I see the "what about white middle aged me?" brigade are out in force this afternoon.
No, the "what about competent people" brigade. Competent people seem to be viciously discriminated against.
I think life is mainly around the incompetent. You spend half your time trying to be nice to all the people that are incompetent, and helping them to improve. Then the other half of your time is dealing with the crap that the incompetent people in power spin your way. You finish up with no time at all left to demonstrate your personal competence in actually doing anything.
In the light of this, you might consider the odd hedge bet sensible.
Shapiro in particular (and also in the light of his pitch perfect response to the Trump shooting) looks pretty good value at (what were when I hedged) his very long odds for the Presidency.
Only Shapiro or Whitmer and Mark Kelly do clearly better than Biden on that polling in some key battleground states, unsurprisingly as they are all Governors or Senators from key battleground states. Harris or Newsom don't.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Another reason to ditch the monarchy, it subverts democracy/the will of the people.
Sir Keir Starmer might be forced to keep two hereditary peers because of their links to the King.
The Prime Minister has pledged to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords by making all those aged 80 and above step down.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will remove their right to sit and vote in Parliament’s upper chamber after officials criticised the “outdated and indefensible” presence of those who were there solely by right of birth.
It is considered the first step in Sir Keir’s efforts to modernise the Lords and make it “fit for the 21st century”.
However, of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain are likely to be exempt because of the constitutional role they play on state occasions, sources admitted.
The Earl Marshal is a hereditary office that requires him to organise major ceremonial occasions.
No it doesn't, he had no manifesto commitment to remove the monarchy or the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
Indeed Tories should oppose all this act of constitutional vandalism, Labour may have had a manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers, the Tories didn't
The Salisbury-Addison convention applies, the King should shut the eff up or run for election.
He’s worse than that Nazi lover Edward VIII who actually listened to his government.
No he shouldn't, the King has said nothing, the Telegraph has and is absolutely right that Labour has no mandate to remove the Earl Marshal and LGC.
I would expect a non Tory Liberal like you however not to stand up for our hereditary peers but Tory MPs certainly should do, they should oppose this Bill and Tory peers try and delay it as long as possible
I'm confused. How does 'removing the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords' equate to stopping the Earl Marshal and LGC performing their ceremonial duties? Why can't they just perform those duties but not speak or vote in the HoL?
In the light of this, you might consider the odd hedge bet sensible.
Shapiro in particular (and also in the light of his pitch perfect response to the Trump shooting) looks pretty good value at (what were when I hedged) his very long odds for the Presidency.
Only Shapiro or Whitmer and Mark Kelly do clearly better than Biden on that polling in some key battleground states, unsurprisingly as they are all Governors or Senators from key battleground states. Harris or Newsom don't.
Wes Moore, Governor of MD also does OK
I was surprised for a moment that you thought Ben Shapiro might be an alternative.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
That’s absolutely terrible from the Met.
Don’t they think that whoever stole your car might be stealing others, and that they almost certainly have done something before to bring themselves to a police station? So take prints, identify the scrote, pick him up, and see the car thefts in that area drop to nothing overnight. Win-win-win.
But London decided to re-elect the man in charge, who thinks the pride parades are more important than the crime rate.
Another reason to ditch the monarchy, it subverts democracy/the will of the people.
Sir Keir Starmer might be forced to keep two hereditary peers because of their links to the King.
The Prime Minister has pledged to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords by making all those aged 80 and above step down.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will remove their right to sit and vote in Parliament’s upper chamber after officials criticised the “outdated and indefensible” presence of those who were there solely by right of birth.
It is considered the first step in Sir Keir’s efforts to modernise the Lords and make it “fit for the 21st century”.
However, of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain are likely to be exempt because of the constitutional role they play on state occasions, sources admitted.
The Earl Marshal is a hereditary office that requires him to organise major ceremonial occasions.
No it doesn't, he had no manifesto commitment to remove the monarchy or the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
Indeed Tories should oppose all this act of constitutional vandalism, Labour may have had a manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers, the Tories didn't
The Salisbury-Addison convention applies, the King should shut the eff up or run for election.
He’s worse than that Nazi lover Edward VIII who actually listened to his government.
No he shouldn't, the King has said nothing, the Telegraph has and is absolutely right that Labour has no mandate to remove the Earl Marshal and LGC.
I would expect a non Tory Liberal like you however not to stand up for our hereditary peers but Tory MPs certainly should do, they should oppose this Bill and Tory peers try and delay it as long as possible
I voted Tory in 2024, that's what being a proper Tory does.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Another reason to ditch the monarchy, it subverts democracy/the will of the people.
Sir Keir Starmer might be forced to keep two hereditary peers because of their links to the King.
The Prime Minister has pledged to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords by making all those aged 80 and above step down.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will remove their right to sit and vote in Parliament’s upper chamber after officials criticised the “outdated and indefensible” presence of those who were there solely by right of birth.
It is considered the first step in Sir Keir’s efforts to modernise the Lords and make it “fit for the 21st century”.
However, of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain are likely to be exempt because of the constitutional role they play on state occasions, sources admitted.
The Earl Marshal is a hereditary office that requires him to organise major ceremonial occasions.
No it doesn't, he had no manifesto commitment to remove the monarchy or the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
Indeed Tories should oppose all this act of constitutional vandalism, Labour may have had a manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers, the Tories didn't
The Salisbury-Addison convention applies, the King should shut the eff up or run for election.
He’s worse than that Nazi lover Edward VIII who actually listened to his government.
No he shouldn't, the King has said nothing, the Telegraph has and is absolutely right that Labour has no mandate to remove the Earl Marshal and LGC.
I would expect a non Tory Liberal like you however not to stand up for our hereditary peers but Tory MPs certainly should do, they should oppose this Bill and Tory peers try and delay it as long as possible
I'm confused. How does 'removing the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords' equate to stopping the Earl Marshal and LGC performing their ceremonial duties? Why can't they just perform those duties but not speak or vote in the HoL?
Often our constitution seems to have this weird insurmountable barrier (in people’s heads) where everyone gets very worked up about the fact that various officers of state etc absolutely must be members of parliament or that to set foot in a particular house of parliament one absolutely must be a member of it. Despite there being loads of exceptions to this general rule.
It comes from a bit of institutional inertia (this is how it has always been done since Richard I you know….) and perhaps a little bit of the fact the government is drawn from Parliament and quite enjoys the fact it’s a select club.
You’re absolutely right, therefore, that there is precisely zero reason why these officers need to be members of the HOL but here we are having this odd debate again.
Another reason to ditch the monarchy, it subverts democracy/the will of the people.
Sir Keir Starmer might be forced to keep two hereditary peers because of their links to the King.
The Prime Minister has pledged to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords by making all those aged 80 and above step down.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will remove their right to sit and vote in Parliament’s upper chamber after officials criticised the “outdated and indefensible” presence of those who were there solely by right of birth.
It is considered the first step in Sir Keir’s efforts to modernise the Lords and make it “fit for the 21st century”.
However, of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain are likely to be exempt because of the constitutional role they play on state occasions, sources admitted.
The Earl Marshal is a hereditary office that requires him to organise major ceremonial occasions.
No it doesn't, he had no manifesto commitment to remove the monarchy or the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
Indeed Tories should oppose all this act of constitutional vandalism, Labour may have had a manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers, the Tories didn't
The Salisbury-Addison convention applies, the King should shut the eff up or run for election.
He’s worse than that Nazi lover Edward VIII who actually listened to his government.
No he shouldn't, the King has said nothing, the Telegraph has and is absolutely right that Labour has no mandate to remove the Earl Marshal and LGC.
I would expect a non Tory Liberal like you however not to stand up for our hereditary peers but Tory MPs certainly should do, they should oppose this Bill and Tory peers try and delay it as long as possible
I voted Tory in 2024, that's what being a proper Tory does.
You voted Liberal Democrat in 2017 and 2019, at most you are a Whig who votes Conservative to keep out Labour. If this was PB 18th century or early 19th century and we were both in the Commons you would have been on the Whig benches and I would have been on the Tory benches
In the light of this, you might consider the odd hedge bet sensible.
Shapiro in particular (and also in the light of his pitch perfect response to the Trump shooting) looks pretty good value at (what were when I hedged) his very long odds for the Presidency.
Only Shapiro or Whitmer and Mark Kelly do clearly better than Biden on that polling in some key battleground states, unsurprisingly as they are all Governors or Senators from key battleground states. Harris or Newsom don't.
Wes Moore, Governor of MD also does OK
I was surprised for a moment that you thought Ben Shapiro might be an alternative.
Another reason to ditch the monarchy, it subverts democracy/the will of the people.
Sir Keir Starmer might be forced to keep two hereditary peers because of their links to the King.
The Prime Minister has pledged to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords by making all those aged 80 and above step down.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will remove their right to sit and vote in Parliament’s upper chamber after officials criticised the “outdated and indefensible” presence of those who were there solely by right of birth.
It is considered the first step in Sir Keir’s efforts to modernise the Lords and make it “fit for the 21st century”.
However, of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain are likely to be exempt because of the constitutional role they play on state occasions, sources admitted.
The Earl Marshal is a hereditary office that requires him to organise major ceremonial occasions.
No it doesn't, he had no manifesto commitment to remove the monarchy or the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
Indeed Tories should oppose all this act of constitutional vandalism, Labour may have had a manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers, the Tories didn't
The Salisbury-Addison convention applies, the King should shut the eff up or run for election.
He’s worse than that Nazi lover Edward VIII who actually listened to his government.
No he shouldn't, the King has said nothing, the Telegraph has and is absolutely right that Labour has no mandate to remove the Earl Marshal and LGC.
I would expect a non Tory Liberal like you however not to stand up for our hereditary peers but Tory MPs certainly should do, they should oppose this Bill and Tory peers try and delay it as long as possible
I voted Tory in 2024, that's what being a proper Tory does.
You voted Liberal Democrat in 2017 and 2019, at most you are a Whig you votes Conservative to keep out Labour. If this was PB 18th century or early 19th century and we were both in the Commons you would have been on the Whig benches and I would have been on the Tory benches
If this was the 18th or 19th century I would have been even more oppressed than I am today.
At least I've never voted for Nationalists who want to break up the UK.
I’ve been away so I can understand why the site is a bit grumpy and bored, so I apologise. I’m on hols with ma fille
But this might cheer you all up. The gazette have just told me this afternoon that it is sending me to Japan’s Yaeyama archipelago, one of the most exotic and fabulous destinations on the planet
Isn’t that good news? Surely everyone just feels little bit happier now, knowing that at least one PBer is going to this amazing place?
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
.....Much of it done by Johnson and Truss. Interestingly I count 25 women in the shot and 18 men. That rebalance is one of the great advances of this parliament and something that hints the country might be moving forward on several fronts
Why are people with different genitals a "great advance"? It is neither an advance nor a retreat in itself. What we need are the best people, regardless of their gender.
One of the positive things about May (perhaps unfairly) and especially Truss, is that they prove that women can be just as much a failure, or as incompetent, as men. The idea that putting a woman in charge is a magic solution to an organisation's woes is, I fear, a false one.
Nicola Sturgeon Cressida Dick Dido Harding Helen Pitcher Paula Vennells Alice Perkins Amanda Spielman Hillary Clinton
Lol I see the "what about white middle aged me?" brigade are out in force this afternoon.
No, the "what about competent people" brigade. Competent people seem to be viciously discriminated against.
I think life is mainly around the incompetent. You spend half your time trying to be nice to all the people that are incompetent, and helping them to improve. Then the other half of your time is dealing with the crap that the incompetent people in power spin your way. You finish up with no time at all left to demonstrate your personal competence in actually doing anything.
I suggest you look at the theory and practise of anti-discrimination.
Filling posts with your chums is discriminatory. Because it leaves no space for your non-chums.
So, the Fuckwits In Charge diversified their searches for Fuckwits.
I am arguing the same methodology and process should be applied, again, to reach outside The Magic Circle.
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
My Carluccio's habit is something something something and a Bloody Mary. Especially in the morning.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Quite odd that nobody has stated the obvious conclusion that 'Hallett' has been completely pointless. You can see how all the commentators fancy a bit of the future long-running committee action.
We weren’t prepared for a once in a lifetime event that none of us saw coming seems to have been the conclusion. That most of us could have drawn 4 years ago.
The question about how well governments can prepare for events that no-one saw coming is a pertinent one to ask, and there are probable learnings that can be drawn from it. But of course this will all get drowned out by the chorus of how awful our awful government was by the media, who loved playing that game all the way through the pandemic. I do not give the government much credit as things go, and I am absolutely convinced they could have done better, but i see things as much more nuanced.
I have more time for the last government during the pandemic than after it.
Making mistakes during a once in a lifetime pandemic is entirely understandable.
But afterwards? Triple lock plus? National service? Dropping housing targets during a housing crisis?
No once in a lifetime excuse for any of that bullshit. Rishi repeatedly was cold, considered, planned, then did the wrong thing.
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Tried it ... once.
The Standard Hotel just outside is the truly cool place to eat and drink
Or Barrafina in Coal Drops Yard. Or have the famous steak bavette at Vinoteca
.....Much of it done by Johnson and Truss. Interestingly I count 25 women in the shot and 18 men. That rebalance is one of the great advances of this parliament and something that hints the country might be moving forward on several fronts
Why are people with different genitals a "great advance"? It is neither an advance nor a retreat in itself. What we need are the best people, regardless of their gender.
One of the positive things about May (perhaps unfairly) and especially Truss, is that they prove that women can be just as much a failure, or as incompetent, as men. The idea that putting a woman in charge is a magic solution to an organisation's woes is, I fear, a false one.
Nicola Sturgeon Cressida Dick Dido Harding Helen Pitcher Paula Vennells Alice Perkins Amanda Spielman Hillary Clinton
Lol I see the "what about white middle aged me?" brigade are out in force this afternoon.
No, the "what about competent people" brigade. Competent people seem to be viciously discriminated against.
I think life is mainly around the incompetent. You spend half your time trying to be nice to all the people that are incompetent, and helping them to improve. Then the other half of your time is dealing with the crap that the incompetent people in power spin your way. You finish up with no time at all left to demonstrate your personal competence in actually doing anything.
I suggest you look at the theory and practise of anti-discrimination.
Filling posts with your chums is discriminatory. Because it leaves no space for your non-chums.
So, the Fuckwits In Charge diversified their searches for Fuckwits.
I am arguing the same methodology and process should be applied, again, to reach outside The Magic Circle.
You are Baroness Hallett, and I claim my 5 pounds!
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Tried it ... once.
The Standard Hotel just outside is the truly cool place to eat and drink
Or Barrafina in Coal Drops Yard. Or have the famous steak bavette at Vinoteca
Can I take a cycle in?
(The last time I did Carluccio's was on the way to a cycling holiday on the IOW. My not cool thing was forgetting to unclip in Trafalgar Square, and doing a great-collapsing-sideways disaster.)
I’m sitting outside Van Gogh’s “night cafe” which, kind of fittingly, is closed coz it went bankrupt
How would you fuck up a guaranteed business like that?
As I mentioned yesterday they ruined it by having really aggressive staff outside almost literally dragging in passing tourists. I saw their menu when passing early one morning and it was bonkers expensive and all revues of their food were dreadful. That’s how you fuck up an amazing opportunity and site like that.
I’m sitting outside Van Gogh’s “night cafe” which, kind of fittingly, is closed coz it went bankrupt
How would you fuck up a guaranteed business like that?
As I mentioned yesterday they ruined it by having really aggressive staff outside almost literally dragging in passing tourists. I saw their menu when passing early one morning and it was bonkers expensive and all revues of their food were dreadful. That’s how you fuck up an amazing opportunity and site like that.
That’s properly interesting. How mad!
Just make it a normal cafe and add a euro or two to the prices - as it is THE cafe - and it will be rammed 24/7 all year. So you will still make a lovely profit
There should be a long FT essay using it as an example of this phenomenon
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
I’m sitting outside Van Gogh’s “night cafe” which, kind of fittingly, is closed coz it went bankrupt
How would you fuck up a guaranteed business like that?
As I mentioned yesterday they ruined it by having really aggressive staff outside almost literally dragging in passing tourists. I saw their menu when passing early one morning and it was bonkers expensive and all revues of their food were dreadful. That’s how you fuck up an amazing opportunity and site like that.
That’s properly interesting. How mad!
Just make it a normal cafe and add a euro or two to the prices - as it is THE cafe - and it will be rammed 24/7 all year. So you will still make a lovely profit
There should be a long FT essay using it as an example of this phenomenon
I could understand the extra cost and/or bad food in an iconic site but it was the four or five scary staff grabbing your arm as you past and pulling you towards the entrance. Nuts.
Another reason to ditch the monarchy, it subverts democracy/the will of the people.
Sir Keir Starmer might be forced to keep two hereditary peers because of their links to the King.
The Prime Minister has pledged to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords by making all those aged 80 and above step down.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will remove their right to sit and vote in Parliament’s upper chamber after officials criticised the “outdated and indefensible” presence of those who were there solely by right of birth.
It is considered the first step in Sir Keir’s efforts to modernise the Lords and make it “fit for the 21st century”.
However, of the 92 remaining hereditary peers, the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain are likely to be exempt because of the constitutional role they play on state occasions, sources admitted.
The Earl Marshal is a hereditary office that requires him to organise major ceremonial occasions.
No it doesn't, he had no manifesto commitment to remove the monarchy or the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
Indeed Tories should oppose all this act of constitutional vandalism, Labour may have had a manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers, the Tories didn't
The Salisbury-Addison convention applies, the King should shut the eff up or run for election.
He’s worse than that Nazi lover Edward VIII who actually listened to his government.
No he shouldn't, the King has said nothing, the Telegraph has and is absolutely right that Labour has no mandate to remove the Earl Marshal and LGC.
I would expect a non Tory Liberal like you however not to stand up for our hereditary peers but Tory MPs certainly should do, they should oppose this Bill and Tory peers try and delay it as long as possible
I voted Tory in 2024, that's what being a proper Tory does.
You voted Liberal Democrat in 2017 and 2019, at most you are a Whig who votes Conservative to keep out Labour. If this was PB 18th century or early 19th century and we were both in the Commons you would have been on the Whig benches and I would have been on the Tory benches
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
Our van was broken into electronically in Dorset and if we hadn't had an old school Stoplock fitted to it, I think it would have been nicked. The thieves had pulled all the right fuses and messed with the OBD port, probably to to bypass the immobiliser, but had clearly been spooked or forgotten their battery angle grinder. They were caught on a neighbouring Airbnb apartment cctv, and had successfully nicked another Transporter just down the road. I couldn't speak to the rozzers to report it as they don't have staff to record crimes and it had to be done online. Literally 6 hours later, I get an automated email telling me the crime will be filed as "Undetected". I doubt any human spent more than a couple of minutes looking into it.
Interesting but somewhat different case recently here.
About 3 weeks ago, 3 or 4 scrotes went through the village one night breaking into cars, sheds and garages and nicking anything they could get their hands on> they were caught on various CCTVs which weer then given to the police.
Within about 24 hours the police had identifed them, arrested them and got a significant portion of the stolen goods back. They were well known to the local cops so it was a fairly straightforward arrest for them.
The problem being of course that it is extremely unlikely they youths will get any sort of sentence that actually serves as a deterent. So of course they will be back at it again soon.
But the police actually did their job and caught them which is all you can ask of them.
Do domestic burglary 3 times and it's a minimum sentence of 3 years (unless very exceptional circumstances apply). So even if they get a slap on the wrists this time, they're setting themselves up for something "proper".
As I mentioned before, the answer is modernised corporal punishment. Pepper spray them in the eyes every day for a week. They won’t do it again
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
Our van was broken into electronically in Dorset and if we hadn't had an old school Stoplock fitted to it, I think it would have been nicked. The thieves had pulled all the right fuses and messed with the OBD port, probably to to bypass the immobiliser, but had clearly been spooked or forgotten their battery angle grinder. They were caught on a neighbouring Airbnb apartment cctv, and had successfully nicked another Transporter just down the road. I couldn't speak to the rozzers to report it as they don't have staff to record crimes and it had to be done online. Literally 6 hours later, I get an automated email telling me the crime will be filed as "Undetected". I doubt any human spent more than a couple of minutes looking into it.
Interesting but somewhat different case recently here.
About 3 weeks ago, 3 or 4 scrotes went through the village one night breaking into cars, sheds and garages and nicking anything they could get their hands on> they were caught on various CCTVs which weer then given to the police.
Within about 24 hours the police had identifed them, arrested them and got a significant portion of the stolen goods back. They were well known to the local cops so it was a fairly straightforward arrest for them.
The problem being of course that it is extremely unlikely they youths will get any sort of sentence that actually serves as a deterent. So of course they will be back at it again soon.
But the police actually did their job and caught them which is all you can ask of them.
Do domestic burglary 3 times and it's a minimum sentence of 3 years (unless very exceptional circumstances apply). So even if they get a slap on the wrists this time, they're setting themselves up for something "proper".
As I mentioned before, the answer is modernised corporal punishment. Pepper spray them in the eyes every day for a week. They won’t do it again
No long term damage but a real deterrent
"I woke up. The pain and sickness all over me like an animal. Then I realized what it was. The music coming up from the floor was our old friend, Ludwig Van, and the dreaded Ninth Symphony."
I’m sitting outside Van Gogh’s “night cafe” which, kind of fittingly, is closed coz it went bankrupt
How would you fuck up a guaranteed business like that?
As I mentioned yesterday they ruined it by having really aggressive staff outside almost literally dragging in passing tourists. I saw their menu when passing early one morning and it was bonkers expensive and all revues of their food were dreadful. That’s how you fuck up an amazing opportunity and site like that.
That’s properly interesting. How mad!
Just make it a normal cafe and add a euro or two to the prices - as it is THE cafe - and it will be rammed 24/7 all year. So you will still make a lovely profit
There should be a long FT essay using it as an example of this phenomenon
I could understand the extra cost and/or bad food in an iconic site but it was the four or five scary staff grabbing your arm as you past and pulling you towards the entrance. Nuts.
Did you take a walk along the Alyscamps?
Yes, very poetic. Not a lot of noom - perhaps a hint in the mighty chapel in the end, but charming and lyrical
Arles, as you told me, is indeed delightful
One of my new favourite small cities - in the world
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Tried it ... once.
The Standard Hotel just outside is the truly cool place to eat and drink
Or Barrafina in Coal Drops Yard. Or have the famous steak bavette at Vinoteca
Can I take a cycle in?
(The last time I did Carluccio's was on the way to a cycling holiday on the IOW. My not cool thing was forgetting to unclip in Trafalgar Square, and doing a great-collapsing-sideways disaster.)
Or must I bring the E-Brompton?
Vinoteca probably wouldn’t mind. A friend of mine is one of the owners. It’s a chain of restaurants but they are properly good. Not too expensive, and the wine is ace and the bavette is brilliant
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
Our van was broken into electronically in Dorset and if we hadn't had an old school Stoplock fitted to it, I think it would have been nicked. The thieves had pulled all the right fuses and messed with the OBD port, probably to to bypass the immobiliser, but had clearly been spooked or forgotten their battery angle grinder. They were caught on a neighbouring Airbnb apartment cctv, and had successfully nicked another Transporter just down the road. I couldn't speak to the rozzers to report it as they don't have staff to record crimes and it had to be done online. Literally 6 hours later, I get an automated email telling me the crime will be filed as "Undetected". I doubt any human spent more than a couple of minutes looking into it.
Interesting but somewhat different case recently here.
About 3 weeks ago, 3 or 4 scrotes went through the village one night breaking into cars, sheds and garages and nicking anything they could get their hands on> they were caught on various CCTVs which weer then given to the police.
Within about 24 hours the police had identifed them, arrested them and got a significant portion of the stolen goods back. They were well known to the local cops so it was a fairly straightforward arrest for them.
The problem being of course that it is extremely unlikely they youths will get any sort of sentence that actually serves as a deterent. So of course they will be back at it again soon.
But the police actually did their job and caught them which is all you can ask of them.
Do domestic burglary 3 times and it's a minimum sentence of 3 years (unless very exceptional circumstances apply). So even if they get a slap on the wrists this time, they're setting themselves up for something "proper".
As I mentioned before, the answer is modernised corporal punishment. Pepper spray them in the eyes every day for a week. They won’t do it again
No long term damage but a real deterrent
Slacker.
Instead of retrieving the car, do some mods.
So when they climb in and try and start it, the doors lock. Then triggers the valve of your valuable cylinder of chlorine you left in the boot.
I’m sitting outside Van Gogh’s “night cafe” which, kind of fittingly, is closed coz it went bankrupt
How would you fuck up a guaranteed business like that?
As I mentioned yesterday they ruined it by having really aggressive staff outside almost literally dragging in passing tourists. I saw their menu when passing early one morning and it was bonkers expensive and all revues of their food were dreadful. That’s how you fuck up an amazing opportunity and site like that.
That’s properly interesting. How mad!
Just make it a normal cafe and add a euro or two to the prices - as it is THE cafe - and it will be rammed 24/7 all year. So you will still make a lovely profit
There should be a long FT essay using it as an example of this phenomenon
I could understand the extra cost and/or bad food in an iconic site but it was the four or five scary staff grabbing your arm as you past and pulling you towards the entrance. Nuts.
Did you take a walk along the Alyscamps?
Yes, very poetic. Not a lot of noom - perhaps a hint in the mighty chapel in the end, but charming and lyrical
Arles, as you told me, is indeed delightful
One of my new favourite small cities - in the world
I think I was lucky with the Alyscamps, it was a warm September Friday morning so good light but quiet as after most tourists gone and the leaves gave a great dappling effect everywhere - under those conditions it was one of the noomiest places I’ve experienced in France.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Tried it ... once.
The Standard Hotel just outside is the truly cool place to eat and drink
Or Barrafina in Coal Drops Yard. Or have the famous steak bavette at Vinoteca
Can I take a cycle in?
(The last time I did Carluccio's was on the way to a cycling holiday on the IOW. My not cool thing was forgetting to unclip in Trafalgar Square, and doing a great-collapsing-sideways disaster.)
Or must I bring the E-Brompton?
Vinoteca probably wouldn’t mind. A friend of mine is one of the owners. It’s a chain of restaurants but they are properly good. Not too expensive, and the wine is ace and the bavette is brilliant
Nonsense - expensive and no better than adequate. It was once far better.
I’ve been away so I can understand why the site is a bit grumpy and bored, so I apologise. I’m on hols with ma fille
But this might cheer you all up. The gazette have just told me this afternoon that it is sending me to Japan’s Yaeyama archipelago, one of the most exotic and fabulous destinations on the planet
Isn’t that good news? Surely everyone just feels little bit happier now, knowing that at least one PBer is going to this amazing place?
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
Our van was broken into electronically in Dorset and if we hadn't had an old school Stoplock fitted to it, I think it would have been nicked. The thieves had pulled all the right fuses and messed with the OBD port, probably to to bypass the immobiliser, but had clearly been spooked or forgotten their battery angle grinder. They were caught on a neighbouring Airbnb apartment cctv, and had successfully nicked another Transporter just down the road. I couldn't speak to the rozzers to report it as they don't have staff to record crimes and it had to be done online. Literally 6 hours later, I get an automated email telling me the crime will be filed as "Undetected". I doubt any human spent more than a couple of minutes looking into it.
Interesting but somewhat different case recently here.
About 3 weeks ago, 3 or 4 scrotes went through the village one night breaking into cars, sheds and garages and nicking anything they could get their hands on> they were caught on various CCTVs which weer then given to the police.
Within about 24 hours the police had identifed them, arrested them and got a significant portion of the stolen goods back. They were well known to the local cops so it was a fairly straightforward arrest for them.
The problem being of course that it is extremely unlikely they youths will get any sort of sentence that actually serves as a deterent. So of course they will be back at it again soon.
But the police actually did their job and caught them which is all you can ask of them.
Do domestic burglary 3 times and it's a minimum sentence of 3 years (unless very exceptional circumstances apply). So even if they get a slap on the wrists this time, they're setting themselves up for something "proper".
As I mentioned before, the answer is modernised corporal punishment. Pepper spray them in the eyes every day for a week. They won’t do it again
No long term damage but a real deterrent
Slacker.
Instead of retrieving the car, do some mods.
So when they climb in and try and start it, the doors lock. Then triggers the valve of your valuable cylinder of chlorine you left in the boot.
They won’t do it again
You definitely don’t understand modern ‘policing’. They’d send the whole armed SWAT team to your house to arrest you for assault.
“So they basically held an intervention with Biden, and it didn't work, so now they're leaking the details publicly.”
Now Democratic leaders seeking alternative to Biden have succeeded in delaying the rush to judgement re: the Democratic nomination until August, against wishes of JB & his team who wanted a virtual vote sooner rather than any later.
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
If Starmer has a profound interest in winning the next election he'll do something about this sort of thing, because the Tories certainly didn't over 14 years.
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Tried it ... once.
The Standard Hotel just outside is the truly cool place to eat and drink
Or Barrafina in Coal Drops Yard. Or have the famous steak bavette at Vinoteca
Can I take a cycle in?
(The last time I did Carluccio's was on the way to a cycling holiday on the IOW. My not cool thing was forgetting to unclip in Trafalgar Square, and doing a great-collapsing-sideways disaster.)
Or must I bring the E-Brompton?
Vinoteca probably wouldn’t mind. A friend of mine is one of the owners. It’s a chain of restaurants but they are properly good. Not too expensive, and the wine is ace and the bavette is brilliant
Nonsense - expensive and no better than adequate. It was once far better.
To be fair that could be true. I haven’t been in half a decade. It used to be great - sad if it’s declined
God, I feel so sorry for those parents. If the police had acted efficiently or competently their son would still be alive. That's awful.
As would Corey Comperatore.
What a total policing fcukup from start to finish. Everyone should have been looking for this kid, with a photo, and when they found him should have taken him in straight away. Once he’d been sighted close by, including people shouting his name, the event should have been held, and the ‘Principal’ kept in his armoured police car, until the suspect was apprehended. The various local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies appear to have been incapable of passing messages between themselves, in anything approaching a timely manner.
NEW: The Home Office have confirmed to me that last night the Border Force vessel Ranger, returned migrants back to France, after rescuing them in French waters. The FIRST TIME this has EVER happened.
It's not yet clear if this is a direct change of policy from the Home Office.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
House purchases are being delayed by a glitch with a global payment system, the Bank of England has said.
Officials said the outage with its CHAPS service, a real time system used for sterling transactions, was affecting “some high value and time-sensitive payments, including some house purchases”.
The Clearing House Automated Payment System - known as CHAPS - is used for processing large payments used for football player purchases, art deals and home completions.
This is the third time since 2014 that the Bank of England has reported an issue with the service. It last went down in August last year.
Sources at the Bank of England have said the “global issue” with the payments is as a result of an issue with Swift technology, a global payments technology company.
A source close to Swift said the payments outage which is holding up house purchases across Britain is not the result of a cyber attack.
The Bank of England said: “A global payments issue is affecting the Bank’s CHAPS service and delaying some high value and time-sensitive payments, including some house purchases.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
God, I feel so sorry for those parents. If the police had acted efficiently or competently their son would still be alive. That's awful.
As gigantic a cock up as it is, just imagine how much worse it would be if Trump had been killed. You could have major unrest and an even more fraught election all because some police and the secret service have been asleep at the wheel.
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Tried it ... once.
The Standard Hotel just outside is the truly cool place to eat and drink
Or Barrafina in Coal Drops Yard. Or have the famous steak bavette at Vinoteca
Can I take a cycle in?
(The last time I did Carluccio's was on the way to a cycling holiday on the IOW. My not cool thing was forgetting to unclip in Trafalgar Square, and doing a great-collapsing-sideways disaster.)
Or must I bring the E-Brompton?
Vinoteca probably wouldn’t mind. A friend of mine is one of the owners. It’s a chain of restaurants but they are properly good. Not too expensive, and the wine is ace and the bavette is brilliant
Nonsense - expensive and no better than adequate. It was once far better.
To be fair that could be true. I haven’t been in half a decade. It used to be great - sad if it’s declined
But you wort of know this anyway. Your mate Sean has a really odd job in that he ruins the best places by his attention.
I don't regret the decline of Vinoteca, but it was once good. I do regret the decline of a small number of places though - look at the Gaucho - simply wondeful when it was a tiny underground and undiscovered place. The best steak I've ever had and fantastic Malbecs. Now - rather awful.
NEW: The Home Office have confirmed to me that last night the Border Force vessel Ranger, returned migrants back to France, after rescuing them in French waters. The FIRST TIME this has EVER happened.
It's not yet clear if this is a direct change of policy from the Home Office.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
Just tell her to google “ungrateful” and the first thousand entries and images are of the arrogant big nosed fuck.
NEW: The Home Office have confirmed to me that last night the Border Force vessel Ranger, returned migrants back to France, after rescuing them in French waters. The FIRST TIME this has EVER happened.
It's not yet clear if this is a direct change of policy from the Home Office.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
Just tell her to google “ungrateful” and the first thousand entries and images are of the arrogant big nosed fuck.
It's not his fault the Brits ran away (swam away?) at Dunkerque.
NEW: The Home Office have confirmed to me that last night the Border Force vessel Ranger, returned migrants back to France, after rescuing them in French waters. The FIRST TIME this has EVER happened.
It's not yet clear if this is a direct change of policy from the Home Office.
God, I feel so sorry for those parents. If the police had acted efficiently or competently their son would still be alive. That's awful.
As gigantic a cock up as it is, just imagine how much worse it would be if Trump had been killed. You could have major unrest and an even more fraught election all because some police and the secret service have been asleep at the wheel.
Indeed, the conspiracy theorists would have had a field day and scornfully asked are you really pretending that so many professional organisations could possibly have screwed up without being in cahoots with the murder? It would have made 22.11.63 look straightforward. And there would have been a lot more deaths to follow.
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Tried it ... once.
The Standard Hotel just outside is the truly cool place to eat and drink
Or Barrafina in Coal Drops Yard. Or have the famous steak bavette at Vinoteca
Can I take a cycle in?
(The last time I did Carluccio's was on the way to a cycling holiday on the IOW. My not cool thing was forgetting to unclip in Trafalgar Square, and doing a great-collapsing-sideways disaster.)
Or must I bring the E-Brompton?
Vinoteca probably wouldn’t mind. A friend of mine is one of the owners. It’s a chain of restaurants but they are properly good. Not too expensive, and the wine is ace and the bavette is brilliant
Nonsense - expensive and no better than adequate. It was once far better.
To be fair that could be true. I haven’t been in half a decade. It used to be great - sad if it’s declined
But you wort of know this anyway. Your mate Sean has a really odd job in that he ruins the best places by his attention.
I don't regret the decline of Vinoteca, but it was once good. I do regret the decline of a small number of places though - look at the Gaucho - simply wondeful when it was a tiny underground and undiscovered place. The best steak I've ever had and fantastic Malbecs. Now - rather awful.
Actually no I don’t know. My travel writing for the gazette never takes me to places in london. Just everywhere else! So london is the one place I don’t professionally assess
Real shame about Vinoteca if true. But it is a known phenomenon. I’m old enough to remember when chez Gerard was the place for great steaks. Then it chained out and became crap. Does it even exist?
The ivy has so far escaped this but then it was never great in the first place. Just agreeable
God, I feel so sorry for those parents. If the police had acted efficiently or competently their son would still be alive. That's awful.
As gigantic a cock up as it is, just imagine how much worse it would be if Trump had been killed. You could have major unrest and an even more fraught election all because some police and the secret service have been asleep at the wheel.
America was literally millimeters from disaster as a country. The civil unrest would have been off the scale if that bullet had taken out Trump.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
You're showing your age. What did you know of Poincaré or Clemenceau when you were her age ?
"Every child" - bonkers. Any kid interested in history, sure.
NEW: The Home Office have confirmed to me that last night the Border Force vessel Ranger, returned migrants back to France, after rescuing them in French waters. The FIRST TIME this has EVER happened.
It's not yet clear if this is a direct change of policy from the Home Office.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
You know, I'm not certain I knew of de Gaulle before I went to uni. There wasn't much on WW2 in secondary school really (loads on WW1) and pretty much nothing post WW2. Obviously we should all know about him anyway, but I'm not as shocked as maybe I should be.
I think I first became aware of him in the post-war context, probably when reading up on the formation of the EU.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
One of my grandsons has just finished a History at Manchester (2:1, if you’re interested). During his time he had to do an essay on significant changes to young people’s lives in the 1960’s, and I asked him if he’d included the ending of National Service. He said he didn’t. If we’d had National Service through the 60’s we wouldn’t have had the bands!
“So they basically held an intervention with Biden, and it didn't work, so now they're leaking the details publicly.”
Now Democratic leaders seeking alternative to Biden have succeeded in delaying the rush to judgement re: the Democratic nomination until August, against wishes of JB & his team who wanted a virtual vote sooner rather than any later.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
You know, I'm not certain I knew of de Gaulle before I went to uni. There wasn't much on WW2 in secondary school really (loads on WW1) and pretty much nothing post WW2. Obviously we should all know about him anyway, but I'm not as shocked as maybe I should be.
I think I first became aware of him in the post-war context, probably when reading up on the formation of the EU.
I remember where I was when I heard he had died; and I had a French lesson in school where the matter got aired that very afternoon nearly 54 years ago.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
One of my grandsons has just finished a History at Manchester (2:1, if you’re interested). During his time he had to do an essay on significant changes to young people’s lives in the 1960’s, and I asked him if he’d included the ending of National Service. He said he didn’t. If we’d had National Service through the 60’s we wouldn’t have had the bands!
According to Larkin the really big thing in the 1960s was the invention of sexual intercourse, which of course began in 1963.
I mentioned my car was stolen last week and that the police didn’t bother going to check the last tracked location until the next morning by which time it had gone.
Well, after processing the insurance claim, ordering a replacement car, sending the keys back and starting to move on I get a call from the Met police today saying they’ve found it. Parked a few hundred metres from where we live, but with the plates changed and the inside damaged and tracker removed.
Mixed news, and more faff. But at least now they have a good chance of catching the crooks. Right?
Because the theft was not aggravated (there was no violence or RTA involved) they are “not doing any forensics on it”.
That’s right, car theft remains a legal activity so long as you drive carefully and don’t punch anybody.
Our van was broken into electronically in Dorset and if we hadn't had an old school Stoplock fitted to it, I think it would have been nicked. The thieves had pulled all the right fuses and messed with the OBD port, probably to to bypass the immobiliser, but had clearly been spooked or forgotten their battery angle grinder. They were caught on a neighbouring Airbnb apartment cctv, and had successfully nicked another Transporter just down the road. I couldn't speak to the rozzers to report it as they don't have staff to record crimes and it had to be done online. Literally 6 hours later, I get an automated email telling me the crime will be filed as "Undetected". I doubt any human spent more than a couple of minutes looking into it.
Interesting but somewhat different case recently here.
About 3 weeks ago, 3 or 4 scrotes went through the village one night breaking into cars, sheds and garages and nicking anything they could get their hands on> they were caught on various CCTVs which weer then given to the police.
Within about 24 hours the police had identifed them, arrested them and got a significant portion of the stolen goods back. They were well known to the local cops so it was a fairly straightforward arrest for them.
The problem being of course that it is extremely unlikely they youths will get any sort of sentence that actually serves as a deterent. So of course they will be back at it again soon.
But the police actually did their job and caught them which is all you can ask of them.
Do domestic burglary 3 times and it's a minimum sentence of 3 years (unless very exceptional circumstances apply). So even if they get a slap on the wrists this time, they're setting themselves up for something "proper".
As I mentioned before, the answer is modernised corporal punishment. Pepper spray them in the eyes every day for a week. They won’t do it again
No long term damage but a real deterrent
Slacker.
Instead of retrieving the car, do some mods.
So when they climb in and try and start it, the doors lock. Then triggers the valve of your valuable cylinder of chlorine you left in the boot.
They won’t do it again
You definitely don’t understand modern ‘policing’. They’d send the whole armed SWAT team to your house to arrest you for assault.
Slacker. Just chuck a copy of The Turner Diaries in the boot as well. Then an anonymous tip about racist terrorists.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
You know, I'm not certain I knew of de Gaulle before I went to uni. There wasn't much on WW2 in secondary school really (loads on WW1) and pretty much nothing post WW2. Obviously we should all know about him anyway, but I'm not as shocked as maybe I should be.
I think I first became aware of him in the post-war context, probably when reading up on the formation of the EU.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
You know, I'm not certain I knew of de Gaulle before I went to uni. There wasn't much on WW2 in secondary school really (loads on WW1) and pretty much nothing post WW2. Obviously we should all know about him anyway, but I'm not as shocked as maybe I should be.
I think I first became aware of him in the post-war context, probably when reading up on the formation of the EU.
Every child should rote learn the names of 246 French cheeses as well.
On a bus in front of a person who literally hasn't stopped talking for 45 minutes. It's a stream of consciousness of every single thought that enters her head. How does she think? What does she do when alone?
Writes shit articles for the Spectator.
Indeed. My stalker has stolen yet another of my favourite rants - against Michelin food
Hint: if you want to keep up the pretence that you are not SeanT, stop promoting your Spectator articles.
Oh do cheer up
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
British bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314. During Anthony's lifetime. One of many things schoolchildren don't learn just in case it fires their imagination.
If you want to be depressed - get this
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
I mean, we all know why this is daft, right?
There's no reasonable way to teach every major figure in 2000 years of history (and some countries have an even bigger problem). If you want to teach history you have to cover some areas in depth, and that means selecting a few. I went to school before the national curriculum came in, so I suspect that the teachers each just picked their favourite - which at least mans they were interested in it. The areas I remember are:
- The Tudors (which was in infant school and involved making Tudor houses out of cardboard) - The 1960s - That village that heroically quarantined itself during the plague - Richard III - World war I - The USA, from discovery to the revolutionary war
There must have been others, but I don't remember being taught them. (Surely we must have covered world war II!)
Anyway, play her Flander's and Swann's All Gall then she'll have to look up what it means
I’ve been away so I can understand why the site is a bit grumpy and bored, so I apologise. I’m on hols with ma fille
But this might cheer you all up. The gazette have just told me this afternoon that it is sending me to Japan’s Yaeyama archipelago, one of the most exotic and fabulous destinations on the planet
Isn’t that good news? Surely everyone just feels little bit happier now, knowing that at least one PBer is going to this amazing place?
Amused to see Starmer is meeting European leaders at Blenheim Palace. The War of the Spanish Succession was of course a great example of European cooperation... but I am not sure what Macron will make of it
One of Dave's best acts as Foreign Secretary was to choose Blenheim Palace as the location.
Any party that decides to change the Eurostar terminus from St. Pancras back to Waterloo station will win my vote for life.
Bugger that last for a game of commuters on the Tube. It's bad enough not having direct connections with Eurostar from the north *in the same station* without having that added as well.
I say that as somebody who is from Sheffield and uses St Pancras a lot.
Plus, hang on, you use the Tube? You utter peasant, use Uber Luxury, that's the way to travel in London.
in a related matter, I will probably be using Eurostar a couple of times coming from Edinburgh soon. Is 50 mins to transfer and check in enough?
No.
It can be hit and miss.
Most times the queues are quite short, but occasionally the queues resemble the first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan.
If you’re coming down to King’s X then I’d advise getting to King’s X about two hours before your schedule departure.
Eurostar advise arriving 90 mins before check-in.
There are quite pleasant restaurants around that you could plan to visit.
I used to go to a Carluccio's in St Pancras.
Obvs too downmarket for TSE.
Carluccios’s is great for breakfast, Searcy’s for afternoons.
My Carluccio's habit is something something something and a Bloody Mary. Especially in the morning.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Tried it ... once.
No. That’s the Searcy’s Champagne Bar. The Brasserie is indoors along the platform and is superb. One of the best breakfast spots in London and certainly the best at any London railway station.
Comments
The question about how well governments can prepare for events that no-one saw coming is a pertinent one to ask, and there are probable learnings that can be drawn from it. But of course this will all get drowned out by the chorus of how awful our awful government was by the media, who loved playing that game all the way through the pandemic. I do not give the government much credit as things go, and I am absolutely convinced they could have done better, but i see things as much more nuanced.
I agree that mediocrity and ineptitude goes unchallenged because of the 'someone like us' syndrome but that's not the same as actively discriminating against competent people.
What happens is posts are filled by 'someone we know', 'someone like us', 'someone who will fit in' rather than through proper selection.
Pelosi privately told Biden polls show he cannot win and will take down the House; Biden responded with defensiveness
Wes Moore, Governor of MD also does OK
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/keep-michelin-men-out-of-our-hotels/
Then I realised you meant Josh Shapiro.
How would you fuck up a guaranteed business like that?
Don’t they think that whoever stole your car might be stealing others, and that they almost certainly have done something before to bring themselves to a police station? So take prints, identify the scrote, pick him up, and see the car thefts in that area drop to nothing overnight. Win-win-win.
But London decided to re-elect the man in charge, who thinks the pride parades are more important than the crime rate.
Here’s a photo of “the world’s most beautiful Romanesque cloisters”. In Arles cathedral
They also have the skull and leg bone of St Anthony of the desert. One of the first ever saints, famous for his “temptations” in Egypt. Who managed to survive being “beaten to death” by cave-demons
Brilliantly, the bones of the saint made it to Arles via some fabulously arcane route, including a gift by “Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer”
Arles est fantastique
It comes from a bit of institutional inertia (this is how it has always been done since Richard I you know….) and perhaps a little bit of the fact the government is drawn from Parliament and quite enjoys the fact it’s a select club.
You’re absolutely right, therefore, that there is precisely zero reason why these officers need to be members of the HOL but here we are having this odd debate again.
At least I've never voted for Nationalists who want to break up the UK.
But this might cheer you all up. The gazette have just told me this afternoon that it is sending me to Japan’s Yaeyama archipelago, one of the most exotic and fabulous destinations on the planet
Isn’t that good news? Surely everyone just feels little bit happier now, knowing that at least one PBer is going to this amazing place?
https://visitokinawajapan.com/destinations/yaeyama-islands/
Filling posts with your chums is discriminatory. Because it leaves no space for your non-chums.
So, the Fuckwits In Charge diversified their searches for Fuckwits.
I am arguing the same methodology and process should be applied, again, to reach outside The Magic Circle.
Isn't Searcy's the one stuck out on the platform with the howling gale and the city boys?
Tried it ... once.
Making mistakes during a once in a lifetime pandemic is entirely understandable.
But afterwards? Triple lock plus? National service? Dropping housing targets during a housing crisis?
No once in a lifetime excuse for any of that bullshit. Rishi repeatedly was cold, considered, planned, then did the wrong thing.
“So they basically held an intervention with Biden, and it didn't work, so now they're leaking the details publicly.”
Or Barrafina in Coal Drops Yard. Or have the famous steak bavette at Vinoteca
(The last time I did Carluccio's was on the way to a cycling holiday on the IOW. My not cool thing was forgetting to unclip in Trafalgar Square, and doing a great-collapsing-sideways disaster.)
Or must I bring the E-Brompton?
Just make it a normal cafe and add a euro or two to the prices - as it is THE cafe - and it will be rammed 24/7 all year. So you will still make a lovely profit
There should be a long FT essay using it as an example of this phenomenon
https://thepostmillennial.com/parents-of-would-be-assassin-thomas-matthew-crooks-notified-police-of-concerns-ahead-of-trump-rally
Did you take a walk along the Alyscamps?
No long term damage but a real deterrent
Arles, as you told me, is indeed delightful
One of my new favourite small cities - in the world
https://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/best-for/cheap-michelin-set-menus-london-uk_10601
Instead of retrieving the car, do some mods.
So when they climb in and try and start it, the doors lock. Then triggers the valve of your valuable cylinder of chlorine you left in the boot.
They won’t do it again
https://www.adamsrestaurant.co.uk/food-menu-british-contemporary-fine-dining-adams/
> Last Vice President of the United States who sported facial hair (a mustache) was Hoobert Heever's VP Charles Curtis (1929-33).
> Last VP with a beard was Theodore Roosevelt's 2nd-term side-kick (sorta) was Charles Fairbanks (1905-09).
> Teddy was also last President of the US with a mustache (1901-09); Benjamin Harrison was last POTUS with a beard (2nd term 1889-93).
> Last major-party POTUS nominee with a mustache was Tom Dewey (1948); Charles Evans Hughes was last with a beard (1916).
> All of the above were Republicans.
Which seems sub-optimal for the gazette.
I'll be interested to hear if they're worth the bother, though.
What a total policing fcukup from start to finish. Everyone should have been looking for this kid, with a photo, and when they found him should have taken him in straight away. Once he’d been sighted close by, including people shouting his name, the event should have been held, and the ‘Principal’ kept in his armoured police car, until the suspect was apprehended. The various local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies appear to have been incapable of passing messages between themselves, in anything approaching a timely manner.
NEW: The Home Office have confirmed to me that last night the Border Force vessel Ranger, returned migrants back to France, after rescuing them in French waters. The FIRST TIME this has EVER happened.
It's not yet clear if this is a direct change of policy from the Home Office.
https://x.com/michaelkeohan/status/1813934284337791195
My older daughter is very smart and reads a lot (she just devoured Brave New World in the 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Marseilles)
I mentioned that I’m reading a biography of Charles de Gaulle. Her answer:
“Who?”
She’s never heard of CHARLES DE GAULLE
And she’s clever and highly literate. She went to a supposedly “outstanding” north london comp then another “outstanding” sixth form and she’s in line for a top of the range uni
What the fuck are we teaching our kids? Every child should know by the age of 18 who Charles de Gaulle was. Its bonkers and stupid
I picked the wrong week to go back to work.
House purchases are being delayed by a glitch with a global payment system, the Bank of England has said.
Officials said the outage with its CHAPS service, a real time system used for sterling transactions, was affecting “some high value and time-sensitive payments, including some house purchases”.
The Clearing House Automated Payment System - known as CHAPS - is used for processing large payments used for football player purchases, art deals and home completions.
This is the third time since 2014 that the Bank of England has reported an issue with the service. It last went down in August last year.
Sources at the Bank of England have said the “global issue” with the payments is as a result of an issue with Swift technology, a global payments technology company.
A source close to Swift said the payments outage which is holding up house purchases across Britain is not the result of a cyber attack.
The Bank of England said: “A global payments issue is affecting the Bank’s CHAPS service and delaying some high value and time-sensitive payments, including some house purchases.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/18/ftse-100-latest-news-employment-interest-rates-ons-starmer/
I don't regret the decline of Vinoteca, but it was once good. I do regret the decline of a small number of places though - look at the Gaucho - simply wondeful when it was a tiny underground and undiscovered place. The best steak I've ever had and fantastic Malbecs. Now - rather awful.
Real shame about Vinoteca if true. But it is a known phenomenon. I’m old enough to remember when chez Gerard was the place for great steaks. Then it chained out and became crap. Does it even exist?
The ivy has so far escaped this but then it was never great in the first place. Just agreeable
NEW THREAD
What did you know of Poincaré or Clemenceau when you were her age ?
"Every child" - bonkers.
Any kid interested in history, sure.
I think I first became aware of him in the post-war context, probably when reading up on the formation of the EU.
If we’d had National Service through the 60’s we wouldn’t have had the bands!
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.178163685
Plod will be high fiving each other for weeks…
There's no reasonable way to teach every major figure in 2000 years of history (and some countries have an even bigger problem). If you want to teach history you have to cover some areas in depth, and that means selecting a few. I went to school before the national curriculum came in, so I suspect that the teachers each just picked their favourite - which at least mans they were interested in it. The areas I remember are:
- The Tudors (which was in infant school and involved making Tudor houses out of cardboard)
- The 1960s
- That village that heroically quarantined itself during the plague
- Richard III
- World war I
- The USA, from discovery to the revolutionary war
There must have been others, but I don't remember being taught them. (Surely we must have covered world war II!)
Anyway, play her Flander's and Swann's All Gall then she'll have to look up what it means
Relatedly, my photo for today: