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Paranoia or should be worried about shy Trumpers? – politicalbetting.com

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  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,638
    For Tory leadership betting, a big drop off in popularity for Farage in the last week for 2024 Conservative voters.

    Voters are not members, but I assume this is the change that Patel has picked up.

    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1821499422431207918
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,569
    This women’s 400 hurdles could be one of the events of the week.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,747
    MattW said:

    Omnium said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    If Leon was a lawyer.

    Linklaters partner banned from drinking at work events after Vienna trip

    Magic Circle law firm issues final warning after partner accused of inappropriate behaviour


    A partner at the Magic Circle law firm Linklaters has been banned from drinking alcohol at work events after he was accused of inappropriate behaviour during a business trip to Vienna.

    The elite City institution is understood to have given the partner a final warning following a complaint that he had touched the bottom of a female associate during a work retreat in June.

    The partner is also accused of making inappropriate comments to another female associate during the Vienna trip.

    This includes remarks about coming up to her room and asking whether she would be going up to the room of another male partner, who was allegedly present during the evening drinks.

    Linklaters is understood to have restricted the partner from drinking at work events and work socials after launching an investigation into the incident.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/08/08/linklaters-partner-banned-drinking-work-events-vienna-trip/

    And if @TSE was a lawyer?

    A disgraceful question.

    It should be “if @TSE were a lawyer”.

    I concede entirely.
    I think that "Teasy" is a better nickname, by determinative nominalism.
    At the risk of the fate that has befallen about a hundred versions of Leon - I approve this suggestion!
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    Eabhal said:

    For Tory leadership betting, a big drop off in popularity for Farage in the last week for 2024 Conservative voters.

    Voters are not members, but I assume this is the change that Patel has picked up.

    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1821499422431207918

    The only good thing to say about priti is she would look good in latex
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,569
    WORLD RECORD!!!!
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,392
    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Some time ago - the disastrous reign of Henry 6th saw most of it lost. I’m intrigued by your suggestion that merger was a possibility in the 50’s. I am aware of Churchil’s 1940 offer, but nothing from the 50’s.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,541
    Leon said:

    TimS said:

    Leon said:

    TimS said:

    Leon said:

    TimS said:

    TimS said:

    Angostura bitters in shit drinks update:

    Just put some in a bottle of San Miguel I had left over from a party.

    As if by magic I’m drinking some speciality spiced beer in a Belgian pub.

    Next stop: those cans of Budweiser I’d been avoiding drinking.

    Or should I try them in that Guinness my Irish (well, County Down but very much IRISH) colleague Sinead left here after a do?

    No, that surely wouldn’t work.

    But I’m going to try anyway. Hmm, it’s ok. But the effect on lager is transformational.

    Have you tried sloe gin with cold English fizz?

    OMG delish. Like an English kir royale
    No. But will try. I can see that working very well indeed. What shall we call it?

    So long as your friend @Babbage9 doesn’t describe my tasting notes as “shit wine opinions”.
    The Royal Sloe? Imperial Sloe? Gin Fitzroy?

    Honestly try it, it’s excellent. I “invented” it in a posh 5 star hotel near Dartmoor a few years ago. Tho later research tells me I’m not the first to have the idea?
    Poundbury punch. Our King has not yet had a truly universal cocktail named in his honour.
    Nice

    It should be COMPULSORY for every Englishman to drink a large “Poundbury Punch” at 11am on Christmas Day morning, so as to toast His Majesty’s health

    And maybe Easter Sunday. And whitsuntide

    And Lammas Day…
    All Quarter Days. The Pub Landlord can create a special for the Lady Day...
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,775
    Sandpit said:

    WORLD RECORD!!!!

    It was quite a big bowl of noodles. But I'd like to thank my coach, and especially my cat who sat staring in horror as I ate.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,112
    I see that the Labour Councillor seemingly calling for throat cuttings has been arrested.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz074vyvjzvo

    "Two tier policing" continues not to exist.

    Except that the line may now be: "TWO TIER POLICING - WE TOLD YOU. They didn't arrest him until we kicked up a fuss."

    For some it continues to be about generating a political narrative to fit their purposes.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,541
    Have there been any drugs cheats discovered yet at this Olympics?
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    edited August 8

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Some time ago - the disastrous reign of Henry 6th saw most of it lost. I’m intrigued by your suggestion that merger was a possibility in the 50’s. I am aware of Churchil’s 1940 offer, but nothing from the 50’s.
    https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2007/jan/15/france.eu

    They always loved our Queen
  • londonpubmanlondonpubman Posts: 3,639
    Sandpit said:

    WORLD RECORD!!!!

    A rarity at the Olympics. A huge run. One of the best athletics performances at the Olympics of all time across all events
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,541
    Pagan2 said:

    Eabhal said:

    For Tory leadership betting, a big drop off in popularity for Farage in the last week for 2024 Conservative voters.

    Voters are not members, but I assume this is the change that Patel has picked up.

    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1821499422431207918

    The only good thing to say about priti is she would look good in latex
    You said that out loud...
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,655
    edited August 8
    MaxPB said:

    kle4 said:

    Sandpit said:

    23.45 for KJT in the 200m, that should see her lead overnight.

    She's leading Thiam by 48 points.
    Is that a lot?
    It's going to be a close finish, KJT is stronger at the long jump and Thiam is better at javelin, they're both pretty even at 800m, maybe KJT shades it. What we have seen today is KJT step up at shotput which bodes well for her javelin score tomorrow and Thiam didn't have a great 200m so it's not like she's got any better at running which means her long jump and 800m won't be better than expected.

    I think KJT is well placed for the gold but it will be very close, a couple of tenths faster tonight for the 200m and KJT would probably be clear already barring any disasters.
    Well KJTs LJ Personal Best is only 24pts better than Thiams
    Her Javelin is 298points worse
    Her 800m is 4.53 secs better than Thiams so 173 pts better so not at all "pretty much even"

    KJT needs to close that Jav gap to stand a chance

    Based on both matching PBs from here on in Thiam wins by 53pts
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    TimS said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Some time ago - the disastrous reign of Henry 6th saw most of it lost. I’m intrigued by your suggestion that merger was a possibility in the 50’s. I am aware of Churchil’s 1940 offer, but nothing from the 50’s.
    https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2007/jan/15/france.eu
    And the asking the populace part seems to be surprisingly missing in that article. I am sure if you had asked in france or england the most popular answer would have been fuck off
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,845
    kle4 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    There is a pattern in antisocial media bullshit.

    A tag line and the apparent evidence - "@TheScreamingEagles interview - Pineapple pizza awesome, Radiohead and Python awful. https://youtu.be/GarbageLink"

    It works because about 90% off people never click the link or try and find actual evidence.

    Python is awful - don't use whitespace to represent significancy...
    It is no more ridiculous than using lots of brackets (of varying types).

    Python has fantastic, clean syntax. It has incredible data science libraries. And these days, computers (and computing power) is cheap.

    Other than occasional bits of Javascript, when I have a need to do something webby, I wouldn't use anything else. There's simply no point, because quick to write, readable code, is worth a lot more than a few processor cycles.
    oh I just have a dislike of Python but I started off when Javascript was Livescript and Perl was the in thing.

    I personally prefer the latest version of Delphi (i.e. C# )..
    99% of my "coding" these days is data analysis, where Python + Pandas + Jupyter is absolutely superb, especially if you use Google's hosted Colab service. I'm playing around with massive datasets and running analyses in seconds that would historically have taken days. (And also required a team of people.)
    You use whatever has the best libraries for whatever it is you want to do. If that's Python, then great. And if it's JavaScript, for God's sake use TypeScript!
    The real problem with Python and JavaScript is the large numbers of self taught people.

    Who haven’t heard of code structure, testing pyramids or even code versioning tools.

    “No, Quant Boy, the Python file you emailed me isn’t going directly into production. Aside from the fact it doesn’t actually run, we need tests. And test data. And some QA. and running on all the non-prod environments first…. Also, where is the specification? ‘cause Compliance will quite interested in how we are pricing stuff.”
    While I largely agree with what you say, it is also great to have the freedom to implement stuff as you see fit without having to specify every last widget to the n-th degree. Obviously that's easier when working iteratively as a sole developer on small projects.

    Also, bad code implemented by self-taught developers is by no means restricted to Python and JavaScript. The codebase at my last workplace was a tangled mess of undocumented C++ dating back decades and presided over by an old-school self-taught coder with a pathological hatred of whitespace and line breaks. That was the last straw for me.
    Indeed

    Just that these days the self taught types are hacking in Python.

    There was this mad guy who was going to replace Excel with a spreadsheet backed by Python as the scripting language. Whatever happened to him?
    As someone who has been in software since the 90's and for many companies....assuming you pick right I think self taught tend to be better than those that have degrees, The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree
    "The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree"

    So they have failed at the most basic thing a degree is supposed to teach.
    I have found to a certain extent that people with degrees tend to not like being corrected in what they are doing by people who don't have degrees....certainly not all but a significant enough slice of them
    William felt the distinct unease of a well-educated man who has to confront the fact that the illiterate man watching him could probably outthink him three times over.
    The Truth - Terry Pratchett
    We see this in politics too. There is imo a degree of condescension and even hostility from politicians, the civil service and media towards politicians who went to lesser schools and colleges, so Jim Callaghan, Neil Kinnock, Gordon Brown, and on the other side, John Major and IDS, and early on even Thatcher and Churchill.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,569
    That was totally nuts from Sydney McLaughlin. Absolutely brilliant.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,546

    MattW said:

    FPT:

    kyf_100 said:

    stodge said:

    Evening all :)

    Back to more mundane matters and another dimension to the housing question:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxr2rnx4rk9o

    Over 60,000 households in temporary accommodation - how much of this will be resolved simply by more building? How many of these new flats and houses can and should be set aside for those in temporary accommodation? Perhaps we should force developers to allocate a proportion of every site to the provision of housing for those in temporary accommodation at discounted rents?

    I'm also intrigued by this from the Evening Standard article on the same issue:

    Former Chancellor Philip Hammond also warned that a housebuilding boom is unlikely to happen without an increase in foreign labour.

    He told Sky News: “ You can’t build houses without builders. If the government thinks relaxing the planning rules while tightening the migration rules is going to get houses built they have another thing coming.”

    If it was me, I'd declare it a national emergency and set aside huge areas that could be designated as plots for shipping container homes. Allow them on land that's not designated for permanent housing, thus getting over the 'land is too expensive' problem. They don't have foundations and are moveable, so let people put them down more or less anywhere within designated 'mobile' home areas. Build roads and water/electricity connection points.

    Not ideal, but better than what we have at the minute. Model it on the Australian 'quarantine villages' they managed to build en masse in a matter of a few months - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-09/mining-camp-designers-plan-covid-19-quarantine-hub-in-wa/100119364

    Like our prefabs (prefabricated housing) after the war, some of which were still in use into the 1970s.
    There are still some of those around - especially in places such as Peacehaven, usually encapsulated or updated in some form.

    On a similar note, close to me there are still a couple of bungalows built around railway carriages. The owners need to watch it or a they could get listed. These would be I think 1930s or 1950s.

    Here's one attached to an end terrace that was sold in 2014 - for £30k. I'm not what happened as the advertised price was double. If I'd known I'd have had it on the first day as it is on a 350sqm plot, which the new owner built a 3 bed modern detached on. It was a steal.

    I can't post details as Zoopla seem to have lost their public archive.

    My photo of the day.



    There are a fair few old railway carriage-slash-cottages around the place. ISTR there were some in the Dungeness area, and some around the south coast as well. I've photos of a few, and I think they're well known in the railway fraternity. Some are so altered it is hard to tell they were once carriages; others have been preserved by enthusiasts and become carriages once more.

    Like this Midland one:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-66166820

    Or this NSR carriage, which became a garden shed:
    https://knottycoachtrust.org.uk/history-of-no-61/
    There's a nicely done out carriage on the sea front at Sandsend near Whitby:
    https://mulgrave-estate.co.uk/holiday-cottages/sandsend-sleeper-parcel-wagon
    Bah. A Mk-1. Not even Victorian. ;)
  • EScrymgeourEScrymgeour Posts: 141
    edited August 8

    News - Trump Says He Has Agreed To Debate On Fox On Sep 4th, NBC On Sep 10th, ABC On Sep 25th

    https://x.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1821612057516823027

    Be like him to turn up on Fox, then skip NBC/ABC
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,009
    YouGov poll sees Farage's favourability score take a hit over the last week, particularly amongst conservative voters

    Now is the time and opportunity for the conservatives to distance themselves from Farage and Reform

    https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-labour-riots-parliament-conservative-leadership-jenrick-police-live-12593360?postid=8098959#liveblog-body
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,112

    Leon said:

    TimS said:

    Leon said:

    TimS said:

    Leon said:

    TimS said:

    TimS said:

    Angostura bitters in shit drinks update:

    Just put some in a bottle of San Miguel I had left over from a party.

    As if by magic I’m drinking some speciality spiced beer in a Belgian pub.

    Next stop: those cans of Budweiser I’d been avoiding drinking.

    Or should I try them in that Guinness my Irish (well, County Down but very much IRISH) colleague Sinead left here after a do?

    No, that surely wouldn’t work.

    But I’m going to try anyway. Hmm, it’s ok. But the effect on lager is transformational.

    Have you tried sloe gin with cold English fizz?

    OMG delish. Like an English kir royale
    No. But will try. I can see that working very well indeed. What shall we call it?

    So long as your friend @Babbage9 doesn’t describe my tasting notes as “shit wine opinions”.
    The Royal Sloe? Imperial Sloe? Gin Fitzroy?

    Honestly try it, it’s excellent. I “invented” it in a posh 5 star hotel near Dartmoor a few years ago. Tho later research tells me I’m not the first to have the idea?
    Poundbury punch. Our King has not yet had a truly universal cocktail named in his honour.
    Nice

    It should be COMPULSORY for every Englishman to drink a large “Poundbury Punch” at 11am on Christmas Day morning, so as to toast His Majesty’s health

    And maybe Easter Sunday. And whitsuntide

    And Lammas Day…
    All Quarter Days. The Pub Landlord can create a special for the Lady Day...
    For a quiet Christmas Day, I'd feed them a Fog Cutter at 11am, using their Christmas Satsumas:

    Long Version:

    - 50ml orange juice (fresh is best)
    - 25ml lemon juice
    - 50ml white rum
    - 25ml gin
    - 25ml brandy / cognac (my preference is Courvoisier, but the source of the recipe says Martell. I think he has played too much Contraband.)
    - 25ml Amontillado Sherry
    - 25ml orgeat (which is an almond sugar syrup - I adapted by using an Amaretto almond liqueur instead of half of the white rum, and normal syrup)

    Mix everything except the Sherry in a cocktail shaker (or jug) with crushed ice. Strain into a tall ice filled glass. Float the sherry on top, and garnish with a slice of orange.

    Enjoy your summery Christmassy cocktail. Let the day drift away.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    It’s not just “the French”. It’s France. France is in almost all respects - weather, scenery, colonial possessions in the tropics, physical attractiveness of population, architecture, obesity rates, transport infrastructure, planning regs, rioting abilities, Olympics medal table, ok maybe not river cleanliness - better than Britain.

    Put aside your dislike of surly waiters, annoying shopkeepers who correct your use of masculine and feminine gender, and shrugging bureaucrats, and consider the territories on offer.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870

    kle4 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    There is a pattern in antisocial media bullshit.

    A tag line and the apparent evidence - "@TheScreamingEagles interview - Pineapple pizza awesome, Radiohead and Python awful. https://youtu.be/GarbageLink"

    It works because about 90% off people never click the link or try and find actual evidence.

    Python is awful - don't use whitespace to represent significancy...
    It is no more ridiculous than using lots of brackets (of varying types).

    Python has fantastic, clean syntax. It has incredible data science libraries. And these days, computers (and computing power) is cheap.

    Other than occasional bits of Javascript, when I have a need to do something webby, I wouldn't use anything else. There's simply no point, because quick to write, readable code, is worth a lot more than a few processor cycles.
    oh I just have a dislike of Python but I started off when Javascript was Livescript and Perl was the in thing.

    I personally prefer the latest version of Delphi (i.e. C# )..
    99% of my "coding" these days is data analysis, where Python + Pandas + Jupyter is absolutely superb, especially if you use Google's hosted Colab service. I'm playing around with massive datasets and running analyses in seconds that would historically have taken days. (And also required a team of people.)
    You use whatever has the best libraries for whatever it is you want to do. If that's Python, then great. And if it's JavaScript, for God's sake use TypeScript!
    The real problem with Python and JavaScript is the large numbers of self taught people.

    Who haven’t heard of code structure, testing pyramids or even code versioning tools.

    “No, Quant Boy, the Python file you emailed me isn’t going directly into production. Aside from the fact it doesn’t actually run, we need tests. And test data. And some QA. and running on all the non-prod environments first…. Also, where is the specification? ‘cause Compliance will quite interested in how we are pricing stuff.”
    While I largely agree with what you say, it is also great to have the freedom to implement stuff as you see fit without having to specify every last widget to the n-th degree. Obviously that's easier when working iteratively as a sole developer on small projects.

    Also, bad code implemented by self-taught developers is by no means restricted to Python and JavaScript. The codebase at my last workplace was a tangled mess of undocumented C++ dating back decades and presided over by an old-school self-taught coder with a pathological hatred of whitespace and line breaks. That was the last straw for me.
    Indeed

    Just that these days the self taught types are hacking in Python.

    There was this mad guy who was going to replace Excel with a spreadsheet backed by Python as the scripting language. Whatever happened to him?
    As someone who has been in software since the 90's and for many companies....assuming you pick right I think self taught tend to be better than those that have degrees, The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree
    "The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree"

    So they have failed at the most basic thing a degree is supposed to teach.
    I have found to a certain extent that people with degrees tend to not like being corrected in what they are doing by people who don't have degrees....certainly not all but a significant enough slice of them
    William felt the distinct unease of a well-educated man who has to confront the fact that the illiterate man watching him could probably outthink him three times over.
    The Truth - Terry Pratchett
    We see this in politics too. There is imo a degree of condescension and even hostility from politicians, the civil service and media towards politicians who went to lesser schools and colleges, so Jim Callaghan, Neil Kinnock, Gordon Brown, and on the other side, John Major and IDS, and early on even Thatcher and Churchill.
    Not only in the elite, witness the "they voted for this because they were ignorant diatribes". Whether brexit, voting for the tories and even sometimes the lib dems, or labour
    depending on where they are commenting
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,397
    Sandpit said:

    That was totally nuts from Sydney McLaughlin. Absolutely brilliant.

    0.2 seconds outside qualifying for the 400 flat final.
    Whilst jumping hurdles.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777

    kle4 said:

    Sandpit said:

    23.45 for KJT in the 200m, that should see her lead overnight.

    She's leading Thiam by 48 points.
    Is that a lot?
    No Thiams Javelin PB is 298 pts better than KJT
    But KJT just smashed her shotput PB tonight so she's clearly got more in the tank for javelin than her PB so it could be extremely close. A similar improvement would get her another ~70 points in javelin which is gold.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    edited August 8
    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    It’s not just “the French”. It’s France. France is in almost all respects - weather, scenery, colonial possessions in the tropics, physical attractiveness of population, architecture, obesity rates, transport infrastructure, planning regs, rioting abilities, Olympics medal table, ok maybe not river cleanliness - better than Britain.

    Put aside your dislike of surly waiters, annoying shopkeepers who correct your use of masculine and feminine gender, and shrugging bureaucrats, and consider the territories on offer.
    Sadly true

    However we are much funnier than them, generally cheerier, better company all round. Also more individualistic, and creative. They are weirdly boring and self similar. Like Hausmann boulevards

    And their restaurant food is execrable. In Paris this week I was reduced to pizza. Pizza!!

    Otherwise, oui
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    edited August 8
    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    It’s not just “the French”. It’s France. France is in almost all respects - weather, scenery, colonial possessions in the tropics, physical attractiveness of population, architecture, obesity rates, transport infrastructure, planning regs, rioting abilities, Olympics medal table, ok maybe not river cleanliness - better than Britain.

    Put aside your dislike of surly waiters, annoying shopkeepers who correct your use of masculine and feminine gender, and shrugging bureaucrats, and consider the territories on offer.
    I have not said I dislike the french, they are french, we are british. The french prefer to be french, the british prefer to be british. Citing two remote high politicians discussing merging the countries does not mean the demos of either want to merge. I don't see what you are failing to get here?
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
  • Nunu5Nunu5 Posts: 964

    News - Trump Says He Has Agreed To Debate On Fox On Sep 4th, NBC On Sep 10th, ABC On Sep 25th

    https://x.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1821612057516823027

    A one man agreement.
  • Nunu5Nunu5 Posts: 964
    I agree to have pudding today, tomorrow and the day after.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    Nunu5 said:

    I agree to have pudding today, tomorrow and the day after.

    define pudding are we talking savoury pudding such as steak and kidney or sweet pudding such as treacle pudding?
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,546

    What is going on in Kursk?

    Apparently Ukraine is now operating helicopters *within* Russia, and Russia have destroyed a Ukrainian air-defence asset - which means Ukraine were expecting to need valuable AD coverage further forward.

    Yesterday I was expecting this to be a larger version of Ukraine's previous incursions into Russia. Now, after a couple of days, it is looking significantly more strategic. I just cannot fathom what that strategy is.

    Apparently to hold in order to use as bargaining chip in the event of negotiations. Seems a bit optimistic to believe they could hold it though.
    I find that hard to believe; defence lines take a lot of time to create. Weeks at best; months for really good defence lines.

    But this thread suggests that Ukraine might be going after railway lines; both to disrupt Russian supplies, and also to bring their own stuff in. The former would only be temporary; the latter would indicate a longer stay.

    https://x.com/Schizointel/status/1821558608238162231

    And the official Ukrainian Railways site is making a claim about entering Russia...
    https://x.com/Schizointel/status/1821572965542289848/photo/1

    It's certainly more than a Dieppe-style raid. But I've no idea what the strategy is.
    A blitzkrieg whereby the Ukrainian forces bypass the Russian defence lines to liberate Ukrainian territory via Russian territory?

    Comparable to how the fall of France was facilitated by the bypassing the Maginot Line.
    Incidentally, I read your post and thought: "Nah, blitzkrieg was much faster than the Ukrainian advance in Kursk."

    Then I looked into it... and it may not have been.:
    "For example, from 10 May 1940 through 25 June 1940 is 46 days and the Germans covered a distance of perhaps 250 km, or approximately 5 km/day. From 22 June 1941 to 5 December 1941 is 165 days and perhaps 1000 km were covered, or roughly 6 km/day. I imagine Rommel in North Africa went even faster."
    https://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11603

    But other sources say 120 miles in five days. Which, if copied, would soon have the Ukrainians at Moscow's gates... ;)

    An odd discrepancy if they're talking about the same thing.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    I see you have reverted to talking bollocks
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,022
    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    It could have been great.
    Third largest economy in the world.

    What synergies might we have realised ?
  • londonpubmanlondonpubman Posts: 3,639
    MaxPB said:

    kle4 said:

    Sandpit said:

    23.45 for KJT in the 200m, that should see her lead overnight.

    She's leading Thiam by 48 points.
    Is that a lot?
    No Thiams Javelin PB is 298 pts better than KJT
    But KJT just smashed her shotput PB tonight so she's clearly got more in the tank for javelin than her PB so it could be extremely close. A similar improvement would get her another ~70 points in javelin which is gold.
    Yes I suspect KJT will just get there. Also maybe 2 or 3 golds in the cycling. Not sure where any other golds are coming from. Should be enough for 5th in the table
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,615
    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Err. No.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,651
    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    Nigelb said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    It could have been great.
    Third largest economy in the world.

    What synergies might we have realised ?
    Don't get me wrong not saying it wouldn't have worked economically. However do you think either the british or french would have said yes in a referendum?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,191
    Pagan2 said:

    kle4 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    There is a pattern in antisocial media bullshit.

    A tag line and the apparent evidence - "@TheScreamingEagles interview - Pineapple pizza awesome, Radiohead and Python awful. https://youtu.be/GarbageLink"

    It works because about 90% off people never click the link or try and find actual evidence.

    Python is awful - don't use whitespace to represent significancy...
    It is no more ridiculous than using lots of brackets (of varying types).

    Python has fantastic, clean syntax. It has incredible data science libraries. And these days, computers (and computing power) is cheap.

    Other than occasional bits of Javascript, when I have a need to do something webby, I wouldn't use anything else. There's simply no point, because quick to write, readable code, is worth a lot more than a few processor cycles.
    oh I just have a dislike of Python but I started off when Javascript was Livescript and Perl was the in thing.

    I personally prefer the latest version of Delphi (i.e. C# )..
    99% of my "coding" these days is data analysis, where Python + Pandas + Jupyter is absolutely superb, especially if you use Google's hosted Colab service. I'm playing around with massive datasets and running analyses in seconds that would historically have taken days. (And also required a team of people.)
    You use whatever has the best libraries for whatever it is you want to do. If that's Python, then great. And if it's JavaScript, for God's sake use TypeScript!
    The real problem with Python and JavaScript is the large numbers of self taught people.

    Who haven’t heard of code structure, testing pyramids or even code versioning tools.

    “No, Quant Boy, the Python file you emailed me isn’t going directly into production. Aside from the fact it doesn’t actually run, we need tests. And test data. And some QA. and running on all the non-prod environments first…. Also, where is the specification? ‘cause Compliance will quite interested in how we are pricing stuff.”
    While I largely agree with what you say, it is also great to have the freedom to implement stuff as you see fit without having to specify every last widget to the n-th degree. Obviously that's easier when working iteratively as a sole developer on small projects.

    Also, bad code implemented by self-taught developers is by no means restricted to Python and JavaScript. The codebase at my last workplace was a tangled mess of undocumented C++ dating back decades and presided over by an old-school self-taught coder with a pathological hatred of whitespace and line breaks. That was the last straw for me.
    Indeed

    Just that these days the self taught types are hacking in Python.

    There was this mad guy who was going to replace Excel with a spreadsheet backed by Python as the scripting language. Whatever happened to him?
    As someone who has been in software since the 90's and for many companies....assuming you pick right I think self taught tend to be better than those that have degrees, The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree
    "The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree"

    So they have failed at the most basic thing a degree is supposed to teach.
    I have found to a certain extent that people with degrees tend to not like being corrected in what they are doing by people who don't have degrees....certainly not all but a significant enough slice of them
    William felt the distinct unease of a well-educated man who has to confront the fact that the illiterate man watching him could probably outthink him three times over.
    The Truth - Terry Pratchett
    Precisely
    The trouble is there is a wide gap between software written on a university course and what is acceptable as commercial software
    There is often a wide gap between what is acceptable in a commercial environment and what is acceptable software.

    Looking at you, Boeing.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,655
    MaxPB said:

    kle4 said:

    Sandpit said:

    23.45 for KJT in the 200m, that should see her lead overnight.

    She's leading Thiam by 48 points.
    Is that a lot?
    No Thiams Javelin PB is 298 pts better than KJT
    But KJT just smashed her shotput PB tonight so she's clearly got more in the tank for javelin than her PB so it could be extremely close. A similar improvement would get her another ~70 points in javelin which is gold.
    Lets hope so

    FWIW I think both will fall short of their LJ PBs (KJT needs to maintain her PB gap of 24 points on that event

    KJT needs to narrow her massive Javelin defecit by at least 50 points

    Then it comes down to the 800m I will be surprised if KJT beats her PB of 2.07.26 Thiam has scope to beat hers of 2.11.79

    It will be close but with my betting head rather than my heart i think Thiam is narrow favourite.

    Obvs it can go either way but the 20m underperformance by KJT was massive in terms of the overall result
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    What do you think the referendum result would be in the two countries if a merger was proposed?
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,747

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    At the drop of a French hat - I'm with you!
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    edited August 8

    Pagan2 said:

    kle4 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    There is a pattern in antisocial media bullshit.

    A tag line and the apparent evidence - "@TheScreamingEagles interview - Pineapple pizza awesome, Radiohead and Python awful. https://youtu.be/GarbageLink"

    It works because about 90% off people never click the link or try and find actual evidence.

    Python is awful - don't use whitespace to represent significancy...
    It is no more ridiculous than using lots of brackets (of varying types).

    Python has fantastic, clean syntax. It has incredible data science libraries. And these days, computers (and computing power) is cheap.

    Other than occasional bits of Javascript, when I have a need to do something webby, I wouldn't use anything else. There's simply no point, because quick to write, readable code, is worth a lot more than a few processor cycles.
    oh I just have a dislike of Python but I started off when Javascript was Livescript and Perl was the in thing.

    I personally prefer the latest version of Delphi (i.e. C# )..
    99% of my "coding" these days is data analysis, where Python + Pandas + Jupyter is absolutely superb, especially if you use Google's hosted Colab service. I'm playing around with massive datasets and running analyses in seconds that would historically have taken days. (And also required a team of people.)
    You use whatever has the best libraries for whatever it is you want to do. If that's Python, then great. And if it's JavaScript, for God's sake use TypeScript!
    The real problem with Python and JavaScript is the large numbers of self taught people.

    Who haven’t heard of code structure, testing pyramids or even code versioning tools.

    “No, Quant Boy, the Python file you emailed me isn’t going directly into production. Aside from the fact it doesn’t actually run, we need tests. And test data. And some QA. and running on all the non-prod environments first…. Also, where is the specification? ‘cause Compliance will quite interested in how we are pricing stuff.”
    While I largely agree with what you say, it is also great to have the freedom to implement stuff as you see fit without having to specify every last widget to the n-th degree. Obviously that's easier when working iteratively as a sole developer on small projects.

    Also, bad code implemented by self-taught developers is by no means restricted to Python and JavaScript. The codebase at my last workplace was a tangled mess of undocumented C++ dating back decades and presided over by an old-school self-taught coder with a pathological hatred of whitespace and line breaks. That was the last straw for me.
    Indeed

    Just that these days the self taught types are hacking in Python.

    There was this mad guy who was going to replace Excel with a spreadsheet backed by Python as the scripting language. Whatever happened to him?
    As someone who has been in software since the 90's and for many companies....assuming you pick right I think self taught tend to be better than those that have degrees, The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree
    "The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree"

    So they have failed at the most basic thing a degree is supposed to teach.
    I have found to a certain extent that people with degrees tend to not like being corrected in what they are doing by people who don't have degrees....certainly not all but a significant enough slice of them
    William felt the distinct unease of a well-educated man who has to confront the fact that the illiterate man watching him could probably outthink him three times over.
    The Truth - Terry Pratchett
    Precisely
    The trouble is there is a wide gap between software written on a university course and what is acceptable as commercial software
    There is often a wide gap between what is acceptable in a commercial environment and what is acceptable software.

    Looking at you, Boeing.
    Also true when a company goes from actual engineers to bean counter control

    To give an example there is a proposal in my company that employs a couple of hundred software engineers that we should no longer buy visual studio licences as we can use visual code for free....guess what sort of manager suggested it?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,112
    MattW said:

    I see that the Labour Councillor seemingly calling for throat cuttings has been arrested.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz074vyvjzvo

    "Two tier policing" continues not to exist.

    Except that the line may now be: "TWO TIER POLICING - WE TOLD YOU. They didn't arrest him until we kicked up a fuss."

    For some it continues to be about generating a political narrative to fit their purposes.

    Following this up, Black Belt Barrister has commented:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-1P2YHvLBg
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    What do you think the referendum result would be in the two countries if a merger was proposed?
    I actually think it would be close.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777
    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    I don't think that's true at all, last night tens of thousands across the country came out to march against Nazis and fascist EDL types. While it doesn't mean all is good again, it does show that that the majority of the UK is decent and accepting of people from different ethnicities. The "breaking point" is much further away than people might try and sensationalise.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    What do you think the referendum result would be in the two countries if a merger was proposed?
    You make a very fair point. No way would the French have surrendered their Republican model to have a British monarch as head of state, no way would the British have yielded their monarchy to become a French style republic. The idea was bonkers
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,392
    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    And chatting shit on PB with random weirdos.
    Ain’t it great!
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    We still are. The French don’t have to rely on their football ultras plus Russian Telegram channels and the world’s richest billionaire to generate some sort of ethnic cleavage. There is much more racism in France than here.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,615
    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    And control of the TV remote. Like you, I am living the dream.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,874
    edited August 8

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    That likely means Le Pen leader of the Opposition and Farage her Deputy, also some problems about the head of state given they are a republic and we have a King
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,414
    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    It’s not just “the French”. It’s France. France is in almost all respects - weather, scenery, colonial possessions in the tropics, physical attractiveness of population, architecture, obesity rates, transport infrastructure, planning regs, rioting abilities, Olympics medal table, ok maybe not river cleanliness - better than Britain.

    Put aside your dislike of surly waiters, annoying shopkeepers who correct your use of masculine and feminine gender, and shrugging bureaucrats, and consider the territories on offer.
    I have not said I dislike the french, they are french, we are british. The french prefer to be french, the british prefer to be british. Citing two remote high politicians discussing merging the countries does not mean the demos of either want to merge. I don't see what you are failing to get here?
    Depends, I suggest, on whether one is ‘ruling class’ or pleb. The latter would be much happier with the Dutch and Scandinavians.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    What do you think the referendum result would be in the two countries if a merger was proposed?
    I actually think it would be close.
    Well I don't think it would be close either side but neither can say till there is a referendum...I was right
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    Nunu5 said:

    I agree to have pudding today, tomorrow and the day after.

    Wise choice
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,874
    Shy Trumpers or not a 1% or 2% lead for Harris with I&I/TIPP would be no bigger than the margin Hillary won the popular vote by in 2016 when Trump won the EC. Trump now having agreed to autumn debates with Harris makes them a factor too
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,397

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    We'd have to up our rioting game.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,191
    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Large tracts of it *are* ours
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870

    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    And chatting shit on PB with random weirdos.
    Ain’t it great!
    I am the only sane one here its just the rest of you are wierd and I post here as part of my community service for barratry nods
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777
    TimS said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    We still are. The French don’t have to rely on their football ultras plus Russian Telegram channels and the world’s richest billionaire to generate some sort of ethnic cleavage. There is much more racism in France than here.
    Yes, this is definitely true, when my wife (then gf) went to provincial France in 2017 we got a lot of odd stares and people chatting shit about us in French because we're an interracial couple. That my wife speaks perfect French was an instant fuck you to them but it was still a chastening experience and not what I expected growing up in the UK where literally no one gives a flying fuck about interracial marriages/relationships other than the most idiotic EDL wankers.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    I don't think that's true at all, last night tens of thousands across the country came out to march against Nazis and fascist EDL types. While it doesn't mean all is good again, it does show that that the majority of the UK is decent and accepting of people from different ethnicities. The "breaking point" is much further away than people might try and sensationalise.
    I hope you’re right. But I’m deeply pessimistic. Why?

    Because I don’t think the Labour government will learn anything from this, other than that they need to censor and demonise dissenting right wing opinion even more

    They won’t do anything about the boats, immigration will continue at insane levels, they will silence anyone who complains, they will make zero effort at Danish style integration. The sectarianisation of the UK will therefore continue and likely intensify
  • ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 5,331
    Nigelb said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    It could have been great.
    Third largest economy in the world.

    What synergies might we have realised ?
    How many world cups won?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,191
    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    That likely means Le Pen leader of the Opposition and Farage her Deputy, also some problems about the head of state given they are a republic and we have a King
    Split the difference and make Charlie Emperor.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    What do you think the referendum result would be in the two countries if a merger was proposed?
    I actually think it would be close.
    Well I don't think it would be close either side but neither can say till there is a referendum...I was right
    Let the people decide. Laissez les gens décider.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,569
    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    I’m home alone for the next couple of weeks. Dropped Wifey off to the airport this morning, to go and see her father in Ukraine. She’s in Poland now and getting on a train in the morning heading for Kiev.

    I can’t go because of work, yes it’s great to be able to cook crap food and grab takeaways for a few days, but one always misses the hugs and kisses with that other human in the bed every morning…
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    TimS said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    We still are. The French don’t have to rely on their football ultras plus Russian Telegram channels and the world’s richest billionaire to generate some sort of ethnic cleavage. There is much more racism in France than here.
    You just have to look at %rn got against what reform got
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Large tracts of it *are* ours
    Sadly (or gladly) not in Southern Burgundy where the lingua Franca is French, the foreign visitors are Swiss, American and the caravanning Dutch, and the land under one’s feet never belonged to the English crown.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,615
    Sandpit said:

    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    I’m home alone for the next couple of weeks. Dropped Wifey off to the airport this morning, to go and see her father in Ukraine. She’s in Poland now and getting on a train in the morning heading for Kiev.

    I can’t go because of work, yes it’s great to be able to cook crap food and grab takeaways for a few days, but one always misses the hugs and kisses with that other human in the bed every morning…
    Sure, but for a few days the cat is away and the mice can play. After that I miss the cat...
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    MattW said:

    I see that the Labour Councillor seemingly calling for throat cuttings has been arrested.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz074vyvjzvo

    "Two tier policing" continues not to exist.

    Except that the line may now be: "TWO TIER POLICING - WE TOLD YOU. They didn't arrest him until we kicked up a fuss."

    For some it continues to be about generating a political narrative to fit their purposes.

    On Nigel's instruction.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz074vyvjzvo.amp
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    MaxPB said:

    TimS said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    We still are. The French don’t have to rely on their football ultras plus Russian Telegram channels and the world’s richest billionaire to generate some sort of ethnic cleavage. There is much more racism in France than here.
    Yes, this is definitely true, when my wife (then gf) went to provincial France in 2017 we got a lot of odd stares and people chatting shit about us in French because we're an interracial couple. That my wife speaks perfect French was an instant fuck you to them but it was still a chastening experience and not what I expected growing up in the UK where literally no one gives a flying fuck about interracial marriages/relationships other than the most idiotic EDL wankers.
    EDL wankers are thankfully rare, and while I know people regard me as very right wing, yes I despise these people.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    edited August 8
    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    And chatting shit on PB with random weirdos.
    Ain’t it great!
    I am the only sane one here its just the rest of you are wierd and I post here as part of my community service for barratry nods
    “I am the only sane one here” is chapter 5, section 4 of the textbook.

    Out of interest what are barratry nods?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777
    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    I don't think that's true at all, last night tens of thousands across the country came out to march against Nazis and fascist EDL types. While it doesn't mean all is good again, it does show that that the majority of the UK is decent and accepting of people from different ethnicities. The "breaking point" is much further away than people might try and sensationalise.
    I hope you’re right. But I’m deeply pessimistic. Why?

    Because I don’t think the Labour government will learn anything from this, other than that they need to censor and demonise dissenting right wing opinion even more

    They won’t do anything about the boats, immigration will continue at insane levels, they will silence anyone who complains, they will make zero effort at Danish style integration. The sectarianisation of the UK will therefore continue and likely intensify
    Then that's Labour losing in 2029, however, I don't think the high net migration will continue under Labour. They're already making noises about raising the £39k visa threshold and pushing through a regional and sector based salary minimums which would fundamentally change the way sponsor visas are issued. That along with the collapse of the student visa factory "universities" sector will push net migration down to ~150k within a couple of years and with the higher thresholds the current lot of foreign students graduating will have to go back home meaning we may actually have 2-3 years of net emigration as student arrivals unwind.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    And chatting shit on PB with random weirdos.
    Ain’t it great!
    I am the only sane one here its just the rest of you are wierd and I post here as part of my community service for barratry nods
    “I am the only sane one here” is chapter 5, section 4 of the textbook.
    Yes but your textbook is a figment of my imagination...just saying
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,866

    MattW said:

    I see that the Labour Councillor seemingly calling for throat cuttings has been arrested.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz074vyvjzvo

    "Two tier policing" continues not to exist.

    Except that the line may now be: "TWO TIER POLICING - WE TOLD YOU. They didn't arrest him until we kicked up a fuss."

    For some it continues to be about generating a political narrative to fit their purposes.

    On Nigel's instruction.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz074vyvjzvo.amp
    I doubt that very much.

    The bigger question is whether he will be expelled from the Labour Party - until and unless legal action is taken, there's little they can do about him reamining a councillor unless he chooses to resign. Presumably his authority could take action based on the standards of behaviour under which members are supposed to comport themselves but that would take time.

    He's been incredibly stupid - perhaps he'd spent an afternoon at the bingo.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,569
    edited August 8
    Foxy said:

    Sandpit said:

    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    I’m home alone for the next couple of weeks. Dropped Wifey off to the airport this morning, to go and see her father in Ukraine. She’s in Poland now and getting on a train in the morning heading for Kiev.

    I can’t go because of work, yes it’s great to be able to cook crap food and grab takeaways for a few days, but one always misses the hugs and kisses with that other human in the bed every morning…
    Sure, but for a few days the cat is away and the mice can play. After that I miss the cat...
    Okay. Maybe I get sh!tfaced by mid-afternoon tomorrow then!

    But after that, what? It’s no fun being on your own.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,546

    Pagan2 said:

    kle4 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    There is a pattern in antisocial media bullshit.

    A tag line and the apparent evidence - "@TheScreamingEagles interview - Pineapple pizza awesome, Radiohead and Python awful. https://youtu.be/GarbageLink"

    It works because about 90% off people never click the link or try and find actual evidence.

    Python is awful - don't use whitespace to represent significancy...
    It is no more ridiculous than using lots of brackets (of varying types).

    Python has fantastic, clean syntax. It has incredible data science libraries. And these days, computers (and computing power) is cheap.

    Other than occasional bits of Javascript, when I have a need to do something webby, I wouldn't use anything else. There's simply no point, because quick to write, readable code, is worth a lot more than a few processor cycles.
    oh I just have a dislike of Python but I started off when Javascript was Livescript and Perl was the in thing.

    I personally prefer the latest version of Delphi (i.e. C# )..
    99% of my "coding" these days is data analysis, where Python + Pandas + Jupyter is absolutely superb, especially if you use Google's hosted Colab service. I'm playing around with massive datasets and running analyses in seconds that would historically have taken days. (And also required a team of people.)
    You use whatever has the best libraries for whatever it is you want to do. If that's Python, then great. And if it's JavaScript, for God's sake use TypeScript!
    The real problem with Python and JavaScript is the large numbers of self taught people.

    Who haven’t heard of code structure, testing pyramids or even code versioning tools.

    “No, Quant Boy, the Python file you emailed me isn’t going directly into production. Aside from the fact it doesn’t actually run, we need tests. And test data. And some QA. and running on all the non-prod environments first…. Also, where is the specification? ‘cause Compliance will quite interested in how we are pricing stuff.”
    While I largely agree with what you say, it is also great to have the freedom to implement stuff as you see fit without having to specify every last widget to the n-th degree. Obviously that's easier when working iteratively as a sole developer on small projects.

    Also, bad code implemented by self-taught developers is by no means restricted to Python and JavaScript. The codebase at my last workplace was a tangled mess of undocumented C++ dating back decades and presided over by an old-school self-taught coder with a pathological hatred of whitespace and line breaks. That was the last straw for me.
    Indeed

    Just that these days the self taught types are hacking in Python.

    There was this mad guy who was going to replace Excel with a spreadsheet backed by Python as the scripting language. Whatever happened to him?
    As someone who has been in software since the 90's and for many companies....assuming you pick right I think self taught tend to be better than those that have degrees, The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree
    "The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree"

    So they have failed at the most basic thing a degree is supposed to teach.
    I have found to a certain extent that people with degrees tend to not like being corrected in what they are doing by people who don't have degrees....certainly not all but a significant enough slice of them
    William felt the distinct unease of a well-educated man who has to confront the fact that the illiterate man watching him could probably outthink him three times over.
    The Truth - Terry Pratchett
    Precisely
    The trouble is there is a wide gap between software written on a university course and what is acceptable as commercial software
    There is often a wide gap between what is acceptable in a commercial environment and what is acceptable software.

    Looking at you, Boeing.
    Very true; and it makes sense.

    If I am writing *software* to control a washing machine (*), then a crash or failure once in a hundred hours is annoying, but not critical. If I am writing software for a car or plane, then a crash or failure once in a hundred hours would be totally and utterly unacceptable.

    Having said that, it is made worse by manages building (say) a washing machine not understanding the importance of the software that runs on it, and not even allocating the effort in to ensure it does not crash every five hours of use...

    Being a software engineer in such an environment can be soul-crushing. You *want* to do a better job, but you're not allowed to.

    (*) I am talking non-Internet of Tat here...
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,950

    Nigelb said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    It could have been great.
    Third largest economy in the world.

    What synergies might we have realised ?
    How many world cups won?
    Couldn’t really up the won world wars count, though perhaps we’d have started some new ones.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,808

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    "The UK and France are to be reorganised as The First Galactic Empire! For a safe and secure society!"
  • Nigelb said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    It could have been great.
    Third largest economy in the world.

    What synergies might we have realised ?
    How many world cups won?
    Isn't this an "ah, but what if they had my looks and your brains..." thing.

    You're assuming the Franglais national team would have the best attributes of both rather than the worst.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046
    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    Covid lockdowns must have been very hard on many families. However much you love someone you surely need your own space from time to time.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870
    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    I don't think that's true at all, last night tens of thousands across the country came out to march against Nazis and fascist EDL types. While it doesn't mean all is good again, it does show that that the majority of the UK is decent and accepting of people from different ethnicities. The "breaking point" is much further away than people might try and sensationalise.
    I hope you’re right. But I’m deeply pessimistic. Why?

    Because I don’t think the Labour government will learn anything from this, other than that they need to censor and demonise dissenting right wing opinion even more

    They won’t do anything about the boats, immigration will continue at insane levels, they will silence anyone who complains, they will make zero effort at Danish style integration. The sectarianisation of the UK will therefore continue and likely intensify
    Then that's Labour losing in 2029, however, I don't think the high net migration will continue under Labour. They're already making noises about raising the £39k visa threshold and pushing through a regional and sector based salary minimums which would fundamentally change the way sponsor visas are issued. That along with the collapse of the student visa factory "universities" sector will push net migration down to ~150k within a couple of years and with the higher thresholds the current lot of foreign students graduating will have to go back home meaning we may actually have 2-3 years of net emigration as student arrivals unwind.
    A very right wing person writes and I think how that's people see me

    Immigration is fine as long as
    1) Those coming in are net contributors to the economy
    2) Housing and services grow to support the numbers coming in
    3) We have a hard cap on the population governed by food and energy supply security ( note doesn't need to be 100%)
    4) Those coming in intergrate into our society and don't make standalone ones

    Other than that I don't care about colour, race, creed or sexuality of them
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I deny nothing you have said, however nothing you said indicates they want to merge with england so I don't see how it is remotely relevant
    Oh but Pagan I am deadly serious about this.

    Give it time and the peuples of les deux états will voir la lumière.
    No they really won't else we would have done it centuries back when we were almost one country, since then we have got more distant from each other not closer
    Both countries have very similar problems. Tragically, we used to be able to say that the UK is more racially harmonious. Not any more
    I don't think that's true at all, last night tens of thousands across the country came out to march against Nazis and fascist EDL types. While it doesn't mean all is good again, it does show that that the majority of the UK is decent and accepting of people from different ethnicities. The "breaking point" is much further away than people might try and sensationalise.
    I hope you’re right. But I’m deeply pessimistic. Why?

    Because I don’t think the Labour government will learn anything from this, other than that they need to censor and demonise dissenting right wing opinion even more

    They won’t do anything about the boats, immigration will continue at insane levels, they will silence anyone who complains, they will make zero effort at Danish style integration. The sectarianisation of the UK will therefore continue and likely intensify
    Then that's Labour losing in 2029, however, I don't think the high net migration will continue under Labour. They're already making noises about raising the £39k visa threshold and pushing through a regional and sector based salary minimums which would fundamentally change the way sponsor visas are issued. That along with the collapse of the student visa factory "universities" sector will push net migration down to ~150k within a couple of years and with the higher thresholds the current lot of foreign students graduating will have to go back home meaning we may actually have 2-3 years of net emigration as student arrivals unwind.
    If we get net emigration I will be astonished. I’ll be fairly amazed if it comes down to net ~150k arrivals

    My worst fear is that Britain will become a bigger version of Sweden. Jeez

    We need to be like Denmark. Get much more proactive with integration and be much more ruthless - sadly - with asylum seekers. That’s how you restore public faith
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,651
    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    Coincidentally I am also home alone (not counting the dog) as Mrs P. is spending a few nights with her father after his cataract operation.

    Quite nice to chill and slob out a bit but I'll be getting lonely by Monday when she comes back.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    Sandpit said:

    Foxy said:

    Sandpit said:

    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    I’m home alone for the next couple of weeks. Dropped Wifey off to the airport this morning, to go and see her father in Ukraine. She’s in Poland now and getting on a train in the morning heading for Kiev.

    I can’t go because of work, yes it’s great to be able to cook crap food and grab takeaways for a few days, but one always misses the hugs and kisses with that other human in the bed every morning…
    Sure, but for a few days the cat is away and the mice can play. After that I miss the cat...
    Okay. Maybe I get sh!tfaced by mid-afternoon tomorrow then!

    But after that, what? It’s no fun being on your own.
    Being on your own is a skill, as much as being in company

    I love both - and need both
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    Foxy said:

    Sandpit said:

    TimS said:

    The occasional joy of home alone.

    Many single posters will not appreciate or understand this. But the family are all in France and I am back here, working and paying the bills, before joining them a few days later.

    We all love our families, our spouses and children. But a couple of days at home on one’s own (it was supposed to be 10 days but car theft put paid to that) is liberating.

    I can do domestic jobs far more efficiently than if there were others involved. I can cook weird food without fear of rejection. I can put angostura bitters in a bottle of lager. I can iron clothes knowing they won’t be worn or soiled for another couple of weeks. I can leave washing out on the line in the rain by accident and then bring it inside without anyone noticing.

    I don’t even need to see my friends. Years ago they all lived in London so a home alone night meant texting them and going out, which was nice and all that but now I have a choice because they’ve all fucked off to the provinces. So it’s a night in with angostura bitters and surplus lager.

    I’m home alone for the next couple of weeks. Dropped Wifey off to the airport this morning, to go and see her father in Ukraine. She’s in Poland now and getting on a train in the morning heading for Kiev.

    I can’t go because of work, yes it’s great to be able to cook crap food and grab takeaways for a few days, but one always misses the hugs and kisses with that other human in the bed every morning…
    Sure, but for a few days the cat is away and the mice can play. After that I miss the cat...
    I remember a work trip back in 2004 for a week and a half to Provo, Utah. I’d hired a car and after a few days of faffing around in the office I took a few days off and drove out into the wilderness. like Walt on one of his cooking trips in breaking bad.

    Should have been great but after 2 days I started missing my wife. It was strange. She’d have been complaining about the long distances and lack of culture. But I did.

    Whereas now 20 years later I have none of the same qualms and she and I (and the children) will go off for days or weeks and we just enjoy the different dynamic. I particularly enjoy spending time with just one of my children or one of my parents. You get to have conversations you would never have if everyone were all together.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,870

    Pagan2 said:

    kle4 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    There is a pattern in antisocial media bullshit.

    A tag line and the apparent evidence - "@TheScreamingEagles interview - Pineapple pizza awesome, Radiohead and Python awful. https://youtu.be/GarbageLink"

    It works because about 90% off people never click the link or try and find actual evidence.

    Python is awful - don't use whitespace to represent significancy...
    It is no more ridiculous than using lots of brackets (of varying types).

    Python has fantastic, clean syntax. It has incredible data science libraries. And these days, computers (and computing power) is cheap.

    Other than occasional bits of Javascript, when I have a need to do something webby, I wouldn't use anything else. There's simply no point, because quick to write, readable code, is worth a lot more than a few processor cycles.
    oh I just have a dislike of Python but I started off when Javascript was Livescript and Perl was the in thing.

    I personally prefer the latest version of Delphi (i.e. C# )..
    99% of my "coding" these days is data analysis, where Python + Pandas + Jupyter is absolutely superb, especially if you use Google's hosted Colab service. I'm playing around with massive datasets and running analyses in seconds that would historically have taken days. (And also required a team of people.)
    You use whatever has the best libraries for whatever it is you want to do. If that's Python, then great. And if it's JavaScript, for God's sake use TypeScript!
    The real problem with Python and JavaScript is the large numbers of self taught people.

    Who haven’t heard of code structure, testing pyramids or even code versioning tools.

    “No, Quant Boy, the Python file you emailed me isn’t going directly into production. Aside from the fact it doesn’t actually run, we need tests. And test data. And some QA. and running on all the non-prod environments first…. Also, where is the specification? ‘cause Compliance will quite interested in how we are pricing stuff.”
    While I largely agree with what you say, it is also great to have the freedom to implement stuff as you see fit without having to specify every last widget to the n-th degree. Obviously that's easier when working iteratively as a sole developer on small projects.

    Also, bad code implemented by self-taught developers is by no means restricted to Python and JavaScript. The codebase at my last workplace was a tangled mess of undocumented C++ dating back decades and presided over by an old-school self-taught coder with a pathological hatred of whitespace and line breaks. That was the last straw for me.
    Indeed

    Just that these days the self taught types are hacking in Python.

    There was this mad guy who was going to replace Excel with a spreadsheet backed by Python as the scripting language. Whatever happened to him?
    As someone who has been in software since the 90's and for many companies....assuming you pick right I think self taught tend to be better than those that have degrees, The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree
    "The latter tend to be you can't teach me anything I have a degree"

    So they have failed at the most basic thing a degree is supposed to teach.
    I have found to a certain extent that people with degrees tend to not like being corrected in what they are doing by people who don't have degrees....certainly not all but a significant enough slice of them
    William felt the distinct unease of a well-educated man who has to confront the fact that the illiterate man watching him could probably outthink him three times over.
    The Truth - Terry Pratchett
    Precisely
    The trouble is there is a wide gap between software written on a university course and what is acceptable as commercial software
    There is often a wide gap between what is acceptable in a commercial environment and what is acceptable software.

    Looking at you, Boeing.
    Very true; and it makes sense.

    If I am writing *software* to control a washing machine (*), then a crash or failure once in a hundred hours is annoying, but not critical. If I am writing software for a car or plane, then a crash or failure once in a hundred hours would be totally and utterly unacceptable.

    Having said that, it is made worse by manages building (say) a washing machine not understanding the importance of the software that runs on it, and not even allocating the effort in to ensure it does not crash every five hours of use...

    Being a software engineer in such an environment can be soul-crushing. You *want* to do a better job, but you're not allowed to.

    (*) I am talking non-Internet of Tat here...
    I once got offered a job working on the new air traffic control system back in the late 90's. I turned it down purely because any time a plane crashed I would be worrying was that a bug in what I wrote
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,687
    Trump looks old.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,845

    What is going on in Kursk?

    Apparently Ukraine is now operating helicopters *within* Russia, and Russia have destroyed a Ukrainian air-defence asset - which means Ukraine were expecting to need valuable AD coverage further forward.

    Yesterday I was expecting this to be a larger version of Ukraine's previous incursions into Russia. Now, after a couple of days, it is looking significantly more strategic. I just cannot fathom what that strategy is.

    Apparently to hold in order to use as bargaining chip in the event of negotiations. Seems a bit optimistic to believe they could hold it though.
    I find that hard to believe; defence lines take a lot of time to create. Weeks at best; months for really good defence lines.

    But this thread suggests that Ukraine might be going after railway lines; both to disrupt Russian supplies, and also to bring their own stuff in. The former would only be temporary; the latter would indicate a longer stay.

    https://x.com/Schizointel/status/1821558608238162231

    And the official Ukrainian Railways site is making a claim about entering Russia...
    https://x.com/Schizointel/status/1821572965542289848/photo/1

    It's certainly more than a Dieppe-style raid. But I've no idea what the strategy is.
    A blitzkrieg whereby the Ukrainian forces bypass the Russian defence lines to liberate Ukrainian territory via Russian territory?

    Comparable to how the fall of France was facilitated by the bypassing the Maginot Line.
    Incidentally, I read your post and thought: "Nah, blitzkrieg was much faster than the Ukrainian advance in Kursk."

    Then I looked into it... and it may not have been.:
    "For example, from 10 May 1940 through 25 June 1940 is 46 days and the Germans covered a distance of perhaps 250 km, or approximately 5 km/day. From 22 June 1941 to 5 December 1941 is 165 days and perhaps 1000 km were covered, or roughly 6 km/day. I imagine Rommel in North Africa went even faster."
    https://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11603

    But other sources say 120 miles in five days. Which, if copied, would soon have the Ukrainians at Moscow's gates... ;)

    An odd discrepancy if they're talking about the same thing.
    Dunkirk. There was a film about it, and Hitler halting the Nazi advance so logistics could catch up with the front line. That was (checks Wikipedia) 24th May so slap bang in the middle of your 46 days, and even without the stop order, Dunkirk was a distraction on the road to Paris.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,651
    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TimS said:

    We remain tantalisingly close to statistical parity with France in the medal table. They have one more silver and one more gold. So it would only take two events to get us there.

    Britain and France are to all intents and purposes siblings that should have merged back in the 1950s when it was on the table. The same glorious dissonance that is what makes the Anglo-Scottish relationship so harmonious and productive.

    Most people if given a choice would merge with North korea before merging with france
    Done polling have you? Until then, speak for yourself.

    Large tracts of it used to be ours.
    Not done polling no, just experience that no one much has a good word to say about the french. Most of my team are scottish for example, a group that in theory should like the french from recent history. Most of them don't like the french either and if asked if they wanted to merge would go hell no!

    You of course making the first claim if anyone showing a popular move to merge with the french not me
    Have you been to France? I’ve just spent about 9 of the last 12 weeks there, all over the country

    They are remarkably polite, friendly, honest, kind, certainly outside Paris. In fact it’s getting hard to find the traditional rude shrugging Frenchman

    It really helps if you can say just two or three words of French. That makes them smile, then they happily accept that English is the lingua franca

    And their country is much more beautiful than ours
    I'd merge the UK with France at the drop of a hat.
    What do you think the referendum result would be in the two countries if a merger was proposed?
    I think the idea would be rejected.

    However, if the choice was between merging with France and merging with North Korea, as you mooted, it would be >99% France <1% North Korea.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228

    Trump looks old.

    I thought the same. I wonder if the shooting has knacked him. Wouldn’t be at all surprising

    Please God let him withdraw and get a good sane firm Republican candidate
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,112
    Interesting side note on Ukraine.

    Their OpSec is working better than last summer; no one said this incursion was coming.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,687
    Trump says he's not campaigned this past week because he is letting "their convention go through"
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,409
    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    This is grim. And I fear it is the future


    “Pray for S, one of the asylum seekers I worked with in Gateshead, beaten up by 2 men with iron bars last night.”

    https://x.com/meggilley1/status/1821455725656240585?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    The riots have stopped but a lower level violence will now replace it. Smaller acts. Local “events”

    Bleak as bleh. I may actually move to lovely Pristina

    Another example of this sort of thing.

    "Suspended Labour councillor arrested over video ‘urging people to cut throats’
    Ricky Jones arrested after video emerged in which he appeared to call for violence against ‘Nazi fascists’"

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/08/labour-suspends-councillor-video-far-right-protesters
    Stupid man. Old enough to know a lot better

    His problem is that he is surely going to get a significant jail term, because he called for actual murder and people are getting 30 months for simply “shouting at policemen”
    I've just - for reasons - taken a quick look at the X account of Ashlea Simon, the leader of Britain First. She doesn't quite have your prose skills but the sentiments and agenda are almost identical. Don't know what you have to say about that.
    I told you, I did the latest political compass test, and I came out EXACTLY on the spot supposedly occupied by the classic Conservatives. It’s just that the actual Conservatives have moved to the left of Blair
    I'm sure you did do that test and I'm sure that was the result. I did it too and I kept at it until I came out where I wanted. They're great, those tests.

    Still, there it is. A statistically significant overlap between your output and that of the far right.

    Eg do you remember when you said Kamala Harris was "dumb as a rock"?
    I did the test once. You’re beginning to irritate me

    Yes I did say that about Harris and I now think I misjudged her. I was relying on second hand reports from biased Americans, never a good thing. Always look with your own eyes and make a true objective assessment

    The skilful way she’s handled this extraordinarily difficult transition - from Biden to her - tells me she has political cunning and brains. I think she will probably win (unless Trump drops out: not impossible). That will please me because Trump is a crazy fucker

    If Trump drops out and a sane anti-woke Republican becomes the GOP candidate I will enthusiastically back that person over Harris

    There. Sorted. Now stop being weird
    Yes, "dumb as a rock" was an exact MAGA phrase all over Hard Right Twitter. Not your finest hour, regurgitating that.

    But ok, that's a good post there and I can't ask for more. Whether you truly, on Nov 6th, will be wanting to wake up to "Harris wins, Trump loses" is between you and your god. We're all entitled to our secret chamber and in any case what we want or don't want can be a complex layered thing.

    I would like to see more enthusiasm from you as Trump implodes. You don't seem to be enjoying it very much, which I think is a shame.
    If I’m not enjoying it, that’s easily explained. I despise the Woke Democrats and I think Wokeness is a massive danger to the West (tho there are signs in the USA that it may be receding; and Harris herself is not that Woke)

    However I see Trump as an even greater threat to our security and prosperity. So I am forced to choose the lesser of two serious evils (in my eyes). This is not fertile grounds for “enthusiasm”

    What would enthuse me is a firmly anti-Woke but sane Republican who won’t abandon NATO and won’t crash the world economy with tariffs
    Essentially the same stupid, cowardly calculation you made when you voted for Keir Starmer.
    People make choices between what they consider the lesser of two evils all the time. If people dislike either option, don't think a third party is worth a damn but also wouldn't sit it out, what can they do but try to weigh up which is worse, which will always be a subjective thing?

    That's basically what lots of americans who disliked both Biden and Trump were doing in saying they'd vote for Trump.
    One should vote for Trump because one considers the bad things he might do are not as bad as the bad things the other lot might do. But don't do it because you expect him to turn into someone else.

    Starmer never gave a flying turd about the UK - regardless of his tendency to place himself in-front of any Union flag he could find. That was message discipline, not remotely genuine sentiment. And it got him power, despite there being zero joy or enthusiasm for him.

    That said, I think he is necessary - his Government is the final grotesquerie of the statist, authoritarian 'centrist' tendency. We needed this Labour Government to show its ugly unacceptable face. But don't vote for anyone expecting them to revert 'away' from type.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,687
    edited August 8
    Leon said:

    Trump looks old.

    I thought the same. I wonder if the shooting has knacked him. Wouldn’t be at all surprising

    Please God let him withdraw and get a good sane firm Republican candidate
    Time is so short for that though.

    Edit: Just found an old BF bet on nominees and I am £ in if Trump drops out now and is replaced by Haley for Haley vs Harris.
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