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Kemi Badenoch’s past comes back to haunt her – politicalbetting.com

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  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,855
    edited August 13
    Leon said:

    TimS said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    The Welsh are so insular, it's why nobody likes them.

    ‘Unnecessary’ English place names covered up on Welsh road signs

    White Eagle activists on a mission to ‘deanglicise’ country


    English place names have been covered up on some Welsh road signs by a group which says it wants to “deanglicise” the country.

    The Mudiad Eryr Wen, (White Eagle Movement), this week claimed responsibility for daubing green paint across road signs on the A525, between St Asaph and Denbigh in North Wales.

    Non-Welsh-speaking motorists navigating by street signs would have to negotiate the five miles between Llanelwy and Dinbych on their own as a result of the spray-painting.

    “Deanglicise Wales!” the Eryr Wen group posted on social media along with pictures of the signs they had defaced.

    “Imposed and unnecessary English place names have been removed from signage across Sir Ddinbych. Decolonise our geography!”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/13/english-place-names-covered-welsh-road-signs-denbigh-deface/

    Why on earth should Welsh placenames be up in two languages? Do you see Firenze also signposted as Florence for the benefit of English speakers? Do the Germans helpfully write
    Cologne after Koeln?

    Most of us can just about work out that Caerdydd actually means Cardiff, and most other Welsh placenames are similarly fathomable. As for those that aren't, if the English want to call Abertawe by the name of Swansea, that's up to us, but I don't see why the Welsh should go to any trouble or expense to accommodate our whims.
    Only about 15-20% of the Welsh population can read and write Welsh proficiently. Why on earth are you making comparisons to Italy or Germany ?
    After the way the language has been treated over the years by those in charge? Nothing wrong with a bit of role reversal to even out the balance a fraction. The Saesun are showing how the Welsh have felt for centuries.
    Ahem.

    I hate to be pedantic* but;

    The word is 'Saeson.'

    *This is officially the X most unconvincing lie told in the last 24 hours, pending an official count of the number in that Trump/Musk porno.
    Thank you - very happy to be corrected. Sometimes I mentally get crosswired with the Gaelic.
    Glad to have you join us. Thig a-steach, mo charaid.

    Edit - I was visiting Aber on Sunday and there I met a young American doing a PhD in Celtic languages supervised by an old friend of mine. He has just started taking lessons in Gaelic. In Welsh.

    Respect...
    Part of the charm of foreign travel is to escape the Anglosphere for a while. That the English can achieve this simply by driving west for a couple of hours just shows how lucky they are.
    One of the other joys is thunderstorms. We’ve had 4 days of sweltering weather and cobalt blue skies, then suddenly this evening the sky clouds over, violent zephyrs blow around the washing, the sunbed cushions and all the nearby trees, and ominous rumbles and flashes emanate from the South West horizon.
    If you have 2 and a half minutes, talk me through the appeal of a 2nd home?

    Doesn't it mean you have almost twice the hassle of one home, and you have to go to the same place every summer?

    I don't get it. Decades ago I thought about it, but then I realised all this

    The one reason I think you might do it, is if you intend to retire there. Then that might make sense. Build a new social network for your twilight years. But you are quite young and vigorous...
    We have a second home in Southwold. Primarily it is for my wife, but I enjoy it also. It doesn't stop us going elsewhere. I have been to America and France this year and will be going to Portugal and Spain and possibly elsewhere this year. It is small so doesn't require much maintenance and we have a life there (friends, events, favourite places, etc) but you are right it is more commitment , but some of those commitments are fun eg gardening. However as I get older and the children have fled I should downsize from our large house, but can't face the hassle. I would also like to buy in France, but for the reasons you have said I haven't. It is also why I haven't bought a classic car yet, because of that doubt, having spent ages looking, but then the looking is fun.

    So yep you are right, but these are the compromises you make. It's hassle but it provides joy.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,756
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Leon said:

    Let me take you through one species. The turtledove

    These birds have declined by 99% in Britain in 40 years

    It is thought there are three reasons:

    Loss of habitat: we can fix that

    Hunting in mainland Europe: we can fix that, too

    Predation by domestic cats: over to you, @Nigelb

    You do realise your argument equates to

    I kill 100's of people because its my job and thats ok
    You kill the odd person because its fun thats not ok
    Why don't you focus on what YOU do, rather than me?

    Can you make the world a significantly better place? Yes. Get rid of your pets; it is irredeemably selfish to keep cats or dogs
    Why don't you focus on the shit you do to the environment rather than me....
    Because I can do my own thing, or not, I am pointing out what YOU can do. What I do is irrelevant to whether you feel it is still morally justifiable to keep enslaved mammals merely for your own entertainment: when the evidence is now undeniable that they are destroying the ecosystem - and in multiple ways, from the medications polluting our rivers to their behaviours slaughtering our birds, mammals, amphibians

    Go to the mirror, look yourself in the eye, and say "Yeah I'm cool with my chimp tea party, it's great, who cares if we have forests". If that is your conclusion, good for you
    I am not the one obsessively lecturing you so you can frankly fuck off
    Great, you like special "chimp tea parties". Good for you. Forests can all die, you don't care. Got it
    If you care about the environment I take it you're never going to fly again?

    No, thought not.

    So kindly shut the fuck up on this topic.
    i will say what the fuck I like, unless you're actually going to ban me for having an opinion on pets?
    I'll ban you for being a tedious troll.

    Simple question, are you giving up flying?
    I've mentioned this twice in about a year, last night and tonight. Are you going to ban me for having a strident opinion?
    I hope you don't get banned for having a strident opinion; it should be for being an utter twat.
    What? Finding pet-ownership immoral?

    Is that what PB is reduced to? Banning opinions simply because they make us uncomfortable?

    You can't even accuse me of spamming the site on this topic, I mention it about twice a year, at most (tho I sincerely and fervently believe it, I simply don'r return to it very often)

    So your only argument is: you don't like this opinion, because it makes you personally uneasy. Ergo, it should be banned. PB should be a safe space for you, a pet owner
    Er, can't you read? I specifically said I hope you don't get banned for your strident opinion.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,431

    The Welsh are so insular, it's why nobody likes them.

    ‘Unnecessary’ English place names covered up on Welsh road signs

    White Eagle activists on a mission to ‘deanglicise’ country


    English place names have been covered up on some Welsh road signs by a group which says it wants to “deanglicise” the country.

    The Mudiad Eryr Wen, (White Eagle Movement), this week claimed responsibility for daubing green paint across road signs on the A525, between St Asaph and Denbigh in North Wales.

    Non-Welsh-speaking motorists navigating by street signs would have to negotiate the five miles between Llanelwy and Dinbych on their own as a result of the spray-painting.

    “Deanglicise Wales!” the Eryr Wen group posted on social media along with pictures of the signs they had defaced.

    “Imposed and unnecessary English place names have been removed from signage across Sir Ddinbych. Decolonise our geography!”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/13/english-place-names-covered-welsh-road-signs-denbigh-deface/

    They've admitted it is a futile cause by posting it in English.

  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,585
    Andy_JS said:

    J E N R I C K

    THE

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Springwatch episode 11. Getting fucking angry at pet-owners again


    DO YOU NOT FEEL GUILTY?

    These collapses in bird life. IT'S THE FUCKING CATS AND DOGS

    It's cars, you ninny. People tarmac over their front gardens to park their cars. No gardens means no insects and worms, which means no birds.
    That too, for sure. I hate it all

    Get rid of cars, cash and cats, and we'd be a better, happier nation

    Paging @Anabobazina
    Cash is pointless, a weird fetish for the niche nostalgic. I’ve toured Europe this summer and haven’t touched a single piece of cash.

    Cars I like, but I take your point.

    Cats. Get the fuck out of here. The world’s most fascinating animal!
    Why don't you like cash?
    It wastes time. And time is the most precious resource we have.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,332
    FF43 said:

    Migrant caps or otherwise, nobody is able to articulate why Badenoch was a popular choice in the first place. She is, to my admittedly limited experience, a dull speaker and was entirely invisible in a ministerial role. What on god’s green Earth has she done that qualifies her for the job?

    The party that previously selected Johnson, Truss and Sunak isn't bothered about qualified for the job.
    What is 'qualified for the job?' Labour thought Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn 'qualified for the job' after all.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,332
    edited August 13

    On topic I think Badenoch could still make it, because we have not got to the sharp end of the campaign yet, and she is articulate and often quite convincing as a media performer. I do however agree that Jenrick is the more likely. Out of those that have announced, I actually think he might be the best option, perhaps other than Cleverley.

    I think that Badenoch could lead them down a garden path of culture war minutiae (some of what she says is interesting but it’s not going to be enough to create an election winning force - see DeSantis, Ron). She seems to have very little to say about any other topic. I think Tugendhat is too weak, Stride too invisible and Patel is yesterday’s woman. Jenrick can say the “right” things, is a bit more of an unknown, presentationally ‘ok’ and combative on immigration. He straddles the gap between trying to appeal to Reform and also bringing the old school Tory coalition along for the ride. I happen to think he is also a slimy git, but my opinion doesn’t really matter.

    He wont last three years.

    But it's their funeral.
    If taxes are up, the boats unstopped, wokeism rampant, strikes a plenty even Jenrick might have a chance
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    Leon said:

    Ratters said:

    Leon said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    Springwatch episode 11. Getting fucking angry at pet-owners again


    DO YOU NOT FEEL GUILTY?

    These collapses in bird life. IT'S THE FUCKING CATS AND DOGS

    So ones that have been neutered are OK?
    kill them all. Grow the fuck up, Britain

    Seriously if we want wildlife and birdlife and living rivers, we need to get rid of our animal slaves that do nothing but "entertain us" by hiding amusingly in paperbags. It is pitiful. Only imbeciles can honestly reconcile themselves to what dogs and cats do to the ecosystem

    It's like destroying all the forests in Europe because we are so amused by chimp tea-parties in circuses
    I've noticed a lot of couples my age get a dog instead of children (or at least a very high proportion of those who choose not to have kids).

    It's a lower effort, lower cost alternative to being a parent, but less rewarding too.

    I cannot imagine getting one unless I get bored in retirement in 30 years or so.
    They are clearly surrogate kids. It is tragic
    That is true. But a bit of empathy for people who have pets because of an involuntary absence of kids, while not detracting from your overall point, would not go amiss. TBF I am not totally unsympathetic to your line of argument but your hyperbole is pure trolling.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,332

    Tom Tugendhat for me has the air of a permanent secretary at the war office telling his minister that very sadly General Gordon has fallen at Khartoum.

    I will be voting for Tugendhat if I get the chance too but I could live with Jenrick who I expect to win
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,431
    Getting serious about the electricity grid.

    This approved in 5 months, across both Governments.

    A multi-billion pound subsea cable that can shift vast amounts of renewable electricity between Scotland and England has been given the go-ahead by regulators.

    SSEN Transmission says the energy transfer project is needed to move energy around the grid on days when the wind doesn’t blow or demand is high.

    The two 315-mile (507km) cables will run from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire to Drax in North Yorkshire and will initially work alongside a similar link down the west coast.

    It is part of wider moves to modernise and increase capacity on the energy transmission network for the shift away from fossil fuels to tackle climate change.


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clynlkjp5m1o
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,881
    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    Ratters said:

    Leon said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    Springwatch episode 11. Getting fucking angry at pet-owners again


    DO YOU NOT FEEL GUILTY?

    These collapses in bird life. IT'S THE FUCKING CATS AND DOGS

    So ones that have been neutered are OK?
    kill them all. Grow the fuck up, Britain

    Seriously if we want wildlife and birdlife and living rivers, we need to get rid of our animal slaves that do nothing but "entertain us" by hiding amusingly in paperbags. It is pitiful. Only imbeciles can honestly reconcile themselves to what dogs and cats do to the ecosystem

    It's like destroying all the forests in Europe because we are so amused by chimp tea-parties in circuses
    I've noticed a lot of couples my age get a dog instead of children (or at least a very high proportion of those who choose not to have kids).

    It's a lower effort, lower cost alternative to being a parent, but less rewarding too.

    I cannot imagine getting one unless I get bored in retirement in 30 years or so.
    They are clearly surrogate kids. It is tragic
    That is true. But a bit of empathy for people who have pets because of an involuntary absence of kids, while not detracting from your overall point, would not go amiss. TBF I am not totally unsympathetic to your line of argument but your hyperbole is pure trolling.
    Not only that, not all cat owners get a cat. My current one just decided to move in and graciously allows me to continue living here
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,431
    edited August 13

    Leon said:

    Ratters said:

    Leon said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    Springwatch episode 11. Getting fucking angry at pet-owners again


    DO YOU NOT FEEL GUILTY?

    These collapses in bird life. IT'S THE FUCKING CATS AND DOGS

    So ones that have been neutered are OK?
    kill them all. Grow the fuck up, Britain

    Seriously if we want wildlife and birdlife and living rivers, we need to get rid of our animal slaves that do nothing but "entertain us" by hiding amusingly in paperbags. It is pitiful. Only imbeciles can honestly reconcile themselves to what dogs and cats do to the ecosystem

    It's like destroying all the forests in Europe because we are so amused by chimp tea-parties in circuses
    I've noticed a lot of couples my age get a dog instead of children (or at least a very high proportion of those who choose not to have kids).

    It's a lower effort, lower cost alternative to being a parent, but less rewarding too.

    I cannot imagine getting one unless I get bored in retirement in 30 years or so.
    They are clearly surrogate kids. It is tragic
    Perhaps punitive taxes on pet food would be a way to solve the fertility crisis.
    Our cat lived on Aldi tuna flakes, which were not cat food - but better value.

    The remarkable market is in the business of custom-prepared pet food subscription products. It takes "child substitute" or "husband substitute" to a whole new level.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727
    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,756
    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    Thank fuck
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874

    HYUFD said:

    On topic I think Badenoch could still make it, because we have not got to the sharp end of the campaign yet, and she is articulate and often quite convincing as a media performer. I do however agree that Jenrick is the more likely. Out of those that have announced, I actually think he might be the best option, perhaps other than Cleverley.

    I think that Badenoch could lead them down a garden path of culture war minutiae (some of what she says is interesting but it’s not going to be enough to create an election winning force - see DeSantis, Ron). She seems to have very little to say about any other topic. I think Tugendhat is too weak, Stride too invisible and Patel is yesterday’s woman. Jenrick can say the “right” things, is a bit more of an unknown, presentationally ‘ok’ and combative on immigration. He straddles the gap between trying to appeal to Reform and also bringing the old school Tory coalition along for the ride. I happen to think he is also a slimy git, but my opinion doesn’t really matter.

    He wont last three years.

    But it's their funeral.
    If taxes are up, the boats unstopped, wokeism rampant, strikes a plenty even Jenrick might have a chance
    His best chance would have been against the previous government then.
    LOL. Bravo.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,225
    sarissa said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Springwatch episode 11. Getting fucking angry at pet-owners again


    DO YOU NOT FEEL GUILTY?

    These collapses in bird life. IT'S THE FUCKING CATS AND DOGS

    Cats killed the Dodo too, bastards.
    The Great Auk was definitely us though.
    Alright, you got me there. RIP Pinguinus impennis.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    Cookie said:

    geoffw said:

    HYUFD said:

    All the Tory options are shit. Just accept it and change the rules to accept they are electing the new William Hague.

    First round - wear a baseball cap on the logflume
    Second round - drink 14 pints of beer

    Hague was facing the charismatic Blair in his prime who got 43% of the vote in 1997 for New Labour.

    The next Tory leader only faces the dull as dishwater Starmer who got just 33% last month and is increasing taxes and failing to stop the boats
    For us older specimens it would be ditchwater …
    Ditchwater strikes me as more interesting than dishwater. All sorts of interesting things living in ditchwater.
    Coming from a long line of ditch-diggers AND of dish-washers, it all equals out pretty damn quick.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874
    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    Well, the site wont be the same without you if this really is the end.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,225
    edited August 13
    They don't want you gone, Leon, come on now, you've seen the swiftness of action when someone does get the boot. Russian troll speed in those cases.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,756

    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    Well, the site wont be the same without you if this really is the end.
    Doh! It won't be. It never is.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,881

    How long before @Leon alone in his flat without PB to console the wee hours of the night goes out and gets a cat?

    Poor cat
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,281
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh are so insular, it's why nobody likes them.

    ‘Unnecessary’ English place names covered up on Welsh road signs

    White Eagle activists on a mission to ‘deanglicise’ country


    English place names have been covered up on some Welsh road signs by a group which says it wants to “deanglicise” the country.

    The Mudiad Eryr Wen, (White Eagle Movement), this week claimed responsibility for daubing green paint across road signs on the A525, between St Asaph and Denbigh in North Wales.

    Non-Welsh-speaking motorists navigating by street signs would have to negotiate the five miles between Llanelwy and Dinbych on their own as a result of the spray-painting.

    “Deanglicise Wales!” the Eryr Wen group posted on social media along with pictures of the signs they had defaced.

    “Imposed and unnecessary English place names have been removed from signage across Sir Ddinbych. Decolonise our geography!”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/13/english-place-names-covered-welsh-road-signs-denbigh-deface/

    Why on earth should Welsh placenames be up in two languages? Do you see Firenze also signposted as Florence for the benefit of English speakers? Do the Germans helpfully write
    Cologne after Koeln?

    Most of us can just about work out that Caerdydd actually means Cardiff, and most other Welsh placenames are similarly fathomable. As for those that aren't, if the English want to call Abertawe by the name of Swansea, that's up to us, but I don't see why the Welsh should go to any trouble or expense to accommodate our whims.
    Indian rail stations can have signage in up to THREE languages: English, Hindi, and the local state language where applicable.
    Japanese stations often have four languages. Official Japanese, simplified Japanese, and a weird phonetic Japanese (because Japanese is so hard sometimes that's the only way to let Japanese people understand where they are). Plus English
    Japanese has four alphabets.
    In Israel, signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and English.
    Pedantry alert: it's Hebrew, Arabic and Roman. The idea that the English invented the alphabet (clue's in the name) should be resisted.
    Incorrect. If they were in Roman script, they would be e.g. Ierico and Ierusalem.

    And if they were in Latin, then they would be Hiericous and Aelia Capitolina.

    The names are in English, which uses a Roman-derived but not fully Roman script.
    That's not 'English'. It's the transliteration of Modern Hebrew in the modified Roman alphabet. You've chosen two well-known place names that happen to be mentioned in the English Bible. What about all the others which don't exist in an English context? Be'er Sheva isn't 'English', for example. It's Hebrew, written in the Roman alphabet.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 6,847
    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    I give it 3 days, tops.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,815

    Andy_JS said:

    J E N R I C K

    THE

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Springwatch episode 11. Getting fucking angry at pet-owners again


    DO YOU NOT FEEL GUILTY?

    These collapses in bird life. IT'S THE FUCKING CATS AND DOGS

    It's cars, you ninny. People tarmac over their front gardens to park their cars. No gardens means no insects and worms, which means no birds.
    That too, for sure. I hate it all

    Get rid of cars, cash and cats, and we'd be a better, happier nation

    Paging @Anabobazina
    Cash is pointless, a weird fetish for the niche nostalgic. I’ve toured Europe this summer and haven’t touched a single piece of cash.

    Cars I like, but I take your point.

    Cats. Get the fuck out of here. The world’s most fascinating animal!
    Why don't you like cash?
    It wastes time. And time is the most precious resource we have.
    When God made time, he made plenty of it. No need to rush.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,955

    How long before @Leon alone in his flat without PB to console the wee hours of the night goes out and gets a cat?

    Childless Cat Man?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,332

    HYUFD said:

    On topic I think Badenoch could still make it, because we have not got to the sharp end of the campaign yet, and she is articulate and often quite convincing as a media performer. I do however agree that Jenrick is the more likely. Out of those that have announced, I actually think he might be the best option, perhaps other than Cleverley.

    I think that Badenoch could lead them down a garden path of culture war minutiae (some of what she says is interesting but it’s not going to be enough to create an election winning force - see DeSantis, Ron). She seems to have very little to say about any other topic. I think Tugendhat is too weak, Stride too invisible and Patel is yesterday’s woman. Jenrick can say the “right” things, is a bit more of an unknown, presentationally ‘ok’ and combative on immigration. He straddles the gap between trying to appeal to Reform and also bringing the old school Tory coalition along for the ride. I happen to think he is also a slimy git, but my opinion doesn’t really matter.

    He wont last three years.

    But it's their funeral.
    If taxes are up, the boats unstopped, wokeism rampant, strikes a plenty even Jenrick might have a chance
    His best chance would have been against the previous government then.
    He wasn't in Sunak's government on election day
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874
    edited August 13
    Pagan2 said:

    How long before @Leon alone in his flat without PB to console the wee hours of the night goes out and gets a cat?

    Poor cat
    Yet incredibly it will be one of the best and rarest cats ever to live!!

    By some twist of events involving a taxi driver and drinks into the late hours at a sleazy club in Pristina that only the most dissolute but discerning ex-pats know, a cat will be procured that is descended directly from Tutankhamun's original favourite mog.

  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,862
    I don't think Badenoch is a lightweight at all. As I've said before she actually has a degree of depth I don't see in many other politicians right now. And if being a culture warrior means challenging the postmodern drivel destroying our universities then good. That being said she WAS quiet on the post office. I think she said she wouldn't be launching her campaign until September. She has 3(?) young children. Does she really want it?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874

    I don't think Badenoch is a lightweight at all. As I've said before she actually has a degree of depth I don't see in many other politicians right now. And if being a culture warrior means challenging the postmodern drivel destroying our universities then good. That being said she WAS quiet on the post office. I think she said she wouldn't be launching her campaign until September. She has 3(?) young children. Does she really want it?

    She's be better off skipping this or losing gracefully.

    There is time enough and whoever wins is going be gone in three years.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 13,061
    Leon said:

    TimS said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    The Welsh are so insular, it's why nobody likes them.

    ‘Unnecessary’ English place names covered up on Welsh road signs

    White Eagle activists on a mission to ‘deanglicise’ country


    English place names have been covered up on some Welsh road signs by a group which says it wants to “deanglicise” the country.

    The Mudiad Eryr Wen, (White Eagle Movement), this week claimed responsibility for daubing green paint across road signs on the A525, between St Asaph and Denbigh in North Wales.

    Non-Welsh-speaking motorists navigating by street signs would have to negotiate the five miles between Llanelwy and Dinbych on their own as a result of the spray-painting.

    “Deanglicise Wales!” the Eryr Wen group posted on social media along with pictures of the signs they had defaced.

    “Imposed and unnecessary English place names have been removed from signage across Sir Ddinbych. Decolonise our geography!”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/13/english-place-names-covered-welsh-road-signs-denbigh-deface/

    Why on earth should Welsh placenames be up in two languages? Do you see Firenze also signposted as Florence for the benefit of English speakers? Do the Germans helpfully write
    Cologne after Koeln?

    Most of us can just about work out that Caerdydd actually means Cardiff, and most other Welsh placenames are similarly fathomable. As for those that aren't, if the English want to call Abertawe by the name of Swansea, that's up to us, but I don't see why the Welsh should go to any trouble or expense to accommodate our whims.
    Only about 15-20% of the Welsh population can read and write Welsh proficiently. Why on earth are you making comparisons to Italy or Germany ?
    After the way the language has been treated over the years by those in charge? Nothing wrong with a bit of role reversal to even out the balance a fraction. The Saesun are showing how the Welsh have felt for centuries.
    Ahem.

    I hate to be pedantic* but;

    The word is 'Saeson.'

    *This is officially the X most unconvincing lie told in the last 24 hours, pending an official count of the number in that Trump/Musk porno.
    Thank you - very happy to be corrected. Sometimes I mentally get crosswired with the Gaelic.
    Glad to have you join us. Thig a-steach, mo charaid.

    Edit - I was visiting Aber on Sunday and there I met a young American doing a PhD in Celtic languages supervised by an old friend of mine. He has just started taking lessons in Gaelic. In Welsh.

    Respect...
    Part of the charm of foreign travel is to escape the Anglosphere for a while. That the English can achieve this simply by driving west for a couple of hours just shows how lucky they are.
    One of the other joys is thunderstorms. We’ve had 4 days of sweltering weather and cobalt blue skies, then suddenly this evening the sky clouds over, violent zephyrs blow around the washing, the sunbed cushions and all the nearby trees, and ominous rumbles and flashes emanate from the South West horizon.
    If you have 2 and a half minutes, talk me through the appeal of a 2nd home?

    Doesn't it mean you have almost twice the hassle of one home, and you have to go to the same place every summer?

    I don't get it. Decades ago I thought about it, but then I realised all this

    The one reason I think you might do it, is if you intend to retire there. Then that might make sense. Build a new social network for your twilight years. But you are quite young and vigorous...
    I only just read this.

    The appeal of a second home? I don’t know really. I bought it in 2007 because I couldn’t afford a house in London at the time but had itchy feet and needed a project.

    For the most part it’s still a project. We all need something to do, and a second home has the advantage of being a familiar place to spend a different sort of time.

    The downside is if it forces you to spend all your holidays there, or it becomes a burden. So far this hasn’t done either, but I know it does for some.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874
    Walz says he is the first union member to be on a ticket since Reagan.

  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,845

    Walz says he is the first union member to be on a ticket since Reagan.

    Ooft. Nice line.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,850

    Walz says he is the first union member to be on a ticket since Reagan.

    Did Trump not have an equity card?
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,845

    Pagan2 said:

    How long before @Leon alone in his flat without PB to console the wee hours of the night goes out and gets a cat?

    Poor cat
    Yet incredibly it will be one of the best and rarest cats ever to live!!

    By some twist of events involving a taxi driver and drinks into the late hours at a sleazy club in Pristina that only the most dissolute but discerning ex-pats know, a cat will be procured that is descended directly from Tutankhamun's original favourite mog.

    I'm somehow now thinking of the old line :

    "Curiosity killed the cat, but what it found, brought it back."
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 17,293

    I don't think Badenoch is a lightweight at all. As I've said before she actually has a degree of depth I don't see in many other politicians right now. And if being a culture warrior means challenging the postmodern drivel destroying our universities then good. That being said she WAS quiet on the post office. I think she said she wouldn't be launching her campaign until September. She has 3(?) young children. Does she really want it?

    She's be better off skipping this or losing gracefully.

    There is time enough and whoever wins is going be gone in three years.
    One trouble is, she came fourth in 2022 and Sunak, Truss and Mordaunt aren't available this time. So if she doesn't win this time, she's been overtaken, and that's it.

    The other is that, although anything can happen, the most likely answer is that none of the class of 2019-24 are going to be Prime Minister. That the next Conservative PM (assuming there is one) is someone we haven't heard of yet.

    Do any of them have the stoic dignity to run the party, improve things a bit, lose in 2028 and shuffle off? Because, although that's not the job description for sure, it's the winner's most likely fate.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,845
    edited August 13

    How long before @Leon alone in his flat without PB to console the wee hours of the night goes out and gets a cat?

    Childless Cat Man?
    Catless Child Man, surely?

    (for avoidance of doubt - a man who fails to have a cat, but somehow has children. Not that he is a child-man. For we know that not to be true.)
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,679
    "As Kamala Harris's lead widens, some Republicans tell Andrew Neil they now fear Trump's age and increasingly deranged behavior mean he's on track to lose the election... and could even be at risk of a breakdown"

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13740141/Republicans-Trump-fear-breakdown-lose-election-ANDREW-NEIL.html
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874

    I don't think Badenoch is a lightweight at all. As I've said before she actually has a degree of depth I don't see in many other politicians right now. And if being a culture warrior means challenging the postmodern drivel destroying our universities then good. That being said she WAS quiet on the post office. I think she said she wouldn't be launching her campaign until September. She has 3(?) young children. Does she really want it?

    She's be better off skipping this or losing gracefully.

    There is time enough and whoever wins is going be gone in three years.
    One trouble is, she came fourth in 2022 and Sunak, Truss and Mordaunt aren't available this time. So if she doesn't win this time, she's been overtaken, and that's it.

    The other is that, although anything can happen, the most likely answer is that none of the class of 2019-24 are going to be Prime Minister. That the next Conservative PM (assuming there is one) is someone we haven't heard of yet.

    Do any of them have the stoic dignity to run the party, improve things a bit, lose in 2028 and shuffle off? Because, although that's not the job description for sure, it's the winner's most likely fate.
    Yep.

    Although there is the factor that we seem to live in more volatile times and people are more willing to switch their votes.

    The newly minted sandcastle theory of voting.

    So the winner will have some hope that something might turn up.


  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,018
    Ronald Reagan was not just a union member, he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, twice.

    If he had chosen Jack Kemp as his running mate, the ticket would have been led by two union presidents, since Kemp had been president of the NFL player's association.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,845

    Walz says he is the first union member to be on a ticket since Reagan.

    Did Trump not have an equity card?
    Printed himself, in the finest almost-real gold leaf!
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,679
    "Shame of British judge keeping free speech hero Jimmy Lai in jail

    David Neuberger condemned as ‘delusional’ for upholding a conviction against persecuted pro-democracy campaigner"

    https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/china/british-judge-hong-kong-jimmy-lai-b2595792.html
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874
    Led By Donkeys
    @ByDonkeys
    ·
    1h
    Liz Truss is on a pro-Trump speaking tour. So we dropped a strategically-positioned remote-controlled lettuce banner 🥬

    https://x.com/ByDonkeys/status/1823462606872719831
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,018
    A few years ago I read about a solution some folks in Chicago had for rats. They hired a man to trap an alley cat for them, in a different part of the city. They kept the cat in their apartment for a few weeks, feeding it in a cage. They then put the cat out in the alley, put out food for it regularly, hoping it would stay around, and control the rat population. Seems to me like fair pay for the work -- which most cats would enjoy doing.

    If the cat didn't like the deal, it could leave.

    PS - I hope a few of you are patriotic and kind enough to get together and buy a Corgi for Leon. I think QE II, looking down on you, would approve.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    darkage said:

    darkage said:

    stodge said:

    darkage said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Birmingham council to sell off athletes’ village homes at more than £300m loss
    Sale of hundreds of empty homes designed, but not used, for Commonwealth Games attacked as ‘absolute scandal’

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/13/birmingham-council-to-sell-off-athletes-village-homes-at-more-than-300m-loss

    Basically: 700 homes delayed by Covid to be sold off to a private company by a bankrupt council.

    What the …..

    ”But the properties have sat empty for months, with the council unable to sell them due to a lack of “market appetite” for one- and two-bedroom apartments in the area, and issues with mortgage providers valuing the properties at less than they were being sold for.

    “A report presented to the council’s cabinet last week said selling off 755 properties to a private bidder, who has yet to be named, would result in a “significant loss to the public purse” but was the best outcome.

    “It added that selling the apartments off individually would take more than five years, during which time the council would have to maintain the buildings “at significant expense” and would have to deal with unstable market conditions.

    “The council has spent £325m on the development, of which £292m was borrowed. After selling off the homes, it is expected that £142m-£152m of debt will remain unpaid, costing £8m-£9m a year over a 40-year period to repay, taking the projected total loss in the region of £320m.”


    How would it ever take five years to sell the apartments? All they needed to do was drop the price to what the banks would mortgage, and they’d be sold in weeks. Instead, they’ve sold them en masse as a massive discount.
    £325 million for 755 one to two bed apartments?

    That works out at nearly half a million pounds per one or two bed apartment.

    In Birmingham, not London.

    WTAF? I know the property market is overvalued, but not that overvalued surely?
    It isn’t. The council spent that much on them, expecting them to be the athlete’s village for the Commonweath Games. But they weren’t finished on time, the athletes stayed elsewhere, and their disposal value is half the cost of building them.

    And yet we still wonder why councils are going bankrupt.
    By my calculation based on that article, the flats cost £335k each to build (including land cost) and were sold off in bulk for the equivalent of £200k each. However it is in a low land value area so most of the cost was clearly absorbed in building purpose built specialist accommodation.

    I have commented before that build costs are astronomical , it is a combination of material cost, labour cost, and regulation cost. From what I have seen recently, the cost of building this type of development in London is now £3500/ sqm.
    Another dimension to the housing question which defies simple analysis or simplistic solutions. It costs a lot to build and those costs are passed on to the purchaser thus keeping housing prices high which works well for a lot of other interests just not those needing a home.
    Costs of building is a cost of actually doing something and a cost that needs paying. But that's a small element of properties overall cost.

    Pre-1948 land cost 2% of a properties costs, nowadays land costs over a third of the cost meaning that build cost (and the developers own profits etc) is considerably under two thirds.

    Get consent and you can add 00's to the price of land, drop those 00's back off and the price of homes would collapse while still being able to pay for build cost in full.
    The build costs are what they are. One problem is significant extra costs are loaded on to flats due to regulation, and flats have lower sale prices than houses.

    There are some planning changes afoot. The labour government are allocating lots more land for development, including parts of the green belt. One element is effectively forcing landowners to sell in the green belt for a small increase over the existing use value. The idea is that the prices stay high but the uplift is captured and spent on infrastructure/social housing. I am not sure it will work out that well... landowners and their advisors won't run the risks of going through planning for a small increase in land value over say the agricultural use value, which is peanuts.
    Yes the problem is that land should cost peanuts but if permission is granted then suddenly its got 00's added to the price which means that is the starting point to which build costs get added to.

    My solution is to let anyone build wherever the hell they want and let people sort it out themselves.

    That means that all land will equalise down at the peanuts price, which will knock that differential off the costs of houses.

    Build costs are what they are as you need to pay for labour and materials (but breaking up the oligopoly by removing barriers to competition will help) but land is only what it is because of the permission requirement.
    Based on past exchanges, I don't think this is really your solution; you want to allocate land for development and then set out design codes, it isn't the same as removing the requirement for planning permission and having a free for all.

    One problem is who pays for the infrastructure. Planning gain is subsidising infrastructure and to a large degree, the construction of social/subsidised housing, and this is reflected in a proportion of the 'cost' of new houses. If you remove that element the cost will be socialised , ie it comes out of general taxation.

    Another problem is that landowners won't be incentivised to sell if the price is 'peanuts', they have to have some financial incentive, or otherwise be legally compelled to sell, which is inevitably messy.

    The government's job is to provide infrastructure, that's what we pay taxes for. But also there's also some back-and-forth about the quality of infrastructure you get, eg if you're in a place far from sewers then you're gonna need a septic tank, and if you're somewhere without many people then you shouldn't expect a school near by. Japan works like this, it's fine.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874
    Andy_JS said:

    "As Kamala Harris's lead widens, some Republicans tell Andrew Neil they now fear Trump's age and increasingly deranged behavior mean he's on track to lose the election... and could even be at risk of a breakdown"

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13740141/Republicans-Trump-fear-breakdown-lose-election-ANDREW-NEIL.html

    "at risk"???

    Jeez. Where have they been?
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,881
    People on the remain side often ask for an advantage of brexit....this just came to my attention

    Not being tied into the digital services act....though I acknowledge we have our own problem which is the online safety bill
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874
    edited August 13
    Andy_JS said:

    "As Kamala Harris's lead widens, some Republicans tell Andrew Neil they now fear Trump's age and increasingly deranged behavior mean he's on track to lose the election... and could even be at risk of a breakdown"

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13740141/Republicans-Trump-fear-breakdown-lose-election-ANDREW-NEIL.html

    In a nutshell.

    "It is a curious, some might think bizarre, strategy to run for president of the world's greatest democracy by praising three of the globe's most evil autocrats."


    The GOP should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

    But the modern GOP wont because it is now a cult.

    Cheney. Romney. Brad Raffensperger. A handful of others have stood against this madness.

    Let's hope history records their names.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,881

    A few years ago I read about a solution some folks in Chicago had for rats. They hired a man to trap an alley cat for them, in a different part of the city. They kept the cat in their apartment for a few weeks, feeding it in a cage. They then put the cat out in the alley, put out food for it regularly, hoping it would stay around, and control the rat population. Seems to me like fair pay for the work -- which most cats would enjoy doing.

    If the cat didn't like the deal, it could leave.

    PS - I hope a few of you are patriotic and kind enough to get together and buy a Corgi for Leon. I think QE II, looking down on you, would approve.

    You know leon eats dogs?
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,018
    Pagan2 - That's why I reminded everyone that your late queen would be looking down on him. I think she can make him behave.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    Pagan2 said:

    People on the remain side often ask for an advantage of brexit....this just came to my attention

    Not being tied into the digital services act....though I acknowledge we have our own problem which is the online safety bill

    I mean there are loads of potential benefits if you start from the premise that the EU is censorious and bureaucratic whereas the UK is open-minded and liberal. But Brexit tested this premise and disproved it. The UK is just as censorious and bureaucratic as the EU or more so, which is why it has its own version of any bad thing the EU has, and if I take my laptop to Britain then every website insists on popping up all these fucking cookie warnings.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,881

    Pagan2 said:

    People on the remain side often ask for an advantage of brexit....this just came to my attention

    Not being tied into the digital services act....though I acknowledge we have our own problem which is the online safety bill

    I mean there are loads of potential benefits if you start from the premise that the EU is censorious and bureaucratic whereas the UK is open-minded and liberal. But Brexit tested this premise and disproved it. The UK is just as censorious and bureaucratic as the EU or more so, which is why it has its own version of any bad thing the EU has, and if I take my laptop to Britain then every website insists on popping up all these fucking cookie warnings.
    The cookie warnings are due to GDPR which was an eu directive we haven't repealed. The online safety bill is a perfidious piece of law making its true, however despite how bad it is it pales into benignity compared to the the DSA from the eu which allows them to prosecute what they term a "Large online platform" for content that the eu technocrats deem harmful content....not false content, nor illegal content...just they deem it harmful
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,874

    Antonio Arellano
    @AntonioArellano

    BREAKING: New poll from youth voting org NextGen America, shows that VP Harris has vastly improved performance among voters under 35, beating Trump in a multi-way survey, 53% to 36%.

    Wow and wait until you see the other findings🧵⇩


    Antonio Arellano
    @AntonioArellano
    ·
    3h
    Among young Black voters, Harris is crushing it!

    She beats Trump among this group in the poll, 72% to 19%.

    The Trump campaign has been touting its gains among young male voters, including African Americans, NextGen's poll shows those gains are evaporating.



    https://x.com/AntonioArellano/status/1823428845359267899
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,679


    Antonio Arellano
    @AntonioArellano

    BREAKING: New poll from youth voting org NextGen America, shows that VP Harris has vastly improved performance among voters under 35, beating Trump in a multi-way survey, 53% to 36%.

    Wow and wait until you see the other findings🧵⇩


    Antonio Arellano
    @AntonioArellano
    ·
    3h
    Among young Black voters, Harris is crushing it!

    She beats Trump among this group in the poll, 72% to 19%.

    The Trump campaign has been touting its gains among young male voters, including African Americans, NextGen's poll shows those gains are evaporating.



    https://x.com/AntonioArellano/status/1823428845359267899

    How is saying the Democratic candidate is winning easily amongst young black voters news? I know Trump was doing slightly better than usual with that category when Biden was the candidate, but still it isn't surprising.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    People on the remain side often ask for an advantage of brexit....this just came to my attention

    Not being tied into the digital services act....though I acknowledge we have our own problem which is the online safety bill

    I mean there are loads of potential benefits if you start from the premise that the EU is censorious and bureaucratic whereas the UK is open-minded and liberal. But Brexit tested this premise and disproved it. The UK is just as censorious and bureaucratic as the EU or more so, which is why it has its own version of any bad thing the EU has, and if I take my laptop to Britain then every website insists on popping up all these fucking cookie warnings.
    The cookie warnings are due to GDPR which was an eu directive we haven't repealed. The online safety bill is a perfidious piece of law making its true, however despite how bad it is it pales into benignity compared to the the DSA from the eu which allows them to prosecute what they term a "Large online platform" for content that the eu technocrats deem harmful content....not false content, nor illegal content...just they deem it harmful
    Britain's had 8 years to fix or repeal GDPR, at this point if they haven't got rid of the cookie warnings you have to conclude it's because they don't want you to use the website until you've clicked on the cookie warning.
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,862
    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    People on the remain side often ask for an advantage of brexit....this just came to my attention

    Not being tied into the digital services act....though I acknowledge we have our own problem which is the online safety bill

    I mean there are loads of potential benefits if you start from the premise that the EU is censorious and bureaucratic whereas the UK is open-minded and liberal. But Brexit tested this premise and disproved it. The UK is just as censorious and bureaucratic as the EU or more so, which is why it has its own version of any bad thing the EU has, and if I take my laptop to Britain then every website insists on popping up all these fucking cookie warnings.
    The cookie warnings are due to GDPR which was an eu directive we haven't repealed. The online safety bill is a perfidious piece of law making its true, however despite how bad it is it pales into benignity compared to the the DSA from the eu which allows them to prosecute what they term a "Large online platform" for content that the eu technocrats deem harmful content....not false content, nor illegal content...just they deem it harmful
    I think social media is doing terrible damage but the OSB worries me and that EU directive seems bats*it.
  • YokesYokes Posts: 1,340
    Andy_JS said:

    "As Kamala Harris's lead widens, some Republicans tell Andrew Neil they now fear Trump's age and increasingly deranged behavior mean he's on track to lose the election... and could even be at risk of a breakdown"

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13740141/Republicans-Trump-fear-breakdown-lose-election-ANDREW-NEIL.html

    This is why I think Nikki Haley should have stuck it out because if Trump loses at some point the GOP have to have a clear out and she'd have been in the perfect told you so position
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,881

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    People on the remain side often ask for an advantage of brexit....this just came to my attention

    Not being tied into the digital services act....though I acknowledge we have our own problem which is the online safety bill

    I mean there are loads of potential benefits if you start from the premise that the EU is censorious and bureaucratic whereas the UK is open-minded and liberal. But Brexit tested this premise and disproved it. The UK is just as censorious and bureaucratic as the EU or more so, which is why it has its own version of any bad thing the EU has, and if I take my laptop to Britain then every website insists on popping up all these fucking cookie warnings.
    The cookie warnings are due to GDPR which was an eu directive we haven't repealed. The online safety bill is a perfidious piece of law making its true, however despite how bad it is it pales into benignity compared to the the DSA from the eu which allows them to prosecute what they term a "Large online platform" for content that the eu technocrats deem harmful content....not false content, nor illegal content...just they deem it harmful
    Britain's had 8 years to fix or repeal GDPR, at this point if they haven't got rid of the cookie warnings you have to conclude it's because they don't want you to use the website until you've clicked on the cookie warning.
    Yes they could have and should have and the online safety bill with its clauses allowing for the banning on end to end encryption should have ended in the midden
  • Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    People on the remain side often ask for an advantage of brexit....this just came to my attention

    Not being tied into the digital services act....though I acknowledge we have our own problem which is the online safety bill

    I mean there are loads of potential benefits if you start from the premise that the EU is censorious and bureaucratic whereas the UK is open-minded and liberal. But Brexit tested this premise and disproved it. The UK is just as censorious and bureaucratic as the EU or more so, which is why it has its own version of any bad thing the EU has, and if I take my laptop to Britain then every website insists on popping up all these fucking cookie warnings.
    The cookie warnings are due to GDPR which was an eu directive we haven't repealed. The online safety bill is a perfidious piece of law making its true, however despite how bad it is it pales into benignity compared to the the DSA from the eu which allows them to prosecute what they term a "Large online platform" for content that the eu technocrats deem harmful content....not false content, nor illegal content...just they deem it harmful
    Britain's had 8 years to fix or repeal GDPR, at this point if they haven't got rid of the cookie warnings you have to conclude it's because they don't want you to use the website until you've clicked on the cookie warning.
    Before GDPR I had an ad blocker that blocked unwanted cookies.

    Now AdBlock has a feature to block the cookie warning.

    It's rather gone full circle.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,780

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    People on the remain side often ask for an advantage of brexit....this just came to my attention

    Not being tied into the digital services act....though I acknowledge we have our own problem which is the online safety bill

    I mean there are loads of potential benefits if you start from the premise that the EU is censorious and bureaucratic whereas the UK is open-minded and liberal. But Brexit tested this premise and disproved it. The UK is just as censorious and bureaucratic as the EU or more so, which is why it has its own version of any bad thing the EU has, and if I take my laptop to Britain then every website insists on popping up all these fucking cookie warnings.
    The cookie warnings are due to GDPR which was an eu directive we haven't repealed. The online safety bill is a perfidious piece of law making its true, however despite how bad it is it pales into benignity compared to the the DSA from the eu which allows them to prosecute what they term a "Large online platform" for content that the eu technocrats deem harmful content....not false content, nor illegal content...just they deem it harmful
    Britain's had 8 years to fix or repeal GDPR, at this point if they haven't got rid of the cookie warnings you have to conclude it's because they don't want you to use the website until you've clicked on the cookie warning.
    It's pisses me right off when they disguise their notification acceptance as a cookie one. Cancelled a pizza order over it, had to start the whole thing again (5x large plus a bewildering array of sides)
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677
    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    See you tomorrow.

    I don't know where I'm going
    But I sure know where I've been
    Hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday
    And I've made up my mind
    I ain't wasting no more time
    Here I go again, here I go again
  • EPGEPG Posts: 6,652
    I'd observe that "flounce" is an anagram of "fuc Leon" but I don't quite feel that level of animus.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,694
    edited August 13

    How long before @Leon alone in his flat without PB to console the wee hours of the night goes out and gets a cat?

    As long as he doesn't go off and read Silent Spring (pub. 1962)
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,679
    If Trump pulls out, would it definitely be Vance instead?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,056
    Andy_JS said:

    If Trump pulls out, would it definitely be Vance instead?

    No.

    The FT explored this question before Vance was picked.

    Neither party’s rules say that the running mate must succeed a presidential nominee who quits or dies.
    https://www.ft.com/content/34ce2774-fb61-4bce-bb4c-62c4d557f94e

    Only once the Electoral College has voted does the US Constitution say the VP-elect would replace the President-elect, and as a matter of practical politics, the Electoral College would probably follow that if Trump were to withdraw between the election and the EC meeting.


  • Mikest1982Mikest1982 Posts: 85
    edited August 14
    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    With your departure I am looking forward to the return of SeanT or the 101 of your other pseudonyms.. ;) Reminds me of a time on the train a few years back where another passenger saw my phone screen reading this site. He expressed "Oh you read that too". I was "uhh yeah?". His main comment was about Sean at the time, now Leon I guess. Irony is how Leon/Sean/Whoever was a highlight for it all to other viewers not actively participating. Heh..
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696

    Led By Donkeys
    @ByDonkeys
    ·
    1h
    Liz Truss is on a pro-Trump speaking tour. So we dropped a strategically-positioned remote-controlled lettuce banner 🥬

    https://x.com/ByDonkeys/status/1823462606872719831

    God is using her as his personal and cruel plaything...

    Which she may enjoy.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696
    Harris is now +9 in Wisonsin (51 to 42) on a head to head. The poll is by the Independent Center (me neither...)

    That 9% lead is maintained if you include third parties (Kennedy gets only 3%).

    Biden won Wisconsin by just 0.63% in 2020.

    Donald, don't look at the polls before bedtime.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    edited August 14

    Harris is now +9 in Wisonsin (51 to 42) on a head to head. The poll is by the Independent Center (me neither...)

    That 9% lead is maintained if you include third parties (Kennedy gets only 3%).

    Biden won Wisconsin by just 0.63% in 2020.

    Donald, don't look at the polls before bedtime.

    I like the way they call the swing states playgrounds instead of battlegrounds.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,547
    Leon said:

    Springwatch episode 11. Getting fucking angry at pet-owners again


    DO YOU NOT FEEL GUILTY?

    These collapses in bird life. IT'S THE FUCKING CATS AND DOGS

    I don’t think it is. We've had cats and dogs a long time. I think a recent change has been the reintroduction of predators, particularly birds of prey like sparrowhawks, and the rules around gamekeepers not being able to dispatch them. There are always consequences to these so-called wonderful developments.

    There are also probably more recent reasons relating to the dramatic increases in sea and other temperatures caused by the martime fuel regulations. That has made everything go out of kilter.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,481
    A warning to anyone with a Disney+ subscription.
    Our unfair contract terms legislation would probably invalidate this crap, but in the US ...?

    Disney wants wrongful death suit involving LI doctor tossed, citing Disney+ terms

    https://longisland.news12.com/disney-asks-court-to-dismiss-wrongful-death-lawsuit-of-long-island-doctor
    Disney has asked a Florida court to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the husband of a Long Island doctor.
    The lawsuit claims that Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating at a Disney Springs restaurant despite repeatedly informing the waiter of her severe allergy.
    Disney is calling for the lawsuit to be dismissed because her husband signed up for a one-month trial of the Disney+ streaming service years prior.
    The company says signing up for the trial requires users to arbitrate all disputes with the company...
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,090

    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    Well, the site wont be the same without you if this really is the end.
    Thank goodness.
    When Flouncy McFlounceface is on the site shouting his usually stupid opinions about cats, immigration or how generally shit Britain is, thanks to -checks notes- five weeks of a Labour government and all at full full shouty volume; then it's like being trapped in a lift with a dribbling, farting and very aggressive drunk.
    A bit of calm for a few days might tempt a few non nutters back into the room. Even maybe a few more people who know something about um politics and betting thereon...
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,921
    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    Substantive political commentator, who knew?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,950
    edited August 14

    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    Substantive political commentator, who knew?
    I laughed at that, as well. We must have missed such commentary amid all the trolling and BS copied from the internet.

    I doubt that his hysterical anti-pettery has anything whatsoever to do with a (purported and newfound) deep concern for our environmental future, or is down to any significant impact on his own lifestyle! Rather, he sees the deep long-term commitment and care that looking after a pet brings with it, of which he knows deep down he is incapable, and it makes him feel vulnerable and inadequate, for reasons that we should best leave for private speculation.

    It was particularly amusing that he thinks he is regularly banned for having opinions about such subjects, and not for being an annoying twat who regularly disrupts this forum and uses his ‘superior intelligence’ to drag our discussion down into the gutter.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,458
    ...
    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    OMG. This reminds me of that seminal and fateful day in 1973 ( or was it 1974?) when David Bowie announced that that Ziggy Stardust was retiring.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,476
    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    Substantive political commentator, who knew?
    I laughed at that, as well. We must have missed such commentary amid all the trolling and BS copied from the internet.

    I doubt that his hysterical anti-pettery has anything whatsoever to do with a (purported and newfound) deep concern for our environmental future, or is down to any significant impact on his own lifestyle! Rather, he sees the deep long-term commitment and care that looking after a pet brings with it, of which he knows deep down he is incapable, and it makes him feel vulnerable and inadequate, for reasons that we should best leave for private speculation.

    It was particularly amusing that he thinks he is regularly banned for having opinions about such subjects, and not for being an annoying twat who regularly disrupts this forum and uses his ‘superior intelligence’ to drag our discussion down into the gutter.
    Are you implying that his superior intelligence is artificial?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,950
    Inflation on the up again? Now 2.2%
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,547

    I don't think Badenoch is a lightweight at all. As I've said before she actually has a degree of depth I don't see in many other politicians right now. And if being a culture warrior means challenging the postmodern drivel destroying our universities then good. That being said she WAS quiet on the post office. I think she said she wouldn't be launching her campaign until September. She has 3(?) young children. Does she really want it?

    She's be better off skipping this or losing gracefully.

    There is time enough and whoever wins is going be gone in three years.
    You're assuming a Labour 1997 situation. Sadly (for you) Labour hasn't been elected on a wave of euphoria with plenty of Tory golden economic legacy in the bank to spend. They've been elected on a wave of apathy with the bailiffs at the door.

    I'd say whoever is elected Tory leader if they don't make any stupendous mistakes (and I agree it's a big if) will be doing pretty badly not to be in Government next time round.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,326

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh are so insular, it's why nobody likes them.

    ‘Unnecessary’ English place names covered up on Welsh road signs

    White Eagle activists on a mission to ‘deanglicise’ country


    English place names have been covered up on some Welsh road signs by a group which says it wants to “deanglicise” the country.

    The Mudiad Eryr Wen, (White Eagle Movement), this week claimed responsibility for daubing green paint across road signs on the A525, between St Asaph and Denbigh in North Wales.

    Non-Welsh-speaking motorists navigating by street signs would have to negotiate the five miles between Llanelwy and Dinbych on their own as a result of the spray-painting.

    “Deanglicise Wales!” the Eryr Wen group posted on social media along with pictures of the signs they had defaced.

    “Imposed and unnecessary English place names have been removed from signage across Sir Ddinbych. Decolonise our geography!”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/13/english-place-names-covered-welsh-road-signs-denbigh-deface/

    Why on earth should Welsh placenames be up in two languages? Do you see Firenze also signposted as Florence for the benefit of English speakers? Do the Germans helpfully write
    Cologne after Koeln?

    Most of us can just about work out that Caerdydd actually means Cardiff, and most other Welsh placenames are similarly fathomable. As for those that aren't, if the English want to call Abertawe by the name of Swansea, that's up to us, but I don't see why the Welsh should go to any trouble or expense to accommodate our whims.
    Indian rail stations can have signage in up to THREE languages: English, Hindi, and the local state language where applicable.
    Japanese stations often have four languages. Official Japanese, simplified Japanese, and a weird phonetic Japanese (because Japanese is so hard sometimes that's the only way to let Japanese people understand where they are). Plus English
    Japanese has four alphabets.
    In Israel, signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

    Pedantry alert: it's Hebrew, Arabic and Roman. The idea that the English invented the alphabet (clue's in the name) should be resisted.
    Clue’s in the name: alpha-bet[a]

    Isn’t that Greek, not Roman?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696
    IanB2 said:

    Inflation on the up again? Now 2.2%

    Wait until those pay rises kick in....
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh are so insular, it's why nobody likes them.

    ‘Unnecessary’ English place names covered up on Welsh road signs

    White Eagle activists on a mission to ‘deanglicise’ country


    English place names have been covered up on some Welsh road signs by a group which says it wants to “deanglicise” the country.

    The Mudiad Eryr Wen, (White Eagle Movement), this week claimed responsibility for daubing green paint across road signs on the A525, between St Asaph and Denbigh in North Wales.

    Non-Welsh-speaking motorists navigating by street signs would have to negotiate the five miles between Llanelwy and Dinbych on their own as a result of the spray-painting.

    “Deanglicise Wales!” the Eryr Wen group posted on social media along with pictures of the signs they had defaced.

    “Imposed and unnecessary English place names have been removed from signage across Sir Ddinbych. Decolonise our geography!”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/13/english-place-names-covered-welsh-road-signs-denbigh-deface/

    Why on earth should Welsh placenames be up in two languages? Do you see Firenze also signposted as Florence for the benefit of English speakers? Do the Germans helpfully write
    Cologne after Koeln?

    Most of us can just about work out that Caerdydd actually means Cardiff, and most other Welsh placenames are similarly fathomable. As for those that aren't, if the English want to call Abertawe by the name of Swansea, that's up to us, but I don't see why the Welsh should go to any trouble or expense to accommodate our whims.
    Indian rail stations can have signage in up to THREE languages: English, Hindi, and the local state language where applicable.
    Japanese stations often have four languages. Official Japanese, simplified Japanese, and a weird phonetic Japanese (because Japanese is so hard sometimes that's the only way to let Japanese people understand where they are). Plus English
    Japanese has four alphabets.
    In Israel, signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

    Pedantry alert: it's Hebrew, Arabic and Roman. The idea that the English invented the alphabet (clue's in the name) should be resisted.
    Clue’s in the name: alpha-bet[a]

    Isn’t that Greek, not Roman?
    Also the Arabic writing system in an abjad not an alphabet as vowel sounds are inferred or represented by diacritics. Don't know about Hebrew but I expect there is analogous point of philological pedantry to be winkled out there too.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,476
    And in the last few hours, Missouri has confirmed a citizen initiative to overturn the state's ban on abortion will be on the ballot in November.

    Jay Ashcroft, the Secretary of State concerned, is vehemently anti-abortion (he tried to write some very dodgy stuff around the actual question) is somewhat notorious for his election rigging antics, and is running for governor on a pledge to essentially abolish taxes.

    It's something therefore to find that he's not as dodgy as his opposite number in Arkansas. Admittedly, that's like saying somebody is more honest than Donald Trump.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,440

    IanB2 said:

    Inflation on the up again? Now 2.2%

    Wait until those pay rises kick in....
    This has been known about for the past year - as for the last year the July 2023 reduction in energy prices has artificially lowered the reported rate of inflation
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,815
    Britain is a brutal place to be an ex-prime minister.

    https://x.com/ByDonkeys/status/1823481596185616717?t=CP2NcxTdlLKpwRs8lYM13Q&s=19

    Sounds like an audience of of two.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,547
    eek said:

    IanB2 said:

    Inflation on the up again? Now 2.2%

    Wait until those pay rises kick in....
    This has been known about for the past year - as for the last year the July 2023 reduction in energy prices has artificially lowered the reported rate of inflation
    It did not 'artifically' lower the rate on inflation - it lowered the rate of inflation.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,194
    A return flight London to Rome in economy class has a bigger carbon footprint than keeping a 20kg dog for a year.

    STOP STEALING OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE BY FLYING UNNECESSARILY YOU SELFISH WANKERS AND AS FOR THOSE WHO ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO ...

    Wait, what, he's gone?

  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,913
    Foxy said:

    Britain is a brutal place to be an ex-prime minister.

    https://x.com/ByDonkeys/status/1823481596185616717?t=CP2NcxTdlLKpwRs8lYM13Q&s=19

    Sounds like an audience of of two.

    What banner would we put behind Leon?
  • JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 6,261

    eek said:

    IanB2 said:

    Inflation on the up again? Now 2.2%

    Wait until those pay rises kick in....
    This has been known about for the past year - as for the last year the July 2023 reduction in energy prices has artificially lowered the reported rate of inflation
    It did not 'artifically' lower the rate on inflation - it lowered the rate of inflation.
    Indeed. Prices actually fell by 0.2% in July but by a lot less than last July. Last August and September had substantial rises so I would expect inflation to be downwards again over the next couple of months.

    Yesterday's earnings increase figures were down and the public sector rises announced recently were really no more than average.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,913
    Meanwhile in news that shocks no-one, the cheapest food items saw the biggest inflationary pressures during the Truss inflation bubble.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/14/revealed-how-uks-poor-paid-price-of-cheapflation-in-cost-of-living-crisis

    I think the Grauniad / IFS are trying to make some kind of scandal out of this. Nothing to see - the products that make the manufacturers and retailers the least money had no ability to absorb any inflation to costs and thus increased the most shock.
  • JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 6,261

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh are so insular, it's why nobody likes them.

    ‘Unnecessary’ English place names covered up on Welsh road signs

    White Eagle activists on a mission to ‘deanglicise’ country


    English place names have been covered up on some Welsh road signs by a group which says it wants to “deanglicise” the country.

    The Mudiad Eryr Wen, (White Eagle Movement), this week claimed responsibility for daubing green paint across road signs on the A525, between St Asaph and Denbigh in North Wales.

    Non-Welsh-speaking motorists navigating by street signs would have to negotiate the five miles between Llanelwy and Dinbych on their own as a result of the spray-painting.

    “Deanglicise Wales!” the Eryr Wen group posted on social media along with pictures of the signs they had defaced.

    “Imposed and unnecessary English place names have been removed from signage across Sir Ddinbych. Decolonise our geography!”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/13/english-place-names-covered-welsh-road-signs-denbigh-deface/

    Why on earth should Welsh placenames be up in two languages? Do you see Firenze also signposted as Florence for the benefit of English speakers? Do the Germans helpfully write
    Cologne after Koeln?

    Most of us can just about work out that Caerdydd actually means Cardiff, and most other Welsh placenames are similarly fathomable. As for those that aren't, if the English want to call Abertawe by the name of Swansea, that's up to us, but I don't see why the Welsh should go to any trouble or expense to accommodate our whims.
    Indian rail stations can have signage in up to THREE languages: English, Hindi, and the local state language where applicable.
    Japanese stations often have four languages. Official Japanese, simplified Japanese, and a weird phonetic Japanese (because Japanese is so hard sometimes that's the only way to let Japanese people understand where they are). Plus English
    Japanese has four alphabets.
    In Israel, signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

    Pedantry alert: it's Hebrew, Arabic and Roman. The idea that the English invented the alphabet (clue's in the name) should be resisted.
    Clue’s in the name: alpha-bet[a]

    Isn’t that Greek, not Roman?
    The alphabet we use is Roman, or Latin. The Greek one is quite a bit different, as you will have noticed if you have ever tried to read signage in Greece.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,763

    NEW THREAD

  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,780
    edited August 14

    Leon said:

    Springwatch episode 11. Getting fucking angry at pet-owners again


    DO YOU NOT FEEL GUILTY?

    These collapses in bird life. IT'S THE FUCKING CATS AND DOGS

    I don’t think it is. We've had cats and dogs a long time. I think a recent change has been the reintroduction of predators, particularly birds of prey like sparrowhawks, and the rules around gamekeepers not being able to dispatch them. There are always consequences to these so-called wonderful developments.

    There are also probably more recent reasons relating to the dramatic increases in sea and other temperatures caused by the martime fuel regulations. That has made everything go out of kilter.
    I think you've slightly missed the point here - if there weren't as many cats and dogs, there would be more songbirds and ground-nesting birds, and therefore more natural predators like sparrowhawks.

    I don't wish to speak for Leon (RIP), but I don't think he would see that as a bad thing.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,194

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh are so insular, it's why nobody likes them.

    ‘Unnecessary’ English place names covered up on Welsh road signs

    White Eagle activists on a mission to ‘deanglicise’ country


    English place names have been covered up on some Welsh road signs by a group which says it wants to “deanglicise” the country.

    The Mudiad Eryr Wen, (White Eagle Movement), this week claimed responsibility for daubing green paint across road signs on the A525, between St Asaph and Denbigh in North Wales.

    Non-Welsh-speaking motorists navigating by street signs would have to negotiate the five miles between Llanelwy and Dinbych on their own as a result of the spray-painting.

    “Deanglicise Wales!” the Eryr Wen group posted on social media along with pictures of the signs they had defaced.

    “Imposed and unnecessary English place names have been removed from signage across Sir Ddinbych. Decolonise our geography!”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/13/english-place-names-covered-welsh-road-signs-denbigh-deface/

    Why on earth should Welsh placenames be up in two languages? Do you see Firenze also signposted as Florence for the benefit of English speakers? Do the Germans helpfully write
    Cologne after Koeln?

    Most of us can just about work out that Caerdydd actually means Cardiff, and most other Welsh placenames are similarly fathomable. As for those that aren't, if the English want to call Abertawe by the name of Swansea, that's up to us, but I don't see why the Welsh should go to any trouble or expense to accommodate our whims.
    Indian rail stations can have signage in up to THREE languages: English, Hindi, and the local state language where applicable.
    Japanese stations often have four languages. Official Japanese, simplified Japanese, and a weird phonetic Japanese (because Japanese is so hard sometimes that's the only way to let Japanese people understand where they are). Plus English
    Japanese has four alphabets.
    In Israel, signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

    Pedantry alert: it's Hebrew, Arabic and Roman. The idea that the English invented the alphabet (clue's in the name) should be resisted.
    Clue’s in the name: alpha-bet[a]

    Isn’t that Greek, not Roman?
    The alphabet we use is Roman, or Latin. The Greek one is quite a bit different, as you will have noticed if you have ever tried to read signage in Greece.
    The name originally comes from the Greek alphabet, I think was the point.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,431

    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    I give it 3 days, tops.
    Can we have a competition :smiley:
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    You know what, I think this is it

    I have been toying with this for a while. but here it is

    I am retiring from the site. I am constantly under threat of being banned, by @TSE. And today is yet another example of it - simply for expressing, for the second time in a year, an opinion on.... pets??? Fuck this for a game of soldiers. The site moderators want me largely gone, and so do quite a few commentators, and I will now yield. I hope you enjoy the ensuing boredom

    I'm done. It's been a rollicking 20 years or so, but I cannot exist on a site when I am constantly at risk of being banned for expressing an opinion on.... anything. It is completely arbitrary, now. And no one can endure that on a site dedicated to expressing opinions!

    I don't really blame @TSE or anyone else, they do a thankless task for no money. But neither do I congratulate them on their great moderating skill. OGH, in retrospect, did an amazing job

    I will be back occasionally to show you pictures of beer in nice countries, but as a substantive political commenter, this is it. Adieu

    Substantive political commentator, who knew?
    I laughed at that, as well. We must have missed such commentary amid all the trolling and BS copied from the internet.

    I doubt that his hysterical anti-pettery has anything whatsoever to do with a (purported and newfound) deep concern for our environmental future, or is down to any significant impact on his own lifestyle! Rather, he sees the deep long-term commitment and care that looking after a pet brings with it, of which he knows deep down he is incapable, and it makes him feel vulnerable and inadequate, for reasons that we should best leave for private speculation.

    It was particularly amusing that he thinks he is regularly banned for having opinions about such subjects, and not for being an annoying twat who regularly disrupts this forum and uses his ‘superior intelligence’ to drag our discussion down into the gutter.
    thats quite funny.
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,548
    Nigelb said:

    A warning to anyone with a Disney+ subscription.
    Our unfair contract terms legislation would probably invalidate this crap, but in the US ...?

    Disney wants wrongful death suit involving LI doctor tossed, citing Disney+ terms

    https://longisland.news12.com/disney-asks-court-to-dismiss-wrongful-death-lawsuit-of-long-island-doctor
    Disney has asked a Florida court to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the husband of a Long Island doctor.
    The lawsuit claims that Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating at a Disney Springs restaurant despite repeatedly informing the waiter of her severe allergy.
    Disney is calling for the lawsuit to be dismissed because her husband signed up for a one-month trial of the Disney+ streaming service years prior.
    The company says signing up for the trial requires users to arbitrate all disputes with the company...

    Wow. Interesting. I get a free Disney+ account with my Lloyds Bank account. Not used it as it is mostly junk on the show.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,326
    IanB2 said:

    Inflation on the up again? Now 2.2%

    I KNEW Starmer was going to mess it all up

    😉
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,561
    Scott_xP said:
    And Sopel (and many others) not realising that they're doing exactly the same stuff that led to that one winning.
This discussion has been closed.