Scone (pronounced "scoon") is where the stone (rhymes with bone in English) comes from. The Stone of Scone is installed in the new museum in Perth. After your visit you can go to the cafe and have some scones (rhymes with gone. And highly recommended. They are excellent)
Why did the Scots choose a name for their national headquarters (or whatever it was) that rhymes with goon, hoon and loon?
Just asking ...
Goon and hoon are twentieth century by the looks of it, and loon means something different from what you think it means in Scotland.
Not sure about the whole of Scotland but certainly in the north east. I miss our contributions from @fitalass and @fitaloon. It simply means a man.
Possibly on the younger side. Auld loon might tend towards the disrespectful.
With the topic being rather light (“scones”) I feel ok to mention something else that’s interesting but not of earth-shattering importance. The Lady In Red by Chris De Burgh. I hadn’t heard it in decades but that changed this afternoon when I was checking out the new M&S food hall in Friern Barnet. They were playing loud music in there, unusual for an M&S and imo not smart business since it was hard to screen it out and concentrate on my shopping, esp when The Lady In Red started booming out. For better or worse (I’d strongly argue the latter) it’s just not a song you can ignore.
One of the more bizarre nights of my life involved Chris de Burgh. And the Hoff. And Jimmy Ruffin.
And the ghost of Lady Diana. At Althorp House.
You know eating moths can make you hallucinate?
Wish I had that excuse....
The big warm blooded version of moths visited us last night. It was strangely frightening at the time, in a doomy gothic sort of way, and amusing now.
I woke at around 5am (still dark here in France) needing a wee, and hearing a regular fluttering. Came back from the loo and wife said “we have a bat”.
After switching on the light we realised we did indeed have a bat flying around our bedroom. Then we noticed a second one. Then a third, out in the landing.
Half an hour of mad flapping ensued, both by us and the bats. Finally got them by swiping them out of the air with large cushions, trapping and putting them outside.
Will they be back tonight? One thing’s for sure: we’ll not be leaving windows open tonight despite the temperature.
Unless you are sure they aren't Daubenton's Bats, don't pick them up. Daubenton's carry a form of rabies that is fatal to humans.
(This is a UK-centric post but as I don't know if any Frrench species also have rabies, best not to take the risk....)
Common pipistrelle I think.
But I reassured my children that they wouldn’t pass any dangerous coronaviruses because these are different from the Wuhan lab bats.
It is quite interesting though. We were agog at the time. It was huge. Who and why, and had he just changed the course of the election and therefore of the 21st century? And now we all just shrug our shoulders and put it down to one of those things that just happens in America. Odd.
This is the most on topic thread in the history of PB.
Where is Leon when you need a tangential parallel thread?
The White House and American government is covering up the truth about UFOs; they were genetically engineered in a Ukrainian biolab near a wet market and released to kill all the pets.
New season looking the same as the old so far as United's finishing is concerned.
Perhaps out of respect that it is Still Bloody August and there's at leaat three test matches left they have elected not to start playing properly until after the bank holiday.
Not fit for purpose....basically if you are a foreign student who can get a loan and returns home or a UK student who emigrates, the taxpayer is never getting any money back. They aren't even trying to get it.
Some of us might have pointed this out years ago, when recent UK graduates started turning up in his part of the world boasting that they’d got a free loan they’d never have to pay back.
Scone (pronounced "scoon") is where the stone (rhymes with bone in English) comes from. The Stone of Scone is installed in the new museum in Perth. After your visit you can go to the cafe and have some scones (rhymes with gone. And highly recommended. They are excellent)
Why did the Scots choose a name for their national headquarters (or whatever it was) that rhymes with goon, hoon and loon?
Just asking ...
Goon and hoon are twentieth century by the looks of it, and loon means something different from what you think it means in Scotland.
Not sure about the whole of Scotland but certainly in the north east. I miss our contributions from @fitalass and @fitaloon. It simply means a man.
Possibly on the younger side. Auld loon might tend towards the disrespectful.
Certainly a younger one in Doricland. But orra loon could be older IIRC [the odd job man on a farm, not in the hierarchy of first plooman, 2nd plooman etc.]. Definitely used in my time.
The article doesn't say that. It just has a Think Tank opining that New Towns aren't a Silver Bullet.
Alan is desperate to declare failure, almost before they've started. I remain cautiously optimistic - not least as the policy I predicted pre-election, and which he said wouldn't happen, seems to be happening.
3% of available time gone and not a brick laid. Indeed not even a plan.
They are not hitting the ground running so the whole thing is back loaded., which sort of suggests theyll need to be building 400k houses a year, in the kast 3 years something this country hasnt done for half a century.
You let your polemic blind you to what you would reject in your own workplace.
I suspect that, like most of us, Starmer didn't expect Sunak to call the election when he did. Hitting the ground running is therefore more difficult, since plans hadn't been completed. Close to completion, maybe, but. And it wasn't the best idea to have to start off with a recess.
The idea that new towns won't take years of planning - nothing of that scale has taken less than years of planning, in my lifetime....
Harlow was designated in 1947 and by the mid fifties was up and running.
I ain't that old.
It would take 2-3 years to write the important docs, now
Ah well, take it from one who was beginning to get 'aware' then. The 1945 Labour Government got on with things.
It was simply a function of how things were, back then.
The idea of spending 1/4 Billion on plans for the Dartford Crossing would have been seen as insane, back then.
Yes, Starmer could bring forward primary legislation overriding the whole system. Then the Greens and the Lib Dems will go full NIMBY, ready for the local elections. And the entire Enquiry Industrial Complex would fire up *all* the legal challenges, to the concept of doing away with spending billions on report on planning things.
The government could get on and do it - wipe out the report writing/consultant/public Inquiry industry. It can just be done in one swoop, pass an act of parliament that grants itself the power to grant planning permission for whatever it wants to do, delegating matters accordingly. Thus reinventing what it did in 1948, and which led to where we are now, 75 years later.
Oh indeed he could.
Then, as I said, the NIMBYs plus the Enquiry Industrial Complex would raise a political and legal storm.
On the legal front, it would go to the Supreme Court. Probably multiple times.
On the political front, the local elections would become a referendum on this. The Greens would love more councillors. As would the Lib Dems. I would be the Conservatives would get in on the act.
Is Starmer the man to scrap a vast pile of *law*?
I do wonder what they are thinking though, and where they get their ideas from. One plan, which is only slated for the green belt at the moment, is that the landowner doesn't get to benefit/profit from the increase in land values arising from obtaining planning permission. They would be forced to sell for existing use value (ie peanuts) and possibly a 20% increase. The only question this raises, is who would go through the decade long, multi million pound cost of getting planning permission, and the associated likelihood/risk of failure, for a 20% profit over the existing use value - ie probably tens of thousands of pounds in most cases. It would no longer be a commercially viable proposition. The state would have to requisition the land and get planning permission itself, taking on all the risk.
I think that is the plan - the state purchase the land cheap.
They can then employee contractors to build the houses. Then flog them for a profit.
They hope.
Edit: or just sell the land with planning permission, divided into plots..
It is certainly going to mean a lot compulsory purchase (the new growth area for the inquiry industrial complex, I can imagine the business plans being drafted now).
The other issue, is that councils are going to struggle to grant planning permission to themselves, because politics always rapidly comes in to play. Most of the land that has been developed over the last 20 years has been the result of an agressive strategic land promotion industry finding ways around local politics, if it is all left to the Council or even an arms length government agency, that dynamic no longer exists.
If the government get sucked in to the civil service project of 'reforms to local plans, simplifying and streamlining decision making', then the whole project is over before it starts, they are just adding a load more gunge in to the existing quagmire. They would need to do something like what I suggested upthread, direct the process of housebuilding like it is a national emergency, using primary legislation to essentially circumvent the existing planning system in some cases.
From their rhetoric, are most people not expecting the government to be passing primary legislation that leads to a several million more homes being built before the next election, as we saw in 1945?
If that isn’t achieved, then expect the next election not to go in their favour.
On topic: I'm on the side of County Durham in the pronunciation battle. Scone rhymes with gone. The alternative is poncey and weird.
Elsewhere, the new Home Secretary has been heard to sympathise with the struggles of contemporary teenagers. Whatever else we think of the change of Government we may, perhaps, reflect on the blessing of having people in charge who don't have an absolute, visceral hatred of the young.
I’ll believe that when I hear the DfE has been abolished and all its staff sacked.
Not fit for purpose....basically if you are a foreign student who can get a loan and returns home or a UK student who emigrates, the taxpayer is never getting any money back. They aren't even trying to get it.
Some of us might have pointed this out years ago, when recent UK graduates started turning up in his part of the world boasting that they’d got a free loan they’d never have to pay back.
If i legged it from the UK having not paid £100k in income tax or VAT and refused to interact with them I am not sure the HMRC would be so accommodating.
Scone (pronounced "scoon") is where the stone (rhymes with bone in English) comes from. The Stone of Scone is installed in the new museum in Perth. After your visit you can go to the cafe and have some scones (rhymes with gone. And highly recommended. They are excellent)
Why did the Scots choose a name for their national headquarters (or whatever it was) that rhymes with goon, hoon and loon?
Just asking ...
Goon and hoon are twentieth century by the looks of it, and loon means something different from what you think it means in Scotland.
Not sure about the whole of Scotland but certainly in the north east. I miss our contributions from @fitalass and @fitaloon. It simply means a man.
Possibly on the younger side. Auld loon might tend towards the disrespectful.
Certainly a younger one in Doricland. But orra loon could be older IIRC [the odd job man on a farm, not in the hierarchy of first plooman, 2nd plooman etc.]. Definitely used in my time.
We'll be onto 'feel' next. ('feal'? I've never been sure - only heard it spoken)
Not fit for purpose....basically if you are a foreign student who can get a loan and returns home or a UK student who emigrates, the taxpayer is never getting any money back. They aren't even trying to get it.
Some of us might have pointed this out years ago, when recent UK graduates started turning up in his part of the world boasting that they’d got a free loan they’d never have to pay back.
If i legged it from the UK having not paid £100k in income tax or VAT and refused to interact with them I am not sure the HMRC would be so accommodating.
Don’t start on all the EU-nation students, who had to be treated exactly the same as UK students under EU law. How many of those do we think will be paying back their loans?
Hamas plotted to dig up war graves of British veterans
The Israelis believe it was written on or around October 5, 2022, by an unknown official, apparently in response to comments made by the then-prime minister Liz Truss on her desire to move the British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Not fit for purpose....basically if you are a foreign student who can get a loan and returns home or a UK student who emigrates, the taxpayer is never getting any money back. They aren't even trying to get it.
Some of us might have pointed this out years ago, when recent UK graduates started turning up in his part of the world boasting that they’d got a free loan they’d never have to pay back.
If i legged it from the UK having not paid £100k in income tax or VAT and refused to interact with them I am not sure the HMRC would be so accommodating.
Don’t start on all the EU-nation students, who had to be treated exactly the same as UK students under EU law. How many of those do we think will be paying back their loans?
70,000 people at could be £50k a pop. We are talking covid fraud money.
Edit - given these are historical, £50k is probably too high, but even £10k per loan.
Not fit for purpose....basically if you are a foreign student who can get a loan and returns home or a UK student who emigrates, the taxpayer is never getting any money back. They aren't even trying to get it.
Some of us might have pointed this out years ago, when recent UK graduates started turning up in his part of the world boasting that they’d got a free loan they’d never have to pay back.
If i legged it from the UK having not paid £100k in income tax or VAT and refused to interact with them I am not sure the HMRC would be so accommodating.
Don’t start on all the EU-nation students, who had to be treated exactly the same as UK students under EU law. How many of those do we think will be paying back their loans?
The one time I had any dealings with the SLC they first failed to read a statement I sent, then sent me a letter informing me the enclosed leaflet told me about their complaints procedure while failing to send the leaflet, then making a false statement about when they received the complaint, then lying about their procedures and finally passing the complaint to an idiotic member of their board who couldn’t spell my name, forwarding it to an independent assessor but failing to send the email, and then making false statements about Data Protection that they were later forced to recant.
Which leads to two conclusions:
1) It’s not just British Gas and their take solicitors who are so stupid they should not be allowed out;
2) It’s truly amazing that any student loans, domestic or foreign, get repaid at all.
Not fit for purpose....basically if you are a foreign student who can get a loan and returns home or a UK student who emigrates, the taxpayer is never getting any money back. They aren't even trying to get it.
Some of us might have pointed this out years ago, when recent UK graduates started turning up in his part of the world boasting that they’d got a free loan they’d never have to pay back.
If i legged it from the UK having not paid £100k in income tax or VAT and refused to interact with them I am not sure the HMRC would be so accommodating.
Don’t start on all the EU-nation students, who had to be treated exactly the same as UK students under EU law. How many of those do we think will be paying back their loans?
The one time I had any dealings with the SLC they first failed to read a statement I sent, then sent me a letter informing me the enclosed leaflet told me about their complaints procedure while failing to send the leaflet, then making a false statement about when they received the complaint, then lying about their procedures and finally passing the complaint to an idiotic member of their board who couldn’t spell my name, forwarding it to an independent assessor but failing to send the email, and then making false statements about Data Protection that they were later forced to recant.
Which leads to two conclusions:
1) It’s not just British Gas and their take solicitors who are so stupid they should not be allowed out;
2) It’s truly amazing that any student loans, domestic or foreign, get repaid at all.
The most disconcerting thing i had was i wrote them a big cheque to pay off the entire balance and i asked for confirmation and the response was why do you need that? Erhhh cos i just wrote you a cheque for £30k...its quite a lot of money.....i would rather like to know its been received and processed.
Not fit for purpose....basically if you are a foreign student who can get a loan and returns home or a UK student who emigrates, the taxpayer is never getting any money back. They aren't even trying to get it.
Some of us might have pointed this out years ago, when recent UK graduates started turning up in his part of the world boasting that they’d got a free loan they’d never have to pay back.
If i legged it from the UK having not paid £100k in income tax or VAT and refused to interact with them I am not sure the HMRC would be so accommodating.
Don’t start on all the EU-nation students, who had to be treated exactly the same as UK students under EU law. How many of those do we think will be paying back their loans?
The one time I had any dealings with the SLC they first failed to read a statement I sent, then sent me a letter informing me the enclosed leaflet told me about their complaints procedure while failing to send the leaflet, then making a false statement about when they received the complaint, then lying about their procedures and finally passing the complaint to an idiotic member of their board who couldn’t spell my name, forwarding it to an independent assessor but failing to send the email, and then making false statements about Data Protection that they were later forced to recant.
Which leads to two conclusions:
1) It’s not just British Gas and their take solicitors who are so stupid they should not be allowed out;
2) It’s truly amazing that any student loans, domestic or foreign, get repaid at all.
The SLC exists to make the banks look good. Can you still end up overpaying and then having to claim a refund if you don't send the right form off?
Not fit for purpose....basically if you are a foreign student who can get a loan and returns home or a UK student who emigrates, the taxpayer is never getting any money back. They aren't even trying to get it.
Some of us might have pointed this out years ago, when recent UK graduates started turning up in his part of the world boasting that they’d got a free loan they’d never have to pay back.
If i legged it from the UK having not paid £100k in income tax or VAT and refused to interact with them I am not sure the HMRC would be so accommodating.
Don’t start on all the EU-nation students, who had to be treated exactly the same as UK students under EU law. How many of those do we think will be paying back their loans?
The one time I had any dealings with the SLC they first failed to read a statement I sent, then sent me a letter informing me the enclosed leaflet told me about their complaints procedure while failing to send the leaflet, then making a false statement about when they received the complaint, then lying about their procedures and finally passing the complaint to an idiotic member of their board who couldn’t spell my name, forwarding it to an independent assessor but failing to send the email, and then making false statements about Data Protection that they were later forced to recant.
Which leads to two conclusions:
1) It’s not just British Gas and their take solicitors who are so stupid they should not be allowed out;
2) It’s truly amazing that any student loans, domestic or foreign, get repaid at all.
The SLC exists to make the banks look good. Can you still end up overpaying and then having to claim a refund if you don't send the right form off?
You can but it’s less likely now because they’ve moved to either quarterly or monthly rather than yearly account transfers. Also, you can now get a monthly balance online although it’s still not 100% accurate.
The article doesn't say that. It just has a Think Tank opining that New Towns aren't a Silver Bullet.
Alan is desperate to declare failure, almost before they've started. I remain cautiously optimistic - not least as the policy I predicted pre-election, and which he said wouldn't happen, seems to be happening.
3% of available time gone and not a brick laid. Indeed not even a plan.
They are not hitting the ground running so the whole thing is back loaded., which sort of suggests theyll need to be building 400k houses a year, in the kast 3 years something this country hasnt done for half a century.
You let your polemic blind you to what you would reject in your own workplace.
I suspect that, like most of us, Starmer didn't expect Sunak to call the election when he did. Hitting the ground running is therefore more difficult, since plans hadn't been completed. Close to completion, maybe, but. And it wasn't the best idea to have to start off with a recess.
The idea that new towns won't take years of planning - nothing of that scale has taken less than years of planning, in my lifetime....
Harlow was designated in 1947 and by the mid fifties was up and running.
I ain't that old.
It would take 2-3 years to write the important docs, now
Ah well, take it from one who was beginning to get 'aware' then. The 1945 Labour Government got on with things.
It was simply a function of how things were, back then.
The idea of spending 1/4 Billion on plans for the Dartford Crossing would have been seen as insane, back then.
Yes, Starmer could bring forward primary legislation overriding the whole system. Then the Greens and the Lib Dems will go full NIMBY, ready for the local elections. And the entire Enquiry Industrial Complex would fire up *all* the legal challenges, to the concept of doing away with spending billions on report on planning things.
The government could get on and do it - wipe out the report writing/consultant/public Inquiry industry. It can just be done in one swoop, pass an act of parliament that grants itself the power to grant planning permission for whatever it wants to do, delegating matters accordingly. Thus reinventing what it did in 1948, and which led to where we are now, 75 years later.
Oh indeed he could.
Then, as I said, the NIMBYs plus the Enquiry Industrial Complex would raise a political and legal storm.
On the legal front, it would go to the Supreme Court. Probably multiple times.
On the political front, the local elections would become a referendum on this. The Greens would love more councillors. As would the Lib Dems. I would be the Conservatives would get in on the act.
Is Starmer the man to scrap a vast pile of *law*?
I do wonder what they are thinking though, and where they get their ideas from. One plan, which is only slated for the green belt at the moment, is that the landowner doesn't get to benefit/profit from the increase in land values arising from obtaining planning permission. They would be forced to sell for existing use value (ie peanuts) and possibly a 20% increase. The only question this raises, is who would go through the decade long, multi million pound cost of getting planning permission, and the associated likelihood/risk of failure, for a 20% profit over the existing use value - ie probably tens of thousands of pounds in most cases. It would no longer be a commercially viable proposition. The state would have to requisition the land and get planning permission itself, taking on all the risk.
I think that is the plan - the state purchase the land cheap.
They can then employee contractors to build the houses. Then flog them for a profit.
They hope.
Edit: or just sell the land with planning permission, divided into plots..
It is certainly going to mean a lot compulsory purchase (the new growth area for the inquiry industrial complex, I can imagine the business plans being drafted now).
The other issue, is that councils are going to struggle to grant planning permission to themselves, because politics always rapidly comes in to play. Most of the land that has been developed over the last 20 years has been the result of an agressive strategic land promotion industry finding ways around local politics, if it is all left to the Council or even an arms length government agency, that dynamic no longer exists.
If the government get sucked in to the civil service project of 'reforms to local plans, simplifying and streamlining decision making', then the whole project is over before it starts, they are just adding a load more gunge in to the existing quagmire. They would need to do something like what I suggested upthread, direct the process of housebuilding like it is a national emergency, using primary legislation to essentially circumvent the existing planning system in some cases.
From their rhetoric, are most people not expecting the government to be passing primary legislation that leads to a several million more homes being built before the next election, as we saw in 1945?
If that isn’t achieved, then expect the next election not to go in their favour.
Governments always promise this and then fail to deliver on it. It is like the promises to stop immigration.
They may get something done on planning, more land is going to be released (mainly in conservative voting areas), but they haven't got any solution for the viability problem. IE: who do they expect to buy the new build housing sold at a 20 - 30% premium over the local housing market in a struggling economy, and if no one is buying, how do they expect housebuilders to build more. This plus newbuild flats for sale are hopeless at the moment due to build costs.
Hamas plotted to dig up war graves of British veterans
The Israelis believe it was written on or around October 5, 2022, by an unknown official, apparently in response to comments made by the then-prime minister Liz Truss on her desire to move the British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Just as we should not believe everything the Health Ministry run by Hamas claims about civilian casualties, so we should not necessarily believe the Israelis when they make unverified claims that make Hamas look worse than usual.
This is the most on topic thread in the history of PB.
I did TRY to derail it.
Nobody bit.
Let me try!
Made a brief hin und zurück into Wales today to "do" the curve from Newport to Pye Corner (on the Ebbw Vale branch), which gained a direct all day train service earlier in the year. Saw that the bilingual station signage at Newport seems to always give preference to Welsh. Make of that what you will, @TSE
This is the most on topic thread in the history of PB.
I did TRY to derail it.
Nobody bit.
Let me try!
Made a brief hin und zuruck into Wales today to "do" the curve from Newport to Pye Corner (on the Ebbw Vale branch), which gained a direct all day train service earlier in the year. Saw that the bilingual station signage at Newport seems to always give preference to Welsh. Make of that what you will, @TSE
Why is the stick man running in the opposite direction to the arrow?
Scone (pronounced "scoon") is where the stone (rhymes with bone in English) comes from. The Stone of Scone is installed in the new museum in Perth. After your visit you can go to the cafe and have some scones (rhymes with gone. And highly recommended. They are excellent)
Why did the Scots choose a name for their national headquarters (or whatever it was) that rhymes with goon, hoon and loon?
Just asking ...
Goon and hoon are twentieth century by the looks of it, and loon means something different from what you think it means in Scotland.
Not sure about the whole of Scotland but certainly in the north east. I miss our contributions from @fitalass and @fitaloon. It simply means a man.
Possibly on the younger side. Auld loon might tend towards the disrespectful.
It has other meanings too in Scotland.
My photo quota for the day: Billy Connolly in loon pants.
This is the most on topic thread in the history of PB.
I did TRY to derail it.
Nobody bit.
Let me try!
Made a brief hin und zuruck into Wales today to "do" the curve from Newport to Pye Corner (on the Ebbw Vale branch), which gained a direct all day train service earlier in the year. Saw that the bilingual station signage at Newport seems to always give preference to Welsh. Make of that what you will, @TSE
Under the terms of the Welsh Language Act 1993 all signs in Wales should be bilingual. Since 2011 all new signs are supposed to have Welsh first so it is not treated less favourably than English.
That includes places like South Pembrokeshire, the Gower, Monmouthshire and Flint where nobody at all speaks Welsh.
Scone (pronounced "scoon") is where the stone (rhymes with bone in English) comes from. The Stone of Scone is installed in the new museum in Perth. After your visit you can go to the cafe and have some scones (rhymes with gone. And highly recommended. They are excellent)
Why did the Scots choose a name for their national headquarters (or whatever it was) that rhymes with goon, hoon and loon?
Just asking ...
Goon and hoon are twentieth century by the looks of it, and loon means something different from what you think it means in Scotland.
Not sure about the whole of Scotland but certainly in the north east. I miss our contributions from @fitalass and @fitaloon. It simply means a man.
Possibly on the younger side. Auld loon might tend towards the disrespectful.
It has other meanings too in Scotland.
My photo quota for the day: Billy Connolly in loon pants.
He used to live around the corner from my father in the ‘60s. Rutherglen near Glasgow. They once shared a taxi into town, Billy was off to an open mic night, one of his first gigs. Brilliant comic.
This is the most on topic thread in the history of PB.
I did TRY to derail it.
Nobody bit.
Let me try!
Made a brief hin und zuruck into Wales today to "do" the curve from Newport to Pye Corner (on the Ebbw Vale branch), which gained a direct all day train service earlier in the year. Saw that the bilingual station signage at Newport seems to always give preference to Welsh. Make of that what you will, @TSE
Why is the stick man running in the opposite direction to the arrow?
A good Welshman always runs after shooting his arrow.
Scone (pronounced "scoon") is where the stone (rhymes with bone in English) comes from. The Stone of Scone is installed in the new museum in Perth. After your visit you can go to the cafe and have some scones (rhymes with gone. And highly recommended. They are excellent)
Why did the Scots choose a name for their national headquarters (or whatever it was) that rhymes with goon, hoon and loon?
Just asking ...
Goon and hoon are twentieth century by the looks of it, and loon means something different from what you think it means in Scotland.
Not sure about the whole of Scotland but certainly in the north east. I miss our contributions from @fitalass and @fitaloon. It simply means a man.
Possibly on the younger side. Auld loon might tend towards the disrespectful.
It has other meanings too in Scotland.
My photo quota for the day: Billy Connolly in loon pants.
Never heard auld loon used but auld wivey all the time.
Hamas plotted to dig up war graves of British veterans
The Israelis believe it was written on or around October 5, 2022, by an unknown official, apparently in response to comments made by the then-prime minister Liz Truss on her desire to move the British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
On 14 December 2023, The New York Times reported that Israeli forces had damaged or destroyed at least six cemeteries in Gaza,[420] and on 20 January 2024, CNN reported that Israeli forces had desecrated at least 16 cemeteries, turning some into military outposts.[56]
Don't get me started on savoury food pronunciation. All these barmpots who don't understand that the correct pronunciation of "Bread Roll" is "uvn bott'm muffin"
On a more serious note, a piece in the Herald Scotland today by Neil Mackay on previous parallels to far right involvement in the current riots. He has experience of 30 years of investigative journalism about such movements.
Worth a read.
NEIL MACKAY'S BIG READ What my insight on far right reveals about unrest that sparked riots https://archive.ph/Wh36D
Scone (pronounced "scoon") is where the stone (rhymes with bone in English) comes from. The Stone of Scone is installed in the new museum in Perth. After your visit you can go to the cafe and have some scones (rhymes with gone. And highly recommended. They are excellent)
Why did the Scots choose a name for their national headquarters (or whatever it was) that rhymes with goon, hoon and loon?
Just asking ...
Goon and hoon are twentieth century by the looks of it, and loon means something different from what you think it means in Scotland.
Not sure about the whole of Scotland but certainly in the north east. I miss our contributions from @fitalass and @fitaloon. It simply means a man.
Possibly on the younger side. Auld loon might tend towards the disrespectful.
Certainly a younger one in Doricland. But orra loon could be older IIRC [the odd job man on a farm, not in the hierarchy of first plooman, 2nd plooman etc.]. Definitely used in my time.
We'll be onto 'feel' next. ('feal'? I've never been sure - only heard it spoken)
This is the most on topic thread in the history of PB.
I did TRY to derail it.
Nobody bit.
Let me try!
Made a brief hin und zurück into Wales today to "do" the curve from Newport to Pye Corner (on the Ebbw Vale branch), which gained a direct all day train service earlier in the year. Saw that the bilingual station signage at Newport seems to always give preference to Welsh. Make of that what you will, @TSE
If anyone for no reason at all is suddenly is in the the mood for some scones, here are a couple of tips:
1. Don't buy them. They are quick to make - 20 minutes from bag of flour out of cupboard to scones on table. They will be so much more delicious than anything you buy. 2. Eat them the same day you bake them. 3. Self raising flour will give you better results than plain flour with added baking powder. Don't know why, but it does. 4. Lard will give you a lighter more delectable scone than butter or any other shortening, with the downside that it won't be vegetarian. 5. Light touch kneading - fingers only. 6. Small scones avoid the risk of doughy centres that you might get with large scones.
If anyone for no reason at all is suddenly is in the the mood for some scones, here are a couple of tips:
1. Don't buy them. They are quick to make - 20 minutes from bag of flour out of cupboard to scones on table. They will be so much more delicious than anything you buy. 2. Eat them the same day you bake them. 3. Self raising flour will give you better results than plain flour with added baking powder. Don't know why, but it does. 4. Lard will give you a lighter more delectable scone than butter or any other shortening, with the downside that it won't be vegetarian. 5. Light touch kneading - fingers only. 6. Small scones avoid the risk of doughy centres that you might get with large scones.
If anyone for no reason at all is suddenly is in the the mood for some scones, here are a couple of tips:
1. Don't buy them. They are quick to make - 20 minutes from bag of flour out of cupboard to scones on table. They will be so much more delicious than anything you buy. 2. Eat them the same day you bake them. 3. Self raising flour will give you better results than plain flour with added baking powder. Don't know why, but it does. 4. Lard will give you a lighter more delectable scone than butter or any other shortening, with the downside that it won't be vegetarian. 5. Light touch kneading - fingers only. 6. Small scones avoid the risk of doughy centres that you might get with large scones.
This is the most on topic thread in the history of PB.
I did TRY to derail it.
Nobody bit.
Let me try!
Made a brief hin und zurück into Wales today to "do" the curve from Newport to Pye Corner (on the Ebbw Vale branch), which gained a direct all day train service earlier in the year. Saw that the bilingual station signage at Newport seems to always give preference to Welsh. Make of that what you will, @TSE
If anyone for no reason at all is suddenly is in the the mood for some scones, here are a couple of tips:
1. Don't buy them. They are quick to make - 20 minutes from bag of flour out of cupboard to scones on table. They will be so much more delicious than anything you buy. 2. Eat them the same day you bake them. 3. Self raising flour will give you better results than plain flour with added baking powder. Don't know why, but it does. 4. Lard will give you a lighter more delectable scone than butter or any other shortening, with the downside that it won't be vegetarian. 5. Light touch kneading - fingers only. 6. Small scones avoid the risk of doughy centres that you might get with large scones.
Do you have a griddle?
I use a baking sheet. Is a griddle better?
I thought proper scones were always made on a griddle but I don't really know.
The few times I've done it they just go in the oven.
Farage gets paid £1.2 from GB news?!! That's more than some BBC News Anchors
Bloody hell fire. I presumed GB News was giving him a decent wedge, I presumed maybe £100-200k a year, Gary Lineker money, hell bells. Makes you wonder what they promised Boris (if he ever does any work).
Now we know what GB News is willing to pay wonder if we might see some other newsy people decide principles, what principles, where do I sign....
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
Scon for me. Though as a Manc with a substantial Nottingham family I have occasionally wobbled on that.
And jam first. It isn't like butter at all (which goes on both sides, btw. The cream is a thick layer, the jam a thinner flatter one. Trying to spread the jam on a sufficient mound of cream is going to be one hell of a mess.
Scone (pronounced "scoon") is where the stone (rhymes with bone in English) comes from. The Stone of Scone is installed in the new museum in Perth. After your visit you can go to the cafe and have some scones (rhymes with gone. And highly recommended. They are excellent)
Why did the Scots choose a name for their national headquarters (or whatever it was) that rhymes with goon, hoon and loon?
Just asking ...
Goon and hoon are twentieth century by the looks of it, and loon means something different from what you think it means in Scotland.
Not sure about the whole of Scotland but certainly in the north east. I miss our contributions from @fitalass and @fitaloon. It simply means a man.
Possibly on the younger side. Auld loon might tend towards the disrespectful.
Certainly a younger one in Doricland. But orra loon could be older IIRC [the odd job man on a farm, not in the hierarchy of first plooman, 2nd plooman etc.]. Definitely used in my time.
We'll be onto 'feel' next. ('feal'? I've never been sure - only heard it spoken)
Farage gets paid £1.2 from GB news?!! That's more than some BBC News Anchors
Jo Maugham, founder of the Good Law Project, said: “You look at these numbers and you wonder, has Nigel Farage catapulted himself to the top of the list of highest earners in Clacton? Great for him, but it’s not really public service, is it?”
Sorry this is from an extremely wealthy lawyer who spends his time begging the public for money to fund yet another lost cause in the name of vanity. People in glass houses....
On a more serious note, a piece in the Herald Scotland today by Neil Mackay on previous parallels to far right involvement in the current riots. He has experience of 30 years of investigative journalism about such movements.
Worth a read.
NEIL MACKAY'S BIG READ What my insight on far right reveals about unrest that sparked riots https://archive.ph/Wh36D
This is an interesting article, but the final paragraph seeks to create an equivalence between extreme racists, and 'hateful rhetoric' about immigration coming from the Reform party, the Conservative party, and the 'mainstream media'. It is quite typical of the outlook of the liberal elite.
I cannot claim to be an expert on the extreme far right but I would suggest that a better way of addressing the threat it poses is through addressing people's legitimate fears and concern about immigration and integration; not dismissing it as hateful rhetoric that needs to be crushed.
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
I do wonder how much US traffic they might be getting, that could make paying big money make sense?
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
Just to throw a spanner in the works. I don't like scones with cream/jam.
Cheese scones. These are the true way.
Be gone...to Tory Home.....
All the Yorkshire-people I have known also prefer cheese scones (proper cheese scones - cheese all the way through. None of of your namby-pamby 'bit of cheese on top' kind). If I were younger, and more willing to die in debt, I'd do a PhD thesis on the relation between the pronunciation of 'scone' and the predilection for the cheese variety.
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
I do wonder how much US traffic they might be getting, that could make paying big money make sense?
They do get incredible number of views on YouTube. But I don't believe the strategy of content farming works in the way it used to, so I doubt that is paying much.
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
On the other hand, Paul Marshall is not short of a bob or two. And GBNews needs its audience.
Farage gets paid £1.2 from GB news?!! That's more than some BBC News Anchors
That’s impressive, well done Mr Farage.
A grifter of the highest order.
I guess the funders of GB News know that basically without Farage's fantastic personality and draw with the whacko radical right and/or conspiracy nuts crowd then they are nothing.
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
On the other hand, Paul Marshall is not short of a bob or two. And GBNews needs its audience.
I honestly don't get the game plan, I never have.
Unherd another outlet that Marshall funds, I get that. Its a small operation, positioning itself in a gap where they talk to people who won't be getting a call from BBC / Sky, but without the batshit crazy GB News stuff. There is a market for the talking to "interesting" people in which the host is a smart well read guy who will push back and ask awkward probing questions. I can see how that can be a profitable venture.
GB News is this very expensive operation, paying big bucks, with a very capped viewership. Nobody in the UK has ever got massive audience numbers for 24hr new channels.
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
On the other hand, Paul Marshall is not short of a bob or two. And GBNews needs its audience.
I honestly don't get the game plan, I never have.
Unherd another outlet that Marshall funds, I get that. Its a small operation, positioning itself in a gap where they talk to people who won't be getting a call from BBC / Sky, but without the batshit crazy GB News stuff. There is a market for the talking to "interesting" people in which the host is a smart well read guy who will push back and ask awkward probing questions. I can see how that can be a profitable venture.
GB News is this very expensive operation, paying big bucks, with a very capped viewership. Nobody in the UK has ever got massive audience numbers for 24hr new channels.
Either the plan is that somehow it takes off like Fox in USA and we find millions of Brits want to sit and watch propaganda from the likes of Darren Grimes all day long, or it is just a vehicle to try and move the media class Overton Window to the right no matter what the cost .
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
GB News isn't in any meaningful sense either a news channel or a business, such that it might have a model.
This is the most on topic thread in the history of PB.
I did TRY to derail it.
Nobody bit.
Let me try!
Made a brief hin und zuruck into Wales today to "do" the curve from Newport to Pye Corner (on the Ebbw Vale branch), which gained a direct all day train service earlier in the year. Saw that the bilingual station signage at Newport seems to always give preference to Welsh. Make of that what you will, @TSE
Under the terms of the Welsh Language Act 1993 all signs in Wales should be bilingual. Since 2011 all new signs are supposed to have Welsh first so it is not treated less favourably than English.
That includes places like South Pembrokeshire, the Gower, Monmouthshire and Flint where nobody at all speaks Welsh.
Been lurking here a while but decided to say hello and correct the above which is just slightly OTT.
Firstly, I was born in Flintshire and speak Welsh as my first language. I also work with a membership owned organisation and around a quarter of our Flintshire members speak Welsh. The town of Flint also has a thriving Welsh medium primary school.
South Pembs (little England beyond Wales) has seen an uptick in Welsh speakers as the north of the county sees a decline. Welsh medium education is growing at pace in South Pembs so again, that "nobody" seems a tad OTT.
Monmouthshire is home to my wife's cousin and her children - all first language Welsh speakers. The Welsh medium primary school in Abergavenny is oversubscribed as with the Secondary School that serves the County. Clearly not a strong Welsh speaking area but that "nobody" still not a fair comment.
Gower I know little of but I can state that I do know Welsh speakers from the area.
Anyhow, the key point is that signage in Wales, a bilingual country, should be in both languages in all parts of the country. It's over fifty years since the original Welsh language act gave legal standing to Welsh for the first time since the Acts of Union so somewhat surprising to see Y Doethur (the wise one) indicate a degree of skepticism about bilingual signs in all parts of Wales.
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
It's not meant to be a business. It's meant to sow Fox News style propaganda into boomers houses.
Their averages are getting ever more ridiculous and Pennsylvania is perhaps the silliest. The number of polls that are simply ignored if they show a Harris lead is just daft, especially when the likes of Trafalgar and Rasmussen are given such weight.
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
On the other hand, Paul Marshall is not short of a bob or two. And GBNews needs its audience.
I honestly don't get the game plan, I never have.
Unherd another outlet that Marshall funds, I get that. Its a small operation, positioning itself in a gap where they talk to people who won't be getting a call from BBC / Sky, but without the batshit crazy GB News stuff. There is a market for the talking to "interesting" people in which the host is a smart well read guy who will push back and ask awkward probing questions. I can see how that can be a profitable venture.
GB News is this very expensive operation, paying big bucks, with a very capped viewership. Nobody in the UK has ever got massive audience numbers for 24hr new channels.
Unherd and GB News are supported in the same way that one makes a donation to an art gallery; they provide cultural enrichment.
Richard Hanania @RichardHanania Kamala asks Tim what kind of music he likes. Walz starts talking about Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and old cars. Then Kamala names some black musicians and says that her husband is into Depeche Mode, which she assumes Tim likes too because he’s old and white. It’s so perfect.
This is the most on topic thread in the history of PB.
I did TRY to derail it.
Nobody bit.
Let me try!
Made a brief hin und zuruck into Wales today to "do" the curve from Newport to Pye Corner (on the Ebbw Vale branch), which gained a direct all day train service earlier in the year. Saw that the bilingual station signage at Newport seems to always give preference to Welsh. Make of that what you will, @TSE
Under the terms of the Welsh Language Act 1993 all signs in Wales should be bilingual. Since 2011 all new signs are supposed to have Welsh first so it is not treated less favourably than English.
That includes places like South Pembrokeshire, the Gower, Monmouthshire and Flint where nobody at all speaks Welsh.
Been lurking here a while but decided to say hello and correct the above which is just slightly OTT.
Firstly, I was born in Flintshire and speak Welsh as my first language. I also work with a membership owned organisation and around a quarter of our Flintshire members speak Welsh. The town of Flint also has a thriving Welsh medium primary school.
South Pembs (little England beyond Wales) has seen an uptick in Welsh speakers as the north of the county sees a decline. Welsh medium education is growing at pace in South Pembs so again, that "nobody" seems a tad OTT.
Monmouthshire is home to my wife's cousin and her children - all first language Welsh speakers. The Welsh medium primary school in Abergavenny is oversubscribed as with the Secondary School that serves the County. Clearly not a strong Welsh speaking area but that "nobody" still not a fair comment.
Gower I know little of but I can state that I do know Welsh speakers from the area.
Anyhow, the key point is that signage in Wales, a bilingual country, should be in both languages in all parts of the country. It's over fifty years since the original Welsh language act gave legal standing to Welsh for the first time since the Acts of Union so somewhat surprising to see Y Doethur (the wise one) indicate a degree of skepticism about bilingual signs in all parts of Wales.
I know Farage had the top rated show across all the news channels in that time slot, but it still tiny audience. Its not Ant and Dec numbers. GB News business model doesn't make any sense. They are paying like they are Fox News when they have audience and advertising of a US local news station.
On the other hand, Paul Marshall is not short of a bob or two. And GBNews needs its audience.
I honestly don't get the game plan, I never have.
Unherd another outlet that Marshall funds, I get that. Its a small operation, positioning itself in a gap where they talk to people who won't be getting a call from BBC / Sky, but without the batshit crazy GB News stuff. There is a market for the talking to "interesting" people in which the host is a smart well read guy who will push back and ask awkward probing questions. I can see how that can be a profitable venture.
GB News is this very expensive operation, paying big bucks, with a very capped viewership. Nobody in the UK has ever got massive audience numbers for 24hr new channels.
Unherd and GB News are supported in the same way that one makes a donation to an art gallery; they provide cultural enrichment.
That perhaps explains how Unherd has become more congenial for more .. er .. GB News types. *
Comments
But I reassured my children that they wouldn’t pass any dangerous coronaviruses because these are different from the Wuhan lab bats.
If that isn’t achieved, then expect the next election not to go in their favour.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/16/scottish-tory-deputy-leader-quits-douglas-ross-claims-meghan-gallacher
The Israelis believe it was written on or around October 5, 2022, by an unknown official, apparently in response to comments made by the then-prime minister Liz Truss on her desire to move the British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/16/hamas-plan-dig-up-war-graves-british-war-veterans-gaza/
We've spent all evening discussing cream teas and class.
You simply wouldn't get this anywhere else.
Edit - given these are historical, £50k is probably too high, but even £10k per loan.
Which leads to two conclusions:
1) It’s not just British Gas and their take solicitors who are so stupid they should not be allowed out;
2) It’s truly amazing that any student loans, domestic or foreign, get repaid at all.
Nobody bit.
A local joke. Man goes into a bakery shop and asks is this a scone or a meringue? Try it in Doric dialect.
On loon this is a young lad. Not necessarily bad but maybe not the sharpest tool in the tool box. Often used as brae loon.
They may get something done on planning, more land is going to be released (mainly in conservative voting areas), but they haven't got any solution for the viability problem. IE: who do they expect to buy the new build housing sold at a 20 - 30% premium over the local housing market in a struggling economy, and if no one is buying, how do they expect housebuilders to build more. This plus newbuild flats for sale are hopeless at the moment due to build costs.
Made a brief hin und zurück into Wales today to "do" the curve from Newport to Pye Corner (on the Ebbw Vale branch), which gained a direct all day train service earlier in the year. Saw that the bilingual station signage at Newport seems to always give preference to Welsh. Make of that what you will, @TSE
My photo quota for the day: Billy Connolly in loon pants.
That includes places like South Pembrokeshire, the Gower, Monmouthshire and Flint where nobody at all speaks Welsh.
Never heard auld loon used but auld wivey all the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_invasion_of_the_Gaza_Strip
It's a chain of 6 "Corn Stores" shops owned by a local mill which has existed since Victorian times.
A real survivor.
Don't get me started on savoury food pronunciation. All these barmpots who don't understand that the correct pronunciation of "Bread Roll" is "uvn bott'm muffin"
https://x.com/osinttechnical/status/1824507313409101991
Worth a read.
NEIL MACKAY'S BIG READ
What my insight on far right reveals about unrest that sparked riots
https://archive.ph/Wh36D
BUT
https://www.scan.org.uk/researchrtools/glossary_f.htm
As someone said on another forum.
I ask you, what sort of person leaves half a scone in the packet?
1. Don't buy them. They are quick to make - 20 minutes from bag of flour out of cupboard to scones on table. They will be so much more delicious than anything you buy.
2. Eat them the same day you bake them.
3. Self raising flour will give you better results than plain flour with added baking powder. Don't know why, but it does.
4. Lard will give you a lighter more delectable scone than butter or any other shortening, with the downside that it won't be vegetarian.
5. Light touch kneading - fingers only.
6. Small scones avoid the risk of doughy centres that you might get with large scones.
The Russians have thrown a pontoon bridge up a bit to the east, though I'd imagine the Ukrainians will have already dealt with that.
Is better than none
https://x.com/jackposobiec/status/1824527951599386722
The few times I've done it they just go in the oven.
● £97,000 A MONTH from
@GBNEWS
alone
● £32,000 trip to visit Trump was funded by Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto investor
● But keep those donations comin
https://theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/16/nigel-farage-revealed-to-be-uks-highest-earning-mp?CMP=share_btn_url
Farage gets paid £1.2 from GB news?!!
That's more than some BBC News Anchors
Now we know what GB News is willing to pay wonder if we might see some other newsy people decide principles, what principles, where do I sign....
And jam first. It isn't like butter at all (which goes on both sides, btw. The cream is a thick layer, the jam a thinner flatter one. Trying to spread the jam on a sufficient mound of cream is going to be one hell of a mess.
Hair lip? Feel. Wonky eye? Feel. Stammer? Feel.
I remember my grandparents explaining they had to hide anyone Feel before the minister did his rounds on a Sunday. Didn't do to have the Feel on view.
Sorry this is from an extremely wealthy lawyer who spends his time begging the public for money to fund yet another lost cause in the name of vanity. People in glass houses....
Cheese scones. These are the true way.
I cannot claim to be an expert on the extreme far right but I would suggest that a better way of addressing the threat it poses is through addressing people's legitimate fears and concern about immigration and integration; not dismissing it as hateful rhetoric that needs to be crushed.
If I make scones then they are cheese ones.
He has no need to go through the grief of a political career, he has a very credible claim to be doing it all as a public service.
"We made mistakes over Letby evidence, admits CPS
Door swipe data ‘vital’ to showing which nurses could have been on ward were incorrect"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/16/we-made-mistakes-over-letby-admits-cps/
I guess the funders of GB News know that basically without Farage's fantastic personality and draw with the whacko radical right and/or conspiracy nuts crowd then they are nothing.
Unherd another outlet that Marshall funds, I get that. Its a small operation, positioning itself in a gap where they talk to people who won't be getting a call from BBC / Sky, but without the batshit crazy GB News stuff. There is a market for the talking to "interesting" people in which the host is a smart well read guy who will push back and ask awkward probing questions. I can see how that can be a profitable venture.
GB News is this very expensive operation, paying big bucks, with a very capped viewership. Nobody in the UK has ever got massive audience numbers for 24hr new channels.
Long past due a proper investigation by Ofcom.
Firstly, I was born in Flintshire and speak Welsh as my first language. I also work with a membership owned organisation and around a quarter of our Flintshire members speak Welsh. The town of Flint also has a thriving Welsh medium primary school.
South Pembs (little England beyond Wales) has seen an uptick in Welsh speakers as the north of the county sees a decline. Welsh medium education is growing at pace in South Pembs so again, that "nobody" seems a tad OTT.
Monmouthshire is home to my wife's cousin and her children - all first language Welsh speakers. The Welsh medium primary school in Abergavenny is oversubscribed as with the Secondary School that serves the County. Clearly not a strong Welsh speaking area but that "nobody" still not a fair comment.
Gower I know little of but I can state that I do know Welsh speakers from the area.
Anyhow, the key point is that signage in Wales, a bilingual country, should be in both languages in all parts of the country. It's over fifty years since the original Welsh language act gave legal standing to Welsh for the first time since the Acts of Union so somewhat surprising to see Y Doethur (the wise one) indicate a degree of skepticism about bilingual signs in all parts of Wales.
Sorry for the length of the post - as you were.
Richard Hanania
@RichardHanania
Kamala asks Tim what kind of music he likes. Walz starts talking about Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and old cars. Then Kamala names some black musicians and says that her husband is into Depeche Mode, which she assumes Tim likes too because he’s old and white. It’s so perfect.
https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1824269941232771250
I didn't realise that Tim Montgomerie had exited as fare back as 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Montgomerie
* I can't find a more sympathetic description.