For those unacquainted with super yachts, I am in Tivat on Kotor Bay in Montenegro (on assignment for the gazette) and 500m from Porto Montenegro, which is an insane collision of Italian mafiosi and Russian oligarchs and South American drug lords all eating £200 steaks in absurdly overpriced restaurants with their 19 year old “wives”
They come here because it’s “just” outside the EU yet it uses the euro and feels like Monte Carlo etc
Gorgeous part of the world. Been there twice. Been to Kotor and Herceg Novi. Went through Tivat on a coach trip to Lake Skardar. Never got to see the side of Tivat you are seeing. I just want to go back now.
Granddaughters Two and Three, both attractive 18 year olds are currently headed towards the Adriatic region. I look forward to their Instagram photos with a mixture of trepidation and interest. As do their parents.
Hope they have a great time
Kotor Bay, besides having beautiful women, must be one of THE most beautiful places on earth
I cannot think of anywhere on the Med that matches it, apart from Pelion in Greece (which is also spectacular)
Thank you. There’s nothing like being young and traveling!
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
BERMAN: Last night you posted a clip from Ms Teen US 2007 -- Caitlin Upton. When you posted that, were you aware she thought about committing suicide for the attention that received?
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
3. It wouid send Ryanair bankrupt fast as passengers went to airports that didn’t enforce it and also don’t give a fuck about Ryanair coz they don’t have Ryanair routes
I don't see why it's unenforceable. They just have to make you scan your boarding pass when ordering.
Would reduce Lounge pass sales, unless they're excluded.
Leeds have a 2 drink limit in the lounge unless the staff change while you are there.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
Had anyone written a poem starting "They came for the people wearing rainbow lanyards", that would have been crass and offensive too.
But honestly. You don't get to do a speech saying you would like to ban rainbow lanyards and then pose as standing up for freedom. Pick. A. Lane.
Completly different. Wearing a rainbow lanyard in a public job is making a political statement. Banning smoking in private businesses is policing private businesses.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
3. It wouid send Ryanair bankrupt fast as passengers went to airports that didn’t enforce it and also don’t give a fuck about Ryanair coz they don’t have Ryanair routes
I don't see why it's unenforceable. They just have to make you scan your boarding pass when ordering.
Would reduce Lounge pass sales, unless they're excluded.
Leeds have a 2 drink limit in the lounge unless the staff change while you are there.
I feel the second half of your sentence may not be official policy :-)
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
I have mixed feelings about the Athwal story. On one hand, multiple-property landlords have had a (sometimes deserved) poor reputation for decades, even before Rachman. On the other, tenants can also be sh*ts. If the accusations are true, then he's a sh*t. But evidence needs to be more than a few piccies, and preferably from more than one property.
But more deeply, this sort of landlord is a small part of why house prices are elevated.
Maybe he and Starmer could both give each other a reach around.
Wait a second… how would that even work?!
Double joints. Or mirrors.
From my teenage years
Big bottle of Coke, hip flask sized bottle of vodka/Jack Daniels, merge the two.... Walk into Reading festival etc* with a smile, carrying Coke bottle.
*Seem to recall that it was John Major's government who made it a legal requirement to allow soft drinks into venues - there were some nasty dehydration incidents, with venues charging even for tap water.
I have 90s memories of people taking ecstasy then overheating - and being refused water as they went under.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? Maybe he’s hung like a Lippizan. I have also heard REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED
His problem at the mo is that first impressions - notoriously hard to shift - are now being formed. The first 100 days and all that. And he comes over as a joyless, witless, cyborg-like jerk, stealing money from the old to pay for asylum seekers, and putting kids in prison for memes as he lets actual murderers go free, and he’s promising “things will get worse, before they get… even worse”
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
Yep, the previous MP, Sam Tarry, was to all intents forced out for being a Corbynista.
Britain is country of snitching and curtain twitching as we saw during lockdown so not a surprise a majority support this.
Doesn't mean Starmers authoritarianism isn't alarming though... Actually it makes it worse because it makes you wonder just what he's going to be able to get away with...
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
Yep, the previous MP, Sam Tarry, was to all intents forced out for being a Corbynista.
Early than that, isn't it? I think there was Athwal-Tarry unpleasantness in the runup to 2019 as well.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
On topic - we have actually had five sets of battleground polls over the last few days. Morning Consult have a good past record and are best for Harris. Two others would give Harris a narrower victory. The other two have all the marbles resting on a single tied state. One of those is Emerson who also have a good past record. All five sets of polls show the momentum with Harris despite the Kennedy 'withdrawal'. It is way too close to call.
Harris has eased through two potentially dangerous moments with the Convention and the CNN interview. The debate is a moment with dangers but also great potential for her. The first debate in 2020 may well have cost Trump that election.
Check out Trump in Michigan yesterday. In 2016 he bossed the agenda with the Dems constantly reacting to him. This time he does his thing and the Dems just ignore him. He then ends up defending himself and doubling down against new media reaction and so drawing attention to errors like the Arlington debacle. Meanwhile the Dems are happily pursuing their own lines of attack.
In the end though if the Reps can hold their 2020 states and win Pennsylvania and Georgia then that is that. If they lose either state or North Carolina then it gets very difficult for them.
I learnt that news from a Mail on Sunday headline. 9/11 was the first big bit of news I first got off the internet. It said Terrorists fly plane into building in US and I pictured a Cessna flying into a wooden Midwest church or bank sort of thing.
The company I worked for at the time of 9/11 had a 'wow room', which displayed our products in what was actually a waiting room. I was on a bulletin board (Mono, for those that care/remember), when a poster said that a plane had crashed into the Twin Towers. I went into the wow room, which had many TVs in, and turned the TVs onto live news. I therefore saw the second plane crash happen essentially all around me.
A day or so later, I was asked to announce the couple of minutes silence that was held outside the company. I have zero idea why I, rather than a more senior manager was asked, but it is something I will always remember with sadness.
Ah, mono, those were the days...
I was in Cambridge that day with a friend from Oop North. At the time I was subscribed to a service with my mobile network that sent text messages for breaking news - the first message I got on it was along the lines of "second plane hits Twin Towers, terrorism suspected", and my immediate reaction was "thank you, Sherlock" (I was very young). I wasn't planning on taking my Walkman with me (because, you know, I was supposed to spend all day being sociable with my friend) but for some reason I did, and spent most of the day resenting the weight I was dragging with me - but I was glued to it the rest of the day as we travelled home.
I was in Cambridge on that day too. I wonder how close we were in proximity...
Incidentally, I vaguely knew Dave Brownlee, who wrote Mono. A 'scientific' concept was created about him that was called the 'Dave Decay Curve'; and he posited that it was possible to walk from (what is now) the Silicon Roundabout to Stepney in half an hour...
I never met abs AFAIR at any of the Meets I went to in the late 90s. I joined in 1996 and always felt like a newbie...
Welcome back, Leon. Good timing. The equivalent of coming back on stage for the encore just as the audience were thinking of putting their coats on and going for a drink before the last train home.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
As opposition leader, Starmer always seemed most comfortable when telling off his opposite number. We can all agree that particular succession of prime ministers had much to be told off about – but he will have rather less success if the British public come to feel they are the ones being tutted at
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
As opposition leader, Starmer always seemed most comfortable when telling off his opposite number. We can all agree that particular succession of prime ministers had much to be told off about – but he will have rather less success if the British public come to feel they are the ones being tutted at
Another straw in the wind. The Guardian has not been especially nice about Starmer recently. They did an op-ed on his catastrophic rose-garden speech which could have almost been in the Telegraph
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
As opposed to one of his recent predecessors. It was fairly clear that his wife would happily have snipped him.
(And on topic, yeah. Starmer doesn't inspire anyone. He will, at best, be adequate, but that is already priced in. The 2024 result was driven by the combination of uselessnesses, self-indulgence and division on the British right. That might change, but when you look at the Still Standing Six, it's fairly easy to imagine that 2028 will see a mediocre PM beating an obviously useless LotO. 2017/9 only more so.
Most likely, he steps down as PM of his own accord in 2030 to the dutiful applause given to a supply teacher whose name nobody ever bothered learning but who stopped the lower fourth destroying the chemistry lab.
After all, if Starmer is rubbish, and the Conservatives lost to him in a landslide... What does that say about them?)
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
Yes, it is a transaction. It’s called assortative mating
You just don’t realise it’s transactional because your genes and hormones do all the paperwork, but it is the case. It is why the rich and beautiful and intelligent tend to marry people with similar qualities, and so on down
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
Had anyone written a poem starting "They came for the people wearing rainbow lanyards", that would have been crass and offensive too.
But honestly. You don't get to do a speech saying you would like to ban rainbow lanyards and then pose as standing up for freedom. Pick. A. Lane.
Completly different. Wearing a rainbow lanyard in a public job is making a political statement. Banning smoking in private businesses is policing private businesses.
They came for the people wearing rainbow lanyards and I didn’t do anything because I don’t like the sort of people that wear rainbow lanyards. Then they came for the Diversity Officers and I didn’t do anything because I don’t want my Council Tax to pay for Diversity Officers. Then they came for the Librarians and I didn’t do anything because I have a kindle. Then they came for the Teachers and I didn’t do anything because my kids have left school. Then they came for the bin men and I didn’t do anything because there was nobody left to complain to. Then they came for my Council Tax and there wasn’t anything left to pay it for.
First they called Esther McVey a fucking idiot And I did not speak out Because she was a fucking idiot.
Did you call out anyone for calling Brexiteers Nazis over the last few years?
It's amazing he still hasn't rechannelled his anger yet, even though we have a crypto-socialist government in charge now, and we're getting closer to the EU.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
As opposed to one of his recent predecessors. It was fairly clear that his wife would happily have snipped him.
(And on topic, yeah. Starmer doesn't inspire anyone. He will, at best, be adequate, but that is already priced in. The 2024 result was driven by the combination of uselessnesses, self-indulgence and division on the British right. That might change, but when you look at the Still Standing Six, it's fairly easy to imagine that 2028 will see a mediocre PM beating an obviously useless LotO. 2017/9 only more so.
Most likely, he steps down as PM of his own accord in 2030 to the dutiful applause given to a supply teacher whose name nobody ever bothered learning but who stopped the lower fourth destroying the chemistry lab.
After all, if Starmer is rubbish, and the Conservatives lost to him in a landslide... What does that say about them?)
It says that the right was divided, that’s all. Starmer got about as many votes as Ed Miliband, and fewer than Corbyn. His personal vote in Camden went down by 18,000!
No one likes him. If the right sorts itself out he will be gone in 2029, ins’allah
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
(Snip)
But 'being treated well' is the minimum. And sadly, too many men don't see it as necessary, and too many women don't expect it.
I have known several really beautiful women (including, naturally enough, Mrs J), and none of them would have liked their most notable characteristic as being 'really beautiful'. Intelligence, kindness, empathetic, even stylish; yes. Oddly enough, most women I know like to be seen as more than 'beautiful'.
As opposition leader, Starmer always seemed most comfortable when telling off his opposite number. We can all agree that particular succession of prime ministers had much to be told off about – but he will have rather less success if the British public come to feel they are the ones being tutted at
Another straw in the wind. The Guardian has not been especially nice about Starmer recently. They did an op-ed on his catastrophic rose-garden speech which could have almost been in the Telegraph
A boring Starmer combined with a boring Harris is bad for the kind of business the Guardian is in.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
(Snip)
But 'being treated well' is the minimum. And sadly, too many men don't see it as necessary, and too many women don't expect it.
I have known several really beautiful women (including, naturally enough, Mrs J), and none of them would have liked their most notable characteristic as being 'really beautiful'. Intelligence, kindness, empathetic, even stylish; yes. Oddly enough, most women I know like to be seen as more than 'beautiful'.
Any man that doesn’t treat women well, isn’t a man I respect.
I learnt that news from a Mail on Sunday headline. 9/11 was the first big bit of news I first got off the internet. It said Terrorists fly plane into building in US and I pictured a Cessna flying into a wooden Midwest church or bank sort of thing.
The company I worked for at the time of 9/11 had a 'wow room', which displayed our products in what was actually a waiting room. I was on a bulletin board (Mono, for those that care/remember), when a poster said that a plane had crashed into the Twin Towers. I went into the wow room, which had many TVs in, and turned the TVs onto live news. I therefore saw the second plane crash happen essentially all around me.
A day or so later, I was asked to announce the couple of minutes silence that was held outside the company. I have zero idea why I, rather than a more senior manager was asked, but it is something I will always remember with sadness.
Ah, mono, those were the days...
I was in Cambridge that day with a friend from Oop North. At the time I was subscribed to a service with my mobile network that sent text messages for breaking news - the first message I got on it was along the lines of "second plane hits Twin Towers, terrorism suspected", and my immediate reaction was "thank you, Sherlock" (I was very young). I wasn't planning on taking my Walkman with me (because, you know, I was supposed to spend all day being sociable with my friend) but for some reason I did, and spent most of the day resenting the weight I was dragging with me - but I was glued to it the rest of the day as we travelled home.
I was in Cambridge on that day too. I wonder how close we were in proximity...
Incidentally, I vaguely knew Dave Brownlee, who wrote Mono. A 'scientific' concept was created about him that was called the 'Dave Decay Curve'; and he posited that it was possible to walk from (what is now) the Silicon Roundabout to Stepney in half an hour...
I never met abs AFAIR at any of the Meets I went to in the late 90s. I joined in 1996 and always felt like a newbie...
I joined Mono in 1992 or 3, before the great crash/purge when it went down for a while. Abs was a regular visitor to the student flat I was in, along with other such as Cheeze(burger).
I have many happy memories of Mono meets.
I haven't been on for years, despite having literally years of on-time. I wonder if my account is still active; indeed, if Mono is still going?
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
(Snip)
But 'being treated well' is the minimum. And sadly, too many men don't see it as necessary, and too many women don't expect it.
I have known several really beautiful women (including, naturally enough, Mrs J), and none of them would have liked their most notable characteristic as being 'really beautiful'. Intelligence, kindness, empathetic, even stylish; yes. Oddly enough, most women I know like to be seen as more than 'beautiful'.
Truly beautiful women know they are beautiful and, indeed, get bored of being told this and prefer to hear different compliments. And I know whereof I speak as the best man at my wedding literally dated Helena Christensen (“the most beautiful woman in the world”)
It is the not-quite-beautiful or actually not at all beautiful women who REALLY want to hear they are lovely, because they are insecure. This applies across humanity in many areas
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
Awww
You think Cupid shoots arrows at random and there's nothing transactional about why, for instance, the princess of Wales looks ever so slightly better than her husband?
BERMAN: Last night you posted a clip from Ms Teen US 2007 -- Caitlin Upton. When you posted that, were you aware she thought about committing suicide for the attention that received?
BERMAN: Last night you posted a clip from Ms Teen US 2007 -- Caitlin Upton. When you posted that, were you aware she thought about committing suicide for the attention that received?
Maybe he and Starmer could both give each other a reach around.
Wait a second… how would that even work?!
Double joints. Or mirrors.
From my teenage years
Big bottle of Coke, hip flask sized bottle of vodka/Jack Daniels, merge the two.... Walk into Reading festival etc* with a smile, carrying Coke bottle.
*Seem to recall that it was John Major's government who made it a legal requirement to allow soft drinks into venues - there were some nasty dehydration incidents, with venues charging even for tap water.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
If you farm out all the work, you risk exactly this happening. Some of the shitiest properties are managed by management companies on behalf of landlords who have no idea what is being done in their names.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
Awww
You think Cupid shoots arrows at random and there's nothing transactional about why, for instance, the princess of Wales looks ever so slightly better than her husband?
When I met and married my lovely 21 year old wife, at the age of 54, I know it was because she saw something special in my soul, that’s all, and it had nothing to do with the fact I was a rich guy, with a lot of amusing stories, whose job was flying around the world for free, in great style, and she was welcome to come along
I KNOW that she would also have married me if I was a taciturn dustman of the same age, with a passion for cribbage in his local in Wick
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
As opposed to one of his recent predecessors. It was fairly clear that his wife would happily have snipped him.
(And on topic, yeah. Starmer doesn't inspire anyone. He will, at best, be adequate, but that is already priced in. The 2024 result was driven by the combination of uselessnesses, self-indulgence and division on the British right. That might change, but when you look at the Still Standing Six, it's fairly easy to imagine that 2028 will see a mediocre PM beating an obviously useless LotO. 2017/9 only more so.
Most likely, he steps down as PM of his own accord in 2030 to the dutiful applause given to a supply teacher whose name nobody ever bothered learning but who stopped the lower fourth destroying the chemistry lab.
After all, if Starmer is rubbish, and the Conservatives lost to him in a landslide... What does that say about them?)
2029 election results in LibDem majority over Reform? Labour 40 or so seats, Conservatives 25 or so.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
If you farm out all the work, you risk exactly this happening. Some of the shitiest properties are managed by management companies on behalf of landlords who have no idea what is being done in their names.
They *claim* they don't know, and they don't care enough to check. It's a very convenient excuse for them, isn't it?
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? Maybe he’s hung like a Lippizan. I have also heard REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED
His problem at the mo is that first impressions - notoriously hard to shift - are now being formed. The first 100 days and all that. And he comes over as a joyless, witless, cyborg-like jerk, stealing money from the old to pay for asylum seekers, and putting kids in prison for memes as he lets actual murderers go free, and he’s promising “things will get worse, before they get… even worse”
If the Tories are paying attention, they will bring in a leader who can defenestrate him with humour.
I stand by my prior observation that - alongside Ukraine - the women of Montenegro are the most beautiful in the world. Rebecca West mentions the beauty of the Montenegrins in “Black Lamb, Grey Falcon”
Indeed the Montenegrins might just win because they are cheerier and smiliier. God knows why the Ukrainians are so bloody gloomy and grim faced they should get over it
Wow the ukrainians are gloomy and grim faced and should get over it....you don't think that might be a little to do with your boyfriend trying to invade their country causing lots of deaths, rape and torture.....perhaps you should get a time machine back to the 1940's in belsen and tell all those jewish people to cheer up to?
Hasn’t crossed your mind that I might be somewhat tongue in cheek? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ME THAT QUICKLY??
No I just used to assume that, these days I just assume you are serious then when your putin lines aren't quite working you class them as a joke and push lower level pro russia lines tbh. You are a putin shill
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
I have mixed feelings about the Athwal story. On one hand, multiple-property landlords have had a (sometimes deserved) poor reputation for decades, even before Rachman. On the other, tenants can also be sh*ts. If the accusations are true, then he's a sh*t. But evidence needs to be more than a few piccies, and preferably from more than one property.
But more deeply, this sort of landlord is a small part of why house prices are elevated.
The quote that got me was "He said he did not take on tenants on housing benefit to avoid conflicts of interest with his role as the local council leader." It's a different reason to the usual one, I have to admit. I nearly spat my tea out when I read it, so hard did I laugh.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
Yes, it is a transaction. It’s called assortative mating
You just don’t realise it’s transactional because your genes and hormones do all the paperwork, but it is the case. It is why the rich and beautiful and intelligent tend to marry people with similar qualities, and so on down
'Transactions' explains your fondness for young women of the night?
I hate to break this to you, but not all relationships are paid...
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
As opposed to one of his recent predecessors. It was fairly clear that his wife would happily have snipped him.
(And on topic, yeah. Starmer doesn't inspire anyone. He will, at best, be adequate, but that is already priced in. The 2024 result was driven by the combination of uselessnesses, self-indulgence and division on the British right. That might change, but when you look at the Still Standing Six, it's fairly easy to imagine that 2028 will see a mediocre PM beating an obviously useless LotO. 2017/9 only more so.
Most likely, he steps down as PM of his own accord in 2030 to the dutiful applause given to a supply teacher whose name nobody ever bothered learning but who stopped the lower fourth destroying the chemistry lab.
After all, if Starmer is rubbish, and the Conservatives lost to him in a landslide... What does that say about them?)
It says that the right was divided, that’s all. Starmer got about as many votes as Ed Miliband, and fewer than Corbyn. His personal vote in Camden went down by 18,000!
No one likes him. If the right sorts itself out he will be gone in 2029, ins’allah
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
As opposed to one of his recent predecessors. It was fairly clear that his wife would happily have snipped him.
(And on topic, yeah. Starmer doesn't inspire anyone. He will, at best, be adequate, but that is already priced in. The 2024 result was driven by the combination of uselessnesses, self-indulgence and division on the British right. That might change, but when you look at the Still Standing Six, it's fairly easy to imagine that 2028 will see a mediocre PM beating an obviously useless LotO. 2017/9 only more so.
Most likely, he steps down as PM of his own accord in 2030 to the dutiful applause given to a supply teacher whose name nobody ever bothered learning but who stopped the lower fourth destroying the chemistry lab.
After all, if Starmer is rubbish, and the Conservatives lost to him in a landslide... What does that say about them?)
2029 election results in LibDem majority over Reform? Labour 40 or so seats, Conservatives 25 or so.
With the right black swans, I can see a real Green breakthrough.
I stand by my prior observation that - alongside Ukraine - the women of Montenegro are the most beautiful in the world. Rebecca West mentions the beauty of the Montenegrins in “Black Lamb, Grey Falcon”
Indeed the Montenegrins might just win because they are cheerier and smiliier. God knows why the Ukrainians are so bloody gloomy and grim faced they should get over it
Wow the ukrainians are gloomy and grim faced and should get over it....you don't think that might be a little to do with your boyfriend trying to invade their country causing lots of deaths, rape and torture.....perhaps you should get a time machine back to the 1940's in belsen and tell all those jewish people to cheer up to?
Hasn’t crossed your mind that I might be somewhat tongue in cheek? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ME THAT QUICKLY??
No I just used to assume that, these days I just assume you are serious then when your putin lines aren't quite working you class them as a joke and push lower level pro russia lines tbh. You are a putin shill
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
Yes, it is a transaction. It’s called assortative mating
You just don’t realise it’s transactional because your genes and hormones do all the paperwork, but it is the case. It is why the rich and beautiful and intelligent tend to marry people with similar qualities, and so on down
'Transactions' explains your fondness for young women of the night?
I hate to break this to you, but not all relationships are paid...
Hmmm. Dunno. There’s a reason I always used to pay for dinner and most drinks.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
If you farm out all the work, you risk exactly this happening. Some of the shitiest properties are managed by management companies on behalf of landlords who have no idea what is being done in their names.
One of the problems with the current operation of capitalism is the number of layers insulating people from the consequences of their actions. Landlords with management companies, school dinner providers who never see a canteen, investment bankers who assume you can just reduce headcount randomly and it will be fine.
After all, if Athwal wasn't a politician, this would have played out identically, and nobody would have noticed.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
If you farm out all the work, you risk exactly this happening. Some of the shitiest properties are managed by management companies on behalf of landlords who have no idea what is being done in their names.
They *claim* they don't know, and they don't care enough to check. It's a very convenient excuse for them, isn't it?
Point is, he knows about it now. What's he going to do about it? And what's the Labour Party going to do about it?
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
Yes, it is a transaction. It’s called assortative mating
You just don’t realise it’s transactional because your genes and hormones do all the paperwork, but it is the case. It is why the rich and beautiful and intelligent tend to marry people with similar qualities, and so on down
'Transactions' explains your fondness for young women of the night?
I hate to break this to you, but not all relationships are paid...
Whether you like it or not, it is always a transaction in some way
That doesn’t mean people don’t fall in love, and sometimes they even fall in love with someone totally outrageous and/or unsuitable - nonetheless for 99% of people either at the front or the back of their minds some module in their brain is crunching the numbers. How much am I worth on the marriage market
He’s rich/I’m pretty. He’s funny/I’m clever. He’s fit but boring/but I’m getting a bit desperate. And so on
A trillion little equations and then computer says Yes or No
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
If you farm out all the work, you risk exactly this happening. Some of the shitiest properties are managed by management companies on behalf of landlords who have no idea what is being done in their names.
I think it works as plausible deniability in many cases. They know what is going on but don't want to confront the fact.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? Maybe he’s hung like a Lippizan. I have also heard REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED
His problem at the mo is that first impressions - notoriously hard to shift - are now being formed. The first 100 days and all that. And he comes over as a joyless, witless, cyborg-like jerk, stealing money from the old to pay for asylum seekers, and putting kids in prison for memes as he lets actual murderers go free, and he’s promising “things will get worse, before they get… even worse”
If the Tories are paying attention, they will bring in a leader who can defenestrate him with humour.
I learnt that news from a Mail on Sunday headline. 9/11 was the first big bit of news I first got off the internet. It said Terrorists fly plane into building in US and I pictured a Cessna flying into a wooden Midwest church or bank sort of thing.
The company I worked for at the time of 9/11 had a 'wow room', which displayed our products in what was actually a waiting room. I was on a bulletin board (Mono, for those that care/remember), when a poster said that a plane had crashed into the Twin Towers. I went into the wow room, which had many TVs in, and turned the TVs onto live news. I therefore saw the second plane crash happen essentially all around me.
A day or so later, I was asked to announce the couple of minutes silence that was held outside the company. I have zero idea why I, rather than a more senior manager was asked, but it is something I will always remember with sadness.
Ah, mono, those were the days...
I was in Cambridge that day with a friend from Oop North. At the time I was subscribed to a service with my mobile network that sent text messages for breaking news - the first message I got on it was along the lines of "second plane hits Twin Towers, terrorism suspected", and my immediate reaction was "thank you, Sherlock" (I was very young). I wasn't planning on taking my Walkman with me (because, you know, I was supposed to spend all day being sociable with my friend) but for some reason I did, and spent most of the day resenting the weight I was dragging with me - but I was glued to it the rest of the day as we travelled home.
I was in Cambridge on that day too. I wonder how close we were in proximity...
Incidentally, I vaguely knew Dave Brownlee, who wrote Mono. A 'scientific' concept was created about him that was called the 'Dave Decay Curve'; and he posited that it was possible to walk from (what is now) the Silicon Roundabout to Stepney in half an hour...
I never met abs AFAIR at any of the Meets I went to in the late 90s. I joined in 1996 and always felt like a newbie...
I joined Mono in 1992 or 3, before the great crash/purge when it went down for a while. Abs was a regular visitor to the student flat I was in, along with other such as Cheeze(burger).
I have many happy memories of Mono meets.
I haven't been on for years, despite having literally years of on-time. I wonder if my account is still active; indeed, if Mono is still going?
Mono is still there. I think I'm technically still staff, but I tend to go on about once every couple of years to see what's happening...
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
Yes, it is a transaction. It’s called assortative mating
You just don’t realise it’s transactional because your genes and hormones do all the paperwork, but it is the case. It is why the rich and beautiful and intelligent tend to marry people with similar qualities, and so on down
'Transactions' explains your fondness for young women of the night?
I hate to break this to you, but not all relationships are paid...
Hmmm. Dunno. There’s a reason I always used to pay for dinner and most drinks.
I've never done that on first/second dates, as far as I recall. Not that I've been in that market for 20-odd years...
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
He's a bad, out of touch, neglectful, currently sitting on his backside landlord. His accommodation quality is poor, he is not fulfilling his responsibilities, his account is not coherent, and his management agents are shit. Making sure it is all in place is *his* responsibility.
Look at the staircase on the "common parts" photograph on the BBC. It hasn't even got a f*cking handrail for a common route to multiple flats. And the lightbulb was dead - unforgiveable when a normal LED bulb will last years. Has it got emergency lighting? What happens in an emergency when they all have to get down that uneven staircase with no handrail?
He'll be hammered under the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS).
If the Council take it up, as they should, he has 5 or 6 figures of civil penalties incoming.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
Yes, it is a transaction. It’s called assortative mating
You just don’t realise it’s transactional because your genes and hormones do all the paperwork, but it is the case. It is why the rich and beautiful and intelligent tend to marry people with similar qualities, and so on down
'Transactions' explains your fondness for young women of the night?
I hate to break this to you, but not all relationships are paid...
Whether you like it or not, it is always a transaction in some way
That doesn’t mean people don’t fall in love, and sometimes they even fall in love with someone totally outrageous and/or unsuitable - nonetheless for 99% of people either at the front or the back of their minds some module in their brain is crunching the numbers. How much am I worth on the marriage market
He’s rich/I’m pretty. He’s funny/I’m clever. He’s fit but boring/but I’m getting a bit desperate. And so on
A trillion little equations and then computer says Yes or No
Mrs S was filthy rich and I was filthy. Seems to work.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
He's a bad, out of touch, neglectful landlord. His accommodation quality is poor, he is not fulfilling his responsibilities and his management agents are shit. Making sure it is all in place is *his* responsibility.
Look at the staircase on the "common parts" photograph on the BBC. It hasn't even got a f*cking handrail. And the lightbulb was dead - unforgiveable when a normal LED bulb will last years. Has it got emergency lighting? What happens in an emergency?
He'll be hammered under the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS).
If the Council take it up, as they should, he has 5 or 6 figures of civil penalties incoming.
I learnt that news from a Mail on Sunday headline. 9/11 was the first big bit of news I first got off the internet. It said Terrorists fly plane into building in US and I pictured a Cessna flying into a wooden Midwest church or bank sort of thing.
The company I worked for at the time of 9/11 had a 'wow room', which displayed our products in what was actually a waiting room. I was on a bulletin board (Mono, for those that care/remember), when a poster said that a plane had crashed into the Twin Towers. I went into the wow room, which had many TVs in, and turned the TVs onto live news. I therefore saw the second plane crash happen essentially all around me.
A day or so later, I was asked to announce the couple of minutes silence that was held outside the company. I have zero idea why I, rather than a more senior manager was asked, but it is something I will always remember with sadness.
Ah, mono, those were the days...
I was in Cambridge that day with a friend from Oop North. At the time I was subscribed to a service with my mobile network that sent text messages for breaking news - the first message I got on it was along the lines of "second plane hits Twin Towers, terrorism suspected", and my immediate reaction was "thank you, Sherlock" (I was very young). I wasn't planning on taking my Walkman with me (because, you know, I was supposed to spend all day being sociable with my friend) but for some reason I did, and spent most of the day resenting the weight I was dragging with me - but I was glued to it the rest of the day as we travelled home.
I was in Cambridge on that day too. I wonder how close we were in proximity...
Incidentally, I vaguely knew Dave Brownlee, who wrote Mono. A 'scientific' concept was created about him that was called the 'Dave Decay Curve'; and he posited that it was possible to walk from (what is now) the Silicon Roundabout to Stepney in half an hour...
I never met abs AFAIR at any of the Meets I went to in the late 90s. I joined in 1996 and always felt like a newbie...
I joined Mono in 1992 or 3, before the great crash/purge when it went down for a while. Abs was a regular visitor to the student flat I was in, along with other such as Cheeze(burger).
I have many happy memories of Mono meets.
I haven't been on for years, despite having literally years of on-time. I wonder if my account is still active; indeed, if Mono is still going?
Mono is still there. I think I'm technically still staff, but I tend to go on about once every couple of years to see what's happening...
PM me your username if you'd like. I probably knew of you, and might even have met you.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
He's a bad, out of touch, neglectful landlord. His accommodation quality is poor, he is not fulfilling his responsibilities and his management agents are shit. Making sure it is all in place is *his* responsibility.
Look at the staircase on the "common parts" photograph on the BBC. It hasn't even got a f*cking handrail for a common route to multiple flats. And the lightbulb was dead - unforgiveable when a normal LED bulb will last years. Has it got emergency lighting? What happens in an emergency?
He'll be hammered under the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS).
If the Council take it up, as they should, he has 5 or 6 figures of civil penalties incoming.
It also looks REALLY bad when British citizens are paying money to be housed in these shit conditions, and paying it to a Labour MP! - when we all know that thousands cross the Channel every month and get treated much better, for free
600 yesterday, over 20,000 so far this year. Costing us somewhere between four and seven billion quid a year, and rising
This is why asylum and migration will destroy this government, and they haven’t got a clue what to do about it
BERMAN: Last night you posted a clip from Ms Teen US 2007 -- Caitlin Upton. When you posted that, were you aware she thought about committing suicide for the attention that received?
BERMAN: Last night you posted a clip from Ms Teen US 2007 -- Caitlin Upton. When you posted that, were you aware she thought about committing suicide for the attention that received?
I stand by my prior observation that - alongside Ukraine - the women of Montenegro are the most beautiful in the world. Rebecca West mentions the beauty of the Montenegrins in “Black Lamb, Grey Falcon”
Indeed the Montenegrins might just win because they are cheerier and smiliier. God knows why the Ukrainians are so bloody gloomy and grim faced they should get over it
There are definitely a huge number of beauties among the Ukrainian contingent. My wife thinks the Czech men are the next best of the East European crowd, and there's certainly a disproportionate number of female beauties there, too.
I haven't visited Montenegro. Aren't they very tall, like the Serbian men and women ?
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
He's a bad, out of touch, neglectful, currently sitting on his backside landlord. His accommodation quality is poor, he is not fulfilling his responsibilities, his account is not coherent, and his management agents are shit. Making sure it is all in place is *his* responsibility.
Look at the staircase on the "common parts" photograph on the BBC. It hasn't even got a f*cking handrail for a common route to multiple flats. And the lightbulb was dead - unforgiveable when a normal LED bulb will last years. Has it got emergency lighting? What happens in an emergency when they all have to get down that uneven staircase with no handrail?
He'll be hammered under the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS).
If the Council take it up, as they should, he has 5 or 6 figures of civil penalties incoming.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
If you farm out all the work, you risk exactly this happening. Some of the shitiest properties are managed by management companies on behalf of landlords who have no idea what is being done in their names.
I think it works as plausible deniability in many cases. They know what is going on but don't want to confront the fact.
Same difference to me.
Morally the same as the old gag of a Ltd company for every ship (rust bucket death traps), loaded up with debt. Owned offshore.
So when the ship crashes on the rocks, killing the crew and spewing pollution everywhere, It Wasn’t Me.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? (Snip)
Perhaps he treats her well?
Dunno about you, but in my experience really beautiful women (and Mrs Starmer is still agreeable now, so she must have been a stunner) tend to demand more than “being treated well”. Like - being notably handsome, or very rich, or highly intelligent, or intensely funny, or properly charming, and ideally as many of those all at once (or really amazing as a lover, ofc)
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
I dunno. I thought people fell in love. I didn't realise it was a business transaction.
Yes, it is a transaction. It’s called assortative mating
You just don’t realise it’s transactional because your genes and hormones do all the paperwork, but it is the case. It is why the rich and beautiful and intelligent tend to marry people with similar qualities, and so on down
'Transactions' explains your fondness for young women of the night?
I hate to break this to you, but not all relationships are paid...
Whether you like it or not, it is always a transaction in some way
That doesn’t mean people don’t fall in love, and sometimes they even fall in love with someone totally outrageous and/or unsuitable - nonetheless for 99% of people either at the front or the back of their minds some module in their brain is crunching the numbers. How much am I worth on the marriage market
He’s rich/I’m pretty. He’s funny/I’m clever. He’s fit but boring/but I’m getting a bit desperate. And so on
A trillion little equations and then computer says Yes or No
That assumes a rather black-and-white rationality. Love - or perhaps even lust - isn't like that. It can often be utterly irrational. Why does the man or woman who has everything have an affair with someone? They don't turn off the rational side of their mind; it's irrational. But can also (apparently) feel so right.
I just asked Mrs J why she married me. Her reply: "For the pleasure of hearing you talk piffle" (*)
(*) Extra points for anyone who recognises the reference.
Another Aperol spritz advert? That’s so five minutes ago.
I was there when they were invented. Well, kinda
First saw them in Trentino in the early 1990s, in Bolzano to be precise. They were then known as Venezianos, they were an Italo-Germanic invention, with origins in the 1950s-70s, and from that Austro-Hungarian, German speaking part of Italy
My problem with flying and alcohol is that any flight at a time where I can have a beer has me driving at the other end. So yes, let's ban it. Because banning things is the Starmer thing to do apparently.
Welcome back, Leon. Good timing. The equivalent of coming back on stage for the encore just as the audience were thinking of putting their coats on and going for a drink before the last train home.
The site is missing a few interesting voices at the moment, not least Horse, 148grss and Carlotta, off the top of my head.
Leon would like you to think it's boring because he's gone, but a lot of other voices, often extremely cogent ones (even if I disagree with them) have checked out since the election.
For those unacquainted with super yachts, I am in Tivat on Kotor Bay in Montenegro (on assignment for the gazette) and 500m from Porto Montenegro, which is an insane collision of Italian mafiosi and Russian oligarchs and South American drug lords all eating £200 steaks in absurdly overpriced restaurants with their 19 year old “wives”
They come here because it’s “just” outside the EU yet it uses the euro and feels like Monte Carlo etc
Gorgeous part of the world. Been there twice. Been to Kotor and Herceg Novi. Went through Tivat on a coach trip to Lake Skardar. Never got to see the side of Tivat you are seeing. I just want to go back now.
Granddaughters Two and Three, both attractive 18 year olds are currently headed towards the Adriatic region. I look forward to their Instagram photos with a mixture of trepidation and interest. As do their parents.
Hope they have a great time
Kotor Bay, besides having beautiful women, must be one of THE most beautiful places on earth
I cannot think of anywhere on the Med that matches it, apart from Pelion in Greece (which is also spectacular)
Pelion is fantastic. The coast of Arcadia is also recommended.
I stand by my prior observation that - alongside Ukraine - the women of Montenegro are the most beautiful in the world. Rebecca West mentions the beauty of the Montenegrins in “Black Lamb, Grey Falcon”
Indeed the Montenegrins might just win because they are cheerier and smiliier. God knows why the Ukrainians are so bloody gloomy and grim faced they should get over it
There are definitely a huge number of beauties among the Ukrainian contingent. My wife thinks the Czech men are the next best of the East European crowd, and there's certainly a disproportionate number of female beauties there, too.
I haven't visited Montenegro. Aren't they very tall, like the Serbian men and women ?
They are tall. But not quite that tall
They are a sunnier version of the Croats (or indeed Ukrainians). Easily as pretty, if not more pretty, but smilier, jollier, and often with nice light tans (with their sunny climate, at least on the coast). Cheekbones and good figures, yet they don’t have that Slavic grumpiness
As ever - sigh - the young kids are showing evidence of obesity, but it’s not hitting the adults yet
And with that bravura display of generalisation, I am gonna watch Netflix and chill
I stand by my prior observation that - alongside Ukraine - the women of Montenegro are the most beautiful in the world. Rebecca West mentions the beauty of the Montenegrins in “Black Lamb, Grey Falcon”
Indeed the Montenegrins might just win because they are cheerier and smiliier. God knows why the Ukrainians are so bloody gloomy and grim faced they should get over it
There are definitely a huge number of beauties among the Ukrainian contingent. My wife thinks the Czech men are the next best of the East European crowd, and there's certainly a disproportionate number of female beauties there, too.
I haven't visited Montenegro. Aren't they very tall, like the Serbian men and women ?
Off topic: just finished this, which includes a chapter on Milosevic. But the whole book is good:
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
He's a bad, out of touch, neglectful, currently sitting on his backside landlord. His accommodation quality is poor, he is not fulfilling his responsibilities, his account is not coherent, and his management agents are shit. Making sure it is all in place is *his* responsibility.
Look at the staircase on the "common parts" photograph on the BBC. It hasn't even got a f*cking handrail for a common route to multiple flats. And the lightbulb was dead - unforgiveable when a normal LED bulb will last years. Has it got emergency lighting? What happens in an emergency when they all have to get down that uneven staircase with no handrail?
He'll be hammered under the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS).
If the Council take it up, as they should, he has 5 or 6 figures of civil penalties incoming.
In fairness "common parts" is a technical term and does not imply the luxury of a JCR. It's just a normal staircase in a block of flats available to all.
My problem with flying and alcohol is that any flight at a time where I can have a beer has me driving at the other end. So yes, let's ban it. Because banning things is the Starmer thing to do apparently.
10 hours of dehydration relieved by a bottle of wine. A warm, humid night in Miami. What could possibly go wrong?
After 20 years I still blame the rental company for "giving" me (at no extra cost) a car that was a foot wider than the one I ordered.
I know my limits. In the case of cars it's about 6 feet.
On Starmer, I have also noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm from my lefty friends. The really lefty ones actively dislike him, “fucking Tory, robbing the old, austerity all over again”, and the Blairite centrists seem…. Disappointed. It’s all shrugs and “meh” and “maybe it will get better, but I dunno”
I guess you could argue that this is good. He will benefit from low expectations, and that could be true
However, it’s also become quickly apparent that he is very easy to dislike. The thin, pursed disapproving lips. The puritanical Wokeness which he seems to actively promote. The total lack of any sense of humour at all, like a prototype robot made of 60 year old spam
Well, he's got that funny story about his parents dog at the palace, hasn't he?
OMG. Cringe
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? Maybe he’s hung like a Lippizan. I have also heard REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED
His problem at the mo is that first impressions - notoriously hard to shift - are now being formed. The first 100 days and all that. And he comes over as a joyless, witless, cyborg-like jerk, stealing money from the old to pay for asylum seekers, and putting kids in prison for memes as he lets actual murderers go free, and he’s promising “things will get worse, before they get… even worse”
If the Tories are paying attention, they will bring in a leader who can defenestrate him with humour.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
He's a bad, out of touch, neglectful, currently sitting on his backside landlord. His accommodation quality is poor, he is not fulfilling his responsibilities, his account is not coherent, and his management agents are shit. Making sure it is all in place is *his* responsibility.
Look at the staircase on the "common parts" photograph on the BBC. It hasn't even got a f*cking handrail for a common route to multiple flats. And the lightbulb was dead - unforgiveable when a normal LED bulb will last years. Has it got emergency lighting? What happens in an emergency when they all have to get down that uneven staircase with no handrail?
He'll be hammered under the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS).
If the Council take it up, as they should, he has 5 or 6 figures of civil penalties incoming.
In fairness "common parts" is a technical term and does not imply the luxury of a JCR. It's just a normal staircase in a block of flats available to all.
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a communist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
She's comparing a smoking ban to the murder of six million Jews, I mean anyone who thinks that lacks the intelligence God gave pistachio nuts.
Where's her common sense?
The Jess Philips story is MUCH more disturbing. She’s happily admitting that pro Palestinian people get preferential treatment on the NHS. And she doesn’t even seem embarrassed by it
Some comment on it earlier. Personally, I reckon he now has until Monday afternoon to fix it.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
He's a bad, out of touch, neglectful landlord. His accommodation quality is poor, he is not fulfilling his responsibilities and his management agents are shit. Making sure it is all in place is *his* responsibility.
Look at the staircase on the "common parts" photograph on the BBC. It hasn't even got a f*cking handrail. And the lightbulb was dead - unforgiveable when a normal LED bulb will last years. Has it got emergency lighting? What happens in an emergency?
He'll be hammered under the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS).
If the Council take it up, as they should, he has 5 or 6 figures of civil penalties incoming.
Sounds like a by-election is on the horizon!
I don't know. There's also a lot of finger jabbing politics here - Andrew Boff, a Tory member of the London Assembly is involved, and there's some information there which would not normally be public such as how many properties he owns. I think the Register of Interests just requires banded income disclosure for >£10k and >£100k.
But the Tories and the right wing papers will hammer at this, because they are otherwise a naked emperor. And one of these or similar every month or two will be a running sore, especially for Labour.
Mr Starmer needs to deal with these and fix it firmly before any more emerge, as Alistair Campbell would have done.
It may be he got away with stuff because he was treated softly as the Borough Council Leader.
It's doable - Jeremy Hunt has a decent sized rental portfolio, as did the late Labour far-lefter Michael Meacher (at least 9 flats). But these days being unprofessional as a public figure is a big no no.
Comments
And btw that Trump "I'm better looking than Kamala" was imo a way with deniability of saying she slept her way to where she is.
(There's nothing wrong with being a bulk landlord who farms out all the work and rakes in the dosh... But a system where that works as a lifestyle is a bad one.)
However, Ilford South Labour has been a nest of vipers for a while, hasn't it?
But more deeply, this sort of landlord is a small part of why house prices are elevated.
How the fuck did he land such a beautiful wife? Maybe he’s hung like a Lippizan. I have also heard REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED
His problem at the mo is that first impressions - notoriously hard to shift - are now being formed. The first 100 days and all that. And he comes over as a joyless, witless, cyborg-like jerk, stealing money from the old to pay for asylum seekers, and putting kids in prison for memes as he lets actual murderers go free, and he’s promising “things will get worse, before they get… even worse”
Doesn't mean Starmers authoritarianism isn't alarming though... Actually it makes it worse because it makes you wonder just what he's going to be able to get away with...
Harris has eased through two potentially dangerous moments with the Convention and the CNN interview. The debate is a moment with dangers but also great potential for her. The first debate in 2020 may well have cost Trump that election.
Check out Trump in Michigan yesterday. In 2016 he bossed the agenda with the Dems constantly reacting to him. This time he does his thing and the Dems just ignore him. He then ends up defending himself and doubling down against new media reaction and so drawing attention to errors like the Arlington debacle. Meanwhile the Dems are happily pursuing their own lines of attack.
In the end though if the Reps can hold their 2020 states and win Pennsylvania and Georgia then that is that. If they lose either state or North Carolina then it gets very difficult for them.
For Nick Palmer.
In an AV election.
It doesn't get better than that.
Starmer was quite handsome as a young man, I guess he was bright, the others are not obvious
Anyway good luck to the Starmers, I’m not here to critique his family or his marriage, I AM here to critique him as a PM and so far he’s been noticeably poor. Poorer than I expected by a distance
No 2 AV 68%
Yes 2 AV 32%
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/30/iron-lady-consigned-ironing-cupboard-keir-starmer-pledge-do-things-differently
(And on topic, yeah. Starmer doesn't inspire anyone. He will, at best, be adequate, but that is already priced in. The 2024 result was driven by the combination of uselessnesses, self-indulgence and division on the British right. That might change, but when you look at the Still Standing Six, it's fairly easy to imagine that 2028 will see a mediocre PM beating an obviously useless LotO. 2017/9 only more so.
Most likely, he steps down as PM of his own accord in 2030 to the dutiful applause given to a supply teacher whose name nobody ever bothered learning but who stopped the lower fourth destroying the chemistry lab.
After all, if Starmer is rubbish, and the Conservatives lost to him in a landslide... What does that say about them?)
You just don’t realise it’s transactional because your genes and hormones do all the paperwork, but it is the case. It is why the rich and beautiful and intelligent tend to marry people with similar qualities, and so on down
Then they came for the Diversity Officers and I didn’t do anything because I don’t want my Council Tax to pay for Diversity Officers.
Then they came for the Librarians and I didn’t do anything because I have a kindle.
Then they came for the Teachers and I didn’t do anything because my kids have left school.
Then they came for the bin men and I didn’t do anything because there was nobody left to complain to.
Then they came for my Council Tax and there wasn’t anything left to pay it for.
No one likes him. If the right sorts itself out he will be gone in 2029, ins’allah
I have known several really beautiful women (including, naturally enough, Mrs J), and none of them would have liked their most notable characteristic as being 'really beautiful'. Intelligence, kindness, empathetic, even stylish; yes. Oddly enough, most women I know like to be seen as more than 'beautiful'.
I have many happy memories of Mono meets.
I haven't been on for years, despite having literally years of on-time. I wonder if my account is still active; indeed, if Mono is still going?
It is the not-quite-beautiful or actually not at all beautiful women who REALLY want to hear they are lovely, because they are insecure. This applies across humanity in many areas
You think Cupid shoots arrows at random and there's nothing transactional about why, for instance, the princess of Wales looks ever so slightly better than her husband?
I KNOW that she would also have married me if I was a taciturn dustman of the same age, with a passion for cribbage in his local in Wick
Cleverly?
It's a different reason to the usual one, I have to admit. I nearly spat my tea out when I read it, so hard did I laugh.
I hate to break this to you, but not all relationships are paid...
Corbyn (2017) 262 seats
Corbyn (2019) 202 seats
Starmer 411 seats
After all, if Athwal wasn't a politician, this would have played out identically, and nobody would have noticed.
Don't fly with Jet2.
You're welcome
That doesn’t mean people don’t fall in love, and sometimes they even fall in love with someone totally outrageous and/or unsuitable - nonetheless for 99% of people either at the front or the back of their minds some module in their brain is crunching the numbers. How much am I worth on the marriage market
He’s rich/I’m pretty. He’s funny/I’m clever. He’s fit but boring/but I’m getting a bit desperate. And so on
A trillion little equations and then computer says Yes or No
Series 2 Just dropped.
Look at the staircase on the "common parts" photograph on the BBC. It hasn't even got a f*cking handrail for a common route to multiple flats. And the lightbulb was dead - unforgiveable when a normal LED bulb will last years. Has it got emergency lighting? What happens in an emergency when they all have to get down that uneven staircase with no handrail?
He'll be hammered under the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS).
If the Council take it up, as they should, he has 5 or 6 figures of civil penalties incoming.
600 yesterday, over 20,000 so far this year. Costing us somewhere between four and seven billion quid a year, and rising
This is why asylum and migration will destroy this government, and they haven’t got a clue what to do about it
But anyway, yes, women haters inc. That's core to the platform.
I haven't visited Montenegro. Aren't they very tall, like the Serbian men and women ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyg1j0lv1go
Morally the same as the old gag of a Ltd company for every ship (rust bucket death traps), loaded up with debt. Owned offshore.
So when the ship crashes on the rocks, killing the crew and spewing pollution everywhere, It Wasn’t Me.
Yeah, right.
I just asked Mrs J why she married me. Her reply: "For the pleasure of hearing you talk piffle" (*)
(*) Extra points for anyone who recognises the reference.
First saw them in Trentino in the early 1990s, in Bolzano to be precise. They were then known as Venezianos, they were an Italo-Germanic invention, with origins in the 1950s-70s, and from that Austro-Hungarian, German speaking part of Italy
https://www.tuscanynowandmore.com/discover-italy/wine-other-italian-drinks/aperol-spritz
secondthirdfourth coming.Leon would like you to think it's boring because he's gone, but a lot of other voices, often extremely cogent ones (even if I disagree with them) have checked out since the election.
They are a sunnier version of the Croats (or indeed Ukrainians). Easily as pretty, if not more pretty, but smilier, jollier, and often with nice light tans (with their sunny climate, at least on the coast). Cheekbones and good figures, yet they don’t have that Slavic grumpiness
As ever - sigh - the young kids are showing evidence of obesity, but it’s not hitting the adults yet
And with that bravura display of generalisation, I am gonna watch Netflix and chill
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Talk-Devil-Riccardo-Orizio/dp/0436209993/
His previous book, "Lost white tribes" also excellent.
Fascinating chap: formerly journalist, now runs a safari operation in Africa. No books since 2002 though.
After 20 years I still blame the rental company for "giving" me (at no extra cost) a car that was a foot wider than the one I ordered.
I know my limits. In the case of cars it's about 6 feet.
But the Tories and the right wing papers will hammer at this, because they are otherwise a naked emperor. And one of these or similar every month or two will be a running sore, especially for Labour.
Mr Starmer needs to deal with these and fix it firmly before any more emerge, as Alistair Campbell would have done.
It may be he got away with stuff because he was treated softly as the Borough Council Leader.
It's doable - Jeremy Hunt has a decent sized rental portfolio, as did the late Labour far-lefter Michael Meacher (at least 9 flats). But these days being unprofessional as a public figure is a big no no.