How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
They seem to have infiltrated the supply chain of Hezbollah, if the suppositions are correct. Which is pretty genius, supply Hezbollah 'enhanced' pagers and let Hezbollah distribute them for you.
How many non-terrorists still use pagers in this day and age? Do civilian owners of pagers still even exist?
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Was he? Didn't know that.
The dreaded two words "Tony Parsons" have come to mind.
Delingpole is another example of a public figure going down the self radicalising spiral/plug hole.
Yes. Seems amiable and far from thick yet the output is stupid and nasty. So whatever is causing that has questions to answer.
Social media, these days.
It was a noted phenomenon in Northern Ireland, before SM. Someone would start drinking in a pub. End up drinking with some er… enthusiastic people. Who would, in turn introduce them to another pub, down the road. And so on…. The end would be drinking with the actual Men of Violence.
I dunno, it's really not easy. I believe that Mountbatten abused boys at Kincora (as in I would stake serious money at evens, if I knew there was conclusive evidence one way or the other and if considerations of good taste didn't preclude having a bet). Is the Morning Cloud murder theory utterly unthinkable, in comparison? It would certainly be no bet either way for me.
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
They are special supposed secure pagers only given to Hezbollah operatives.
Which is quite plausible, given that regular people don't use pagers any more.
Okay, looking at MSM videos of these exploding pagers, they were small bombs not battery fires.
Wow, that’s a proper well done to Mossad, not that they’ll be admitting anything anytime soon.
Au contraire, I imagine Mossad will be super keen to own this one. Because
1. It is genuinely brilliant and daring and forensic - the opposite of the Gaza horrorshow. This is the old Israel we admire. The Israel of Entebbe and Stuxnet
And
2. It will terrify the shit out of everyone in Tehran and Hamas and Hezbollah. They now cannot trust any electronic equipment
Yes it is extremely clever and will no doubt have taken out a number of Hezbollah operatives. But it also involves having a large number of bombs going off in a totally random way resulting in thousands of civilian casualties.
For all the cleverness the criminal indifference to collateral damage and casualties seems all too analogous to Gaza.
Israel is a country that has lost its soul.
Sorry David but I completely disagree. Pagers are devices people carry on them by and large, if Hezbollah operatives pagers are blowing up then that is incredibly precisely targeted explosions that are affecting the person carrying the device, ie the operative.
Infinitely smarter and better than lobbing missiles at the buildings with operatives in, which will inevitably carry more collateral damage.
Quite so
If only Israel had done something like this in gaza against Hamas
Anyway. It is absurd to condemn Israel for indiscriminate bombing in Gaza but then also condemn her for ultra-discriminate bombing of Hezbollah fighters, individual by individual
What is Israel meant to do? Ask the UN to come in and peacefully arrest Hezbollah members and then hold them in maybe the Savoy Hotel with full bed and board?
1200 Israelis were killed October 7-8, many more kidnapped and tortured. Hezbollah have been loudly declaring their intent to do similar ASAP
Slightly unusual for you to use "her" for a country. What's the brain chemistry there?
This linguistic form is a little archaic/poetic now, but used to be rather more common. And Leon is not averse to a bit of florid prose.
Well I hope Iran doesn't go off the deep end in response. She can be unpredictable.
Especially at certain اوقات الشهر
How on earth have you typed that last bit.
Copy and paste from Google translate
But I in theory know some classical Arabic and I am due to be travelling in Algeria and then Pakistan between now and Christmas and I don't mind not knowing the lingo, but I do object to being illiterate to the extent of not being able to read Algiers or Islamabad on a roadsign. So I am brushing up on the alphabet and I could, with difficulty, manage it with an Arabic keyboard.
In which it is revealed that @kinabalu doesn’t know about “Google Translate”
Only sussed "Maps" quite recently. I'm 64 and in managed decline.
Emphasis on "managed" there if that's not too boastful.
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
They seem to have infiltrated the supply chain of Hezbollah, if the suppositions are correct. Which is pretty genius, supply Hezbollah 'enhanced' pagers and let Hezbollah distribute them for you.
How many non-terrorists still use pagers in this day and age? Do civilian owners of pagers still even exist?
Hospital workers do. Therein lies the risk.
Zero reports of medical staff being hurt or killed so far. That doesn’t mean there won’t be. But none to date
Lebanese officials are admitting these pagers were specifically owned by Hezbollah fighters
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
At this point not enough information to be sure.
But sources inside Lebanon have been describing them as “Hezbollah pagers”. Which strongly suggests some kind of targeting.
There is also some evidence that all the pagers are the same specific brand & model.
From the later point, it is not much of a reach to wonder if Hezbollah did a bulk buy and handed them out. Which in turn suggests that the bulk buy was spotted and subverted.
Not the least interesting aspect is the identification of the victims. Most will be H soldiers,for sure, but it is likely that one or two of them will be ....erm....a little surprisng.
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Was he? Didn't know that.
The dreaded two words "Tony Parsons" have come to mind.
Delingpole is another example of a public figure going down the self radicalising spiral/plug hole.
Yes. Seems amiable and far from thick yet the output is stupid and nasty. So whatever is causing that has questions to answer.
Social media, these days.
It was a noted phenomenon in Northern Ireland, before SM. Someone would start drinking in a pub. End up drinking with some er… enthusiastic people. Who would, in turn introduce them to another pub, down the road. And so on…. The end would be drinking with the actual Men of Violence.
Well I'd rather Delingpole did substack than that. So perhaps we're moving forwards after all.
Okay, looking at MSM videos of these exploding pagers, they were small bombs not battery fires.
Wow, that’s a proper well done to Mossad, not that they’ll be admitting anything anytime soon.
Au contraire, I imagine Mossad will be super keen to own this one. Because
1. It is genuinely brilliant and daring and forensic - the opposite of the Gaza horrorshow. This is the old Israel we admire. The Israel of Entebbe and Stuxnet
And
2. It will terrify the shit out of everyone in Tehran and Hamas and Hezbollah. They now cannot trust any electronic equipment
Yes it is extremely clever and will no doubt have taken out a number of Hezbollah operatives. But it also involves having a large number of bombs going off in a totally random way resulting in thousands of civilian casualties.
For all the cleverness the criminal indifference to collateral damage and casualties seems all too analogous to Gaza.
Israel is a country that has lost its soul.
Sorry David but I completely disagree. Pagers are devices people carry on them by and large, if Hezbollah operatives pagers are blowing up then that is incredibly precisely targeted explosions that are affecting the person carrying the device, ie the operative.
Infinitely smarter and better than lobbing missiles at the buildings with operatives in, which will inevitably carry more collateral damage.
Quite so
If only Israel had done something like this in gaza against Hamas
Anyway. It is absurd to condemn Israel for indiscriminate bombing in Gaza but then also condemn her for ultra-discriminate bombing of Hezbollah fighters, individual by individual
What is Israel meant to do? Ask the UN to come in and peacefully arrest Hezbollah members and then hold them in maybe the Savoy Hotel with full bed and board?
1200 Israelis were killed October 7-8, many more kidnapped and tortured. Hezbollah have been loudly declaring their intent to do similar ASAP
Slightly unusual for you to use "her" for a country. What's the brain chemistry there?
This linguistic form is a little archaic/poetic now, but used to be rather more common. And Leon is not averse to a bit of florid prose.
Well I hope Iran doesn't go off the deep end in response. She can be unpredictable.
Especially at certain اوقات الشهر
How on earth have you typed that last bit.
Copy and paste from Google translate
But I in theory know some classical Arabic and I am due to be travelling in Algeria and then Pakistan between now and Christmas and I don't mind not knowing the lingo, but I do object to being illiterate to the extent of not being able to read Algiers or Islamabad on a roadsign. So I am brushing up on the alphabet and I could, with difficulty, manage it with an Arabic keyboard.
In which it is revealed that @kinabalu doesn’t know about “Google Translate”
Only sussed "Maps" quite recently. I'm 64 and in managed decline.
Emphasis on "managed" there if that's not too boastful.
I’m not far behind you. I can feel the bones creaking
But, I can seriously recommend travel for keeping the mind alert. This isn’t a “you only go to Bruges” wind up. Its honest advice from another ageing gent
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
At this point not enough information to be sure.
But sources inside Lebanon have been describing them as “Hezbollah pagers”. Which strongly suggests some kind of targeting.
There is also some evidence that all the pagers are the same specific brand & model.
From the later point, it is not much of a reach to wonder if Hezbollah did a bulk buy and handed them out. Which in turn suggests that the bulk buy was spotted and subverted.
Not the least interesting aspect is the identification of the victims. Most will be H soldiers,for sure, but it is likely that one or two of them will be ....erm....a little surprisng.
Anyone surprised at the revelation that the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon is a Hizbollah operative really knows nothing about the Middle East.
It would have been very surprising indeed if he *wasn't*.
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Was he? Didn't know that.
The dreaded two words "Tony Parsons" have come to mind.
Delingpole is another example of a public figure going down the self radicalising spiral/plug hole.
Yes. Seems amiable and far from thick yet the output is stupid and nasty. So whatever is causing that has questions to answer.
This is probably the cut-out-and-keep Delingpole proclamation:
If he [Boris] puts people like Jacob Rees Mogg, Liz Truss, Priti Patel, Steve Baker, and other small government, free market ideologues in charge of things then we can look forward to a golden era of prosperity and liberty.
Perhaps all that happened thereafter seriously messed with his head.
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
They are special supposed secure pagers only given to Hezbollah operatives.
Which is quite plausible, given that regular people don't use pagers any more.
It's a real oddity of Die Hard 2 (1990) that Holly is on a commercial flight from which passengers can make phone calls but she has to ring her husband's pager and he then rings her back from a payphone. A setup which was science fiction in my youth, and is paleology now.
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
They are special supposed secure pagers only given to Hezbollah operatives.
Which is quite plausible, given that regular people don't use pagers any more.
The Gaza Strip is currently rubble leavened by explosions. The behaviour pattern of "regular people" probably does not apply.
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
They seem to have infiltrated the supply chain of Hezbollah, if the suppositions are correct. Which is pretty genius, supply Hezbollah 'enhanced' pagers and let Hezbollah distribute them for you.
How many non-terrorists still use pagers in this day and age? Do civilian owners of pagers still even exist?
Hospital workers do. Therein lies the risk.
Zero reports of medical staff being hurt or killed so far. That doesn’t mean there won’t be. But none to date
Lebanese officials are admitting these pagers were specifically owned by Hezbollah fighters
It does look like a bullseye
Yes, I'm not suggesting any have ended up in hospitals. But that will have been the biggest issue for Mossad (?) to resolve before going ahead with it.
(Over 100,000 still in use in the NHS. My partner has one...)
Our son was guest snowboarder there when he was a professional and his MIL has a holiday home there
It’s a pleasant little skiing town with some nice restaurants. I’m not over excited by it. There are loads of young Brits and Aussies here - met some last night
The surrounding landscapes are, however, magnificent
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
They are special supposed secure pagers only given to Hezbollah operatives.
Which is quite plausible, given that regular people don't use pagers any more.
Not just that, the whole reason they went to them was because Israel was spying on their cellphones. People carrying these secure pagers aren't random members of the public.
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Was he? Didn't know that.
The dreaded two words "Tony Parsons" have come to mind.
Delingpole is another example of a public figure going down the self radicalising spiral/plug hole.
Yes. Seems amiable and far from thick yet the output is stupid and nasty. So whatever is causing that has questions to answer.
Social media, these days.
It was a noted phenomenon in Northern Ireland, before SM. Someone would start drinking in a pub. End up drinking with some er… enthusiastic people. Who would, in turn introduce them to another pub, down the road. And so on…. The end would be drinking with the actual Men of Violence.
Well I'd rather Delingpole did substack than that. So perhaps we're moving forwards after all.
Substack isn’t the problem - Twatter, Telegram , Farcebook etc are the gateways to the radicalisation. It is *decades* since Farcebook noticed that its algorithms pushed “similar but more extreme” content to users. Automating the radicalisation.
Substack is just about publishing stuff yourself and getting paid.
Our son was guest snowboarder there when he was a professional and his MIL has a holiday home there
It’s a pleasant little skiing town with some nice restaurants. I’m not over excited by it. There are loads of young Brits and Aussies here - met some last night
The surrounding landscapes are, however, magnificent
Always find Whistler slightly overrated if you aren't a big skier / mountain biker. BC is full of beautiful scenery so lots of places to go without having to remortgage your house for a meal.
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Was he? Didn't know that.
The dreaded two words "Tony Parsons" have come to mind.
Delingpole is another example of a public figure going down the self radicalising spiral/plug hole.
Yes. Seems amiable and far from thick yet the output is stupid and nasty. So whatever is causing that has questions to answer.
Social media, these days.
It was a noted phenomenon in Northern Ireland, before SM. Someone would start drinking in a pub. End up drinking with some er… enthusiastic people. Who would, in turn introduce them to another pub, down the road. And so on…. The end would be drinking with the actual Men of Violence.
Well I'd rather Delingpole did substack than that. So perhaps we're moving forwards after all.
Substack isn’t the problem - Twatter, Telegram , Farcebook etc are the gateways to the radicalisation. It is *decades* since Farcebook noticed that its algorithms pushed “similar but more extreme” content to users. Automating the radicalisation.
Substack is just about publishing stuff yourself and getting paid.
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Was he? Didn't know that.
The dreaded two words "Tony Parsons" have come to mind.
Delingpole is another example of a public figure going down the self radicalising spiral/plug hole.
Yes. Seems amiable and far from thick yet the output is stupid and nasty. So whatever is causing that has questions to answer.
Social media, these days.
It was a noted phenomenon in Northern Ireland, before SM. Someone would start drinking in a pub. End up drinking with some er… enthusiastic people. Who would, in turn introduce them to another pub, down the road. And so on…. The end would be drinking with the actual Men of Violence.
Well I'd rather Delingpole did substack than that. So perhaps we're moving forwards after all.
Substack isn’t the problem - Twatter, Telegram , Farcebook etc are the gateways to the radicalisation. It is *decades* since Farcebook noticed that its algorithms pushed “similar but more extreme” content to users. Automating the radicalisation.
Substack is just about publishing stuff yourself and getting paid.
If you run a self publishing platform and don’t actively police it, you get lots of extremists. Substack don’t actively police it (much) and get the extremists.
If the Israelis were able to heat up the battery to set off the explosive in the pager, what else were they able to get the software to do? Read all the messages?
The Dosh for Frocks scandal is bewilderingly crass
What made them think: Oh, this will be fine, yes we attacked Boris for wallpaper but who cares
Basically they wanted to cream the system from Day 1. They were just waiting for THEIR turn to be venal greedy fucks
I think it’s more that they truly believe their own piety. They see themselves as pure and good, unlike the evil Tories so as they are pure and good anything they do is not bad.
We are getting bought clothes for good reasons because we don’t do bad things, Boris was getting wallpaper because he was an awful person so that’s a bad thing.
Today on the news Labour ministers are apparently calling for Simon Case to move forward his resignation because of leaks from number ten. Bad leaks against good Labour. They didn’t however call for him to resign over leaks when the Tories were in number ten - good leaks. And so on.
That's it exactly. "But we're the good guys."
It is like the approach to social unrest and disorder. It is ok - if it is in pursuit of 'progress'.
But the 'cause' is relevant surely?
Eg I'd be less condemnatory (word?) of rioting against female oppression in Iran than against a ban on outdoor smoking.
(silly example but just to illustrate)
A lot of social change has historically been achieved through unrest and disorder, which makes the left sympathetic to it. But in an advanced democracy where there is free speech, it shouldn't be tolerated.
How did the Israelis know which pagers were owned by Hezbollah? Did they detonate specific ones or just all in a given area? If the latter, were civilian owners of pagers affected?
They seem to have infiltrated the supply chain of Hezbollah, if the suppositions are correct. Which is pretty genius, supply Hezbollah 'enhanced' pagers and let Hezbollah distribute them for you.
How many non-terrorists still use pagers in this day and age? Do civilian owners of pagers still even exist?
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Was he? Didn't know that.
The dreaded two words "Tony Parsons" have come to mind.
Yes - in the dead period of the late 90s, when Craig Cash was no longer broadcasting on Stockport local radio and Radio 6 had yet to get started, and due to the not-desperately-welcome onset of adulthood I was no longer living with - or even spending much time with - people with the same taste in music, and when the internet was still too young to be any help, and indie music was, frankly, dying on its arse, James Delingpole's ramblings were both valuable and entertaining, amd introduced me to numerous obscure but cherishable bands that went nowhere. Dawn of the Replicants, for example.
If the Israelis were able to heat up the battery to set off the explosive in the pager, what else were they able to get the software to do? Read all the messages?
I wouldn't seem crazy to think they haven't repeated the FBI Anom playbook, where they inserted god mode into the secure messaging system. The question then would be why blow them up now, rather than keep using your god mode to see everything that is going on.
Omg the whistler peak-to-peak gondola is really quite something. Fffffuck
I assume this is a euphemism, I'm just not sure what for.
It’s a genuinely stupendous cable-car system that swings and whoops and tarzans its way through the Whistler mountains, like some kind of giant elongated lemur of steel with no legs ok that doesn’t work. Hard to describe. Brilliant. Bit scary
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I was just amazed at how much more mad he is capable of being when outwith the control of an editor.
The Heath story is a fairly persistent one. There was an interview with someone who had once been in intelligence outright alleging it on Youtube for many years, though I'm not sure it will be there any more and I can't remember the chap's name.
I hear you but I vehemently disagree. I'm Lammy Till I Die. Just as sure as Henry VIII was succeeded by Henry VII.
Errrr...
I'm sure that in the parallel universe that is post election politicalbetting.com , "just as Henry VIII was succeeded by Henry VII" makes perfect sense.
The Dosh for Frocks scandal is bewilderingly crass
What made them think: Oh, this will be fine, yes we attacked Boris for wallpaper but who cares
Basically they wanted to cream the system from Day 1. They were just waiting for THEIR turn to be venal greedy fucks
I think it’s more that they truly believe their own piety. They see themselves as pure and good, unlike the evil Tories so as they are pure and good anything they do is not bad.
We are getting bought clothes for good reasons because we don’t do bad things, Boris was getting wallpaper because he was an awful person so that’s a bad thing.
Today on the news Labour ministers are apparently calling for Simon Case to move forward his resignation because of leaks from number ten. Bad leaks against good Labour. They didn’t however call for him to resign over leaks when the Tories were in number ten - good leaks. And so on.
That's it exactly. "But we're the good guys."
It is like the approach to social unrest and disorder. It is ok - if it is in pursuit of 'progress'.
But the 'cause' is relevant surely?
Eg I'd be less condemnatory (word?) of rioting against female oppression in Iran than against a ban on outdoor smoking.
(silly example but just to illustrate)
A lot of social change has historically been achieved through unrest and disorder, which makes the left sympathetic to it. But in an advanced democracy where there is free speech, it shouldn't be tolerated.
Absolutely. If we don't condemn the riots whose causes we support, we enable the riots we disagree with. A democracy in which we can effect change in a non-violent manner is a wonder of history, imperfect though it is. We treat it too carelessly when we shrug at riots because we agree with their cause.
Omg the whistler peak-to-peak gondola is really quite something. Fffffuck
I assume this is a euphemism, I'm just not sure what for.
It’s a genuinely stupendous cable-car system that swings and whoops and tarzans its way through the Whistler mountains, like some kind of giant elongated lemur of steel with no legs ok that doesn’t work. Hard to describe. Brilliant. Bit scary
Ah. I was thinking of Whistler the painter, which gave it a certain Freudian tint. Had no idea there were Whistler mountains.
Had a quick google image search. Looks equal parts terrifying and fun.
I hear you but I vehemently disagree. I'm Lammy Till I Die. Just as sure as Henry VIII was succeeded by Henry VII.
Errrr...
I'm sure that in the parallel universe that is post election politicalbetting.com , "just as Henry VIII was succeeded by Henry VII" makes perfect sense.
Mercator is referring to a mistake made by Lammy. It was Lammy who got the succession wrong.
I hear you but I vehemently disagree. I'm Lammy Till I Die. Just as sure as Henry VIII was succeeded by Henry VII.
Errrr...
I'm sure that in the parallel universe that is post election politicalbetting.com , "just as Henry VIII was succeeded by Henry VII" makes perfect sense.
Dearie me. Not going to do your research for you but google Lammy Mastermind. And then have a think about the fact that if you voted Labour, that's what you were voting for, plus some top of the range camisoles for Lady S. You must be very proud.
Omg the whistler peak-to-peak gondola is really quite something. Fffffuck
I assume this is a euphemism, I'm just not sure what for.
It’s a genuinely stupendous cable-car system that swings and whoops and tarzans its way through the Whistler mountains, like some kind of giant elongated lemur of steel with no legs ok that doesn’t work. Hard to describe. Brilliant. Bit scary
Good effort, mind. Perhaps 'gibbon' might work better? For the brachiation, but also for the fun of the word 'gibbon'.
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Yeah, I used to follow him with interest in late teens, bought a few albums on the strength of his reccommendations and was rarely disappointed.
I remember having a bit of a shock a few years later when the Beeb wheeled him out as their 'balance' climate change sceptic. He's only gone further down the rabbit hole since then.
In the cardfile of Tory leadership candidates in my mind, he's very much in the lower-middle part of the deck, rubbing inauspicious shoulders with the likes of Peter Lilley and Andrea Leadsom. Possibly slightly ahead of Rehman Chishti, but it's a close call.
I suppose he has managed to hold on to a seat that was lost in 1997.
Omg the whistler peak-to-peak gondola is really quite something. Fffffuck
I assume this is a euphemism, I'm just not sure what for.
It’s a genuinely stupendous cable-car system that swings and whoops and tarzans its way through the Whistler mountains, like some kind of giant elongated lemur of steel with no legs ok that doesn’t work. Hard to describe. Brilliant. Bit scary
Good effort, mind. Perhaps 'gibbon' might work better? For the brachiation, but also for the fun of the word 'gibbon'.
In the cardfile of Tory leadership candidates in my mind, he's very much in the lower-middle part of the deck, rubbing inauspicious shoulders with the likes of Peter Lilley and Andrea Leadsom. Possibly slightly ahead of Rehman Chishti, but it's a close call.
I suppose he has managed to hold on to a seat that was lost in 1997.
It is madness. I cannot fathom what they think he will achieve or bring to the table as Opposition leader and rebuilder of a shattered party.
The fact that he is no 1 on BF shows how far they still have to travel.
He will be gone within three years.
But maybe it wont happen and enough of MPs will block him going to the final two against anyone other than Badernoch.
Absolutely astonishing moonrise over the Pennines tonight. Heading west on the A555 into a pinkening sky, chatting to my daughter, I caught it in the rear view and uttered an involuntary "Whoah..." "What is it? Are you ok?" "You have to see this..." I came off at the next junction, turned around, and headed east - rounded a bend , and there it was, inching up over Kinder, implausibly bright and huge. Just huge. "Wow. Thanks for showing me that."
She gamely tried to photograph it, but photographing the moon without a special lens never worksvery well. So I'm recording it here.
Given all the amount of travel Flint Knappers Monthly get you on I am surprised you haven't done Whistler before.
Yes, so am I. Given how impressive BC has turned out to be
But I’m slowly filling in the blanks
Still gotta do: Central America, central/west Africa. Central Asia (the stans). Polynesia
Then that will be it. The world. Done
I'm just back from the jungles of Panama looking for sloths. Let me know if you want any recommendations on Panama City or Bocas Del Toro.
I used to go to Panama regularly 15-20 years ago, it was a mad mad place back then e.g. The Bridge of the Americas every evening would get backed up with traffic, kids would walk the traffic selling everything from cold beers to fireworks out of garbage bags.....would could possibly go wrong being 5 beers deep in control of a motor vehicle and a load of unboxed fireworks on your back seat.
Omg the whistler peak-to-peak gondola is really quite something. Fffffuck
I assume this is a euphemism, I'm just not sure what for.
It’s a genuinely stupendous cable-car system that swings and whoops and tarzans its way through the Whistler mountains, like some kind of giant elongated lemur of steel with no legs ok that doesn’t work. Hard to describe. Brilliant. Bit scary
Good effort, mind. Perhaps 'gibbon' might work better? For the brachiation, but also for the fun of the word 'gibbon'.
Absolutely astonishing moonrise over the Pennines tonight. Heading west on the A555 into a pinkening sky, chatting to my daughter, I caught it in the rear view and uttered an involuntary "Whoah..." "What is it? Are you ok?" "You have to see this..." I came off at the next junction, turned around, and headed east - rounded a bend , and there it was, inching up over Kinder, implausibly bright and huge. Just huge. "Wow. Thanks for showing me that."
She gamely tried to photograph it, but photographing the moon without a special lens never worksvery well. So I'm recording it here.
I saw a very good moonrise last night too, over the N York moors. Also got a nice pic of vapocumulus from the train: a proper cloud created by the cooling towers of Drax power station, in an otherwise clear sky
I’m going to continue to call them Whorey Marmots anyway, coz it’s funnier. Also this is a whole new mammal species. I still get a major buzz out of seeing a new mammal for the first time
In the cardfile of Tory leadership candidates in my mind, he's very much in the lower-middle part of the deck, rubbing inauspicious shoulders with the likes of Peter Lilley and Andrea Leadsom. Possibly slightly ahead of Rehman Chishti, but it's a close call.
I suppose he has managed to hold on to a seat that was lost in 1997.
Bear in mind that the top half of the deck has been removed and thrown away by Brexit, Johnson and Truss.
Okay, looking at MSM videos of these exploding pagers, they were small bombs not battery fires.
Wow, that’s a proper well done to Mossad, not that they’ll be admitting anything anytime soon.
Au contraire, I imagine Mossad will be super keen to own this one. Because
1. It is genuinely brilliant and daring and forensic - the opposite of the Gaza horrorshow. This is the old Israel we admire. The Israel of Entebbe and Stuxnet
And
2. It will terrify the shit out of everyone in Tehran and Hamas and Hezbollah. They now cannot trust any electronic equipment
Yes it is extremely clever and will no doubt have taken out a number of Hezbollah operatives. But it also involves having a large number of bombs going off in a totally random way resulting in thousands of civilian casualties.
For all the cleverness the criminal indifference to collateral damage and casualties seems all too analogous to Gaza.
Israel is a country that has lost its soul.
Sorry David but I completely disagree. Pagers are devices people carry on them by and large, if Hezbollah operatives pagers are blowing up then that is incredibly precisely targeted explosions that are affecting the person carrying the device, ie the operative.
Infinitely smarter and better than lobbing missiles at the buildings with operatives in, which will inevitably carry more collateral damage.
Quite so
If only Israel had done something like this in gaza against Hamas
Anyway. It is absurd to condemn Israel for indiscriminate bombing in Gaza but then also condemn her for ultra-discriminate bombing of Hezbollah fighters, individual by individual
What is Israel meant to do? Ask the UN to come in and peacefully arrest Hezbollah members and then hold them in maybe the Savoy Hotel with full bed and board?
1200 Israelis were killed October 7-8, many more kidnapped and tortured. Hezbollah have been loudly declaring their intent to do similar ASAP
Slightly unusual for you to use "her" for a country. What's the brain chemistry there?
This linguistic form is a little archaic/poetic now, but used to be rather more common. And Leon is not averse to a bit of florid prose.
Well I hope Iran doesn't go off the deep end in response. She can be unpredictable.
Especially at certain اوقات الشهر
How on earth have you typed that last bit.
Copy and paste from Google translate
But I in theory know some classical Arabic and I am due to be travelling in Algeria and then Pakistan between now and Christmas and I don't mind not knowing the lingo, but I do object to being illiterate to the extent of not being able to read Algiers or Islamabad on a roadsign. So I am brushing up on the alphabet and I could, with difficulty, manage it with an Arabic keyboard.
In which it is revealed that @kinabalu doesn’t know about “Google Translate”
Only sussed "Maps" quite recently. I'm 64 and in managed decline.
Emphasis on "managed" there if that's not too boastful.
I’m not far behind you. I can feel the bones creaking
But, I can seriously recommend travel for keeping the mind alert. This isn’t a “you only go to Bruges” wind up. Its honest advice from another ageing gent
My mind's ok, thank you very much.
Travel? Not so easy now, with the cat, but Tenerife again in Jan is a possible. Let's see.
Absolutely astonishing moonrise over the Pennines tonight. Heading west on the A555 into a pinkening sky, chatting to my daughter, I caught it in the rear view and uttered an involuntary "Whoah..." "What is it? Are you ok?" "You have to see this..." I came off at the next junction, turned around, and headed east - rounded a bend , and there it was, inching up over Kinder, implausibly bright and huge. Just huge. "Wow. Thanks for showing me that."
She gamely tried to photograph it, but photographing the moon without a special lens never worksvery well. So I'm recording it here.
You ain't seen nothing yet. There's going to be a partial eclipse in the wee small hours.
I think the final two will be Jenrick and Tugendhat with Badenoch third. That could then be closer than expected with the membership though Jenrick would still probably win
In the cardfile of Tory leadership candidates in my mind, he's very much in the lower-middle part of the deck, rubbing inauspicious shoulders with the likes of Peter Lilley and Andrea Leadsom. Possibly slightly ahead of Rehman Chishti, but it's a close call.
I suppose he has managed to hold on to a seat that was lost in 1997.
I think you slightly underrate Lilley there. If he was available and 20 years younger, they could do worse. But other than that, yes exactly.
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Was he? Didn't know that.
The dreaded two words "Tony Parsons" have come to mind.
Yes - in the dead period of the late 90s, when Craig Cash was no longer broadcasting on Stockport local radio and Radio 6 had yet to get started, and due to the not-desperately-welcome onset of adulthood I was no longer living with - or even spending much time with - people with the same taste in music, and when the internet was still too young to be any help, and indie music was, frankly, dying on its arse, James Delingpole's ramblings were both valuable and entertaining, amd introduced me to numerous obscure but cherishable bands that went nowhere. Dawn of the Replicants, for example.
Ooh, Craig Cash on KFM. Yes, I was there for that for a period early doors in the baggy era. My first ever hearing of Creep (sorry) and improbable amounts of World of Twist and a few other bands whose names I long forget.
And trying to chat up some fellow studenty lass in my summer factory job by feigning a greater shared appreciation of The Man From Delmonte than I actually had. TBF, any level of appreciation impressed her.
THE WHOREY MARMOTS were once known as THE WHISTLE PIGS
That’s TWO excellent names for a band in just one large squirreline montane-dwelling Canadian rodent
“It is the largest North American ground squirrel and is often nicknamed "the whistler" for its high-pitched warning issued to alert other members of the colony to possible danger. The animals are sometimes called "whistle pigs". Whistler, British Columbia, originally London Mountain because of its heavy fogs and rain, was renamed after these animals to help make it more marketable as a resort.[3] The closest relatives of the species are the yellow-bellied, Olympic, and Vancouver Island marmots, although the exact relationships are unclear.[4][5]”
Okay, looking at MSM videos of these exploding pagers, they were small bombs not battery fires.
Wow, that’s a proper well done to Mossad, not that they’ll be admitting anything anytime soon.
Au contraire, I imagine Mossad will be super keen to own this one. Because
1. It is genuinely brilliant and daring and forensic - the opposite of the Gaza horrorshow. This is the old Israel we admire. The Israel of Entebbe and Stuxnet
And
2. It will terrify the shit out of everyone in Tehran and Hamas and Hezbollah. They now cannot trust any electronic equipment
Yes it is extremely clever and will no doubt have taken out a number of Hezbollah operatives. But it also involves having a large number of bombs going off in a totally random way resulting in thousands of civilian casualties.
For all the cleverness the criminal indifference to collateral damage and casualties seems all too analogous to Gaza.
Israel is a country that has lost its soul.
Sorry David but I completely disagree. Pagers are devices people carry on them by and large, if Hezbollah operatives pagers are blowing up then that is incredibly precisely targeted explosions that are affecting the person carrying the device, ie the operative.
Infinitely smarter and better than lobbing missiles at the buildings with operatives in, which will inevitably carry more collateral damage.
Quite so
If only Israel had done something like this in gaza against Hamas
Anyway. It is absurd to condemn Israel for indiscriminate bombing in Gaza but then also condemn her for ultra-discriminate bombing of Hezbollah fighters, individual by individual
What is Israel meant to do? Ask the UN to come in and peacefully arrest Hezbollah members and then hold them in maybe the Savoy Hotel with full bed and board?
1200 Israelis were killed October 7-8, many more kidnapped and tortured. Hezbollah have been loudly declaring their intent to do similar ASAP
Slightly unusual for you to use "her" for a country. What's the brain chemistry there?
This linguistic form is a little archaic/poetic now, but used to be rather more common. And Leon is not averse to a bit of florid prose.
Well I hope Iran doesn't go off the deep end in response. She can be unpredictable.
Especially at certain اوقات الشهر
How on earth have you typed that last bit.
Copy and paste from Google translate
But I in theory know some classical Arabic and I am due to be travelling in Algeria and then Pakistan between now and Christmas and I don't mind not knowing the lingo, but I do object to being illiterate to the extent of not being able to read Algiers or Islamabad on a roadsign. So I am brushing up on the alphabet and I could, with difficulty, manage it with an Arabic keyboard.
In which it is revealed that @kinabalu doesn’t know about “Google Translate”
Only sussed "Maps" quite recently. I'm 64 and in managed decline.
Emphasis on "managed" there if that's not too boastful.
I’m not far behind you. I can feel the bones creaking
But, I can seriously recommend travel for keeping the mind alert. This isn’t a “you only go to Bruges” wind up. Its honest advice from another ageing gent
My mind's ok, thank you very much.
Travel? Not so easy now, with the cat, but Tenerife again in Jan is a possible. Let's see.
Got a couple of friends coming over from Port au Prince later this month. Can sort cat problem. DM me
That would imply a “supply chain attack” in which the perpetrators – and although they are not commenting, that almost certainly means the Israeli security services – had physical access to the devices to embed the explosive.
The impacted devices appeared to have included “rugged” pagers developed by the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, according to reporters at Bellingcat.
Security sources told Reuters that the devices had been procured in recent months.
Intriguingly, the attack came hours after Israel’s domestic security agency said that it had foiled a similar – though much smaller-scale – plot by Hezbollah.
Shin Bet said in a statement it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera that Hezbollah had planned to use to kill a former Israeli military official in Tel Aviv.
In the cardfile of Tory leadership candidates in my mind, he's very much in the lower-middle part of the deck, rubbing inauspicious shoulders with the likes of Peter Lilley and Andrea Leadsom. Possibly slightly ahead of Rehman Chishti, but it's a close call.
I suppose he has managed to hold on to a seat that was lost in 1997.
It is madness. I cannot fathom what they think he will achieve or bring to the table as Opposition leader and rebuilder of a shattered party.
The fact that he is no 1 on BF shows how far they still have to travel.
He will be gone within three years.
But maybe it wont happen and enough of MPs will block him going to the final two against anyone other than Badernoch.
Starmer is already leading an unpopular government, this is not New Labour 1997 so even Jenrick will have more chance than Hague did against Blair.
Though my personal preference is Tugendhat who looks most like a PM of the final four and can appeal most to Tory voters lost to Labour and the LDs
Absolutely astonishing moonrise over the Pennines tonight. Heading west on the A555 into a pinkening sky, chatting to my daughter, I caught it in the rear view and uttered an involuntary "Whoah..." "What is it? Are you ok?" "You have to see this..." I came off at the next junction, turned around, and headed east - rounded a bend , and there it was, inching up over Kinder, implausibly bright and huge. Just huge. "Wow. Thanks for showing me that."
She gamely tried to photograph it, but photographing the moon without a special lens never worksvery well. So I'm recording it here.
I had a similar experience last night. Was driving to a local Starbucks and as I pulled into the car park got an incredible view of the moon which was huge and I let out an involuntary noise like that which made my wife ask what it was, so we walked around the building to get a good view and when she saw it she was very impressed too.
Then we went inside, ordered our coffees and as we finished the cashier glancing out the window said to look at the moon too which is not what you expect to hear when you're ordering a coffee lol!
Also Leon, have you been to Victoria Falls? If not I have a recommendation for there plus an awesome safari the other side of the Kariba Dam.
Mate, have I been to the victoria falls? Yeah. I’ve been to the victoria falls. I’ve done it on foot and in a chopper
I’ve also been to a river island right on the edge which is so dangerous it is estimated only a few dozen people have ever made it there. I had an absolutely insane zimbo guide
Also Leon, have you been to Victoria Falls? If not I have a recommendation for there plus an awesome safari the other side of the Kariba Dam.
Mate, have I been to the victoria falls? Yeah. I’ve been to the victoria falls. I’ve done it on foot and in a chopper
I’ve also been to a river island right on the edge which is so dangerous it is estimated only a few dozen people have ever made it there. I had an absolutely insane zimbo guide
Is that the pool on the edge - like nature's jacuzzi?
Also Leon, have you been to Victoria Falls? If not I have a recommendation for there plus an awesome safari the other side of the Kariba Dam.
Mate, have I been to the victoria falls? Yeah. I’ve been to the victoria falls. I’ve done it on foot and in a chopper
I’ve also been to a river island right on the edge which is so dangerous it is estimated only a few dozen people have ever made it there. I had an absolutely insane zimbo guide
Is that the pool on the edge - like nature's jacuzzi?
No. I’ve done that. The devils pool?
This is even crazier and much scarier
I wish I could show you but I’ve used my photo allocation
Given all the amount of travel Flint Knappers Monthly get you on I am surprised you haven't done Whistler before.
Yes, so am I. Given how impressive BC has turned out to be
But I’m slowly filling in the blanks
Still gotta do: Central America, central/west Africa. Central Asia (the stans). Polynesia
Then that will be it. The world. Done
OK this is important
Polynesia meaning Tahiti and Bora Bora is middle market US honeymoon country. Seriously dull (except scuba and skydiving are ok). You need to get out to places like the Marquesas and Pitcairn. This was basically impossible except by yacht until the company which goes around supplying the local Spar type supermarkets realized there was money in branching out into cruises
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 3m So Trump is featured in a “Fighting Anti-Semitism” event with Miriam Adelson in D.C. on Thursday, September 19. Two days later, his running mate, JD Vance, is to appear in PA with Tucker Carlson, a leading promoter of Holocaust denial. Perhaps Trump should order Vance not to go?
Sounds like a bit of 'deniable' Holocaust denial there. These 'racists with table manners' usually build in some deniability.
Just asking questions.
BTW I came across dear old James Delingpole on substack the other day. Batshit doesn't begin to cover it. The Southport murders never happened (crisis actors and a subservient press), Edward Heath raped and murdered 5 year old boys on his yacht and if you think that sounds bad you should hear what Churchill got up to. Sadly Churchill was paying subscribers only. I thought I would spend the money elsewhere.
Oh god. Delingpole. As so often I wonder about the 'mad' v 'bad' v 'sad' dynamic with these guys. Not that it really matters, I suppose. All you can assess is the output. The rest is a mystery, maybe even to them.
I remember him in the 90s. He was quite an eloquent and interesting music journalist. Odd, the tangent his career subsequently took.
Was he? Didn't know that.
The dreaded two words "Tony Parsons" have come to mind.
Yes - in the dead period of the late 90s, when Craig Cash was no longer broadcasting on Stockport local radio and Radio 6 had yet to get started, and due to the not-desperately-welcome onset of adulthood I was no longer living with - or even spending much time with - people with the same taste in music, and when the internet was still too young to be any help, and indie music was, frankly, dying on its arse, James Delingpole's ramblings were both valuable and entertaining, amd introduced me to numerous obscure but cherishable bands that went nowhere. Dawn of the Replicants, for example.
Ooh, Craig Cash on KFM. Yes, I was there for that for a period early doors in the baggy era. My first ever hearing of Creep (sorry) and improbable amounts of World of Twist and a few other bands whose names I long forget.
And trying to chat up some fellow studenty lass in my summer factory job by feigning a greater shared appreciation of The Man From Delmonte than I actually had. TBF, any level of appreciation impressed her.
Still got a soft spot for TMFDM. My Love Is Like a Gift You Can't Return is in my top 25 most played over the past ten years.
But the Craig Cash show was wonderful, wasn't it? I see your World of Twist and I raise you Molly Halfhead, New Fast Automativ Daffodils and The Auk (Orc?).
Also Leon, have you been to Victoria Falls? If not I have a recommendation for there plus an awesome safari the other side of the Kariba Dam.
Mate, have I been to the victoria falls? Yeah. I’ve been to the victoria falls. I’ve done it on foot and in a chopper
I’ve also been to a river island right on the edge which is so dangerous it is estimated only a few dozen people have ever made it there. I had an absolutely insane zimbo guide
Is that the pool on the edge - like nature's jacuzzi?
No. I’ve done that. The devils pool?
This is even crazier and much scarier
I wish I could show you but I’ve used my photo allocation
Yes the Devil's pool. Jeez that's terrifying enough.
I'd have done it if I had gone on my own but was with family so daren't even suggest it. One slip or mis-paddle on the way and you're gone.
We did a tremendous white-water raft just past the Falls.
Labour of course picked Ed Miliband over his more charismatic and centrist brother David Miliband after they lost power at the 2010 general election. Though even Ed was ahead in the polls by Christmas of that year
I think the final two will be Jenrick and Tugendhat with Badenoch third. That could then be closer than expected with the membership though Jenrick would still probably win
Given all the amount of travel Flint Knappers Monthly get you on I am surprised you haven't done Whistler before.
Yes, so am I. Given how impressive BC has turned out to be
But I’m slowly filling in the blanks
Still gotta do: Central America, central/west Africa. Central Asia (the stans). Polynesia
Then that will be it. The world. Done
OK this is important
Polynesia meaning Tahiti and Bora Bora is middle market US honeymoon country. Seriously dull (except scuba and skydiving are ok). You need to get out to places like the Marquesas and Pitcairn. This was basically impossible except by yacht until the company which goes around supplying the local Spar type supermarkets realized there was money in branching out into cruises
THE WHOREY MARMOTS were once known as THE WHISTLE PIGS
That’s TWO excellent names for a band in just one large squirreline montane-dwelling Canadian rodent
“It is the largest North American ground squirrel and is often nicknamed "the whistler" for its high-pitched warning issued to alert other members of the colony to possible danger. The animals are sometimes called "whistle pigs". Whistler, British Columbia, originally London Mountain because of its heavy fogs and rain, was renamed after these animals to help make it more marketable as a resort.[3] The closest relatives of the species are the yellow-bellied, Olympic, and Vancouver Island marmots, although the exact relationships are unclear.[4][5]”
Given all the amount of travel Flint Knappers Monthly get you on I am surprised you haven't done Whistler before.
Yes, so am I. Given how impressive BC has turned out to be
But I’m slowly filling in the blanks
Still gotta do: Central America, central/west Africa. Central Asia (the stans). Polynesia
Then that will be it. The world. Done
OK this is important
Polynesia meaning Tahiti and Bora Bora is middle market US honeymoon country. Seriously dull (except scuba and skydiving are ok). You need to get out to places like the Marquesas and Pitcairn. This was basically impossible except by yacht until the company which goes around supplying the local Spar type supermarkets realized there was money in branching out into cruises
THE WHOREY MARMOTS were once known as THE WHISTLE PIGS
That’s TWO excellent names for a band in just one large squirreline montane-dwelling Canadian rodent
“It is the largest North American ground squirrel and is often nicknamed "the whistler" for its high-pitched warning issued to alert other members of the colony to possible danger. The animals are sometimes called "whistle pigs". Whistler, British Columbia, originally London Mountain because of its heavy fogs and rain, was renamed after these animals to help make it more marketable as a resort.[3] The closest relatives of the species are the yellow-bellied, Olympic, and Vancouver Island marmots, although the exact relationships are unclear.[4][5]”
London Mountain is also a band name.
I love it.
Think of the LP covers.
Think of the chat
“Yeah. I saw the Whistle Pigs, live. Back in 2024. And the Whorey Marmots as well! Same time. Amazing”
Our son was guest snowboarder there when he was a professional and his MIL has a holiday home there
Your son was a professional snowboarder? From what I know of your family he is, what late 50s? He must have been a very early adopter of the sport.
He was, and with a couple of friends here in Llandudno they learnt on the dry slope before spending winters in Chamonix and then to North America and Whistler where he was the guest celebrity snowboarder for a holiday company
He lived life to the extreme witnessing several tragic deaths on the slopes before he settled down in 2003 and emigrated to New Zealand
Our son was guest snowboarder there when he was a professional and his MIL has a holiday home there
Your son was a professional snowboarder? From what I know of your family he is, what late 50s? He must have been a very early adopter of the sport.
He was, and with a couple of friends here in Llandudno they learnt on the dry slope before spending winters in Chamonix and then to North America and Whistler where is was the guest celebrity snowboarder for a holiday company
He lived life to.the extreme witnessing several tragic deaths on the slopes before he settled down in 2003 and emigrated to New Zealand
Ah, Llandudno dry slope. That was my first skiing experience. Pleased it launched a career.
I think the final two will be Jenrick and Tugendhat with Badenoch third. That could then be closer than expected with the membership though Jenrick would still probably win
Our son was guest snowboarder there when he was a professional and his MIL has a holiday home there
Your son was a professional snowboarder? From what I know of your family he is, what late 50s? He must have been a very early adopter of the sport.
He was, and with a couple of friends here in Llandudno they learnt on the dry slope before spending winters in Chamonix and then to North America and Whistler where is was the guest celebrity snowboarder for a holiday company
He lived life to.the extreme witnessing several tragic deaths on the slopes before he settled down in 2003 and emigrated to New Zealand
Ah, Llandudno dry slope. That was my first skiing experience. Pleased it launched a career.
You're a skier? Forgive me for being a little surprised. You holiday in Cornwall?
I think the final two will be Jenrick and Tugendhat with Badenoch third. That could then be closer than expected with the membership though Jenrick would still probably win
Madness.
Is it? He doesn't appeal to me, but whoever stems bleeding to Reform is probably best for the party in the longterm, so long as they do not totally alienate the centre, who can be sought after later (possibly by the next leader).
In the cardfile of Tory leadership candidates in my mind, he's very much in the lower-middle part of the deck, rubbing inauspicious shoulders with the likes of Peter Lilley and Andrea Leadsom. Possibly slightly ahead of Rehman Chishti, but it's a close call.
I suppose he has managed to hold on to a seat that was lost in 1997.
He's telling the party that they were fundamentally right about everything, that their only failing was to not truly be themselves. And by jumping ship six months early, the election fiasco was nothing at all to do with him.
Unsurprisingly, that message is a popular one.
(Peter Lilley visited Thing One's school recently, as part of a project called "Learn with the Lords". Not sure whether he impressed the crowd or not, though they aren't easy to please.)
If the Israelis were able to heat up the battery to set off the explosive in the pager, what else were they able to get the software to do? Read all the messages?
I wouldn't seem crazy to think they haven't repeated the FBI Anom playbook, where they inserted god mode into the secure messaging system. The question then would be why blow them up now, rather than keep using your god mode to see everything that is going on.
Probably because one of the devices blew up from being left too close to an open fire or other heat source. At which point the Israelis will have known the game was up and will have detonated the lot.
I do like the US Green Party lady, who very seriously explains that you cannot go around calling Putin a war criminal (though Medhi Hassan does kind of drag the view he is one out of her reluctantly), because as a world leader 'you don't begin your conversation' with them that way ...but that it is totally fine for a world leader to call Biden or Netanyahu war criminals.
Comments
Emphasis on "managed" there if that's not too boastful.
Lebanese officials are admitting these pagers were specifically owned by Hezbollah fighters
It does look like a bullseye
But, I can seriously recommend travel for keeping the mind alert. This isn’t a “you only go to Bruges” wind up. Its honest advice from another ageing gent
It would have been very surprising indeed if he *wasn't*.
If he [Boris] puts people like Jacob Rees Mogg, Liz Truss, Priti Patel, Steve Baker, and other small government, free market ideologues in charge of things then we can look forward to a golden era of prosperity and liberty.
Perhaps all that happened thereafter seriously messed with his head.
(Over 100,000 still in use in the NHS. My partner has one...)
https://x.com/ed_miliband/status/1836104858421940732
The surrounding landscapes are, however, magnificent
Substack is just about publishing stuff yourself and getting paid.
......and would they care?
You are obviously not a Lammy specialist.
https://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/explore-the-resort/activities-and-events/summer-activities/summer-alpine-experience/peak-2-peak-gondola.aspx
I nearly skipped this thinking - whatever, just a ski lift, I want a beer in Vancouver before I go home. But I wearily dragged my exhausted arse here
And it’s phenomenal
A democracy in which we can effect change in a non-violent manner is a wonder of history, imperfect though it is. We treat it too carelessly when we shrug at riots because we agree with their cause.
But I’m slowly filling in the blanks
Still gotta do: Central America, central/west Africa. Central Asia (the stans). Polynesia
Then that will be it. The world. Done
Had a quick google image search. Looks equal parts terrifying and fun.
I remember having a bit of a shock a few years later when the Beeb wheeled him out as their 'balance' climate change sceptic. He's only gone further down the rabbit hole since then.
In the cardfile of Tory leadership candidates in my mind, he's very much in the lower-middle part of the deck, rubbing inauspicious shoulders with the likes of Peter Lilley and Andrea Leadsom. Possibly slightly ahead of Rehman Chishti, but it's a close call.
I suppose he has managed to hold on to a seat that was lost in 1997.
The fact that he is no 1 on BF shows how far they still have to travel.
He will be gone within three years.
But maybe it wont happen and enough of MPs will block him going to the final two against anyone other than Badernoch.
"What is it? Are you ok?"
"You have to see this..."
I came off at the next junction, turned around, and headed east - rounded a bend , and there it was, inching up over Kinder,
implausibly bright and huge. Just huge.
"Wow. Thanks for showing me that."
She gamely tried to photograph it, but photographing the moon without a special lens never worksvery well. So I'm recording it here.
I’m saving them up for when I’m really old and all I can do is get in a fully self driving sedan chair
Bears. Few hours from kamloops. One of the best things I’ve done.
Yep. Hoary Marmots. As you were
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoary_marmot
I’m going to continue to call them Whorey Marmots anyway, coz it’s funnier. Also this is a whole new mammal species. I still get a major buzz out of seeing a new mammal for the first time
Travel? Not so easy now, with the cat, but Tenerife again in Jan is a possible. Let's see.
But other than that, yes exactly.
And trying to chat up some fellow studenty lass in my summer factory job by feigning a greater shared appreciation of The Man From Delmonte than I actually had. TBF, any level of appreciation impressed her.
THE WHOREY MARMOTS were once known as THE WHISTLE PIGS
That’s TWO excellent names for a band in just one large squirreline montane-dwelling Canadian rodent
“It is the largest North American ground squirrel and is often nicknamed "the whistler" for its high-pitched warning issued to alert other members of the colony to possible danger. The animals are sometimes called "whistle pigs". Whistler, British Columbia, originally London Mountain because of its heavy fogs and rain, was renamed after these animals to help make it more marketable as a resort.[3] The closest relatives of the species are the yellow-bellied, Olympic, and Vancouver Island marmots, although the exact relationships are unclear.[4][5]”
The impacted devices appeared to have included “rugged” pagers developed by the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, according to reporters at Bellingcat.
Security sources told Reuters that the devices had been procured in recent months.
Intriguingly, the attack came hours after Israel’s domestic security agency said that it had foiled a similar – though much smaller-scale – plot by Hezbollah.
Shin Bet said in a statement it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera that Hezbollah had planned to use to kill a former Israeli military official in Tel Aviv.
Though my personal
preference is Tugendhat who looks most like a PM of the final four and can appeal most to Tory voters lost to Labour and the LDs
Then we went inside, ordered our coffees and as we finished the cashier glancing out the window said to look at the moon too which is not what you expect to hear when you're ordering a coffee lol!
I’ve also been to a river island right on the edge which is so dangerous it is estimated only a few dozen people have ever made it there. I had an absolutely insane zimbo guide
This is even crazier and much scarier
I wish I could show you but I’ve used my photo allocation
Polynesia meaning Tahiti and Bora Bora is middle market US honeymoon country. Seriously dull (except scuba and skydiving are ok). You need to get out to places like the Marquesas and Pitcairn. This was basically impossible except by yacht until the company which goes around supplying the local Spar type supermarkets realized there was money in branching out into cruises
https://www.aranui.com/en/sailing-schedule
But the Craig Cash show was wonderful, wasn't it? I see your World of Twist and I raise you Molly Halfhead, New Fast Automativ Daffodils and The Auk (Orc?).
I'd have done it if I had gone on my own but was with family so daren't even suggest it. One slip or mis-paddle on the way and you're gone.
We did a tremendous white-water raft just past the Falls.
100m followers on social media.
Voter registration day announcement.
I love it.
Think of the LP covers.
“Yeah. I saw the Whistle Pigs, live. Back in 2024. And the Whorey Marmots as well! Same time. Amazing”
He lived life to the extreme witnessing several tragic deaths on the slopes before he settled down in 2003 and emigrated to New Zealand
Pleased it launched a career.
Unsurprisingly, that message is a popular one.
(Peter Lilley visited Thing One's school recently, as part of a project called "Learn with the Lords". Not sure whether he impressed the crowd or not, though they aren't easy to please.)
https://nitter.poast.org/DrewPavlou/status/1835827398518145286#m
Even if a useful idiot you'd be better off pretending consistency in not labelling anyone that way.