Sky News Arabic quotes an Israeli military source:
- The Mossad placed explosives inside the batteries of the communication devices and detonated them by remotely increasing the battery temperature.
- They used PETN, a stable explosive, instead of other types of explosives for this operation.
- PETN is one of the most powerful explosives known in the world. It is sensitive to heat and friction, which may explain the explosion mechanism.
- The explosive material was inserted before the devices reached Hezbollah.
- Hezbollah’s supply chain was infiltrated.
- Al Jazeera adds further details: 20 grams of explosives were placed in each device, and Hezbollah began using them 5 months ago.”
20g ? That seems an awful lot in a pager. You'd really struggle to hide 20g of explosive in an iPhone; probably couldn’t. That would be over 10% of the phone, or 40% of the battery.
Yeah. If my next new phone seems to have shit battery life, then I would have to wonder - have Mossad swapped half the battery for explosive?
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.
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.)
My view from the beginning (in fact prior to the GE), was that whoever could give the impression the party was right in all its views (or needed to double down even more) would win, because recent history seems to suggest a beaten party membership wants comforting first.
If that successfully leads to a united focus from the party it may even do ok, though I don't think it is a winning prospect long term personally.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
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”
Awesome. Although Whorey Marmots were never the same after bassist Dave Throggs left.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Skiing in school holidays sucks. Thankfully we've escaped that now.
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.
30 years ago stayed on the Zim side, walked over the bridge to Zam, walked back along the edge of the chasm and then skinny dipped. It was drought season.
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
Best positioned to gain from Labour unpopularity are the LDs. The public have, for now, written off the Tories, and are reviewing whether to start doing the same to Labour. Obviously current polling tells you nothing about 2029, but it does tell you something about the climate now.
A couple of months after the 2019 GE Lab/Con had about 75% of the polling figures beteween them. They now have about 55%. (Most recent has both in the 20s). This is new, and gives new opportunities. The extent to which Labour has dropped easy catches, failed to kick for touch, hooked the drive and missed open goals has been awesome.
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
Sky News Arabic quotes an Israeli military source:
- The Mossad placed explosives inside the batteries of the communication devices and detonated them by remotely increasing the battery temperature.
- They used PETN, a stable explosive, instead of other types of explosives for this operation.
- PETN is one of the most powerful explosives known in the world. It is sensitive to heat and friction, which may explain the explosion mechanism.
- The explosive material was inserted before the devices reached Hezbollah.
- Hezbollah’s supply chain was infiltrated.
- Al Jazeera adds further details: 20 grams of explosives were placed in each device, and Hezbollah began using them 5 months ago.”
20g ? That seems an awful lot in a pager. You'd really struggle to hide 20g of explosive in an iPhone; probably couldn’t. That would be over 10% of the phone, or 40% of the battery.
Yeah. If my next new phone seems to have shit battery life, then I would have to wonder - have Mossad swapped half the battery for explosive?
More importantly, can we get this feature added to phones for teenagers?
"OK Year 9, if you get your phones out during this lesson, I will press this button and they will explode..."
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 never show my daughter things from Tinder.
Very droll. Just to be clear: KINder. Kinder Scout. Highest point in the Peak District.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
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
Best positioned to gain from Labour unpopularity are the LDs. The public have, for now, written off the Tories, and are reviewing whether to start doing the same to Labour. Obviously current polling tells you nothing about 2029, but it does tell you something about the climate now.
A couple of months after the 2019 GE Lab/Con had about 75% of the polling figures beteween them. They now have about 55%. (Most recent has both in the 20s). This is new, and gives new opportunities. The extent to which Labour has dropped easy catches, failed to kick for touch, hooked the drive and missed open goals has been awesome.
Though on the post general election polls the biggest switch has been Labour to Reform
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.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
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?).
Yes, it was gem, and significantly less ScreamHeadFuckDeath to plough through than that Scouse fellas more feted show.
But my memory is hazy, and I see it all now through those fishes eyes. And I was never a hardcore wilful obscuritanist - I also had a more commercial ear and there was plenty of stuff I wouldn't have got on with, but don't recall much of that nature on Craig Cash even as he went through pretty particular stuff.
But I recall some of the tune and lyrics of My Love Is Like a Gift without further Googling.
I will raise you once more a Midwich Cuckoos, but at that point I may well be done and fold.
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
Scotland waves hello
Yes - which is convenient for the English too if we want to go on holiday in Scotland.
If anyone fancies a family Centerparcs holiday (why?), seemingly a good option is Longford, RoI, for the same reason.
Cabinet members accepted £9,000 of free Taylor Swift concert tickets and Lady Starmer also accepted two tickets
I thought Labour were above all this but apparently not
Do you not understand? How can members of the Labour Cabinet, the tribunes of the people, be expected to take away winter fuel payments from freezing poor pensioners if they don’t have the emotional consolation of free Taylor Swift tickets?
Cabinet members accepted £9,000 of free Taylor Swift concert tickets and Lady Starmer also accepted two tickets
I thought Labour were above all this but apparently not
Do you not understand? How can members of the Labour Cabinet, the tribunes of the people, be expected to take away winter fuel payments from freezing poor pensioners if they don’t have the emotional consolation of free Taylor Swift tickets?
Cabinet members accepted £9,000 of free Taylor Swift concert tickets and Lady Starmer also accepted two tickets
I thought Labour were above all this but apparently not
I don't think most politicians are above a level of free swag (the acceptable level being the area of dispute), but I am surprised the disciplined Starmer did not insist upon an initial period of abstemious behaviour and refusal to accept gifts - set that impression in people's minds and it can last a long time.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
Just do it. Is my opinion. Teachers will cope
This is exactly the kind of imaginative, family friendly, helping-regular-folk policies that I hoped Labour would have “shovel ready” when they took office. Something to cheer everyone up and also not hard to do. Cheaper holidays for hard pressed British families!
And yet: nothing. Not a sausage. It’s like they’ve spent the last 14 years simply dreaming of all the freebies they will get and who gets to live in Dorneywood
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
Scotland waves hello
Yes - which is convenient for the English too if we want to go on holiday in Scotland.
If anyone fancies a family Centerparcs holiday (why?), seemingly a good option is Longford, RoI, for the same reason.
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
The issue is whether escalating now is a good idea. This is Hezbollah not Hamas. Hezbollah have been a load of trouble during this crisis but they have not pushed it anywhere near as much as they might and they have possibly resisted Iranian pressure to go further. Now? Who knows.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
From moodling about when it would be sensible to call the General Election, (spoiler alert: it wasn't July 4th) Leicestershire are also time-shifted a bit, breaking up in early July but going back before the end of August.
Off the top of my head, I can think of two problems with a more dramatic approach.
First is that the autumn school term is already horribly long; everyone involved is a dribbling wreck by October half term and again by early December. You could probably fix that with another half-term (third-term?) break.
The harder one would be fitting exams round all of this. It takes about two months, most of May and June, to schedule all the exams in the A Level and GCSE calendar without too many clashes. That's a fair bit of the calendar that has to be blocked off. That's only fixable by having fewer exams, which would be a different type of school system, and probably not one we want.
Cabinet members accepted £9,000 of free Taylor Swift concert tickets and Lady Starmer also accepted two tickets
I thought Labour were above all this but apparently not
I don't think most politicians are above a level of free swag (the acceptable level being the area of dispute), but I am surprised the disciplined Starmer did not insist upon an initial period of abstemious behaviour and refusal to accept gifts - set that impression in people's minds and it can last a long time.
It’s because Starmer really isn’t “disciplined” at all. It was an illusion
In reality he’s a very fat cat public sector lawyer who has been on six figure salaries with chauffeur driven cars for decades and he’s damn well gonna maintain that lifestyle, at the very least, as PM
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?).
Yes, it was gem, and significantly less ScreamHeadFuckDeath to plough through than that Scouse fellas more feted show.
But my memory is hazy, and I see it all now through those fishes eyes. And I was never a hardcore wilful obscuritanist - I also had a more commercial ear and there was plenty of stuff I wouldn't have got on with, but don't recall much of that nature on Craig Cash even as he went through pretty particular stuff.
But I recall some of the tune and lyrics of My Love Is Like a Gift without further Googling.
I will raise you once more a Midwich Cuckoos, but at that point I may well be done and fold.
Oh, yes, Midwich Cuckoos. Loved them. Should have been bigger than Oasis but timed their run just wrong. "Show me your friends and I'll show you mine. Take my hand I'll lead you through the promised land." I'll also offer his opening to each show: After Hours by the Velvet Underground. Though as this was never, ever mentioned and it was the pre-internet age, it was years later until I knew what the song was. Outside of people I actually know IRL, Craig Cash has had arguably the biggest impact on my tastes of anyone in the world. I had, until relatively recently, several C90 tapes of these shows. I don't now know where they are and their loss haunts me, even without the means to play them.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
Actually, now my kids are within a couple of years of leaving for college, I hate this idea. Let's make sure all the kids are on holiday at exactly the same time, so as to maximize cheap no kids holidays for the rest of us.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
From moodling about when it would be sensible to call the General Election, (spoiler alert: it wasn't July 4th) Leicestershire are also time-shifted a bit, breaking up in early July but going back before the end of August.
Off the top of my head, I can think of two problems with a more dramatic approach.
First is that the autumn school term is already horribly long; everyone involved is a dribbling wreck by October half term and again by early December. You could probably fix that with another half-term (third-term?) break.
The harder one would be fitting exams round all of this. It takes about two months, most of May and June, to schedule all the exams in the A Level and GCSE calendar without too many clashes. That's a fair bit of the calendar that has to be blocked off. That's only fixable by having fewer exams, which would be a different type of school system, and probably not one we want.
Its one I'd recommend, I've repeatedly said if I was dictator for the day I'd reform the school system not by tweaking GCSEs but by abolishing them entirely.
GCSEs made sense when people left school at 16. Nowadays they're an absurd anachronism that isn't replicated in any other developed nation that I know of that means that we spend essentially 4 years with our teenagers being "taught to the test" rather than given solid foundations ending in their exams.
We should abolish exams at 16 and have exams at 18 instead. Merge schools and post-16 together and have schools until 18 with a broad curriculum until 18 and specialisation post-18 not post-16.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
From moodling about when it would be sensible to call the General Election, (spoiler alert: it wasn't July 4th) Leicestershire are also time-shifted a bit, breaking up in early July but going back before the end of August.
Off the top of my head, I can think of two problems with a more dramatic approach.
First is that the autumn school term is already horribly long; everyone involved is a dribbling wreck by October half term and again by early December. You could probably fix that with another half-term (third-term?) break.
The harder one would be fitting exams round all of this. It takes about two months, most of May and June, to schedule all the exams in the A Level and GCSE calendar without too many clashes. That's a fair bit of the calendar that has to be blocked off. That's only fixable by having fewer exams, which would be a different type of school system, and probably not one we want.
Pathetic miserablism and defeatism. AKA the modern British left
You don't really need to stagger the school year, which can cause issues if people have children in different school with different school term dates. You could do what Ireland does and simply have a shorter school year. They seem to get better education results with 183 days of teaching at Primary and 167 days at post-Primary, compared to a minimum of 190 days in Britain.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
Just do it. Is my opinion. Teachers will cope
This is exactly the kind of imaginative, family friendly, helping-regular-folk policies that I hoped Labour would have “shovel ready” when they took office. Something to cheer everyone up and also not hard to do. Cheaper holidays for hard pressed British families!
And yet: nothing. Not a sausage. It’s like they’ve spent the last 14 years simply dreaming of all the freebies they will get and who gets to live in Dorneywood
They are useless, ugly and objectionable
Brings to mind a gif that was one of my 'favourites' during lockdown...
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
The issue is whether escalating now is a good idea. This is Hezbollah not Hamas. Hezbollah have been a load of trouble during this crisis but they have not pushed it anywhere near as much as they might and they have possibly resisted Iranian pressure to go further. Now? Who knows.
I respectfully disagree. Whilst all the news has been focusing on Hamas and Gaza, Hezbollah have been involved with a on ongoing assault on Northern Israel since the day after the October attacks. Israel has been forced to evacuate all the civilians from towns close to their Northern border with daily rocket attacks from Lebanon. Hezbollah tonight said that over 400 of their fighters had been killed since the currrent crisis started.
This was a unique and time limited opportunity for Israel to do some real damage to the organisation - not so much in terms of injuries but in terms of destroying their faith in communications technology and it should disrupt Hezbollah activities for some considerable time as they try to work out a new communications structure.
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
The issue is whether escalating now is a good idea. This is Hezbollah not Hamas. Hezbollah have been a load of trouble during this crisis but they have not pushed it anywhere near as much as they might and they have possibly resisted Iranian pressure to go further. Now? Who knows.
I respectfully disagree. Whilst all the news has been focusing on Hamas and Gaza, Hezbollah have been involved with a on ongoing assault on Northern Israel since the day after the October attacks. Israel has been forced to evacuate all the civilians from towns close to their Northern border with daily rocket attacks from Lebanon. Hezbollah tonight said that over 400 of their fighters had been killed since the currrent crisis started.
This was a unique and time limited opportunity for Israel to do some real damage to the organisation - not so much in terms of injuries but in terms of destroying their faith in communications technology and it should disrupt Hezbollah activities for some considerable time as they try to work out a new communications structure.
I'm not trying to diminish what Hezbollah have been behaving like over the last year - just saying escalation now may help Netanyahu hold his fragile and v nationalistic government together but it wont help Israel in the wider picture.
Here’s hoping that young Kendric Cromer is cured completely, and soon enough to have a little bit of his childhood, which up to now has been so painful.
"His life with the disease has been punctuated by episodes of excruciating pain, requiring days in the hospital as doctors tried to control it. Sickle cell eroded his hip bones. It prevented him from riding a bike or playing soccer or even going outside when the temperature was below 55 degrees Fahrenheit because cold often brought on intense pain."
His treatment is expected to be completed in about a month.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
Like school buses in the U.K., staggering holidays by county (say) would cause the Apocalypse. Apparently.
Next we will be finding out the Starmers love nothing more than a freebie Hawaiian Pizza from Dominoes....
Surely North London types will want something more artisanal? Hand made pizza base, drizzles of extra virgin oil, organic Genovese basil, fair trade pineapples etc
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
From moodling about when it would be sensible to call the General Election, (spoiler alert: it wasn't July 4th) Leicestershire are also time-shifted a bit, breaking up in early July but going back before the end of August.
Off the top of my head, I can think of two problems with a more dramatic approach.
First is that the autumn school term is already horribly long; everyone involved is a dribbling wreck by October half term and again by early December. You could probably fix that with another half-term (third-term?) break.
The harder one would be fitting exams round all of this. It takes about two months, most of May and June, to schedule all the exams in the A Level and GCSE calendar without too many clashes. That's a fair bit of the calendar that has to be blocked off. That's only fixable by having fewer exams, which would be a different type of school system, and probably not one we want.
Its one I'd recommend, I've repeatedly said if I was dictator for the day I'd reform the school system not by tweaking GCSEs but by abolishing them entirely.
GCSEs made sense when people left school at 16. Nowadays they're an absurd anachronism that isn't replicated in any other developed nation that I know of that means that we spend essentially 4 years with our teenagers being "taught to the test" rather than given solid foundations ending in their exams.
We should abolish exams at 16 and have exams at 18 instead. Merge schools and post-16 together and have schools until 18 with a broad curriculum until 18 and specialisation post-18 not post-16.
Not sure it is unique. Ireland has Junior Cycle then Leaving Certificate, Spain has two sets of exams (ESO and Bachillerato), even the IB has a Middle Years Programme below the programme everyone has heard of.
Even if virtually everyone is still in education 16-18, what that education looks like is going to be very different for different people. If you are starting a very vocationally-focused course at age 16, shouldn't you get some credit for the work you did up to that point?
(The other way to do it is to put the breakpoint at 14 or so, with academic and vocational streams and institutions by choice. Not a bad idea if you are starting with a blank sheet, but we aren't.)
Next we will be finding out the Starmers love nothing more than a freebie Hawaiian Pizza from Dominoes....
Surely North London types will want something more artisanal? Hand made pizza base, drizzles of extra virgin oil, organic Genovese basil, fair trade pineapples etc
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
The issue is whether escalating now is a good idea. This is Hezbollah not Hamas. Hezbollah have been a load of trouble during this crisis but they have not pushed it anywhere near as much as they might and they have possibly resisted Iranian pressure to go further. Now? Who knows.
I respectfully disagree. Whilst all the news has been focusing on Hamas and Gaza, Hezbollah have been involved with a on ongoing assault on Northern Israel since the day after the October attacks. Israel has been forced to evacuate all the civilians from towns close to their Northern border with daily rocket attacks from Lebanon. Hezbollah tonight said that over 400 of their fighters had been killed since the currrent crisis started.
This was a unique and time limited opportunity for Israel to do some real damage to the organisation - not so much in terms of injuries but in terms of destroying their faith in communications technology and it should disrupt Hezbollah activities for some considerable time as they try to work out a new communications structure.
I'm not trying to diminish what Hezbollah have been behaving like over the last year - just saying escalation now may help Netanyahu hold his fragile and v nationalistic government together but it wont help Israel in the wider picture.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
Just do it. Is my opinion. Teachers will cope
This is exactly the kind of imaginative, family friendly, helping-regular-folk policies that I hoped Labour would have “shovel ready” when they took office. Something to cheer everyone up and also not hard to do. Cheaper holidays for hard pressed British families!
And yet: nothing. Not a sausage. It’s like they’ve spent the last 14 years simply dreaming of all the freebies they will get and who gets to live in Dorneywood
They are useless, ugly and objectionable
It's a good idea to stagger school holidays, but I can't see Labour doing anything to annoy teachers.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
Independent schools all seem to be on holiday by the beginning of July, but I’d hate to be back before the end of August. In fact any school with a sixth-form can’t start until after the GCSE results day (usually the penultimate Thursday in August I think) as they don’t know who has qualified. I was in school in the last week of August helping sort out Y12 sets; that took most of the week (though a recent “upgrade” to our software must be given much of the credit for that).
Stating the holiday any time in June runs into the problem in large schools of trying to sort out timetables: in state schools you are supposed to give half a term’s notice (a full term in the independent sector) so it’s the beginning of June before schools are sure who will still be there the next year; then follows a mad scramble to pick up any newly minted teachers who somehow haven’t got a job yet without thinking too hard about why, and the job of timetabling can begin. Finishing that by the beginning of July is doable, but not easy (though it does depend on the school.
Another group that would hate the idea are parents with children in different schools; that’s not usually a problem if all schools in an area have the same holiday but it does mean primary schools (who don’t have exams or complex timetables to worry about) can do their own thing.
On the idea of reforming GCSEs by abolishing them: my heart says yes, but I worry that exams seem to be an excellent motivation for many students: leaning about ox-bow lakes or learning how to analyse a poem may be good in themselves, but most teenagers would rather be doing anything else and it’s only the prospect of a bit of paper at the end that keeps all but the most academic paying attention.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
Just do it. Is my opinion. Teachers will cope
This is exactly the kind of imaginative, family friendly, helping-regular-folk policies that I hoped Labour would have “shovel ready” when they took office. Something to cheer everyone up and also not hard to do. Cheaper holidays for hard pressed British families!
And yet: nothing. Not a sausage. It’s like they’ve spent the last 14 years simply dreaming of all the freebies they will get and who gets to live in Dorneywood
They are useless, ugly and objectionable
It's a good idea to stagger school holidays, but I can't see Labour doing anything to annoy teachers.
I'm not sure if opposition to changes would come from teachers, most teachers I know want cheaper holidays too.
Teachers are the one group who can't while working take cheap holidays even if they don't have school-age kids.
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
The issue is whether escalating now is a good idea. This is Hezbollah not Hamas. Hezbollah have been a load of trouble during this crisis but they have not pushed it anywhere near as much as they might and they have possibly resisted Iranian pressure to go further. Now? Who knows.
I respectfully disagree. Whilst all the news has been focusing on Hamas and Gaza, Hezbollah have been involved with a on ongoing assault on Northern Israel since the day after the October attacks. Israel has been forced to evacuate all the civilians from towns close to their Northern border with daily rocket attacks from Lebanon. Hezbollah tonight said that over 400 of their fighters had been killed since the currrent crisis started.
This was a unique and time limited opportunity for Israel to do some real damage to the organisation - not so much in terms of injuries but in terms of destroying their faith in communications technology and it should disrupt Hezbollah activities for some considerable time as they try to work out a new communications structure.
I'm not trying to diminish what Hezbollah have been behaving like over the last year - just saying escalation now may help Netanyahu hold his fragile and v nationalistic government together but it wont help Israel in the wider picture.
Why not?
If it damages Hezbollah, it helps Israel.
The answer is talks with PLO and wider Arab community, and by-pass Hamas, on a two state solution, not extending the war into Hezbollah territory.
Netanyahu won't do this because he would rather there is more war because the alternative would bring down his government as the far right nationalists who prop it up would walk. This helps him, it does not help the Israeli people.
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
The issue is whether escalating now is a good idea. This is Hezbollah not Hamas. Hezbollah have been a load of trouble during this crisis but they have not pushed it anywhere near as much as they might and they have possibly resisted Iranian pressure to go further. Now? Who knows.
I respectfully disagree. Whilst all the news has been focusing on Hamas and Gaza, Hezbollah have been involved with a on ongoing assault on Northern Israel since the day after the October attacks. Israel has been forced to evacuate all the civilians from towns close to their Northern border with daily rocket attacks from Lebanon. Hezbollah tonight said that over 400 of their fighters had been killed since the currrent crisis started.
This was a unique and time limited opportunity for Israel to do some real damage to the organisation - not so much in terms of injuries but in terms of destroying their faith in communications technology and it should disrupt Hezbollah activities for some considerable time as they try to work out a new communications structure.
I'm not trying to diminish what Hezbollah have been behaving like over the last year - just saying escalation now may help Netanyahu hold his fragile and v nationalistic government together but it wont help Israel in the wider picture.
Why not?
If it damages Hezbollah, it helps Israel.
The answer is talks with PLO and wider Arab community, and by-pass Hamas, on a two state solution, not extending the war into Hezbollah territory.
Netanyahu won't do this because he would rather there is more war because the alternative would bring down his government as the far right nationalists who prop it up would walk. This helps him, it does not help the Israeli people.
That's a bit happy, clappy nonsense.
The war already extends to Hezbollah. Hezbollah are attacking Israel on a daily basis, the idea you can wish that away with "talks" is just nonsense.
The problem is deeper than Netanyahu.
Two things can be true at once, Netanyahu should go, and hitting Hezbollah is the right thing to do.
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?
Well I've dry slope ski'd.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
Why don’t we stagger our summer hols? Have some kids take off June some July some August. Then rotate
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
It's been mooted. I'd be in favour. Change is, however, very difficult - people are hardwired to value what they have and those who think they will lose out complain more. In this case, teachers whose children attend schools in different local authorities.
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday. Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
Just do it. Is my opinion. Teachers will cope
This is exactly the kind of imaginative, family friendly, helping-regular-folk policies that I hoped Labour would have “shovel ready” when they took office. Something to cheer everyone up and also not hard to do. Cheaper holidays for hard pressed British families!
And yet: nothing. Not a sausage. It’s like they’ve spent the last 14 years simply dreaming of all the freebies they will get and who gets to live in Dorneywood
They are useless, ugly and objectionable
It's a good idea to stagger school holidays, but I can't see Labour doing anything to annoy teachers.
I'm not sure if opposition to changes would come from teachers, most teachers I know want cheaper holidays too.
Teachers are the one group who can't while working take cheap holidays even if they don't have school-age kids.
Most teachers I know who retire delight in booking a holiday for the beginning of September as soon as they can. The really mean ones then rub it in with postcards to their old staff rooms.
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
Unless Cleverly and Tugendhat both go out in the next round due to it being a tie for bottom place.
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.
One lives and learns. Every PB day is a school day. I was unaware of Mr Lammy's performance on Mastermind. Still, I have no buyer's remorse for turfing out your pack of scoundrels. Maybe the grief subsides over the years, at least five of them.
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
Unless Cleverly and Tugendhat both go out in the next round due to it being a tie for bottom place.
As I said the other day, I think it is re-run in that scenario (but I don’t know). Does anyone?
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
The issue is whether escalating now is a good idea. This is Hezbollah not Hamas. Hezbollah have been a load of trouble during this crisis but they have not pushed it anywhere near as much as they might and they have possibly resisted Iranian pressure to go further. Now? Who knows.
I respectfully disagree. Whilst all the news has been focusing on Hamas and Gaza, Hezbollah have been involved with a on ongoing assault on Northern Israel since the day after the October attacks. Israel has been forced to evacuate all the civilians from towns close to their Northern border with daily rocket attacks from Lebanon. Hezbollah tonight said that over 400 of their fighters had been killed since the currrent crisis started.
This was a unique and time limited opportunity for Israel to do some real damage to the organisation - not so much in terms of injuries but in terms of destroying their faith in communications technology and it should disrupt Hezbollah activities for some considerable time as they try to work out a new communications structure.
I'm not trying to diminish what Hezbollah have been behaving like over the last year - just saying escalation now may help Netanyahu hold his fragile and v nationalistic government together but it wont help Israel in the wider picture.
Why not?
If it damages Hezbollah, it helps Israel.
The answer is talks with PLO and wider Arab community, and by-pass Hamas, on a two state solution, not extending the war into Hezbollah territory.
Netanyahu won't do this because he would rather there is more war because the alternative would bring down his government as the far right nationalists who prop it up would walk. This helps him, it does not help the Israeli people.
That's a bit happy, clappy nonsense.
The war already extends to Hezbollah. Hezbollah are attacking Israel on a daily basis, the idea you can wish that away with "talks" is just nonsense.
The problem is deeper than Netanyahu.
Two things can be true at once, Netanyahu should go, and hitting Hezbollah is the right thing to do.
Netanyahu should go - and the answer is ultimately talks with the PA and wider Arab community over a TSS, but that isn't mutually exclusive with defanging Hezbollah and destroying Hamas as a fighting force - in fact these may be a prerequisite for the latter.
That's because as long as Iran/Hezbollah/Hamas' strategy of a forever war of attrition attacks on Israel without caring about civilian deaths caused in response or directly, is viable, those who would quite like Israel to be wiped out have little incentive to get serious about a longer term peace and two state solution. Many are far from any battlefield, fanatical enough not to care about the cost in blood, or both.
Nor do the Israelis given the expectation any concessions will be used against them - scepticism over the idea of a Palestinian state because of the belief it would just act as a staging point for more wars goes far beyond Netanyahu and his allies.
Sadly, I don't think we'll see much progress until the Iranian regime falls or becomes such an economic basketcase it can no longer act effectively to ensure long-lasting peace is never a possibility.
One lives and learns. Every PB day is a school day. I was unaware of Mr Lammy's performance on Mastermind. Still, I have no buyer's remorse for turfing out your pack of scoundrels. Maybe the grief subsides over the years, at least five of them.
'Celebrity Mastermind' frequently fails to live up to its name on both counts...
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
The issue is whether escalating now is a good idea. This is Hezbollah not Hamas. Hezbollah have been a load of trouble during this crisis but they have not pushed it anywhere near as much as they might and they have possibly resisted Iranian pressure to go further. Now? Who knows.
I respectfully disagree. Whilst all the news has been focusing on Hamas and Gaza, Hezbollah have been involved with a on ongoing assault on Northern Israel since the day after the October attacks. Israel has been forced to evacuate all the civilians from towns close to their Northern border with daily rocket attacks from Lebanon. Hezbollah tonight said that over 400 of their fighters had been killed since the currrent crisis started.
This was a unique and time limited opportunity for Israel to do some real damage to the organisation - not so much in terms of injuries but in terms of destroying their faith in communications technology and it should disrupt Hezbollah activities for some considerable time as they try to work out a new communications structure.
I'm not trying to diminish what Hezbollah have been behaving like over the last year - just saying escalation now may help Netanyahu hold his fragile and v nationalistic government together but it wont help Israel in the wider picture.
Why not?
If it damages Hezbollah, it helps Israel.
The answer is talks with PLO and wider Arab community, and by-pass Hamas, on a two state solution, not extending the war into Hezbollah territory.
Netanyahu won't do this because he would rather there is more war because the alternative would bring down his government as the far right nationalists who prop it up would walk. This helps him, it does not help the Israeli people.
That's a bit happy, clappy nonsense.
The war already extends to Hezbollah. Hezbollah are attacking Israel on a daily basis, the idea you can wish that away with "talks" is just nonsense.
The problem is deeper than Netanyahu.
Two things can be true at once, Netanyahu should go, and hitting Hezbollah is the right thing to do.
Netanyahu should go - and the answer is ultimately talks with the PA and wider Arab community over a TSS, but that isn't mutually exclusive with defanging Hezbollah and destroying Hamas as a fighting force - in fact these may be a prerequisite for the latter.
That's because as long as Iran/Hezbollah/Hamas' strategy of a forever war of attrition attacks on Israel without caring about civilian deaths caused in response or directly, is viable, those who would quite like Israel to be wiped out have little incentive to get serious about a longer term peace and two state solution. Many are far from any battlefield, fanatical enough not to care about the cost in blood, or both.
Nor do the Israelis given the expectation any concessions will be used against them - scepticism over the idea of a Palestinian state because of the belief it would just act as a staging point for more wars goes far beyond Netanyahu and his allies.
Sadly, I don't think we'll see much progress until the Iranian regime falls or becomes such an economic basketcase it can no longer act effectively to ensure long-lasting peace is never a possibility.
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
Unless Cleverly and Tugendhat both go out in the next round due to it being a tie for bottom place.
As I said the other day, I think it is re-run in that scenario (but I don’t know). Does anyone?
TSE replied to my comment the other day (as well as you) and said he thought it would be the scenario as I've described based on a precedent from 2001.
The thing with these studies is it doesn't take into consideration longer term adaption. A few months is nowhere near long enough to test this. Look at candy bars have gotten a lot smaller, but they added "Duo" and now a huge range of slabs of chocolate....I wonder why that might be....its because the public keep buying the much larger bars which are bigger than the standard bar before shrinkflation.
I bet longer term people will increasingly buy bottle of wine rather than the smaller "large" glass, just like they buy the Duo or slab of chocolate rather than the single Mars / Snickers etc bar.
The physiology trick might work in short term, but anybody who has been abroad where they often serve smaller glasses of beer and see British tourists, they don't just have one.
The thing with these studies is it doesn't take into consideration longer term adaption. A few months is nowhere near long enough to test this. Look at candy bars have gotten a lot smaller, but they added "Duo" and now a huge range of slabs of chocolate....I wonder why that might be....its because the public keep buying the much larger bars which are bigger than the standard bar before shrinkflation.
I bet longer term people will increasingly buy bottle of wine rather than the smaller "large" glass, just like they buy the Duo or slab of chocolate rather than the single Mars / Snickers etc bar.
And the Scottish alcohol pricing thing hasn't worked out either.
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.
His bland rubbishness is surely part of the appeal - the Tory Party hasn't worked out what it's for and where it needs to drastically rethink itself in its short time out of office and doesn't seem inclined to. Their main hope at the moment, as happened with Labour in 2010, seems to be that the voters hate the other lot so much that next time they decide to vote for what they just rejected.
So as with Ed M, you pick the no mark who knows how to butter-up and flatter the party, as the person you hope will just make the defeat go away without having to do any difficult homework or abandoning long held beliefs.
I think it's just incredibly rare to go from devastating defeat to having a coherent account of what you got wrong and what you need to change - so of course someone like Jenrick is a frontrunner. He's Macaroni cheese. Bland comfort food for Tories while they grieve and start to do the hard thinking to be taken seriously as a possible government again.
A breakdown of Project 2025 by a Trumpist YouTuber that I actually like. I disagree with his politics but he can explain things in a lucid and rational way and his presentation, whilst partisan, is informative
The thing with these studies is it doesn't take into consideration longer term adaption. A few months is nowhere near long enough to test this. Look at candy bars have gotten a lot smaller, but they added "Duo" and now a huge range of slabs of chocolate....I wonder why that might be....its because the public keep buying the much larger bars which are bigger than the standard bar before shrinkflation.
I bet longer term people will increasingly buy bottle of wine rather than the smaller "large" glass, just like they buy the Duo or slab of chocolate rather than the single Mars / Snickers etc bar.
The physiology trick might work in short term, but anybody who has been abroad where they often serve smaller glasses of beer and see British tourists, they don't just have one.
I notice the article mentions nothing either about if footfall reduced in the bars taking part
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials.
Over 3,000 pagers were ordered from the Gold Apollo company in Taiwan, said several of the officials. Hezbollah distributed the pagers to their members throughout Lebanon, with some reaching Hezbollah allies in Iran and Syria. Israel’s attack affected the pagers that were switched on and receiving messages.
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials.
Over 3,000 pagers were ordered from the Gold Apollo company in Taiwan, said several of the officials. Hezbollah distributed the pagers to their members throughout Lebanon, with some reaching Hezbollah allies in Iran and Syria. Israel’s attack affected the pagers that were switched on and receiving messages.
Leave aside that these pagers are used by doctors and nurses. If Hezbollah blew up the phones or pagers of IDF soldiers, whether or not on duty, inevitably killing and maiming children and bystanders - he'd denounce this as an obscene terrorist attack.
Leaving aside these are special pagers not used by doctors and nurses, I didn't realise how much Owen Jones is doing a very good impression of Jezza these days with sympathetic tweets about terrorists. He really has gone off the reservation.
You can be anti-bibi, you can be concerned about some of Israels actions in Gaza, you can want a two state solution and an end to the war, but he is now equivocating action against members of an recognised army with actions against members of a terrorist group.
Leave aside that these pagers are used by doctors and nurses. If Hezbollah blew up the phones or pagers of IDF soldiers, whether or not on duty, inevitably killing and maiming children and bystanders - he'd denounce this as an obscene terrorist attack.
Leaving aside these are special pagers not used by doctors and nurses, I didn't realise how much Owen Jones is doing a very good impression of Jezza these days with sympathetic tweets about terrorists. He really has gone off the reservation.
You can be anti-bibi, you can be concerned about some of Israels actions in Gaza, you can want a two state solution and an end to the war, but he is now equivocating action against members of an recognised army with actions against members of a terrorist group.
He’s doing the left wing equivalent of James Delingpole (discussed earlier). Disappearing down a woke/left/pro Pally rabbit hole because it brings the dopamine hits and folding money of online attention. You have to get madder and madder - because it pays, and because it pleases
Leave aside that these pagers are used by doctors and nurses. If Hezbollah blew up the phones or pagers of IDF soldiers, whether or not on duty, inevitably killing and maiming children and bystanders - he'd denounce this as an obscene terrorist attack.
Leaving aside these are special pagers not used by doctors and nurses, I didn't realise how much Owen Jones is doing a very good impression of Jezza these days with sympathetic tweets about terrorists. He really has gone off the reservation.
You can be anti-bibi, you can be concerned about some of Israels actions in Gaza, you can want a two state solution and an end to the war, but he is now equivocating action against members of an recognised army with actions against members of a terrorist group.
He’s doing the left wing equivalent of James Delingpole (discussed earlier). Disappearing down a woke/left/pro Pally rabbit hole because it brings the dopamine hits and folding money of online attention. You have to get madder and madder - because it pays, and because it pleases
Can I get a job as a nut job influencer? I am perfectly willing to talk shit I don't believe to a high-def camera whilst speaking into a microphone with a neon sign in the background, and frankly I need the Russian money. Alex Jones did it for years and only got unstuck when the parents of murder victims sued. A combination of AI to morph the features and write the script and I should be away. "Group X are bastards! Group Y are lovely!".
Leave aside that these pagers are used by doctors and nurses. If Hezbollah blew up the phones or pagers of IDF soldiers, whether or not on duty, inevitably killing and maiming children and bystanders - he'd denounce this as an obscene terrorist attack.
Leaving aside these are special pagers not used by doctors and nurses, I didn't realise how much Owen Jones is doing a very good impression of Jezza these days with sympathetic tweets about terrorists. He really has gone off the reservation.
You can be anti-bibi, you can be concerned about some of Israels actions in Gaza, you can want a two state solution and an end to the war, but he is now equivocating action against members of an recognised army with actions against members of a terrorist group.
He’s doing the left wing equivalent of James Delingpole (discussed earlier). Disappearing down a woke/left/pro Pally rabbit hole because it brings the dopamine hits and folding money of online attention. You have to get madder and madder - because it pays, and because it pleases
Can I get a job as a nut job influencer? I am perfectly willing to talk shit I don't believe to a high-def camera whilst speaking into a microphone with a neon sign in the background, and frankly I need the Russian money. Alex Jones did it for years and only got unstuck when the parents of murder victims sued. A combination of AI to morph the features and write the script and I should be away. "Group X are bastards! Group Y are lovely!".
😎
You missed the Tenet boat. $100k a show, lovely jubbly.
Challenged over whether the scheme was a necessary deterrent to stop small boat crossings, Sir John said: "Are they seriously saying to me that somewhere in the backwoods of some North Africa country, they actually know what the British Parliament has legislated for? I think not."
Leave aside that these pagers are used by doctors and nurses. If Hezbollah blew up the phones or pagers of IDF soldiers, whether or not on duty, inevitably killing and maiming children and bystanders - he'd denounce this as an obscene terrorist attack.
Leaving aside these are special pagers not used by doctors and nurses, I didn't realise how much Owen Jones is doing a very good impression of Jezza these days with sympathetic tweets about terrorists. He really has gone off the reservation.
You can be anti-bibi, you can be concerned about some of Israels actions in Gaza, you can want a two state solution and an end to the war, but he is now equivocating action against members of an recognised army with actions against members of a terrorist group.
He’s doing the left wing equivalent of James Delingpole (discussed earlier). Disappearing down a woke/left/pro Pally rabbit hole because it brings the dopamine hits and folding money of online attention. You have to get madder and madder - because it pays, and because it pleases
You've probably met James at Spectator parties. Am I right?
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 never show my daughter things from Tinder.
Very droll. Just to be clear: KINder. Kinder Scout. Highest point in the Peak District.
One of the country tops where it's almost impossible to find the highest point. "Which bump's the highest?"
The Saudi AlHadath television channel reported that hundreds of people were blinded in the blasts.
Apparently the message pinged the pager with a message that appeared to be from leadership, but it didn't trigger the explosion immediately, it gave chance for people to grab the pager.
Leave aside that these pagers are used by doctors and nurses. If Hezbollah blew up the phones or pagers of IDF soldiers, whether or not on duty, inevitably killing and maiming children and bystanders - he'd denounce this as an obscene terrorist attack.
Leaving aside these are special pagers not used by doctors and nurses, I didn't realise how much Owen Jones is doing a very good impression of Jezza these days with sympathetic tweets about terrorists. He really has gone off the reservation.
You can be anti-bibi, you can be concerned about some of Israels actions in Gaza, you can want a two state solution and an end to the war, but he is now equivocating action against members of an recognised army with actions against members of a terrorist group.
He’s doing the left wing equivalent of James Delingpole (discussed earlier). Disappearing down a woke/left/pro Pally rabbit hole because it brings the dopamine hits and folding money of online attention. You have to get madder and madder - because it pays, and because it pleases
You've probably met James at Spectator parties. Am I right?
Sunak declared no personal hospitality when PM and it was reported that his wife declined all offers of discounts / freebies on things like clothes.
I think if I was senior politician it would be extremely prudent not to personally accept any freebies and only accept donations / donations in kind for party purposes. Once you are done in office, fill your boots.
The interesting thing here is that she took it to a tribunal and won. The Council now apparently have to implement 'freedom of speech' training.
I've come to the conclusion that the most useful thing you can do, if you work in 'ultra woke' public or private sector organisations, is just keep expressing the idea that we should be 'politically neutral'. In the case of 'trans' debates like this, 'gender critical views' are a 'protected characteristic' in the same way that transgender identity is, so the most 'inclusive' thing to do is not signify any institutional allegiance to any perspective, but to respect everyone's right to expression of their own identity.
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials.
Over 3,000 pagers were ordered from the Gold Apollo company in Taiwan, said several of the officials. Hezbollah distributed the pagers to their members throughout Lebanon, with some reaching Hezbollah allies in Iran and Syria. Israel’s attack affected the pagers that were switched on and receiving messages.
Seems Hezbollah operatives are very good at keeping their beepers charged up, unlike most teenagers with their cellphones.
This is one of the most astonishing attacks in living memory.
Doing it with a few dozen pagers would have been pretty damn impressive, but intercepting a shipment and modifying three thousand of them requires an unfathomable level of sophistication in both planning and execution.
If it takes 10 minutes to modify each pager, that’s 500 man-hours just for the modifications themselves. Before that, someone must have needed to work out exactly what the device was, how it was to be modified, arranging materials, and training the execution team.
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials.
Over 3,000 pagers were ordered from the Gold Apollo company in Taiwan, said several of the officials. Hezbollah distributed the pagers to their members throughout Lebanon, with some reaching Hezbollah allies in Iran and Syria. Israel’s attack affected the pagers that were switched on and receiving messages.
Seems Hezbollah operatives are very good at keeping their beepers charged up, unlike most teenagers with their cellphones.
This is one of the most astonishing attacks in living memory.
Doing it with a few dozen pagers would have been pretty damn impressive, but intercepting a shipment and modifying three thousand of them requires an unfathomable level of sophistication in both planning and execution.
If it takes 10 minutes to modify each pager, that’s 500 man-hours just for the modifications themselves. Before that, someone must have needed to work out exactly what the device was, how it was to be modified, arranging materials, and training the execution team.
The interesting thing here is that she took it to a tribunal and won. The Council now apparently have to implement 'freedom of speech' training.
I've come to the conclusion that the most useful thing you can do, if you work in 'ultra woke' public or private sector organisations, is just keep expressing the idea that we should be 'politically neutral'. In the case of 'trans' debates like this, 'gender critical views' are a 'protected characteristic' in the same way that transgender identity is, so the most 'inclusive' thing to do is not signify any institutional allegiance to any perspective, but to respect everyone's right to expression of their own identity.
The problem is that plenty of those tribunals have gone the other way in recent years, leaving many large companies and especially public sector orgs scared witless of activist staff pushing an extreme ‘woke’ agenda.
It does appear that tribunals and courts are starting to see sense on some of the more outrageous ideas pushed, but management are still having to tread on eggshells when it comes to social issues in the workplace.
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials.
Over 3,000 pagers were ordered from the Gold Apollo company in Taiwan, said several of the officials. Hezbollah distributed the pagers to their members throughout Lebanon, with some reaching Hezbollah allies in Iran and Syria. Israel’s attack affected the pagers that were switched on and receiving messages.
Seems Hezbollah operatives are very good at keeping their beepers charged up, unlike most teenagers with their cellphones.
This is one of the most astonishing attacks in living memory.
Doing it with a few dozen pagers would have been pretty damn impressive, but intercepting a shipment and modifying three thousand of them requires an unfathomable level of sophistication in both planning and execution.
If it takes 10 minutes to modify each pager, that’s 500 man-hours just for the modifications themselves. Before that, someone must have needed to work out exactly what the device was, how it was to be modified, arranging materials, and training the execution team.
And to keep it all secret.
It’s genius
And it looks like very little collateral damage. Nearly all the dead or injured are Hezbollah fighters - as Lebanese officials admit
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials.
Over 3,000 pagers were ordered from the Gold Apollo company in Taiwan, said several of the officials. Hezbollah distributed the pagers to their members throughout Lebanon, with some reaching Hezbollah allies in Iran and Syria. Israel’s attack affected the pagers that were switched on and receiving messages.
Seems Hezbollah operatives are very good at keeping their beepers charged up, unlike most teenagers with their cellphones.
This is one of the most astonishing attacks in living memory.
Doing it with a few dozen pagers would have been pretty damn impressive, but intercepting a shipment and modifying three thousand of them requires an unfathomable level of sophistication in both planning and execution.
If it takes 10 minutes to modify each pager, that’s 500 man-hours just for the modifications themselves. Before that, someone must have needed to work out exactly what the device was, how it was to be modified, arranging materials, and training the execution team.
And to keep it all secret.
That’s the easiest bit. Operatives from Mossad, CIA, MI6 etc are usually pretty good at not discussing ongoing operations with anyone they shouldn’t.
Assuming it’s the Israelis behind this one, we’ll likely never hear anything about it. They’re not the sort of people who write books when they retire.
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials.
Over 3,000 pagers were ordered from the Gold Apollo company in Taiwan, said several of the officials. Hezbollah distributed the pagers to their members throughout Lebanon, with some reaching Hezbollah allies in Iran and Syria. Israel’s attack affected the pagers that were switched on and receiving messages.
Seems Hezbollah operatives are very good at keeping their beepers charged up, unlike most teenagers with their cellphones.
This is one of the most astonishing attacks in living memory.
Doing it with a few dozen pagers would have been pretty damn impressive, but intercepting a shipment and modifying three thousand of them requires an unfathomable level of sophistication in both planning and execution.
If it takes 10 minutes to modify each pager, that’s 500 man-hours just for the modifications themselves. Before that, someone must have needed to work out exactly what the device was, how it was to be modified, arranging materials, and training the execution team.
And to keep it all secret.
That’s the easiest bit. Operatives from Mossad, CIA, MI6 etc are usually pretty good at not discussing ongoing operations with anyone they shouldn’t.
Assuming it’s the Israelis behind this one, we’ll likely never hear anything about it. They’re not the sort of people who write books when they retire.
Israeli sources are already fessing up. They want the Islamists scared
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.
Johnson wasn't just getting £100,000 wallpaper from Brownlow, he was getting holidays and rent free accomodation in the UK paid for by all and sundry including allegedly Bamford, who from what I remember would also pick up the tab for Johnson's groceries.
Now if I was Starmer I would have avoided this pitfall. Did he not realise that the client media would equate Mrs Starmer's wardrobe to Johnson's manifold buckshee benefits? Has he forgotten Currygate which was pitched as multiple times worse than Johnson's time at COVID party-central?
There is also the matter of Donkeygate. But only three people have ever really understood that – one of whom is dead, another who has gone mad, and a third, who has forgotten all about it.
I hadn't heard of Donkeygate. This is what I found....Sunday Mail fans look away.
Donkeygate was a grunting classic from the Daily Mail.
Daily Mail claimed the 7 acre field was worth "UP TO £10 MILLION", in 2020. That's a price with planning permission or development for housing of particular types, and assumes someone had spent a couple of hundred £ on getting planning, and it succeeded. Even then, there would probably be a multi-million S106 and CIF planning gain contribution on it.
It sold in 2024 for £400k, which is by the look of it an approximate price for use as pony paddocks, plus possible future potential - which will depend heavily on whether it is inside the community boundary. And he didn't own all of it by the look.
Comments
If that successfully leads to a united focus from the party it may even do ok, though I don't think it is a winning prospect long term personally.
Actually, I am, or was, a snowboarder. Used to go every year from the age of about 26 to 33. Kids kind of put a stop to that. Hence Cornwall. We did do a family snow holiday in Finland a couple of years back - brilliant, but fucking expensive for a family of five in school holidays. Can't do it every year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVGeVgeMxhA
A couple of months after the 2019 GE Lab/Con had about 75% of the polling figures beteween them. They now have about 55%. (Most recent has both in the 20s). This is new, and gives new opportunities. The extent to which Labour has dropped easy catches, failed to kick for touch, hooked the drive and missed open goals has been awesome.
"OK Year 9, if you get your phones out during this lesson, I will press this button and they will explode..."
Just to be clear: KINder. Kinder Scout. Highest point in the Peak District.
It’s horrific the prices that holiday companies inflict on families simply because they all have to head out in August. Execrable profiteering
I believe the French now do a version of this at Easter
In 2019, due to an administrative error, Trafford schools got February half term too early. It was brilliant. Pretty much the whole of Trafford went on a cheap holiday.
Trafford primary schools also get - along with a few others - a two week Whit holiday. And everyone goes away the second week, because holidays are absurdly cheap. Not secondary schools, sadly, so that wheeze is in the past.
But my memory is hazy, and I see it all now through those fishes eyes. And I was never a hardcore wilful obscuritanist - I also had a more commercial ear and there was plenty of stuff I wouldn't have got on with, but don't recall much of that nature on Craig Cash even as he went through pretty particular stuff.
But I recall some of the tune and lyrics of My Love Is Like a Gift without further Googling.
I will raise you once more a Midwich Cuckoos, but at that point I may well be done and fold.
Guardian -
“A senior [Lebanese] security source said pagers all over the country exploded, primarily wounding members of Hezbollah. They added that security agencies would investigate how the sophisticated attack was carried out, but that forces were currently occupied ensuring wounded people could reach hospitals.”
PRIMARILY WOUNDING MEMBERS OF HEZBOLLAH
Anyone criticising Israel for this is an idiot. How else are they meant to stop Hezbollah following through on their avowed intent on destroying Israel, if not by taking out Hezbollah?
Would it be better if Israel nuked Beirut? No? Then what?
I thought Labour were above all this but apparently not
If anyone fancies a family Centerparcs holiday (why?), seemingly a good option is Longford, RoI, for the same reason.
This is exactly the kind of imaginative, family friendly, helping-regular-folk policies that I hoped Labour would have “shovel ready” when they took office. Something to cheer everyone up and also not hard to do. Cheaper holidays for hard pressed British families!
And yet: nothing. Not a sausage. It’s like they’ve spent the last 14 years simply dreaming of all the freebies they will get and who gets to live in Dorneywood
They are useless, ugly and objectionable
Off the top of my head, I can think of two problems with a more dramatic approach.
First is that the autumn school term is already horribly long; everyone involved is a dribbling wreck by October half term and again by early December. You could probably fix that with another half-term (third-term?) break.
The harder one would be fitting exams round all of this. It takes about two months, most of May and June, to schedule all the exams in the A Level and GCSE calendar without too many clashes. That's a fair bit of the calendar that has to be blocked off. That's only fixable by having fewer exams, which would be a different type of school system, and probably not one we want.
In reality he’s a very fat cat public sector lawyer who has been on six figure salaries with chauffeur driven cars for decades and he’s damn well gonna maintain that lifestyle, at the very least, as PM
Ugh
I'll also offer his opening to each show: After Hours by the Velvet Underground. Though as this was never, ever mentioned and it was the pre-internet age, it was years later until I knew what the song was.
Outside of people I actually know IRL, Craig Cash has had arguably the biggest impact on my tastes of anyone in the world.
I had, until relatively recently, several C90 tapes of these shows. I don't now know where they are and their loss haunts me, even without the means to play them.
GCSEs made sense when people left school at 16. Nowadays they're an absurd anachronism that isn't replicated in any other developed nation that I know of that means that we spend essentially 4 years with our teenagers being "taught to the test" rather than given solid foundations ending in their exams.
We should abolish exams at 16 and have exams at 18 instead. Merge schools and post-16 together and have schools until 18 with a broad curriculum until 18 and specialisation post-18 not post-16.
This was a unique and time limited opportunity for Israel to do some real damage to the organisation - not so much in terms of injuries but in terms of destroying their faith in communications technology and it should disrupt Hezbollah activities for some considerable time as they try to work out a new communications structure.
Good news, long in coming. We are now beginning to cure sufferers from sickle cell, a horrible disease.
There had been a few experimental successful treatments before, but we are just beginning to treat patients on regular basis. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/16/health/sickle-cell-gene-therapy-kendric-cromer.html
Here’s hoping that young Kendric Cromer is cured completely, and soon enough to have a little bit of his childhood, which up to now has been so painful.
"His life with the disease has been punctuated by episodes of excruciating pain, requiring days in the hospital as doctors tried to control it. Sickle cell eroded his hip bones. It prevented him from riding a bike or playing soccer or even going outside when the temperature was below 55 degrees Fahrenheit because cold often brought on intense pain."
His treatment is expected to be completed in about a month.
According to the article, about 20,000 Americans have the severe form of the disease. But many more have the disease in West Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle_cell_disease
Even if virtually everyone is still in education 16-18, what that education looks like is going to be very different for different people. If you are starting a very vocationally-focused course at age 16, shouldn't you get some credit for the work you did up to that point?
(The other way to do it is to put the breakpoint at 14 or so, with academic and vocational streams and institutions by choice. Not a bad idea if you are starting with a blank sheet, but we aren't.)
Now Downing Street Gets Posh Food Delivery as Freebie Gate Grows
https://order-order.com/2024/09/17/now-downing-street-gets-posh-food-delivery-as-freebie-gate-grows/
If it damages Hezbollah, it helps Israel.
Stating the holiday any time in June runs into the problem in large schools of trying to sort out timetables: in state schools you are supposed to give half a term’s notice (a full term in the independent sector) so it’s the beginning of June before schools are sure who will still be there the next year; then follows a mad scramble to pick up any newly minted teachers who somehow haven’t got a job yet without thinking too hard about why, and the job of timetabling can begin. Finishing that by the beginning of July is doable, but not easy (though it does depend on the school.
Another group that would hate the idea are parents with children in different schools; that’s not usually a problem if all schools in an area have the same holiday but it does mean primary schools (who don’t have exams or complex timetables to worry about) can do their own thing.
On the idea of reforming GCSEs by abolishing them: my heart says yes, but I worry that exams seem to be an excellent motivation for many students: leaning about ox-bow lakes or learning how to analyse a poem may be good in themselves, but most teenagers would rather be doing anything else and it’s only the prospect of a bit of paper at the end that keeps all but the most academic paying attention.
Teachers are the one group who can't while working take cheap holidays even if they don't have school-age kids.
Netanyahu won't do this because he would rather there is more war because the alternative would bring down his government as the far right nationalists who prop it up would walk. This helps him, it does not help the Israeli people.
The war already extends to Hezbollah. Hezbollah are attacking Israel on a daily basis, the idea you can wish that away with "talks" is just nonsense.
The problem is deeper than Netanyahu.
Two things can be true at once, Netanyahu should go, and hitting Hezbollah is the right thing to do.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3x50jy15o
The moguls are falling...
That's because as long as Iran/Hezbollah/Hamas' strategy of a forever war of attrition attacks on Israel without caring about civilian deaths caused in response or directly, is viable, those who would quite like Israel to be wiped out have little incentive to get serious about a longer term peace and two state solution. Many are far from any battlefield, fanatical enough not to care about the cost in blood, or both.
Nor do the Israelis given the expectation any concessions will be used against them - scepticism over the idea of a Palestinian state because of the belief it would just act as a staging point for more wars goes far beyond Netanyahu and his allies.
Sadly, I don't think we'll see much progress until the Iranian regime falls or becomes such an economic basketcase it can no longer act effectively to ensure long-lasting peace is never a possibility.
'Celebrity Mastermind' frequently fails to live up to its name on both counts...
Scientists reach conclusion after trial in which pints were scrapped in a dozen pubs, bars and restaurants"
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/sep/17/pint-two-thirds-beer-measure-english-health-study-pubs
I bet longer term people will increasingly buy bottle of wine rather than the smaller "large" glass, just like they buy the Duo or slab of chocolate rather than the single Mars / Snickers etc bar.
The physiology trick might work in short term, but anybody who has been abroad where they often serve smaller glasses of beer and see British tourists, they don't just have one.
So as with Ed M, you pick the no mark who knows how to butter-up and flatter the party, as the person you hope will just make the defeat go away without having to do any difficult homework or abandoning long held beliefs.
I think it's just incredibly rare to go from devastating defeat to having a coherent account of what you got wrong and what you need to change - so of course someone like Jenrick is a frontrunner. He's Macaroni cheese. Bland comfort food for Tories while they grieve and start to do the hard thinking to be taken seriously as a possible government again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8snfV5xWYYg
"Qantas’ unforgivable fall from grace"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mo0COdBsQQ
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials.
Over 3,000 pagers were ordered from the Gold Apollo company in Taiwan, said several of the officials. Hezbollah distributed the pagers to their members throughout Lebanon, with some reaching Hezbollah allies in Iran and Syria. Israel’s attack affected the pagers that were switched on and receiving messages.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/17/world/middleeast/israel-hezbollah-pagers-explosives.html
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was among 2,800 other people who were wounded by the simultaneous blasts in Beirut and several other regions.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd7xnelvpepo
Seems Hezbollah operatives are very good at keeping their beepers charged up, unlike most teenagers with their cellphones.
This might be the most precise mass attack in the history of warfare
https://x.com/owenjonesjourno/status/1836100612133433715
Leaving aside these are special pagers not used by doctors and nurses, I didn't realise how much Owen Jones is doing a very good impression of Jezza these days with sympathetic tweets about terrorists. He really has gone off the reservation.
You can be anti-bibi, you can be concerned about some of Israels actions in Gaza, you can want a two state solution and an end to the war, but he is now equivocating action against members of an recognised army with actions against members of a terrorist group.
😎
Challenged over whether the scheme was a necessary deterrent to stop small boat crossings, Sir John said: "Are they seriously saying to me that somewhere in the backwoods of some North Africa country, they actually know what the British Parliament has legislated for? I think not."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz6wjdjn0g7o
Sounds a bit racist / colonialist attitude there.
A social worker was punished when she refused to respect the trans identity of her colleague’s dog.
Lauren Smith"
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/09/17/can-a-dachshund-be-genderfluid/
Apparently the message pinged the pager with a message that appeared to be from leadership, but it didn't trigger the explosion immediately, it gave chance for people to grab the pager.
“Starmer’s £100,000 in tickets and gifts more than any other recent party leader”
And justifiably
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/18/keir-starmer-100000-in-tickets-and-gifts-more-than-any-other-recent-party-leader
I think if I was senior politician it would be extremely prudent not to personally accept any freebies and only accept donations / donations in kind for party purposes. Once you are done in office, fill your boots.
I've come to the conclusion that the most useful thing you can do, if you work in 'ultra woke' public or private sector organisations, is just keep expressing the idea that we should be 'politically neutral'. In the case of 'trans' debates like this, 'gender critical views' are a 'protected characteristic' in the same way that transgender identity is, so the most 'inclusive' thing to do is not signify any institutional allegiance to any perspective, but to respect everyone's right to expression of their own identity.
Doing it with a few dozen pagers would have been pretty damn impressive, but intercepting a shipment and modifying three thousand of them requires an unfathomable level of sophistication in both planning and execution.
If it takes 10 minutes to modify each pager, that’s 500 man-hours just for the modifications themselves. Before that, someone must have needed to work out exactly what the device was, how it was to be modified, arranging materials, and training the execution team.
It does appear that tribunals and courts are starting to see sense on some of the more outrageous ideas pushed, but management are still having to tread on eggshells when it comes to social issues in the workplace.
And it looks like very little collateral damage. Nearly all the dead or injured are Hezbollah fighters - as Lebanese officials admit
Assuming it’s the Israelis behind this one, we’ll likely never hear anything about it. They’re not the sort of people who write books when they retire.
🔵 Harris 51% (+6) - New High
🔴 Trump 45%
Last poll - 🔵 Harris +3
Who won the debate
🔵 Harris 61%
🔴 Trump 33%
Morning Consult #C - 11,022 LV - 9/15
https://x.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1835994571903242725
Daily Mail claimed the 7 acre field was worth "UP TO £10 MILLION", in 2020. That's a price with planning permission or development for housing of particular types, and assumes someone had spent a couple of hundred £ on getting planning, and it succeeded. Even then, there would probably be a multi-million S106 and CIF planning gain contribution on it.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8327255/Man-people-New-Labour-leader-Sir-Keir-owns-seven-acres-land-Surrey-worth-10m.html
It sold in 2024 for £400k, which is by the look of it an approximate price for use as pony paddocks, plus possible future potential - which will depend heavily on whether it is inside the community boundary. And he didn't own all of it by the look.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13092991/Keir-Starmer-paid-100-000-tax-year-half-Labour-leaders-bill-coming-sale-donkey-field-partly-owned.html
He's the most out of touch and politically incompetent Prime Minister since ... uh ... the last one.