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Persepolis Now – looking at the future of Iran – politicalbetting.com

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  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,177

    mercator said:

    Leon said:

    The total flailing cringeworthy mediocrity of Skyr Toolmakersson is an unexpected but profound source of joy in a sometimes menacing world

    It's a decent speech. You could/would have written that before you saw it. Try doing something else. You were interesting, intelligent and informed on drugs policy last night.
    On which subject have a look at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud

    Who thought cocaine was the bees knees and the cure for everything from depression to morphine addiction (really), and caused an epidemic of perfectly legal cocaine taking which, guess what, transformed the takers into arseholes.
    As someone who was turned into an arsehole daily when you began drinking at 4pm in your former guise as @IshmaelZ , you'd know all about that.
    I thought identifying previous names was verboten?

  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,484
    edited September 24

    Leon said:

    This…. This isn’t good. This is really not good



    I am sure that is now out of date. "Sausages" doesn't feature.
    I wonder if it will replace "C*nt"?

    Those potty-mouthed pensioners.

    :)
  • mercatormercator Posts: 815
    Scarpia said:
    I think this pretty much wraps it up for Starmer. I am struck by the fact that Rayner was revealed yesterday as having a personal "vanity photographer." Liz Truss enthusiasts will remember a similar move on her part, and why she did it, and what happened next.
  • mercatormercator Posts: 815

    mercator said:

    Leon said:

    The total flailing cringeworthy mediocrity of Skyr Toolmakersson is an unexpected but profound source of joy in a sometimes menacing world

    It's a decent speech. You could/would have written that before you saw it. Try doing something else. You were interesting, intelligent and informed on drugs policy last night.
    On which subject have a look at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud

    Who thought cocaine was the bees knees and the cure for everything from depression to morphine addiction (really), and caused an epidemic of perfectly legal cocaine taking which, guess what, transformed the takers into arseholes.
    As someone who was turned into an arsehole daily when you began drinking at 4pm in your former guise as @IshmaelZ , you'd know all about that.
    I thought identifying previous names was verboten?

    Misidentifying possibly even more so?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,275
    Harris now with a favourability score of +0.8, compared to Trump at -10.0. That gap is still widening.

    When I last mentioned it the gap was close to 9pp, the advantage that Clinton had on this metric in 2016.

    One to keep an eye on.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,484
    "First-class train ticket buys Mariella Frostrup a spot on floor

    Presenter rails against GWR after being forced to sit by the lavatory for two hours due to overcrowding" (£)

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/media/article/first-class-train-ticket-buys-mariella-frostrup-a-spot-on-floor-by-the-loo-qp78w8z99
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,326
    Andy_JS said:

    "First-class train ticket buys Mariella Frostrup a spot on floor

    Presenter rails against GWR after being forced to sit by the lavatory for two hours due to overcrowding" (£)

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/media/article/first-class-train-ticket-buys-mariella-frostrup-a-spot-on-floor-by-the-loo-qp78w8z99

    Was she next to Jeremy Corbyn?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,275
    Andy_JS said:

    "First-class train ticket buys Mariella Frostrup a spot on floor

    Presenter rails against GWR after being forced to sit by the lavatory for two hours due to overcrowding" (£)

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/media/article/first-class-train-ticket-buys-mariella-frostrup-a-spot-on-floor-by-the-loo-qp78w8z99

    Was it, at least, the first class loos?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,509
    304/7, that seems a little too high to be chasable in the dark.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,081
    So I listened on the radio while driving hence full attention. Sausages apart that was a good speech. I particularly liked the theme of collectivism running through it. Also I thought the political narrative - the vision thing if you like - was clearly expressed.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,677

    Barnesian said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Does anyone have fond memories of the early 1990s?

    First girlfriend? Does that count?
    It was my favourite period musically. My most listened-to musical period is still 1990-1992. The Pixies and the Wedding Present were still extant and baggy was in its heyday.

    Actually, ages 14-17 were a really good period of my life - I was starting to interact with girls and alcoholic drinks and other things I could do with my emerging freedom. It wasn't that the times were better than they are now, objectively; it was that the trajectory with which each year was better than the last was so good. And that, my friends, is the real key to happiness.

    First year at Uni (1991-92). First girlfriend including you know. Played rugby for Uni first team including playing London Irish U21's, came top in year, learned to drive and acquired a first car, Swindon an established second tier team.

    Hell yes I remember the early 90's fondly.
    Heh, that's another PB age surprise for me - I'd have put you a similar age to me, i.e. ten years younger!
    I'm old. Having a son at 50 is ok in theory but I wonder if its much easier when you are younger...
    I'm old too. I remember going to my great grandmother's 90th birthday party in 1950. She was fiercely Irish with a shillelagh on the wall and played the fiddle. She was born in 1860.

    She was born the year that Abraham Lincoln was elected President just before the American Civil War. And I knew her and remember her. I've told my grandchildren so that in 2060, they can say my grandfather remembered etc etc.
    I have a weird fascination with chains of connection such as that. How few people who actually met could you get back to say Roman Britain? Or 1066?
    I am two people away from The Duke of Wellington. My Grandmother died in 2014. Her Grandfather was a boot boy for the Duke.
    So your great-great grandfather was a Wellington boot boy? :smiley:
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,509
    mercator said:

    Scarpia said:
    I think this pretty much wraps it up for Starmer. I am struck by the fact that Rayner was revealed yesterday as having a personal "vanity photographer." Liz Truss enthusiasts will remember a similar move on her part, and why she did it, and what happened next.
    Funny story, Rayner’s photographer was Rishi Sunak’s photographer three months ago.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,326
    Sandpit said:

    304/7, that seems a little too high to be chasable in the dark.

    Once played a 20 over cup final in late August. Add in the faffing associated with village level, by the time I strode out to bat it was very dark indeed. Reader, I did not last.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,509

    Barnesian said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Does anyone have fond memories of the early 1990s?

    First girlfriend? Does that count?
    It was my favourite period musically. My most listened-to musical period is still 1990-1992. The Pixies and the Wedding Present were still extant and baggy was in its heyday.

    Actually, ages 14-17 were a really good period of my life - I was starting to interact with girls and alcoholic drinks and other things I could do with my emerging freedom. It wasn't that the times were better than they are now, objectively; it was that the trajectory with which each year was better than the last was so good. And that, my friends, is the real key to happiness.

    First year at Uni (1991-92). First girlfriend including you know. Played rugby for Uni first team including playing London Irish U21's, came top in year, learned to drive and acquired a first car, Swindon an established second tier team.

    Hell yes I remember the early 90's fondly.
    Heh, that's another PB age surprise for me - I'd have put you a similar age to me, i.e. ten years younger!
    I'm old. Having a son at 50 is ok in theory but I wonder if its much easier when you are younger...
    I'm old too. I remember going to my great grandmother's 90th birthday party in 1950. She was fiercely Irish with a shillelagh on the wall and played the fiddle. She was born in 1860.

    She was born the year that Abraham Lincoln was elected President just before the American Civil War. And I knew her and remember her. I've told my grandchildren so that in 2060, they can say my grandfather remembered etc etc.
    I have a weird fascination with chains of connection such as that. How few people who actually met could you get back to say Roman Britain? Or 1066?
    Chess players have a "Morphy number". Players who played Morphy have a Morphy number of 1, players who played that set of players have the number 2, and so on.
    My Morphy number is 5.
    There are a handful of very old chess players still alive with a Morphy number of 3, including Leonard Barden, chess columnist of the Guardian.
    My Morphy number is also 5 (at worst). Flatlander v Short, N.

    Wasn't there a Holywood game for 'degrees of separation' involving Kevin Bacon?
    You randomly met Nigel Short in the park, or a proper tournament game? I remember him being the UK #1 for years.

    Yes, “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” is a real thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon
  • Pulpstar said:

    Nigelb said:

    What do we think of Harris's husband getting paid $250k for a campaign speech ?

    By UK standards - a disgrace
    By US standards - why so little?
    A good first question is - Who is paying him that ?
    It is not a big amount in US politics. As an example, for the position of Iowa (population 3m) Attorney General the campaigns raised $4.9m in 2022.

    The big donors to both parties are the ultra wealthy, who since donations have spiralled have taken an ever greater share of economic growth and led to disillusionment with politicians.
  • NEW THREAD

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,928
    Pulpstar said:

    Nigelb said:

    What do we think of Harris's husband getting paid $250k for a campaign speech ?

    By UK standards - a disgrace
    By US standards - why so little?
    A good first question is - Who is paying him that ?
    No one. He does it for nothing.

    It was actually Melania; I just wanted to see what the reaction would be.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 6,807
    kinabalu said:

    So I listened on the radio while driving hence full attention. Sausages apart that was a good speech. I particularly liked the theme of collectivism running through it. Also I thought the political narrative - the vision thing if you like - was clearly expressed.

    I think he got that over a lot better than he has before. There was at least an attempt to sell the end destination. Before it’s felt like he’s often talked about policy for policy’s sake.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,635
    edited September 24
    Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Does anyone have fond memories of the early 1990s?

    First girlfriend? Does that count?
    It was my favourite period musically. My most listened-to musical period is still 1990-1992. The Pixies and the Wedding Present were still extant and baggy was in its heyday.

    Actually, ages 14-17 were a really good period of my life - I was starting to interact with girls and alcoholic drinks and other things I could do with my emerging freedom. It wasn't that the times were better than they are now, objectively; it was that the trajectory with which each year was better than the last was so good. And that, my friends, is the real key to happiness.

    First year at Uni (1991-92). First girlfriend including you know. Played rugby for Uni first team including playing London Irish U21's, came top in year, learned to drive and acquired a first car, Swindon an established second tier team.

    Hell yes I remember the early 90's fondly.
    Heh, that's another PB age surprise for me - I'd have put you a similar age to me, i.e. ten years younger!
    I'm old. Having a son at 50 is ok in theory but I wonder if its much easier when you are younger...
    I'm old too. I remember going to my great grandmother's 90th birthday party in 1950. She was fiercely Irish with a shillelagh on the wall and played the fiddle. She was born in 1860.

    She was born the year that Abraham Lincoln was elected President just before the American Civil War. And I knew her and remember her. I've told my grandchildren so that in 2060, they can say my grandfather remembered etc etc.
    I have a weird fascination with chains of connection such as that. How few people who actually met could you get back to say Roman Britain? Or 1066?
    Chess players have a "Morphy number". Players who played Morphy have a Morphy number of 1, players who played that set of players have the number 2, and so on.
    My Morphy number is 5.
    There are a handful of very old chess players still alive with a Morphy number of 3, including Leonard Barden, chess columnist of the Guardian.
    My Morphy number is also 5 (at worst). Flatlander v Short, N.

    Wasn't there a Holywood game for 'degrees of separation' involving Kevin Bacon?
    You randomly met Nigel Short in the park, or a proper tournament game? I remember him being the UK #1 for years.

    Yes, “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” is a real thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon
    That was a bit of a cheat. It was a simultaneous display at a club, so not an official game.

    Though I did win :smile:
  • Interesting article in NYT today re: Nebraska - NOT a daily occurence!

    Subject is failure of Trump lobbying effort, spearheaded by . . . wait for it . . . Lindsey Graham, to get a fillibuster-proof super-majority of legislators in Nebraska's unicameral legislature, to pass legislation making the Cornhusker State winner-take-all for POTUS electoral college voting. Instead of awarding three EVs on congressional district basis, which resulted in Obama winning the Omaha CD in 2008 and Biden in 2020.

    Reason for MAGA failure due to refusal of key NB legislator to go along, a senator (all members of officially non-partisan Unicameral are styled suchlike) from Omaha who is a former Democrat now Republican, who's term-limited AND gearing up to run for mayor of Big O.
  • Barnesian said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Does anyone have fond memories of the early 1990s?

    First girlfriend? Does that count?
    It was my favourite period musically. My most listened-to musical period is still 1990-1992. The Pixies and the Wedding Present were still extant and baggy was in its heyday.

    Actually, ages 14-17 were a really good period of my life - I was starting to interact with girls and alcoholic drinks and other things I could do with my emerging freedom. It wasn't that the times were better than they are now, objectively; it was that the trajectory with which each year was better than the last was so good. And that, my friends, is the real key to happiness.

    First year at Uni (1991-92). First girlfriend including you know. Played rugby for Uni first team including playing London Irish U21's, came top in year, learned to drive and acquired a first car, Swindon an established second tier team.

    Hell yes I remember the early 90's fondly.
    Heh, that's another PB age surprise for me - I'd have put you a similar age to me, i.e. ten years younger!
    I'm old. Having a son at 50 is ok in theory but I wonder if its much easier when you are younger...
    I'm old too. I remember going to my great grandmother's 90th birthday party in 1950. She was fiercely Irish with a shillelagh on the wall and played the fiddle. She was born in 1860.

    She was born the year that Abraham Lincoln was elected President just before the American Civil War. And I knew her and remember her. I've told my grandchildren so that in 2060, they can say my grandfather remembered etc etc.
    I have a weird fascination with chains of connection such as that. How few people who actually met could you get back to say Roman Britain? Or 1066?
    I am two people away from The Duke of Wellington. My Grandmother died in 2014. Her Grandfather was a boot boy for the Duke.
    Which boot - left OR right?
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,344
    Leon said:

    The total flailing cringeworthy mediocrity of Skyr Toolmakersson is an unexpected but profound source of joy in a sometimes menacing world

    He is going to have to improve radically to be considered mediocre.
  • Andy_JS said:

    Barnesian said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Does anyone have fond memories of the early 1990s?

    First girlfriend? Does that count?
    It was my favourite period musically. My most listened-to musical period is still 1990-1992. The Pixies and the Wedding Present were still extant and baggy was in its heyday.

    Actually, ages 14-17 were a really good period of my life - I was starting to interact with girls and alcoholic drinks and other things I could do with my emerging freedom. It wasn't that the times were better than they are now, objectively; it was that the trajectory with which each year was better than the last was so good. And that, my friends, is the real key to happiness.

    First year at Uni (1991-92). First girlfriend including you know. Played rugby for Uni first team including playing London Irish U21's, came top in year, learned to drive and acquired a first car, Swindon an established second tier team.

    Hell yes I remember the early 90's fondly.
    Heh, that's another PB age surprise for me - I'd have put you a similar age to me, i.e. ten years younger!
    I'm old. Having a son at 50 is ok in theory but I wonder if its much easier when you are younger...
    I'm old too. I remember going to my great grandmother's 90th birthday party in 1950. She was fiercely Irish with a shillelagh on the wall and played the fiddle. She was born in 1860.

    She was born the year that Abraham Lincoln was elected President just before the American Civil War. And I knew her and remember her. I've told my grandchildren so that in 2060, they can say my grandfather remembered etc etc.
    I have a weird fascination with chains of connection such as that. How few people who actually met could you get back to say Roman Britain? Or 1066?
    Probably already mentioned — one of the grandsons of US president from 1841 to 1845 John Tyler, who was born in 1790, is still alive.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Ruffin_Tyler
    The classic of the genre was previously shared on here.

    “My husband’s first wife’s first husband knew Oliver Cromwell—and liked him well.”

    https://www.charlesholloway.co.uk/2010/09/a-theory-of-relativity/
    In 2003, I met a centenarian who remembered her sailor grandfather telling her about taking supplies to the troops. In the Crimean War.
  • Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Does anyone have fond memories of the early 1990s?

    First girlfriend? Does that count?
    It was my favourite period musically. My most listened-to musical period is still 1990-1992. The Pixies and the Wedding Present were still extant and baggy was in its heyday.

    Actually, ages 14-17 were a really good period of my life - I was starting to interact with girls and alcoholic drinks and other things I could do with my emerging freedom. It wasn't that the times were better than they are now, objectively; it was that the trajectory with which each year was better than the last was so good. And that, my friends, is the real key to happiness.

    First year at Uni (1991-92). First girlfriend including you know. Played rugby for Uni first team including playing London Irish U21's, came top in year, learned to drive and acquired a first car, Swindon an established second tier team.

    Hell yes I remember the early 90's fondly.
    Heh, that's another PB age surprise for me - I'd have put you a similar age to me, i.e. ten years younger!
    I'm old. Having a son at 50 is ok in theory but I wonder if its much easier when you are younger...
    I'm old too. I remember going to my great grandmother's 90th birthday party in 1950. She was fiercely Irish with a shillelagh on the wall and played the fiddle. She was born in 1860.

    She was born the year that Abraham Lincoln was elected President just before the American Civil War. And I knew her and remember her. I've told my grandchildren so that in 2060, they can say my grandfather remembered etc etc.
    I have a weird fascination with chains of connection such as that. How few people who actually met could you get back to say Roman Britain? Or 1066?
    Chess players have a "Morphy number". Players who played Morphy have a Morphy number of 1, players who played that set of players have the number 2, and so on.
    My Morphy number is 5.
    There are a handful of very old chess players still alive with a Morphy number of 3, including Leonard Barden, chess columnist of the Guardian.
    My Morphy number is also 5 (at worst). Flatlander v Short, N.

    Wasn't there a Holywood game for 'degrees of separation' involving Kevin Bacon?
    You randomly met Nigel Short in the park, or a proper tournament game? I remember him being the UK #1 for years.

    Yes, “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” is a real thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon
    Personally one degree of separation from anyone who ever shook the hand of Jimmy Carter.

    Ditto Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Sir Malcolm Rifkind and (dare I say?) John Bercow.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,275
    edited September 24


    Robert Colvile
    @rcolvile
    Tweeted this yesterday and then a load of people pointed out they do have a problem with the gifts themselves, because MPs legislated/regulated to ban huge swathes of workers like them from accepting such gifts, due to the risk of corruption. Which is a fair point.

    Robert Colvile
    @rcolvile
    ·
    2h
    ‘It is deeply wrong for a banker/civil servant to accept dinner from a client but my Taylor Swift tickets are just fine’ does have a certain inconsistency.

    https://x.com/rcolvile/status/1838468580234383710

    I'd find it quite insulting if someone offered to buy me a suit.
    Indeed and even worse for a man to offer to buy your wife's dresses
    These people are devoid of principles or shame
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,509

    Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Does anyone have fond memories of the early 1990s?

    First girlfriend? Does that count?
    It was my favourite period musically. My most listened-to musical period is still 1990-1992. The Pixies and the Wedding Present were still extant and baggy was in its heyday.

    Actually, ages 14-17 were a really good period of my life - I was starting to interact with girls and alcoholic drinks and other things I could do with my emerging freedom. It wasn't that the times were better than they are now, objectively; it was that the trajectory with which each year was better than the last was so good. And that, my friends, is the real key to happiness.

    First year at Uni (1991-92). First girlfriend including you know. Played rugby for Uni first team including playing London Irish U21's, came top in year, learned to drive and acquired a first car, Swindon an established second tier team.

    Hell yes I remember the early 90's fondly.
    Heh, that's another PB age surprise for me - I'd have put you a similar age to me, i.e. ten years younger!
    I'm old. Having a son at 50 is ok in theory but I wonder if its much easier when you are younger...
    I'm old too. I remember going to my great grandmother's 90th birthday party in 1950. She was fiercely Irish with a shillelagh on the wall and played the fiddle. She was born in 1860.

    She was born the year that Abraham Lincoln was elected President just before the American Civil War. And I knew her and remember her. I've told my grandchildren so that in 2060, they can say my grandfather remembered etc etc.
    I have a weird fascination with chains of connection such as that. How few people who actually met could you get back to say Roman Britain? Or 1066?
    Chess players have a "Morphy number". Players who played Morphy have a Morphy number of 1, players who played that set of players have the number 2, and so on.
    My Morphy number is 5.
    There are a handful of very old chess players still alive with a Morphy number of 3, including Leonard Barden, chess columnist of the Guardian.
    My Morphy number is also 5 (at worst). Flatlander v Short, N.

    Wasn't there a Holywood game for 'degrees of separation' involving Kevin Bacon?
    You randomly met Nigel Short in the park, or a proper tournament game? I remember him being the UK #1 for years.

    Yes, “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” is a real thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon
    That was a bit of a cheat. It was a simultaneous display at a club, so not an official game.

    Though I did win :smile:
    That definitely counts. ♟️

    I wonder how many of these exhibitions the GMs play, there must have been thousands of people who have played Magnus over the board, and tens of thousands who have played him online.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,177
    Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Does anyone have fond memories of the early 1990s?

    First girlfriend? Does that count?
    It was my favourite period musically. My most listened-to musical period is still 1990-1992. The Pixies and the Wedding Present were still extant and baggy was in its heyday.

    Actually, ages 14-17 were a really good period of my life - I was starting to interact with girls and alcoholic drinks and other things I could do with my emerging freedom. It wasn't that the times were better than they are now, objectively; it was that the trajectory with which each year was better than the last was so good. And that, my friends, is the real key to happiness.

    First year at Uni (1991-92). First girlfriend including you know. Played rugby for Uni first team including playing London Irish U21's, came top in year, learned to drive and acquired a first car, Swindon an established second tier team.

    Hell yes I remember the early 90's fondly.
    Heh, that's another PB age surprise for me - I'd have put you a similar age to me, i.e. ten years younger!
    I'm old. Having a son at 50 is ok in theory but I wonder if its much easier when you are younger...
    I'm old too. I remember going to my great grandmother's 90th birthday party in 1950. She was fiercely Irish with a shillelagh on the wall and played the fiddle. She was born in 1860.

    She was born the year that Abraham Lincoln was elected President just before the American Civil War. And I knew her and remember her. I've told my grandchildren so that in 2060, they can say my grandfather remembered etc etc.
    I have a weird fascination with chains of connection such as that. How few people who actually met could you get back to say Roman Britain? Or 1066?
    Chess players have a "Morphy number". Players who played Morphy have a Morphy number of 1, players who played that set of players have the number 2, and so on.
    My Morphy number is 5.
    There are a handful of very old chess players still alive with a Morphy number of 3, including Leonard Barden, chess columnist of the Guardian.
    A couple of American examples:

    A TV programme called “I’ve got a secret” from 1956, featuring an old man who was a child in the theatre when Lincoln was shot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPoymt3Jx4

    The last US Civil War widow’s pension was paid until 2020, 155 years after the war ended, to a lady who was 17 when she married a 93-year-old veteran.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil
    _War_widows_who_survived_into_the_21st
    _century


    This custom of young women marrying old
    veterans was widely practiced at the time,
    deliberately to screw the government on the
    lifetime pensions.
    It was more about providing security and income to the women than screwing the government per se. A lot of them were cousin marriages

  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,635
    edited September 24
    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Does anyone have fond memories of the early 1990s?

    First girlfriend? Does that count?
    It was my favourite period musically. My most listened-to musical period is still 1990-1992. The Pixies and the Wedding Present were still extant and baggy was in its heyday.

    Actually, ages 14-17 were a really good period of my life - I was starting to interact with girls and alcoholic drinks and other things I could do with my emerging freedom. It wasn't that the times were better than they are now, objectively; it was that the trajectory with which each year was better than the last was so good. And that, my friends, is the real key to happiness.

    First year at Uni (1991-92). First girlfriend including you know. Played rugby for Uni first team including playing London Irish U21's, came top in year, learned to drive and acquired a first car, Swindon an established second tier team.

    Hell yes I remember the early 90's fondly.
    Heh, that's another PB age surprise for me - I'd have put you a similar age to me, i.e. ten years younger!
    I'm old. Having a son at 50 is ok in theory but I wonder if its much easier when you are younger...
    I'm old too. I remember going to my great grandmother's 90th birthday party in 1950. She was fiercely Irish with a shillelagh on the wall and played the fiddle. She was born in 1860.

    She was born the year that Abraham Lincoln was elected President just before the American Civil War. And I knew her and remember her. I've told my grandchildren so that in 2060, they can say my grandfather remembered etc etc.
    I have a weird fascination with chains of connection such as that. How few people who actually met could you get back to say Roman Britain? Or 1066?
    Chess players have a "Morphy number". Players who played Morphy have a Morphy number of 1, players who played that set of players have the number 2, and so on.
    My Morphy number is 5.
    There are a handful of very old chess players still alive with a Morphy number of 3, including Leonard Barden, chess columnist of the Guardian.
    My Morphy number is also 5 (at worst). Flatlander v Short, N.

    Wasn't there a Holywood game for 'degrees of separation' involving Kevin Bacon?
    You randomly met Nigel Short in the park, or a proper tournament game? I remember him being the UK #1 for years.

    Yes, “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” is a real thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon
    That was a bit of a cheat. It was a simultaneous display at a club, so not an official game.

    Though I did win :smile:
    That definitely counts. ♟️

    I wonder how many of these exhibitions the GMs play, there must have been thousands of people who have played Magnus over the board, and tens of thousands who have played him online.
    Maybe not as many as they used to, at least in person.

    In those days (1990s) there wasn't a vast amount of money in chess. I don't think even Nigel made an awful lot despite the match with Kasparov.

    Exhibitions were thus quite a common way to make a few quid. I did wonder if it was in the contract to throw the odd game although I did get him mired in a total swamp that neither of us had much clue about. [He played about 30 boards and won on 28].

    In a similar vein I think my Dad may well have played Paul Keres in a simul, which gives him a Morphy number of 4.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,177
    mercator said:

    mercator said:

    Leon said:

    The total flailing cringeworthy mediocrity of Skyr Toolmakersson is an unexpected but profound source of joy in a sometimes menacing world

    It's a decent speech. You could/would have written that before you saw it. Try doing something else. You were interesting, intelligent and informed on drugs policy last night.
    On which subject have a look at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud

    Who thought cocaine was the bees knees and the cure for everything from depression to morphine addiction (really), and caused an epidemic of perfectly legal cocaine taking which, guess what, transformed the takers into arseholes.
    As someone who was turned into an arsehole daily when you began drinking at 4pm in your former guise as @IshmaelZ , you'd know all about that.
    I thought identifying previous names was verboten?


    Misidentifying possibly even more so?
    You are more level headed than Ishmael who was just an arse even when sober
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,007
    MaxPB said:

    I wonder what the Boris word cloud looked like around the time when Dom had dodgy eyesight. I wouldn't be surprised if it was very similar to this.

    You know that word that OGH bans people for? :)

  • TresTres Posts: 2,691
    Nigelb said:

    What do we think of Harris's husband getting paid $250k for a campaign speech ?

    What do we think of Melania Trump's 'hairdresser' getting $150k per annum from Trump's campaign funds?
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,007
    Andy_JS said:

    "First-class train ticket buys Mariella Frostrup a spot on floor

    Presenter rails against GWR after being forced to sit by the lavatory for two hours due to overcrowding" (£)

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/media/article/first-class-train-ticket-buys-mariella-frostrup-a-spot-on-floor-by-the-loo-qp78w8z99

    I blame her ex-boyfriends... :)
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,007
    viewcode said:

    viewcode said:

    Unsarcastically, you might want to watch this:

    "Shattered Nation: how to save Britain from becoming a failed state" (2023), Danny Dorling. A lecture at the David Hume Institute, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCUfqIND8mQ , 92mins.

    Some more Danny Dorling. This is more accessible on the same subject and is shorter at 31 mins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAJIJ2-8a8c
    Some more more Danny Dorling https://theconversation.com/profiles/danny-dorling-113761/articles and his latest is https://theconversation.com/getting-shorter-and-going-hungrier-how-children-in-the-uk-live-today-238364
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