Starmer on British overseas territory: "My uncle nearly lost his life when his ship was torpedoed defending the Falklands. They are British and they will remain British. And sovereignty in Gibraltar is equally not to be negotiated...I've been v clear about the Falklands. It's personal to me."
I think he means hit by a missile. No UK ships were torpedoed in the Falklands campaign, I believe.
Largely due to “black sky” ASW ops - they dropped a homing torpedo on anything that vaguely resembled a possible submarine contact.
People online are saying this was HMS Antelope, which was bombed, not torpedoed. #Starmermustgo
So this is how the poor live. It’s an incredible insight into that other world, which so few of us know. Now I’ve been immersed in that world for over 2 hours, and - I think it’s changed me
I may have a creme de menthe frappe overlooking Lac Leman to contemplate what I’ve learned
How much will that be?
You have £73 left I think you said.
That is roughly what a single person on unemployment benefit or basic ESA has for a week!
Fucksake I’ve been fiercely budgeting for what seems like hours. Indeed it is hours. Nearly 3 hours now - of grinding poverty, no let up, no hope, no promise of betterment, and just a nice tartellete aux fruits, etc, for breakfast until I got my free tram to the lakeside for a stroll in the sun, and now I stare at the jet d’eau and think about a glass of wine
This is it. This is reality for 80% of the world. Utter paupery and a life without comfort. At least I can now say I’ve seen it and done it
On the bright side, you’re missing the BBC4 screening of Threads tonight. Only the fourth terrestrial screening ever I read..
The spectator is trying to warn us with ample articles
Starmer on British overseas territory: "My uncle nearly lost his life when his ship was torpedoed defending the Falklands. They are British and they will remain British. And sovereignty in Gibraltar is equally not to be negotiated...I've been v clear about the Falklands. It's personal to me."
I think he means hit by a missile. No UK ships were torpedoed in the Falklands campaign, I believe.
Largely due to “black sky” ASW ops - they dropped a homing torpedo on anything that vaguely resembled a possible submarine contact.
Heard an interesting talk about the Tornado raid while visiting Orford Ness a few years ago. They had to refuel a few times on the way out and on the way home and were limited to a single swoop over Stanley airport. Runways are quite narrow so it's hard to target them with a stick of bombs. If you fly parallel you risk missing the lot, if you fly across you have a better chance of hitting it with just one (which they did). It would have been an interesting excursion for the crews whose daily routine consisted of sitting on a plane loaded with nukes at the end of a runway, waiting for a green light.
Fascinating header today. I think this reflects the breakdown in the traditional 2-party dominance in the UK, i.e. the rise of the SPLORG. The question is how that interacts with FPTP.
At the general election, the LibDems efficiently got votes where needed and ended up with a fairly proportional MP total. The Greens struggle with this, but made big improvements on previous years. The biggest disproportionality was with the Reform UK vote. So, what happens next election? Can RefUK "do a LibDem" and turn votes into seats, or do they continue as a spoiler and doom the right-wing vote?
For some, answers to that question are to be found in some sort of Con/Ref pact. However, the LibDems (and to a lesser extent Greens) managed to "do" FPTP without making any formal pact with Labour. I also note that RefUK did have a formal electoral pact at the start of the last general election campaign (with the TUV), which collapsed as soon as Farage opened his mouth. That doesn't suggest they can manage a more complicated one with the Tories!
But as long as we have FPTP, these concerns matter as much as the polling headline figures.
I'd say to some extent a party's vote becomes more efficient over time as voters adjust to local circumstances. So Reform were more efficient than their predecessors BXP and UKIP - and I would expect that incremental improvement to continue.
Brutal day for the Pakistani bowlers. Nearly 400 runs conceded for 2 wickets. Whilst it is great to see some fine shots this is not a meaningful competition between bat and ball. If Pakistan want bigger crowds at their test matches they are going to have to produce much better wickets than this.
As for Brook, I am pretty sure he doesn't want England to play anywhere else. Astonishing record.
I'm bored stiff by these pitches where each team is almost guaranteed to score 500.
Gov. Walz: We just learned today that Donald Trump was secretly sending COVID testing machines to Vladimir Putin that we couldn't even get in our states. Can we all just agree, this is the kind of stuff that would have ended political careers before they started? https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1843835585045102627
What is a covid testing machine? PCR? Pretty sure most US states would have access to PCR.
The testing machines were in very short supply in 2020.
I’m about to have a beer in a lakeshore bar overlooking the Jet d’Eau
If anyone would like to join me you are more than welcome. Especially if you can get the bill
I reckon that £73 will be gone in about 45 mins...
You don’t even get a little choc or biccy with your espresso
i can see why MaxPB hated living there.
Zurich is marginally better than Geneva tbf. Geneva is probably the worst place to live in Switzerland, it's got a really seedy underbelly of drugs and prostitution because there are so many international people there with diplomatic status who seem to act with impunity. On paper it seems like exactly the kind of place where Leon would fit in...
So this is how the poor live. It’s an incredible insight into that other world, which so few of us know. Now I’ve been immersed in that world for over 2 hours, and - I think it’s changed me
I may have a creme de menthe frappe overlooking Lac Leman to contemplate what I’ve learned
How much will that be?
You have £73 left I think you said.
That is roughly what a single person on unemployment benefit or basic ESA has for a week!
Fucksake I’ve been fiercely budgeting for what seems like hours. Indeed it is hours. Nearly 3 hours now - of grinding poverty, no let up, no hope, no promise of betterment, and just a nice tartellete aux fruits, etc, for breakfast until I got my free tram to the lakeside for a stroll in the sun, and now I stare at the jet d’eau and think about a glass of wine
This is it. This is reality for 80% of the world. Utter paupery and a life without comfort. At least I can now say I’ve seen it and done it
On the bright side, you’re missing the BBC4 screening of Threads tonight. Only the fourth terrestrial screening ever I read..
The spectator is trying to warn us with ample articles
Iran attack seems to be delayed by the U.S., I think. Perhaps Biden is exercising a bit more influence here.
Could be. I speculated that they could be waiting until nearer to the US election.
Or Israel may think it's better to do more damage to Hezbollah first, before turning to Iran.
Who knows, there might even be a delay on a shipment of special phones to Iran...
I've also been wondering whether Biden has offered Israel greater leeway in attacking targets in Lebanon as a quid pro quo for how restricted the attacks on Iran. Thar could cause acatastrophe for the civilians of Lebanon on the scale of Gaza, if Netanyahu isn't reined in quickly.
Fascinating header today. I think this reflects the breakdown in the traditional 2-party dominance in the UK, i.e. the rise of the SPLORG. The question is how that interacts with FPTP.
At the general election, the LibDems efficiently got votes where needed and ended up with a fairly proportional MP total. The Greens struggle with this, but made big improvements on previous years. The biggest disproportionality was with the Reform UK vote. So, what happens next election? Can RefUK "do a LibDem" and turn votes into seats, or do they continue as a spoiler and doom the right-wing vote?
For some, answers to that question are to be found in some sort of Con/Ref pact. However, the LibDems (and to a lesser extent Greens) managed to "do" FPTP without making any formal pact with Labour. I also note that RefUK did have a formal electoral pact at the start of the last general election campaign (with the TUV), which collapsed as soon as Farage opened his mouth. That doesn't suggest they can manage a more complicated one with the Tories!
But as long as we have FPTP, these concerns matter as much as the polling headline figures.
I'd say to some extent a party's vote becomes more efficient over time as voters adjust to local circumstances. So Reform were more efficient than their predecessors BXP and UKIP - and I would expect that incremental improvement to continue.
Interesting. Yes, OK, I can see there is a natural process, but parties also have a role. LibDem and Green campaigning evolved. Will RefUK's?
Starmer on British overseas territory: "My uncle nearly lost his life when his ship was torpedoed defending the Falklands. They are British and they will remain British. And sovereignty in Gibraltar is equally not to be negotiated...I've been v clear about the Falklands. It's personal to me."
I think he means hit by a missile. No UK ships were torpedoed in the Falklands campaign, I believe.
Largely due to “black sky” ASW ops - they dropped a homing torpedo on anything that vaguely resembled a possible submarine contact.
People online are saying this was HMS Antelope, which was bombed, not torpedoed. #Starmermustgo
The Starmer doctrine: if you want a bit of British territory then fair do's, as long as you didn't torpedo my uncle.
Starmer on British overseas territory: "My uncle nearly lost his life when his ship was torpedoed defending the Falklands. They are British and they will remain British. And sovereignty in Gibraltar is equally not to be negotiated...I've been v clear about the Falklands. It's personal to me."
I think he means hit by a missile. No UK ships were torpedoed in the Falklands campaign, I believe.
Largely due to “black sky” ASW ops - they dropped a homing torpedo on anything that vaguely resembled a possible submarine contact.
Heard an interesting talk about the Tornado raid while visiting Orford Ness a few years ago. They had to refuel a few times on the way out and on the way home and were limited to a single swoop over Stanley airport. Runways are quite narrow so it's hard to target them with a stick of bombs. If you fly parallel you risk missing the lot, if you fly across you have a better chance of hitting it with just one (which they did). It would have been an interesting excursion for the crews whose daily routine consisted of sitting on a plane loaded with nukes at the end of a runway, waiting for a green light.
Vulcan not Tornado.
Indeed - and they practised conventional bombing all through the Cold War.
The attack angle was (deliberately) at a 45 angle to the runway to guarantee a hit - intervalometer setting vs altitude vs airspeed…
So this is how the poor live. It’s an incredible insight into that other world, which so few of us know. Now I’ve been immersed in that world for over 2 hours, and - I think it’s changed me
I may have a creme de menthe frappe overlooking Lac Leman to contemplate what I’ve learned
How much will that be?
You have £73 left I think you said.
That is roughly what a single person on unemployment benefit or basic ESA has for a week!
Fucksake I’ve been fiercely budgeting for what seems like hours. Indeed it is hours. Nearly 3 hours now - of grinding poverty, no let up, no hope, no promise of betterment, and just a nice tartellete aux fruits, etc, for breakfast until I got my free tram to the lakeside for a stroll in the sun, and now I stare at the jet d’eau and think about a glass of wine
This is it. This is reality for 80% of the world. Utter paupery and a life without comfort. At least I can now say I’ve seen it and done it
On the bright side, you’re missing the BBC4 screening of Threads tonight. Only the fourth terrestrial screening ever I read..
The spectator is trying to warn us with ample articles
Did the writer of the article do a proper examination of its premise - that people like to be artificially scared - before putting pen to paper?
Because I'm not sure they do. Some do, yes, but others certainly don't.
Are you, perhaps, the latter?
I certainly am. I don't like fiction which invokes any sort of negative emotions whatsoever. I don't like to be made to feel scared, or stressed, or sad, or angry, or even vicariously awkward. I don't see why you would. My guard is up when I watch fiction and I can see all the warning signs of something about to try to make me feel something and I tune out, or go and wash the dishes, or turn it off and refuse to watch anything from that franchise again. Thus, I don't consume much fiction.
You'd have hated the start of Casualty over the years then - guess the traumatic accident waiting to happen!
The best ones were when they went up a tall rickety ladder and you think."Oh I can see where this is going" but then they have a heart attack instead
So this is how the poor live. It’s an incredible insight into that other world, which so few of us know. Now I’ve been immersed in that world for over 2 hours, and - I think it’s changed me
I may have a creme de menthe frappe overlooking Lac Leman to contemplate what I’ve learned
How much will that be?
You have £73 left I think you said.
That is roughly what a single person on unemployment benefit or basic ESA has for a week!
Fucksake I’ve been fiercely budgeting for what seems like hours. Indeed it is hours. Nearly 3 hours now - of grinding poverty, no let up, no hope, no promise of betterment, and just a nice tartellete aux fruits, etc, for breakfast until I got my free tram to the lakeside for a stroll in the sun, and now I stare at the jet d’eau and think about a glass of wine
This is it. This is reality for 80% of the world. Utter paupery and a life without comfort. At least I can now say I’ve seen it and done it
On the bright side, you’re missing the BBC4 screening of Threads tonight. Only the fourth terrestrial screening ever I read..
The spectator is trying to warn us with ample articles
Did the writer of the article do a proper examination of its premise - that people like to be artificially scared - before putting pen to paper?
Because I'm not sure they do. Some do, yes, but others certainly don't.
Are you, perhaps, the latter?
I certainly am. I don't like fiction which invokes any sort of negative emotions whatsoever. I don't like to be made to feel scared, or stressed, or sad, or angry, or even vicariously awkward. I don't see why you would. My guard is up when I watch fiction and I can see all the warning signs of something about to try to make me feel something and I tune out, or go and wash the dishes, or turn it off and refuse to watch anything from that franchise again. Thus, I don't consume much fiction.
I haven't read fiction for some time now. After Banks, Pratchett, Clarke and Asimov died, I tried to get into the latest sci-fi wave but couldn't. Although I still buy the latest Charles Stross/John Scalzi/Stephen Baxter/Ken MacLeod, I've kind of left the others go. Literary fiction never appealed apart from the obviouses like 1984. Instead the gap is filled by politics or military history.
Speaking of which, if you don't like disquieting thoughts, don't read Hastings's Armageddon or Nemesis. Towards the end of WW2 everybody was doing horrible, repulsive things and it's rather depressing. Hastings's history of Bomber Command is great fun but he veers off to take a chapter to describe the effects of one bombing raid on one town, and the horrible injuries, and the desperate attempts of Speer's organisation to rush resources to the bombed areas, and it's sobering. Life is not as nice as I want it to be.
I’m about to have a beer in a lakeshore bar overlooking the Jet d’Eau
If anyone would like to join me you are more than welcome. Especially if you can get the bill
I reckon that £73 will be gone in about 45 mins...
You don’t even get a little choc or biccy with your espresso
i can see why MaxPB hated living there.
Zurich is marginally better than Geneva tbf. Geneva is probably the worst place to live in Switzerland, it's got a really seedy underbelly of drugs and prostitution because there are so many international people there with diplomatic status who seem to act with impunity. On paper it seems like exactly the kind of place where Leon would fit in...
I’m about to have a beer in a lakeshore bar overlooking the Jet d’Eau
If anyone would like to join me you are more than welcome. Especially if you can get the bill
I reckon that £73 will be gone in about 45 mins...
You don’t even get a little choc or biccy with your espresso
i can see why MaxPB hated living there.
Zurich is marginally better than Geneva tbf. Geneva is probably the worst place to live in Switzerland, it's got a really seedy underbelly of drugs and prostitution because there are so many international people there with diplomatic status who seem to act with impunity. On paper it seems like exactly the kind of place where Leon would fit in...
How do the cognerati see the Tory leadership elections developing over the next day?
Is Kemi done?
(The underlying q is that I have a small lay on Kemi. Is it time to kill it?)
I have no idea to be honest. There's obviously going be all sorts of vote lending and arm twisting and promises of jobs and so on, so who can possibly know from the outside.
To me, though I don't rule out an upset (and indeed I hope for one) in Jenrick’s favour, it seems a little sewn up by the Party hierarchy. You get sopping centrist (and China security risk) Cleverly, or you get Govite/Williamsonite dissembler Kemi, who campaigned to increase immigration and deleted all of 3 and a half EU laws rather than 800.
I said at the very beginning of this race that Kemi was getting briefed against either because she had fallen out with the Govite nexus (a possible but not particularly plausible suggestion), or they were actually behind the briefings, to cast Kemi as the freewheeling warrior princess of the right, suffering the slings and arrows of the slimy centrists, to provoke a strong reaction by Tory activists and members in her favour. She will then scrape through to the members 'against the odds' and trounce her opponent because most of the members think they're sticking it to the man by electing her.
I have nothing against consenting adults organising sex parties if they so desire, but I don't think those parties were organised because the organisers liked sex parties, I think they were organised so the participants would be obliged permanently to the organisers. That is corrosive to our politics, and I don't think a serious politician should be touching that sort of thing with a barge pole.
Jenrick however does seem determined, intelligent and resourceful, and hopefully he has some of his own tricks up his sleeve.
Iran attack seems to be delayed by the U.S., I think. Perhaps Biden is exercising a bit more influence here.
Could be. I speculated that they could be waiting until nearer to the US election.
Or Israel may think it's better to do more damage to Hezbollah first, before turning to Iran.
Who knows, there might even be a delay on a shipment of special phones to Iran...
I've also been wondering whether Biden has offered Israel greater leeway in attacking targets in Lebanon as a quid pro quo for how restricted the attacks on Iran. Thar could cause acatastrophe for the civilians of Lebanon on the scale of Gaza, if Netanyahu isn't reined in quickly.
Poor Lebanon. In a cul-de-sac with vicious thugs at both ends.
So this is how the poor live. It’s an incredible insight into that other world, which so few of us know. Now I’ve been immersed in that world for over 2 hours, and - I think it’s changed me
I may have a creme de menthe frappe overlooking Lac Leman to contemplate what I’ve learned
How much will that be?
You have £73 left I think you said.
That is roughly what a single person on unemployment benefit or basic ESA has for a week!
Fucksake I’ve been fiercely budgeting for what seems like hours. Indeed it is hours. Nearly 3 hours now - of grinding poverty, no let up, no hope, no promise of betterment, and just a nice tartellete aux fruits, etc, for breakfast until I got my free tram to the lakeside for a stroll in the sun, and now I stare at the jet d’eau and think about a glass of wine
This is it. This is reality for 80% of the world. Utter paupery and a life without comfort. At least I can now say I’ve seen it and done it
On the bright side, you’re missing the BBC4 screening of Threads tonight. Only the fourth terrestrial screening ever I read..
The spectator is trying to warn us with ample articles
Did the writer of the article do a proper examination of its premise - that people like to be artificially scared - before putting pen to paper?
Because I'm not sure they do. Some do, yes, but others certainly don't.
Are you, perhaps, the latter?
I certainly am. I don't like fiction which invokes any sort of negative emotions whatsoever. I don't like to be made to feel scared, or stressed, or sad, or angry, or even vicariously awkward. I don't see why you would. My guard is up when I watch fiction and I can see all the warning signs of something about to try to make me feel something and I tune out, or go and wash the dishes, or turn it off and refuse to watch anything from that franchise again. Thus, I don't consume much fiction.
You'd have hated the start of Casualty over the years then - guess the traumatic accident waiting to happen!
The best ones were when they went up a tall rickety ladder and you think."Oh I can see where this is going" but then they have a heart attack instead
Yep - the fake peril then the real peril! Legendary.
Metropolitan Police deny they were put under pressure to give Taylor Swift a blue light convoy at taxpayers expenses by Khan and Cooper
Apparently they both received Taylor Swift gifted tickets and here lies the problem in perception, fairly or not
Jesus. What moronic trivial froth.
Change the bloody record, releasing the pearls from your grasp as you do so.
You seem to have a problem with anything you may think compromises the government, and then throw in your childish response about someone clutching pearls, or cash is nonsense, or 172 seat majority, or something else all of which are so predictable
You cannot close down newstories you do not like no matter how much you huff and puff
Change the record.
Good advice - you should take it
The greater puzzle is why senior politicians are so desperate to see a Taylor Swift concert. Are we governed by 12 year old girls?
I thought the "grown ups are back in charge".
Cookie is ill-informed if he believes that 12 year old girls are the main cohort of Swifties! But, more to the point, Swift's favourability ratings are way higher than any politicians, so if you're a politician, you want to associate yourself with her in the hope some of that popularity will rub off.
I guess it is no different to Blair ingratiating himself with the Cool Britannia Britpop lot.
This is fascinating. All the way through the process – until yesterday – he was, I think a reasonable 90% assumption to get to the final two. And now, for no readily apparent single reason (or at least, not one which wasn’t evident from the start), he is being manoeuvred out. This is why we love Tory leadership elections. No other party does the psychodrama quite so well.
Starmer on British overseas territory: "My uncle nearly lost his life when his ship was torpedoed defending the Falklands. They are British and they will remain British. And sovereignty in Gibraltar is equally not to be negotiated...I've been v clear about the Falklands. It's personal to me."
I think he means hit by a missile. No UK ships were torpedoed in the Falklands campaign, I believe.
Largely due to “black sky” ASW ops - they dropped a homing torpedo on anything that vaguely resembled a possible submarine contact.
People online are saying this was HMS Antelope, which was bombed, not torpedoed. #Starmermustgo
The Starmer doctrine: if you want a bit of British territory then fair do's, as long as you didn't torpedo my uncle.
Yes, that was a pretty dodgy rationale for British diplomatic resolve Mentioning the uncle was fine; "it's personal to me" is just rubbish.
Metropolitan Police deny they were put under pressure to give Taylor Swift a blue light convoy at taxpayers expenses by Khan and Cooper
Apparently they both received Taylor Swift gifted tickets and here lies the problem in perception, fairly or not
Jesus. What moronic trivial froth.
Change the bloody record, releasing the pearls from your grasp as you do so.
You seem to have a problem with anything you may think compromises the government, and then throw in your childish response about someone clutching pearls, or cash is nonsense, or 172 seat majority, or something else all of which are so predictable
You cannot close down newstories you do not like no matter how much you huff and puff
Change the record.
Good advice - you should take it
The greater puzzle is why senior politicians are so desperate to see a Taylor Swift concert. Are we governed by 12 year old girls?
I thought the "grown ups are back in charge".
Cookie is ill-informed if he believes that 12 year old girls are the main cohort of Swifties! But, more to the point, Swift's favourability ratings are way higher than any politicians, so if you're a politician, you want to associate yourself with her in the hope some of that popularity will rub off.
I guess it is no different to Blair ingratiating himself with the Cool Britannia Britpop lot.
At least the Cool Britannia Britpop lot were making music aimed at adults.
I don't want to diss Swift. She's clearly talented. Music for 12 year old girls doesn't write itself; certainly not music which 12 year old girls will buy into like never before. But it's still music for 12 year old girls. Sure, there are adults along to accompany them or for the experience of an event, but actually to enjoy the music?
Brutal day for the Pakistani bowlers. Nearly 400 runs conceded for 2 wickets. Whilst it is great to see some fine shots this is not a meaningful competition between bat and ball. If Pakistan want bigger crowds at their test matches they are going to have to produce much better wickets than this.
As for Brook, I am pretty sure he doesn't want England to play anywhere else. Astonishing record.
They’ll be back at the same ground for the second Test next week.
Hope the groundsmen are asked to make a slightly different pitch.
Starmer on British overseas territory: "My uncle nearly lost his life when his ship was torpedoed defending the Falklands. They are British and they will remain British. And sovereignty in Gibraltar is equally not to be negotiated...I've been v clear about the Falklands. It's personal to me."
I think he means hit by a missile. No UK ships were torpedoed in the Falklands campaign, I believe.
Largely due to “black sky” ASW ops - they dropped a homing torpedo on anything that vaguely resembled a possible submarine contact.
Heard an interesting talk about the Tornado raid while visiting Orford Ness a few years ago. They had to refuel a few times on the way out and on the way home and were limited to a single swoop over Stanley airport. Runways are quite narrow so it's hard to target them with a stick of bombs. If you fly parallel you risk missing the lot, if you fly across you have a better chance of hitting it with just one (which they did). It would have been an interesting excursion for the crews whose daily routine consisted of sitting on a plane loaded with nukes at the end of a runway, waiting for a green light.
Tornado raid?
The raids on Stanley were the famous Operation Black Buck, using obsolete Vulcan Bombers and Victor tankers, and involving perhaps the most complicated aircraft refuelling strategy ever devised. The whole lot of them were totally nuts for going along with it, and the RAF were lucky not to end up with a plane in the Southern mid-Atlantic! Best of British. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck
I’m about to have a beer in a lakeshore bar overlooking the Jet d’Eau
If anyone would like to join me you are more than welcome. Especially if you can get the bill
I reckon that £73 will be gone in about 45 mins...
You don’t even get a little choc or biccy with your espresso
i can see why MaxPB hated living there.
Zurich is marginally better than Geneva tbf. Geneva is probably the worst place to live in Switzerland, it's got a really seedy underbelly of drugs and prostitution because there are so many international people there with diplomatic status who seem to act with impunity. On paper it seems like exactly the kind of place where Leon would fit in...
Except that he’s officially got no money. Maybe the personal credit card comes out for a personable young lady and her pharmacist friend?
I’m about to have a beer in a lakeshore bar overlooking the Jet d’Eau
If anyone would like to join me you are more than welcome. Especially if you can get the bill
I reckon that £73 will be gone in about 45 mins...
You don’t even get a little choc or biccy with your espresso
i can see why MaxPB hated living there.
Zurich is marginally better than Geneva tbf. Geneva is probably the worst place to live in Switzerland, it's got a really seedy underbelly of drugs and prostitution because there are so many international people there with diplomatic status who seem to act with impunity. On paper it seems like exactly the kind of place where Leon would fit in...
Except that he’s officially got no money. Maybe the personal credit card comes out for a personable young lady and her pharmacist friend?
Spent a bit of time in Verbier a few years ago, nice but really expensive.
I’m about to have a beer in a lakeshore bar overlooking the Jet d’Eau
If anyone would like to join me you are more than welcome. Especially if you can get the bill
I reckon that £73 will be gone in about 45 mins...
You don’t even get a little choc or biccy with your espresso
i can see why MaxPB hated living there.
Zurich is marginally better than Geneva tbf. Geneva is probably the worst place to live in Switzerland, it's got a really seedy underbelly of drugs and prostitution because there are so many international people there with diplomatic status who seem to act with impunity. On paper it seems like exactly the kind of place where Leon would fit in...
Except that he’s officially got no money. Maybe the personal credit card comes out for a personable young lady and her pharmacist friend?
So this is how the poor live. It’s an incredible insight into that other world, which so few of us know. Now I’ve been immersed in that world for over 2 hours, and - I think it’s changed me
I may have a creme de menthe frappe overlooking Lac Leman to contemplate what I’ve learned
How much will that be?
You have £73 left I think you said.
That is roughly what a single person on unemployment benefit or basic ESA has for a week!
Fucksake I’ve been fiercely budgeting for what seems like hours. Indeed it is hours. Nearly 3 hours now - of grinding poverty, no let up, no hope, no promise of betterment, and just a nice tartellete aux fruits, etc, for breakfast until I got my free tram to the lakeside for a stroll in the sun, and now I stare at the jet d’eau and think about a glass of wine
This is it. This is reality for 80% of the world. Utter paupery and a life without comfort. At least I can now say I’ve seen it and done it
On the bright side, you’re missing the BBC4 screening of Threads tonight. Only the fourth terrestrial screening ever I read..
The spectator is trying to warn us with ample articles
Metropolitan Police deny they were put under pressure to give Taylor Swift a blue light convoy at taxpayers expenses by Khan and Cooper
Apparently they both received Taylor Swift gifted tickets and here lies the problem in perception, fairly or not
Jesus. What moronic trivial froth.
Change the bloody record, releasing the pearls from your grasp as you do so.
You seem to have a problem with anything you may think compromises the government, and then throw in your childish response about someone clutching pearls, or cash is nonsense, or 172 seat majority, or something else all of which are so predictable
You cannot close down newstories you do not like no matter how much you huff and puff
Change the record.
Good advice - you should take it
The greater puzzle is why senior politicians are so desperate to see a Taylor Swift concert. Are we governed by 12 year old girls?
I thought the "grown ups are back in charge".
Cookie is ill-informed if he believes that 12 year old girls are the main cohort of Swifties! But, more to the point, Swift's favourability ratings are way higher than any politicians, so if you're a politician, you want to associate yourself with her in the hope some of that popularity will rub off.
If you have one, there is a decent probability that you *are* Governed by 12 year old girls .
Metropolitan Police deny they were put under pressure to give Taylor Swift a blue light convoy at taxpayers expenses by Khan and Cooper
Apparently they both received Taylor Swift gifted tickets and here lies the problem in perception, fairly or not
Jesus. What moronic trivial froth.
Change the bloody record, releasing the pearls from your grasp as you do so.
You seem to have a problem with anything you may think compromises the government, and then throw in your childish response about someone clutching pearls, or cash is nonsense, or 172 seat majority, or something else all of which are so predictable
You cannot close down newstories you do not like no matter how much you huff and puff
Change the record.
Good advice - you should take it
The greater puzzle is why senior politicians are so desperate to see a Taylor Swift concert. Are we governed by 12 year old girls?
It's interesting to contemplate the impact that would have. I suspect a net positive.
They’d be less emotional and prone to tantrums. So that’s probably a good thing
Comments
Anyway, England's bowlers got a rest.
https://www.politico.eu/article/kremlin-confirms-donald-trump-covid-test-vladimir-putin-president-russia-us-abbott-point/
...Woodward writes in his book that when Trump was still president in 2020, he “secretly sent Putin a bunch of Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines for his personal use” during a time period when Covid tests were scarce...
Sufficiently embarrassing for the Trump crew to be denying it publicly.
Saved from the poorhouse.
Just win a few pounds now if Badenoch or Cleverly gets this.
If Jenrick - 52p.*
* Or about ten mins of spending time in Geneva for our @Leon
Thar could cause acatastrophe for the civilians of Lebanon on the scale of Gaza, if Netanyahu isn't reined in quickly.
The attack angle was (deliberately) at a 45 angle to the runway to guarantee a hit - intervalometer setting vs altitude vs airspeed…
Speaking of which, if you don't like disquieting thoughts, don't read Hastings's Armageddon or Nemesis. Towards the end of WW2 everybody was doing horrible, repulsive things and it's rather depressing. Hastings's history of Bomber Command is great fun but he veers off to take a chapter to describe the effects of one bombing raid on one town, and the horrible injuries, and the desperate attempts of Speer's organisation to rush resources to the bombed areas, and it's sobering. Life is not as nice as I want it to be.
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.205526560
I said at the very beginning of this race that Kemi was getting briefed against either because she had fallen out with the Govite nexus (a possible but not particularly plausible suggestion), or they were actually behind the briefings, to cast Kemi as the freewheeling warrior princess of the right, suffering the slings and arrows of the slimy centrists, to provoke a strong reaction by Tory activists and members in her favour. She will then scrape through to the members 'against the odds' and trounce her opponent because most of the members think they're sticking it to the man by electing her.
I have nothing against consenting adults organising sex parties if they so desire, but I don't think those parties were organised because the organisers liked sex parties, I think they were organised so the participants would be obliged permanently to the organisers. That is corrosive to our politics, and I don't think a serious politician should be touching that sort of thing with a barge pole.
Jenrick however does seem determined, intelligent and resourceful, and hopefully he has some of his own tricks up his sleeve.
And yes, I know what a cul-de-sac is.
It is all over the place this afternoon.
This is why we love Tory leadership elections. No other party does the psychodrama quite so well.
#New General election poll
🔴 Trump 51% (+2)
🔵 Harris 49%
Last poll - 🔵 Harris +1
ActiVote #N/A - 1000 LV - 10/8
Mentioning the uncle was fine; "it's personal to me" is just rubbish.
NEW THREAD
I don't want to diss Swift. She's clearly talented. Music for 12 year old girls doesn't write itself; certainly not music which 12 year old girls will buy into like never before. But it's still music for 12 year old girls. Sure, there are adults along to accompany them or for the experience of an event, but actually to enjoy the music?
If they have to push back supply lines further than that, the logistics become more and more of an utter nightmare for the Russians.
Oh well, never mind.
Hope the groundsmen are asked to make a slightly different pitch.
The raids on Stanley were the famous Operation Black Buck, using obsolete Vulcan Bombers and Victor tankers, and involving perhaps the most complicated aircraft refuelling strategy ever devised. The whole lot of them were totally nuts for going along with it, and the RAF were lucky not to end up with a plane in the Southern mid-Atlantic! Best of British.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck
If that’s true it might save this whole trip