I was in Blackpool on Sunday. It's a puzzle. Obviously I know of its reputation. And the streets behind the front are rather run down. But 80% of the town's residential areas appear clean and well kept, and, if not prosperous, certainly not uncomfortable. I don't know how. Blackpool is not overendowed with well-paid work. But I know grim northern towns - drop ten Google Streetview pins at random in Rochdale, Blackburn, Barnsley, Middlesbrough and prepare to be depressed. The same is not true of Blackpool. And yet. The stats. One of the stats, interestingly, is that Blackpool is the most densely populated local authority in the North West. I suspect the grim areas are horribly overpopulated with benefitees living in dead hotels. And the poverty of the people living here outweighs the not-poverty of most of the town.
Anyway, despite its problems, it's a grand place. It is very much not on its arse. It may not fill the rooms it did in the 50s, but it still fills a quite astonishing number. The town works furiously hard finding reasons for people to come to Blackpool, and come they do. And if you stand on the front and look out to sea at sunset, you can see why tourism developed here. It can be surprisingly charming. I like it more every time I go.
So Ive been through the press in France Germany Italy and Spain and none of them have reported on the world changing events surrounding Greg Wallace.
Do they understand nothing ?
Rather a sadly dismissive post. If a rather forward camp man pulled his todger out, his modesty covered only by a sock, because he thought it might attract your interest, I suspect you would be quite justifiably outraged. Is there a difference?
when did he have his todger out, the fantasies are escalating
Apparently he didn't it was covered by a sock. My mistake.
The thing is that these sorts of actions are on an escalating ladder. Today it is "todger out", but what about tomorrow or next week? When does flashing no longer satisfy and so the perpetrator moves up to assault or rape or murder?
Are we supposed to wait until it gets really, deadly serious?
Jermaine Jenas's feet didn't touch the ground for "sexting".How the hell did Wallace keep his presenting role after claims were made about his behaviour in 2018? Moving on from your point this was only a handful of years after Savile. I am not suggesting a parallel, however it does seem blind eyes remain blind to national treasures.
Why on earth have Donald Trump at an event like that? It's meant to be a celebration of elegance and beauty.
As he is the next most powerful man in the world and is a champion of celebrating western nations Christian heritage like Macron, which includes attending events such as the restoration of Notre Dame
Christian heritage? How many commandments has he driven a coach and horses through?
Trump is a cultural Christian of Presbyterian heritage but not a regular church attender other than weddings, baptisms and funerals.
He does though preach the populist and nationalist right message across the West that their nations identity is under threat from secular atheist wokeism and radical Islamism
That could equally be an atheist liberal argument. See Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris.
So Ive been through the press in France Germany Italy and Spain and none of them have reported on the world changing events surrounding Greg Wallace.
Do they understand nothing ?
Rather a sadly dismissive post. If a rather forward camp man pulled his todger out, his modesty covered only by a sock, because he thought it might attract your interest, I suspect you would be quite justifiably outraged. Is there a difference?
when did he have his todger out, the fantasies are escalating
Apparently he didn't it was covered by a sock. My mistake.
The thing is that these sorts of actions are on an escalating ladder. Today it is "todger out", but what about tomorrow or next week? When does flashing no longer satisfy and so the perpetrator moves up to assault or rape or murder?
Are we supposed to wait until it gets really, deadly serious?
Jermaine Jenas's feet didn't touch the ground for "sexting".How the hell did Wallace keep his presenting role after claims were made about his behaviour in 2018? Moving on from your point this was only a handful of years after Savile. I am not suggesting a parallel, however it does seem blind eyes remain blind to national treasures.
Jenas worked for the BBC
Wallace has done all of the work during which allegations have occurred for an Independent Production Company who sell the product to the BBC and other TV Channels globally.
But in any case @Andy_JS there is no technical reason, beyond that you have to negotiate with landlords which takes time and there are relatively few tall buildings that would be equivalent to a 30m tower in rural/suburban areas.
This is one of the more dubious cases arising from the summer riots.
A former boxer prosecuted for saying in a YouTube video that "young white girls are being raped by these grooming gangs". He initially pled not guilty and was remanded in custody without bail in August. After being locked up for months he's eventually pled guilty to a charge of 'sending communication of an offensive nature' and will now be sentenced.
It is impossible to tell from the BBC report what the facts are. The only statement of the defendant quoted is:
"young white girls are being raped by these grooming gangs".
is the sort of statement which put into an appropriate tense and with 'these' contextualised in a way which tends towards truth is sadly 100% true and has been regularly reported in the main stream media. So it's an odd report.
Other data elsewhere suggests he is not an entirely satisfactory person however.
Normally the judge's sentencing remarks give much more detail on the offence then the media reports, allowing a person to put them into context. So we wait for December 13th.
Having said that, sometimes a person previously known to police, as this man was, will be picked on. If the police had felt that he'd unjustly escaped jail for a previous conviction that might have affected their approach to another opportunity to get him.
It was interesting listening to Tim Montgomerie on Sky this morning about his defection to Reform which he said was a result of the immigration figures but he also said he doesn't agree with everything Farage says and unlike Reform he supports increasing foreign aid
He went on to say that in time, some accommodation between the Conservatives and Reform is quite likely which seemed as if he was hoping to act as a bridge between the two
It does appear from recent polling that the combined total of the two is gaining on the left and it would change politics if this happened, and not in a good way fror labour
In the Battle Of Trafalgar, Nelson defeated a larger force by splitting his opponents into two. In more modern times, the 1980s split of British Labour into Labour & SDP, and the later split of the Canadian Conservatives, kept them out of government for a decade. Until the pro-immigration Conservatives and the anti-immigration Reform come to an accommodation (I suggest controlled/capped immigration cf Goodwin et al), they will remain out of power.
Indeed, in the 20th century FPTP helped the Conservatives more as the left was divided between the Liberals and Labour, now it helps Labour more as the right is divided between the Tories and Reform. Hence Starmer's landslide Labour win on just 33.7% of the vote
from last thread but on topic, there is another element to FPTP oft flagged up by Mike Smithson - who likes you as an option rather than waste a vote, who wouldn’t vote for you in any circumstance?
This can get you an awful lot of seats under FPTP for just 33.7% of the vote, or even for 12.2%. When you go up just 0.6% from last election yet go from 11 to 72 seats, up just 1.6% and add 211, or get 14.3% of votes for just 5 seats, it’s stark it’s not party politics, it’s like minded on election outcome voting blocks, voting interchangeable in FPTP.
I suspect if Reform support went from 14.3 to 0 at next GE, Conservatives shouldn’t expect anything near 14.3% uplift in their own vote - much of that 14.3 came from what voters had been telling pollsters would be Labour vote for much last 2 years of the last parliament. If i’m right, what has been appeal of the populist right wing party to those voters - or merely a protest vote, not real support for right of centre?
Psephology should pursue why LLG thought same about outcome they wanted in 2024, and measure how this moves now in coming years to predict the next result in advance. At same time the flip side, why doesn’t anyone, including Conservatives, lend their vote to help Reform?
For example: do you attract the conservative minded, if seen as populist? Can you even be populist and Conservative at the same time? That’s a key question for Badenoch’s Tories, especially if Conservatives, now free from government for five long years, want the 8.4 drop in turnout lifting their share next time.
Let me answer by introducing the magic phrase our psephology needs to apply more seriously in this era - spectral-syncretic politics. Without shadow of doubt Starmer’s government is pursuing fiscal conservatism, welfare to workfare reform and deregulation - so two Clintonesque periods of Labour government in a row, a lot of psephology may still have a mindset stuck in pre 97 past about Labour and missing that if Badenoch messes up the “can you be populist and conservative at the same time” teaser, Labour and Lib Dem’s will mop up even more new votes.
Starmer's tax rises on farmers and business owners is certainly not fiscal conservatism. Nor is his renationalising of rail companies today or his splurging payrises on GPs and train drivers.
Not all Reform voters are ex Tories but in July a clear plurality were. They are now making inroads with Labour voters and the more they do that the more that starts to help the Tories under FPTP (as long as they don't make so many inroads with Labour voters they take the lead in the polls in which case it would be Farage heading for most seats not Badenoch)
So you are of the mindset this government is certainly going to be “old Labour” not Third Way as I’m sure it is going to be?
This is getting to the nub of how interesting this period of politics is, as one of us will miss what is actually happening at the time. Take this as an example.
“Starmer's tax rises on farmers is certainly not fiscal conservatism.”
How often is “fiscal conservatism” the rule of the ledger book, oblivious to social consequences? Such as an argument to shut down so many mines so quickly in the 1980s and 1990s, that equally didn’t consider social impact and social costs of that decision making?
Was it “old labour” who wrote off the 1980s introduced change, or 2024 fiscal conservatism? Not that it’s Infinity War or anything, but I have at least one former Conservative Party Chancellor on my side of this point of view don’t I?
Even if we disagree about how “old labour” this government is going to be, you can still answer the following question to you as a hypothetical: If they governed in “the third way” including welfare to workfare reform and deregulation too as well as this fiscal conservatism, will it harm Labours re-election chances, or help them hold and build on the July 2024 voting block?
This shift on immigration from Labour is really intriguing and the fact they’ve done it so early suggests they think it’s a major problem area but also one they feel they can tackle.
I do think if they manage to cut immigration next year and the next they’ll be perceived quite differently.
Another pig just flew past
Why are you so horrible to everyone? What have we ever done to you?
why are you such a wimp, as much chance of those dullards cutting immigration as me being pope.
The hat might suit you malc, "the hat maketh the man." Something like that anyway.
"If you want to get ahead, get a hat".
One of the great advertising lines from the olden days of 1948.
Plan for 'highly visible' phone mast to be decided
This is exactly the kind of thing that the locals need to be told "too bad" and build it anyway.
Why can't existing tall buildings be used instead of constructing new masts? Technical question.
That is literally what they are proposing to do...
That's what they *did*. But somehow they (or at least the previous operator) have made themselves too obnoxious or unacceptable or cannot reach an agreement with the previous building owner.
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
I think you have misunderstood. It is not a question of whether it is advertised to children. It is a blanket ban on advertising these products before 9pm or at all online. It doesn't matter who they are directed at, they will be banned. The full list is found on the Government website and explicitly includes granola, mueseli, and porridge along with Tea and Coffee - but not alcohol.
So Ive been through the press in France Germany Italy and Spain and none of them have reported on the world changing events surrounding Greg Wallace.
Do they understand nothing ?
Rather a sadly dismissive post. If a rather forward camp man pulled his todger out, his modesty covered only by a sock, because he thought it might attract your interest, I suspect you would be quite justifiably outraged. Is there a difference?
when did he have his todger out, the fantasies are escalating
Apparently he didn't it was covered by a sock. My mistake.
The thing is that these sorts of actions are on an escalating ladder. Today it is "todger out", but what about tomorrow or next week? When does flashing no longer satisfy and so the perpetrator moves up to assault or rape or murder?
Are we supposed to wait until it gets really, deadly serious?
Jermaine Jenas's feet didn't touch the ground for "sexting".How the hell did Wallace keep his presenting role after claims were made about his behaviour in 2018? Moving on from your point this was only a handful of years after Savile. I am not suggesting a parallel, however it does seem blind eyes remain blind to national treasures.
We're setting the bar very very low if Greg Wallace is a national treasure. I don't mean to join the pile-on here. He was no worae a broadcaster than many. But he's hardly Joanna Lumley.
President-elect Donald J. Trump will nominate Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur who led two private missions to orbit on SpaceX rockets, as the next NASA administrator.
Plan for 'highly visible' phone mast to be decided
This is exactly the kind of thing that the locals need to be told "too bad" and build it anyway.
Why can't existing tall buildings be used instead of constructing new masts? Technical question.
That is literally what they are proposing to do...
That's what they *did*. But somehow they (or at least the previous operator) have made themselves too obnoxious or unacceptable or cannot reach an agreement with the previous building owner.
No, they are proposing to replace that structure with one on an equivalent building.
Plan for 'highly visible' phone mast to be decided
This is exactly the kind of thing that the locals need to be told "too bad" and build it anyway.
Why can't existing tall buildings be used instead of constructing new masts? Technical question.
That is literally what they are proposing to do...
That's what they *did*. But somehow they (or at least the previous operator) have made themselves too obnoxious or unacceptable or cannot reach an agreement with the previous building owner.
I thought the previous building was being refurbished hence the decision to use a new building.
Plan for 'highly visible' phone mast to be decided
This is exactly the kind of thing that the locals need to be told "too bad" and build it anyway.
A mobile signal is a nice to have not a necessity....if you live there you have other options like a land line....if you don't live there tough shit.
Your view is nice to have not a necessity as well
From the article 24 prefer the view to 6 preferring the mobile signal seems like the people have spoken....or you only like democracy when it gets answers you like?
I was in Blackpool on Sunday. It's a puzzle. Obviously I know of its reputation. And the streets behind the front are rather run down. But 80% of the town's residential areas appear clean and well kept, and, if not prosperous, certainly not uncomfortable. I don't know how. Blackpool is not overendowed with well-paid work. But I know grim northern towns - drop ten Google Streetview pins at random in Rochdale, Blackburn, Barnsley, Middlesbrough and prepare to be depressed. The same is not true of Blackpool. And yet. The stats. One of the stats, interestingly, is that Blackpool is the most densely populated local authority in the North West. I suspect the grim areas are horribly overpopulated with benefitees living in dead hotels. And the poverty of the people living here outweighs the not-poverty of most of the town.
Anyway, despite its problems, it's a grand place. It is very much not on its arse. It may not fill the rooms it did in the 50s, but it still fills a quite astonishing number. The town works furiously hard finding reasons for people to come to Blackpool, and come they do. And if you stand on the front and look out to sea at sunset, you can see why tourism developed here. It can be surprisingly charming. I like it more every time I go.
I much prefer Lytham St Annes to Blackpool beach front. Only a few miles apart, but much more pleasant.
We did go to Blackpool in the summer to see a show, which was good, but did get a very run down vibe travelling to it.
Poor Mr Barnier has had his fair share of not getting deals he’s been involved with through Parliaments, hasn’t he? I wonder if Mrs May has offered any moral support?
This shift on immigration from Labour is really intriguing and the fact they’ve done it so early suggests they think it’s a major problem area but also one they feel they can tackle.
I do think if they manage to cut immigration next year and the next they’ll be perceived quite differently.
Another pig just flew past
Why are you so horrible to everyone? What have we ever done to you?
why are you such a wimp, as much chance of those dullards cutting immigration as me being pope.
The hat might suit you malc, "the hat maketh the man." Something like that anyway.
"If you want to get ahead, get a hat".
One of the great advertising lines from the olden days of 1948.
Still during clothes rationing, though, justr about. Obviously planning ahead (so to speak).
I think I have discovered my new favourite town in all the world: OK this does happen half a dozen times a year but still. It’s perfect. The perfect mix of exquisite colonial backwater with just enough good bars and hotels, and a massive river for simply staring at. In the sun. With a cold Colombian beer
We really are at a very uncertain point. The US in transition to who knows what, France on the brink, Germany heading for an election, Romania possibly electing a crazy President who wants to block Ukrainian exports through their waters. And that is to forget the middle east. All the while we have the axis of autocracy seeking to cause chaos. I don't remember another point like this in my lifetime. The financial crisis and Brexit look piddling in comparison.
With Biden falling asleep, Scholz done for and Macron in crisis, welcome Sir Keir as acting leader of the free world for the next seven weeks.
Surely someone wants to talk about France!? If only me, demanding they return His Majesty's lands!
(I have no idea where on earth matters may go in all this, but it's seriously wacky races)
I did mention the French troubles yesterday and asked where people thought it might go but no one seemed interested.
Loks like Barnier is toast so back into Macron's court. Voting ends in 10 minutes.
I mentioned it too, Richard, to a similar lack of interest. We mustn't have been around at tge same time.I really can't see a way out of it. 2/3rds of the French Parliament are deranged magic-money-tree types of a stripe beyond even Corbyn/McDonnell Labour. I may have predicted 20 of the last zero Euro collapses, but I can't see a good outcome fir the euro or the EU, and it makes me glad we're out of it (although of course it doesn't shield us from tge repurcussions).
I remember trying out a Vodafone in the late 1980s in a fairly rural area, and it worked. How was that possible when there were hardly any masts at the time? Maybe because it was a relatively flat area, and not many people were using them at the time, so you didn't need many masts, provided you had a direct line of sight.
Poor Mr Barnier has had his fair share of not getting deals he’s been involved with through Parliaments, hasn’t he? I wonder if Mrs May has offered any moral support?
David Davis has offered to work night and day in his assistance. A modest memo is expected by 2031.
It was interesting listening to Tim Montgomerie on Sky this morning about his defection to Reform which he said was a result of the immigration figures but he also said he doesn't agree with everything Farage says and unlike Reform he supports increasing foreign aid
He went on to say that in time, some accommodation between the Conservatives and Reform is quite likely which seemed as if he was hoping to act as a bridge between the two
It does appear from recent polling that the combined total of the two is gaining on the left and it would change politics if this happened, and not in a good way fror labour
In the Battle Of Trafalgar, Nelson defeated a larger force by splitting his opponents into two. In more modern times, the 1980s split of British Labour into Labour & SDP, and the later split of the Canadian Conservatives, kept them out of government for a decade. Until the pro-immigration Conservatives and the anti-immigration Reform come to an accommodation (I suggest controlled/capped immigration cf Goodwin et al), they will remain out of power.
Indeed, in the 20th century FPTP helped the Conservatives more as the left was divided between the Liberals and Labour, now it helps Labour more as the right is divided between the Tories and Reform. Hence Starmer's landslide Labour win on just 33.7% of the vote
from last thread but on topic, there is another element to FPTP oft flagged up by Mike Smithson - who likes you as an option rather than waste a vote, who wouldn’t vote for you in any circumstance?
This can get you an awful lot of seats under FPTP for just 33.7% of the vote, or even for 12.2%. When you go up just 0.6% from last election yet go from 11 to 72 seats, up just 1.6% and add 211, or get 14.3% of votes for just 5 seats, it’s stark it’s not party politics, it’s like minded on election outcome voting blocks, voting interchangeable in FPTP.
I suspect if Reform support went from 14.3 to 0 at next GE, Conservatives shouldn’t expect anything near 14.3% uplift in their own vote - much of that 14.3 came from what voters had been telling pollsters would be Labour vote for much last 2 years of the last parliament. If i’m right, what has been appeal of the populist right wing party to those voters - or merely a protest vote, not real support for right of centre?
Psephology should pursue why LLG thought same about outcome they wanted in 2024, and measure how this moves now in coming years to predict the next result in advance. At same time the flip side, why doesn’t anyone, including Conservatives, lend their vote to help Reform?
For example: do you attract the conservative minded, if seen as populist? Can you even be populist and Conservative at the same time? That’s a key question for Badenoch’s Tories, especially if Conservatives, now free from government for five long years, want the 8.4 drop in turnout lifting their share next time.
Let me answer by introducing the magic phrase our psephology needs to apply more seriously in this era - spectral-syncretic politics. Without shadow of doubt Starmer’s government is pursuing fiscal conservatism, welfare to workfare reform and deregulation - so two Clintonesque periods of Labour government in a row, a lot of psephology may still have a mindset stuck in pre 97 past about Labour and missing that if Badenoch messes up the “can you be populist and conservative at the same time” teaser, Labour and Lib Dem’s will mop up even more new votes.
Starmer's tax rises on farmers and business owners is certainly not fiscal conservatism. Nor is his renationalising of rail companies today or his splurging payrises on GPs and train drivers.
Not all Reform voters are ex Tories but in July a clear plurality were. They are now making inroads with Labour voters and the more they do that the more that starts to help the Tories under FPTP (as long as they don't make so many inroads with Labour voters they take the lead in the polls in which case it would be Farage heading for most seats not Badenoch)
So you are of the mindset this government is certainly going to be “old Labour” not Third Way as I’m sure it is going to be?
This is getting to the nub of how interesting this period of politics is, as one of us will miss what is actually happening at the time. Take this as an example.
“Starmer's tax rises on farmers is certainly not fiscal conservatism.”
How often is “fiscal conservatism” the rule of the ledger book, oblivious to social consequences? Such as an argument to shut down so many mines so quickly in the 1980s and 1990s, that equally didn’t consider social impact and social costs of that decision making?
Was it “old labour” who wrote off the 1980s introduced change, or 2024 fiscal conservatism? Not that it’s Infinity War or anything, but I have at least one former Conservative Party Chancellor on my side of this point of view don’t I?
Even if we disagree about how “old labour” this government is going to be, you can still answer the following question to you as a hypothetical: If they governed in “the third way” including welfare to workfare reform and deregulation too as well as this fiscal conservatism, will it harm Labours re-election chances, or help them hold and build on the July 2024 voting block?
It is already closer to the Labour government's of the 1970s or Brown Labour than Blair's New Labour.
As for mines, Wilson closed more mines than Thatcher did, she just took on the NUM harder. Indeed the last Conservative government proposed to open a new mine in Cumbria but Labour via Ed Miliband .abandoned the plan once it took office.
Outside of the public sector most voters are seeing their taxes go up more than their pay and immigration also rising further while pensioners have also seen their WFA cut. Welfare to work doesn't attract many voters unless it sees taxes go down too for those already in work to reflect lower welfare costs and Labour are certainly not deregulating anywhere at present.
Hence already Labour is down about 6-7% on the 34% it got in July, mainly to Reform's benefit
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
I think you have misunderstood. It is not a question of whether it is advertised to children. It is a blanket ban on advertising these products before 9pm or at all online. It doesn't matter who they are directed at, they will be banned. The full list is found on the Government website and explicitly includes granola, mueseli, and porridge along with Tea and Coffee - but not alcohol.
What? They're proposing to ban pre-watershed advertising for ... tea? I don't call for revocation of British citizenship lightly, but this strikes me as borderline treacherous.
I’m going to die here. In about 27 years. No one will notice. I will be sitting in an old Spanish colonial chair gazing at the maddalena half asleep and vaguely remembering the girl on the island off Cannes and that time @IanB2 said his one interesting thing
And then I shall gently slump to the side and after about an hour a kid will stop playing football by the statue of Bolivar and he will point and say
“El gringo. Muerte”
And a woman by the dragonfruit ice cream shop will look at my crumpled figure and look vaguely interested and say
We really are at a very uncertain point. The US in transition to who knows what, France on the brink, Germany heading for an election, Romania possibly electing a crazy President who wants to block Ukrainian exports through their waters. And that is to forget the middle east. All the while we have the axis of autocracy seeking to cause chaos. I don't remember another point like this in my lifetime. The financial crisis and Brexit look piddling in comparison.
With Biden falling asleep, Scholz done for and Macron in crisis, welcome Sir Keir as acting leader of the free world for the next seven weeks.
President-elect Donald J. Trump will nominate Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur who led two private missions to orbit on SpaceX rockets, as the next NASA administrator.
NY Times blog.
He was born after the Apollo landings!
A bad decision IMO. He will not be very good.
Neither was Biden's pick, 'Ballast' Nelson.
Oddly enough, Trump's pick for NASA administrator in 2016, Bridenstine, was excellent. Which is why he's not going to be administrator again - his excellence annoyed Trump...
I’m going to die here. In about 27 years. No one will notice. I will be sitting in a ln old chair gazing at the maddalena half asleep and vaguely remembering the girl on the island off Cannes and that time @IanB2 said his one interesting thing
And then I shall gently slump to the side and after about an hour a kid will stop playing football by the church and he will point and say
“El gringo. Muerte”
And a woman by the dragonfruit ice cream shop will look at my crumpled figure and look vaguely interested and say
I’m going to die here. In about 27 years. No one will notice. I will be sitting in a ln old chair gazing at the maddalena half asleep and vaguely remembering the girl on the island off Cannes and that time @IanB2 said his one interesting thing
And then I shall gently slump to the side and after about an hour a kid will stop playing football by the church and he will point and say
“El gringo. Muerte”
And a woman by the dragonfruit ice cream shop will look at my crumpled figure and look vaguely interested and say
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
Ready Brek used to be an advertising staple during kids TV. Remember the warm glow around the kids who had eaten Ready Brek that morning?
Make your kids glow in the dark... Move to Windscale!"
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
The syrupy instant porridge perhaps is the wrong sort of cereal, but a lot of granola and muesli contains a lot of sugar.
Bloomin' doctors... telling us wot's healthy........
I’m going to die here. In about 27 years. No one will notice. I will be sitting in a ln old chair gazing at the maddalena half asleep and vaguely remembering the girl on the island off Cannes and that time @IanB2 said his one interesting thing
And then I shall gently slump to the side and after about an hour a kid will stop playing football by the church and he will point and say
“El gringo. Muerte”
And a woman by the dragonfruit ice cream shop will look at my crumpled figure and look vaguely interested and say
“Si”
And then she will turn and serve another customer
I think Hemmingway did that. Originality!
He shot himself in Idaho
Other states are available.
(I am of course joking. You and I undoubtedly share a disappointment that you can't say edgy things. Still, Florida's nice )
In a parallel universe Barnier is Europe's hero for fixing the deal wihich kept the UK as associate observer of the EU, within the SM and CU, with derogation wriggle room for brakes on FOM, and an option to join EFTA/EEA or rejoin EU within the next 20 years.
Cameron is still PM of a a one nation Tory party, with Labour's outstanding front bench and leader ready to take over if the chips fall right and to be Gladstone to his Disraeli.
A UK/EU magnanimity without peer in 21st century European history ensuring peace and prosperity, further secured by Ukraine's admission to NATO and to the CU and SM prior to full membership.
I remember trying out a Vodafone in the late 1980s in a fairly rural area, and it worked. How was that possible when there were hardly any masts at the time? Maybe because it was a relatively flat area, and not many people were using them at the time, so you didn't need many masts, provided you had a direct line of sight.
When I did the Pennine Way in 1999, I found I could, and could not, get signals in weirdly unexpected places (Vodafone). Radio signals are weird...
(Line of sight does not necessarily matter in a built-up area with lots of multipath propagation to confuse the baseband processor. If there are lots of buildings about, you can occasionally get a stronger signal out of direct line-of-sight of the transmitter. And receivers have a maximum, as well as a minimum, power. If you are too close to a transmitter, you will lose signal - proximity effect.)
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
The syrupy instant porridge perhaps is the wrong sort of cereal, but a lot of granola and muesli contains a lot of sugar.
Bloomin' doctors... telling us wot's healthy........
(21 posts remaining)
Maybe it's just me not paying attention, but it seems a 'welcome back' might be in order.
Speaking of Hemingway - in his favour his house in Cuba is one of the more interesting writers’ houses I’ve visited. Also beautiful. And it screams “repressed gay”
Very few are interesting. Pushkin’s is only interesting coz it’s got souvenirs of his fatal duel - the letter of challenge, the blood soaked waistcoat
The brontes is good coz it’s intense
Any others?
I say all this coz I’ve just been to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s gaff in Aracataca and it’s RUBBISH
Why on earth have Donald Trump at an event like that? It's meant to be a celebration of elegance and beauty.
As he is the next most powerful man in the world and is a champion of celebrating western nations Christian heritage like Macron, which includes attending events such as the restoration of Notre Dame
Christian heritage? How many commandments has he driven a coach and horses through?
Trump is a cultural Christian of Presbyterian heritage but not a regular church attender other than weddings, baptisms and funerals.
He does though preach the populist and nationalist right message across the West that their nations identity is under threat from secular atheist wokeism and radical Islamism
Let's have a look at how he scores in the most basic of Christian code.
I am the Lord your God: you shall have no other gods but me. (His god is Donald Trump)
You shall not make for yourself any idol. (Fail. Wants to add himself to Mt Rushmore)
You shall not dishonour the name of the Lord your God. ( Debatable)
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. (Big fail) Honour your father and mother. ( Even if your Dad was a hood?)
You shall not commit murder. ( ?)
You shall not commit adultery.( The biggest fail?)
You shall not steal.( Oops no, an even bigger fail).
You shall not be a false witness.(Big fail)
You shall not covet anything which belongs to your neighbour (Does that include other people's wives?)
I was in Blackpool on Sunday. It's a puzzle. Obviously I know of its reputation. And the streets behind the front are rather run down. But 80% of the town's residential areas appear clean and well kept, and, if not prosperous, certainly not uncomfortable. I don't know how. Blackpool is not overendowed with well-paid work. But I know grim northern towns - drop ten Google Streetview pins at random in Rochdale, Blackburn, Barnsley, Middlesbrough and prepare to be depressed. The same is not true of Blackpool. And yet. The stats. One of the stats, interestingly, is that Blackpool is the most densely populated local authority in the North West. I suspect the grim areas are horribly overpopulated with benefitees living in dead hotels. And the poverty of the people living here outweighs the not-poverty of most of the town.
Anyway, despite its problems, it's a grand place. It is very much not on its arse. It may not fill the rooms it did in the 50s, but it still fills a quite astonishing number. The town works furiously hard finding reasons for people to come to Blackpool, and come they do. And if you stand on the front and look out to sea at sunset, you can see why tourism developed here. It can be surprisingly charming. I like it more every time I go.
One thing to beat in mind with this statistics is that, if you divided Glasgow into a number of district's, each with the same population size as Blackpool, I'd expect at least one of those districts to have much worse life expectancy than Blackpool.
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
The syrupy instant porridge perhaps is the wrong sort of cereal, but a lot of granola and muesli contains a lot of sugar.
Bloomin' doctors... telling us wot's healthy........
(21 posts remaining)
Maybe it's just me not paying attention, but it seems a 'welcome back' might be in order.
Thank you! However I will be stopping at 8,192 posts because 16,384 is just too far away... Also I am very busy these days with little time to post and it seems to me that politics is something more of a spectator sport at the moment with depressingly predictable outcomes.
It is like when Truss or Boris was elected, a situation which was patently obvious for ending in disaster (avoiding the Brexit own-goal here and we all know why).
I will be amazed if Trump is still President in 2028. He is not healthy and if he does ¼ of what he promised the social unrest will be immense and an assassin will get him.
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
Ready Brek used to be an advertising staple during kids TV. Remember the warm glow around the kids who had eaten Ready Brek that morning?
Make your kids glow in the dark... Move to Windscale!"
I like muesli. But then I’m a Guardian reader. And I’d be sorry to see advertising stopped. However if Greater Anglia’s advertising is being stopped, I’m all in favour.
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
I think you have misunderstood. It is not a question of whether it is advertised to children. It is a blanket ban on advertising these products before 9pm or at all online. It doesn't matter who they are directed at, they will be banned. The full list is found on the Government website and explicitly includes granola, mueseli, and porridge along with Tea and Coffee - but not alcohol.
What? They're proposing to ban pre-watershed advertising for ... tea? I don't call for revocation of British citizenship lightly, but this strikes me as borderline treacherous.
Tea (and coffee) drinks with added sugar.
PBers are forever moaning about increasing rates of obesity and diabetes and their contribution to the rocketing cost of the NHS. And now moaning about restrictions on advertising products that are unnecessarily high in fat, salt, or sugar when kids might be watching.
Speaking of Hemingway - in his favour his house in Cuba is one of the more interesting writers’ houses I’ve visited. Also beautiful. And it screams “repressed gay”
Very few are interesting. Pushkin’s is only interesting coz it’s got souvenirs of his fatal duel - the letter of challenge, the blood soaked waistcoat
The brontes is good coz it’s intense
Any others?
I say all this coz I’ve just been to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s gaff in Aracataca and it’s RUBBISH
Does Anne Hathaway's cottage count, I've always enjoyed that one.
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
I think you have misunderstood. It is not a question of whether it is advertised to children. It is a blanket ban on advertising these products before 9pm or at all online. It doesn't matter who they are directed at, they will be banned. The full list is found on the Government website and explicitly includes granola, mueseli, and porridge along with Tea and Coffee - but not alcohol.
What? They're proposing to ban pre-watershed advertising for ... tea? I don't call for revocation of British citizenship lightly, but this strikes me as borderline treacherous.
Tea (and coffee) drinks with added sugar.
PBers are forever moaning about increasing rates of obesity and diabetes and their contribution to the rocketing cost of the NHS. And now moaning about restrictions on advertising products that are unnecessarily high in fat, salt, or sugar when kids might be watching.
Le Pen is talking live on TF1 now, playing a straight bat and saying that she will cooperate with the new PM and isn’t demanding Macron’s resignation.
The ideal for Le pen is an increasingly weak, politically palsied macron; laughably impotent, endlessly putting together unworkable coalitions but somehow stumbling to the nest POTFR elex. Which she then wins as the nation cries out for the spank of firm governance from Madame Le Matron
Surely someone wants to talk about France!? If only me, demanding they return His Majesty's lands!
(I have no idea where on earth matters may go in all this, but it's seriously wacky races)
I did mention the French troubles yesterday and asked where people thought it might go but no one seemed interested.
Loks like Barnier is toast so back into Macron's court. Voting ends in 10 minutes.
It's interesting, but my knowledge of French politics is only slightly greater than my knowledge of American's politics. Therefore although I am interested, I don't know enough to ask sensible/good questions...
I remember trying out a Vodafone in the late 1980s in a fairly rural area, and it worked. How was that possible when there were hardly any masts at the time? Maybe because it was a relatively flat area, and not many people were using them at the time, so you didn't need many masts, provided you had a direct line of sight.
When I did the Pennine Way in 1999, I found I could, and could not, get signals in weirdly unexpected places (Vodafone). Radio signals are weird...
(Line of sight does not necessarily matter in a built-up area with lots of multipath propagation to confuse the baseband processor. If there are lots of buildings about, you can occasionally get a stronger signal out of direct line-of-sight of the transmitter. And receivers have a maximum, as well as a minimum, power. If you are too close to a transmitter, you will lose signal - proximity effect.)
There is very little signal in Edinburgh city centre at the moment because of the Christmas markets. I still think the allocation of resources is misplaced - spending millions to put them up in the middle of the Cairngorms to fix a blackspot, while they can't even provide a proper service in the capital.
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
I think you have misunderstood. It is not a question of whether it is advertised to children. It is a blanket ban on advertising these products before 9pm or at all online. It doesn't matter who they are directed at, they will be banned. The full list is found on the Government website and explicitly includes granola, mueseli, and porridge along with Tea and Coffee - but not alcohol.
I thought alcohol advertising before 9pm was already banned, which is why so many brands are advertising their 0.0 products, so that they can advertise their brand before the watershed?
Speaking of Hemingway - in his favour his house in Cuba is one of the more interesting writers’ houses I’ve visited. Also beautiful. And it screams “repressed gay”
Very few are interesting. Pushkin’s is only interesting coz it’s got souvenirs of his fatal duel - the letter of challenge, the blood soaked waistcoat
The brontes is good coz it’s intense
Any others?
I say all this coz I’ve just been to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s gaff in Aracataca and it’s RUBBISH
Does Anne Hathaway's cottage count, I've always enjoyed that one.
Good to see where the actress grew up.
Hah. I’ve never actually been to that one
I think “writer’s houses” are hampered by the fact most writers live quite boring lives, consisting mainly of sitting alone writing; it’s not box office
Once you’ve seen the crucial desk and maybe the bedroom, meh
I’m going to die here. In about 27 years. No one will notice. I will be sitting in an old Spanish colonial chair gazing at the maddalena half asleep and vaguely remembering the girl on the island off Cannes and that time @IanB2 said his one interesting thing
And then I shall gently slump to the side ....
But will future generations of writers be queuing up to see your workplace? Where your muse inspired you? Will they say "This is it. This is where he was inspired to write his review of lesser known Romanian wineries!" ?
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
I think you have misunderstood. It is not a question of whether it is advertised to children. It is a blanket ban on advertising these products before 9pm or at all online. It doesn't matter who they are directed at, they will be banned. The full list is found on the Government website and explicitly includes granola, mueseli, and porridge along with Tea and Coffee - but not alcohol.
What? They're proposing to ban pre-watershed advertising for ... tea? I don't call for revocation of British citizenship lightly, but this strikes me as borderline treacherous.
Tea (and coffee) drinks with added sugar.
PBers are forever moaning about increasing rates of obesity and diabetes and their contribution to the rocketing cost of the NHS. And now moaning about restrictions on advertising products that are unnecessarily high in fat, salt, or sugar when kids might be watching.
Fat is not bad for you though and it is carbs not fat that causes obesity.
People need to get over the "low fat" bollocks that does not work.
Yep, we need a carb tax. And a carb border adjustment mechanism.
Maybe with these new advertising curbs we could find our way back to the traditional, low carb (though I do like a bit of fried sauce) full English for breakfast.
Speaking of Hemingway - in his favour his house in Cuba is one of the more interesting writers’ houses I’ve visited. Also beautiful. And it screams “repressed gay”
Very few are interesting. Pushkin’s is only interesting coz it’s got souvenirs of his fatal duel - the letter of challenge, the blood soaked waistcoat
The brontes is good coz it’s intense
Any others?
I say all this coz I’ve just been to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s gaff in Aracataca and it’s RUBBISH
Mountain Cottage at Via Gellia. Where, apparently, my grandfather stopped off on a cycle ride as a very young man, and got his water bottle filled up by the great man himself...
Le Pen is talking live on TF1 now, playing a straight bat and saying that she will cooperate with the new PM and isn’t demanding Macron’s resignation.
The ideal for Le pen is an increasingly weak, politically palsied macron; laughably impotent, endlessly putting together unworkable coalitions but somehow stumbling to the nest POTFR elex. Which she then wins as the nation cries out for the spank of firm governance from Madame Le Matron
Speaking of Hemingway - in his favour his house in Cuba is one of the more interesting writers’ houses I’ve visited. Also beautiful. And it screams “repressed gay”
Very few are interesting. Pushkin’s is only interesting coz it’s got souvenirs of his fatal duel - the letter of challenge, the blood soaked waistcoat
The brontes is good coz it’s intense
Any others?
I say all this coz I’ve just been to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s gaff in Aracataca and it’s RUBBISH
Does Anne Hathaway's cottage count, I've always enjoyed that one.
Good to see where the actress grew up.
Hah. I’ve never actually been to that one
I think “writer’s houses” are hampered by the fact most writers live quite boring lives, consisting mainly of sitting alone writing; it’s not box office
Once you’ve seen the crucial desk and maybe the bedroom, meh
Anne Hathaway’s cottage is very interesting, but largely as a piece of Tudor social history, not for anything particularly writerly.
Likewise Lamartine’s places in the Maconnais are interesting principally as pleasant 18th century architecture and interior decor.
I remember trying out a Vodafone in the late 1980s in a fairly rural area, and it worked. How was that possible when there were hardly any masts at the time? Maybe because it was a relatively flat area, and not many people were using them at the time, so you didn't need many masts, provided you had a direct line of sight.
When I did the Pennine Way in 1999, I found I could, and could not, get signals in weirdly unexpected places (Vodafone). Radio signals are weird...
(Line of sight does not necessarily matter in a built-up area with lots of multipath propagation to confuse the baseband processor. If there are lots of buildings about, you can occasionally get a stronger signal out of direct line-of-sight of the transmitter. And receivers have a maximum, as well as a minimum, power. If you are too close to a transmitter, you will lose signal - proximity effect.)
There is very little signal in Edinburgh city centre at the moment because of the Christmas markets. I still think the allocation of resources is misplaced - spending millions to put them up in the middle of the Cairngorms to fix a blackspot, while they can't even provide a proper service in the capital.
Similar story in London, with many people using lots of bandwidth, all packed into a small area.
Even with all the fancy MIMO and beamforming tech used for 5G, it still comes down to needing a larger number of smaller cells in order to provide adequate service in those conditions.
Speaking of Hemingway - in his favour his house in Cuba is one of the more interesting writers’ houses I’ve visited. Also beautiful. And it screams “repressed gay”
Very few are interesting. Pushkin’s is only interesting coz it’s got souvenirs of his fatal duel - the letter of challenge, the blood soaked waistcoat
The brontes is good coz it’s intense
Any others?
I say all this coz I’ve just been to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s gaff in Aracataca and it’s RUBBISH
Does Anne Hathaway's cottage count, I've always enjoyed that one.
Good to see where the actress grew up.
Hah. I’ve never actually been to that one
I think “writer’s houses” are hampered by the fact most writers live quite boring lives, consisting mainly of sitting alone writing; it’s not box office
Once you’ve seen the crucial desk and maybe the bedroom, meh
The array of dildos in Jane Austen's gaff wasn't what I was expecting to see.
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
I think you have misunderstood. It is not a question of whether it is advertised to children. It is a blanket ban on advertising these products before 9pm or at all online. It doesn't matter who they are directed at, they will be banned. The full list is found on the Government website and explicitly includes granola, mueseli, and porridge along with Tea and Coffee - but not alcohol.
What? They're proposing to ban pre-watershed advertising for ... tea? I don't call for revocation of British citizenship lightly, but this strikes me as borderline treacherous.
Tea (and coffee) drinks with added sugar.
PBers are forever moaning about increasing rates of obesity and diabetes and their contribution to the rocketing cost of the NHS. And now moaning about restrictions on advertising products that are unnecessarily high in fat, salt, or sugar when kids might be watching.
Fat is not bad for you though and it is carbs not fat that causes obesity.
People need to get over the "low fat" bollocks that does not work.
Yep, we need a carb tax. And a carb border adjustment mechanism.
Maybe with these new advertising curbs we could find our way back to the traditional, low carb (though I do like a bit of fried sauce) full English for breakfast.
Down nearly 60 lbs now and in the best health I've been in forever since I went to a no carb carnivore diet, a bit over a year ago.
Best celebs house I’ve been to recently was that of the Georgian mountaineer Khergiani up In Mestia in the Caucasus.
Fascinating artefacts, but the most mind blowing part was that his family had lived - with records - in the same building uninterrupted since the 10th century. The wooden animal stalls and beds downstairs were dated to the time of the original house, so the same family had been using those pieces of furniture for a thousand years.
"A Georgian opposition leader has been dragged from his party office by police and others have been physically attacked, after the prime minister vowed that organisers of a week of pro-EU protests, which he called "violent actions", would face justice."
Speaking of Hemingway - in his favour his house in Cuba is one of the more interesting writers’ houses I’ve visited. Also beautiful. And it screams “repressed gay”
Very few are interesting. Pushkin’s is only interesting coz it’s got souvenirs of his fatal duel - the letter of challenge, the blood soaked waistcoat
The brontes is good coz it’s intense
Any others?
I say all this coz I’ve just been to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s gaff in Aracataca and it’s RUBBISH
Does Anne Hathaway's cottage count, I've always enjoyed that one.
Good to see where the actress grew up.
Hah. I’ve never actually been to that one
I think “writer’s houses” are hampered by the fact most writers live quite boring lives, consisting mainly of sitting alone writing; it’s not box office
Once you’ve seen the crucial desk and maybe the bedroom, meh
The array of dildos in Jane Austen's gaff wasn't what I was expecting to see.
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
I think you have misunderstood. It is not a question of whether it is advertised to children. It is a blanket ban on advertising these products before 9pm or at all online. It doesn't matter who they are directed at, they will be banned. The full list is found on the Government website and explicitly includes granola, mueseli, and porridge along with Tea and Coffee - but not alcohol.
What? They're proposing to ban pre-watershed advertising for ... tea? I don't call for revocation of British citizenship lightly, but this strikes me as borderline treacherous.
Tea (and coffee) drinks with added sugar.
PBers are forever moaning about increasing rates of obesity and diabetes and their contribution to the rocketing cost of the NHS. And now moaning about restrictions on advertising products that are unnecessarily high in fat, salt, or sugar when kids might be watching.
Fat is not bad for you though and it is carbs not fat that causes obesity.
People need to get over the "low fat" bollocks that does not work.
Yep, we need a carb tax. And a carb border adjustment mechanism.
Maybe with these new advertising curbs we could find our way back to the traditional, low carb (though I do like a bit of fried sauce) full English for breakfast.
Down nearly 60 lbs now and in the best health I've been in forever since I went to a no carb carnivore diet, a bit over a year ago.
Don't really miss carbs either.
I meant fried slice not fried sauce by the way (too late to edit).
Le Pen is talking live on TF1 now, playing a straight bat and saying that she will cooperate with the new PM and isn’t demanding Macron’s resignation.
The ideal for Le pen is an increasingly weak, politically palsied macron; laughably impotent, endlessly putting together unworkable coalitions but somehow stumbling to the nest POTFR elex. Which she then wins as the nation cries out for the spank of firm governance from Madame Le Matron
Le Pen's best chance is to face hard leftist Melenchon in the run off as then she would win over most LR centre right voters and many from Macron's party who would vote for her to keep out Melenchon. Le Pen, polls show, would beat Melenchon about 65% to 35%.
I might write a Knappers Gazette article on the Beauty of Backwaters
Places forgotten by time, transport and history that have - perhaps as a consequence - retained their charm. And they STILL have that sleepy quality
Mompos is a perfect example. It was important in its day. The Colombian Spanish nobility fled here to avoid the fierce English raids on the coast. Heh
And it was also a massively important trading port on the great river
But then it became a literal backwater as the river silted and then cars and roads etc
In Britain I would say all of Herefordshire. It is still weirdly hard to reach and as a result is arguably the loveliest most unspoiled county in England
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
The syrupy instant porridge perhaps is the wrong sort of cereal, but a lot of granola and muesli contains a lot of sugar.
Bloomin' doctors... telling us wot's healthy........
(21 posts remaining)
I don't really support this ban, but our carb heavy breakfast is a dangerous meal.
Ironically a food fand thought healthy when it originated in the USA.
Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal: Why You Should Ditch Your Morning Meal For Health and Wellbeing https://amzn.eu/d/hP1LPEj
Good to see you drop by, even if only briefly. PB is a poorer place without you.
It was interesting listening to Tim Montgomerie on Sky this morning about his defection to Reform which he said was a result of the immigration figures but he also said he doesn't agree with everything Farage says and unlike Reform he supports increasing foreign aid
He went on to say that in time, some accommodation between the Conservatives and Reform is quite likely which seemed as if he was hoping to act as a bridge between the two
It does appear from recent polling that the combined total of the two is gaining on the left and it would change politics if this happened, and not in a good way fror labour
In the Battle Of Trafalgar, Nelson defeated a larger force by splitting his opponents into two. In more modern times, the 1980s split of British Labour into Labour & SDP, and the later split of the Canadian Conservatives, kept them out of government for a decade. Until the pro-immigration Conservatives and the anti-immigration Reform come to an accommodation (I suggest controlled/capped immigration cf Goodwin et al), they will remain out of power.
Indeed, in the 20th century FPTP helped the Conservatives more as the left was divided between the Liberals and Labour, now it helps Labour more as the right is divided between the Tories and Reform. Hence Starmer's landslide Labour win on just 33.7% of the vote
from last thread but on topic, there is another element to FPTP oft flagged up by Mike Smithson - who likes you as an option rather than waste a vote, who wouldn’t vote for you in any circumstance?
This can get you an awful lot of seats under FPTP for just 33.7% of the vote, or even for 12.2%. When you go up just 0.6% from last election yet go from 11 to 72 seats, up just 1.6% and add 211, or get 14.3% of votes for just 5 seats, it’s stark it’s not party politics, it’s like minded on election outcome voting blocks, voting interchangeable in FPTP.
I suspect if Reform support went from 14.3 to 0 at next GE, Conservatives shouldn’t expect anything near 14.3% uplift in their own vote - much of that 14.3 came from what voters had been telling pollsters would be Labour vote for much last 2 years of the last parliament. If i’m right, what has been appeal of the populist right wing party to those voters - or merely a protest vote, not real support for right of centre?
Psephology should pursue why LLG thought same about outcome they wanted in 2024, and measure how this moves now in coming years to predict the next result in advance. At same time the flip side, why doesn’t anyone, including Conservatives, lend their vote to help Reform?
For example: do you attract the conservative minded, if seen as populist? Can you even be populist and Conservative at the same time? That’s a key question for Badenoch’s Tories, especially if Conservatives, now free from government for five long years, want the 8.4 drop in turnout lifting their share next time.
Let me answer by introducing the magic phrase our psephology needs to apply more seriously in this era - spectral-syncretic politics. Without shadow of doubt Starmer’s government is pursuing fiscal conservatism, welfare to workfare reform and deregulation - so two Clintonesque periods of Labour government in a row, a lot of psephology may still have a mindset stuck in pre 97 past about Labour and missing that if Badenoch messes up the “can you be populist and conservative at the same time” teaser, Labour and Lib Dem’s will mop up even more new votes.
Starmer's tax rises on farmers and business owners is certainly not fiscal conservatism. Nor is his renationalising of rail companies today or his splurging payrises on GPs and train drivers.
Not all Reform voters are ex Tories but in July a clear plurality were. They are now making inroads with Labour voters and the more they do that the more that starts to help the Tories under FPTP (as long as they don't make so many inroads with Labour voters they take the lead in the polls in which case it would be Farage heading for most seats not Badenoch)
So you are of the mindset this government is certainly going to be “old Labour” not Third Way as I’m sure it is going to be?
This is getting to the nub of how interesting this period of politics is, as one of us will miss what is actually happening at the time. Take this as an example.
“Starmer's tax rises on farmers is certainly not fiscal conservatism.”
How often is “fiscal conservatism” the rule of the ledger book, oblivious to social consequences? Such as an argument to shut down so many mines so quickly in the 1980s and 1990s, that equally didn’t consider social impact and social costs of that decision making?
Was it “old labour” who wrote off the 1980s introduced change, or 2024 fiscal conservatism? Not that it’s Infinity War or anything, but I have at least one former Conservative Party Chancellor on my side of this point of view don’t I?
Even if we disagree about how “old labour” this government is going to be, you can still answer the following question to you as a hypothetical: If they governed in “the third way” including welfare to workfare reform and deregulation too as well as this fiscal conservatism, will it harm Labours re-election chances, or help them hold and build on the July 2024 voting block?
It is already closer to the Labour government's of the 1970s or Brown Labour than Blair's New Labour.
As for mines, Wilson closed more mines than Thatcher did, she just took on the NUM harder. Indeed the last Conservative government proposed to open a new mine in Cumbria but Labour via Ed Miliband .abandoned the plan once it took office.
Outside of the public sector most voters are seeing their taxes go up more than their pay and immigration also rising further while pensioners have also seen their WFA cut. Welfare to work doesn't attract many voters unless it sees taxes go down too for those already in work to reflect lower welfare costs and Labour are certainly not deregulating anywhere at present.
Hence already Labour is down about 6-7% on the 34% it got in July, mainly to Reform's benefit
You just couldn’t bring yourself to answer the question could you? 😌
Nuff said. Let’s hope you are right in your psephology, and I’m not back on May 4th 2029 saying: fucking told you nearly five years ago - you dipstick!
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
I think you have misunderstood. It is not a question of whether it is advertised to children. It is a blanket ban on advertising these products before 9pm or at all online. It doesn't matter who they are directed at, they will be banned. The full list is found on the Government website and explicitly includes granola, mueseli, and porridge along with Tea and Coffee - but not alcohol.
What? They're proposing to ban pre-watershed advertising for ... tea? I don't call for revocation of British citizenship lightly, but this strikes me as borderline treacherous.
Tea (and coffee) drinks with added sugar.
PBers are forever moaning about increasing rates of obesity and diabetes and their contribution to the rocketing cost of the NHS. And now moaning about restrictions on advertising products that are unnecessarily high in fat, salt, or sugar when kids might be watching.
Fat is not bad for you though and it is carbs not fat that causes obesity.
People need to get over the "low fat" bollocks that does not work.
I don't particularly disagree - and although the NPM formula used for these regulations does take account of saturated fat, sodium, and total calories as well as sugar, the effect does seem to be weighted most heavily against sugary foods.
It was billed as a ban on advertising 'junk' food, and doesn't actually seem that bad an attempt at doing just that.
Best celebs house I’ve been to recently was that of the Georgian mountaineer Khergiani up In Mestia in the Caucasus.
Fascinating artefacts, but the most mind blowing part was that his family had lived - with records - in the same building uninterrupted since the 10th century. The wooden animal stalls and beds downstairs were dated to the time of the original house, so the same family had been using those pieces of furniture for a thousand years.
That’s fantastic. And they’re still there?
That must make it one of the “longest perpetually inhabited by the same family non royal houses” in Europe. In fact most royal families would find it hard to match that
When did the windsors move to Windsor? Does the Tower of London still count as a royal home? I don’t think so
Speaking of Hemingway - in his favour his house in Cuba is one of the more interesting writers’ houses I’ve visited. Also beautiful. And it screams “repressed gay”
Very few are interesting. Pushkin’s is only interesting coz it’s got souvenirs of his fatal duel - the letter of challenge, the blood soaked waistcoat
The brontes is good coz it’s intense
Any others?
I say all this coz I’ve just been to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s gaff in Aracataca and it’s RUBBISH
Does Anne Hathaway's cottage count, I've always enjoyed that one.
Good to see where the actress grew up.
Hah. I’ve never actually been to that one
I think “writer’s houses” are hampered by the fact most writers live quite boring lives, consisting mainly of sitting alone writing; it’s not box office
Once you’ve seen the crucial desk and maybe the bedroom, meh
I used to have tutorials in the house that Jane Austin died in. Sometimes I would sit there and understand why she died there.
This shift on immigration from Labour is really intriguing and the fact they’ve done it so early suggests they think it’s a major problem area but also one they feel they can tackle.
I do think if they manage to cut immigration next year and the next they’ll be perceived quite differently.
Another pig just flew past
Why are you so horrible to everyone? What have we ever done to you?
why are you such a wimp, as much chance of those dullards cutting immigration as me being pope.
The hat might suit you malc, "the hat maketh the man." Something like that anyway.
This is one of the more dubious cases arising from the summer riots.
A former boxer prosecuted for saying in a YouTube video that "young white girls are being raped by these grooming gangs". He initially pled not guilty and was remanded in custody without bail in August. After being locked up for months he's eventually pled guilty to a charge of 'sending communication of an offensive nature' and will now be sentenced.
If there is no more context to this case than that presented here it is an outrage. Despite his back record. There might well be such context - we don’t know
Stop flagging you pathetic fools
There seems to be a new found enthusiasm for flagging posts. I got more last week than I had in the previous years. Now William's post was mind numbingly silly, but certainly not warranting of a flag.
The moderators have stated that a ban will follow the unnecessary use of flagging
I misread that as flogging, and wondered just how far the moderators were going these days.
They are stark raving mad, of all the crap food around they pick porridge, total nutters.
Is porridge commonly advertised to children?
It seems to me that the ban is on 'breakfast cereals', and it's the Metro who have translated that into granola, mueseli, and porridge - but the sort of cereals that are actually advertised to kids are, er, slightly different...
The syrupy instant porridge perhaps is the wrong sort of cereal, but a lot of granola and muesli contains a lot of sugar.
Bloomin' doctors... telling us wot's healthy........
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I don't really support this ban, but our carb heavy breakfast is a dangerous meal.
Ironically a food fand thought healthy when it originated in the USA.
Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal: Why You Should Ditch Your Morning Meal For Health and Wellbeing https://amzn.eu/d/hP1LPEj
Good to see you drop by, even if only briefly. PB is a poorer place without you.
Breakfast for me
2 weetabix plus blueberries plus coffee plus actimel blueberry
I might write a Knappers Gazette article on the Beauty of Backwaters
Places forgotten by time, transport and history that have - perhaps as a consequence - retained their charm. And they STILL have that sleepy quality
Mompos is a perfect example. It was important in its day. The Colombian Spanish nobility fled here to avoid the fierce English raids on the coast. Heh
And it was also a massively important trading port on the great river
But then it became a literal backwater as the river silted and then cars and roads etc
In Britain I would say all of Herefordshire. It is still weirdly hard to reach and as a result is arguably the loveliest most unspoiled county in England
Any others?
I was rather taken by the Llyn Peninsula. Not particularly remote, but seemingly little visited and truly lovely.
As an aside, I see a difference between 'backwater' and 'remote'. A backwater is somewhere people live and is relatively easily accessible, but people rarely go. A remote place is somewhere that is hard to get to. Although perhaps that's me.
This is one of the more dubious cases arising from the summer riots.
A former boxer prosecuted for saying in a YouTube video that "young white girls are being raped by these grooming gangs". He initially pled not guilty and was remanded in custody without bail in August. After being locked up for months he's eventually pled guilty to a charge of 'sending communication of an offensive nature' and will now be sentenced.
If there is no more context to this case than that presented here it is an outrage. Despite his back record. There might well be such context - we don’t know
Stop flagging you pathetic fools
There seems to be a new found enthusiasm for flagging posts. I got more last week than I had in the previous years. Now William's post was mind numbingly silly, but certainly not warranting of a flag.
The moderators have stated that a ban will follow the unnecessary use of flagging
I misread that as flogging, and wondered just how far the moderators were going these days.
I saw fagging
I'd never have thought of you as public school, but if there's something you need to say then saying it is important.
Comments
And yet. The stats.
One of the stats, interestingly, is that Blackpool is the most densely populated local authority in the North West. I suspect the grim areas are horribly overpopulated with benefitees living in dead hotels. And the poverty of the people living here outweighs the not-poverty of most of the town.
Anyway, despite its problems, it's a grand place. It is very much not on its arse. It may not fill the rooms it did in the 50s, but it still fills a quite astonishing number. The town works furiously hard finding reasons for people to come to Blackpool, and come they do.
And if you stand on the front and look out to sea at sunset, you can see why tourism developed here. It can be surprisingly charming. I like it more every time I go.
(I have no idea where on earth matters may go in all this, but it's seriously wacky races)
Loks like Barnier is toast so back into Macron's court. Voting ends in 10 minutes.
Wallace has done all of the work during which allegations have occurred for an Independent Production Company who sell the product to the BBC and other TV Channels globally.
Edit: Watching this I do think that our arrangements whereby the PM or anyone else addressing parliament has no great throne is a good one.
If we allowed 50m masts, we'd need fewer of them.
Happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Having said that, sometimes a person previously known to police, as this man was, will be picked on. If the police had felt that he'd unjustly escaped jail for a previous conviction that might have affected their approach to another opportunity to get him.
We'll see.
This is getting to the nub of how interesting this period of politics is, as one of us will miss what is actually happening at the time. Take this as an example.
“Starmer's tax rises on farmers is certainly not fiscal conservatism.”
How often is “fiscal conservatism” the rule of the ledger book, oblivious to social consequences? Such as an argument to shut down so many mines so quickly in the 1980s and 1990s, that equally didn’t consider social impact and social costs of that decision making?
Was it “old labour” who wrote off the 1980s introduced change, or 2024 fiscal conservatism? Not that it’s Infinity War or anything, but I have at least one former Conservative Party Chancellor on my side of this point of view don’t I?
Even if we disagree about how “old labour” this government is going to be, you can still answer the following question to you as a hypothetical:
If they governed in “the third way” including welfare to workfare reform and deregulation too as well as this fiscal conservatism, will it harm Labours re-election chances, or help them hold and build on the July 2024 voting block?
One of the great advertising lines from the olden days of 1948.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/restricting-advertising-of-less-healthy-food-or-drink-on-tv-and-online-products-in-scope/restricting-advertising-of-less-healthy-food-or-drink-on-tv-and-online-products-in-scope
But you *are* on a political site anyway ...
I don't mean to join the pile-on here. He was no worae a broadcaster than many. But he's hardly Joanna Lumley.
NY Times blog.
He was born after the Apollo landings!
nwod edispu em dedaol uoY
noel kcuf hO
Your view is nice to have not a necessity as well
From the article 24 prefer the view to 6 preferring the mobile signal seems like the people have spoken....or you only like democracy when it gets answers you like?
We did go to Blackpool in the summer to see a show, which was good, but did get a very run down vibe travelling to it.
I’m in love
With Biden falling asleep, Scholz done for and Macron in crisis, welcome Sir Keir as acting leader of the free world for the next seven weeks.
I may have predicted 20 of the last zero Euro collapses, but I can't see a good outcome fir the euro or the EU, and it makes me glad we're out of it (although of course it doesn't shield us from tge repurcussions).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjrZcs-5g9E
As for mines, Wilson closed more mines than Thatcher did, she just took on the NUM harder. Indeed the last Conservative government proposed to open a new mine in Cumbria but Labour via Ed Miliband .abandoned the plan once it took office.
Outside of the public sector most voters are seeing their taxes go up more than their pay and immigration also rising further while pensioners have also seen their WFA cut. Welfare to work doesn't attract many voters unless it sees taxes go down too for those already in work to reflect lower welfare costs and Labour are certainly not deregulating anywhere at present.
Hence already Labour is down about 6-7% on the 34% it got in July, mainly to Reform's benefit
I don't call for revocation of British citizenship lightly, but this strikes me as borderline treacherous.
And then I shall gently slump to the side and after about an hour a kid will stop playing football by the statue of Bolivar and he will point and say
“El gringo. Muerte”
And a woman by the dragonfruit ice cream shop will look at my crumpled figure and look vaguely interested and say
“Si”
And then she will turn and serve another customer
Neither was Biden's pick, 'Ballast' Nelson.
Oddly enough, Trump's pick for NASA administrator in 2016, Bridenstine, was excellent. Which is why he's not going to be administrator again - his excellence annoyed Trump...
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(I am of course joking. You and I undoubtedly share a disappointment that you can't say edgy things. Still, Florida's nice
Cameron is still PM of a a one nation Tory party, with Labour's outstanding front bench and leader ready to take over if the chips fall right and to be Gladstone to his Disraeli.
A UK/EU magnanimity without peer in 21st century European history ensuring peace and prosperity, further secured by Ukraine's admission to NATO and to the CU and SM prior to full membership.
And then I woke up....
(Line of sight does not necessarily matter in a built-up area with lots of multipath propagation to confuse the baseband processor. If there are lots of buildings about, you can occasionally get a stronger signal out of direct line-of-sight of the transmitter. And receivers have a maximum, as well as a minimum, power. If you are too close to a transmitter, you will lose signal - proximity effect.)
Very few are interesting. Pushkin’s is only interesting coz it’s got souvenirs of his fatal duel - the letter of challenge, the blood soaked waistcoat
The brontes is good coz it’s intense
Any others?
I say all this coz I’ve just been to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s gaff in Aracataca and it’s RUBBISH
I am the Lord your God: you shall have no other gods but me. (His god is Donald Trump)
You shall not make for yourself any idol. (Fail. Wants to add himself to Mt Rushmore)
You shall not dishonour the name of the Lord your God. ( Debatable)
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. (Big fail)
Honour your father and mother. ( Even if your Dad was a hood?)
You shall not commit murder. ( ?)
You shall not commit adultery.( The biggest fail?)
You shall not steal.( Oops no, an even bigger
fail).
You shall not be a false witness.(Big fail)
You shall not covet anything which belongs to your neighbour (Does that include other people's wives?)
It is like when Truss or Boris was elected, a situation which was patently obvious for ending in disaster (avoiding the Brexit own-goal here and we all know why).
I will be amazed if Trump is still President in 2028. He is not healthy and if he does ¼ of what he promised the social unrest will be immense and an assassin will get him.
However if Greater Anglia’s advertising is being stopped, I’m all in favour.
PBers are forever moaning about increasing rates of obesity and diabetes and their contribution to the rocketing cost of the NHS. And now moaning about restrictions on advertising products that are unnecessarily high in fat, salt, or sugar when kids might be watching.
Sure, the last govt was fairly crap, but this is one of the few bits of Boris' manifesto that actually made it into law. Indeed, the Tories were so proud of it that they promised to ban it all over again if they had won the last GE: https://order-order.com/2024/06/12/tory-manifesto-pledges-to-ban-junk-food-adverts-they-already-banned/
Good to see where the actress grew up.
People need to get over the "low fat" bollocks that does not work.
I think “writer’s houses” are hampered by the fact most writers live quite boring lives, consisting mainly of sitting alone writing; it’s not box office
Once you’ve seen the crucial desk and maybe the bedroom, meh
Maybe with these new advertising curbs we could find our way back to the traditional, low carb (though I do like a bit of fried sauce) full English for breakfast.
Likewise Lamartine’s places in the Maconnais are interesting principally as pleasant 18th century architecture and interior decor.
Even with all the fancy MIMO and beamforming tech used for 5G, it still comes down to needing a larger number of smaller cells in order to provide adequate service in those conditions.
Don't really miss carbs either.
Fascinating artefacts, but the most mind blowing part was that his family had lived - with records - in the same building uninterrupted since the 10th century. The wooden animal stalls and beds downstairs were dated to the time of the original house, so the same family had been using those pieces of furniture for a thousand years.
"A Georgian opposition leader has been dragged from his party office by police and others have been physically attacked, after the prime minister vowed that organisers of a week of pro-EU protests, which he called "violent actions", would face justice."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyj2e57r70o
Maybe eggy bread counts as not too much carb.
If however she faces centrist Philippe, former PM from Macron's party, then polls suggest it would be neck and neck
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2027_French_presidential_election
Macron of course is term limited so cannot run again
Places forgotten by time, transport and history that have - perhaps as a consequence - retained their charm. And they STILL have that sleepy quality
Mompos is a perfect example. It was important in its day. The Colombian Spanish nobility fled here to avoid the fierce English raids on the coast. Heh
And it was also a massively important trading port on the great river
But then it became a literal backwater as the river silted and then cars and roads etc
In Britain I would say all of Herefordshire. It is still weirdly hard to reach and as a result is arguably the loveliest most unspoiled county in England
Any others?
Ironically a food fand thought healthy when it originated in the USA.
Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal: Why You Should Ditch Your Morning Meal For Health and Wellbeing https://amzn.eu/d/hP1LPEj
Good to see you drop by, even if only briefly. PB is a poorer place without you.
Nuff said. Let’s hope you are right in your psephology, and I’m not back on May 4th 2029 saying: fucking told you nearly five years ago - you dipstick!
It was billed as a ban on advertising 'junk' food, and doesn't actually seem that bad an attempt at doing just that.
That must make it one of the “longest perpetually inhabited by the same family non royal houses” in Europe. In fact most royal families would find it hard to match that
When did the windsors move to Windsor? Does the Tower of London still count as a royal home? I don’t think so
2 weetabix plus blueberries plus coffee plus actimel blueberry
No sugar
Plus rumours Jenrick jumping to Reform !!!
As an aside, I see a difference between 'backwater' and 'remote'. A backwater is somewhere people live and is relatively easily accessible, but people rarely go. A remote place is somewhere that is hard to get to. Although perhaps that's me.