1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
My favourite carol this year was the little known Nowell to the Merrie Citie from the War of the Roses musical by former Wakefield schoolteacher Alan Simmons.
Last thought for just now. I have never believed in capital punishment but fuck. Driving home tonight listening to what happened to that little girl. Holding her down and burning her with an iron. I felt sick. If only there was a hell for them to burn in. Absolute bastards.
Indeed. Register of home schooling and an end to the religion of "parental choice" overriding all things in education. Would be of more practical use.
99% of home schoolers aren't absusers you want to punish them for the few that are? Why not just jail all males as rapists its probably a higher percentage.
Last thought for just now. I have never believed in capital punishment but fuck. Driving home tonight listening to what happened to that little girl. Holding her down and burning her with an iron. I felt sick. If only there was a hell for them to burn in. Absolute bastards.
Indeed. Register of home schooling and an end to the religion of "parental choice" overriding all things in education. Would be of more practical use.
99% of home schoolers aren't absusers you want to punish them for the few that are? Why not just jail all males as rapists its probably a higher percentage.
Asking people to register is hardly "punishing" anyone.
Last thought for just now. I have never believed in capital punishment but fuck. Driving home tonight listening to what happened to that little girl. Holding her down and burning her with an iron. I felt sick. If only there was a hell for them to burn in. Absolute bastards.
Indeed. Register of home schooling and an end to the religion of "parental choice" overriding all things in education. Would be of more practical use.
99% of home schoolers aren't absusers you want to punish them for the few that are? Why not just jail all males as rapists its probably a higher percentage.
Simple fact...this child was already in the system social services did fuck all because it was too difficult. You will find they have a target for cases resolved so they will target the easier cases. It has bugger all to do with home schooling it has loads to do with civil servants hitting targets
Last thought for just now. I have never believed in capital punishment but fuck. Driving home tonight listening to what happened to that little girl. Holding her down and burning her with an iron. I felt sick. If only there was a hell for them to burn in. Absolute bastards.
Indeed. Register of home schooling and an end to the religion of "parental choice" overriding all things in education. Would be of more practical use.
99% of home schoolers aren't absusers you want to punish them for the few that are? Why not just jail all males as rapists its probably a higher percentage.
Asking people to register is hardly "punishing" anyone.
Home schooled children are already registered so you meant more than that
Local government restructuring is never particularly popular. Which is why doing it in year 1 is good politics by Starmer (is that a first ?). Heath waited for two years.
It might even prove to be a good idea.
Expect much squealing by vested interests. But, the current setup is nonsensical in many areas. I have already cited the classic examples - Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle. There are countless more. Good idea to sort it out.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Last thought for just now. I have never believed in capital punishment but fuck. Driving home tonight listening to what happened to that little girl. Holding her down and burning her with an iron. I felt sick. If only there was a hell for them to burn in. Absolute bastards.
Indeed. Register of home schooling and an end to the religion of "parental choice" overriding all things in education. Would be of more practical use.
The oversight of home schoolers is absolutely needed, but there is another much larger group to deal with. There is a substantial group of children registered with schools who only rarely turn up. This group is at well over average risk. Finally, I suggest there will be a group of hidden children, unknown to authority of any sort, mostly I expect from families that have no right to remain here. The risk level in all these groups must be high.
Of these groups, on average the home schoolers will be at lowest risk, despite the unbearable abominations we have heard today.
Local government restructuring is never particularly popular. Which is why doing it in year 1 is good politics by Starmer (is that a first ?). Heath waited for two years.
It might even prove to be a good idea.
Expect much squealing by vested interests. But, the current setup is nonsensical in many areas. I have already cited the classic examples - Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle. There are countless more. Good idea to sort it out.
Just abolish it practically no one cares about local government which is why so few people bother voting in local elections. Once less than 30% of people think its actually not worth voting its time to abolish that level of government
Reform are basically now British Trump party after todays take-over meeting with Musk.
Will the British, or at least English, decide to copy their American cousins and tear down the whole house?
I fear they will.
Starmer has four years to prove normal politics delivers.
Well, fragmentation of voting blocs combined with FPTP is going to lead to a *lot* of interesting results, and potentially some very nonproportional ones.
If the Greens make progress at the expense of Labour, and Reform at the expense of everyone, while the LibDems continue to pick up mid-teens vote shares very efficiently, then almost any result is possible.
Here's my completely unlikely (but entirely possible) prediction: the only viable two party coalition following the 2029 elections will be a Reform-LibDem one. (Which obviously won't happen.)
The Lib Dems have form for jumping into bed with unusual partners. The draw of Government might be too enticing. Even if five years later they implode-again.
Once is not "have form".
There was also 1970.
Conservative governemtn IIRC. So no , there was not.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Would they do that for a complete hysterical flap? A big but secret briefing? Maybe, but it seems unlikely
I agree the UK connection is mysterious. That COULD be contagion?!
The problem with the drones looking for radioactivity theory is I don’t know any way that the radioactivity could be detected from the air in that way. And as for them searching in a grid arrangement (raster pattern?) - if true then very easy to intercept. Which hasn’t happened, by state forces or amateur snappers.
Face it - the briefing will be ‘there’s nothing going on’.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Reform are basically now British Trump party after todays take-over meeting with Musk.
Will the British, or at least English, decide to copy their American cousins and tear down the whole house?
I fear they will.
Starmer has four years to prove normal politics delivers.
Well, fragmentation of voting blocs combined with FPTP is going to lead to a *lot* of interesting results, and potentially some very nonproportional ones.
If the Greens make progress at the expense of Labour, and Reform at the expense of everyone, while the LibDems continue to pick up mid-teens vote shares very efficiently, then almost any result is possible.
Here's my completely unlikely (but entirely possible) prediction: the only viable two party coalition following the 2029 elections will be a Reform-LibDem one. (Which obviously won't happen.)
The Lib Dems have form for jumping into bed with unusual partners. The draw of Government might be too enticing. Even if five years later they implode-again.
Once is not "have form".
There was also 1970.
Conservative governemtn IIRC. So no , there was not.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Would they do that for a complete hysterical flap? A big but secret briefing? Maybe, but it seems unlikely
I agree the UK connection is mysterious. That COULD be contagion?!
The problem with the drones looking for radioactivity theory is I don’t know any way that the radioactivity could be detected from the air in that way. And as for them searching in a grid arrangement (raster pattern?) - if true then very easy to intercept. Which hasn’t happened, by state forces or amateur snappers.
Face it - the briefing will be ‘there’s nothing going on’.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Last thought for just now. I have never believed in capital punishment but fuck. Driving home tonight listening to what happened to that little girl. Holding her down and burning her with an iron. I felt sick. If only there was a hell for them to burn in. Absolute bastards.
Indeed. Register of home schooling and an end to the religion of "parental choice" overriding all things in education. Would be of more practical use.
99% of home schoolers aren't absusers you want to punish them for the few that are? Why not just jail all males as rapists its probably a higher percentage.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Would they do that for a complete hysterical flap? A big but secret briefing? Maybe, but it seems unlikely
I agree the UK connection is mysterious. That COULD be contagion?!
The problem with the drones looking for radioactivity theory is I don’t know any way that the radioactivity could be detected from the air in that way. And as for them searching in a grid arrangement (raster pattern?) - if true then very easy to intercept. Which hasn’t happened, by state forces or amateur snappers.
Face it - the briefing will be ‘there’s nothing going on’.
Quite a few articles like that - but largely about detecting hot waste from accidents, or nuclear sites. I think you’d need something a LOT more sensitive to look for a device.
@MattW - looks like the City wants to expand through Gedling, Broxtowe and Rushcliffe, which would make sense. Presumably the plan is to split Erewash with an expanded Derby council (Ilkeston and Long Eaton added to Greater Nottingham)?
For those of us who can't see the reactions (thought I can guess) - could you give us a summary?
Civ VII makes Harriet Tubman a feature.
Which gets a certain class of people very annoyed.
It's a frickin' game. And not only that, but it's not like you're forced to play Harriet Tubman.
There are 31 different countries, each will have at least one leader, and for countries like the US, the UK and "Rome" there will be multiple possible leaders. So, for example, you can choose Benjamin Franklin of the US among the options.
Some people have got very upset that one of the Americans is Harriet Tubman, on the basis she was never President. Weirdly, these people didn't seem to get upset by the fact that Benjamin Franklin was never President.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Would they do that for a complete hysterical flap? A big but secret briefing? Maybe, but it seems unlikely
I agree the UK connection is mysterious. That COULD be contagion?!
The problem with the drones looking for radioactivity theory is I don’t know any way that the radioactivity could be detected from the air in that way. And as for them searching in a grid arrangement (raster pattern?) - if true then very easy to intercept. Which hasn’t happened, by state forces or amateur snappers.
Face it - the briefing will be ‘there’s nothing going on’.
For those of us who can't see the reactions (thought I can guess) - could you give us a summary?
Civ VII makes Harriet Tubman a feature.
Which gets a certain class of people very annoyed.
It's a frickin' game. And not only that, but it's not like you're forced to play Harriet Tubman.
There are 31 different countries, each will have at least one leader, and for countries like the US, the UK and "Rome" there will be multiple possible leaders. So, for example, you can choose Benjamin Franklin of the US among the options.
Some people have got very upset that one of the Americans is Harriet Tubman, on the basis she was never President. Weirdly, these people didn't seem to get upset by the fact that Benjamin Franklin was never President.
Local government restructuring is never particularly popular. Which is why doing it in year 1 is good politics by Starmer (is that a first ?). Heath waited for two years.
It might even prove to be a good idea.
Expect much squealing by vested interests. But, the current setup is nonsensical in many areas. I have already cited the classic examples - Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle. There are countless more. Good idea to sort it out.
Just abolish it practically no one cares about local government which is why so few people bother voting in local elections. Once less than 30% of people think its actually not worth voting its time to abolish that level of government
As long as nobody thinks of creating a monster like Highland Council. It covers 9,905 square miles and a population of over 235,000. The distance by road from Duncansby Head in the north east of the council area to Ardnamurchan Point in the south west is 250 miles. Imagine a council area that stretched from Central London to Redcar!
For those of us who can't see the reactions (thought I can guess) - could you give us a summary?
Civ VII makes Harriet Tubman a feature.
Which gets a certain class of people very annoyed.
It's a frickin' game. And not only that, but it's not like you're forced to play Harriet Tubman.
There are 31 different countries, each will have at least one leader, and for countries like the US, the UK and "Rome" there will be multiple possible leaders. So, for example, you can choose Benjamin Franklin of the US among the options.
Some people have got very upset that one of the Americans is Harriet Tubman, on the basis she was never President. Weirdly, these people didn't seem to get upset by the fact that Benjamin Franklin was never President.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Would they do that for a complete hysterical flap? A big but secret briefing? Maybe, but it seems unlikely
I agree the UK connection is mysterious. That COULD be contagion?!
The problem with the drones looking for radioactivity theory is I don’t know any way that the radioactivity could be detected from the air in that way. And as for them searching in a grid arrangement (raster pattern?) - if true then very easy to intercept. Which hasn’t happened, by state forces or amateur snappers.
Face it - the briefing will be ‘there’s nothing going on’.
For those of us who can't see the reactions (thought I can guess) - could you give us a summary?
Civ VII makes Harriet Tubman a feature.
Which gets a certain class of people very annoyed.
It's a frickin' game. And not only that, but it's not like you're forced to play Harriet Tubman.
There are 31 different countries, each will have at least one leader, and for countries like the US, the UK and "Rome" there will be multiple possible leaders. So, for example, you can choose Benjamin Franklin of the US among the options.
Some people have got very upset that one of the Americans is Harriet Tubman, on the basis she was never President. Weirdly, these people didn't seem to get upset by the fact that Benjamin Franklin was never President.
For those of us who can't see the reactions (thought I can guess) - could you give us a summary?
Civ VII makes Harriet Tubman a feature.
Which gets a certain class of people very annoyed.
It's a frickin' game. And not only that, but it's not like you're forced to play Harriet Tubman.
There are 31 different countries, each will have at least one leader, and for countries like the US, the UK and "Rome" there will be multiple possible leaders. So, for example, you can choose Benjamin Franklin of the US among the options.
Some people have got very upset that one of the Americans is Harriet Tubman, on the basis she was never President. Weirdly, these people didn't seem to get upset by the fact that Benjamin Franklin was never President.
Local government restructuring is never particularly popular. Which is why doing it in year 1 is good politics by Starmer (is that a first ?). Heath waited for two years.
It might even prove to be a good idea.
Expect much squealing by vested interests. But, the current setup is nonsensical in many areas. I have already cited the classic examples - Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle. There are countless more. Good idea to sort it out.
Just abolish it practically no one cares about local government which is why so few people bother voting in local elections. Once less than 30% of people think its actually not worth voting its time to abolish that level of government
As long as nobody thinks of creating a monster like Highland Council. It covers 9,905 square miles and a population of over 235,000. The distance by road from Duncansby Head in the north east of the council area to Ardnamurchan Point in the south west is 250 miles. Imagine a council area that stretched from Central London to Redcar!
you dont need that you have holyrood as your local council
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Would they do that for a complete hysterical flap? A big but secret briefing? Maybe, but it seems unlikely
I agree the UK connection is mysterious. That COULD be contagion?!
The problem with the drones looking for radioactivity theory is I don’t know any way that the radioactivity could be detected from the air in that way. And as for them searching in a grid arrangement (raster pattern?) - if true then very easy to intercept. Which hasn’t happened, by state forces or amateur snappers.
Face it - the briefing will be ‘there’s nothing going on’.
Oh sweet naive child, no.
They will emphasize at the meeting that they don't think anything is going on, that they have no evidence that anything is going on, but this is largely because there's a gap in US drone monitoring capability, and they really could do with a supplemental bill for the Defense budget for $many bns so that they can buy the capability in future to defend against this potential threat.
Local government restructuring is never particularly popular. Which is why doing it in year 1 is good politics by Starmer (is that a first ?). Heath waited for two years.
It might even prove to be a good idea.
Expect much squealing by vested interests. But, the current setup is nonsensical in many areas. I have already cited the classic examples - Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle. There are countless more. Good idea to sort it out.
Just abolish it practically no one cares about local government which is why so few people bother voting in local elections. Once less than 30% of people think its actually not worth voting its time to abolish that level of government
As long as nobody thinks of creating a monster like Highland Council. It covers 9,905 square miles and a population of over 235,000. The distance by road from Duncansby Head in the north east of the council area to Ardnamurchan Point in the south west is 250 miles. Imagine a council area that stretched from Central London to Redcar!
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
Reform are basically now British Trump party after todays take-over meeting with Musk.
Will the British, or at least English, decide to copy their American cousins and tear down the whole house?
I fear they will.
Starmer has four years to prove normal politics delivers.
Well, fragmentation of voting blocs combined with FPTP is going to lead to a *lot* of interesting results, and potentially some very nonproportional ones.
If the Greens make progress at the expense of Labour, and Reform at the expense of everyone, while the LibDems continue to pick up mid-teens vote shares very efficiently, then almost any result is possible.
Here's my completely unlikely (but entirely possible) prediction: the only viable two party coalition following the 2029 elections will be a Reform-LibDem one. (Which obviously won't happen.)
The Lib Dems have form for jumping into bed with unusual partners. The draw of Government might be too enticing. Even if five years later they implode-again.
The one to watch will be the outcome of the Scottish elections in 2026.
It'll be a muddle but I reckon we'll see an SNP/Labour coalition. You read it first here.
(They both agree on pretty well everything bar Indy, and that will off the table as there won't be a pro-Indy majority at Holyrood. And no other combination will get anywhere near to a working majority.)
Doubt it very much. The Bain Principle still applies. Look at Edinburgh where Labour are one of the smaller parties yet insist on ruling [edit] with the support of everyone down to Shug the Easter Road Jakie and his wee dug rather than allow the SNP to lead as the largest party.
The current tension between Labour HQ and the locals having their chain yanked either directly or by everuone watching won't help.
I'd expect a minority Labour government if the largest party, or second largest party, with the support of Reform.
Interesting. You really reckon Reform would back Labour? Hmm. Not sure what Nige would say about that.
My reckoning is that Sarwar will be desperate to get into Govt as Deputy FM, and Swinney won't be averse to staying on. They'll do a deal. There is a sort of precedent - Labour/Plaid in Wales.
But Reform *already* are backing Labour - or would if they had MSPs.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
1. Drones are real (amidst the planes and stars) 2. They are American military drones 3. The Pentagon is testing the vulnerability of bases in light of Ukraine developments that have torn up conventional thinking about war. The US Army has 5,000 Abrams tanks which are basically useless against drones bought off Ebay.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Would they do that for a complete hysterical flap? A big but secret briefing? Maybe, but it seems unlikely
I agree the UK connection is mysterious. That COULD be contagion?!
The problem with the drones looking for radioactivity theory is I don’t know any way that the radioactivity could be detected from the air in that way. And as for them searching in a grid arrangement (raster pattern?) - if true then very easy to intercept. Which hasn’t happened, by state forces or amateur snappers.
Face it - the briefing will be ‘there’s nothing going on’.
Oh sweet naive child, no.
They will emphasize at the meeting that they don't think anything is going on, that they have no evidence that anything is going on, but this is largely because there's a gap in US drone monitoring capability, and they really could do with a supplemental bill for the Defense budget for $many bns so that they can buy the capability in future to defend against this potential threat.
Aside from the fact that detecting drones on radar is a hard problem - small ones are barely above the random noise that’s almost omnipresent, and which you want to filter out for most purposes - the radar coverage of the continental US is really pretty poor (see the recentish Chinese balloon stories).
Providing good coverage would cost a LOT of money.
An Aegis onshore system clocks in around $4bn, I think. Japan needed two, and scrapped the program for cost reasons.
Heaven knows how many you’d need for broad coverage of CONUS.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places. If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
Going oin the train to Inverness?! Car hire, presumably, though.
If you've never been, then 4 - or at least the area [edit] - would get good views of the weird Torridonian Sandstone outlier mountains on the Lewisian Gneiss basement. Suilven, Canisp etc. Maybe try and capture sunset on them.
Look at visiting Knockan Crag NNR visitor centre if it is open - I haven't been but it should be OK. else Scottishgeologytrust.org for info. and https://nwhgeopark.com/
1 and 2 would be good for the views of the granite/gabbro igneous complexes of the Black and Red Cuillin on Skye and the Rum Cuillin (and Ardnamurchan as well), and the lava flows over the JUrassic on Skye and Eigg. Might have to walk/drive for views depending where the cottage is. Dramatically varied scenery to appeal to the artist as much as the geologist.
But I'm sure others such as @Eabhal will have their views. [Edit: can't judge what the view from the actual cottage is, obvs.]
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Would they do that for a complete hysterical flap? A big but secret briefing? Maybe, but it seems unlikely
I agree the UK connection is mysterious. That COULD be contagion?!
The problem with the drones looking for radioactivity theory is I don’t know any way that the radioactivity could be detected from the air in that way. And as for them searching in a grid arrangement (raster pattern?) - if true then very easy to intercept. Which hasn’t happened, by state forces or amateur snappers.
Face it - the briefing will be ‘there’s nothing going on’.
Oh sweet naive child, no.
They will emphasize at the meeting that they don't think anything is going on, that they have no evidence that anything is going on, but this is largely because there's a gap in US drone monitoring capability, and they really could do with a supplemental bill for the Defense budget for $many bns so that they can buy the capability in future to defend against this potential threat.
Aside from the fact that detecting drones on radar is a hard problem - small ones are barely above the random noise that’s almost omnipresent, and which you want to filter out for most purposes - the radar coverage of the continental US is really pretty poor (see the recentish Chinese balloon stories).
Providing good coverage would cost a LOT of money.
An Aegis onshore system clocks in around $4bn, I think. Japan needed two, and scrapped the program for cost reasons.
Heaven knows how many you’d need for broad coverage of CONUS.
This sounds like a great opportunity for military contractors, rather than a problem, if you approach it with the right mindset.
Every time the Met Office makes an incorrect forecast for a significant weather event, they go back and work out why the forecast went wrong, and how much it would cost to make it right for all future forecasts. Maggie Thatcher was convinced by that reasoning after the Great Storm of 1987.
If the US military-industrial complex can't make at least a few billions out of this event then they're really off their game.
Alex Hollings of Sandboxx News reckons the drones are drones. Specifically, an air corridor was earmarked as a test zone for an advanced drone project some time ago and he reckons that the usual suspects (NASA, DARPA etc) are running trials with their industrial partners
The video explores the hypothesis that a NASA-led advanced air mobility (AAM) drone testing program is responsible for numerous reports of unidentified drones over New Jersey and other locations, such as Langley Air Force Base.
Key Points:
Hundreds of unusual drone sightings have been reported in New Jersey and surrounding areas.
A TikTok creator, JK Ultra, first suggested a connection to the NASA AAM program.
A testing corridor for various drone technologies, involving NASA and other organizations, was established between Delaware and New Jersey. This corridor allows for drone launches and recoveries from various points within the designated area.
Similar drone swarm sightings occurred near Langley Air Force Base in Virginia around December, and NASA subsequently released a statement about testing automated drone systems in the area.
The proximity of NASA's testing location to Langley Air Force Base and the overlap with the New Jersey drone sightings strongly suggest a connection.
The YouTuber has contacted NASA for comment but hasn't received a response yet.
Highlights:
The video presents a compelling theory linking the mysterious drone sightings to an official, albeit secretive, government-backed program.
The use of Occam's Razor supports the theory as the simplest explanation.
The video highlights the potential implications of advanced drone technology testing and the lack of transparency surrounding such programs.
Last thought for just now. I have never believed in capital punishment but fuck. Driving home tonight listening to what happened to that little girl. Holding her down and burning her with an iron. I felt sick. If only there was a hell for them to burn in. Absolute bastards.
She was tied up, hooded and put in a plastic bag with a hole to breathe through. The judge rightly called it "torture". It seems utterly pointless to say this but may she finally rest in peace.
She was picked on by her father out of all the children living with him because she was a girl. He even taught her older brother to hate her because she was a girl and so inferior and worthy of punishment. It is going to be one hell of a job to teach that boy how wrong and wicked his father's view is, even assuming anyone is trying to do so. And so this vicious cycle will continue in the next generation.
All those children are wards of court, have been taken unlawfully to Pakistan where the grandfather is refusing to return them because they are, according to him, "settled". Those children have been exposed to the grim brutal reality of domestic violence. They will all be affected by it. I recently read John Sutherland's memoir: "Blue - Keeping the Peace and Falling to Pieces". He was a senior officer in the Met for many years and one of his observations is how almost invariably there is a history of domestic violence in the background and childhood of pretty much all violent criminals. His view was that if we tackled that effectively we would do more to deal with crime than any other single measure.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I am embarrassed to say I've never been to any of those places!
I think of those I'd choose the Skye ones - Skye looks stunning.
Ullapool also qualifies as beautiful, wild and remote.
The Black Isle (actually a peninsula) is also great. Nice towns like Cromarty and Fortrose, and a bit closer to Inverness.
Alex Hollings of Sandboxx News reckons the drones are drones. Specifically, an air corridor was earmarked as a test zone for an advanced drone project some time ago and he reckons that the usual suspects (NASA, DARPA etc) are running trials with their industrial partners
The video explores the hypothesis that a NASA-led advanced air mobility (AAM) drone testing program is responsible for numerous reports of unidentified drones over New Jersey and other locations, such as Langley Air Force Base.
Key Points:
Hundreds of unusual drone sightings have been reported in New Jersey and surrounding areas.
A TikTok creator, JK Ultra, first suggested a connection to the NASA AAM program.
A testing corridor for various drone technologies, involving NASA and other organizations, was established between Delaware and New Jersey. This corridor allows for drone launches and recoveries from various points within the designated area.
Similar drone swarm sightings occurred near Langley Air Force Base in Virginia around December, and NASA subsequently released a statement about testing automated drone systems in the area.
The proximity of NASA's testing location to Langley Air Force Base and the overlap with the New Jersey drone sightings strongly suggest a connection.
The YouTuber has contacted NASA for comment but hasn't received a response yet.
Highlights:
The video presents a compelling theory linking the mysterious drone sightings to an official, albeit secretive, government-backed program.
The use of Occam's Razor supports the theory as the simplest explanation.
The video highlights the potential implications of advanced drone technology testing and the lack of transparency surrounding such programs.
Think its always been some American program cos they'll shoot down everything that isn't, see the Chinese surveillance balloons.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
Not really. They plan to devolve power to units thar actually make some sort of sense. At least, that is the hope.
I get that.
My perspective is from a resident pov. The target is 500 thousand people per new strategic authority. The current County Council has about a million.
From the 2.5k residents I now look after, we move to 20k per cllr.
County is 30+k
I think I could represent 10.000 maybe, And I’d need office help to do 20k. So costs would rise or service will decline. I’m expecting both.
The problem is the top down pov. They want 40 mayors to call in. Each with half a dozen strategic authority in their control. 1.5m people per patch.
I’d suggest ten SAs per Mayor and it could work well.
London wards of almost that size are common, although they have three councillors to do the work.
The issue will be that the decisions sit with the single person of the mayor, and his or her team of appointed commissioners. The councillors are there just to do the scrutiny - and making scrutiny into a meaningful role has never been cracked since the day Blair forced most councillors into it with his equally half-baked 2000 reforms. To do real scrutiny properly only needs a handful of people properly focused on the job, but the requirement to provide some representation to all the communities that will be losing their local councillors forces them to have large numbers elected, all trying to do it.
Last thought for just now. I have never believed in capital punishment but fuck. Driving home tonight listening to what happened to that little girl. Holding her down and burning her with an iron. I felt sick. If only there was a hell for them to burn in. Absolute bastards.
She was tied up, hooded and put in a plastic bag with a hole to breathe through. The judge rightly called it "torture". It seems utterly pointless to say this but may she finally rest in peace.
She was picked on by her father out of all the children living with him because she was a girl. He even taught her older brother to hate her because she was a girl and so inferior and worthy of punishment. It is going to be one hell of a job to teach that boy how wrong and wicked his father's view is, even assuming anyone is trying to do so. And so this vicious cycle will continue in the next generation.
All those children are wards of court, have been taken unlawfully to Pakistan where the grandfather is refusing to return them because they are, according to him, "settled". Those children have been exposed to the grim brutal reality of domestic violence. They will all be affected by it. I recently read John Sutherland's memoir: "Blue - Keeping the Peace and Falling to Pieces". He was a senior officer in the Met for many years and one of his observations is how almost invariably there is a history of domestic violence in the background and childhood of pretty much all violent criminals. His view was that if we tackled that effectively we would do more to deal with crime than any other single measure.
I hope the parents get their just deserts from the other inmates when they are in jail.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
Apparently not. After all, other areas have been through the process in a piecemeal way before...
The process of changing from a two-tier to a unitary local government system is normally referred to as ‘restructuring’ or ‘reorganisation’. The legal procedure can be found in sections 1-7 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
The Secretary of State may invite a proposal from a local authority to make a proposal for a county or district area, or a group of districts, to be restructured into a unitary authority or authorities. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) can be, but need not be, asked for advice on any matter related to the proposal. Once a proposal is received, the Secretary of State may then consider it and announce his/her intention to make an Order implementing the proposal, or s/he may reject the proposal. Any Order must then be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
When a new unitary authority is created, the Government may decide to postpone elections to its predecessor authorities. This may be done, for instance, when scheduled elections are due to take place a year before the new unitary authority is due to come into existence. Proceeding with elections in that scenario would mean those councillors serving only a single-year term. Where elections are postponed, the terms of the sitting councillors can be extended through to the date of the first elections to the new authority.
1. The drones are real (amidst many misidentified planes etc) 2. They are American, they are "military", and they are looking for something 3. It is very possibly radioactive material which went missing in New Jersey on December 2
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
Apparently not. After all, other areas have been through the process in a piecemeal way before...
The process of changing from a two-tier to a unitary local government system is normally referred to as ‘restructuring’ or ‘reorganisation’. The legal procedure can be found in sections 1-7 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
The Secretary of State may invite a proposal from a local authority to make a proposal for a county or district area, or a group of districts, to be restructured into a unitary authority or authorities. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) can be, but need not be, asked for advice on any matter related to the proposal. Once a proposal is received, the Secretary of State may then consider it and announce his/her intention to make an Order implementing the proposal, or s/he may reject the proposal. Any Order must then be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
When a new unitary authority is created, the Government may decide to postpone elections to its predecessor authorities. This may be done, for instance, when scheduled elections are due to take place a year before the new unitary authority is due to come into existence. Proceeding with elections in that scenario would mean those councillors serving only a single-year term. Where elections are postponed, the terms of the sitting councillors can be extended through to the date of the first elections to the new authority.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I am embarrassed to say I've never been to any of those places!
I think of those I'd choose the Skye ones - Skye looks stunning.
Ullapool also qualifies as beautiful, wild and remote.
The Black Isle (actually a peninsula) is also great. Nice towns like Cromarty and Fortrose, and a bit closer to Inverness.
Agreed re the Black Isle - Rosemarkie is also good, and a scenic spithead there too. Some good walks and coastal scenery in Cromarty/Eathie/Rosemarkie area. But the Isle is very much a high farming area with forestry and moor on the central hogback. Maybe safer option in winter weather?
Tourist places to visit do tend to be closed, so DYR.
Edit: splendid views from Cromarty in particular over the Firth to Ben Wyvis. I can recommend a day out to Strathpeffer and a walk up the vitrified fort of Knockfarril nearby.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
Those with elections - Tenth of Jan deadline to request a deferral of May election.
We will be Told to have a plan Jan 2025
Offer it up to gov Aug 2025 ( keen beans, ask for devolution priority programme)
Have plan accepted or have an imposed solution. The executive (Baroness Blah) said the ‘orders’ would be made in sequence, -
keen beans, dutiful, then the awkward squad would be dealt with by 2028.
At least I’ve some time to spend some reserves on more council housing.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I have been summoned.
Further north the better is the general rule. Skye takes a very long time to get to, and is very big itself so will you'll only have one decent day there. Eg Sleat and Elgol are stunning but an hour's drive from the main tourist spots on the island.
I'd stick to the fast roads around Ullapool. walkhighlands is the website of choice, with wanders around Loch Clair or Stac Pollaidh available. Bear in mind there are very few hours of daylight - 6am alarms required to maximise.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I have been summoned.
Further north the better is the general rule. Skye takes a very long time to get to, and is very big itself so will you'll only have one decent day there. Eg Sleat and Elgol are stunning but an hour's drive from the main tourist spots on the island.
I'd stick to the fast roads around Ullapool. walkhighlands is the website of choice, with wanders around Loch Clair or Stac Pollaidh available. Bear in mind there are very few hours of daylight - 6am alarms required to maximise.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
Those with elections - Tenth of Jan deadline to request a deferral of May election.
We will be Told to have a plan Jan 2025
Offer it up to gov Aug 2025 ( keen beans, ask for devolution priority programme)
Have plan accepted or have an imposed solution. The executive (Baroness Blah) said the ‘orders’ would be made in sequence, -
keen beans, dutiful, then the awkward squad would be dealt with by 2028.
At least I’ve some time to spend some reserves on more council housing.
Would be music to my ears if the axing of my district is delayed until 2028 frankly.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I am embarrassed to say I've never been to any of those places!
I think of those I'd choose the Skye ones - Skye looks stunning.
Ullapool also qualifies as beautiful, wild and remote.
The Black Isle (actually a peninsula) is also great. Nice towns like Cromarty and Fortrose, and a bit closer to Inverness.
Agreed re the Black Isle - Rosemarkie is also good, and a scenic spithead there too. Some good walks and coastal scenery in Cromarty/Eathie/Rosemarkie area. But the Isle is very much a high farming area with forestry and moor on the central hogback. Maybe safer option in winter weather?
Tourist places to visit do tend to be closed, so DYR.
Edit: splendid views from Cromarty in particular over the Firth to Ben Wyvis. I can recommend a day out to Strathpeffer and a walk up the vitrified fort of Knockfarril nearby.
Thanks. I’d not actually considered those areas closer to Inverness. It would save a bit of driving. Or perhaps we can do Cromarty / Black Isle on the Sunday before our flight.
Yes, hiring a car from Inverness. Surprisingly cheap, unlike the horrendously expensive train.
I’m intrigued by Assynt. The inselbergs and the seemingly rather Faroese look of the place. But then my one trip to Skye left a big impression, particularly the Cuillins, and that was in summer tourist crowd season.
My wife likes bleak. The bleaker the better. (No jokes at the back please).
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I have been summoned.
Further north the better is the general rule. Skye takes a very long time to get to, and is very big itself so will you'll only have one decent day there. Eg Sleat and Elgol are stunning but an hour's drive from the main tourist spots on the island.
I'd stick to the fast roads around Ullapool. walkhighlands is the website of choice, with wanders around Loch Clair or Stac Pollaidh available. Bear in mind there are very few hours of daylight - 6am alarms required to maximise.
Once walked Loch Clair and saw golden eagle.
The outflow of neighbouring Loch Coulin is great for white-tailed eagles too. It's a classic spot for artists, with the view up to Liathach. Suggest Diabaig and the windy roads north abs south of Lochinver too, as well as the stunning industrial contrast of the Kylesku bridge for painting spots.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I have been summoned.
Further north the better is the general rule. Skye takes a very long time to get to, and is very big itself so will you'll only have one decent day there. Eg Sleat and Elgol are stunning but an hour's drive from the main tourist spots on the island.
I'd stick to the fast roads around Ullapool. walkhighlands is the website of choice, with wanders around Loch Clair or Stac Pollaidh available. Bear in mind there are very few hours of daylight - 6am alarms required to maximise.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I am embarrassed to say I've never been to any of those places!
I think of those I'd choose the Skye ones - Skye looks stunning.
Ullapool also qualifies as beautiful, wild and remote.
The Black Isle (actually a peninsula) is also great. Nice towns like Cromarty and Fortrose, and a bit closer to Inverness.
Agreed re the Black Isle - Rosemarkie is also good, and a scenic spithead there too. Some good walks and coastal scenery in Cromarty/Eathie/Rosemarkie area. But the Isle is very much a high farming area with forestry and moor on the central hogback. Maybe safer option in winter weather?
Tourist places to visit do tend to be closed, so DYR.
Edit: splendid views from Cromarty in particular over the Firth to Ben Wyvis. I can recommend a day out to Strathpeffer and a walk up the vitrified fort of Knockfarril nearby.
Thanks. I’d not actually considered those areas closer to Inverness. It would save a bit of driving. Or perhaps we can do Cromarty / Black Isle on the Sunday before our flight.
Yes, hiring a car from Inverness. Surprisingly cheap, unlike the horrendously expensive train.
I’m intrigued by Assynt. The inselbergs and the seemingly rather Faroese look of the place. But then my one trip to Skye left a big impression, particularly the Cuillins, and that was in summer tourist crowd season.
My wife likes bleak. The bleaker the better. (No jokes at the back please).
Bleak = the former military housing on Benbecula. So bad it's actually got, dare I say it, noom. Too far, save for another visit.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I have been summoned.
Further north the better is the general rule. Skye takes a very long time to get to, and is very big itself so will you'll only have one decent day there. Eg Sleat and Elgol are stunning but an hour's drive from the main tourist spots on the island.
I'd stick to the fast roads around Ullapool. walkhighlands is the website of choice, with wanders around Loch Clair or Stac Pollaidh available. Bear in mind there are very few hours of daylight - 6am alarms required to maximise.
Once walked Loch Clair and saw golden eagle.
The outflow of neighbouring Loch Coulin is great for white-tailed eagles too. It's a classic spot for artists, with the view up to Liathach. Suggest Diabaig and the windy roads north abs south of Lochinver too, as well as the stunning industrial contrast of the Kylesku bridge for painting spots.
3 piece time lapse from her last venture north of the border, in Glen Etive
Most of her work is abstract but she does a bit of figurative stuff like this sometimes, usually based on Timelapse photography
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
Apparently not. After all, other areas have been through the process in a piecemeal way before...
The process of changing from a two-tier to a unitary local government system is normally referred to as ‘restructuring’ or ‘reorganisation’. The legal procedure can be found in sections 1-7 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
The Secretary of State may invite a proposal from a local authority to make a proposal for a county or district area, or a group of districts, to be restructured into a unitary authority or authorities. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) can be, but need not be, asked for advice on any matter related to the proposal. Once a proposal is received, the Secretary of State may then consider it and announce his/her intention to make an Order implementing the proposal, or s/he may reject the proposal. Any Order must then be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
When a new unitary authority is created, the Government may decide to postpone elections to its predecessor authorities. This may be done, for instance, when scheduled elections are due to take place a year before the new unitary authority is due to come into existence. Proceeding with elections in that scenario would mean those councillors serving only a single-year term. Where elections are postponed, the terms of the sitting councillors can be extended through to the date of the first elections to the new authority.
George Carey has "quit the Church of England". Entire article helpfully does not say what that actually means.
Yes it does. 'In his resignation letter, sent on 4 December, he wrote: "I wish to surrender my Permission to Officiate." He therefore can no longer be a priest who can take C of E services
I expect they may be a bit later, but there’s already been a fair bit of consolidation in Europe and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a lot more to come.
Honda-Nissan merger would probably have meant at least one UK factory closure, but Swindon’s already gone.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
Does it? I think the government want to get this done ASAP. Which is understandable given TBF boundaries of many places are crackers - and should have been reformed decades ago.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
Apparently not. After all, other areas have been through the process in a piecemeal way before...
The process of changing from a two-tier to a unitary local government system is normally referred to as ‘restructuring’ or ‘reorganisation’. The legal procedure can be found in sections 1-7 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
The Secretary of State may invite a proposal from a local authority to make a proposal for a county or district area, or a group of districts, to be restructured into a unitary authority or authorities. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) can be, but need not be, asked for advice on any matter related to the proposal. Once a proposal is received, the Secretary of State may then consider it and announce his/her intention to make an Order implementing the proposal, or s/he may reject the proposal. Any Order must then be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
When a new unitary authority is created, the Government may decide to postpone elections to its predecessor authorities. This may be done, for instance, when scheduled elections are due to take place a year before the new unitary authority is due to come into existence. Proceeding with elections in that scenario would mean those councillors serving only a single-year term. Where elections are postponed, the terms of the sitting councillors can be extended through to the date of the first elections to the new authority.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
It depends on what you see the role of the councillor as being. It also depends on the efficiency and effectiveness of the council itself. No doubt there are some very good ones but economies of scale is a reality (but only to a point: public organisations that are too big have a tendency to lose contact with the public - it's no coincidence that some of the worst attitudes in police forces are found in the largest ones).
But 15-20k voters per ward is not unusual in unitaries of various different stripes and there are plenty of good, well-known councillors in them. I represented over 12k voters (about 15k residents) myself in a 3-member ward when I was on Bradford council. It's doable. And frankly, there was quite a lot of duplication in that: we could have done it almost as well with two members.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
Those with elections - Tenth of Jan deadline to request a deferral of May election.
We will be Told to have a plan Jan 2025
Offer it up to gov Aug 2025 ( keen beans, ask for devolution priority programme)
Have plan accepted or have an imposed solution. The executive (Baroness Blah) said the ‘orders’ would be made in sequence, -
keen beans, dutiful, then the awkward squad would be dealt with by 2028.
At least I’ve some time to spend some reserves on more council housing.
Would be music to my ears if the axing of my district is delayed until 2028 frankly.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye 2. Elgol, Skye 3. West of Torridon 4. Culkein, Assynt?
I have been summoned.
Further north the better is the general rule. Skye takes a very long time to get to, and is very big itself so will you'll only have one decent day there. Eg Sleat and Elgol are stunning but an hour's drive from the main tourist spots on the island.
I'd stick to the fast roads around Ullapool. walkhighlands is the website of choice, with wanders around Loch Clair or Stac Pollaidh available. Bear in mind there are very few hours of daylight - 6am alarms required to maximise.
Thanks. I shall urge the mainland.
I hesitate to disagree with @Eabhal but the side roads near Ullapool are better than the main drag, not least because of Sassenach off-roaders trying to beat their mates on the North Coast 500. Try a detour to the Summer Isles Hotel; it used to be run by Robert Irving (father of Lucy, of Castaway fame) and is no longer as idiosyncratic as it was in his day, but well worth a night or two. Some of the Assynt Hills are gentle enough for a February ramble and the cliffs on the peninsula at Coigach are always spectacular if you don't mind skuas. The coast road north to Lochinver is a nice drive (watch out for deer at dusk) although Achins Bookshop at Inverkirkaig seems to have bitten the heather. Take a tour and buy some pots at Highland Stoneware in Lochinver: they will last forever.
Gonna miss being a local cllr. I do good work. My residents know who I am, what I do, and why they want me to be in there doing it.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
What I don't understand is no one has mentioned legislation.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
Apparently not. After all, other areas have been through the process in a piecemeal way before...
The process of changing from a two-tier to a unitary local government system is normally referred to as ‘restructuring’ or ‘reorganisation’. The legal procedure can be found in sections 1-7 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
The Secretary of State may invite a proposal from a local authority to make a proposal for a county or district area, or a group of districts, to be restructured into a unitary authority or authorities. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) can be, but need not be, asked for advice on any matter related to the proposal. Once a proposal is received, the Secretary of State may then consider it and announce his/her intention to make an Order implementing the proposal, or s/he may reject the proposal. Any Order must then be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
When a new unitary authority is created, the Government may decide to postpone elections to its predecessor authorities. This may be done, for instance, when scheduled elections are due to take place a year before the new unitary authority is due to come into existence. Proceeding with elections in that scenario would mean those councillors serving only a single-year term. Where elections are postponed, the terms of the sitting councillors can be extended through to the date of the first elections to the new authority.
I don’t get RUNG, but presumably also a fictional country from pop culture.
West Africa is getting its act together. Good on them, and good on Senegal for taking a lead. A properly democratic country.
Though I did have one fascinating conversation with a political journalist there, who was saying there is now a “far right MP” in the Senegalese parliament. He was elected on an anti immigration ticket as they have a lot of migrants from poorer neighbouring Guinea (Conakry and Bissau).
Comments
"TODAY: CIA, FBI & DOD Will Provide Classified Drone Briefing to House Intelligence Committee at 2PM"
https://x.com/UAPJames/status/1868985399454154776
Would they do that for a complete hysterical flap? A big but secret briefing? Maybe, but it seems unlikely
I agree the UK connection is mysterious. That COULD be contagion?!
No good versions online, sadly.
Of these groups, on average the home schoolers will be at lowest risk, despite the unbearable abominations we have heard today.
The reaction to this is off the scale.
https://x.com/CivGame/status/1869082840396149216
Face it - the briefing will be ‘there’s nothing going on’.
I meant 1974, of course.
Drones Fly Low and Slow for Radiation Detection
PNNL researchers explore feasibility of using drones to survey sites for low levels of radiation
https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/drones-fly-low-and-slow-radiation-detection
Doesn’t sound very practical.
Quite a few articles like that - but largely about detecting hot waste from accidents, or nuclear sites.
I think you’d need something a LOT more sensitive to look for a device.
It's a frickin' game. And not only that, but it's not like you're forced to play Harriet Tubman.
There are 31 different countries, each will have at least one leader, and for countries like the US, the UK and "Rome" there will be multiple possible leaders. So, for example, you can choose Benjamin Franklin of the US among the options.
Some people have got very upset that one of the Americans is Harriet Tubman, on the basis she was never President. Weirdly, these people didn't seem to get upset by the fact that Benjamin Franklin was never President.
https://www.radioprotection.org/articles/radiopro/full_html/2024/02/radiopro230060/radiopro230060.html
Still nothing that would be of any use in finding concealed material.
They will emphasize at the meeting that they don't think anything is going on, that they have no evidence that anything is going on, but this is largely because there's a gap in US drone monitoring capability, and they really could do with a supplemental bill for the Defense budget for $many bns so that they can buy the capability in future to defend against this potential threat.
County Council, no one has a clue who they are and why they are so shit.
Seems to me Labour plan to centralise power, reduce representation, lower expectations, all while lying about their motives.
On the upside, I’ll get my life back.
My wife would like us to take 3 day mini-trip to somewhere remote, wild, coastal and ideally slightly weird in Northern Scotland in February, so she can get some inspiration for her art. We'll probably be going up on the train to Inverness overnight and flying back. The good thing about going in winter is that I assume dodging fellow tourists won't be an issue.
I've found some suitably wild looking cabin-type holiday lets in 3 places (well 4 if you count the 2 in Skye). If it were you, would you go for:
1. Sleat Peninsula, Skye
2. Elgol, Skye
3. West of Torridon
4. Culkein, Assynt?
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24760407.nigel-farages-reform-will-back-anas-sarwar-next-first-minister/
1. Drones are real (amidst the planes and stars)
2. They are American military drones
3. The Pentagon is testing the vulnerability of bases in light of Ukraine developments that have torn up conventional thinking about war. The US Army has 5,000 Abrams tanks which are basically useless against drones bought off Ebay.
Providing good coverage would cost a LOT of money.
An Aegis onshore system clocks in around $4bn, I think.
Japan needed two, and scrapped the program for cost reasons.
Heaven knows how many you’d need for broad coverage of CONUS.
100 Years of Solitude is a tale for today
Boyd Tonkin"
https://unherd.com/2024/12/colombia-is-doomed-by-corruption/
If you've never been, then 4 - or at least the area [edit] - would get good views of the weird Torridonian Sandstone outlier mountains on the Lewisian Gneiss basement. Suilven, Canisp etc. Maybe try and capture sunset on them.
Look at visiting Knockan Crag NNR visitor centre if it is open - I haven't been but it should be OK. else Scottishgeologytrust.org for info. and https://nwhgeopark.com/
1 and 2 would be good for the views of the granite/gabbro igneous complexes of the Black and Red Cuillin on Skye and the Rum Cuillin (and Ardnamurchan as well), and the lava flows over the JUrassic on Skye and Eigg. Might have to walk/drive for views depending where the cottage is. Dramatically varied scenery to appeal to the artist as much as the geologist.
But I'm sure others such as @Eabhal will have their views. [Edit: can't judge what the view from the actual cottage is, obvs.]
Every time the Met Office makes an incorrect forecast for a significant weather event, they go back and work out why the forecast went wrong, and how much it would cost to make it right for all future forecasts. Maggie Thatcher was convinced by that reasoning after the Great Storm of 1987.
If the US military-industrial complex can't make at least a few billions out of this event then they're really off their game.
The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk2QqPOqcnM
If you feed the URL into https://musely.ai/tools/youtube-transcript-summarizer you get this output:
Main Topic:
The video explores the hypothesis that a NASA-led advanced air mobility (AAM) drone testing program is responsible for numerous reports of unidentified drones over New Jersey and other locations, such as Langley Air Force Base.
Key Points:
- Hundreds of unusual drone sightings have been reported in New Jersey and surrounding areas.
- A TikTok creator, JK Ultra, first suggested a connection to the NASA AAM program.
- A testing corridor for various drone technologies, involving NASA and other organizations, was established between Delaware and New Jersey. This corridor allows for drone launches and recoveries from various points within the designated area.
- Similar drone swarm sightings occurred near Langley Air Force Base in Virginia around December, and NASA subsequently released a statement about testing automated drone systems in the area.
- The proximity of NASA's testing location to Langley Air Force Base and the overlap with the New Jersey drone sightings strongly suggest a connection.
- The YouTuber has contacted NASA for comment but hasn't received a response yet.
Highlights:She was tied up, hooded and put in a plastic bag with a hole to breathe through. The judge rightly called it "torture". It seems utterly pointless to say this but may she finally rest in peace.
She was picked on by her father out of all the children living with him because she was a girl. He even taught her older brother to hate her because she was a girl and so inferior and worthy of punishment. It is going to be one hell of a job to teach that boy how wrong and wicked his father's view is, even assuming anyone is trying to do so. And so this vicious cycle will continue in the next generation.
All those children are wards of court, have been taken unlawfully to Pakistan where the grandfather is refusing to return them because they are, according to him, "settled". Those children have been exposed to the grim brutal reality of domestic violence. They will all be affected by it. I recently read John Sutherland's memoir: "Blue - Keeping the Peace and Falling to Pieces". He was a senior officer in the Met for many years and one of his observations is how almost invariably there is a history of domestic violence in the background and childhood of pretty much all violent criminals. His view was that if we tackled that effectively we would do more to deal with crime than any other single measure.
Surely a white paper leads to an Act and a debate and so on.
All I have seen so far is councils will submitted plans in Jan/Feb and then Labour will immediate legislate to cancel May county elections and then that seems to be it.
Surely axing all district councils needs an Act???
My perspective is from a resident pov. The target is 500 thousand people per new strategic authority. The current County Council has about a million.
From the 2.5k residents I now look after, we move to 20k per cllr.
County is 30+k
I think I could represent 10.000 maybe, And I’d need office help to do 20k. So costs would rise or service will decline. I’m expecting both.
The problem is the top down pov. They want 40 mayors to call in. Each with half a dozen strategic authority in their control. 1.5m people per patch.
I’d suggest ten SAs per Mayor and it could work well.
I think of those I'd choose the Skye ones - Skye looks stunning.
Ullapool also qualifies as beautiful, wild and remote.
The Black Isle (actually a peninsula) is also great. Nice towns like Cromarty and Fortrose, and a bit closer to Inverness.
The issue will be that the decisions sit with the single person of the mayor, and his or her team of appointed commissioners. The councillors are there just to do the scrutiny - and making scrutiny into a meaningful role has never been cracked since the day Blair forced most councillors into it with his equally half-baked 2000 reforms. To do real scrutiny properly only needs a handful of people properly focused on the job, but the requirement to provide some representation to all the communities that will be losing their local councillors forces them to have large numbers elected, all trying to do it.
The process of changing from a two-tier to a unitary local government system
is normally referred to as ‘restructuring’ or ‘reorganisation’. The legal procedure can be found in sections 1-7 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
The Secretary of State may invite a proposal from a local authority to make a proposal for a county or district area, or a group of districts, to be restructured into a unitary authority or authorities. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) can be, but need not be, asked for advice on any matter related to the proposal. Once a proposal is received, the Secretary of State may then consider it and announce his/her intention to make an Order implementing the proposal, or s/he may reject the proposal. Any Order must then be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
When a new unitary authority is created, the Government may decide to postpone elections to its predecessor authorities. This may be done, for instance, when scheduled elections are due to take place a year before the new unitary authority is due to come into existence. Proceeding with elections in that scenario would mean those councillors serving only a single-year term. Where elections are postponed, the terms of the sitting councillors can be extended through to the date of the first elections to the new authority.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/unitary-local-government-an-explainer/
Tourist places to visit do tend to be closed, so DYR.
Edit: splendid views from Cromarty in particular over the Firth to Ben Wyvis. I can recommend a day out to Strathpeffer and a walk up the vitrified fort of Knockfarril nearby.
We will be Told to have a plan Jan 2025
Offer it up to gov Aug 2025 ( keen beans, ask for devolution priority programme)
Have plan accepted or have an imposed solution.
The executive (Baroness Blah) said the ‘orders’ would be made in sequence, -
keen beans, dutiful, then the awkward squad would be dealt with by 2028.
At least I’ve some time to spend some reserves on more council housing.
Further north the better is the general rule. Skye takes a very long time to get to, and is very big itself so will you'll only have one decent day there. Eg Sleat and Elgol are stunning but an hour's drive from the main tourist spots on the island.
I'd stick to the fast roads around Ullapool. walkhighlands is the website of choice, with wanders around Loch Clair or Stac Pollaidh available. Bear in mind there are very few hours of daylight - 6am alarms required to maximise.
Yes, hiring a car from Inverness. Surprisingly cheap, unlike the horrendously expensive train.
I’m intrigued by Assynt. The inselbergs and the seemingly rather Faroese look of the place. But then my one trip to Skye left a big impression, particularly the Cuillins, and that was in summer tourist crowd season.
My wife likes bleak. The bleaker the better. (No jokes at the back please).
Most of her work is abstract but she does a bit of figurative stuff like this sometimes, usually based on Timelapse photography
George Carey has "quit the Church of England". Entire article helpfully does not say what that actually means.
Edit: wikipedia suggests he has lately been an "assistant bishop" in Oxford.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_North_Yorkshire_Council_election?wprov=sfla1
HONDA AND NISSAN TO BEGIN MERGER TALKS AMID EV COMPETITION - NIKKEI
https://x.com/DeItaone/status/1869065939746177121
Honda-Nissan merger would probably have meant at least one UK factory closure, but Swindon’s already gone.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp31lny4jweo
Anyone get the reference ?
But 15-20k voters per ward is not unusual in unitaries of various different stripes and there are plenty of good, well-known councillors in them. I represented over 12k voters (about 15k residents) myself in a 3-member ward when I was on Bradford council. It's doable. And frankly, there was quite a lot of duplication in that: we could have done it almost as well with two members.
West Africa is getting its act together. Good on them, and good on Senegal for taking a lead. A properly democratic country.
Though I did have one fascinating conversation with a political journalist there, who was saying there is now a “far right MP” in the Senegalese parliament. He was elected on an anti immigration ticket as they have a lot of migrants from poorer neighbouring Guinea (Conakry and Bissau).
It it is, his figures will improve significantly.
If not, start betting on Mr Streeting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_Zanzibar
I don’t think it will though. Too many global headwinds.