Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
On at least half the current polls they could still get in UK wide with the LDs, the swing against them in Scotland though is less than UK wide as the SNP are already in power there and are not the main beneficiaries of Labour unpopularity. Reform and LDs are
By 2026 SNP will have been in power for 19 years and defending a relatively high-water mark under Sturgeon at the last election. So bound to be some slippage. But where will it go? Not to Labour. Probably too early for Tories. So that leaves Reform, Greens and LibDems. But also Alba though, so far, they have been the dog that hasn't barked. Either way, it looks like a rainbow parliament in the offing.
My guess: SNP/Lab coalition, premised on narrow unionist majority so that IndyRef off the agenda and doesn't disallow a deal. LibDems another likely player. Greens too badly burnt to take part.
Almost 100% of my university mark came down to the results of exams sat in a hall with nothing more than a pen and the exam paper. You can't cheat that with AI.
Other subjects just need to follow course, or have other ways of assessing that can't be cheated.
Exams to measure your intelligence, yes? Exams to measure intelligence… in a world where the value of intelligence is near-zero, because it has been automated. Who cares how well you do in those exams when, as you walk out of the exam room, you walk into a world of machines that are 1000 times faster, smarter, and better than you at any cognitive task, and they will work 24/7, and they won’t get stroppy, ill, or join a union
It’s like the value of human muscle power on the cusp of the Steam Age, it went from quite a lot to near zero, quickly. THIS revolution will be even quicker and much more brutal, as it takes away our last essential advantage, the human brain
Learn, my PB friends, learn and prepare for a world where human intelligence is virtually worthless, as intelligence itself will be super abundant
in ten years time - maybe much less - physics labs and students in white coats will no longer exist as we remember them, the machines will hum away, doing it all in clean and ultra-efficient silence
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Left/right is the wrong frame. A sectarian analysis is more useful in the modern UK and can explain Labour's troubles everywhere from inner Birmingham to outer Newcastle.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Not even sure 'alternative' means much when Mr Sarwar seems to be espousing SNP policies at the same time as SKS is espousing Tory policies whether or not they are on reserved matters. Very confusing. Much more sensible, some might think, to vote SNP or Tory or LD or Reform. Or Green (just not for Westminster?). You know where you are.
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
He's not thick, he just believes some truly dangerous and abhorrent things or is a fan of those who do - he's a fan of Curtis 'let Russia rule Europe up to the English Channel and America should be run by a dictator' Yarvin. Plus has the parochialism that all Americans - thick or clever - seem to have in simply not understanding how European polities and societies differ from their own.
If Vance can't understand why there's a taboo on allowing the successor parties to the Nazis anywhere near government, then that's his problem, not German politicians - and thoughtful sounding or not, he needs to go back and do his GCSE history.
It's a bit like a European communist who's mainly read about America through the prism of Marxist anti-imperialist tracts rocking up at Lexington and lecturing Americans on how they aren't really free. They might be clever on the subjsects they know about - but they don't know this one. It would not go down well, nor should it. And of course neither have Vance's misrepresentations and arrogance.
I still think, with regard to 2028, that the Dems need to change the game and spend the next 6 months having a form of primary where they select a leader of the party - the person who is going to stand as Presidential candidate in 2028. Get the infighting over early, give that person the backing for the full three years, allow them to appoint shadows to each department whose sole focus is tearing apart their GOP opposite number. Become a shadow government, let the voters get to know them, trust them, get as close to “experience” as possible.
Will be a big change in how US politics is done but might be their best chance of getting back in the game.
And drop the “woke” crap and focus on economy, health, defence and what the average Joe or Jo actually cares about.
I don't know where this idea that the Dems were pushing woke during the last election/administration comes from. It's entirely projection from the Right and therefore they can't do much about it.
The battle for why Trump won is as intense as the election itself. Because if it was for 'your' reasons you advance your agenda. Thus the right say it was woke. The left say it was Gaza and centrism. Somebody who campaigns for three wheeled cars says it was because Biden never mentioned them once.
That being the game, and accepting it is a game, I can join in. I don't buy the politically correct notion that the Trump vote was mainly about feeling worse off. There are, obviously, many reasons he won but the one I'd pick out is the sheer dumbfuckery of the average red state American.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Left/right is the wrong frame. A sectarian analysis is more useful in the modern UK and can explain Labour's troubles everywhere from inner Birmingham to outer Newcastle.
Catholic vs Protestant? Maybe in [edit] one or two places in the central belt of Scotland (some of Slab hankering after support from the local Orangepersons) but surely not elsewhere.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
On at least half the current polls they could still get in UK wide with the LDs, the swing against them in Scotland though is less than UK wide as the SNP are already in power there and are not the main beneficiaries of Labour unpopularity. Reform and LDs are
By 2026 SNP will have been in power for 19 years and defending a relatively high-water mark under Sturgeon at the last election. So bound to be some slippage. But where will it go? Not to Labour. Probably too early for Tories. So that leaves Reform, Greens and LibDems. But also Alba though, so far, they have been the dog that hasn't barked. Either way, it looks like a rainbow parliament in the offing.
My guess: SNP/Lab coalition, premised on narrow unionist majority so that IndyRef off the agenda and doesn't disallow a deal. LibDems another likely player. Greens too badly burnt to take part.
Minority government though is now the norm. Labour will never, ever, cooperate with the SNP. They'd rather cooperate with Reform and look what the last time cooperation with a right wing party did to them in Scotland.
For a sense of mood: I was told today by one person - albeit second hand - that Trump admin threatened Canada with revisions to the border & expulsion from Five Eyes. Canada said to have threatened retal on energy front. (Despite that, Gabbard seems to have impressed in Munich).
The art of the deal, indeed. Could the US expel another member of Five Eyes anyway? US refineries are set up to process heavy oil that Canada produces and the US largely doesn’t. Trump would have had to go cap in hand to Venezuela if Canada had turned off the taps (obviously a drastic option).
I remember when Saddam got cross about his oil-producing neighbour’s harmful trade policies back in 1991.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
Starmer is a technocrat; Reeves too. They imagine there is a technical solution to every problem that is both obvious and obviously superior, and that the Civil Service keeps them in a Whitehall safe. For the past 14 years, the evil Tories blocked these plans, but hold on, it has been six months so if there is no improvement, ah, well then it must be civil servants ‘comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline’.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Left/right is the wrong frame. A sectarian analysis is more useful in the modern UK and can explain Labour's troubles everywhere from inner Birmingham to outer Newcastle.
Catholic vs Protestant? Maybe in [edit] one or two places in the central belt of Scotland (some of Slab hankering after support from the local Orangepersons) but surely not elsewhere.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Left/right is the wrong frame. A sectarian analysis is more useful in the modern UK and can explain Labour's troubles everywhere from inner Birmingham to outer Newcastle.
Catholic vs Protestant? Maybe in [edit] one or two places in the central belt of Scotland (some of Slab hankering after support from the local Orangepersons) but surely not elsewhere.
“Lend Gaza your vote”
All he showed is that 15% or so of an electorate doesn’t have the first clue what they are actually voting for
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Left/right is the wrong frame. A sectarian analysis is more useful in the modern UK and can explain Labour's troubles everywhere from inner Birmingham to outer Newcastle.
Catholic vs Protestant? Maybe in [edit] one or two places in the central belt of Scotland (some of Slab hankering after support from the local Orangepersons) but surely not elsewhere.
“Lend Gaza your vote”
All he showed is that 15% or so of an electorate doesn’t have the first clue what they are actually voting for
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Left/right is the wrong frame. A sectarian analysis is more useful in the modern UK and can explain Labour's troubles everywhere from inner Birmingham to outer Newcastle.
Catholic vs Protestant? Maybe in [edit] one or two places in the central belt of Scotland (some of Slab hankering after support from the local Orangepersons) but surely not elsewhere.
“Lend Gaza your vote”
All he showed is that 15% or so of an electorate doesn’t have the first clue what they are actually voting for
Look at the aggregate vote for the Gaza independents across inner Birmingham in the 2024 GE.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Left/right is the wrong frame. A sectarian analysis is more useful in the modern UK and can explain Labour's troubles everywhere from inner Birmingham to outer Newcastle.
Catholic vs Protestant? Maybe in [edit] one or two places in the central belt of Scotland (some of Slab hankering after support from the local Orangepersons) but surely not elsewhere.
“Lend Gaza your vote”
"Lend me your vote to do something about the shithole behind me" might have been a better strategy.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
On at least half the current polls they could still get in UK wide with the LDs, the swing against them in Scotland though is less than UK wide as the SNP are already in power there and are not the main beneficiaries of Labour unpopularity. Reform and LDs are
By 2026 SNP will have been in power for 19 years and defending a relatively high-water mark under Sturgeon at the last election. So bound to be some slippage. But where will it go? Not to Labour. Probably too early for Tories. So that leaves Reform, Greens and LibDems. But also Alba though, so far, they have been the dog that hasn't barked. Either way, it looks like a rainbow parliament in the offing.
My guess: SNP/Lab coalition, premised on narrow unionist majority so that IndyRef off the agenda and doesn't disallow a deal. LibDems another likely player. Greens too badly burnt to take part.
Minority government though is now the norm. Labour will never, ever, cooperate with the SNP. They'd rather cooperate with Reform and look what the last time cooperation with a right wing party did to them in Scotland.
The recent by elections have shown Labour struggling to keep their existing voter base. Starmer is very Southern and not loved up here. The SNP also continues to struggle. More stories are out about Nicola and her personal life. In addition Humza has been a figure of ridicule. Every time he opens his mouth the SNP vote drops. Alba has been hit by the untimely death of Salmond. Greens are too left wing for even most of Scotland. The Tories have never truly recovered since Johnson put through a hard Brexit. The Lib Dems are very focussed on a few seats and will struggle to grow dramatically.
So what next. In Scotland the PR systems helps new parties and therefore Reform are going to get seats. The only question is if they get 10% or 20% of the seats. At 10% they will be an irritant to the other parties. At 20% they will have real influence.
The SNP hate Labour and the feeling is mutual. Any idea of an alliance is for the birds. The Lib Dems are probably closer to Labour than SNP. The Greens are still closer to SNP I think. No-one would join with the Tories. It is very likely we will end up with a minority Government. Most people feel it is time for someone else to have a go which will hurt SNP chances but noone in Scotland wants a passive follower of Starmer which goes against Labour.
Leon roams beneath the endless sky, From city lights to mountains high, His feet have kissed the dust of lands, And sailed the seas with steady hands.
He’s danced in Paris under moonlit beams, Tasted spices in faraway dreams, Walked the streets of Tokyo’s grace, Found fleeting solace in every place.
Yet home is never where he stands, It’s a longing carried in his hands. Through crowded markets, silent roads, He charts the world with endless codes.
In Cairo’s heat or Berlin’s rain, Each journey leaves a subtle stain, A memory in his wandering soul, But no place can ever make him whole.
For Leon is the wind, unbound, With horizons stretching all around, A nomad’s heart, a restless flame, No place to rest, no fixed domain.
He’s seen the dawn in Sydney’s bay, And kissed the stars in L.A.'s sway, Yet with each mile, a piece drifts free, As he’s never truly where he’s meant to be.
Still, he keeps chasing endless skies, Wherever the road meets his tired eyes, Home is a word he’s yet to find, For Leon’s world is a journey, undefined.
Had an acquaintance recently ticked off for writing something which they were told had the 'appearance' of AI generation. Doesn't seem like it was checked for it, but they were told to avoid AI-Generated hallmarks like being a bit vague and generic.
I worry for my own unique output as a result, vague and generic are strong brands for me.
am I allowed to talk about this?
TheScreamingEagles is away, isn’t he? Maybe I am allowed to discuss AI for this one day
YES, this is becoming a real issue. I was reading an account yesterday from some poor kid at a US uni who got monstered for using AI whereas, in fact, he was simply using his usual style. Quite wordy, but always grammatical and with no spelling mistakes
The prof put it through some AI detection tool and it came up “90% AI”, so the kid - wrongly - got into trouble
The advice he was given was: make your work less grammatically correct and insert some typos. In other words, make it WORSE
We are heading into a topsy turvy universe and we haven’t got a clue what to do
And then in time AI will learn to insert 'realistic' seeming human errors and idiosyncracies too, and we go full circle.
Yes, of course, indeed AI can do that now if you prompt for it
This is one reason universities as we know them are doomed. I just don’t see a way around this, for them
1. the whole essay, exam system is fucked by AIs being able to do everything better; and, soon, vastly better
2. The value of human intelligence including writing skills (and it pains me to type this) is about to be reduced to ~0. A few artisanal talents will survive, like handmade ceramics in the era of mass produced pottery and crockery
This is not something that will maybe happen in 20-40 years, it is happening right now and will impact over the next months and years of this decade
How for you use AI to do your exams for you in an examination hall?
As for dissertations. All the universities seem to reintroducing vivas to ensure the students actually know what they are talking about.
He’s also forgotten science and engineering, which don’t involve essays or dissertations in the same way.
Yes, famously, science and engineering will be largely unaffected by AI
You can’t become a physicist or engineer without a University or labs. Your whole thesis falls down for subjects with practical work and where you are in the building 9-5 every day.
OMFG how can you be so stupid?
What are these people going to be doing??
There will be machines that are 1000 times brighter than any student. 1000 times brighter than all the students in the world combined
If there is a scientific problem some person will feed it into the machine and then that one person will press a button marked SOLVE THIS and then AI will solve it. We can already see this happening, and AI is only speeding up
Think of chess. During any chess match between humans you could step in and press a button on the AI marked CHOOSE THE BEST MOVE and the AI will choose a move that is better than any move that can be imagined by humans. This process will now apply to all human cognitive tasks
The fact an apparently non-moronic person like you has not yet grasped this is quite stupefying
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
He's not thick, he just believes some truly dangerous and abhorrent things or is a fan of those who do - he's a fan of Curtis 'let Russia rule Europe up to the English Channel and America should be run by a dictator' Yarvin. Plus has the parochialism that all Americans - thick or clever - seem to have in simply not understanding how European polities and societies differ from their own.
If Vance can't understand why there's a taboo on allowing the successor parties to the Nazis anywhere near government, then that's his problem, not German politicians - and thoughtful sounding or not, he needs to go back and do his GCSE history.
It's a bit like a European communist who's mainly read about America through the prism of Marxist anti-imperialist tracts rocking up at Lexington and lecturing Americans on how they aren't really free. They might be clever on the subjsects they know about - but they don't know this one. It would not go down well, nor should it. And of course neither have Vance's misrepresentations and arrogance.
I read the entire transcript of his speech. It isn't long, but still manages to contain several things that are simply false, a few half-truths and is overall a display of ignorant hypocrisy, made worse by the occasion chosen to make it.
To say "German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP" is a really bizarre reading.
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
Vance is not stupid. He’s malevolent.
He's a shape-shifter; but the common link between his various personae is the malevolence.
He's certainly cementing his position as the Republican candidate in 2028 though.
Almost 100% of my university mark came down to the results of exams sat in a hall with nothing more than a pen and the exam paper. You can't cheat that with AI.
Other subjects just need to follow course, or have other ways of assessing that can't be cheated.
Exams to measure your intelligence, yes? Exams to measure intelligence… in a world where the value of intelligence is near-zero, because it has been automated. Who cares how well you do in those exams when, as you walk out of the exam room, you walk into a world of machines that are 1000 times faster, smarter, and better than you at any cognitive task, and they will work 24/7, and they won’t get stroppy, ill, or join a union
It’s like the value of human muscle power on the cusp of the Steam Age, it went from quite a lot to near zero, quickly. THIS revolution will be even quicker and much more brutal, as it takes away our last essential advantage, the human brain
Learn, my PB friends, learn and prepare for a world where human intelligence is virtually worthless, as intelligence itself will be super abundant
in ten years time - maybe much less - physics labs and students in white coats will no longer exist as we remember them, the machines will hum away, doing it all in clean and ultra-efficient silence
If your mission is to demonstrate the worthlessness of human intelligence, none of us could fault you for not leading the way.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
On at least half the current polls they could still get in UK wide with the LDs, the swing against them in Scotland though is less than UK wide as the SNP are already in power there and are not the main beneficiaries of Labour unpopularity. Reform and LDs are
By 2026 SNP will have been in power for 19 years and defending a relatively high-water mark under Sturgeon at the last election. So bound to be some slippage. But where will it go? Not to Labour. Probably too early for Tories. So that leaves Reform, Greens and LibDems. But also Alba though, so far, they have been the dog that hasn't barked. Either way, it looks like a rainbow parliament in the offing.
My guess: SNP/Lab coalition, premised on narrow unionist majority so that IndyRef off the agenda and doesn't disallow a deal. LibDems another likely player. Greens too badly burnt to take part.
Minority government though is now the norm. Labour will never, ever, cooperate with the SNP. They'd rather cooperate with Reform and look what the last time cooperation with a right wing party did to them in Scotland.
The recent by elections have shown Labour struggling to keep their existing voter base. Starmer is very Southern and not loved up here. The SNP also continues to struggle. More stories are out about Nicola and her personal life. In addition Humza has been a figure of ridicule. Every time he opens his mouth the SNP vote drops. Alba has been hit by the untimely death of Salmond. Greens are too left wing for even most of Scotland. The Tories have never truly recovered since Johnson put through a hard Brexit. The Lib Dems are very focussed on a few seats and will struggle to grow dramatically.
So what next. In Scotland the PR systems helps new parties and therefore Reform are going to get seats. The only question is if they get 10% or 20% of the seats. At 10% they will be an irritant to the other parties. At 20% they will have real influence.
The SNP hate Labour and the feeling is mutual. Any idea of an alliance is for the birds. The Lib Dems are probably closer to Labour than SNP. The Greens are still closer to SNP I think. No-one would join with the Tories. It is very likely we will end up with a minority Government. Most people feel it is time for someone else to have a go which will hurt SNP chances but noone in Scotland wants a passive follower of Starmer which goes against Labour.
The notion of Labour and the SNP being forced to contemplate either cutting a whole series of deals with each other to pass legislation, or otherwise of one of them having to do that with Reform, is rather delicious.
It rather speaks to the sheer amount of poison in Scottish politics. Labour and Plaid Cymru don't particularly enjoy cohabitation but they'll do it to keep Farage's lot at bay.
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
Vance is not stupid. He’s malevolent.
He's a shape-shifter; but the common link between his various personae is the malevolence.
He's certainly cementing his position as the Republican candidate in 2028 though.
Almost 100% of my university mark came down to the results of exams sat in a hall with nothing more than a pen and the exam paper. You can't cheat that with AI.
Other subjects just need to follow course, or have other ways of assessing that can't be cheated.
Exams to measure your intelligence, yes? Exams to measure intelligence… in a world where the value of intelligence is near-zero, because it has been automated. Who cares how well you do in those exams when, as you walk out of the exam room, you walk into a world of machines that are 1000 times faster, smarter, and better than you at any cognitive task, and they will work 24/7, and they won’t get stroppy, ill, or join a union
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
Vance is not stupid. He’s malevolent.
He's a shape-shifter; but the common link between his various personae is the malevolence.
He's certainly cementing his position as the Republican candidate in 2028 though.
Evidence of malevolence?
How about the whole chapter devoted to him in the Malleus Maleficarum for starters?
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
Vance is not stupid. He’s malevolent.
He's a shape-shifter; but the common link between his various personae is the malevolence.
He's certainly cementing his position as the Republican candidate in 2028 though.
Evidence of malevolence?
How about the whole chapter devoted to him in the Malleus Maleficarum for starters?
Talking of malevolent sprites, anyone seen Roger round these parts recently (only joking re the malevolent sprite thing if you are reading Roger).
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
He's not thick, he just believes some truly dangerous and abhorrent things or is a fan of those who do - he's a fan of Curtis 'let Russia rule Europe up to the English Channel and America should be run by a dictator' Yarvin. Plus has the parochialism that all Americans - thick or clever - seem to have in simply not understanding how European polities and societies differ from their own.
If Vance can't understand why there's a taboo on allowing the successor parties to the Nazis anywhere near government, then that's his problem, not German politicians - and thoughtful sounding or not, he needs to go back and do his GCSE history.
It's a bit like a European communist who's mainly read about America through the prism of Marxist anti-imperialist tracts rocking up at Lexington and lecturing Americans on how they aren't really free. They might be clever on the subjsects they know about - but they don't know this one. It would not go down well, nor should it. And of course neither have Vance's misrepresentations and arrogance.
I read the entire transcript of his speech. It isn't long, but still manages to contain several things that are simply false, a few half-truths and is overall a display of ignorant hypocrisy, made worse by the occasion chosen to make it.
To say "German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP" is a really bizarre reading.
Yeah I mean the point is that those disgusted understand its implications only too well. And have been jolted into realising that MAGA 2.0 isn't incoherent and primarily internally focused like in the first Trump term but if the likes of Vance have their way is actively hostile to the ideas that have been the bedrock of European politics since World War 2.
"Government proposes 80 miles per hour motorway speed limit Philip Hammond announces his intention to consult on raising the national speed limit on motorways from 70 to 80 miles per hour.
Department for Transport and The Rt Hon Philip Hammond 3 October 2011"
No, we got 50mph and "average speed cameras" creeping in everywhere. Which are like purgatory.
The M3 has had them all the way down to Farnborough for over 10 years now.
Driving in a 50 zone on a motorway is a calming, relaxing experience. Probably the safest stretches of road in the country.
No it isn't. Because you're constantly being monitored for your speed, so your eye is glued nervously to the speedometer, and you can't take advantage of the motorway to get to where you want to go quickly. So sit there frustratingly for a very long time.
They are a curse.
But that's what you should doing anyway. You're just whining about a highly efficient and cost-effective way to enforce a law enacted by our elected representatives.
I agree that it's hard work though, and it's where cruise control can make the push up the A9 much more pleasant.
No, the speed limit should be 70mph. Or 80mph, since I favoured Hammond's proposal.
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
Vance is not stupid. He’s malevolent.
He's a shape-shifter; but the common link between his various personae is the malevolence.
He's certainly cementing his position as the Republican candidate in 2028 though.
"Government proposes 80 miles per hour motorway speed limit Philip Hammond announces his intention to consult on raising the national speed limit on motorways from 70 to 80 miles per hour.
Department for Transport and The Rt Hon Philip Hammond 3 October 2011"
No, we got 50mph and "average speed cameras" creeping in everywhere. Which are like purgatory.
The M3 has had them all the way down to Farnborough for over 10 years now.
Driving in a 50 zone on a motorway is a calming, relaxing experience. Probably the safest stretches of road in the country.
No it isn't. Because you're constantly being monitored for your speed, so your eye is glued nervously to the speedometer, and you can't take advantage of the motorway to get to where you want to go quickly. So sit there frustratingly for a very long time.
They are a curse.
But that's what you should doing anyway. You're just whining about a highly efficient and cost-effective way to enforce a law enacted by our elected representatives.
I agree that it's hard work though, and it's where cruise control can make the push up the A9 much more pleasant.
No, the speed limit should be 70mph. Or 80mph, since I favoured Hammond's proposal.
That's what motorways are for.
Except that 50mph is cheaper than expanding the motorway so we end up with 50mph zones.
And while they are annoying adaptive cruise control makes them painless
1/29: First plane crash in 16 years in DC 1/31: Crash in Philly 2/5: Delta flight struck in Seattle 2/6: Flight wrecks in Alaska 2/10: Crash in Scottsdale 2/12: Military jet crashes in San Diego 2/16: Crash in Covington, GA
7 crashes since the WH congratulated itself for “restoring aviation safety”
I still think, with regard to 2028, that the Dems need to change the game and spend the next 6 months having a form of primary where they select a leader of the party - the person who is going to stand as Presidential candidate in 2028. Get the infighting over early, give that person the backing for the full three years, allow them to appoint shadows to each department whose sole focus is tearing apart their GOP opposite number. Become a shadow government, let the voters get to know them, trust them, get as close to “experience” as possible.
Will be a big change in how US politics is done but might be their best chance of getting back in the game.
And drop the “woke” crap and focus on economy, health, defence and what the average Joe or Jo actually cares about.
I don't know where this idea that the Dems were pushing woke during the last election/administration comes from. It's entirely projection from the Right and therefore they can't do much about it.
The battle for why Trump won is as intense as the election itself. Because if it was for 'your' reasons you advance your agenda. Thus the right say it was woke. The left say it was Gaza and centrism. Somebody who campaigns for three wheeled cars says it was because Biden never mentioned them once.
That being the game, and accepting it is a game, I can join in. I don't buy the politically correct notion that the Trump vote was mainly about feeling worse off. There are, obviously, many reasons he won but the one I'd pick out is the sheer dumbfuckery of the average red state American.
Which illustrates why the Dems lost.
Because it doesn't matter how sheer the dumbfuckery of the average red state American is because elections aren't decided there.
They are decided by swing voters in the swing states.
Still I'm sure you feel all superior after having decided who the dumbfucks are.
- Boris makes a comeback as leader and adopts a strategy of attacking Starmer from the left - Boris expels the malcontents, getting rid of those who should be in Reform - Boris vs Farage becomes the dominant narrative with Starmer caught uncomfortably in the middle
How much of the Tory Party would you have left, given that Mr Johnson famously purged the wet wing?
The wet wing would be welcomed back.
The 'wet wing' has already more than been welcomed back, CCHQ selection processes ensured a bunch of centrist sociopaths who were no less wet than the set of MPs that was so mercifully dispatched.
There will need to be another 'Clause 4' moment of bringing them into line or getting rid. I suspect that moment will be over a policy of leaving the ECHR, and I suspect that it will be a good deal less bloody than anticipated as most of these MPs are simple careerists and will stay put. If some leave for the Lib Dems, it can do very little harm to anyone, except of course the Lib Dems.
Cameron destroyed the tory party with his a list nonsense.
He destroyed it so effectively is was in power for 14 years, increasing its majority at two of those elections. He damaged it so extensively it could well be back in Government in 2029.
What a ####.
Cameron failed to win an election that was his to lose, wasting a term with Lib Dem hangers on. He then failed to do anything with the election he did win outright - practically by accident. He didn't overturn any of Blair's consitutional meddling - the Supreme Court, the 'independent' quangocracy, which is almost the entire reason the country is in such a weakened and sclerotic state - instead boasting that he was the heir to Blair. He failed to reverse the left wing capture of our institutions and our civil service. He then failed to win any concessions during his disastrous EU negotiations, because he didn't really want the UK to be a semi-detached member, he thought he could win a mandate for EU-max by scaring the public into voting to remain. He then failed to stick around and deal with the political fallout, which he had committed to do. Apart from that he was great.
Cameron also attempted gerrymandering, broke the NHS because in spite of "preparing for government" for five years, he had not thought to ask Lansley just what he had in mind, and was a sucker for any Eton and Oxford posho who sent in a cv – the chumocracy.
You can also add the combination of triple lock pensions and tripling student tuition fees.
And another combo of defence cuts alongside Middle East warmongering.
1/29: First plane crash in 16 years in DC 1/31: Crash in Philly 2/5: Delta flight struck in Seattle 2/6: Flight wrecks in Alaska 2/10: Crash in Scottsdale 2/12: Military jet crashes in San Diego 2/16: Crash in Covington, GA
7 crashes since the WH congratulated itself for “restoring aviation safety”
Their aviation record is going to be great compared to its record on jobs and inflation...
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
The Liberal Democrats have done extremely well in certain places by offering a comfy, small-c conservative substitute for the rabid Tories that comfy, small-c conservative middle class people were delighted to run to in large numbers wherever it was a viable choice. They're all about Nimbyism, keeping the leafy countryside free of pylons and Barratt boxes, the rivers free of poo, being nice to fluffy animals and the European Union, and making everything generally neat and tidy for nice, small-c conservative people who would like to ensure that the older members of the community get gold plated pensions, free social care, and thus to pass on their fabulously valuable houses to their offspring with their countryside views unspoiled and entirely free of taxes. So that the kids can, in turn, retire early and spend lots of time walking the dogs and having comfy, small-c conservative coffee mornings at Gail's. I mean, what's not to like?
Their MPs are friendly, unthreatening, cannot be blamed for any of Labour's fuck-ups, and will therefore be virtually impossible for the shrill, loopy, let's desperately chase the Farage vote Tories to remove come the next election. Indeed, the Lib Dems' main value to the country is to so frustrate the Conservatives in their old heartland that it'll be virtually impossible for them ever to win a Commons majority again. If they want to govern, they'll have to rely on Reform. If they rely on Reform, they leak more wet votes away to the Lib Dems.
There are two good reasons why the Lib Dems aren't doing better. Firstly, they were sidelined by Labour in most of the seats they didn't actually win, as a result of mass tactical voting against the Sunak Government. There are only ten more Tory seats available to them on swings of less than 5%. Voters in most of the country will naturally feel that they have little chance of winning where they live (at the moment, anyway.) Secondly, they're a smaller party and therefore almost invisible outside of election time.
1/29: First plane crash in 16 years in DC 1/31: Crash in Philly 2/5: Delta flight struck in Seattle 2/6: Flight wrecks in Alaska 2/10: Crash in Scottsdale 2/12: Military jet crashes in San Diego 2/16: Crash in Covington, GA
7 crashes since the WH congratulated itself for “restoring aviation safety”
Their aviation record is going to be great compared to its record on jobs and inflation...
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
On at least half the current polls they could still get in UK wide with the LDs, the swing against them in Scotland though is less than UK wide as the SNP are already in power there and are not the main beneficiaries of Labour unpopularity. Reform and LDs are
By 2026 SNP will have been in power for 19 years and defending a relatively high-water mark under Sturgeon at the last election. So bound to be some slippage. But where will it go? Not to Labour. Probably too early for Tories. So that leaves Reform, Greens and LibDems. But also Alba though, so far, they have been the dog that hasn't barked. Either way, it looks like a rainbow parliament in the offing.
My guess: SNP/Lab coalition, premised on narrow unionist majority so that IndyRef off the agenda and doesn't disallow a deal. LibDems another likely player. Greens too badly burnt to take part.
Minority government though is now the norm. Labour will never, ever, cooperate with the SNP. They'd rather cooperate with Reform and look what the last time cooperation with a right wing party did to them in Scotland.
Worked out OK for the SNP under Salmond *innocent face*
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Almost 100% of my university mark came down to the results of exams sat in a hall with nothing more than a pen and the exam paper. You can't cheat that with AI.
Other subjects just need to follow course, or have other ways of assessing that can't be cheated.
I recall in one of Ben Elton's books, in a near future setting, they had simple things like checking entry on a list at a building return to using a biro and paper on the basis it was then harder to mess with.
Probably a good market in 'rustic' solutions to all sorts of things, car locks and the like.
1/29: First plane crash in 16 years in DC 1/31: Crash in Philly 2/5: Delta flight struck in Seattle 2/6: Flight wrecks in Alaska 2/10: Crash in Scottsdale 2/12: Military jet crashes in San Diego 2/16: Crash in Covington, GA
7 crashes since the WH congratulated itself for “restoring aviation safety”
Their aviation record is going to be great compared to its record on jobs and inflation...
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
I do find that hard to credit. I mean, what is opposition about if not preparing, and don't they have lots of discussions with civil servants in the run up to an election? Surprise at how much more work there was to do for a plan I get, but shocked no plan?
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
The Liberal Democrats have done extremely well in certain places by offering a comfy, small-c conservative substitute for the rabid Tories that comfy, small-c conservative middle class people were delighted to run to in large numbers wherever it was a viable choice. They're all about Nimbyism, keeping the leafy countryside free of pylons and Barratt boxes, the rivers free of poo, being nice to fluffy animals and the European Union, and making everything generally neat and tidy for nice, small-c conservative people who would like to ensure that the older members of the community get gold plated pensions, free social care, and thus to pass on their fabulously valuable houses to their offspring with their countryside views unspoiled and entirely free of taxes. So that the kids can, in turn, retire early and spend lots of time walking the dogs and having comfy, small-c conservative coffee mornings at Gail's. I mean, what's not to like?
Their MPs are friendly, unthreatening, cannot be blamed for any of Labour's fuck-ups, and will therefore be virtually impossible for the shrill, loopy, let's desperately chase the Farage vote Tories to remove come the next election. Indeed, the Lib Dems' main value to the country is to so frustrate the Conservatives in their old heartland that it'll be virtually impossible for them ever to win a Commons majority again. If they want to govern, they'll have to rely on Reform. If they rely on Reform, they leak more wet votes away to the Lib Dems.
There are two good reasons why the Lib Dems aren't doing better. Firstly, they were sidelined by Labour in most of the seats they didn't actually win, as a result of mass tactical voting against the Sunak Government. There are only ten more Tory seats available to them on swings of less than 5%. Voters in most of the country will naturally feel that they have little chance of winning where they live (at the moment, anyway.) Secondly, they're a smaller party and therefore almost invisible outside of election time.
I think the hope would have been getting so many MPs would mean they got more attention, but it hasn't panned out that way. Instead they seemingly maxed out their MPs on the level of support they have, and are now hoping on retention and consolodating at local level.
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
He's not thick, he just believes some truly dangerous and abhorrent things or is a fan of those who do - he's a fan of Curtis 'let Russia rule Europe up to the English Channel and America should be run by a dictator' Yarvin. Plus has the parochialism that all Americans - thick or clever - seem to have in simply not understanding how European polities and societies differ from their own.
If Vance can't understand why there's a taboo on allowing the successor parties to the Nazis anywhere near government, then that's his problem, not German politicians - and thoughtful sounding or not, he needs to go back and do his GCSE history.
It's a bit like a European communist who's mainly read about America through the prism of Marxist anti-imperialist tracts rocking up at Lexington and lecturing Americans on how they aren't really free. They might be clever on the subjsects they know about - but they don't know this one. It would not go down well, nor should it. And of course neither have Vance's misrepresentations and arrogance.
I read the entire transcript of his speech. It isn't long, but still manages to contain several things that are simply false, a few half-truths and is overall a display of ignorant hypocrisy, made worse by the occasion chosen to make it.
To say "German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP" is a really bizarre reading.
Some people on his side seem to be really pushing Vance as some once in a generation level genius. I've not read any of his stuff but that level seems improbable.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
"Government proposes 80 miles per hour motorway speed limit Philip Hammond announces his intention to consult on raising the national speed limit on motorways from 70 to 80 miles per hour.
Department for Transport and The Rt Hon Philip Hammond 3 October 2011"
No, we got 50mph and "average speed cameras" creeping in everywhere. Which are like purgatory.
The M3 has had them all the way down to Farnborough for over 10 years now.
Driving in a 50 zone on a motorway is a calming, relaxing experience. Probably the safest stretches of road in the country.
No it isn't. Because you're constantly being monitored for your speed, so your eye is glued nervously to the speedometer, and you can't take advantage of the motorway to get to where you want to go quickly. So sit there frustratingly for a very long time.
They are a curse.
Perhaps some people could learn to drive at 45-50mph by observing surroundings.
On a motor way you even have lines of known lengths, and posts every X metres.
And the zones are normally average speed so there is plenty of leeway to wander slightly in speed.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
1/29: First plane crash in 16 years in DC 1/31: Crash in Philly 2/5: Delta flight struck in Seattle 2/6: Flight wrecks in Alaska 2/10: Crash in Scottsdale 2/12: Military jet crashes in San Diego 2/16: Crash in Covington, GA
7 crashes since the WH congratulated itself for “restoring aviation safety”
Their aviation record is going to be great compared to its record on jobs and inflation...
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
I do find that hard to credit. I mean, what is opposition about if not preparing, and don't they have lots of discussions with civil servants in the run up to an election? Surprise at how much more work there was to do for a plan I get, but shocked no plan?
Not so shocked if he was expecting Rachel Reeves to have prepared one in advance.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I’m intrigued how fat you were. So you have lost 5 stone, unless you are a big big chap that’s a huge amount of weight to lose voluntarily, what weight are you now?
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
Starmer is a technocrat; Reeves too. They imagine there is a technical solution to every problem that is both obvious and obviously superior, and that the Civil Service keeps them in a Whitehall safe. For the past 14 years, the evil Tories blocked these plans, but hold on, it has been six months so if there is no improvement, ah, well then it must be civil servants ‘comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline’.
Managed decline is the default setting of modern British Government. Broadly speaking, it entails seeking to concentrate all the available wealth in the hands of people who are already well off, investing mainly in already well off places, and secretly hoping that a new crack in the Earth's crust opens up and the country north of a line between the Severn and the Wash simply falls into it. Doing anything differently is too hard, and would entail tax and spending choices that would enrage the wrong people.
This piece, which reminds the reader of the Government's enthusiasm for chucking untold billions at yet another crossing for the Thames, whilst it appears perfectly content to let the Tyne Bridge simply fall down for want of a chicken feed contribution, presents the rap sheet against Labour in the area of regional policy. And why should one be surprised by any of this? Cash for London and rich people places near London. Bugger all for anyone else. More continuity Toryism. Plus ça change.
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
Vance is not stupid. He’s malevolent.
He's a shape-shifter; but the common link between his various personae is the malevolence.
He's certainly cementing his position as the Republican candidate in 2028 though.
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
Vance is not stupid. He’s malevolent.
He's a shape-shifter; but the common link between his various personae is the malevolence.
He's certainly cementing his position as the Republican candidate in 2028 though.
Tories only need to win back seats lost to the LDs for an overall majority
Their current strategy is to repel LD voters with maximum force
I notice that Davey has gone all in on calling out Trump and saying he is a disgrace etc.
Now it may be that he genuinely believes that and wants to say (and which sane person doesn't?) but may also have come up in focus groups for liberals. Conservatives like Braverman and Truss and Reform are out of step with most UK voters with their Trump cult worship. They will be even more out of step when Trump burns america to the ground and tries invading Canada.
A man who was coasting to becoming the next PM has to make sure Trump doesn't mess everything up for him at the last minute.
As for Braverman/Truss types, they are out of step even with most Conservatives. They could easily say basically the same things with less Trump worshipfulness, there may be a larger market for Trump-like ideas without attaching themselves to his personality, which plays worse over here than there.
Interestingly, Merz's criticism of Vance's speech was sharper (we don't need any lectures from America) than Scholz's (it was inappropriate). OK maybe as Chancellor you feel a bit more constrained than an opposition politician, but Merz will probably be Chancellor within a few weeks.
I don't know much about Vance but I have spent an hour watching an educated right of centre analysis of him on Youtube made for an intelligent US audience. Now he came over very favourably and to some extent that was they type of programme it was.
But all the European analysis seems to be this guy isn't from the US Establishment, he is a backwoodsman, Trump has picked him as VP, therefore he MUST be thick and not as bien pensant wise as our European lobby hacks. They didn't have a clue as to what he was saying as he didn't follow the Blairite "Sun shines out of your wonderful arses" script they took for granted they would get. Therefore he must be uncouth and ignorant, heaven forbid a mid-westerner could be more urbane, more educated that a lobby hack.
It might be that Trump underestimated him when he made his VP candidate, probably did. But Vance is the most thoughtful person I have seen for a very long time. If the lobby and the German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP then that says more about their qualities than his.
Vance is not stupid. He’s malevolent.
He's a shape-shifter; but the common link between his various personae is the malevolence.
He's certainly cementing his position as the Republican candidate in 2028 though.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
With the fried breakfast, I think it's more the vast amounts of salt and vegetable oil sometimes used in its creation that are the primary health risks, rather than the existence of meat in there.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
I don't think the kitchens in big hospitals are really set up to serve people with actually appetising food. Too many patients, and probably operating to a derisory budget per head. The meal times don't help either: when my husband was in hospital for a couple of days last year, his dinner was served at five o'clock and that was that for the night. I'm not sure of that was inspired by the eating habits of very elderly people or of nursery school infants, but regardless it was hardly helpful.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
On at least half the current polls they could still get in UK wide with the LDs, the swing against them in Scotland though is less than UK wide as the SNP are already in power there and are not the main beneficiaries of Labour unpopularity. Reform and LDs are
By 2026 SNP will have been in power for 19 years and defending a relatively high-water mark under Sturgeon at the last election. So bound to be some slippage. But where will it go? Not to Labour. Probably too early for Tories. So that leaves Reform, Greens and LibDems. But also Alba though, so far, they have been the dog that hasn't barked. Either way, it looks like a rainbow parliament in the offing.
My guess: SNP/Lab coalition, premised on narrow unionist majority so that IndyRef off the agenda and doesn't disallow a deal. LibDems another likely player. Greens too badly burnt to take part.
Minority government though is now the norm. Labour will never, ever, cooperate with the SNP. They'd rather cooperate with Reform and look what the last time cooperation with a right wing party did to them in Scotland.
Worked out OK for the SNP under Salmond *innocent face*
Tut - but then it wasn't just Annabella Goldie and her extra 1K polis that he signed up for to get the budget through. He had to negotiate with enough of other parties as well to get them to vote. The nature of minority gmt.
That Labour refused then and since - on occasion nearly putting paid to the entire machinery of government when voting down a budget - was their decision.
IIRC Slab again refused to take part one way or another in the last budget process. Just abstained.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
I don't think the kitchens in big hospitals are really set up to serve people with actually appetising food. Too many patients, and probably operating to a derisory budget per head. The meal times don't help either: when my husband was in hospital for a couple of days last year, his dinner was served at five o'clock and that was that for the night. I'm not sure of that was inspired by the eating habits of very elderly people or of nursery school infants, but regardless it was hardly helpful.
We’ve had this debate before and the conclusion was NHS food is DELIBERATELY awful so you have zero inclination to linger and bed-block
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
The Liberal Democrats have done extremely well in certain places by offering a comfy, small-c conservative substitute for the rabid Tories that comfy, small-c conservative middle class people were delighted to run to in large numbers wherever it was a viable choice. They're all about Nimbyism, keeping the leafy countryside free of pylons and Barratt boxes, the rivers free of poo, being nice to fluffy animals and the European Union, and making everything generally neat and tidy for nice, small-c conservative people who would like to ensure that the older members of the community get gold plated pensions, free social care, and thus to pass on their fabulously valuable houses to their offspring with their countryside views unspoiled and entirely free of taxes. So that the kids can, in turn, retire early and spend lots of time walking the dogs and having comfy, small-c conservative coffee mornings at Gail's. I mean, what's not to like?
Their MPs are friendly, unthreatening, cannot be blamed for any of Labour's fuck-ups, and will therefore be virtually impossible for the shrill, loopy, let's desperately chase the Farage vote Tories to remove come the next election. Indeed, the Lib Dems' main value to the country is to so frustrate the Conservatives in their old heartland that it'll be virtually impossible for them ever to win a Commons majority again. If they want to govern, they'll have to rely on Reform. If they rely on Reform, they leak more wet votes away to the Lib Dems.
There are two good reasons why the Lib Dems aren't doing better. Firstly, they were sidelined by Labour in most of the seats they didn't actually win, as a result of mass tactical voting against the Sunak Government. There are only ten more Tory seats available to them on swings of less than 5%. Voters in most of the country will naturally feel that they have little chance of winning where they live (at the moment, anyway.) Secondly, they're a smaller party and therefore almost invisible outside of election time.
I think the hope would have been getting so many MPs would mean they got more attention, but it hasn't panned out that way. Instead they seemingly maxed out their MPs on the level of support they have, and are now hoping on retention and consolodating at local level.
They need do little else. All they need is to wait for the right Parliamentary arithmetic to come out of an election for them to be able to extract PR as the price for cooperation in a fragmented Commons. With the big two so unpopular at the same time and Reform on the march, the likelihood of that is greater than it has ever been.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
Starmer is a technocrat; Reeves too. They imagine there is a technical solution to every problem that is both obvious and obviously superior, and that the Civil Service keeps them in a Whitehall safe. For the past 14 years, the evil Tories blocked these plans, but hold on, it has been six months so if there is no improvement, ah, well then it must be civil servants ‘comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline’.
Managed decline is the default setting of modern British Government. Broadly speaking, it entails seeking to concentrate all the available wealth in the hands of people who are already well off, investing mainly in already well off places, and secretly hoping that a new crack in the Earth's crust opens up and the country north of a line between the Severn and the Wash simply falls into it. Doing anything differently is too hard, and would entail tax and spending choices that would enrage the wrong people.
This piece, which reminds the reader of the Government's enthusiasm for chucking untold billions at yet another crossing for the Thames, whilst it appears perfectly content to let the Tyne Bridge simply fall down for want of a chicken feed contribution, presents the rap sheet against Labour in the area of regional policy. And why should one be surprised by any of this? Cash for London and rich people places near London. Bugger all for anyone else. More continuity Toryism. Plus ça change.
Hmm, upgrading the A1 has been scrubbed. Didn't know that. Union safe with Labour, really?
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
I don't think the kitchens in big hospitals are really set up to serve people with actually appetising food. Too many patients, and probably operating to a derisory budget per head. The meal times don't help either: when my husband was in hospital for a couple of days last year, his dinner was served at five o'clock and that was that for the night. I'm not sure of that was inspired by the eating habits of very elderly people or of nursery school infants, but regardless it was hardly helpful.
I spent nearly 5 weeks in hospital some years ago. The food was draeadful, not helped by the chemotherapy impacting my tastebuds. What I really objected too was the lunatic idea that every much must be nutritionally balanced. Why? If you are in for a short time it’s irrelevant. And if you are there longer then look at balance over a week, or a fortnight. And don’t get me started on the schedule. Breakfast at 7? It’s not like I’ve got much on for the rest of the day. Main meal at 12.30? Really? It’s 2025… and then the supper at 6… Truly a Victorian regime.
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
Almost 100% of my university mark came down to the results of exams sat in a hall with nothing more than a pen and the exam paper. You can't cheat that with AI.
Other subjects just need to follow course, or have other ways of assessing that can't be cheated.
I recall in one of Ben Elton's books, in a near future setting, they had simple things like checking entry on a list at a building return to using a biro and paper on the basis it was then harder to mess with.
Probably a good market in 'rustic' solutions to all sorts of things, car locks and the like.
One exam guru suggested preparing essays in advance, learning them, and then writing them in the exam after an introductory section to bridge the gap between the question and the prepared answer. A tactic not unknown in political interviews.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
With the fried breakfast, I think it's more the vast amounts of salt and vegetable oil sometimes used in its creation that are the primary health risks, rather than the existence of meat in there.
Indeed. Putting the meat in the air fryer is how I cook mine, no oil necessary then.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I’m intrigued how fat you were. So you have lost 5 stone, unless you are a big big chap that’s a huge amount of weight to lose voluntarily, what weight are you now?
I peaked at 252lbs during lockdown. When I started my carnivore diet (Oct 2023) I was on 247 lbs.
I'm now 177 lbs, so 70 down since I switched diet, 75 down from my peak.
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
Got a soft spot for the Blue Streak test pad at Spadeadam, myself. Never managed to blag a visit though.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
On at least half the current polls they could still get in UK wide with the LDs, the swing against them in Scotland though is less than UK wide as the SNP are already in power there and are not the main beneficiaries of Labour unpopularity. Reform and LDs are
By 2026 SNP will have been in power for 19 years and defending a relatively high-water mark under Sturgeon at the last election. So bound to be some slippage. But where will it go? Not to Labour. Probably too early for Tories. So that leaves Reform, Greens and LibDems. But also Alba though, so far, they have been the dog that hasn't barked. Either way, it looks like a rainbow parliament in the offing.
My guess: SNP/Lab coalition, premised on narrow unionist majority so that IndyRef off the agenda and doesn't disallow a deal. LibDems another likely player. Greens too badly burnt to take part.
Minority government though is now the norm. Labour will never, ever, cooperate with the SNP. They'd rather cooperate with Reform and look what the last time cooperation with a right wing party did to them in Scotland.
The recent by elections have shown Labour struggling to keep their existing voter base. Starmer is very Southern and not loved up here. The SNP also continues to struggle. More stories are out about Nicola and her personal life. In addition Humza has been a figure of ridicule. Every time he opens his mouth the SNP vote drops. Alba has been hit by the untimely death of Salmond. Greens are too left wing for even most of Scotland. The Tories have never truly recovered since Johnson put through a hard Brexit. The Lib Dems are very focussed on a few seats and will struggle to grow dramatically.
So what next. In Scotland the PR systems helps new parties and therefore Reform are going to get seats. The only question is if they get 10% or 20% of the seats. At 10% they will be an irritant to the other parties. At 20% they will have real influence.
The SNP hate Labour and the feeling is mutual. Any idea of an alliance is for the birds. The Lib Dems are probably closer to Labour than SNP. The Greens are still closer to SNP I think. No-one would join with the Tories. It is very likely we will end up with a minority Government. Most people feel it is time for someone else to have a go which will hurt SNP chances but noone in Scotland wants a passive follower of Starmer which goes against Labour.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
With the fried breakfast, I think it's more the vast amounts of salt and vegetable oil sometimes used in its creation that are the primary health risks, rather than the existence of meat in there.
Indeed. Putting the meat in the air fryer is how I cook mine, no oil necessary then.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I’m intrigued how fat you were. So you have lost 5 stone, unless you are a big big chap that’s a huge amount of weight to lose voluntarily, what weight are you now?
I peaked at 252lbs during lockdown. When I started my carnivore diet (Oct 2023) I was on 247 lbs.
I'm now 177 lbs, so 70 down since I switched diet, 75 down from my peak.
Can I ask how tall you are? Just seems like a massive weight shift. I’m guessing you aren’t looking anorexic at 12.5 stone?
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
The Wolverhampton School of Arts sits nicely in its space. A much better example of Brutalism than many car paprks and bus stations.
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
The Wolverhampton School of Arts sits nicely in its space. A much better example of Brutalism than many car paprks and bus stations.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
With the fried breakfast, I think it's more the vast amounts of salt and vegetable oil sometimes used in its creation that are the primary health risks, rather than the existence of meat in there.
Indeed. Putting the meat in the air fryer is how I cook mine, no oil necessary then.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I’m intrigued how fat you were. So you have lost 5 stone, unless you are a big big chap that’s a huge amount of weight to lose voluntarily, what weight are you now?
I peaked at 252lbs during lockdown. When I started my carnivore diet (Oct 2023) I was on 247 lbs.
I'm now 177 lbs, so 70 down since I switched diet, 75 down from my peak.
Almost 100% of my university mark came down to the results of exams sat in a hall with nothing more than a pen and the exam paper. You can't cheat that with AI.
Other subjects just need to follow course, or have other ways of assessing that can't be cheated.
I recall in one of Ben Elton's books, in a near future setting, they had simple things like checking entry on a list at a building return to using a biro and paper on the basis it was then harder to mess with.
Probably a good market in 'rustic' solutions to all sorts of things, car locks and the like.
One exam guru suggested preparing essays in advance, learning them, and then writing them in the exam after an introductory section to bridge the gap between the question and the prepared answer. A tactic not unknown in political interviews.
I did get my highest ever score when an exam essat question by coincidence was very close to one I had previously done, and just had to swap out a word or two and regurgitate it. Not always that lucky of course.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
With the fried breakfast, I think it's more the vast amounts of salt and vegetable oil sometimes used in its creation that are the primary health risks, rather than the existence of meat in there.
Indeed. Putting the meat in the air fryer is how I cook mine, no oil necessary then.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I’m intrigued how fat you were. So you have lost 5 stone, unless you are a big big chap that’s a huge amount of weight to lose voluntarily, what weight are you now?
I peaked at 252lbs during lockdown. When I started my carnivore diet (Oct 2023) I was on 247 lbs.
I'm now 177 lbs, so 70 down since I switched diet, 75 down from my peak.
Can I ask how tall you are? Just seems like a massive weight shift. I’m guessing you aren’t looking anorexic at 12.5 stone?
5'8" so, no, not anorexic. Gone from BMI of 38 to 27.
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
The Wolverhampton School of Arts sits nicely in its space. A much better example of Brutalism than many car paprks and bus stations.
The Economist building on St James's Street is another example of brutalism worth keeping.
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
Got a soft spot for the Blue Streak test pad at Spadeadam, myself. Never managed to blag a visit though.
I have been several times. Wet and miserable on each occasion. Like Manorbier test range. There’s a particular kind of damp, cold, and miserable that makes you hate everything about a place even though some of it is probably lovely or interesting in the sun.
Bit like my sense of Crewe railway station. Always bored and awaiting a connection, so I hate Crewe without ever having seen it.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
I don't think the kitchens in big hospitals are really set up to serve people with actually appetising food. Too many patients, and probably operating to a derisory budget per head. The meal times don't help either: when my husband was in hospital for a couple of days last year, his dinner was served at five o'clock and that was that for the night. I'm not sure of that was inspired by the eating habits of very elderly people or of nursery school infants, but regardless it was hardly helpful.
We’ve had this debate before and the conclusion was NHS food is DELIBERATELY awful so you have zero inclination to linger and bed-block
Almost 100% of my university mark came down to the results of exams sat in a hall with nothing more than a pen and the exam paper. You can't cheat that with AI.
Other subjects just need to follow course, or have other ways of assessing that can't be cheated.
I recall in one of Ben Elton's books, in a near future setting, they had simple things like checking entry on a list at a building return to using a biro and paper on the basis it was then harder to mess with.
Probably a good market in 'rustic' solutions to all sorts of things, car locks and the like.
One exam guru suggested preparing essays in advance, learning them, and then writing them in the exam after an introductory section to bridge the gap between the question and the prepared answer. A tactic not unknown in political interviews.
There's a Ken Macleod SF novel set in near future Edinburgh where the digital record is so suspect that only handwritten notes and analogue recordings are acceptable in the police, in order that the courts will accept them. And yet the individual policemen have AI assistants (in walking spider form). I think it might have been The Night Sessions but cannot remember offhand ...
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
I did a resident led tour that a few months ago and found it quite insightful, lack of street crime, great refuse collection system and frequency balancing reg somewhat soulless public spaces. Pity it’s become a bastion of middle class attitudes but at least preserved some residents in the City. You should check out Space House next time you’re home - it has just had a major refurbishment. https://spacehouse.london/
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
With the fried breakfast, I think it's more the vast amounts of salt and vegetable oil sometimes used in its creation that are the primary health risks, rather than the existence of meat in there.
Indeed. Putting the meat in the air fryer is how I cook mine, no oil necessary then.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I’m intrigued how fat you were. So you have lost 5 stone, unless you are a big big chap that’s a huge amount of weight to lose voluntarily, what weight are you now?
I peaked at 252lbs during lockdown. When I started my carnivore diet (Oct 2023) I was on 247 lbs.
I'm now 177 lbs, so 70 down since I switched diet, 75 down from my peak.
Can I ask how tall you are? Just seems like a massive weight shift. I’m guessing you aren’t looking anorexic at 12.5 stone?
5'8" so, no, not anorexic. Gone from BMI of 38 to 27.
Or in Pirate measures, Captain Pugwash to Captain Jack Sparrow. Nice work.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
With the fried breakfast, I think it's more the vast amounts of salt and vegetable oil sometimes used in its creation that are the primary health risks, rather than the existence of meat in there.
Indeed. Putting the meat in the air fryer is how I cook mine, no oil necessary then.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I’m intrigued how fat you were. So you have lost 5 stone, unless you are a big big chap that’s a huge amount of weight to lose voluntarily, what weight are you now?
I peaked at 252lbs during lockdown. When I started my carnivore diet (Oct 2023) I was on 247 lbs.
I'm now 177 lbs, so 70 down since I switched diet, 75 down from my peak.
Can I ask how tall you are? Just seems like a massive weight shift. I’m guessing you aren’t looking anorexic at 12.5 stone?
5'8" so, no, not anorexic. Gone from BMI of 38 to 27.
Or in Pirate measures, Captain Pugwash to Captain Jack Sparrow. Nice work.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
Starmer is a technocrat; Reeves too. They imagine there is a technical solution to every problem that is both obvious and obviously superior, and that the Civil Service keeps them in a Whitehall safe. For the past 14 years, the evil Tories blocked these plans, but hold on, it has been six months so if there is no improvement, ah, well then it must be civil servants ‘comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline’.
Managed decline is the default setting of modern British Government. Broadly speaking, it entails seeking to concentrate all the available wealth in the hands of people who are already well off, investing mainly in already well off places, and secretly hoping that a new crack in the Earth's crust opens up and the country north of a line between the Severn and the Wash simply falls into it. Doing anything differently is too hard, and would entail tax and spending choices that would enrage the wrong people.
This piece, which reminds the reader of the Government's enthusiasm for chucking untold billions at yet another crossing for the Thames, whilst it appears perfectly content to let the Tyne Bridge simply fall down for want of a chicken feed contribution, presents the rap sheet against Labour in the area of regional policy. And why should one be surprised by any of this? Cash for London and rich people places near London. Bugger all for anyone else. More continuity Toryism. Plus ça change.
Hmm, upgrading the A1 has been scrubbed. Didn't know that. Union safe with Labour, really?
It’s in the North. We don’t invest there, because.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
Starmer is a technocrat; Reeves too. They imagine there is a technical solution to every problem that is both obvious and obviously superior, and that the Civil Service keeps them in a Whitehall safe. For the past 14 years, the evil Tories blocked these plans, but hold on, it has been six months so if there is no improvement, ah, well then it must be civil servants ‘comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline’.
Managed decline is the default setting of modern British Government. Broadly speaking, it entails seeking to concentrate all the available wealth in the hands of people who are already well off, investing mainly in already well off places, and secretly hoping that a new crack in the Earth's crust opens up and the country north of a line between the Severn and the Wash simply falls into it. Doing anything differently is too hard, and would entail tax and spending choices that would enrage the wrong people.
This piece, which reminds the reader of the Government's enthusiasm for chucking untold billions at yet another crossing for the Thames, whilst it appears perfectly content to let the Tyne Bridge simply fall down for want of a chicken feed contribution, presents the rap sheet against Labour in the area of regional policy. And why should one be surprised by any of this? Cash for London and rich people places near London. Bugger all for anyone else. More continuity Toryism. Plus ça change.
Hmm, upgrading the A1 has been scrubbed. Didn't know that. Union safe with Labour, really?
The Government is vaguely aware of minor settlements known as "Edunberg" (or something like that) and "New Castle," but the region on the map between them is simply marked "Here Be Dragons." It is rumoured that this savage territory is sparsely populated only by primitive hill tribes, who have not even discovered Gail's or Waitrose, let alone received their own branches. Why one would waste money on these wastelands God only knows.
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
The Wolverhampton School of Arts sits nicely in its space. A much better example of Brutalism than many car paprks and bus stations.
The Economist building on St James's Street is another example of brutalism worth keeping.
1. The Economist Building is not brutalism
2. It’s crap and ugly. Peter and Alison Smithson were two of the worst architects in human history. I wish they were still alive so I could urinate all over them as they pissed all over Britain
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Have you been on the drugs?
TBF it's been in the news. Uni wants to trash it. This guy disagrees. Nicely frank about his reasons: "[It's] almost a pilgrimage, in a sense. This is where I got my degree. I think it's important."
But TBF lots agree with him. EH are in ther middle of considering listing it.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
Starmer is a technocrat; Reeves too. They imagine there is a technical solution to every problem that is both obvious and obviously superior, and that the Civil Service keeps them in a Whitehall safe. For the past 14 years, the evil Tories blocked these plans, but hold on, it has been six months so if there is no improvement, ah, well then it must be civil servants ‘comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline’.
Managed decline is the default setting of modern British Government. Broadly speaking, it entails seeking to concentrate all the available wealth in the hands of people who are already well off, investing mainly in already well off places, and secretly hoping that a new crack in the Earth's crust opens up and the country north of a line between the Severn and the Wash simply falls into it. Doing anything differently is too hard, and would entail tax and spending choices that would enrage the wrong people.
This piece, which reminds the reader of the Government's enthusiasm for chucking untold billions at yet another crossing for the Thames, whilst it appears perfectly content to let the Tyne Bridge simply fall down for want of a chicken feed contribution, presents the rap sheet against Labour in the area of regional policy. And why should one be surprised by any of this? Cash for London and rich people places near London. Bugger all for anyone else. More continuity Toryism. Plus ça change.
Hmm, upgrading the A1 has been scrubbed. Didn't know that. Union safe with Labour, really?
The Government is vaguely aware of minor settlements known as "Edunberg" (or something like that) and "New Castle," but the region on the map between them is simply marked "Here Be Dragons." It is rumoured that this savage territory is sparsely populated only by primitive hill tribes, who have not even discovered Gail's or Waitrose, let alone received their own branches. Why one would waste money on these wastelands God only knows.
Hmm. I was reading the Ashington rail line renewal came within a midgie's pubic hair of being scrubbed, but was too far along when the election happened.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
SNP also forecast to lose 9 MSPs, main gainers Reform
Scotland is the bellwether here. Starver's Labour is headed for national and total wipe-out
Certainly where there is a viable left-wing alternative. The curious thing is why the Lib Dems aren't doing any better in England, but that might because they don't offer anything radical. At least with the SNP they offer something material - independence.
Left/right is the wrong frame. A sectarian analysis is more useful in the modern UK and can explain Labour's troubles everywhere from inner Birmingham to outer Newcastle.
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
Starmer is a technocrat; Reeves too. They imagine there is a technical solution to every problem that is both obvious and obviously superior, and that the Civil Service keeps them in a Whitehall safe. For the past 14 years, the evil Tories blocked these plans, but hold on, it has been six months so if there is no improvement, ah, well then it must be civil servants ‘comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline’.
Managed decline is the default setting of modern British Government. Broadly speaking, it entails seeking to concentrate all the available wealth in the hands of people who are already well off, investing mainly in already well off places, and secretly hoping that a new crack in the Earth's crust opens up and the country north of a line between the Severn and the Wash simply falls into it. Doing anything differently is too hard, and would entail tax and spending choices that would enrage the wrong people.
This piece, which reminds the reader of the Government's enthusiasm for chucking untold billions at yet another crossing for the Thames, whilst it appears perfectly content to let the Tyne Bridge simply fall down for want of a chicken feed contribution, presents the rap sheet against Labour in the area of regional policy. And why should one be surprised by any of this? Cash for London and rich people places near London. Bugger all for anyone else. More continuity Toryism. Plus ça change.
Hmm, upgrading the A1 has been scrubbed. Didn't know that. Union safe with Labour, really?
The Government is vaguely aware of minor settlements known as "Edunberg" (or something like that) and "New Castle," but the region on the map between them is simply marked "Here Be Dragons." It is rumoured that this savage territory is sparsely populated only by primitive hill tribes, who have not even discovered Gail's or Waitrose, let alone received their own branches. Why one would waste money on these wastelands God only knows.
Ignorance. We have Waitrose in Edinburgh. Two, even. And they even send the cart round if you ask.
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
The Wolverhampton School of Arts sits nicely in its space. A much better example of Brutalism than many car paprks and bus stations.
The Economist building on St James's Street is another example of brutalism worth keeping.
1. The Economist Building is not brutalism
2. It’s crap and ugly. Peter and Alison Smithson were two of the worst architects in human history. I wish they were still alive so I could urinate all over them as they pissed all over Britain
NB I’ve checked and there is dispute here. Some people claim the Economist Building IS brutalist. But this is surely wrong
“Brutalism” comes from the French phrase "béton brut," meaning "raw concrete." This refers to the unfinished, exposed concrete that is a hallmark of the style. The National Theatre IS brutalist. You can still see the impressions of the wooden cases that enclosed the raw concrete. A deliberate choice by Denys Lasdun
The Economist Building has a concrete frame but it is clad in Portland Stone. Concrete plays little part in its expression. It is not “brutalist”. It is quite banal “international style” modernism
Surprised we aren't talking more about this, yet another of Skyr Toolmakersson's amazing achievements:
NEW: Polling expert John Curtice has delivered his verdict on a new poll which predicts Scottish Labour are set for their worst election result since devolution 🥀
People who talk about Boris destroying the Tories should pay more attention to Starmer destroying Labour with the quick fix of pretending all the country's problems could be solved by getting the Tories out.
And arriving at No. 10 apparently shocked there was no plan waiting for him. Quite extraordinary.
I do find that hard to credit. I mean, what is opposition about if not preparing, and don't they have lots of discussions with civil servants in the run up to an election? Surprise at how much more work there was to do for a plan I get, but shocked no plan?
As someone put it above - Starmer and Co. are Technocrats. This doesn’t mean knowing about technology or very much else - it’s a belief that a Proper Organisation, with lots of Proper People and serious pipes of paper, will have a Perfect Plan.
Since the government hasn’t implemented this perfect plan, it must have been the Evul Tories stopping it. Without them, The Perfect Plan will be automatically implemented.
Then Starmer discovered that The Perfect Plan didn’t exist.
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
Obvs missing the heights of "British" or at least Brutalist culture.
Yes. It’s a big lump of brutalism and there’s some campaign to save it. And I can sort of see why - it’s got a bit of character. Nothing amazing, but not nothing
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
I did a resident led tour that a few months ago and found it quite insightful, lack of street crime, great refuse collection system and frequency balancing reg somewhat soulless public spaces. Pity it’s become a bastion of middle class attitudes but at least preserved some residents in the City. You should check out Space House next time you’re home - it has just had a major refurbishment. https://spacehouse.london/
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the motivation I confess this is another of those topics that just riles me up irrationally - let the poor buggers in hospital keep their bloody sausages.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
I don't think one has to share your carnivore based tastes to think letting people enjoy some fried breakfasts when very ill or dying is perhaps worth the risks.
Or that its good for you.
I don't think the kitchens in big hospitals are really set up to serve people with actually appetising food. Too many patients, and probably operating to a derisory budget per head. The meal times don't help either: when my husband was in hospital for a couple of days last year, his dinner was served at five o'clock and that was that for the night. I'm not sure of that was inspired by the eating habits of very elderly people or of nursery school infants, but regardless it was hardly helpful.
I spent nearly 5 weeks in hospital some years ago. The food was draeadful, not helped by the chemotherapy impacting my tastebuds. What I really objected too was the lunatic idea that every much must be nutritionally balanced. Why? If you are in for a short time it’s irrelevant. And if you are there longer then look at balance over a week, or a fortnight. And don’t get me started on the schedule. Breakfast at 7? It’s not like I’ve got much on for the rest of the day. Main meal at 12.30? Really? It’s 2025… and then the supper at 6… Truly a Victorian regime.
I had some two months in hospital late 2022; two hospitals, one acute, one recuperation and, theoretically, physiotherapy. Food, according to my diet wasn't too bad, and served at reasonable times. Breakfast could be very hit-and-miss, though.
Comments
My guess: SNP/Lab coalition, premised on narrow unionist majority so that IndyRef off the agenda and doesn't disallow a deal. LibDems another likely player. Greens too badly burnt to take part.
It’s like the value of human muscle power on the cusp of the Steam Age, it went from quite a lot to near zero, quickly. THIS revolution will be even quicker and much more brutal, as it takes away our last essential advantage, the human brain
Learn, my PB friends, learn and prepare for a world where human intelligence is virtually worthless, as intelligence itself will be super abundant
in ten years time - maybe much less - physics labs and students in white coats will no longer exist as we remember them, the machines will hum away, doing it all in clean and ultra-efficient silence
If Vance can't understand why there's a taboo on allowing the successor parties to the Nazis anywhere near government, then that's his problem, not German politicians - and thoughtful sounding or not, he needs to go back and do his GCSE history.
It's a bit like a European communist who's mainly read about America through the prism of Marxist anti-imperialist tracts rocking up at Lexington and lecturing Americans on how they aren't really free. They might be clever on the subjsects they know about - but they don't know this one. It would not go down well, nor should it. And of course neither have Vance's misrepresentations and arrogance.
That being the game, and accepting it is a game, I can join in. I don't buy the politically correct notion that the Trump vote was mainly about feeling worse off. There are, obviously, many reasons he won but the one I'd pick out is the sheer dumbfuckery of the average red state American.
policies back in 1991.
The recent by elections have shown Labour struggling to keep their existing voter base. Starmer is very Southern and not loved up here. The SNP also continues to struggle. More stories are out about Nicola and her personal life. In addition Humza has been a figure of ridicule. Every time he opens his mouth the SNP vote drops. Alba has been hit by the untimely death of Salmond. Greens are too left wing for even most of Scotland. The Tories have never truly recovered since Johnson put through a hard Brexit. The Lib Dems are very focussed on a few seats and will struggle to grow dramatically.
So what next. In Scotland the PR systems helps new parties and therefore Reform are going to get seats. The only question is if they get 10% or 20% of the seats. At 10% they will be an irritant to the other parties. At 20% they will have real influence.
The SNP hate Labour and the feeling is mutual. Any idea of an alliance is for the birds. The Lib Dems are probably closer to Labour than SNP. The Greens are still closer to SNP I think. No-one would join with the Tories. It is very likely we will end up with a minority Government. Most people feel it is time for someone else to have a go which will hurt SNP chances but noone in Scotland wants a passive follower of Starmer which goes against Labour.
To say "German leaders weren't bright enough to understand the subtlety of the new American VP" is a really bizarre reading.
He's certainly cementing his position as the Republican candidate in 2028 though.
It rather speaks to the sheer amount of poison in Scottish politics. Labour and Plaid Cymru don't particularly enjoy cohabitation but they'll do it to keep Farage's lot at bay.
That's what motorways are for.
And while they are annoying adaptive cruise control makes them painless
@briantylercohen.bsky.social
1/29: First plane crash in 16 years in DC
1/31: Crash in Philly
2/5: Delta flight struck in Seattle
2/6: Flight wrecks in Alaska
2/10: Crash in Scottsdale
2/12: Military jet crashes in San Diego
2/16: Crash in Covington, GA
7 crashes since the WH congratulated itself for “restoring aviation safety”
Because it doesn't matter how sheer the dumbfuckery of the average red state American is because elections aren't decided there.
They are decided by swing voters in the swing states.
Still I'm sure you feel all superior after having decided who the dumbfucks are.
And another combo of defence cuts alongside Middle East warmongering.
Their MPs are friendly, unthreatening, cannot be blamed for any of Labour's fuck-ups, and will therefore be virtually impossible for the shrill, loopy, let's desperately chase the Farage vote Tories to remove come the next election. Indeed, the Lib Dems' main value to the country is to so frustrate the Conservatives in their old heartland that it'll be virtually impossible for them ever to win a Commons majority again. If they want to govern, they'll have to rely on Reform. If they rely on Reform, they leak more wet votes away to the Lib Dems.
There are two good reasons why the Lib Dems aren't doing better. Firstly, they were sidelined by Labour in most of the seats they didn't actually win, as a result of mass tactical voting against the Sunak Government. There are only ten more Tory seats available to them on swings of less than 5%. Voters in most of the country will naturally feel that they have little chance of winning where they live (at the moment, anyway.) Secondly, they're a smaller party and therefore almost invisible outside of election time.
These people are insane. How do we get rid of them?
“We don't allow patients to smoke or drink so why should eating processed meat, a recognised carcinogen, be treated any differently?” #slipperyslope https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14402239/Hospitals-processed-foods-cancer.html
https://nitter.poast.org/cjsnowdon/status/1891160646374260994#m
Probably a good market in 'rustic' solutions to all sorts of things, car locks and the like.
Switching to a carnivore diet has done wonders for my health. Down 70 pounds now since I made the switch, pretty close to my goal weight now, and health is far better than it was. Get rid of plant-based crap.
On a motor way you even have lines of known lengths, and posts every X metres.
And the zones are normally average speed so there is plenty of leeway to wander slightly in speed.
"Here's a total fuck up I made earlier..."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/16/north-of-england-labour-north-south-divide-tyne-bridge
This piece, which reminds the reader of the Government's enthusiasm for chucking untold billions at yet another crossing for the Thames, whilst it appears perfectly content to let the Tyne Bridge simply fall down for want of a chicken feed contribution, presents the rap sheet against Labour in the area of regional policy. And why should one be surprised by any of this? Cash for London and rich people places near London. Bugger all for anyone else. More continuity Toryism. Plus ça change.
Cause? Looking at a photo of Wolverhampton School of Arts
That Labour refused then and since - on occasion nearly putting paid to the entire machinery of government when voting down a budget - was their decision.
IIRC Slab again refused to take part one way or another in the last budget process. Just abstained.
Which makes a lot of sense
And don’t get me started on the schedule. Breakfast at 7? It’s not like I’ve got much on for the rest of the day. Main meal at 12.30? Really? It’s 2025… and then the supper at 6… Truly a Victorian regime.
I do like the odd rare example of brutalism. One of my lesser architectural ambitions is to see Preston Bus Station - looks incredible in photos
I like the Barbican, esp the serrated towers
I'm now 177 lbs, so 70 down since I switched diet, 75 down from my peak.
Bit like my sense of Crewe railway station. Always bored and awaiting a connection, so I hate Crewe without ever having seen it.
https://spacehouse.london/
We don’t invest there, because.
2. It’s crap and ugly. Peter and Alison Smithson were two of the worst architects in human history. I wish they were still alive so I could urinate all over them as they pissed all over Britain
But TBF lots agree with him. EH are in ther middle of considering listing it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly7ppwevggo
Vigilante fathers vow to patrol Birmingham streets and make 'citizens' arrests after teen boy stabbed to death and four women attacked
“Brutalism” comes from the French phrase "béton brut," meaning "raw concrete." This refers to the unfinished, exposed concrete that is a hallmark of the
style. The National Theatre IS brutalist. You can still see the impressions of the wooden cases that enclosed the raw concrete. A deliberate choice by Denys Lasdun
The Economist Building has a concrete frame but it is clad in Portland Stone. Concrete plays little part in its expression. It is not “brutalist”. It is quite banal “international style” modernism
Since the government hasn’t implemented this perfect plan, it must have been the Evul Tories stopping it. Without them, The Perfect Plan will be automatically implemented.
Then Starmer discovered that The Perfect Plan didn’t exist.
Food, according to my diet wasn't too bad, and served at reasonable times. Breakfast could be very hit-and-miss, though.
https://thecritic.co.uk/gambling-is-not-the-business-of-public-health-professionals/