Given the current circumstances including Starmer’s age the value is on Labour candidates. Who that would be given neither Reeves nor Lammy have so far especially distinguished themselves I don’t know. Cooper might be value in a sudden vacancy. Streeting or Miliband in the slightly longer term.
It's perfectly possible that Farage could win on a leave France and Poland to to manifesto as we cosy up to America and Russia.
Prediction the next election at the moment requires knowing what the world will look like in 4 years time and currently we haven't a clue what it will look like in 1 months time. But I suspect we will be watching the USA pull all its troops out of Eastern Europe (as that's what Trump is threatening to do if we keep supplying the Ukraine).
In the circumstances where the extremely unlikely event of a Reform election win looked possible, Starmer would be replaced with someone more voter-affable.
Given the current circumstances including Starmer’s age the value is on Labour candidates. Who that would be given neither Reeves nor Lammy have so far especially distinguished themselves I don’t know. Cooper might be value in a sudden vacancy. Streeting or Miliband in the slightly longer term.
I'm always cheerleading for Bridget Phillipson, but the knives appear to be out for her at the moment.
So there's an explanation why Badenoch is bad at PMQs, from another PB.
Cardinal Sins. It's a Tucci subject
Stanley Tucci would never have survived in the round the clock work schedule those actual Conclave cardinals are beholden to.
The production team on his Italian cooking show are beginning to complain about working with him.
His favourite diva-ish demand is that he really doesn't want to be on set after lunch.
Very Mediterranean of him.
Kemi Badenoch sounds like she's the reverse Tucci. Disgruntled aides are gossiping round the Westminster watering holes that she really doesn't like being asked to do much before lunch.
Given the current circumstances including Starmer’s age the value is on Labour candidates. Who that would be given neither Reeves nor Lammy have so far especially distinguished themselves I don’t know. Cooper might be value in a sudden vacancy. Streeting or Miliband in the slightly longer term.
I'm always cheerleading for Bridget Phillipson, but the knives appear to be out for her at the moment.
Well, I am never going to cheerlead for a Secretary of State for Education
But I would avoid her because the Department she’s heading has become something of a political graveyard. Several very good reasons for that, none of which were her fault, or her predecessors’ (not even Gove).
But her actions so far seem designed to make things worse rather than better, which suggests either she’s not understood the problems or that she has shocking judgement. In neither case would I be backing her for promotion.
In the circumstances where the extremely unlikely event of a Reform election win looked possible, Starmer would be replaced with someone more voter-affable.
Think you might be a bit complacent there, Ian.
I think it's perfectly possible there's a hung parliament that ends up with Farage becoming PM.
There's also every chance he won't be PM. All options are on the table at the moment, but we do need to take the chance of Farage becoming PM seriously and he and Reform need to be taken head on by the other parties, IMO.
A lot will of course depend on how the economy performs between now and 2029 as well as all the other "bread and butter" issues like the NHS, Immigration, crime, etc.
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
In the circumstances where the extremely unlikely event of a Reform election win looked possible, Starmer would be replaced with someone more voter-affable.
Think you might be a bit complacent there, Ian.
I think it's perfectly possible there's a hung parliament that ends up with Farage becoming PM.
There's also every chance he won't be PM. All options are on the table at the moment, but we do need to take the chance of Farage becoming PM seriously and he and Reform need to be taken head on by the other parties, IMO.
A lot will of course depend on how the economy performs between now and 2029 as well as all the other "bread and butter" issues like the NHS, Immigration, crime, etc.
The Tories are key. They need to rediscover their identity and mojo and resist the short term, but ultimately fatal temptation, to form a pact. They hate Labour, but putting Putin in number 10 is worse.
Time for the Tories to remember who they are and show a bit of courage in the national interest.
In the circumstances where the extremely unlikely event of a Reform election win looked possible, Starmer would be replaced with someone more voter-affable.
I think that's rather misleading the political situation. It assumes that a) there is someone more popular amongst eligible Labour leaders b) they can be identified c) Starmer can be got rid of and d) doing so would not damage Labour even more, each of which are far from certain. There are plenty of examples of parties assuming the electorate will like a leader because they do, only to be proved very wrong.
But most of all it assumes that the main problem is the unpopularity of the current leader of the Labour Party, whereas for the last decade it has been voter disillusionment with the whole centrist political establishment that has failed to deliver economic growth and decent public services, has tolerated record immigration and couldn't even implement the largest democratic vote in our history for more than three years. That disillusionment was briefly broken (or maybe harnessed) by Boris Johnson, until voters either voters realised he had overpromised or he was derailed by COVID or both according to ones views.
In the circumstances where the extremely unlikely event of a Reform election win looked possible, Starmer would be replaced with someone more voter-affable.
Think you might be a bit complacent there, Ian.
I think it's perfectly possible there's a hung parliament that ends up with Farage becoming PM.
There's also every chance he won't be PM. All options are on the table at the moment, but we do need to take the chance of Farage becoming PM seriously and he and Reform need to be taken head on by the other parties, IMO.
A lot will of course depend on how the economy performs between now and 2029 as well as all the other "bread and butter" issues like the NHS, Immigration, crime, etc.
If the Tory party became the party of appeasement by helping Farage to No 10 that would finish them off. Not to say that they aren’t already finished off.
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
As deputy leader, she would become leader and unless she didn’t want it, she would end up as PM. Appreciate that technically it could be anyone, but I would be really surprised if the Labour Party took any other course. It may even be in the party rules.
So there's an explanation why Badenoch is bad at PMQs, from another PB.
Cardinal Sins. It's a Tucci subject
Stanley Tucci would never have survived in the round the clock work schedule those actual Conclave cardinals are beholden to.
The production team on his Italian cooking show are beginning to complain about working with him.
His favourite diva-ish demand is that he really doesn't want to be on set after lunch.
Very Mediterranean of him.
Kemi Badenoch sounds like she's the reverse Tucci. Disgruntled aides are gossiping round the Westminster watering holes that she really doesn't like being asked to do much before lunch.
Are you sure Kemi didn't say she doesn’t like being asked to do much before she has a sandwich and the aid misunderstood that as lunch whereas for Kemi, sandwiches are breakfast.
So there's an explanation why Badenoch is bad at PMQs, from another PB.
Cardinal Sins. It's a Tucci subject
Stanley Tucci would never have survived in the round the clock work schedule those actual Conclave cardinals are beholden to.
The production team on his Italian cooking show are beginning to complain about working with him.
His favourite diva-ish demand is that he really doesn't want to be on set after lunch.
Very Mediterranean of him.
Kemi Badenoch sounds like she's the reverse Tucci. Disgruntled aides are gossiping round the Westminster watering holes that she really doesn't like being asked to do much before lunch.
Impossible to get going until you have had your daily steak.
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
As deputy leader, she would become leader and unless she didn’t want it, she would end up as PM. Appreciate that technically it could be anyone, but I would be really surprised if the Labour Party took any other course. It may even be in the party rules.
Clause VII section Viii is our friend - or not! - here.
‘When the party is in government the Leader shall appoint all members of the cabinet in their capacity as Prime Minister.’
That could be interpreted in the way you do - or it could be said that this wording shows the role is separate and that they have to be separately appointed to that role (which is the legal position, of course).
I think ultimately it might depend on how popular Rayner or A N Other was at the time as to whether the cabinet backed her.
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
So the party rules state that in government, if there is a vacancy, the cabinet consults the nec and appoints a temporary leader, who would become pm. I cannot see that being anyone other than Rayner right now given her position in the party.
In the circumstances where the extremely unlikely event of a Reform election win looked possible, Starmer would be replaced with someone more voter-affable.
Think you might be a bit complacent there, Ian.
I think it's perfectly possible there's a hung parliament that ends up with Farage becoming PM.
There's also every chance he won't be PM. All options are on the table at the moment, but we do need to take the chance of Farage becoming PM seriously and he and Reform need to be taken head on by the other parties, IMO.
A lot will of course depend on how the economy performs between now and 2029 as well as all the other "bread and butter" issues like the NHS, Immigration, crime, etc.
My point is that if it looks like we are heading for that, there will surely be a new Labour leader first?
And the scenario you posit would require Reform to be the largest party - probably by quite some margin. At a time when, likely, Trump will be history
In the circumstances where the extremely unlikely event of a Reform election win looked possible, Starmer would be replaced with someone more voter-affable.
Think you might be a bit complacent there, Ian.
I think it's perfectly possible there's a hung parliament that ends up with Farage becoming PM.
There's also every chance he won't be PM. All options are on the table at the moment, but we do need to take the chance of Farage becoming PM seriously and he and Reform need to be taken head on by the other parties, IMO.
A lot will of course depend on how the economy performs between now and 2029 as well as all the other "bread and butter" issues like the NHS, Immigration, crime, etc.
If the Tory party became the party of appeasement by helping Farage to No 10 that would finish them off. Not to say that they aren’t already finished off.
Yes. If Farage gets into No 10 that would probably indicate the Tories are finished as a party whether they help them or not.
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
So the party rules state that in government, if there is a vacancy, the cabinet consults the nec and appoints a temporary leader, who would become pm. I cannot see that being anyone other than Rayner right now given her position in the party.
They do, however, in the next clause, note that *if* the DL becomes the Leader then the Cabinet can nominate a deputy leader. So they don’t seem to treat it as a given.
One thing Corbyn did do that was helpful was clarify the rules on leadership elections, but this would have been better if properly clarified too.
Licence to Kill was too violent, Bond shouldn't have a 15 certificate (and that was after cuts).
I would agree. I do like both his films, they just have their flaws. The first half of The Living Daylights is magnificent.
It is.
The Living Daylights is my favourite Bond film. By far.
No-one comes as close to nailing Fleming's Bond as Timothy Dalton.
Do we all agree Die Another Day was the worst Bond film?
Yes. I recently rewatched it (wish I hadn't) to see if it was as bad as people were saying, and how I remembered.
It was. It was utterly dire. Like an Amazon remake.
Now obviously Die Another Day is awful. The special effects were bad. The ideas were bad. The love interest who is secretly on the side of the baddy is bad. Madonna is bad.
But I would like to say two things in its favour:
Firstly, Bond's arriving at the hotel in Hong Kong is magnificent. Secondly, Toby Whatsisname (Glenda Jackson's son) has an amazing sneer.
Licence to Kill was too violent, Bond shouldn't have a 15 certificate (and that was after cuts).
I would agree. I do like both his films, they just have their flaws. The first half of The Living Daylights is magnificent.
It is.
The Living Daylights is my favourite Bond film. By far.
No-one comes as close to nailing Fleming's Bond as Timothy Dalton.
Do we all agree Die Another Day was the worst Bond film?
Yes. I recently rewatched it (wish I hadn't) to see if it was as bad as people were saying, and how I remembered.
It was. It was utterly dire. Like an Amazon remake.
Now obviously Die Another Day is awful. The special effects were bad. The ideas were bad. The love interest who is secretly on the side of the baddy is bad. Madonna is bad.
But I would like to say two things in its favour:
Firstly, Bond's arriving at the hotel in Hong Kong is magnificent. Secondly, Toby Whatsisname (Glenda Jackson's son) has an amazing sneer.
My enemy’s enemy is my friend is a completely stupid political outlook.
Supporting Putin, because he’s illiberal is as reprehensible and stupid as supporting him because he’s anti-Western.
Elsewhere, I've seen people praising Putin because he's 'anti-woke'...
It's always bizarre latching onto one feature of a person or party and then excusing all else they do because that singular 'virtue' outshines everything.
A certain man with a toothbrush moustache was nice to his secretaries. But that didn't make him a good person. Nero tolerated satirists mocking him, but that didn't make him a good emperor.
It's alarming to see so many be so soft on Putin, to the extent of blaming the nation invaded rather than the tyrant invading.
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
So the party rules state that in government, if there is a vacancy, the cabinet consults the nec and appoints a temporary leader, who would become pm. I cannot see that being anyone other than Rayner right now given her position in the party.
They do, however, in the next clause, note that *if* the DL becomes the Leader then the Cabinet can nominate a deputy leader. So they don’t seem to treat it as a given.
One thing Corbyn did do that was helpful was clarify the rules on leadership elections, but this would have been better if properly clarified too.
I know the rules technically state anyone could be appointed, knowing my party a bit and it’s sentimentality I would be surprised in the hours after a shock pm exit, anyone other than the deputy became temporary leader and pm.
MorrisDancer has correctly quoted a previous post to comment on it.
Now I know something went wrong when the weasel appeared in the large Hadron Collider after which the world turned to shite but this was something I never expected
My enemy’s enemy is my friend is a completely stupid political outlook.
Supporting Putin, because he’s illiberal is as reprehensible and stupid as supporting him because he’s anti-Western.
Elsewhere, I've seen people praising Putin because he's 'anti-woke'...
It's always bizarre latching onto one feature of a person or party and then excusing all else they do because that singular 'virtue' outshines everything.
A certain man with a toothbrush moustache was nice to his secretaries. But that didn't make him a good person. Nero tolerated satirists mocking him, but that didn't make him a good emperor.
It's alarming to see so many be so soft on Putin, to the extent of blaming the nation invaded rather than the tyrant invading.
I think it shows the desparation with the political culture in the UK and west generally. Wokeness is a frustration to many and deeply hated by them.
My enemy’s enemy is my friend is a completely stupid political outlook.
Supporting Putin, because he’s illiberal is as reprehensible and stupid as supporting him because he’s anti-Western.
Elsewhere, I've seen people praising Putin because he's 'anti-woke'...
It's always bizarre latching onto one feature of a person or party and then excusing all else they do because that singular 'virtue' outshines everything.
A certain man with a toothbrush moustache was nice to his secretaries. But that didn't make him a good person. Nero tolerated satirists mocking him, but that didn't make him a good emperor.
It's alarming to see so many be so soft on Putin, to the extent of blaming the nation invaded rather than the tyrant invading.
Indeed.
There's the opposite as well: such as hating everything someone does because of a singular virtue or characteristic. E.g. because they voted for the 'wrong' political party, or they are Jewish, or poor, or rich...
This is clever by Starmer, because eventually someone will take this to the courts as age discrimination and we will have free movement back.
Britain is to offer European countries an “Australian-style” youth mobility scheme as part of Sir Keir Starmer’s reset with Brussels, The Times understands.
Under a plan to be tabled by British negotiators, tens of thousands of young EU workers and students would be able to come to the UK to live and work for two years, with the possibility of a one-year extension.
The reciprocal scheme would allow young Britons, aged 18-30, similar access to countries in the European Union.
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
So the party rules state that in government, if there is a vacancy, the cabinet consults the nec and appoints a temporary leader, who would become pm. I cannot see that being anyone other than Rayner right now given her position in the party.
Betfair however normally pays on the permanent replacement?
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
So the party rules state that in government, if there is a vacancy, the cabinet consults the nec and appoints a temporary leader, who would become pm. I cannot see that being anyone other than Rayner right now given her position in the party.
Betfair however normally pays on the permanent replacement?
They do - I wouldn’t be betting on Raynor just because she’s deputy PM - it would have to go to a members vote unless the election ended up with a single candidate and I just don’t see that happening and nor do I see Angela being the sole candidate
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
So the party rules state that in government, if there is a vacancy, the cabinet consults the nec and appoints a temporary leader, who would become pm. I cannot see that being anyone other than Rayner right now given her position in the party.
Betfair however normally pays on the permanent replacement?
It does, however when Boris Johnson was in hospital it was pointed out by quite a few people we do not have an acting Prime Minister, we have a Prime Minister full stop.
As with Churchill, you do not need to be a party leader to be Prime Minister.
MorrisDancer has correctly quoted a previous post to comment on it.
Now I know something went wrong when the weasel appeared in the large Hadron Collider after which the world turned to shite but this was something I never expected
Later on today I shall be ordering a pizza with pineapple on it.
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
So the party rules state that in government, if there is a vacancy, the cabinet consults the nec and appoints a temporary leader, who would become pm. I cannot see that being anyone other than Rayner right now given her position in the party.
Betfair however normally pays on the permanent replacement?
That’s when it comes to party leader, but it’s unclear whether a PM could be a temporary PM.
Licence to Kill was too violent, Bond shouldn't have a 15 certificate (and that was after cuts).
I would agree. I do like both his films, they just have their flaws. The first half of The Living Daylights is magnificent.
It is.
The Living Daylights is my favourite Bond film. By far.
No-one comes as close to nailing Fleming's Bond as Timothy Dalton.
Do we all agree Die Another Day was the worst Bond film?
Yes. I recently rewatched it (wish I hadn't) to see if it was as bad as people were saying, and how I remembered.
It was. It was utterly dire. Like an Amazon remake.
Now obviously Die Another Day is awful. The special effects were bad. The ideas were bad. The love interest who is secretly on the side of the baddy is bad. Madonna is bad.
But I would like to say two things in its favour:
Firstly, Bond's arriving at the hotel in Hong Kong is magnificent. Secondly, Toby Whatsisname (Glenda Jackson's son) has an amazing sneer.
Toby Stephens, and he's Dame Maggie Smith's son.
He is atrocious in it. I think he's been pretty atrocious in everything I've seen him in.
I like the Madonna theme tune - she should have stuck to her lane.
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
So the party rules state that in government, if there is a vacancy, the cabinet consults the nec and appoints a temporary leader, who would become pm. I cannot see that being anyone other than Rayner right now given her position in the party.
They do, however, in the next clause, note that *if* the DL becomes the Leader then the Cabinet can nominate a deputy leader. So they don’t seem to treat it as a given.
One thing Corbyn did do that was helpful was clarify the rules on leadership elections, but this would have been better if properly clarified too.
I know the rules technically state anyone could be appointed, knowing my party a bit and it’s sentimentality I would be surprised in the hours after a shock pm exit, anyone other than the deputy became temporary leader and pm.
A fair point, but other considerations that may apply:
Will the deputy be a candidate?
If yes, (a) Is it wise to have a PM distracted by fighting a leadership election and (b) is it fair to other candidates to face an incumbent PM with all the considerable advantage that would bring?
The electorate here would be the cabinet, not the party or even the PLP. And I am sure that any leadership ambitions of their own would play absolutely no part in their thinking on point B!
Licence to Kill was too violent, Bond shouldn't have a 15 certificate (and that was after cuts).
I would agree. I do like both his films, they just have their flaws. The first half of The Living Daylights is magnificent.
It is.
The Living Daylights is my favourite Bond film. By far.
No-one comes as close to nailing Fleming's Bond as Timothy Dalton.
Do we all agree Die Another Day was the worst Bond film?
Yes. I recently rewatched it (wish I hadn't) to see if it was as bad as people were saying, and how I remembered.
It was. It was utterly dire. Like an Amazon remake.
Now obviously Die Another Day is awful. The special effects were bad. The ideas were bad. The love interest who is secretly on the side of the baddy is bad. Madonna is bad.
But I would like to say two things in its favour:
Firstly, Bond's arriving at the hotel in Hong Kong is magnificent. Secondly, Toby Whatsisname (Glenda Jackson's son) has an amazing sneer.
Licence to Kill was too violent, Bond shouldn't have a 15 certificate (and that was after cuts).
I would agree. I do like both his films, they just have their flaws. The first half of The Living Daylights is magnificent.
It is.
The Living Daylights is my favourite Bond film. By far.
No-one comes as close to nailing Fleming's Bond as Timothy Dalton.
Do we all agree Die Another Day was the worst Bond film?
Yes. I recently rewatched it (wish I hadn't) to see if it was as bad as people were saying, and how I remembered.
It was. It was utterly dire. Like an Amazon remake.
Now obviously Die Another Day is awful. The special effects were bad. The ideas were bad. The love interest who is secretly on the side of the baddy is bad. Madonna is bad.
But I would like to say two things in its favour:
Firstly, Bond's arriving at the hotel in Hong Kong is magnificent. Secondly, Toby Whatsisname (Glenda Jackson's son) has an amazing sneer.
Toby Stephens, and he's Dame Maggie Smith's son.
That's what they want you to believe.
Are you sure you haven’t got him confused with Dan Hodges who is probably as good an actor as he is a grafting columnist
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
The modern day Czechoslovakia v Soviet Union hockey match is on Youtube, an exciting match well worth a watch. Despite having just three twenty-minute periods of play, plus the overtime period, the North Americans manage to stretch the whole thing out to three hours.
My enemy’s enemy is my friend is a completely stupid political outlook.
Supporting Putin, because he’s illiberal is as reprehensible and stupid as supporting him because he’s anti-Western.
Elsewhere, I've seen people praising Putin because he's 'anti-woke'...
It's always bizarre latching onto one feature of a person or party and then excusing all else they do because that singular 'virtue' outshines everything.
A certain man with a toothbrush moustache was nice to his secretaries. But that didn't make him a good person. Nero tolerated satirists mocking him, but that didn't make him a good emperor.
It's alarming to see so many be so soft on Putin, to the extent of blaming the nation invaded rather than the tyrant invading.
Victim-blaming is the worst kind of moral cowardice.
I thought this country was built by Europeans, escaping living under the rule of a King, to establish a New World governed by the people. Currently we have a president who calls Himself. Our King If this is a joke, I'm not laughing
Last night got nasty. We're just a (mostly) British politics site. Imagine how nasty this is going to get for the people who are directly impacted by Trump and Trumpism.
Some people will like Trump and Trumpism because he's for something they want - a return to the good old days, a fat tax cut for the people who have brainwashed them etc. For others its because he's against the things they are against - fags, women, non-whites. For a minority, they're on board because they have a shared enemy. As we witnessed last night.
As we saw with Brexit, when the goal is contradictory and ill-defined, you can't possibly keep everyone happy, whether they support you or not. The irrationality hoops some people are going to be asked to jump through will literally send them mad. And the greatest show of all - the fallout when Trump throws Musk overboard. That will be some show...
Yes it did get tetchy and I come here less and less of an evening as a consequence.I doubt people care a great deal. From my view it won’t get any better. Ever since Trump won there are a hardcore who cannot accept it and the language is incendiary and inflammatory. Even yours in your post using terms like ‘brainwashed’.
People just cannot accept people vote for someone or a party they don’t like for positive reasons. We see it with Reform too.
This group is largely full of entitled, well off, middle class white, middle aged, white men who sneer at the underclass and anyone who dares to dissent from their world view. The poor are fools for not seeing Angela Rayner as a working class hero and voting against their own interests if they vote for someone they don’t like.
Fuck them.
The likes of Leon and Dura Ace still make this place worth reading.
FPT because I want to add some context to my use of the word "brainwashed"
There are a sizeable group of people who profess to dislike being told what to do and what to think. They blame the thing whose name has evolved over time - political correctness, woke, BLM, the blob. Whatever you call it, there is definitely - they say - a push to make everyone think the same and they won't stand for it.
I say brainwashed because these same "you can't tell me what to think or what to say" angry people then all parrot the exact same fact-free FUD. FUD is fear, uncertainty & doubt. At times this is at least rooted in a basis of fact which is then heavily manipulated or openly warped. At other times its literal demonstrable lies.
These people are brainwashed. Gaslit. Lied to. Manipulated. Call it what you want. To make them angry so that they will behave in - and vote - in a certain way. They're right that there is a movement trying to push everyone to say and think the same. Its just that they are the targets and they are the people complying.
This *is* brainwashing. There's chunks of it on the left (c.f. trots now backing Putin because he's the enemy of the enemies of Corbyn), and chunks of it on the right where we have weaponised ignorance manipulated to provoke literal riots last summer.
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
I don't know if you saw my (somewhat late) post on that topic, but the Russians 'used' turrets in their satellite comms station, e.g. one in Crimea.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
One of the joys of social media is watching ignorant Americans schooled on British constitution. They think that Churchill was elected as PM at a GE in 1940 and the 1945 GE was only delayed one year. Morons.
I thought this country was built by Europeans, escaping living under the rule of a King, to establish a New World governed by the people. Currently we have a president who calls Himself. Our King If this is a joke, I'm not laughing
So there's an explanation why Badenoch is bad at PMQs, from another PB.
Cardinal Sins. It's a Tucci subject
Stanley Tucci would never have survived in the round the clock work schedule those actual Conclave cardinals are beholden to.
The production team on his Italian cooking show are beginning to complain about working with him.
His favourite diva-ish demand is that he really doesn't want to be on set after lunch.
Very Mediterranean of him.
Kemi Badenoch sounds like she's the reverse Tucci. Disgruntled aides are gossiping round the Westminster watering holes that she really doesn't like being asked to do much before lunch.
Are you sure Kemi didn't say she doesn’t like being asked to do much before she has a sandwich and the aid misunderstood that as lunch whereas for Kemi, sandwiches are breakfast.
More likely she has a routine in the morning where she has breakfast with the kids gets them off to school and then does paperwork.
So not keen on morning meetings. And that has been maliciously misinterpreted
I thought this country was built by Europeans, escaping living under the rule of a King, to establish a New World governed by the people. Currently we have a president who calls Himself. Our King If this is a joke, I'm not laughing
This is clever by Starmer, because eventually someone will take this to the courts as age discrimination and we will have free movement back.
Britain is to offer European countries an “Australian-style” youth mobility scheme as part of Sir Keir Starmer’s reset with Brussels, The Times understands.
Under a plan to be tabled by British negotiators, tens of thousands of young EU workers and students would be able to come to the UK to live and work for two years, with the possibility of a one-year extension.
The reciprocal scheme would allow young Britons, aged 18-30, similar access to countries in the European Union.
Is this meaningfully different to the EU's unsubtle hints, or is "Australian-style" the equivalent of Jim Hacker's renaming the emulsified high fat offal tube the British Sausage?
I thought this country was built by Europeans, escaping living under the rule of a King, to establish a New World governed by the people. Currently we have a president who calls Himself. Our King If this is a joke, I'm not laughing
Licence to Kill was too violent, Bond shouldn't have a 15 certificate (and that was after cuts).
I would agree. I do like both his films, they just have their flaws. The first half of The Living Daylights is magnificent.
It is.
The Living Daylights is my favourite Bond film. By far.
No-one comes as close to nailing Fleming's Bond as Timothy Dalton.
Do we all agree Die Another Day was the worst Bond film?
Yes. I recently rewatched it (wish I hadn't) to see if it was as bad as people were saying, and how I remembered.
It was. It was utterly dire. Like an Amazon remake.
Now obviously Die Another Day is awful. The special effects were bad. The ideas were bad. The love interest who is secretly on the side of the baddy is bad. Madonna is bad.
But I would like to say two things in its favour:
Firstly, Bond's arriving at the hotel in Hong Kong is magnificent.
Secondly, Toby Whatsisname (Glenda Jackson's son) has an amazing sneer.
Presumably you mean Dame Maggie Smith’s son, Toby… not Dan Hodges
Given the current circumstances including Starmer’s age the value is on Labour candidates. Who that would be given neither Reeves nor Lammy have so far especially distinguished themselves I don’t know. Cooper might be value in a sudden vacancy. Streeting or Miliband in the slightly longer term.
I'm always cheerleading for Bridget Phillipson, but the knives appear to be out for her at the moment.
Well, I am never going to cheerlead for a Secretary of State for Education
But I would avoid her because the Department she’s heading has become something of a political graveyard. Several very good reasons for that, none of which were her fault, or her predecessors’ (not even Gove).
But her actions so far seem designed to make things worse rather than better, which suggests either she’s not understood the problems or that she has shocking judgement. In neither case would I be backing her for promotion.
MorrisDancer has correctly quoted a previous post to comment on it.
Now I know something went wrong when the weasel appeared in the large Hadron Collider after which the world turned to shite but this was something I never expected
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
I don't know if you saw my (somewhat late) post on that topic, but the Russians 'used' turrets in their satellite comms station, e.g. one in Crimea.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
(That also states: "The telescope's motor system used gun turrets recycled from two navy battleships: HMS Revenge & HMS Royal Sovereign" )
Hmmm. If by bogies they means the 'wheels' that run round the circular track, then the film I posted shows them being custom machined for the job. What is interesting in that post is the photo shows the dish inverted, which was a design feature that was lost when it was upgraded.
I thought this country was built by Europeans, escaping living under the rule of a King, to establish a New World governed by the people. Currently we have a president who calls Himself. Our King If this is a joke, I'm not laughing
And can she not do that stupid Leon thing of leaving off the full stops, it's very aging.
FYI for certain people putting a full stop and the end of a txt is a rude, aggressive act!.?
Really? I thought punctuation in texts had had a bit of a revival, when autocomplete led to less use of abbreviation and emoji use, so assumed full stops would be back in.
I thought this country was built by Europeans, escaping living under the rule of a King, to establish a New World governed by the people. Currently we have a president who calls Himself. Our King If this is a joke, I'm not laughing
This is clever by Starmer, because eventually someone will take this to the courts as age discrimination and we will have free movement back.
Britain is to offer European countries an “Australian-style” youth mobility scheme as part of Sir Keir Starmer’s reset with Brussels, The Times understands.
Under a plan to be tabled by British negotiators, tens of thousands of young EU workers and students would be able to come to the UK to live and work for two years, with the possibility of a one-year extension.
The reciprocal scheme would allow young Britons, aged 18-30, similar access to countries in the European Union.
One of the joys of social media is watching ignorant Americans schooled on British constitution. They think that Churchill was elected as PM at a GE in 1940 and the 1945 GE was only delayed one year. Morons.
Id understand many people, including brits, of just not knowing, but confidently being wrong is interesting.
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
MorrisDancer has correctly quoted a previous post to comment on it.
Now I know something went wrong when the weasel appeared in the large Hadron Collider after which the world turned to shite but this was something I never expected
Licence to Kill was too violent, Bond shouldn't have a 15 certificate (and that was after cuts).
I would agree. I do like both his films, they just have their flaws. The first half of The Living Daylights is magnificent.
It is.
The Living Daylights is my favourite Bond film. By far.
No-one comes as close to nailing Fleming's Bond as Timothy Dalton.
Do we all agree Die Another Day was the worst Bond film?
Yes. I recently rewatched it (wish I hadn't) to see if it was as bad as people were saying, and how I remembered.
It was. It was utterly dire. Like an Amazon remake.
Now obviously Die Another Day is awful. The special effects were bad. The ideas were bad. The love interest who is secretly on the side of the baddy is bad. Madonna is bad.
But I would like to say two things in its favour:
Firstly, Bond's arriving at the hotel in Hong Kong is magnificent. Secondly, Toby Whatsisname (Glenda Jackson's son) has an amazing sneer.
Toby Stephens, and he's Dame Maggie Smith's son.
He is atrocious in it. I think he's been pretty atrocious in everything I've seen him in.
I like the Madonna theme tune - she should have stuck to her lane.
He really hasn't done much of note in the 23 years since being a Bond villain.
So there's an explanation why Badenoch is bad at PMQs, from another PB.
Cardinal Sins. It's a Tucci subject
Stanley Tucci would never have survived in the round the clock work schedule those actual Conclave cardinals are beholden to.
The production team on his Italian cooking show are beginning to complain about working with him.
His favourite diva-ish demand is that he really doesn't want to be on set after lunch.
Very Mediterranean of him.
Kemi Badenoch sounds like she's the reverse Tucci. Disgruntled aides are gossiping round the Westminster watering holes that she really doesn't like being asked to do much before lunch.
MorrisDancer has correctly quoted a previous post to comment on it.
Now I know something went wrong when the weasel appeared in the large Hadron Collider after which the world turned to shite but this was something I never expected
Later on today I shall be ordering a pizza with pineapple on it.
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
I don't know if you saw my (somewhat late) post on that topic, but the Russians 'used' turrets in their satellite comms station, e.g. one in Crimea.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
(That also states: "The telescope's motor system used gun turrets recycled from two navy battleships: HMS Revenge & HMS Royal Sovereign" )
Hmmm. If by bogies they means the 'wheels' that run round the circular track, then the film I posted shows them being custom machined for the job. What is interesting in that post is the photo shows the dish inverted, which was a design feature that was lost when it was upgraded.
Speaking of wheels, another step in Making Britain Great Again. Reports that the Spitfire is to go into full production next year are yet to be confirmed.
I thought this country was built by Europeans, escaping living under the rule of a King, to establish a New World governed by the people. Currently we have a president who calls Himself. Our King If this is a joke, I'm not laughing
And can she not do that stupid Leon thing of leaving off the full stops, it's very aging.
FYI for certain people putting a full stop and the end of a txt is a rude, aggressive act!.?
Really? I thought punctuation in texts had had a bit of a revival, when autocomplete led to less use of abbreviation and emoji use, so assumed full stops would be back in.
I was told off as work for adding a full stop to Slack messages . People seem to think the key is hit with rage. I politely told them to “piss off.”
If Starmer won the lottery or fell under a bus Rayner would become PM. Her odds should be higher
She would become Leader of the Labour Party. Whether that would result in her automatically becoming PM is a different question. Bearing in mind the question hasn’t arisen for 160 years the Cabinet might appoint another senior figure to look after things during a leadership election.
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
So the party rules state that in government, if there is a vacancy, the cabinet consults the nec and appoints a temporary leader, who would become pm. I cannot see that being anyone other than Rayner right now given her position in the party.
Betfair however normally pays on the permanent replacement?
That’s when it comes to party leader, but it’s unclear whether a PM could be a temporary PM.
I'd assume technically not, but in practical terms yes. Room for Betfair to wriggle clear?
Reminds me of a lot of pearl clutching about lack of certainty when Boris went into hospital, when in fact it was all arranged quite simply with a classic fudge.
I thought this country was built by Europeans, escaping living under the rule of a King, to establish a New World governed by the people. Currently we have a president who calls Himself. Our King If this is a joke, I'm not laughing
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
I don't know if you saw my (somewhat late) post on that topic, but the Russians 'used' turrets in their satellite comms station, e.g. one in Crimea.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
(That also states: "The telescope's motor system used gun turrets recycled from two navy battleships: HMS Revenge & HMS Royal Sovereign" )
Hmmm. If by bogies they means the 'wheels' that run round the circular track, then the film I posted shows them being custom machined for the job. What is interesting in that post is the photo shows the dish inverted, which was a design feature that was lost when it was upgraded.
Speaking of wheels, another step in Making Britain Great Again. Reports that the Spitfire is to go into full production next year are yet to be confirmed.
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
I don't know if you saw my (somewhat late) post on that topic, but the Russians 'used' turrets in their satellite comms station, e.g. one in Crimea.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
(That also states: "The telescope's motor system used gun turrets recycled from two navy battleships: HMS Revenge & HMS Royal Sovereign" )
Hmmm. If by bogies they means the 'wheels' that run round the circular track, then the film I posted shows them being custom machined for the job. What is interesting in that post is the photo shows the dish inverted, which was a design feature that was lost when it was upgraded.
Speaking of wheels, another step in Making Britain Great Again. Reports that the Spitfire is to go into full production next year are yet to be confirmed.
How on earth does it take 10 years to take some old wheels, measure them and machine some new ones. I take it funding them has been a problem because I bet I could find someone able to make them in 3 months by close of play today
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
I don't know if you saw my (somewhat late) post on that topic, but the Russians 'used' turrets in their satellite comms station, e.g. one in Crimea.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
(That also states: "The telescope's motor system used gun turrets recycled from two navy battleships: HMS Revenge & HMS Royal Sovereign" )
Hmmm. If by bogies they means the 'wheels' that run round the circular track, then the film I posted shows them being custom machined for the job. What is interesting in that post is the photo shows the dish inverted, which was a design feature that was lost when it was upgraded.
Speaking of wheels, another step in Making Britain Great Again. Reports that the Spitfire is to go into full production next year are yet to be confirmed.
That's cool. I love the stuff a lot of these people managing heritage machines manage to do.
(I do wonder if they were made to Imperial or Metric? One of the first things the guys doing the A1 Tornado project did, was to convert all their detailed drawings from Imperial to Metric. The reason being that there are declining numbers of manufacturers/fabricators who will deal with Imperial, and everything was easier if everything was in Metric.)
Though on the poll average it will be a hung parliament after the next general election. Even if Reform won most seats they would still be well short of a majority.
So if Farage was to become PM it would only be if he could get Badenoch's confidence and supply with Reform and the Tories combined having a majority
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
I don't know if you saw my (somewhat late) post on that topic, but the Russians 'used' turrets in their satellite comms station, e.g. one in Crimea.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
(That also states: "The telescope's motor system used gun turrets recycled from two navy battleships: HMS Revenge & HMS Royal Sovereign" )
Hmmm. If by bogies they means the 'wheels' that run round the circular track, then the film I posted shows them being custom machined for the job. What is interesting in that post is the photo shows the dish inverted, which was a design feature that was lost when it was upgraded.
Speaking of wheels, another step in Making Britain Great Again. Reports that the Spitfire is to go into full production next year are yet to be confirmed.
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
Horseshoe theory being often true is not a surprise. What is surprising is even when the sides do march in lockstep the people involved can refuse to believe the evidence of their eyes and ears that the fascists/communists agree with them.
Some can admit it, and refute it matters, but many live in a delusion that they are actually in opposition to their purported foes, and no showing them proof otherwise matters.
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
I don't know if you saw my (somewhat late) post on that topic, but the Russians 'used' turrets in their satellite comms station, e.g. one in Crimea.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
(That also states: "The telescope's motor system used gun turrets recycled from two navy battleships: HMS Revenge & HMS Royal Sovereign" )
Hmmm. If by bogies they means the 'wheels' that run round the circular track, then the film I posted shows them being custom machined for the job. What is interesting in that post is the photo shows the dish inverted, which was a design feature that was lost when it was upgraded.
Speaking of wheels, another step in Making Britain Great Again. Reports that the Spitfire is to go into full production next year are yet to be confirmed.
That's cool. I love the stuff a lot of these people managing heritage machines manage to do.
(I do wonder if they were made to Imperial or Metric? One of the first things the guys doing the A1 Tornado project did, was to convert all their detailed drawings from Imperial to Metric. The reason being that there are declining numbers of manufacturers/fabricators who will deal with Imperial, and everything was easier if everything was in Metric.)
Is that true?
I thought the majority of aircraft are still imperial
Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call to order this meeting of the PB subcommittee, Naval Gun Turret Components, Civilian Uses Thereof.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
I don't know if you saw my (somewhat late) post on that topic, but the Russians 'used' turrets in their satellite comms station, e.g. one in Crimea.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
(That also states: "The telescope's motor system used gun turrets recycled from two navy battleships: HMS Revenge & HMS Royal Sovereign" )
Hmmm. If by bogies they means the 'wheels' that run round the circular track, then the film I posted shows them being custom machined for the job. What is interesting in that post is the photo shows the dish inverted, which was a design feature that was lost when it was upgraded.
Speaking of wheels, another step in Making Britain Great Again. Reports that the Spitfire is to go into full production next year are yet to be confirmed.
That's cool. I love the stuff a lot of these people managing heritage machines manage to do.
(I do wonder if they were made to Imperial or Metric? One of the first things the guys doing the A1 Tornado project did, was to convert all their detailed drawings from Imperial to Metric. The reason being that there are declining numbers of manufacturers/fabricators who will deal with Imperial, and everything was easier if everything was in Metric.)
MorrisDancer has correctly quoted a previous post to comment on it.
Now I know something went wrong when the weasel appeared in the large Hadron Collider after which the world turned to shite but this was something I never expected
It was actually the recent discovery of Marjorana particles, which, as they are their own anti-particles, shouldn't exist.
You should write to Nature regarding the Dancer criterion.
In the circumstances where the extremely unlikely event of a Reform election win looked possible, Starmer would be replaced with someone more voter-affable.
Think you might be a bit complacent there, Ian.
I think it's perfectly possible there's a hung parliament that ends up with Farage becoming PM.
There's also every chance he won't be PM. All options are on the table at the moment, but we do need to take the chance of Farage becoming PM seriously and he and Reform need to be taken head on by the other parties, IMO.
A lot will of course depend on how the economy performs between now and 2029 as well as all the other "bread and butter" issues like the NHS, Immigration, crime, etc.
If the Tory party became the party of appeasement by helping Farage to No 10 that would finish them off. Not to say that they aren’t already finished off.
No it wouldn't, if Kemi rejected Farage and helped Starmer back into No 10 in a hung parliament it might though
Comments
R is for Russia
Like the USA!
Given the current circumstances including Starmer’s age the value is on Labour candidates. Who that would be given neither Reeves nor Lammy have so far especially distinguished themselves I don’t know. Cooper might be value in a sudden vacancy. Streeting or Miliband in the slightly longer term.
Prediction the next election at the moment requires knowing what the world will look like in 4 years time and currently we haven't a clue what it will look like in 1 months time. But I suspect we will be watching the USA pull all its troops out of Eastern Europe (as that's what Trump is threatening to do if we keep supplying the Ukraine).
In the circumstances where the extremely unlikely event of a Reform election win looked possible, Starmer would be replaced with someone more voter-affable.
Cardinal Sins. It's a Tucci subject
Stanley Tucci would never have survived in the round the clock work schedule those actual Conclave cardinals are beholden to.
The production team on his Italian cooking show are beginning to complain about working with him.
His favourite diva-ish demand is that he really doesn't want to be on set after lunch.
Very Mediterranean of him.
Kemi Badenoch sounds like she's the reverse Tucci. Disgruntled aides are gossiping round the Westminster watering holes that she really doesn't like being asked to do much before lunch.
But I would avoid her because the Department she’s heading has become something of a political graveyard. Several very good reasons for that, none of which were her fault, or her predecessors’ (not even Gove).
But her actions so far seem designed to make things worse rather than better, which suggests either she’s not understood the problems or that she has shocking judgement. In neither case would I be backing her for promotion.
I think it's perfectly possible there's a hung parliament that ends up with Farage becoming PM.
There's also every chance he won't be PM. All options are on the table at the moment, but we do need to take the chance of Farage becoming PM seriously and he and Reform need to be taken head on by the other parties, IMO.
A lot will of course depend on how the economy performs between now and 2029 as well as all the other "bread and butter" issues like the NHS, Immigration, crime, etc.
The cruellest thing about Trump vs Zelensky? Trump’s right
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-cruellest-thing-about-trump-vs-zelensky-trumps-right/
(The logical choice would be Blair, but I suspect logic might take a back seat there!)
In particular, the claim she makes about Putin sending in "so few troops" really does take the biscuit.
The UK government estimates Putin has lost more than 750,000 troops in Ukraine. That's around half of Russia's total fighting strength.
But yes, very few...
https://x.com/HarryYorke1/status/1892593052788605194
Time for the Tories to remember who they are and show a bit of courage in the national interest.
But most of all it assumes that the main problem is the unpopularity of the current leader of the Labour Party, whereas for the last decade it has been voter disillusionment with the whole centrist political establishment that has failed to deliver economic growth and decent public services, has tolerated record immigration and couldn't even implement the largest democratic vote in our history for more than three years. That disillusionment was briefly broken (or maybe harnessed) by Boris Johnson, until voters either voters realised he had overpromised or he was derailed by COVID or both according to ones views.
He gets thrown out of RefUK because its senior figures all want to have babies with Trump (especially the men);
Disillusioned, he realises Labour are not going to reverse Brexit and joins them.
Starmer makes him FS to oversee a rapprochement with his mates in E Europe and Turkey.
Starmer hit by bus.
Farage rides a wave of popular gratitude to No.10.
Where he is shat on at the lectern by the squadron of flying pigs.
They mostly wouldn't last five minutes on here. The brightest of them come to pb.com to grab ideas.
‘When the party is in government the Leader shall appoint all members of the cabinet in their capacity as Prime Minister.’
That could be interpreted in the way you do - or it could be said that this wording shows the role is separate and that they have to be separately appointed to that role (which is the legal position, of course).
I think ultimately it might depend on how popular Rayner or A N Other was at the time as to whether the cabinet backed her.
🔶 LDM: 48.5% (+2.0)
🌹 LAB: 23.0% (-18.3)
🌳 CON: 20.6% (+8.4)
➡️ RFM: 8.0% (New)
And the scenario you posit would require Reform to be the largest party - probably by quite some margin. At a time when, likely, Trump will be history
Supporting Putin, because he’s illiberal is as reprehensible and stupid as supporting him because he’s anti-Western.
One thing Corbyn did do that was helpful was clarify the rules on leadership elections, but this would have been better if properly clarified too.
But I would like to say two things in its favour:
Firstly, Bond's arriving at the hotel in Hong Kong is magnificent.
Secondly, Toby Whatsisname (Glenda Jackson's son) has an amazing sneer.
A certain man with a toothbrush moustache was nice to his secretaries. But that didn't make him a good person. Nero tolerated satirists mocking him, but that didn't make him a good emperor.
It's alarming to see so many be so soft on Putin, to the extent of blaming the nation invaded rather than the tyrant invading.
MorrisDancer has correctly quoted a previous post to comment on it.
Now I know something went wrong when the weasel appeared in the large Hadron Collider after which the world turned to shite but this was something I never expected
There's the opposite as well: such as hating everything someone does because of a singular virtue or characteristic. E.g. because they voted for the 'wrong' political party, or they are Jewish, or poor, or rich...
Britain is to offer European countries an “Australian-style” youth mobility scheme as part of Sir Keir Starmer’s reset with Brussels, The Times understands.
Under a plan to be tabled by British negotiators, tens of thousands of young EU workers and students would be able to come to the UK to live and work for two years, with the possibility of a one-year extension.
The reciprocal scheme would allow young Britons, aged 18-30, similar access to countries in the European Union.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/britain-to-offer-eu-youth-mobility-scheme-fh0dkh95w
The Beretta .25 is a lady’s gun and not a very nice lady at that.
The Ruger Magnum .44 is a real man’s gun
Paging Dr Freud.
https://x.com/themonologist/status/1892548888453603711?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
As with Churchill, you do not need to be a party leader to be Prime Minister.
I like the Madonna theme tune - she should have stuck to her lane.
Will the deputy be a candidate?
If yes, (a) Is it wise to have a PM distracted by fighting a leadership election and (b) is it fair to other candidates to face an incumbent PM with all the considerable advantage that would bring?
The electorate here would be the cabinet, not the party or even the PLP. And I am sure that any leadership ambitions of their own would play absolutely no part in their thinking on point B!
Frankly, I think the point is moot though.
Taking the previous minutes as read, I now have a definitive answer to the Jodrell Bank question.
The trunnion bearings that support the weight of the dish while allowing it to rotate around the horizontal axis were custom made for the job.
The ring gears used to spin the dish around the same axis were salvaged from battleships.
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-inquisitive-giant-1957-online
@Madonna
I thought this country was built by
Europeans, escaping living under the rule of a King, to establish a New World governed by the people.
Currently we have a president who calls Himself.
Our King
If this is a joke,
I'm not laughing
https://x.com/Madonna/status/1892742153261990189
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/20/nathan-gill-former-leader-reform-uk-wales
There are a sizeable group of people who profess to dislike being told what to do and what to think. They blame the thing whose name has evolved over time - political correctness, woke, BLM, the blob. Whatever you call it, there is definitely - they say - a push to make everyone think the same and they won't stand for it.
I say brainwashed because these same "you can't tell me what to think or what to say" angry people then all parrot the exact same fact-free FUD. FUD is fear, uncertainty & doubt. At times this is at least rooted in a basis of fact which is then heavily manipulated or openly warped. At other times its literal demonstrable lies.
These people are brainwashed. Gaslit. Lied to. Manipulated. Call it what you want. To make them angry so that they will behave in - and vote - in a certain way. They're right that there is a movement trying to push everyone to say and think the same. Its just that they are the targets and they are the people complying.
This *is* brainwashing. There's chunks of it on the left (c.f. trots now backing Putin because he's the enemy of the enemies of Corbyn), and chunks of it on the right where we have weaponised ignorance manipulated to provoke literal riots last summer.
I heard a podcast that stated that the 'turrets' (more likely, I guess, components thereof) were from one of the Sovetsky Soyuz battleships the Russians started but never completed.
It's hard to find firm evidence, but the following link has a piccie and the words "A rotating mechanism of the Pluton complex was reportedly fashioned out of submarine hulls and battleship turrets"
https://www.russianspaceweb.com/kik_nip16.html
Edit: and the original Jodrell Bank turned on bogies from a Castle Class. Allegedly...
https://x.com/MrTimDunn/status/1339214594129137664?
(That also states: "The telescope's motor system used gun turrets recycled from two navy battleships: HMS Revenge & HMS Royal Sovereign" )
So not keen on morning meetings. And that has been maliciously misinterpreted
Is this meaningfully different to the EU's unsubtle hints, or is "Australian-style" the equivalent of Jim Hacker's renaming the emulsified high fat offal tube the British Sausage?
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
Specifically are ferrets called ferrets because they ferret, or, did the act of ferreting get named after the animal.
This bothers me and I fear I might take this question unanswered to the grave. Can PB help?
Do they given a reason ?
https://x.com/RAFBBMF/status/1892599068351660246
Reminds me of a lot of pearl clutching about lack of certainty when Boris went into hospital, when in fact it was all arranged quite simply with a classic fudge.
No I can’t be arsed to read it either
(I do wonder if they were made to Imperial or Metric? One of the first things the guys doing the A1 Tornado project did, was to convert all their detailed drawings from Imperial to Metric. The reason being that there are declining numbers of manufacturers/fabricators who will deal with Imperial, and everything was easier if everything was in Metric.)
What a surprise that Musk and the US have changed their tune
S is for Soviet
So if Farage was to become PM it would only be if he could get Badenoch's confidence and supply with Reform and the Tories combined having a majority
Some can admit it, and refute it matters, but many live in a delusion that they are actually in opposition to their purported foes, and no showing them proof otherwise matters.
I thought the majority of aircraft are still imperial
https://x.com/JamesTate121/status/1892722618920312895
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crknd1e86x4o
Just goes to show very difficult to tell mobsters and lawyers apart.....
You should write to Nature regarding the Dancer criterion.