Putin is meant to be speaking to Trump around now, but he is talking to a room full of oligarchs instead. Asked if he's going to be late, Putin waves off the question and says not to listen to his spokesman
People tearing up their Labour membership cards on LBC. They are shocked at how incredibly generous the Tories were with benefits over 14 years compared with Labour's cruelty.
People tearing up their Labour membership cards on LBC. They are shocked at how incredibly generous the Tories were with benefits over 14 years compared with Labour's cruelty.
There is a difference:
We are at war now.
Luxuries and benefits we could afford in peace, become harder to afford now.
I really don't know what the answer is. I have a good friend who might be badly affected by these changes.
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
While that's half true, there's no great evidence that Netanyahu wouldn't have done this anyway. He did after all say thaf he reserved the right to resume the war after all hostages had been returned.
Yes; but Hamas are giving him the excuse. If only they had returned the hostages after a week or two...
People tearing up their Labour membership cards on LBC. They are shocked at how incredibly generous the Tories were with benefits over 14 years compared with Labour's cruelty.
Upsetting their own side whilst in reality just doing a bit of tinkering, that will be lucky to stem the inexorable increase in costs let alone save any money, will likely turn out to be the worst of both worlds.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Ghosts is ok, but definitely feels post-golden-age. Everything in it is good, but it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. But I have only seen about 5 episodes so maybe it is worth sticking with.
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
Ghosts is a family favourite in our house, ditto the Goes Wrong Show. Death in Paradise is a guilty pleasure too, it's actually pretty funny. My son is a big fan of People Just Do Nothing.
If you like Death in Paradise - you might enjoy this Australian show (there's only one series of it). Bit of murder mystery, bit of quite witty dialogue (though it takes an episode or so to really find it's stride).
"Mr. and Mrs. Murder. The series follows the adventures of married couple Nicola and Charlie Buchanan, who run an industrial cleaning business while solving the most baffling murder mysteries."
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
The problem is that the board all have their tongues firmly up Musky Baby's backside. Which is why they're *still* fighting the courts to give him his $56 billion pay package bung, despite it being obvious that he is spending far more time spreading shit on Twix rather than helping Tesla.
The subtitled version had limited release in the UK, but it was less enjoyable than the first film (which itself was pretty average) and overdid the flag-waving content. The Netflix series was not great but more fun and could include all the Cultural Revolution stuff.
Fair enough. It does have sequences like this, tho'...
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
The problem is that the board all have their tongues firmly up Musky Baby's backside. Which is why they're *still* fighting the courts to give him his $56 billion pay package bung, despite it being obvious that he is spending far more time spreading shit on Twix rather than helping Tesla.
I don't understand why any Tesla shareholder would want to pay Musk 56b dollars, other than himself of course.
People tearing up their Labour membership cards on LBC. They are shocked at how incredibly generous the Tories were with benefits over 14 years compared with Labour's cruelty.
There is a difference:
We are at war now.
Luxuries and benefits we could afford in peace, become harder to afford now.
I really don't know what the answer is. I have a good friend who might be badly affected by these changes.
I’ve got an idea.
It’s a 26,000 page self safe guarding plan that anyone who needs a Pip has to fill in. This will provide huge (but intangible) benefits, since it will document the safety case for them existing. Failure to fill it in correctly will be punished by life in prison.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Ghosts is ok, but definitely feels post-golden-age. Everything in it is good, but it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. But I have only seen about 5 episodes so maybe it is worth sticking with.
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
Ghosts is a family favourite in our house, ditto the Goes Wrong Show. Death in Paradise is a guilty pleasure too, it's actually pretty funny. My son is a big fan of People Just Do Nothing.
If you like Death in Paradise - you might enjoy this Australian show (there's only one series of it). Bit of murder mystery, bit of quite witty dialogue (though it takes an episode or so to really find it's stride).
"Mr. and Mrs. Murder. The series follows the adventures of married couple Nicola and Charlie Buchanan, who run an industrial cleaning business while solving the most baffling murder mysteries."
That reminded me of "The Cleaner" - Greg Davies's series about the crime scene cleaner. Essentially a bunch of 30 minute two handed plays, and bloody brilliant.
People tearing up their Labour membership cards on LBC. They are shocked at how incredibly generous the Tories were with benefits over 14 years compared with Labour's cruelty.
People tearing up their Labour membership cards on LBC. They are shocked at how incredibly generous the Tories were with benefits over 14 years compared with Labour's cruelty.
There is a difference:
We are at war now.
Luxuries and benefits we could afford in peace, become harder to afford now.
I really don't know what the answer is. I have a good friend who might be badly affected by these changes.
I don't think that really washes. What is happening is Labour is having to face the reality of government rather than the luxury of opposition and some of them don't like it. Its easy to carp from the opposition benches, far harder to actually be the ones to choose who suffers and who doesn't.
Kemi's speech was really very good. It was only the announcement of a policy review, but the highly trailed abandonment of the 2050 target gave it enough punch to feel like a worthwhile intervention.
She is right to position the Tory Party as the Party of detailed plans (though their complete absence so far has been unnerving), and with Reform's well‐meaning but ham-fisted energy intervention recently, it does leave a gap to come through the middle.
Claire Coutinho, Andrew Bowie and Lord Offord (I think) are conducting the review, so I would suggest that if @MarqueeMark is still interested in tidal lagoons he dusts down his elevator pitch and gets in there. I strongly doubt that the Tories will win the next election outright, but it could very well be that they form the policy backbone of whatever right wing coalition emerges.
Putin is meant to be speaking to Trump around now, but he is talking to a room full of oligarchs instead. Asked if he's going to be late, Putin waves off the question and says not to listen to his spokesman
Kemi's speech was really very good. It was only the announcement of a policy review, but the highly trailed abandonment of the 2050 target gave it enough punch to feel like a worthwhile intervention.
She is right to position the Tory Party as the Party of detailed plans (though their complete absence so far has been unnerving), and with Reform's well‐meaning but ham-fisted energy intervention recently, it does leave a gap to come through the middle.
Claire Coutinho, Andrew Bowie and Lord Offord (I think) are conducting the review, so I would suggest that if @MarqueeMark is still interested in tidal lagoons he dusts down his elevator pitch and gets in there. I strongly doubt that the Tories will win the next election outright, but it could very well be that they form the policy backbone of whatever right wing coalition emerges.
Kemi's speech was really very good. It was only the announcement of a policy review, but the highly trailed abandonment of the 2050 target gave it enough punch to feel like a worthwhile intervention.
She is right to position the Tory Party as the Party of detailed plans (though their complete absence so far has been unnerving), and with Reform's well‐meaning but ham-fisted energy intervention recently, it does leave a gap to come through the middle.
Claire Coutinho, Andrew Bowie and Lord Offord (I think) are conducting the review, so I would suggest that if @MarqueeMark is still interested in tidal lagoons he dusts down his elevator pitch and gets in there. I strongly doubt that the Tories will win the next election outright, but it could very well be that they form the policy backbone of whatever right wing coalition emerges.
I believe Claire Coutinho is currently on maternity leave...
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
The problem is that the board all have their tongues firmly up Musky Baby's backside. Which is why they're *still* fighting the courts to give him his $56 billion pay package bung, despite it being obvious that he is spending far more time spreading shit on Twix rather than helping Tesla.
I don't understand why any Tesla shareholder would want to pay Musk 56b dollars, other than himself of course.
It was one of those amusing fuckups. Musk signed up to a plan that he would get paid proportional to the stock price going up.
When the stock zoomed insanely, that meant that he achieved a high score on the pay front. Which everyone had thought was impossible.
It’s hard to know which group of clowns are more stupid in this matter - the ones who came up with a deal with pretty much no ceiling, the ones trying not to pay, Musk, etc etc.
Note that the obsession is with stock price. Which is generally the cube of bullshit, multiplied by idiocy and subtract a small piece of reality. In this case to the power of MAGA, on top.
Putin is meant to be speaking to Trump around now, but he is talking to a room full of oligarchs instead. Asked if he's going to be late, Putin waves off the question and says not to listen to his spokesman
Russian state media is now mocking President Trump; implying he is "relentlessly calling" Putin like some lovestruck teenager.
If that's true, it's just embarrassing.
You are falling for standard Russian tactics. Putin insisted in calling Boris using informal version of Russian, on another occasion the Russians insisted he drank lots of tea shortly after the poisoning of Litvinenko. They also deliberately mistranslated back to English subtitles what he said while the Russian dub was correct, knowing the British media would just read the English subtitles. Its all part of the mind games they play.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
They need to get the share price down to double digits, then buy him out cheaply.
Musk can't sell without triggering a huge tax liability (subject to a handy law change). The way squillionaires avoid tax is by borrowing money using their stakes as collateral. No income, no capital gains.
Kemi's speech was really very good. It was only the announcement of a policy review, but the highly trailed abandonment of the 2050 target gave it enough punch to feel like a worthwhile intervention.
She is right to position the Tory Party as the Party of detailed plans (though their complete absence so far has been unnerving), and with Reform's well‐meaning but ham-fisted energy intervention recently, it does leave a gap to come through the middle.
Claire Coutinho, Andrew Bowie and Lord Offord (I think) are conducting the review, so I would suggest that if @MarqueeMark is still interested in tidal lagoons he dusts down his elevator pitch and gets in there. I strongly doubt that the Tories will win the next election outright, but it could very well be that they form the policy backbone of whatever right wing coalition emerges.
I believe Claire Coutinho is currently on maternity leave...
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
They need to get the share price down to double digits, then buy him out cheaply.
Musk can't sell without triggering a huge tax liability (subject to a handy law change). The way squillionaires avoid tax is by borrowing money using their stakes as collateral. No income, no capital gains.
Putin is meant to be speaking to Trump around now, but he is talking to a room full of oligarchs instead. Asked if he's going to be late, Putin waves off the question and says not to listen to his spokesman
Russian state media is now mocking President Trump; implying he is "relentlessly calling" Putin like some lovestruck teenager.
If that's true, it's just embarrassing.
You are falling for standard Russian tactics. Putin insisted in calling Boris using informal version of Russian, on another occasion the Russians insisted he drank lots of tea shortly after the poisoning of Litvinenko. They also deliberately mistranslated back to English subtitles what he said while the Russian dub was correct, knowing the British media would just read the English subtitles. Its all part of the mind games they play.
The Ukrainian game is to flatten Russian oil refineries. Trump should try playing it...
No free pass on hate speech just because you have a hamster!
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here.
I am. Although I'm not as down on the OSA as most here. I think there might be some excessive caution going on (understandable with a new law) which will be corrected once it's been in for a while and the practical implications become clearer.
Perhaps some amendments around the due diligence will be necessary. You don't want it to become so onerous to run an online forum that nobody in their right mind does it. If this transpires to be the case it will fail the cost/benefit test.
But as things stand, based on what I know and my own assessment of "free speech vs harm caused by an unfettered internet" it passes that test.
It does absolutely nothing to stop the real problems online.
Farcebook, Twatter, Instagram and TikTok will be promoting all the worst shit.
Meanwhile innocuous fora that don’t have hate promoting algorithms shut down because their amateur owners can’t take the risk….
Yes, I know you think this. And you may be right. Let's see how it pans out. But as of now I'm not ready to join the PB consensus that it's a monstrosity.
Aside from I have actual expertise in the area…
From previous encounters with regulation that raises barriers, pointlessly, for small entrants…. Nothing will change. Forcing a small cycling forum to close doesn’t register with government. The big guys *like* barriers to entry.
It’s the same in building. Every year the door steps of paper get heavier. Now AI generated, often.
Actually site safety is getting worse. And firms are hiding injuries - “if you tell them this happened on the site, we will not pay your wages you are owed.”
So the big corporates will carry on selling radicalisation, porn made from actual crimes etc etc.
But at least OFCOM can have a shiny new office. Full of people bustling around in circles. So that’s good.
Yep, new regs can definitely be counterproductive. Although not so much this one imo. On balance, and recognising the downsides, I support this one.
An interesting question is how to assess the success or failure of a change. You need to compare the damage caused to the damage prevented. Unless it's incredibly obvious this isn't easy. In fact it's probably often impossible.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
The problem is that the board all have their tongues firmly up Musky Baby's backside. Which is why they're *still* fighting the courts to give him his $56 billion pay package bung, despite it being obvious that he is spending far more time spreading shit on Twix rather than helping Tesla.
I don't understand why any Tesla shareholder would want to pay Musk 56b dollars, other than himself of course.
It was one of those amusing fuckups. Musk signed up to a plan that he would get paid proportional to the stock price going up.
When the stock zoomed insanely, that meant that he achieved a high score on the pay front. Which everyone had thought was impossible.
It’s hard to know which group of clowns are more stupid in this matter - the ones who came up with a deal with pretty much no ceiling, the ones trying not to pay, Musk, etc etc.
Note that the obsession is with stock price. Which is generally the cube of bullshit, multiplied by idiocy and subtract a small piece of reality. In this case to the power of MAGA, on top.
Isn't the allegation that the people who came up with the deal are all long time Musk loyalists, so its not a cock-up it was deliberate and hence why the legal action to stop him getting his award.
Putin is meant to be speaking to Trump around now, but he is talking to a room full of oligarchs instead. Asked if he's going to be late, Putin waves off the question and says not to listen to his spokesman
Russian state media is now mocking President Trump; implying he is "relentlessly calling" Putin like some lovestruck teenager.
If that's true, it's just embarrassing.
You are falling for standard Russian tactics. Putin insisted in calling Boris using informal version of Russian, on another occasion the Russians insisted he drank lots of tea shortly after the poisoning of Litvinenko. They also deliberately mistranslated back to English subtitles what he said while the Russian dub was correct, knowing the British media would just read the English subtitles. Its all part of the mind games they play.
The Ukrainian game is to flatten Russian oil refineries. Trump should try playing it...
...from the golf course.
One interesting point from Boris interview was he said he didn't believe that Putin would ever use nukes in relation to Ukraine war and that the West has been too timid due to this belief that because it is part of Russian War doctrine limiting what the West feels able to do.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
The problem is that the board all have their tongues firmly up Musky Baby's backside. Which is why they're *still* fighting the courts to give him his $56 billion pay package bung, despite it being obvious that he is spending far more time spreading shit on Twix rather than helping Tesla.
I don't understand why any Tesla shareholder would want to pay Musk 56b dollars, other than himself of course.
It was one of those amusing fuckups. Musk signed up to a plan that he would get paid proportional to the stock price going up.
When the stock zoomed insanely, that meant that he achieved a high score on the pay front. Which everyone had thought was impossible.
It’s hard to know which group of clowns are more stupid in this matter - the ones who came up with a deal with pretty much no ceiling, the ones trying not to pay, Musk, etc etc.
Note that the obsession is with stock price. Which is generally the cube of bullshit, multiplied by idiocy and subtract a small piece of reality. In this case to the power of MAGA, on top.
Isn't the allegation that the people who came up with the deal are all long time Musk loyalists, so its not a cock-up it was deliberate and hence why the legal action to stop him getting his award.
As usual, it’s more complicated than that.
IIRC the anti-Musk faction were all high giving each other over the deal - if the Tesla stock price didn’t achieve insane gains, he would have got very little.
When the award crystallised - stock price of x on date y, they changed their tune.
The real insanity was not linking any such award to metrics like profitable sales.
On the subject of underrated tv shows and movies - on the London-Sao Paulo leg of my journey I watched Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II
Ok it’s not in the same league as the original but the original was something of a masterpiece. It is still a rip roaring piece of cinematic entertainment, not intellectually demanding but full of fun - exploding rhinos, weird killer baboon-dogs - some decent performances from Paul Mescal, the creepy dual emperors. Just needed more gratuitous sex
A solid B or even B+
I felt the same about Scott’s Napoleon. The reviews were so awful I anticipated the worst - yet it’s a vivid and quite accurate romp through Bonaparte’s life with a truly fine performance in the middle
Kemi's speech was really very good. It was only the announcement of a policy review, but the highly trailed abandonment of the 2050 target gave it enough punch to feel like a worthwhile intervention.
She is right to position the Tory Party as the Party of detailed plans (though their complete absence so far has been unnerving), and with Reform's well‐meaning but ham-fisted energy intervention recently, it does leave a gap to come through the middle.
Claire Coutinho, Andrew Bowie and Lord Offord (I think) are conducting the review, so I would suggest that if @MarqueeMark is still interested in tidal lagoons he dusts down his elevator pitch and gets in there. I strongly doubt that the Tories will win the next election outright, but it could very well be that they form the policy backbone of whatever right wing coalition emerges.
I believe Claire Coutinho is currently on maternity leave...
More reading time I suppose.
The Tories' problem is that they could have owned tidal lagoon power stations a decade back. Swansea would be producing by now.
But they went with nuclear. Which won't be producing until at least 2030. If there is going to be any movement on tidal, it will be by this Government. Yes, they can be supportive. But Labour will get any glory going. Especially if the first lagoon(s) are through planning and obviously into construction by the next election.
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
AIUI, release of the final group of living hostages was not to be completed until stage two of the ceasefire agreement, which also requires Israel accepting a permanent ceasefire and IDF forces to leave Gaza. There is no evidence this withdrawal is even being contemplated, mainly to bolster Netahanyu's political position. Israel is the party which is maintaining active hostilities and an economic and humanitarian aid blockade to force the release of hostages without conceding any of the de-escalation measures.
BTW, Hamas agreed the basics of this agreement in May 2024 - Israel did not reciprocate for another six months.
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
If you think handing over the hostages would have stopped the Israelis doing this then I have a very rickety bridge to sell you. Even they aren't pretending that is the case. Look at their news conference this morning where they outlined the aims of this renewed bombimg and shelling. Yes they mention the hostages - who I think are now unlikely ever to be released given Israel's actions today - but they also fall back on the aims from before the cease fire. Destroy the Hamas command and control structure and target their weapons dumps and fighters.
I doubt very much that Netenyahu ever had any intention of honouring the cease fire - neither did Hamas. But the idea that handing over the hostages would have stopped this attack is just bollocks.
The belligerents couldn't reach agreement on continuing the ceasefire so hostilities commenced.
There's war for you.
Given the enormous disparities in firepower and casualties, I'd suggest that "hostilities and ""war" aren't really suitable terms. "Slaughter" and "genocide" would appear to be more fitting.
Yeah well that's on Hamas. Don't start a war you can't sustain.
On the subject of underrated tv shows and movies - on the London-Sao Paulo leg of my journey I watched Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II
Ok it’s not in the same league as the original but the original was something of a masterpiece. It is still a rip roaring piece of cinematic entertainment, not intellectually demanding but full of fun - exploding rhinos, weird killer baboon-dogs - some decent performances from Paul Mescal, the creepy dual emperors. Just needed more gratuitous sex
A solid B or even B+
I felt the same about Scott’s Napoleon. The reviews were so awful I anticipated the worst - yet it’s a vivid and quite accurate romp through Bonaparte’s life with a truly fine performance in the middle
On the subject of underrated tv shows and movies - on the London-Sao Paulo leg of my journey I watched Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II
Ok it’s not in the same league as the original but the original was something of a masterpiece. It is still a rip roaring piece of cinematic entertainment, not intellectually demanding but full of fun - exploding rhinos, weird killer baboon-dogs - some decent performances from Paul Mescal, the creepy dual emperors. Just needed more gratuitous sex
A solid B or even B+
I felt the same about Scott’s Napoleon. The reviews were so awful I anticipated the worst - it’s a vivid and quite accurate romp through Bonaparte’s life with a truly fine performance in the middle
B++
People are overhating on Ridders Scott
On Napoleon - nearly everything in it was inaccurate. Apart from the existence of a chap called Napoleon.
That, and it gave us a version of Napoleon so lacking charisma that his men would not have followed him to a bar for free drinks.
People tearing up their Labour membership cards on LBC. They are shocked at how incredibly generous the Tories were with benefits over 14 years compared with Labour's cruelty.
Shocked, shocked I say..
I was half expecting Clive Lewis to tear his card up.
On the subject of underrated tv shows and movies - on the London-Sao Paulo leg of my journey I watched Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II
Ok it’s not in the same league as the original but the original was something of a masterpiece. It is still a rip roaring piece of cinematic entertainment, not intellectually demanding but full of fun - exploding rhinos, weird killer baboon-dogs - some decent performances from Paul Mescal, the creepy dual emperors. Just needed more gratuitous sex
A solid B or even B+
I felt the same about Scott’s Napoleon. The reviews were so awful I anticipated the worst - yet it’s a vivid and quite accurate romp through Bonaparte’s life with a truly fine performance in the middle
B++
People are overhating on Ridders Scott
The best scene in the original Gladiator is in the deleted scenes on the DVD. The "firing" squad of archers. So damned tense, as the Emperor walks in front of them muing on whether to commute the death sentence, as their arms twitch under the tension.
On the subject of underrated tv shows and movies - on the London-Sao Paulo leg of my journey I watched Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II
Ok it’s not in the same league as the original but the original was something of a masterpiece. It is still a rip roaring piece of cinematic entertainment, not intellectually demanding but full of fun - exploding rhinos, weird killer baboon-dogs - some decent performances from Paul Mescal, the creepy dual emperors. Just needed more gratuitous sex
A solid B or even B+
I felt the same about Scott’s Napoleon. The reviews were so awful I anticipated the worst - it’s a vivid and quite accurate romp through Bonaparte’s life with a truly fine performance in the middle
B++
People are overhating on Ridders Scott
On Napoleon - nearly everything in it was inaccurate. Apart from the existence of a chap called Napoleon.
That, and it gave us a version of Napoleon so lacking charisma that his men would not have followed him to a bar for free drinks.
On the subject of underrated tv shows and movies - on the London-Sao Paulo leg of my journey I watched Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II
Ok it’s not in the same league as the original but the original was something of a masterpiece. It is still a rip roaring piece of cinematic entertainment, not intellectually demanding but full of fun - exploding rhinos, weird killer baboon-dogs - some decent performances from Paul Mescal, the creepy dual emperors. Just needed more gratuitous sex
A solid B or even B+
I felt the same about Scott’s Napoleon. The reviews were so awful I anticipated the worst - it’s a vivid and quite accurate romp through Bonaparte’s life with a truly fine performance in the middle
B++
People are overhating on Ridders Scott
On Napoleon - nearly everything in it was inaccurate. Apart from the existence of a chap called Napoleon.
That, and it gave us a version of Napoleon so lacking charisma that his men would not have followed him to a bar for free drinks.
It really wasn’t that inaccurate. I know this because about three days before I saw it I finished Adam Zamoyski’s magnificent, massive and magisterial biography of Napoleon (far superior to Andrew Roberts, which I also read)
Of course they cut corners - they had to squeeze one of history’s greatest lives into 3 hours. But they did it better and more judiciously than most
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
They need to get the share price down to double digits, then buy him out cheaply.
Musk can't sell without triggering a huge tax liability (subject to a handy law change). The way squillionaires avoid tax is by borrowing money using their stakes as collateral. No income, no capital gains.
Kemi's speech was really very good. It was only the announcement of a policy review, but the highly trailed abandonment of the 2050 target gave it enough punch to feel like a worthwhile intervention.
She is right to position the Tory Party as the Party of detailed plans (though their complete absence so far has been unnerving), and with Reform's well‐meaning but ham-fisted energy intervention recently, it does leave a gap to come through the middle.
Claire Coutinho, Andrew Bowie and Lord Offord (I think) are conducting the review, so I would suggest that if @MarqueeMark is still interested in tidal lagoons he dusts down his elevator pitch and gets in there. I strongly doubt that the Tories will win the next election outright, but it could very well be that they form the policy backbone of whatever right wing coalition emerges.
On the subject of underrated tv shows and movies - on the London-Sao Paulo leg of my journey I watched Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II
Ok it’s not in the same league as the original but the original was something of a masterpiece. It is still a rip roaring piece of cinematic entertainment, not intellectually demanding but full of fun - exploding rhinos, weird killer baboon-dogs - some decent performances from Paul Mescal, the creepy dual emperors. Just needed more gratuitous sex
A solid B or even B+
I felt the same about Scott’s Napoleon. The reviews were so awful I anticipated the worst - yet it’s a vivid and quite accurate romp through Bonaparte’s life with a truly fine performance in the middle
B++
People are overhating on Ridders Scott
Christ I didn't realise he is 87 years old.
Yes in the category of surprisingly old famous directors I think he’s faring better than Scorsese and Coppola and maybe Spielberg, and also has better projects in the pipeline than David Lynch
Kemi's speech was really very good. It was only the announcement of a policy review, but the highly trailed abandonment of the 2050 target gave it enough punch to feel like a worthwhile intervention.
She is right to position the Tory Party as the Party of detailed plans (though their complete absence so far has been unnerving), and with Reform's well‐meaning but ham-fisted energy intervention recently, it does leave a gap to come through the middle.
Claire Coutinho, Andrew Bowie and Lord Offord (I think) are conducting the review, so I would suggest that if @MarqueeMark is still interested in tidal lagoons he dusts down his elevator pitch and gets in there. I strongly doubt that the Tories will win the next election outright, but it could very well be that they form the policy backbone of whatever right wing coalition emerges.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
The problem is that the board all have their tongues firmly up Musky Baby's backside. Which is why they're *still* fighting the courts to give him his $56 billion pay package bung, despite it being obvious that he is spending far more time spreading shit on Twix rather than helping Tesla.
I don't understand why any Tesla shareholder would want to pay Musk 56b dollars, other than himself of course.
It was one of those amusing fuckups. Musk signed up to a plan that he would get paid proportional to the stock price going up.
When the stock zoomed insanely, that meant that he achieved a high score on the pay front. Which everyone had thought was impossible.
It’s hard to know which group of clowns are more stupid in this matter - the ones who came up with a deal with pretty much no ceiling, the ones trying not to pay, Musk, etc etc.
Note that the obsession is with stock price. Which is generally the cube of bullshit, multiplied by idiocy and subtract a small piece of reality. In this case to the power of MAGA, on top.
Isn't the allegation that the people who came up with the deal are all long time Musk loyalists, so its not a cock-up it was deliberate and hence why the legal action to stop him getting his award.
As usual, it’s more complicated than that.
IIRC the anti-Musk faction were all high giving each other over the deal - if the Tesla stock price didn’t achieve insane gains, he would have got very little.
When the award crystallised - stock price of x on date y, they changed their tune.
The real insanity was not linking any such award to metrics like profitable sales.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
They need to get the share price down to double digits, then buy him out cheaply.
Musk can't sell without triggering a huge tax liability (subject to a handy law change). The way squillionaires avoid tax is by borrowing money using their stakes as collateral. No income, no capital gains.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
Never mind, he's still got SpaceX.
Oh...
Musk’s impotent attempts to get his giant shiny phallus to work are the perfect metaphor for the man.
I like Mark Rober's latest video, where his Tesla fails to brake and drives into a small boy several times, where another car self-driving car successfully brakes.
He doesn't mention Musk or anything political, but the timing of his experiment is good. But it seems a lot of people are angry with him and think Musk should sue him.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
Never mind, he's still got SpaceX.
Oh...
Musk’s impotent attempts to get his giant shiny phallus to work are the perfect metaphor for the man.
I like Mark Rober's latest video, where his Tesla fails to brake and drives into a small boy several times, where another car self-driving car successfully brakes.
He doesn't mention Musk or anything political, but the timing of his experiment is good. But it seems a lot of people are angry with him and think Musk should sue him.
There have long been rumours that whilst Musk notably hates advertisers (*), he did rely on a load of Internet shills. Some paid, some fanbois, some investors ramping on his products.
(*) Which is why he fucked up when he took over Twitter, which relied on advertisers.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Ghosts is ok, but definitely feels post-golden-age. Everything in it is good, but it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. But I have only seen about 5 episodes so maybe it is worth sticking with.
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
Ghosts is a family favourite in our house, ditto the Goes Wrong Show. Death in Paradise is a guilty pleasure too, it's actually pretty funny. My son is a big fan of People Just Do Nothing.
If you like Death in Paradise - you might enjoy this Australian show (there's only one series of it). Bit of murder mystery, bit of quite witty dialogue (though it takes an episode or so to really find it's stride).
"Mr. and Mrs. Murder. The series follows the adventures of married couple Nicola and Charlie Buchanan, who run an industrial cleaning business while solving the most baffling murder mysteries."
That reminded me of "The Cleaner" - Greg Davies's series about the crime scene cleaner. Essentially a bunch of 30 minute two handed plays, and bloody brilliant.
Though the original German "Der Tatortreiniger" starring Bjarne Mädel is way better IMHO.
No free pass on hate speech just because you have a hamster!
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here.
I am. Although I'm not as down on the OSA as most here. I think there might be some excessive caution going on (understandable with a new law) which will be corrected once it's been in for a while and the practical implications become clearer.
Perhaps some amendments around the due diligence will be necessary. You don't want it to become so onerous to run an online forum that nobody in their right mind does it. If this transpires to be the case it will fail the cost/benefit test.
But as things stand, based on what I know and my own assessment of "free speech vs harm caused by an unfettered internet" it passes that test.
It does absolutely nothing to stop the real problems online.
Farcebook, Twatter, Instagram and TikTok will be promoting all the worst shit.
Meanwhile innocuous fora that don’t have hate promoting algorithms shut down because their amateur owners can’t take the risk….
Yes, I know you think this. And you may be right. Let's see how it pans out. But as of now I'm not ready to join the PB consensus that it's a monstrosity.
Aside from I have actual expertise in the area…
From previous encounters with regulation that raises barriers, pointlessly, for small entrants…. Nothing will change. Forcing a small cycling forum to close doesn’t register with government. The big guys *like* barriers to entry.
It’s the same in building. Every year the door steps of paper get heavier. Now AI generated, often.
Actually site safety is getting worse. And firms are hiding injuries - “if you tell them this happened on the site, we will not pay your wages you are owed.”
So the big corporates will carry on selling radicalisation, porn made from actual crimes etc etc.
But at least OFCOM can have a shiny new office. Full of people bustling around in circles. So that’s good.
Yep, new regs can definitely be counterproductive. Although not so much this one imo. On balance, and recognising the downsides, I support this one.
An interesting question is how to assess the success or failure of a change. You need to compare the damage caused to the damage prevented. Unless it's incredibly obvious this isn't easy. In fact it's probably often impossible.
It’s simple. Regulation costs. Therefore, if there isn’t an identifiable improvement, it’s a fuck up.
The resistance to this idea is from those who get all excited by clipboards and rules.
Not quite as simple as that. Eg there might be tangible benefits but they are exceeded by the cost. That probably means don't do it. Or the benefits could be huge but intangible. That might mean it's a goer even though you can't prove it.
But anyway, with the OSA, your view is what. That there are no benefits? Or that there are but they are difficult to measure?
What are the supposed benefits of the act? Measure those.
The moment that people start saying that the benefits are “huge but intangible”, that’s when I say “TILT”. That’s a justification for anything.
Grinding up the unemployable to make Soyulent Green has huge, but intangible benefits. According to me.
Good point in general (about intangibles) but it can be a valid thing to consider. Eg and topical, no phones for the kids in schools. It'd be hard to measure the benefits of this reform even if (which I'm not saying is the case btw) they are significant.
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
While that's half true, there's no great evidence that Netanyahu wouldn't have done this anyway. He did after all say thaf he reserved the right to resume the war after all hostages had been returned.
He pretty much had to as the war is the only thing that's keeping him out of jail from all those corruption scandals.
I know that's cynical, but when you're dealing with men like Netanyahu, Putin and Trump the worst interpretation is generally accurate.
Comments
Putin is meant to be speaking to Trump around now, but he is talking to a room full of oligarchs instead. Asked if he's going to be late, Putin waves off the question and says not to listen to his spokesman
@JimmySecUK
Russian state media is now mocking President Trump; implying he is "relentlessly calling" Putin like some lovestruck teenager.
We are at war now.
Luxuries and benefits we could afford in peace, become harder to afford now.
I really don't know what the answer is. I have a good friend who might be badly affected by these changes.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2390791/
"Mr. and Mrs. Murder. The series follows the adventures of married couple Nicola and Charlie Buchanan, who run an industrial cleaning business while solving the most baffling murder mysteries."
See also The Brokenwood Mysteries from NZ : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3640276/
A colleague called me and Mrs J 'Gaz and Donna', as we looked more than a little like them. And, at times, acted a little like them...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nyPLUlJCZg (2 mins)
It’s a 26,000 page self safe guarding plan that anyone who needs a Pip has to fill in. This will provide huge (but intangible) benefits, since it will document the safety case for them existing. Failure to fill it in correctly will be punished by life in prison.
It’s for the children….
She is right to position the Tory Party as the Party of detailed plans (though their complete absence so far has been unnerving), and with Reform's well‐meaning but ham-fisted energy intervention recently, it does leave a gap to come through the middle.
Claire Coutinho, Andrew Bowie and Lord Offord (I think) are conducting the review, so I would suggest that if @MarqueeMark is still interested in tidal lagoons he dusts down his elevator pitch and gets in there. I strongly doubt that the Tories will win the next election outright, but it could very well be that they form the policy backbone of whatever right wing coalition emerges.
When the stock zoomed insanely, that meant that he achieved a high score on the pay front. Which everyone had thought was impossible.
It’s hard to know which group of clowns are more stupid in this matter - the ones who came up with a deal with pretty much no ceiling, the ones trying not to pay, Musk, etc etc.
Note that the obsession is with stock price. Which is generally the cube of bullshit, multiplied by idiocy and subtract a small piece of reality. In this case to the power of MAGA, on top.
...from the golf course.
IIRC the anti-Musk faction were all high giving each other over the deal - if the Tesla stock price didn’t achieve insane gains, he would have got very little.
When the award crystallised - stock price of x on date y, they changed their tune.
The real insanity was not linking any such award to metrics like profitable sales.
Ok it’s not in the same league as the original but the original was something of a masterpiece. It is still a rip roaring piece of cinematic entertainment, not intellectually demanding but full of fun - exploding rhinos, weird killer baboon-dogs - some decent performances from Paul Mescal, the creepy dual emperors. Just needed more gratuitous sex
A solid B or even B+
I felt the same about Scott’s Napoleon. The reviews were so awful I anticipated the worst - yet it’s a vivid and quite accurate romp through Bonaparte’s life with a truly fine performance in the middle
B++
People are overhating on Ridders Scott
But they went with nuclear. Which won't be producing until at least 2030. If there is going to be any movement on tidal, it will be by this Government. Yes, they can be supportive. But Labour will get any glory going. Especially if the first lagoon(s) are through planning and obviously into construction by the next election.
Israel is the party which is maintaining active hostilities and an economic and humanitarian aid blockade to force the release of hostages without conceding any of the de-escalation measures.
BTW, Hamas agreed the basics of this agreement in May 2024 - Israel did not reciprocate for another six months.
That, and it gave us a version of Napoleon so lacking charisma that his men would not have followed him to a bar for free drinks.
.....and quite rightly too.
Added bonus of no Russell Crowe.
NEW THREAD
Of course they cut corners - they had to squeeze one of history’s greatest lives into 3 hours. But they did it better and more judiciously than most
EVs could be charged as fast as filling a petrol car after breakthrough
Chinese manufacturer BYD develops system that cuts wait time to five minutes
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/18/evs-charged-fast-filling-petrol-car-breakthrough/ (£££)
I was surprised how many street side chargers where available in Paris when I was there over the weekend
He doesn't mention Musk or anything political, but the timing of his experiment is good. But it seems a lot of people are angry with him and think Musk should sue him.
(*) Which is why he fucked up when he took over Twitter, which relied on advertisers.
I know that's cynical, but when you're dealing with men like Netanyahu, Putin and Trump the worst interpretation is generally accurate.