Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Trump on his faith advisers: "They work right out of the White House. That's never been done before. No other president allowed that. They say 'separation between church and state.' I said, alright, let's forget about that for one time."
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
If you’re a more Cameron type Tory then you really need to be voting for Labour in the by election otherwise you end up boosting Reform and the Tories will feel they need to lurch even further to the right .
Why do people always LURCH to the right? Why can't they swerve, tilt, steer, tack, curve, nudge, shift, bend, ageplay, slutshame, ABDL, snuggle, bukkake, shibari, shunt, nod, anolagnia, move or tit-slap?
"As Reform gain Runcorn, Rory Stewart talks about the Tories tit-slapping to the right, even as the Lib Dems are prostate milked by the Greens"
The English language is a marvellous thing; it saddnes me that we resort to cliches
People lurch to the left because it is alliterative, but also because left wingers are typically creatures of action. I expect the lurch to the right is simply a mirror image in the heads of slightly lazy writers.
Though I would suggest the following are better descriptors:
Shuffle to the right (descriptive of voters between the ages of 55 and 65) Creep to the right (to do so while trying not to be spotted doing so) Stumble to the right (to do so without really definitely intending to) Settled to the right (like middle age spread).
Mind you, not all left-wingers are lurchers. I can't imagine @kinabalu got where he is today by lurching, mind. He doesn't strike me as a lurcher. Maybe he strolled to the left. Ambled there. Lounged. Segued.
No, I don't lurch. As I think I've said before, I have two distinct ways of walking. Feet pointing in, pigeon style, or outwards and flat like a penguin. The first is for when my mood is springy and creative, the second for when I'm feeling taciturn and grounded. I don't have to dwell on it, deciding each time I go out which one to do, it happens naturally. Indeed my walk tells me what frame of mind I'm in, and it's often a surprise to me.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
If you’re a more Cameron type Tory then you really need to be voting for Labour in the by election otherwise you end up boosting Reform and the Tories will feel they need to lurch even further to the right .
Why do people always LURCH to the right? Why can't they swerve, tilt, steer, tack, curve, nudge, shift, bend, ageplay, slutshame, ABDL, snuggle, bukkake, shibari, shunt, nod, anolagnia, move or tit-slap?
"As Reform gain Runcorn, Rory Stewart talks about the Tories tit-slapping to the right, even as the Lib Dems are prostate milked by the Greens"
The English language is a marvellous thing; it saddnes me that we resort to cliches
People lurch to the left because it is alliterative, but also because left wingers are typically creatures of action. I expect the lurch to the right is simply a mirror image in the heads of slightly lazy writers.
Though I would suggest the following are better descriptors:
Shuffle to the right (descriptive of voters between the ages of 55 and 65) Creep to the right (to do so while trying not to be spotted doing so) Stumble to the right (to do so without really definitely intending to) Settled to the right (like middle age spread).
Mind you, not all left-wingers are lurchers. I can't imagine @kinabalu got where he is today by lurching, mind. He doesn't strike me as a lurcher. Maybe he strolled to the left. Ambled there. Lounged. Segued.
No, I don't lurch. As I think I've said before, I have two distinct ways of walking. Feet pointing in, pigeon style, or outwards and flat like a penguin. The first is for when my mood is springy and creative, the second for when I'm feeling taciturn and grounded. I don't have to dwell on it, deciding each time I go out which one to do, it happens naturally. Indeed my walk tells me what frame of mind I'm in, and it's often a surprise to me.
As you are a champagne socialist I suspect you "lunch to the left"
Damn sight more socialism than champagne at my house, Nigel. You'll find that out if you ever visit. And it's authentic. On the Noguchi coffee table in the 'snug' there sits a copy of the Benn Diaries. By Tony Benn.
Tony Benn was doing a book signing in Waterstones and I bought a copy for a friend. Benn was kind enough to write half a page, in red ink. It was completely illegible.
At uni, the Labour group had invited Benn to speak and do a Q&A. At the last moment, the head of the Labour Soc. was ill.
So, some mad person decided that I should run the Q&A - Student Union officer and all that.
Benn wa doing his classic - anyone asking an awkward question, he’d answer his own question. I, very politely acknowledge the answers. Then re-asked the question from the audience.
By the end, he was steaming.
The Labour Soc got a nastygram from his office IIRC.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
I was thinking this, for exactly that reason. Second-favourites are value everywhere
Trump on his faith advisers: "They work right out of the White House. That's never been done before. No other president allowed that. They say 'separation between church and state.' I said, alright, let's forget about that for one time."
Dr. Phil, at this White House National Day of Prayer event, says of Trump: "I've sat with President Trump with no cameras around, nobody listening, nobody watching. And I'm telling you, this is a man of deep faith, a man of deep conviction."
If you’re a more Cameron type Tory then you really need to be voting for Labour in the by election otherwise you end up boosting Reform and the Tories will feel they need to lurch even further to the right .
Why do people always LURCH to the right? Why can't they swerve, tilt, steer, tack, curve, nudge, shift, bend, ageplay, slutshame, ABDL, snuggle, bukkake, shibari, shunt, nod, anolagnia, move or tit-slap?
"As Reform gain Runcorn, Rory Stewart talks about the Tories tit-slapping to the right, even as the Lib Dems are prostate milked by the Greens"
The English language is a marvellous thing; it saddnes me that we resort to cliches
People lurch to the left because it is alliterative, but also because left wingers are typically creatures of action. I expect the lurch to the right is simply a mirror image in the heads of slightly lazy writers.
Though I would suggest the following are better descriptors:
Shuffle to the right (descriptive of voters between the ages of 55 and 65) Creep to the right (to do so while trying not to be spotted doing so) Stumble to the right (to do so without really definitely intending to) Settled to the right (like middle age spread).
Mind you, not all left-wingers are lurchers. I can't imagine @kinabalu got where he is today by lurching, mind. He doesn't strike me as a lurcher. Maybe he strolled to the left. Ambled there. Lounged. Segued.
No, I don't lurch. As I think I've said before, I have two distinct ways of walking. Feet pointing in, pigeon style, or outwards and flat like a penguin. The first is for when my mood is springy and creative, the second for when I'm feeling taciturn and grounded. I don't have to dwell on it, deciding each time I go out which one to do, it happens naturally. Indeed my walk tells me what frame of mind I'm in, and it's often a surprise to me.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Sounds like a bit of a fog to me.
The fog is mine, not to be given to illegal immigrants.
2 a.m: North Tyneside Mayor (Labour since 2013). 3 a.m: Runcorn and Helsby by-election. The biggie… 4 a.m: Greater Lincolnshire Mayor. The turnout is looking high… 5 a.m: Doncaster Mayor. Labour activists say it’ll be “tight”… 7 a.m: Northumberland. 1 p.m: Durham and Lancashire. 2.30 p.m: Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor. 3 p.m: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Tories are expected to snatch this from Labour… 4 p.m: Shropshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, Staffordshire. The LibDems are expecting to make gains in the first three… 5 p.m: Lincolnshire council. Another one Reform are hoping to make gains… 6 p.m: Cornwall, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire and Devon. 7 p.m: Kent. A loss of Tory control here would be a big blow to Badenoch…
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Sounds like a bit of a fog to me.
The fog is mine, not to be given to illegal immigrants.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
I envy kids who were pop music fans in about 1965 or 1967 (or indeed several years of the 70s)
"Hey there's a new Beatles album out next week" - turns out to be Sergeant Pepper, or Revolver, or Abbey Road
Immortally brilliant music, being made in real time, in your life, and you get to hear it first as you drop the stylus in the groove
What's the equivalent now? Do we even have one? Not just in music, but in anything?
Probably it is technology
My mum's in that category, she went to see the Beatles at a concert in 63 or 64 as a teenager. Lucky generation.
Actually, I'd say what we had in the early 90s was way better. But what that generation had was something that hadn't really gone before. We may have had a better range and offer of pop music in the 90s than the previous generation, but the previous generation had an offer so unrecognisably better than the generation before that. It must have been astounding.
Elvis just texted me and said wait, what?
Come to think of it, another first for the Beatles is they wrote their own songs. Elvis didn't. The Rolling Stones didn't. Kylie Minogue didn't.
Back to your second point. I am a product of my time, but I alwaus found it a little inauthentic and uninteresting for performers to be doing songs they had paid other people to write for them. But the Beatles were pioneers in this respect. (Though I'm surprised to learn the Stones didn't.)
2 a.m: North Tyneside Mayor (Labour since 2013). 3 a.m: Runcorn and Helsby by-election. The biggie… 4 a.m: Greater Lincolnshire Mayor. The turnout is looking high… 5 a.m: Doncaster Mayor. Labour activists say it’ll be “tight”… 7 a.m: Northumberland. 1 p.m: Durham and Lancashire. 2.30 p.m: Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor. 3 p.m: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Tories are expected to snatch this from Labour… 4 p.m: Shropshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, Staffordshire. The LibDems are expecting to make gains in the first three… 5 p.m: Lincolnshire council. Another one Reform are hoping to make gains… 6 p.m: Cornwall, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire and Devon. 7 p.m: Kent. A loss of Tory control here would be a big blow to Badenoch…
If you’re a more Cameron type Tory then you really need to be voting for Labour in the by election otherwise you end up boosting Reform and the Tories will feel they need to lurch even further to the right .
Why do people always LURCH to the right? Why can't they swerve, tilt, steer, tack, curve, nudge, shift, bend, ageplay, slutshame, ABDL, snuggle, bukkake, shibari, shunt, nod, anolagnia, move or tit-slap?
"As Reform gain Runcorn, Rory Stewart talks about the Tories tit-slapping to the right, even as the Lib Dems are prostate milked by the Greens"
The English language is a marvellous thing; it saddnes me that we resort to cliches
People lurch to the left because it is alliterative, but also because left wingers are typically creatures of action. I expect the lurch to the right is simply a mirror image in the heads of slightly lazy writers.
Though I would suggest the following are better descriptors:
Shuffle to the right (descriptive of voters between the ages of 55 and 65) Creep to the right (to do so while trying not to be spotted doing so) Stumble to the right (to do so without really definitely intending to) Settled to the right (like middle age spread).
Mind you, not all left-wingers are lurchers. I can't imagine @kinabalu got where he is today by lurching, mind. He doesn't strike me as a lurcher. Maybe he strolled to the left. Ambled there. Lounged. Segued.
No, I don't lurch. As I think I've said before, I have two distinct ways of walking. Feet pointing in, pigeon style, or outwards and flat like a penguin. The first is for when my mood is springy and creative, the second for when I'm feeling taciturn and grounded. I don't have to dwell on it, deciding each time I go out which one to do, it happens naturally. Indeed my walk tells me what frame of mind I'm in, and it's often a surprise to me.
As you are a champagne socialist I suspect you "lunch to the left"
Damn sight more socialism than champagne at my house, Nigel. You'll find that out if you ever visit. And it's authentic. On the Noguchi coffee table in the 'snug' there sits a copy of the Benn Diaries. By Tony Benn.
Noguchi was the make of Magnum (gun, not ice cream) used by Callan played by Edward Woodward in his TV debut, and book.
If you’re a more Cameron type Tory then you really need to be voting for Labour in the by election otherwise you end up boosting Reform and the Tories will feel they need to lurch even further to the right .
Why do people always LURCH to the right? Why can't they swerve, tilt, steer, tack, curve, nudge, shift, bend, ageplay, slutshame, ABDL, snuggle, bukkake, shibari, shunt, nod, anolagnia, move or tit-slap?
"As Reform gain Runcorn, Rory Stewart talks about the Tories tit-slapping to the right, even as the Lib Dems are prostate milked by the Greens"
The English language is a marvellous thing; it saddnes me that we resort to cliches
People lurch to the left because it is alliterative, but also because left wingers are typically creatures of action. I expect the lurch to the right is simply a mirror image in the heads of slightly lazy writers.
Though I would suggest the following are better descriptors:
Shuffle to the right (descriptive of voters between the ages of 55 and 65) Creep to the right (to do so while trying not to be spotted doing so) Stumble to the right (to do so without really definitely intending to) Settled to the right (like middle age spread).
Mind you, not all left-wingers are lurchers. I can't imagine @kinabalu got where he is today by lurching, mind. He doesn't strike me as a lurcher. Maybe he strolled to the left. Ambled there. Lounged. Segued.
No, I don't lurch. As I think I've said before, I have two distinct ways of walking. Feet pointing in, pigeon style, or outwards and flat like a penguin. The first is for when my mood is springy and creative, the second for when I'm feeling taciturn and grounded. I don't have to dwell on it, deciding each time I go out which one to do, it happens naturally. Indeed my walk tells me what frame of mind I'm in, and it's often a surprise to me.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Sounds like a bit of a fog to me.
The fog is mine, not to be given to illegal immigrants.
Changing the subject: is there a better looking sport anywhere in the world than cricket? I am in Wythenshawe - Wythenshawe! - yet the setting is as uplifting as any ground anywhere: the white of the screen, the scoreboard, the backdrop of hawthorn and hedge; hanging baskets; three junior cricket matches going on simultaneously, the sun making its leisurely way towards the horizon, shining happily through my pint. The world is a slightly nicer place already. I am in a t-shirt and jeans and sweltering; this time last year the pitches were all sodden and the evenings were distinctly chilly.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
It's the posh bits of Tyneside (Whitley Bay, Tynemouth)... I wouldn't put much money on Reform..
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
My pic of the day
In Bruges (town, not the movie)
I know I shouldn’t - but I’ll have a piece of that cake and some Dim-Dims.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
It's the posh bits of Tyneside (Whitley Bay, Tynemouth)... I wouldn't put much money on Reform..
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
At that price may be worth a small punt, money you can afford to lose. Parts of it seem very Reformy, but others far from it.
Wallsend itself very Reform. The coast the polar opposite.
Quite a bit of new build over the last few years too. Longbenton, Shiremoor and along the A19. Nice looking houses.
My in laws live in N Tyneside and my wife, before I locked her up in a trunk so no big hunk could steal her away from me, also lived there.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
I envy kids who were pop music fans in about 1965 or 1967 (or indeed several years of the 70s)
"Hey there's a new Beatles album out next week" - turns out to be Sergeant Pepper, or Revolver, or Abbey Road
Immortally brilliant music, being made in real time, in your life, and you get to hear it first as you drop the stylus in the groove
What's the equivalent now? Do we even have one? Not just in music, but in anything?
Probably it is technology
My mum's in that category, she went to see the Beatles at a concert in 63 or 64 as a teenager. Lucky generation.
Actually, I'd say what we had in the early 90s was way better. But what that generation had was something that hadn't really gone before. We may have had a better range and offer of pop music in the 90s than the previous generation, but the previous generation had an offer so unrecognisably better than the generation before that. It must have been astounding.
Elvis just texted me and said wait, what?
Come to think of it, another first for the Beatles is they wrote their own songs. Elvis didn't. The Rolling Stones didn't. Kylie Minogue didn't.
Back to your second point. I am a product of my time, but I alwaus found it a little inauthentic and uninteresting for performers to be doing songs they had paid other people to write for them. But the Beatles were pioneers in this respect. (Though I'm surprised to learn the Stones didn't.)
The Rolling Stones did later write some of their own (normally as Jagger/Richards) but if you look at their early singles they are mainly covers, and iirc the Beatles wrote a couple for them.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
Nutella is vegetable oil and sugar, with some flavourings added.
Quite a few things are less appealing if you separate them into ingredients- e.g. https://xkcd.com/1616/
(I'm no Nutella fan, but I am a sucker for good dark chocolate, including on toast. My kids are chocolate spread fans - interestingly it's one of those things where the supermarket own-brand stuff can contain more nuts, more cocoa and less sugar and salt, maybe due to the supermarkets subscribing to the traffic light nutrition labelling and making more effort on that.)
On a related note, I miss 'old style' chocolate spread before nutella stormed the market and everything became nutella-like. It was darker and more cocoa-y. The closest thing is ganache.
There’s been a proliferation of Nutella alternatives recently in a backlash against palm oil (convenient backlash, because they know Nutella are locked into long term offtake agreements they can’t just duck out of) but I agree, though several are less sweet they are all fairly pale and milky.
I hate to jump into your standard environment wrecker role, but my understanding is that Palm Oil is quite good for you compared to a lot of seed oils.
I'm far from an expert, but I try and have an understanding of what I eat, so heres my limited take....I don't think any decent oil, in moderation, is too bad for you. Where ( highly processed) seed and palm oil fall down is that they're cheap, so get loaded into crap ultra processed edible products and it's easy to over consume them in that form. I also think palm has a reputation for being farmed in a way that is heavily focused on deforestation, so it's not viewed as environmentally sustainable.
I am also far from an expert, but seed oils are usually not heat stable at a molecular level - they break down and the broken bits are free radicals in the body. I haven't looked into this in detail because I don't really eat palm oil (I prefer butter and coconut oil and occasionally olive or rapeseed but not to cook with), but a blogger I trust said palm oil was actually pretty good.
Undoubtedly, you should use an oil suitable for your cooking method. I just think the demonising of all seed oils as bad is too reductive. It also depends on who you choose to believe and what research you trust. I'd suspect we'd be on opposite sides in the debate, but I think we both agree that there's no substitute for trying to use "real food" over ultra processed ingredients.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
It's the posh bits of Tyneside (Whitley Bay, Tynemouth)... I wouldn't put much money on Reform..
I mean it’s also Wallsend, Meadow Well, Percy Main, Shiremoor…
2 a.m: North Tyneside Mayor (Labour since 2013). 3 a.m: Runcorn and Helsby by-election. The biggie… 4 a.m: Greater Lincolnshire Mayor. The turnout is looking high… 5 a.m: Doncaster Mayor. Labour activists say it’ll be “tight”… 7 a.m: Northumberland. 1 p.m: Durham and Lancashire. 2.30 p.m: Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor. 3 p.m: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Tories are expected to snatch this from Labour… 4 p.m: Shropshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, Staffordshire. The LibDems are expecting to make gains in the first three… 5 p.m: Lincolnshire council. Another one Reform are hoping to make gains… 6 p.m: Cornwall, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire and Devon. 7 p.m: Kent. A loss of Tory control here would be a big blow to Badenoch…
It'll probably be earlier than that in Wiltshire at the least, that's probably an estimate for when all the parish results will be completed, which will follow the unitary.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
My pic of the day
My pic of the day, because I’ve just been ambling/sashaying/lurching around Chicago institute of art over lunch break:
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
I envy kids who were pop music fans in about 1965 or 1967 (or indeed several years of the 70s)
"Hey there's a new Beatles album out next week" - turns out to be Sergeant Pepper, or Revolver, or Abbey Road
Immortally brilliant music, being made in real time, in your life, and you get to hear it first as you drop the stylus in the groove
What's the equivalent now? Do we even have one? Not just in music, but in anything?
Probably it is technology
My mum's in that category, she went to see the Beatles at a concert in 63 or 64 as a teenager. Lucky generation.
Actually, I'd say what we had in the early 90s was way better. But what that generation had was something that hadn't really gone before. We may have had a better range and offer of pop music in the 90s than the previous generation, but the previous generation had an offer so unrecognisably better than the generation before that. It must have been astounding.
Elvis just texted me and said wait, what?
Come to think of it, another first for the Beatles is they wrote their own songs. Elvis didn't. The Rolling Stones didn't. Kylie Minogue didn't.
Back to your second point. I am a product of my time, but I alwaus found it a little inauthentic and uninteresting for performers to be doing songs they had paid other people to write for them. But the Beatles were pioneers in this respect. (Though I'm surprised to learn the Stones didn't.)
The Rolling Stones did later write some of their own (normally as Jagger/Richards) but if you look at their early singles they are mainly covers, and iirc the Beatles wrote a couple for them.
The Stones wrote almost all their own stuff from 65 onwards, I think.
Changing the subject: is there a better looking sport anywhere in the world than cricket? I am in Wythenshawe - Wythenshawe! - yet the setting is as uplifting as any ground anywhere: the white of the screen, the scoreboard, the backdrop of hawthorn and hedge; hanging baskets; three junior cricket matches going on simultaneously, the sun making its leisurely way towards the horizon, shining happily through my pint. The world is a slightly nicer place already. I am in a t-shirt and jeans and sweltering; this time last year the pitches were all sodden and the evenings were distinctly chilly.
Changing the subject: is there a better looking sport anywhere in the world than cricket? I am in Wythenshawe - Wythenshawe! - yet the setting is as uplifting as any ground anywhere: the white of the screen, the scoreboard, the backdrop of hawthorn and hedge; hanging baskets; three junior cricket matches going on simultaneously, the sun making its leisurely way towards the horizon, shining happily through my pint. The world is a slightly nicer place already. I am in a t-shirt and jeans and sweltering; this time last year the pitches were all sodden and the evenings were distinctly chilly.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
It's the posh bits of Tyneside (Whitley Bay, Tynemouth)... I wouldn't put much money on Reform..
I mean it’s also Wallsend, Meadow Well, Percy Main, Shiremoor…
Exactly. It is not just all the posh/gentrified coastal parts. The less posh areas you mention are also more densely populated. Even the centre of North Shields just up the hill from the Fish Quay is not great.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
Nutella is vegetable oil and sugar, with some flavourings added.
Quite a few things are less appealing if you separate them into ingredients- e.g. https://xkcd.com/1616/
(I'm no Nutella fan, but I am a sucker for good dark chocolate, including on toast. My kids are chocolate spread fans - interestingly it's one of those things where the supermarket own-brand stuff can contain more nuts, more cocoa and less sugar and salt, maybe due to the supermarkets subscribing to the traffic light nutrition labelling and making more effort on that.)
On a related note, I miss 'old style' chocolate spread before nutella stormed the market and everything became nutella-like. It was darker and more cocoa-y. The closest thing is ganache.
There’s been a proliferation of Nutella alternatives recently in a backlash against palm oil (convenient backlash, because they know Nutella are locked into long term offtake agreements they can’t just duck out of) but I agree, though several are less sweet they are all fairly pale and milky.
I hate to jump into your standard environment wrecker role, but my understanding is that Palm Oil is quite good for you compared to a lot of seed oils.
I'm far from an expert, but I try and have an understanding of what I eat, so heres my limited take....I don't think any decent oil, in moderation, is too bad for you. Where ( highly processed) seed and palm oil fall down is that they're cheap, so get loaded into crap ultra processed edible products and it's easy to over consume them in that form. I also think palm has a reputation for being farmed in a way that is heavily focused on deforestation, so it's not viewed as environmentally sustainable.
I am also far from an expert, but seed oils are usually not heat stable at a molecular level - they break down and the broken bits are free radicals in the body. I haven't looked into this in detail because I don't really eat palm oil (I prefer butter and coconut oil and occasionally olive or rapeseed but not to cook with), but a blogger I trust said palm oil was actually pretty good.
Undoubtedly, you should use an oil suitable for your cooking method. I just think the demonising of all seed oils as bad is too reductive. It also depends on who you choose to believe and what research you trust. I'd suspect we'd be on opposite sides in the debate, but I think we both agree that there's no substitute for trying to use "real food" over ultra processed ingredients.
There should surely be bipartisan consensus that butter is the undisputed GOAT.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
It's the posh bits of Tyneside (Whitley Bay, Tynemouth)... I wouldn't put much money on Reform..
I mean it’s also Wallsend, Meadow Well, Percy Main, Shiremoor…
Exactly. It is not just all the posh/gentrified coastal parts. The less posh areas you mention are also more densely populated. Even the centre of North Shields just up the hill from the Fish Quay is not great.
You’re right re. North Shields but it’s gentrifying at an alarming rate
Changing the subject: is there a better looking sport anywhere in the world than cricket? I am in Wythenshawe - Wythenshawe! - yet the setting is as uplifting as any ground anywhere: the white of the screen, the scoreboard, the backdrop of hawthorn and hedge; hanging baskets; three junior cricket matches going on simultaneously, the sun making its leisurely way towards the horizon, shining happily through my pint. The world is a slightly nicer place already. I am in a t-shirt and jeans and sweltering; this time last year the pitches were all sodden and the evenings were distinctly chilly.
That would be good for all parties bar reform. 72 gains for Labour would be a big plus.
It would be slightly disappointing for Lib Dem and very disappointing for Green. Utterly high five inducing ecstasy for LabCon.
Is there much actual value in winning or even retaining councils for LabCon given the councils have no money so their reputation would only sink further over the next 3 years anyway?
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
Nutella is vegetable oil and sugar, with some flavourings added.
Quite a few things are less appealing if you separate them into ingredients- e.g. https://xkcd.com/1616/
(I'm no Nutella fan, but I am a sucker for good dark chocolate, including on toast. My kids are chocolate spread fans - interestingly it's one of those things where the supermarket own-brand stuff can contain more nuts, more cocoa and less sugar and salt, maybe due to the supermarkets subscribing to the traffic light nutrition labelling and making more effort on that.)
On a related note, I miss 'old style' chocolate spread before nutella stormed the market and everything became nutella-like. It was darker and more cocoa-y. The closest thing is ganache.
There’s been a proliferation of Nutella alternatives recently in a backlash against palm oil (convenient backlash, because they know Nutella are locked into long term offtake agreements they can’t just duck out of) but I agree, though several are less sweet they are all fairly pale and milky.
I hate to jump into your standard environment wrecker role, but my understanding is that Palm Oil is quite good for you compared to a lot of seed oils.
I'm far from an expert, but I try and have an understanding of what I eat, so heres my limited take....I don't think any decent oil, in moderation, is too bad for you. Where ( highly processed) seed and palm oil fall down is that they're cheap, so get loaded into crap ultra processed edible products and it's easy to over consume them in that form. I also think palm has a reputation for being farmed in a way that is heavily focused on deforestation, so it's not viewed as environmentally sustainable.
I am also far from an expert, but seed oils are usually not heat stable at a molecular level - they break down and the broken bits are free radicals in the body. I haven't looked into this in detail because I don't really eat palm oil (I prefer butter and coconut oil and occasionally olive or rapeseed but not to cook with), but a blogger I trust said palm oil was actually pretty good.
Undoubtedly, you should use an oil suitable for your cooking method. I just think the demonising of all seed oils as bad is too reductive. It also depends on who you choose to believe and what research you trust. I'd suspect we'd be on opposite sides in the debate, but I think we both agree that there's no substitute for trying to use "real food" over ultra processed ingredients.
There should surely be bipartisan consensus that butter is the undisputed GOAT.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
It's the posh bits of Tyneside (Whitley Bay, Tynemouth)... I wouldn't put much money on Reform..
I mean it’s also Wallsend, Meadow Well, Percy Main, Shiremoor…
Exactly. It is not just all the posh/gentrified coastal parts. The less posh areas you mention are also more densely populated. Even the centre of North Shields just up the hill from the Fish Quay is not great.
You’re right re. North Shields but it’s gentrifying at an alarming rate
Yes, it is, and I cannot see it slowing down anytime soon.
Changing the subject: is there a better looking sport anywhere in the world than cricket? I am in Wythenshawe - Wythenshawe! - yet the setting is as uplifting as any ground anywhere: the white of the screen, the scoreboard, the backdrop of hawthorn and hedge; hanging baskets; three junior cricket matches going on simultaneously, the sun making its leisurely way towards the horizon, shining happily through my pint. The world is a slightly nicer place already. I am in a t-shirt and jeans and sweltering; this time last year the pitches were all sodden and the evenings were distinctly chilly.
What's wrong with shorts?
Not long enough?
Ah. What you need are long shorts. They are like shorts but they extend down to the ankle. Some shops sell them or you can get them online.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
It's the posh bits of Tyneside (Whitley Bay, Tynemouth)... I wouldn't put much money on Reform..
I mean it’s also Wallsend, Meadow Well, Percy Main, Shiremoor…
Growing up in Newcastle in the 1980s I struggle to get my head around the idea of Whitley Bay being posh.
I had a real crisis of conscience when me and the lovely Mrs had a pleasant evening stroll via the Outwoods to vote in Loughborough. I really wanted to vote Green, but the bio of my candidate literally starts off as them being a neurodivergent member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. It then mentions Gaza and a load of other shite I really couldn't give a toss about. I want my local councillor to give a fuck about the flooding that is an ever increasing occurrence in the town, the state of the Town Centre, the closed shops, the student flats replacing the Carillon Shopping Centre. The rise in anti social behaviour, the car and bike theft increase. The homeless who have to sleep rough and the bastarding ebike and scooter menace. I know the local council can't wave a magic wand and fix those issues, but I want them to at least think about them. What the actual is "two spirit" anyway? I voted for the loon anyway. None of the other feckers have a clue, including the current Labour incumbent.
Really hard to support any party at the minute. For the first time, possibly ever, I went into the voting booth today having no idea whom I was going to vote for.
In the end was swayed by the fact that the only person outside the booth with a badge on was for Reform and I saw multiple people today campaigning for Reform and nobody else. That made me vote Lib Dem.
Logic being that had to vote for whomever would beat the racists, and the incumbent Councillor is a Lib Dem, so vote for them to beat the racists. Feels like as good a logic as any possible.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
My pic of the day
My pic of the day, because I’ve just been ambling/sashaying/lurching around Chicago institute of art over lunch break:
Definitely Reform voters.
There's a Health and Safety (satirical) video with that in it.
Health and Safety Vision On. It's vintage 2008, but beautifully and gently done. The Gallery - this one is from "Grant, Aged 117":
Changing the subject: is there a better looking sport anywhere in the world than cricket? I am in Wythenshawe - Wythenshawe! - yet the setting is as uplifting as any ground anywhere: the white of the screen, the scoreboard, the backdrop of hawthorn and hedge; hanging baskets; three junior cricket matches going on simultaneously, the sun making its leisurely way towards the horizon, shining happily through my pint. The world is a slightly nicer place already. I am in a t-shirt and jeans and sweltering; this time last year the pitches were all sodden and the evenings were distinctly chilly.
What's wrong with shorts?
Not long enough?
Ah. What you need are long shorts. They are like shorts but they extend down to the ankle. Some shops sell them or you can get them online.
Or extra extra long shorts, also known colloquially as trousers I believe.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
Nutella is vegetable oil and sugar, with some flavourings added.
Quite a few things are less appealing if you separate them into ingredients- e.g. https://xkcd.com/1616/
(I'm no Nutella fan, but I am a sucker for good dark chocolate, including on toast. My kids are chocolate spread fans - interestingly it's one of those things where the supermarket own-brand stuff can contain more nuts, more cocoa and less sugar and salt, maybe due to the supermarkets subscribing to the traffic light nutrition labelling and making more effort on that.)
On a related note, I miss 'old style' chocolate spread before nutella stormed the market and everything became nutella-like. It was darker and more cocoa-y. The closest thing is ganache.
There’s been a proliferation of Nutella alternatives recently in a backlash against palm oil (convenient backlash, because they know Nutella are locked into long term offtake agreements they can’t just duck out of) but I agree, though several are less sweet they are all fairly pale and milky.
I hate to jump into your standard environment wrecker role, but my understanding is that Palm Oil is quite good for you compared to a lot of seed oils.
I'm far from an expert, but I try and have an understanding of what I eat, so heres my limited take....I don't think any decent oil, in moderation, is too bad for you. Where ( highly processed) seed and palm oil fall down is that they're cheap, so get loaded into crap ultra processed edible products and it's easy to over consume them in that form. I also think palm has a reputation for being farmed in a way that is heavily focused on deforestation, so it's not viewed as environmentally sustainable.
I am also far from an expert, but seed oils are usually not heat stable at a molecular level - they break down and the broken bits are free radicals in the body. I haven't looked into this in detail because I don't really eat palm oil (I prefer butter and coconut oil and occasionally olive or rapeseed but not to cook with), but a blogger I trust said palm oil was actually pretty good.
Undoubtedly, you should use an oil suitable for your cooking method. I just think the demonising of all seed oils as bad is too reductive. It also depends on who you choose to believe and what research you trust. I'd suspect we'd be on opposite sides in the debate, but I think we both agree that there's no substitute for trying to use "real food" over ultra processed ingredients.
There should surely be bipartisan consensus that butter is the undisputed GOAT.
Not goat butter though
I actually find butter a bit cloying sometimes.
In answer to your question overnight, no Brockley isn’t having a by-election today. I have just reached the point of Biden-Trump style cognitive decline where I start hallucinating about elections in my neighbourhood and not stopping to check whether they’re actually happening.
I’ve been getting multiple emails from Lewisham reminding me I need to re-register for a postal vote, and the site they go to says “it’s now too late to register for the elections on 1st May”!
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
It's the posh bits of Tyneside (Whitley Bay, Tynemouth)... I wouldn't put much money on Reform..
I mean it’s also Wallsend, Meadow Well, Percy Main, Shiremoor…
Growing up in Newcastle in the 1980s I struggle to get my head around the idea of Whitley Bay being posh.
Re-opening Spanish City has helped but it is really no longer the poor relation of Cullercoats and Tynemouth.
I was back in Brum at the weekend. Digbeth, a shithole in the eighties and a really unpleasant place at night, is now gentrified. A bit like Ouseburn.
Makes you wonder what areas that are toilets today will be desirable in 20 years.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
Seems like a good idea to put a small bet on Reform winning, an amount you wouldn't mind losing.
It's the posh bits of Tyneside (Whitley Bay, Tynemouth)... I wouldn't put much money on Reform..
I mean it’s also Wallsend, Meadow Well, Percy Main, Shiremoor…
Growing up in Newcastle in the 1980s I struggle to get my head around the idea of Whitley Bay being posh.
Nice lighthouse, though. Went to see it (albeit at high tide) around 18 months back.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
Now you’ve done pop music it’s time for sugary chocolate spreads.
I’ve just had breakfast at a “Nutella cafe”. Yes, Ferrero have decided to emulate Apple, Lego and Nespresso and open their own flagship stores to showcase the product.
But does the existence of Nutella add or subtract from the sum of global human happiness? I remain on the fence after my “Nutella Danish” which just injected 500g of concentrated sucrose into my blood stream.
My pic of the day
Where can we find it?
Gails. Do they have a branch in St Petersburg?
Liverpool Street Station now has a Gail's. As does Cambridge Station (albeit outside).
Changing the subject: is there a better looking sport anywhere in the world than cricket? I am in Wythenshawe - Wythenshawe! - yet the setting is as uplifting as any ground anywhere: the white of the screen, the scoreboard, the backdrop of hawthorn and hedge; hanging baskets; three junior cricket matches going on simultaneously, the sun making its leisurely way towards the horizon, shining happily through my pint. The world is a slightly nicer place already. I am in a t-shirt and jeans and sweltering; this time last year the pitches were all sodden and the evenings were distinctly chilly.
What's wrong with shorts?
It really should be shorts. Honestly didn't strike me it would be shorts weather. But it is.
North Tyneside mayoral 2021 Party Candidate Vote %age Labour Norma Redfearn 33,119 53.3% Conservative Steven Robinson 19,366 31.2% Green Penny Remfry 4,278 6.9% Liberal Democrats John Appleby 3,549 5.7% UKIP Jack Thomson 1,753 2.8%
Labour's going to lose half its vote because it's 2025. Ditto Con. That's 25K votes going begging. Who's going to get them? Green? Possibly. LibDems? More likely if it's gentrifying. Reform? Possibly.
I am torn. I might just back away. I have no theory behind this.
This time yesterday I was just finishing work in Aberdeen. Then a 7 hour drive south to Lincolnshire. Home at just after midnight.
Up at 3.30am and off to Laxton to sing up the sun for Mayday. And a glorious May morn it was as well. Helped along with beer and bacon butties.
Then back to the house to start work at 8am.
Knocked off at just after 5pm and wandered down to the polling station in the village to vote around 6pm. No queues but a steady stream of people going in to vote which I find encouraging.
Was trying to decide what to use my one picture a day on and settled for this image from the Beltane celebrations at Laxton this morning. The sun rising over the Trent Valley north of Newark.
I think I might continue the celebrations with a Calvados or three this evening.
North Tyneside mayoral 2021 Party Candidate Vote %age Labour Norma Redfearn 33,119 53.3% Conservative Steven Robinson 19,366 31.2% Green Penny Remfry 4,278 6.9% Liberal Democrats John Appleby 3,549 5.7% UKIP Jack Thomson 1,753 2.8%
Labour's going to lose half its vote because it's 2025. Ditto Con. That's 25K votes going begging. Who's going to get them? Green? Possibly. LibDems? More likely if it's gentrifying. Reform? Possibly.
I am torn. I might just back away. I have no theory behind this.
An unscientific sample. My in laws voted labour last time. Can’t be bothered to vote for anyone today.
I disagree with Stonewall on this subject and was pleased with the ruling. But I am not sure it is right to censure or punish them for making a statement even if they turn out to be wrong.
And are they wrong? I don't know the law well enough to know if a Supreme Court decision is law the second it is made or if there is some form of procedure to be followed first.
If they are right then all the more reason why they should not be censured.
No, people have a right to free speech. They should be ridiculed for being totally and utterly wrong.
Somewhere I used to work changed all its toilets a few years back to gender-neutral ones based on Stonewall advice on best practice for the law. I disliked stepping out of the cubicle and going to the communal sinks and there being a woman there, it feels odd, but the women I worked with objected much more to having to share cubicles with men. Never heard anyone speak up that they liked it.
I wonder how many places are going to realise soon that Stonewall is not the best, objective, source for what best practice under the law is.
I disagree with Stonewall on this subject and was pleased with the ruling. But I am not sure it is right to censure or punish them for making a statement even if they turn out to be wrong.
And are they wrong? I don't know the law well enough to know if a Supreme Court decision is law the second it is made or if there is some form of procedure to be followed first.
If they are right then all the more reason why they should not be censured.
Agreed that they should not be censured, just said the same myself, and IANAL but I thought the Supreme Court doesn't say what the law will be, or changes the law at all, it merely says what the law is - and what the law therefore technically always was.
IE people who were operating against the Supreme Court's Judgment were technically violating the law even before the Judgment is my understanding, let alone long after it.
Which will presumably have an impact on cases like the East Fife/Nurse Peggie case where employers were acting against employees who wanted the law as it actually is upholding, based on Stonewall style interpretation of what they claimed the law was.
Love Beamish. Had a years season ticket there. It’s beautiful any time of the year.
My mother (OGH's wife) was from Newcastle, and so as a child I'd visit Beamish every year. I absolutely loved it, and I'm now regretting I never took my kids.
Really hard to support any party at the minute. For the first time, possibly ever, I went into the voting booth today having no idea whom I was going to vote for.
In the end was swayed by the fact that the only person outside the booth with a badge on was for Reform and I saw multiple people today campaigning for Reform and nobody else. That made me vote Lib Dem.
Logic being that had to vote for whomever would beat the racists, and the incumbent Councillor is a Lib Dem, so vote for them to beat the racists. Feels like as good a logic as any possible.
OK, I'm no Reformer but they're not the BNP or the National Front.
So I find the logic hyperbolic, simplistic and childish. If I'd read it and hadn't voted yet in that constituency I'd now go out and vote Reform.
You can still get Lab at 3.75 on Skybet, if you fancy it.
Congratulations by the way to pb (and indeed the Beatles) for reaching a happy consensus on the previous thread that the Beatles were good at pop music. For a site which can figuratively come to blows over how good packet rice is or the desirability of sunny weather, this is no mean feat.
I envy kids who were pop music fans in about 1965 or 1967 (or indeed several years of the 70s)
"Hey there's a new Beatles album out next week" - turns out to be Sergeant Pepper, or Revolver, or Abbey Road
Immortally brilliant music, being made in real time, in your life, and you get to hear it first as you drop the stylus in the groove
What's the equivalent now? Do we even have one? Not just in music, but in anything?
Probably it is technology
My mum's in that category, she went to see the Beatles at a concert in 63 or 64 as a teenager. Lucky generation.
Actually, I'd say what we had in the early 90s was way better. But what that generation had was something that hadn't really gone before. We may have had a better range and offer of pop music in the 90s than the previous generation, but the previous generation had an offer so unrecognisably better than the generation before that. It must have been astounding.
Elvis just texted me and said wait, what?
Come to think of it, another first for the Beatles is they wrote their own songs. Elvis didn't. The Rolling Stones didn't. Kylie Minogue didn't.
Back to your second point. I am a product of my time, but I alwaus found it a little inauthentic and uninteresting for performers to be doing songs they had paid other people to write for them. But the Beatles were pioneers in this respect. (Though I'm surprised to learn the Stones didn't.)
The Rolling Stones did later write some of their own (normally as Jagger/Richards) but if you look at their early singles they are mainly covers, and iirc the Beatles wrote a couple for them.
The Stones wrote almost all their own stuff from 65 onwards, I think.
Even Dylan started off with a covers album. Must just have been the thing in early 60s.
No, people have a right to free speech. They should be ridiculed for being totally and utterly wrong.
Somewhere I used to work changed all its toilets a few years back to gender-neutral ones based on Stonewall advice on best practice for the law. I disliked stepping out of the cubicle and going to the communal sinks and there being a woman there, it feels odd, but the women I worked with objected much more to having to share cubicles with men. Never heard anyone speak up that they liked it.
I wonder how many places are going to realise soon that Stonewall is not the best, objective, source for what best practice under the law is.
That is a fundamental problem with campaigning organisations being brought in to advise about things - even when acting sincerely they could be wrong, and their campaigning focus seems pretty likely to attract people who want to push particular interpretations, even if the question is not settled.
Really hard to support any party at the minute. For the first time, possibly ever, I went into the voting booth today having no idea whom I was going to vote for.
In the end was swayed by the fact that the only person outside the booth with a badge on was for Reform and I saw multiple people today campaigning for Reform and nobody else. That made me vote Lib Dem.
Logic being that had to vote for whomever would beat the racists, and the incumbent Councillor is a Lib Dem, so vote for them to beat the racists. Feels like as good a logic as any possible.
OK, I'm no Reformer but they're not the BNP or the National Front.
So I find the logic hyperbolic, simplistic and childish. If I'd read it and hadn't voted yet in that constituency I'd now go out and vote Reform.
See how this works??
What's the discernible difference between the BNP and 'zero net migration' 'save our culture' Reform?
I disagree with Stonewall on this subject and was pleased with the ruling. But I am not sure it is right to censure or punish them for making a statement even if they turn out to be wrong.
And are they wrong? I don't know the law well enough to know if a Supreme Court decision is law the second it is made or if there is some form of procedure to be followed first.
If they are right then all the more reason why they should not be censured.
I thought it was pretty clear that the court was not making law, and so it is not a question of there being any further delay to what the legal interpretation is (but much to do on people reacting to it appropriately), but I could be wrong about that.
I'm more interested in whether Stonewall are willfully posturing, or mistaken.
Love Beamish. Had a years season ticket there. It’s beautiful any time of the year.
My mother (OGH's wife) was from Newcastle, and so as a child I'd visit Beamish every year. I absolutely loved it, and I'm now regretting I never took my kids.
I’m thinking, and it’s something I’ve broached on with Eek, volunteering there now I’m retired. Be next year.
It’s fab and, as IanB has said, the expanded fifties part is very good too.
Really hard to support any party at the minute. For the first time, possibly ever, I went into the voting booth today having no idea whom I was going to vote for.
In the end was swayed by the fact that the only person outside the booth with a badge on was for Reform and I saw multiple people today campaigning for Reform and nobody else. That made me vote Lib Dem.
Logic being that had to vote for whomever would beat the racists, and the incumbent Councillor is a Lib Dem, so vote for them to beat the racists. Feels like as good a logic as any possible.
OK, I'm no Reformer but they're not the BNP or the National Front.
So I find the logic hyperbolic, simplistic and childish. If I'd read it and hadn't voted yet in that constituency I'd now go out and vote Reform.
See how this works??
What's the discernible difference between the BNP and 'zero net migration' 'save our culture' Reform?
BNP wanted an all-white Britain and to repatriate non-whites.
Comments
Labour are way in front in North Tyneside mayoral: Karen Clark (Labour) is 1/10.
But it hasn't been polled (?), nobody with a YouTube has gone up to slum it with people who work for a living, Labour are in the toilet nationally, and I'm thinking: is Reform value here? The Reform candidate is 7/1, which seems like a lot. Is there any info from there related to polling, or even vox pops?
So, some mad person decided that I should run the Q&A - Student Union officer and all that.
Benn wa doing his classic - anyone asking an awkward question, he’d answer his own question. I, very politely acknowledge the answers. Then re-asked the question from the audience.
By the end, he was steaming.
The Labour Soc got a nastygram from his office IIRC.
Dr. Phil, at this White House National Day of Prayer event, says of Trump: "I've sat with President Trump with no cameras around, nobody listening, nobody watching. And I'm telling you, this is a man of deep faith, a man of deep conviction."
https://x.com/kathrynw5/status/1917981963022893075
https://youtu.be/iV2ViNJFZC8?si=eVWLVyJ2ylf-s4-3
Where are the 72 gains for Labour coming from ?
2 a.m: North Tyneside Mayor (Labour since 2013).
3 a.m: Runcorn and Helsby by-election. The biggie…
4 a.m: Greater Lincolnshire Mayor. The turnout is looking high…
5 a.m: Doncaster Mayor. Labour activists say it’ll be “tight”…
7 a.m: Northumberland.
1 p.m: Durham and Lancashire.
2.30 p.m: Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor.
3 p.m: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Tories are expected to snatch this from Labour…
4 p.m: Shropshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, Staffordshire. The LibDems are expecting to make gains in the first three…
5 p.m: Lincolnshire council. Another one Reform are hoping to make gains…
6 p.m: Cornwall, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire and Devon.
7 p.m: Kent. A loss of Tory control here would be a big blow to Badenoch…
Didn’t vote for my usual party but the one best positioned to keep RefUK and their carpetbagger candidate out.
Wallsend itself very Reform. The coast the polar opposite.
Quite a bit of new build over the last few years too. Longbenton, Shiremoor and along the A19. Nice looking houses.
My in laws live in N Tyneside and my wife, before I locked her up in a trunk so no big hunk could steal her away from me, also lived there.
Definitely Reform voters.
Not goat butter though
I want my local councillor to give a fuck about the flooding that is an ever increasing occurrence in the town, the state of the Town Centre, the closed shops, the student flats replacing the Carillon Shopping Centre. The rise in anti social behaviour, the car and bike theft increase. The homeless who have to sleep rough and the bastarding ebike and scooter menace. I know the local council can't wave a magic wand and fix those issues, but I want them to at least think about them. What the actual is "two spirit" anyway?
I voted for the loon anyway. None of the other feckers have a clue, including the current Labour incumbent.
The new 1950s town part, opened this year, just reminded me of my parents’ house.
Amazed to find Mussolini’s grand daughter recorded a Japanese City Pop Album in the eighties.
Afficianados of the genre think it was good.
https://youtu.be/S1moXXQmdZE?si=X_ep_Z93Gcj5aLD0
In the end was swayed by the fact that the only person outside the booth with a badge on was for Reform and I saw multiple people today campaigning for Reform and nobody else. That made me vote Lib Dem.
Logic being that had to vote for whomever would beat the racists, and the incumbent Councillor is a Lib Dem, so vote for them to beat the racists. Feels like as good a logic as any possible.
The next lot of items (which they are currently collecting) is the 1980's. That's going to remind me of my youth..
Health and Safety Vision On. It's vintage 2008, but beautifully and gently done. The Gallery - this one is from "Grant, Aged 117":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld3BFxfCBPY
Out of interest, or maybe not, it’s just over five miles from where I live !
“See these nice fields. Wouldn’t it be better to concrete over them?”
https://x.com/uklabour/status/1917553268882039148
I’ve been getting multiple emails from Lewisham reminding me I need to re-register for a postal vote, and the site they go to says “it’s now too late to register for the elections on 1st May”!
I was back in Brum at the weekend. Digbeth, a shithole in the eighties and a really unpleasant place at night, is now gentrified. A bit like Ouseburn.
Makes you wonder what areas that are toilets today will be desirable in 20 years.
Party Candidate Vote %age
Labour Norma Redfearn 33,119 53.3%
Conservative Steven Robinson 19,366 31.2%
Green Penny Remfry 4,278 6.9%
Liberal Democrats John Appleby 3,549 5.7%
UKIP Jack Thomson 1,753 2.8%
Labour's going to lose half its vote because it's 2025. Ditto Con. That's 25K votes going begging. Who's going to get them? Green? Possibly. LibDems? More likely if it's gentrifying. Reform? Possibly.
I am torn. I might just back away. I have no theory behind this.
This time yesterday I was just finishing work in Aberdeen. Then a 7 hour drive south to Lincolnshire. Home at just after midnight.
Up at 3.30am and off to Laxton to sing up the sun for Mayday. And a glorious May morn it was as well. Helped along with beer and bacon butties.
Then back to the house to start work at 8am.
Knocked off at just after 5pm and wandered down to the polling station in the village to vote around 6pm. No queues but a steady stream of people going in to vote which I find encouraging.
Was trying to decide what to use my one picture a day on and settled for this image from the Beltane celebrations at Laxton this morning. The sun rising over the Trent Valley north of Newark.
I think I might continue the celebrations with a Calvados or three this evening.
https://x.com/soniasodha/status/1917997893770006892
And are they wrong? I don't know the law well enough to know if a Supreme Court decision is law the second it is made or if there is some form of procedure to be followed first.
If they are right then all the more reason why they should not be censured.
Lots from Reform; oodles of Ashfield Independent; a bit of Labour; one from the Conservatives; and Lib Dems are elsewhere.
(The Conservative one explains that none of the other candidates are really local.)
Somewhere I used to work changed all its toilets a few years back to gender-neutral ones based on Stonewall advice on best practice for the law. I disliked stepping out of the cubicle and going to the communal sinks and there being a woman there, it feels odd, but the women I worked with objected much more to having to share cubicles with men. Never heard anyone speak up that they liked it.
I wonder how many places are going to realise soon that Stonewall is not the best, objective, source for what best practice under the law is.
IE people who were operating against the Supreme Court's Judgment were technically violating the law even before the Judgment is my understanding, let alone long after it.
Which will presumably have an impact on cases like the East Fife/Nurse Peggie case where employers were acting against employees who wanted the law as it actually is upholding, based on Stonewall style interpretation of what they claimed the law was.
So I find the logic hyperbolic, simplistic and childish. If I'd read it and hadn't voted yet in that constituency I'd now go out and vote Reform.
See how this works??
I'm more interested in whether Stonewall are willfully posturing, or mistaken.
It’s fab and, as IanB has said, the expanded fifties part is very good too.
Do Reform want the same?