I'm surprised that so many newspapers try to make hay out of U-turns. Imagine a budget airline refuses to give you £1,000 compensation for a flight cancellation and six months later they have a change of heart and pay up do you feel well disposed to the airline or badly?
Boelter said he named “his five children after Christian virtues, Grace, Faith, Hope, Joy, and David, in what he calls a testament to God's blessings on his life.” Ah, yes, the Christian value of Dave.
Have you done any kind of triathalon? I'm tempted by a sprint one.
I did my first one last year. I've done seven in total, with three so far this year (two sprints, one standard). However, I'm *slow*.
But i love doing them. More accurately, I love the training. Do it - it's great fun. A sprint isn't too difficult at all, and even if you finish Dead Forking Last, you still beat all those who couldn't be bothered to get up and race.
The people tend to be awesome and friendly as well.
Oh, and it's a good excuse to get a new bike ...
My bike is currently bust for the stupidest reason. I was cycling along and then the bolt holding the seatpost in place sheared off, and the seat and seatpost dropped into the frame (with by 90kgs on it). The frame is now cracked.
So I'm using my old commuter bike to keep the miles on. My plan is to buy a (moderately) expensive frame, and then shift the wheeds and components across, thus teaching me about bike building, and getting me a cool new carbon frame. (I like the look of the Specialized Aethos.)
My only concern is that I'll discover all my road bike components are incompatible with a 2025 frame.
@Dura_Ace will probably be able to give good advice. I'm mechanically dyslexic, so I do nothing to my bike aside from the basic cleaning and maintenance.
But if you're doing a sprint, you could do it on your old commuter bike - they're only 20 or 25km. When I did St Neots back in May, a lady was doing the standard distance (40km) on what appeared to be a fold-up bike. She wasn't that fast, but she seemed to be loving it, as were the crowds. My own bike is a £450 Halfords jobbie. which, to be fair, has been rather good as a starter bike.
I'm surprised that so many newspapers try to make hay out of U-turns. Imagine a budget airline refuses to give you £1,000 compensation for a flight cancellation and six months later they have a change of heart and pay up do you feel well disposed to the airline or badly?
In your example the airline sinned and is repenting. With WFA the government merely stopped a handout.
Refraining from giving is not taking. And refraining from taking is not giving (except to socialists).
Journalists like u-turn stories because the readers do. No great mystery.
The Times are suggesting I resubscribe. Four months at £1. And then £26 a month afterwards. Why can't they just settle on something like £5 a month and stop annoying everyone that has the slightest of goodwill towards them?
I think I value the better newspapers at about £100 per year. If they were what they once were then £250, perhaps more.
I'm surprised that so many newspapers try to make hay out of U-turns. Imagine a budget airline refuses to give you £1,000 compensation for a flight cancellation and six months later they have a change of heart and pay up do you feel well disposed to the airline or badly?
In your example the airline sinned and is repenting. With WFA the government merely stopped a handout.
Refraining from giving is not taking. And refraining from taking is not giving (except to socialists).
Journalists like u-turn stories because the readers do. No great mystery.
Did anyone give a damn about U-turns before *that* speech by Mrs Thatcher?
The Times are suggesting I resubscribe. Four months at £1. And then £26 a month afterwards. Why can't they just settle on something like £5 a month and stop annoying everyone that has the slightest of goodwill towards them?
I think I value the better newspapers at about £100 per year. If they were what they once were then £250, perhaps more.
It used to be possible, by signing up from abroad. But they got wise to it.
Newspapers like anyone else need to do market segmentation: and the biggest split is geography. You might persuade a Briton to pay £250 per year for The Times but an Australian or American only £50.
I share my parents account. They (The Times) don't care so far.
I'm surprised that so many newspapers try to make hay out of U-turns. Imagine a budget airline refuses to give you £1,000 compensation for a flight cancellation and six months later they have a change of heart and pay up do you feel well disposed to the airline or badly?
In your example the airline sinned and is repenting. With WFA the government merely stopped a handout.
Refraining from giving is not taking. And refraining from taking is not giving (except to socialists).
Journalists like u-turn stories because the readers do. No great mystery.
Did anyone give a damn about U-turns before *that* speech by Mrs Thatcher?
A question I am a couple of decades too young to answer. I'd like to know.
The Times are suggesting I resubscribe. Four months at £1. And then £26 a month afterwards. Why can't they just settle on something like £5 a month and stop annoying everyone that has the slightest of goodwill towards them?
I think I value the better newspapers at about £100 per year. If they were what they once were then £250, perhaps more.
Have you looked at Press Reader? They offer free access to local library users
I'm surprised that so many newspapers try to make hay out of U-turns. Imagine a budget airline refuses to give you £1,000 compensation for a flight cancellation and six months later they have a change of heart and pay up do you feel well disposed to the airline or badly?
Good evening
It comes down to simple trust in politicians and their ability to stand by their decisions, rather than to bend and sway to popular opinions
Starmer has been notable poor on this subject
And on your point about flight cancellation I would still feel badly at their handling of it
The Times are suggesting I resubscribe. Four months at £1. And then £26 a month afterwards. Why can't they just settle on something like £5 a month and stop annoying everyone that has the slightest of goodwill towards them?
I think I value the better newspapers at about £100 per year. If they were what they once were then £250, perhaps more.
Have you looked at Press Reader? They offer free access to local library users
It's easy enough to get all of these things free. My point is rather that I'd like to pay, but I don't want to be messed about.
The Times are suggesting I resubscribe. Four months at £1. And then £26 a month afterwards. Why can't they just settle on something like £5 a month and stop annoying everyone that has the slightest of goodwill towards them?
I think I value the better newspapers at about £100 per year. If they were what they once were then £250, perhaps more.
The THG-afication* of e-commerce. The price is never the price is never the price. They just want to ensure in a few months you have to use a coupon or do the stupid dance of threatening to cancel, then they give you a different offer.
THG = The Hut Group....they are behind a load of brands like MyProtein and famous for the price of his protein bar is £5, but use a coupon and you get 50% off, but it only last for today, then they spam you 10 times a day with other coupon offers. 2 week later, that bar is again 50% off....
Have you done any kind of triathalon? I'm tempted by a sprint one.
I did my first one last year. I've done seven in total, with three so far this year (two sprints, one standard). However, I'm *slow*.
But i love doing them. More accurately, I love the training. Do it - it's great fun. A sprint isn't too difficult at all, and even if you finish Dead Forking Last, you still beat all those who couldn't be bothered to get up and race.
The people tend to be awesome and friendly as well.
Oh, and it's a good excuse to get a new bike ...
My bike is currently bust for the stupidest reason. I was cycling along and then the bolt holding the seatpost in place sheared off, and the seat and seatpost dropped into the frame (with by 90kgs on it). The frame is now cracked.
So I'm using my old commuter bike to keep the miles on. My plan is to buy a (moderately) expensive frame, and then shift the wheeds and components across, thus teaching me about bike building, and getting me a cool new carbon frame. (I like the look of the Specialized Aethos.)
My only concern is that I'll discover all my road bike components are incompatible with a 2025 frame.
@Dura_Ace will probably be able to give good advice. I'm mechanically dyslexic, so I do nothing to my bike aside from the basic cleaning and maintenance.
But if you're doing a sprint, you could do it on your old commuter bike - they're only 20 or 25km. When I did St Neots back in May, a lady was doing the standard distance (40km) on what appeared to be a fold-up bike. She wasn't that fast, but she seemed to be loving it, as were the crowds. My own bike is a £450 Halfords jobbie. which, to be fair, has been rather good as a starter bike.
Yep, spending more on a bike does not make you faster to anything like the degree that spending more time on a bike does.
But I can highly recommend building your own bike - the main reason I've bought upgrades for mine over the years is that I enjoy stripping and rebuilding it.
I'm surprised that so many newspapers try to make hay out of U-turns. Imagine a budget airline refuses to give you £1,000 compensation for a flight cancellation and six months later they have a change of heart and pay up do you feel well disposed to the airline or badly?
In your example the airline sinned and is repenting. With WFA the government merely stopped a handout.
Refraining from giving is not taking. And refraining from taking is not giving (except to socialists).
Journalists like u-turn stories because the readers do. No great mystery.
Did anyone give a damn about U-turns before *that* speech by Mrs Thatcher?
A question I am a couple of decades too young to answer. I'd like to know.
Given that the speech itself refers to 'that favourite newspaper phrase' or something like that, it must already have been a thing.
I'm surprised that so many newspapers try to make hay out of U-turns. Imagine a budget airline refuses to give you £1,000 compensation for a flight cancellation and six months later they have a change of heart and pay up do you feel well disposed to the airline or badly?
In your example the airline sinned and is repenting. With WFA the government merely stopped a handout.
Refraining from giving is not taking. And refraining from taking is not giving (except to socialists).
Journalists like u-turn stories because the readers do. No great mystery.
Did anyone give a damn about U-turns before *that* speech by Mrs Thatcher?
IIRC yes, although Mrs T made a thing about it. Prior to that there was a stronger feeling around “when the facts change…….etc”.
I'm surprised that so many newspapers try to make hay out of U-turns. Imagine a budget airline refuses to give you £1,000 compensation for a flight cancellation and six months later they have a change of heart and pay up do you feel well disposed to the airline or badly?
In your example the airline sinned and is repenting. With WFA the government merely stopped a handout.
Refraining from giving is not taking. And refraining from taking is not giving (except to socialists).
Journalists like u-turn stories because the readers do. No great mystery.
Did anyone give a damn about U-turns before *that* speech by Mrs Thatcher?
Its not just the U-Turn, it is the stupidity of the initial policy, the ridiculous justification given at the time and the idiotic new policy....see WFA, initially targeted too many poor OAPs, but if they didn't do it, it would crash the pound of something despite borrowing £20bn for the NHS and promise to splash £20bn on carbon capture, and now will end up not saving a penny (in fact probably require more paper pushers to process everything).
Have you done any kind of triathalon? I'm tempted by a sprint one.
I did my first one last year. I've done seven in total, with three so far this year (two sprints, one standard). However, I'm *slow*.
But i love doing them. More accurately, I love the training. Do it - it's great fun. A sprint isn't too difficult at all, and even if you finish Dead Forking Last, you still beat all those who couldn't be bothered to get up and race.
The people tend to be awesome and friendly as well.
Oh, and it's a good excuse to get a new bike ...
My bike is currently bust for the stupidest reason. I was cycling along and then the bolt holding the seatpost in place sheared off, and the seat and seatpost dropped into the frame (with by 90kgs on it). The frame is now cracked.
So I'm using my old commuter bike to keep the miles on. My plan is to buy a (moderately) expensive frame, and then shift the wheeds and components across, thus teaching me about bike building, and getting me a cool new carbon frame. (I like the look of the Specialized Aethos.)
My only concern is that I'll discover all my road bike components are incompatible with a 2025 frame.
@Dura_Ace will probably be able to give good advice. I'm mechanically dyslexic, so I do nothing to my bike aside from the basic cleaning and maintenance.
But if you're doing a sprint, you could do it on your old commuter bike - they're only 20 or 25km. When I did St Neots back in May, a lady was doing the standard distance (40km) on what appeared to be a fold-up bike. She wasn't that fast, but she seemed to be loving it, as were the crowds. My own bike is a £450 Halfords jobbie. which, to be fair, has been rather good as a starter bike.
I’ve seen so many people who’ve spent kazzilions on lighter bike. When dropping 25kg of their own weight would have been a better investment.
Treat a heavier bike like do pulls ups with weights.
Have you done any kind of triathalon? I'm tempted by a sprint one.
I did my first one last year. I've done seven in total, with three so far this year (two sprints, one standard). However, I'm *slow*.
But i love doing them. More accurately, I love the training. Do it - it's great fun. A sprint isn't too difficult at all, and even if you finish Dead Forking Last, you still beat all those who couldn't be bothered to get up and race.
The people tend to be awesome and friendly as well.
Oh, and it's a good excuse to get a new bike ...
My bike is currently bust for the stupidest reason. I was cycling along and then the bolt holding the seatpost in place sheared off, and the seat and seatpost dropped into the frame (with by 90kgs on it). The frame is now cracked.
So I'm using my old commuter bike to keep the miles on. My plan is to buy a (moderately) expensive frame, and then shift the wheeds and components across, thus teaching me about bike building, and getting me a cool new carbon frame. (I like the look of the Specialized Aethos.)
My only concern is that I'll discover all my road bike components are incompatible with a 2025 frame.
@Dura_Ace will probably be able to give good advice. I'm mechanically dyslexic, so I do nothing to my bike aside from the basic cleaning and maintenance.
But if you're doing a sprint, you could do it on your old commuter bike - they're only 20 or 25km. When I did St Neots back in May, a lady was doing the standard distance (40km) on what appeared to be a fold-up bike. She wasn't that fast, but she seemed to be loving it, as were the crowds. My own bike is a £450 Halfords jobbie. which, to be fair, has been rather good as a starter bike.
I’ve seen so many people who’ve spent kazzilions on lighter bike. When dropping 25kg of their own weight would have been a better investment.
Treat a heavier bike like do pulls ups with weights.
Have you done any kind of triathalon? I'm tempted by a sprint one.
I did my first one last year. I've done seven in total, with three so far this year (two sprints, one standard). However, I'm *slow*.
But i love doing them. More accurately, I love the training. Do it - it's great fun. A sprint isn't too difficult at all, and even if you finish Dead Forking Last, you still beat all those who couldn't be bothered to get up and race.
The people tend to be awesome and friendly as well.
Oh, and it's a good excuse to get a new bike ...
My bike is currently bust for the stupidest reason. I was cycling along and then the bolt holding the seatpost in place sheared off, and the seat and seatpost dropped into the frame (with by 90kgs on it). The frame is now cracked.
So I'm using my old commuter bike to keep the miles on. My plan is to buy a (moderately) expensive frame, and then shift the wheeds and components across, thus teaching me about bike building, and getting me a cool new carbon frame. (I like the look of the Specialized Aethos.)
My only concern is that I'll discover all my road bike components are incompatible with a 2025 frame.
@Dura_Ace will probably be able to give good advice. I'm mechanically dyslexic, so I do nothing to my bike aside from the basic cleaning and maintenance.
But if you're doing a sprint, you could do it on your old commuter bike - they're only 20 or 25km. When I did St Neots back in May, a lady was doing the standard distance (40km) on what appeared to be a fold-up bike. She wasn't that fast, but she seemed to be loving it, as were the crowds. My own bike is a £450 Halfords jobbie. which, to be fair, has been rather good as a starter bike.
Yep, spending more on a bike does not make you faster to anything like the degree that spending more time on a bike does.
But I can highly recommend building your own bike - the main reason I've bought upgrades for mine over the years is that I enjoy stripping and rebuilding it.
I'm having a bit of a mare at the moment. Managed to break an old component which is no longer in production, but it also turns out the rest of the groupset is incompatible with what's available.
My mechanic has given me the choice of a risky £150 bodge that might break mid tour/commute, or replacing everything for £500+. It's not my bike, but I did mess it up...
Its not just the U-Turn, it is the stupidity of the initial policy, the ridiculous justification given at the time and the idiotic new policy....see WFA, initially targeted too many poor OAPs, but if they didn't do it, it would crash the pound of something despite borrowing £20bn for the NHS and promise to splash £20bn on carbon capture, and now will end up not saving a penny (in fact probably require more paper pushers to process everything).
Well at least Starmer didn't stand at a podium, wave his arms about, and declare "Nothing has changed!".
Its not just the U-Turn, it is the stupidity of the initial policy, the ridiculous justification given at the time and the idiotic new policy....see WFA, initially targeted too many poor OAPs, but if they didn't do it, it would crash the pound of something despite borrowing £20bn for the NHS and promise to splash £20bn on carbon capture, and now will end up not saving a penny (in fact probably require more paper pushers to process everything).
Well at least Starmer didn't stand at a podium, wave his arms about, and declare "Nothing has changed!".
Its not just the U-Turn, it is the stupidity of the initial policy, the ridiculous justification given at the time and the idiotic new policy....see WFA, initially targeted too many poor OAPs, but if they didn't do it, it would crash the pound of something despite borrowing £20bn for the NHS and promise to splash £20bn on carbon capture, and now will end up not saving a penny (in fact probably require more paper pushers to process everything).
Well at least Starmer didn't stand at a podium, wave his arms about, and declare "Nothing has changed!".
Its not just the U-Turn, it is the stupidity of the initial policy, the ridiculous justification given at the time and the idiotic new policy....see WFA, initially targeted too many poor OAPs, but if they didn't do it, it would crash the pound of something despite borrowing £20bn for the NHS and promise to splash £20bn on carbon capture, and now will end up not saving a penny (in fact probably require more paper pushers to process everything).
It also sticks somewhat in the craw that they execute these u-turns and instead of saying 'hands up we got it wrong', they insist on these bizarre lies that 'we can do this because we steadied the ship' - nobody believes this.
I'm having a bit of a mare at the moment. Managed to break an old component which is no longer in production, but it also turns out the rest of the groupset is incompatible with what's available.
My mechanic has given me the choice of a risky £150 bodge that might break mid tour/commute, or replacing everything for £500+. It's not my bike, but I did mess it up...
Ebay is your friend
The amount of 'new old stock' things that people keep lying around is amazing
Its not just the U-Turn, it is the stupidity of the initial policy, the ridiculous justification given at the time and the idiotic new policy....see WFA, initially targeted too many poor OAPs, but if they didn't do it, it would crash the pound of something despite borrowing £20bn for the NHS and promise to splash £20bn on carbon capture, and now will end up not saving a penny (in fact probably require more paper pushers to process everything).
It also sticks somewhat in the craw that they execute these u-turns and instead of saying 'hands up we got it wrong', they insist on these bizarre lies that 'we can do this because we steadied the ship' - nobody believes this.
Is that infamous ship with women and child asylum seekers that only Darren Jones has seen?
I'm having a bit of a mare at the moment. Managed to break an old component which is no longer in production, but it also turns out the rest of the groupset is incompatible with what's available.
My mechanic has given me the choice of a risky £150 bodge that might break mid tour/commute, or replacing everything for £500+. It's not my bike, but I did mess it up...
Ebay is your friend
The amount of 'new old stock' things that people keep lying around is amazing
I am always worried about buying parts of ebay for two reasons.
1) They are knock-offs 2) They have been knocked-off somebody elses bike / car when the owner parked it up to go to work.
Its hard enough navigating Amazon these days with all the fakes and very dodgy suppliers. Is it isn't sold by Amazon I now have to do a full companies house, google search, trust pilot, court records, etc to check if they appear to be legit.
Governments are always more willing to promise to shield people from the effects of world events than they are to explain that there will be afterwards financial costs from doing this.
I always said they should have stuck 5 or 10p on petrol last year in the budget. Missed the boat now.
And that would have helped how? The Government currently takes just under 60% of the money you pay for fuel in tax. Given how much that feeds in to the costs of practically everything else we have to pay for it is idiotic that the tax take is so high.
If governments spend then they need to tax.
And I would prefer they taxes consumption and property than work.
I would prefer they didn't tax something that so directly adds to inflation.
I'm having a bit of a mare at the moment. Managed to break an old component which is no longer in production, but it also turns out the rest of the groupset is incompatible with what's available.
My mechanic has given me the choice of a risky £150 bodge that might break mid tour/commute, or replacing everything for £500+. It's not my bike, but I did mess it up...
Ebay is your friend
The amount of 'new old stock' things that people keep lying around is amazing
I've got all the notifications on in case I get lucky.
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
Jeremy Clarkson's documentary – The Greatest Raid of All – about the St Nazaire Raid of 1942, included a section on the founding of the Commandos and the move away from drills and parades (square-bashing). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zd0Oy8JyQ
(A question that has just occurred to me is whether the raid was perhaps counter-productive in the end but what do I know?)
Anyway, I suspect Trump's problem is that his best soldiers haven't done this since basic training many years ago.
Governments are always more willing to promise to shield people from the effects of world events than they are to explain that there will be afterwards financial costs from doing this.
I always said they should have stuck 5 or 10p on petrol last year in the budget. Missed the boat now.
And that would have helped how? The Government currently takes just under 60% of the money you pay for fuel in tax. Given how much that feeds in to the costs of practically everything else we have to pay for it is idiotic that the tax take is so high.
If governments spend then they need to tax.
And I would prefer they taxes consumption and property than work.
I would prefer they didn't tax something that so directly adds to inflation.
Isn't it the case that all taxation is going to filter through to prices at some point? Whether that's the cost of labour directly through employer NICs, and indirectly through income tax, VAT, alcohol duties, energy taxes and so on. The only difference is the activities that relative rates of taxation encourage and discourage.
Fuel duty isn't even charged as a percentage - it's a flat rate. So it's less likely to exacerbate inflation that other taxes - if we get a massive oil shock from Iran, the fuel duty proportion of the cost will actually fall, not stay fixed like VAT.
Its not just the U-Turn, it is the stupidity of the initial policy, the ridiculous justification given at the time and the idiotic new policy....see WFA, initially targeted too many poor OAPs, but if they didn't do it, it would crash the pound of something despite borrowing £20bn for the NHS and promise to splash £20bn on carbon capture, and now will end up not saving a penny (in fact probably require more paper pushers to process everything).
Apparently a third of the new savings are nullified by extra pension credit signups due to the announcement. So some good has come out of it - societally rather than fiscally.
The Times are suggesting I resubscribe. Four months at £1. And then £26 a month afterwards. Why can't they just settle on something like £5 a month and stop annoying everyone that has the slightest of goodwill towards them?
I think I value the better newspapers at about £100 per year. If they were what they once were then £250, perhaps more.
It used to be possible, by signing up from abroad. But they got wise to it.
Newspapers like anyone else need to do market segmentation: and the biggest split is geography. You might persuade a Briton to pay £250 per year for The Times but an Australian or American only £50.
I share my parents account. They (The Times) don't care so far.
I'm not sure how it works, but a very kind PBer has just given me one of their "bonus" subscriptions to the Telegraph, since we can no longer post Archive links.
When I see a donation link I will drop some of the money I am not having to pay the Telegraph into the PB server-fund.
About bike building. Had a long conversation with a roadie about carbon frames. The argument I couldn't rebut was 'lose the fork'. What you save with carbon can be replicated with a 5-10kg drop in weight. Then there is the failure mode on some forks.
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
Jeremy Clarkson's documentary – The Greatest Raid of All – about the St Nazaire Raid of 1942, included a section on the founding of the Commandos and the move away from drills and parades (square-bashing). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zd0Oy8JyQ
(A question that has just occurred to me is whether the raid was perhaps counter-productive in the end but what do I know?)
Anyway, I suspect Trump's problem is that his best soldiers haven't done this since basic training many years ago.
Surely they would have done the square-bashing in basic training, before joining the Commandos? (Or could you join the Commandos from outside the military?). Whatever, those troops looked as though they just didn't care. They were not even attempting to march. I could do better in school, and I spent ages with my leg in a cast...
As for the St Nazaire raid: I've seen similar debates over the Dambusters Raid. Was it worth it?
You simply cannot tell, as we cannot go back and do it again. But in a war you have to try some things, even if they fail. I was bemused by the people shocked that the first Challenger II got knocked out in Ukraine, or the first Abrams. Yes, it's a shame, but tanks are there to be put in danger's way. if you don't want to lose them, don't use them. And lose.
About bike building. Had a long conversation with a roadie about carbon frames. The argument I couldn't rebut was 'lose the fork'. What you save with carbon can be replicated with a 5-10kg drop in weight. Then there is the failure mode on some forks.
If the "Russians out of Iran" thing is correct in some way, what happens to Russia's drone supplies for use in Ukraine, given that Ukr has been blowing up their major drone factories?
About bike building. Had a long conversation with a roadie about carbon frames. The argument I couldn't rebut was 'lose the fork'. What you save with carbon can be replicated with a 5-10kg drop in weight. Then there is the failure mode on some forks.
About bike building. Had a long conversation with a roadie about carbon frames. The argument I couldn't rebut was 'lose the fork'. What you save with carbon can be replicated with a 5-10kg drop in weight. Then there is the failure mode on some forks.
Compromise and get a nice titanium frame. Light and fast without the need to watch for stress cracks.
Canyon had a "do not ride" order on many of their Speedmax bikes because the carbon fibre steering tube was fracturing. Something was scoring the tube, so every turn was potentially slightly weakening it. There are a few YouTube videos of steering tubes that were near failure.
I'm very nervous about buying a second-hand CF bike. I'd feel much happier with steel or titanium. But because everyone wants CF, they seem rarer in race / TT bikes.
If the "Russians out of Iran" thing is correct in some way, what happens to Russia's drone supplies for use in Ukraine, given that Ukr has been blowing up their major drone factories?
I would imagine Iran would need all its drones now anyway.
Labour have always been ahead of the Tories on this one too, but it has never stopped enough people voting Conservative
Not true, when Dave was in charge and in the Corbyn era the Tories regularly led on public services.
Heck at one point even Mrs May led Corbyn on the NHS!!!
In terms of NHS productivity, the Conservatives actually had a brilliant record. They increased it by 15% (1.6% per year) between 2010 and 2019 - that's much faster than what the private sector achieved.
Their failure was to cut prevention, public health and capital investment - so we have a highly effective hospital service only.
Given that prevention means stopping people from getting old, and people get old no matter what, that's a difficult problem to handle.
Demographics are changing either way.
The way to lower demand is to lower life expectancy, but nobody is going to strive to do that.
I know we disagree on this but the vast majority of the growing pressure on the NHS is not age related. It's growing at 3% in real terms per annum - that's simply far too fast to be explained by a bump in the demographic profile.
That's why I have the pessimistic view that a universal healthcare service is doomed to fail unless there is a punchy public health campaign to bring the general standard of health up significantly, or else start to restrict spending on treatments for preventable diseases or for those who are not looking after themselves.
Anyway, I'm off for 25k slow run. I've nearly lost my big toenail so that will probably offset the health gains...
Our age profile is growing too. Demand is overwhelmingly and exponentially set by age.
I'm 42 and I've set myself the goal of looking after myself since I turned 40, I've lost over 60 pounds by switching to my carnivore diet . . . But being in my 40s that has changed my interactions with the NHS from zero to zero.
Does the carnivore diet really work?
In one sense it’s just another fad that works by restricting calorie intake: The high fat intake probably helps with satiation, which is the main problem most dieters face - hunger is difficult to cope with. It’s also an expensive way to get your calories.
On the flip side, if it works for you then it works. Just make sure to supplement your diet with enough veggies to supply the essential bits and pieces you won’t get from meat alone - quite a few of the nuttier end of the US right wing “eating meat makes me more manly” brigade made themselves quite seriously ill due to things like vitamin C deficiency.
Expensive is relative.
Is meat expensive versus some other stuff? Yes, absolutely. On the other hand other choices aren't always cheaper.
Eg a pack of black pudding from Aldi is 99p. That will do my breakfast for a couple of days, or on the rare times I'm hungry after dinner I'll quickly cook a slice (25p). Most packets of crisps or sweets cost way more than 25p.
A kg of chicken thighs costs £6.50 at Aldi. That can do my lunch and evening meals for two days.
So £7.50 say for 3 meals a day, for 2 days. Just over a pound a meal.
A single McDonald's meal can cost £8.
A bag of Doritos as a snack, not a meal, can cost £2.50
WTF thinks after dinner , I fancy a slice of black pudding because it is cheap , or thinks multiple days dinner of battery hen thighs is yummy because they are dirt cheap. Fine if you like eating crap but what a f****ing life.
I never took you for a snob Malcolm. Personally I don't like Black Pudding - its a texture thing - but the vast majority of my friends think it is fab and would certainly have it as a snack if it were available.
Richard, I love black pudding but not at 9 pm when watching a film.
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
Jeremy Clarkson's documentary – The Greatest Raid of All – about the St Nazaire Raid of 1942, included a section on the founding of the Commandos and the move away from drills and parades (square-bashing). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zd0Oy8JyQ
(A question that has just occurred to me is whether the raid was perhaps counter-productive in the end but what do I know?)
Anyway, I suspect Trump's problem is that his best soldiers haven't done this since basic training many years ago.
There’s a dubious theory on Twitter that the slovenliness was a deliberate insult from the army to the orange C in C.
Re square bashing, the British state broadcaster was virtually orgasmic yesterday over the parade smartness and timing of HMG’s troops, so eye of the beholder I guess.
Labour have always been ahead of the Tories on this one too, but it has never stopped enough people voting Conservative
Not true, when Dave was in charge and in the Corbyn era the Tories regularly led on public services.
Heck at one point even Mrs May led Corbyn on the NHS!!!
In terms of NHS productivity, the Conservatives actually had a brilliant record. They increased it by 15% (1.6% per year) between 2010 and 2019 - that's much faster than what the private sector achieved.
Their failure was to cut prevention, public health and capital investment - so we have a highly effective hospital service only.
Given that prevention means stopping people from getting old, and people get old no matter what, that's a difficult problem to handle.
Demographics are changing either way.
The way to lower demand is to lower life expectancy, but nobody is going to strive to do that.
I know we disagree on this but the vast majority of the growing pressure on the NHS is not age related. It's growing at 3% in real terms per annum - that's simply far too fast to be explained by a bump in the demographic profile.
That's why I have the pessimistic view that a universal healthcare service is doomed to fail unless there is a punchy public health campaign to bring the general standard of health up significantly, or else start to restrict spending on treatments for preventable diseases or for those who are not looking after themselves.
Anyway, I'm off for 25k slow run. I've nearly lost my big toenail so that will probably offset the health gains...
Our age profile is growing too. Demand is overwhelmingly and exponentially set by age.
I'm 42 and I've set myself the goal of looking after myself since I turned 40, I've lost over 60 pounds by switching to my carnivore diet . . . But being in my 40s that has changed my interactions with the NHS from zero to zero.
Does the carnivore diet really work?
In one sense it’s just another fad that works by restricting calorie intake: The high fat intake probably helps with satiation, which is the main problem most dieters face - hunger is difficult to cope with. It’s also an expensive way to get your calories.
On the flip side, if it works for you then it works. Just make sure to supplement your diet with enough veggies to supply the essential bits and pieces you won’t get from meat alone - quite a few of the nuttier end of the US right wing “eating meat makes me more manly” brigade made themselves quite seriously ill due to things like vitamin C deficiency.
Expensive is relative.
Is meat expensive versus some other stuff? Yes, absolutely. On the other hand other choices aren't always cheaper.
Eg a pack of black pudding from Aldi is 99p. That will do my breakfast for a couple of days, or on the rare times I'm hungry after dinner I'll quickly cook a slice (25p). Most packets of crisps or sweets cost way more than 25p.
A kg of chicken thighs costs £6.50 at Aldi. That can do my lunch and evening meals for two days.
So £7.50 say for 3 meals a day, for 2 days. Just over a pound a meal.
A single McDonald's meal can cost £8.
A bag of Doritos as a snack, not a meal, can cost £2.50
WTF thinks after dinner , I fancy a slice of black pudding because it is cheap , or thinks multiple days dinner of battery hen thighs is yummy because they are dirt cheap. Fine if you like eating crap but what a f****ing life.
I never took you for a snob Malcolm. Personally I don't like Black Pudding - its a texture thing - but the vast majority of my friends think it is fab and would certainly have it as a snack if it were available.
Richard, I love black pudding but not at 9 pm when watching a film.
No black pudding supper Malc? And you call yourself a Scot.
About bike building. Had a long conversation with a roadie about carbon frames. The argument I couldn't rebut was 'lose the fork'. What you save with carbon can be replicated with a 5-10kg drop in weight. Then there is the failure mode on some forks.
Compromise and get a nice titanium frame. Light and fast without the need to watch for stress cracks.
Canyon had a "do not ride" order on many of their Speedmax bikes because the carbon fibre steering tube was fracturing. Something was scoring the tube, so every turn was potentially slightly weakening it. There are a few YouTube videos of steering tubes that were near failure.
I'm very nervous about buying a second-hand CF bike. I'd feel much happier with steel or titanium. But because everyone wants CF, they seem rarer in race / TT bikes.
Canyon has just opened an "Experience Center" 15 minutes drive from me. You go up, and they let you try out any of their bikes. I'm not going there, because I'd leave with a $5,000 bike. Or two.
Labour have always been ahead of the Tories on this one too, but it has never stopped enough people voting Conservative
Not true, when Dave was in charge and in the Corbyn era the Tories regularly led on public services.
Heck at one point even Mrs May led Corbyn on the NHS!!!
In terms of NHS productivity, the Conservatives actually had a brilliant record. They increased it by 15% (1.6% per year) between 2010 and 2019 - that's much faster than what the private sector achieved.
Their failure was to cut prevention, public health and capital investment - so we have a highly effective hospital service only.
Given that prevention means stopping people from getting old, and people get old no matter what, that's a difficult problem to handle.
Demographics are changing either way.
The way to lower demand is to lower life expectancy, but nobody is going to strive to do that.
I know we disagree on this but the vast majority of the growing pressure on the NHS is not age related. It's growing at 3% in real terms per annum - that's simply far too fast to be explained by a bump in the demographic profile.
That's why I have the pessimistic view that a universal healthcare service is doomed to fail unless there is a punchy public health campaign to bring the general standard of health up significantly, or else start to restrict spending on treatments for preventable diseases or for those who are not looking after themselves.
Anyway, I'm off for 25k slow run. I've nearly lost my big toenail so that will probably offset the health gains...
Our age profile is growing too. Demand is overwhelmingly and exponentially set by age.
I'm 42 and I've set myself the goal of looking after myself since I turned 40, I've lost over 60 pounds by switching to my carnivore diet . . . But being in my 40s that has changed my interactions with the NHS from zero to zero.
Does the carnivore diet really work?
In one sense it’s just another fad that works by restricting calorie intake: The high fat intake probably helps with satiation, which is the main problem most dieters face - hunger is difficult to cope with. It’s also an expensive way to get your calories.
On the flip side, if it works for you then it works. Just make sure to supplement your diet with enough veggies to supply the essential bits and pieces you won’t get from meat alone - quite a few of the nuttier end of the US right wing “eating meat makes me more manly” brigade made themselves quite seriously ill due to things like vitamin C deficiency.
Expensive is relative.
Is meat expensive versus some other stuff? Yes, absolutely. On the other hand other choices aren't always cheaper.
Eg a pack of black pudding from Aldi is 99p. That will do my breakfast for a couple of days, or on the rare times I'm hungry after dinner I'll quickly cook a slice (25p). Most packets of crisps or sweets cost way more than 25p.
A kg of chicken thighs costs £6.50 at Aldi. That can do my lunch and evening meals for two days.
So £7.50 say for 3 meals a day, for 2 days. Just over a pound a meal.
A single McDonald's meal can cost £8.
A bag of Doritos as a snack, not a meal, can cost £2.50
WTF thinks after dinner , I fancy a slice of black pudding because it is cheap , or thinks multiple days dinner of battery hen thighs is yummy because they are dirt cheap. Fine if you like eating crap but what a f****ing life.
I never took you for a snob Malcolm. Personally I don't like Black Pudding - its a texture thing - but the vast majority of my friends think it is fab and would certainly have it as a snack if it were available.
I think Malcolm point is that your friends choose it because they think it is fab, not because of cost
Still, that was Richard's response, I personally love black pudding but would never think about having it at 9 pm at night. It si a breakfast food or a starter with scallops, not an after dinner snack.
Have you done any kind of triathalon? I'm tempted by a sprint one.
I did my first one last year. I've done seven in total, with three so far this year (two sprints, one standard). However, I'm *slow*.
But i love doing them. More accurately, I love the training. Do it - it's great fun. A sprint isn't too difficult at all, and even if you finish Dead Forking Last, you still beat all those who couldn't be bothered to get up and race.
The people tend to be awesome and friendly as well.
Oh, and it's a good excuse to get a new bike ...
My bike is currently bust for the stupidest reason. I was cycling along and then the bolt holding the seatpost in place sheared off, and the seat and seatpost dropped into the frame (with by 90kgs on it). The frame is now cracked.
So I'm using my old commuter bike to keep the miles on. My plan is to buy a (moderately) expensive frame, and then shift the wheeds and components across, thus teaching me about bike building, and getting me a cool new carbon frame. (I like the look of the Specialized Aethos.)
My only concern is that I'll discover all my road bike components are incompatible with a 2025 frame.
I'm not sure what "moderately expensive" means to you?
For under £2k you could get a brand new well thought of 2025 model, which comes with little wear, space for ~32mm tyres and more modern places to fix bits of kit on, like mudguards etc.
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
Jeremy Clarkson's documentary – The Greatest Raid of All – about the St Nazaire Raid of 1942, included a section on the founding of the Commandos and the move away from drills and parades (square-bashing). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zd0Oy8JyQ
(A question that has just occurred to me is whether the raid was perhaps counter-productive in the end but what do I know?)
Anyway, I suspect Trump's problem is that his best soldiers haven't done this since basic training many years ago.
Surely they would have done the square-bashing in basic training, before joining the Commandos? (Or could you join the Commandos from outside the military?). Whatever, those troops looked as though they just didn't care. They were not even attempting to march. I could do better in school, and I spent ages with my leg in a cast...
As for the St Nazaire raid: I've seen similar debates over the Dambusters Raid. Was it worth it?
You simply cannot tell, as we cannot go back and do it again. But in a war you have to try some things, even if they fail. I was bemused by the people shocked that the first Challenger II got knocked out in Ukraine, or the first Abrams. Yes, it's a shame, but tanks are there to be put in danger's way. if you don't want to lose them, don't use them. And lose.
The effect of the raid was to destroy the dock so that Tirpitz was effectively confined to a Norweigan fjord but from there it had a huge psychological effect on Arctic convoys, especially the ill-fated PQ17, and diverted huge RAF and RN efforts to sink it over the next couple of years. It would probably have been easier to let it out into the open sea where the Home Fleet could have sunk it, like Bismarck and all the others.
Labour have always been ahead of the Tories on this one too, but it has never stopped enough people voting Conservative
Not true, when Dave was in charge and in the Corbyn era the Tories regularly led on public services.
Heck at one point even Mrs May led Corbyn on the NHS!!!
In terms of NHS productivity, the Conservatives actually had a brilliant record. They increased it by 15% (1.6% per year) between 2010 and 2019 - that's much faster than what the private sector achieved.
Their failure was to cut prevention, public health and capital investment - so we have a highly effective hospital service only.
Given that prevention means stopping people from getting old, and people get old no matter what, that's a difficult problem to handle.
Demographics are changing either way.
The way to lower demand is to lower life expectancy, but nobody is going to strive to do that.
I know we disagree on this but the vast majority of the growing pressure on the NHS is not age related. It's growing at 3% in real terms per annum - that's simply far too fast to be explained by a bump in the demographic profile.
That's why I have the pessimistic view that a universal healthcare service is doomed to fail unless there is a punchy public health campaign to bring the general standard of health up significantly, or else start to restrict spending on treatments for preventable diseases or for those who are not looking after themselves.
Anyway, I'm off for 25k slow run. I've nearly lost my big toenail so that will probably offset the health gains...
Our age profile is growing too. Demand is overwhelmingly and exponentially set by age.
I'm 42 and I've set myself the goal of looking after myself since I turned 40, I've lost over 60 pounds by switching to my carnivore diet . . . But being in my 40s that has changed my interactions with the NHS from zero to zero.
Does the carnivore diet really work?
In one sense it’s just another fad that works by restricting calorie intake: The high fat intake probably helps with satiation, which is the main problem most dieters face - hunger is difficult to cope with. It’s also an expensive way to get your calories.
On the flip side, if it works for you then it works. Just make sure to supplement your diet with enough veggies to supply the essential bits and pieces you won’t get from meat alone - quite a few of the nuttier end of the US right wing “eating meat makes me more manly” brigade made themselves quite seriously ill due to things like vitamin C deficiency.
Expensive is relative.
Is meat expensive versus some other stuff? Yes, absolutely. On the other hand other choices aren't always cheaper.
Eg a pack of black pudding from Aldi is 99p. That will do my breakfast for a couple of days, or on the rare times I'm hungry after dinner I'll quickly cook a slice (25p). Most packets of crisps or sweets cost way more than 25p.
A kg of chicken thighs costs £6.50 at Aldi. That can do my lunch and evening meals for two days.
So £7.50 say for 3 meals a day, for 2 days. Just over a pound a meal.
A single McDonald's meal can cost £8.
A bag of Doritos as a snack, not a meal, can cost £2.50
WTF thinks after dinner , I fancy a slice of black pudding because it is cheap , or thinks multiple days dinner of battery hen thighs is yummy because they are dirt cheap. Fine if you like eating crap but what a f****ing life.
I never took you for a snob Malcolm. Personally I don't like Black Pudding - its a texture thing - but the vast majority of my friends think it is fab and would certainly have it as a snack if it were available.
Richard, I love black pudding but not at 9 pm when watching a film.
No black pudding supper Malc? And you call yourself a Scot.
Lucky , I did partake of a few many years ago , that or steak pie supper but those days are long gone.
I'm never one to want to see the price of petrol go up, but if paying more for a litre of unleaded is the price we need to pay to see the elimination of the Iranian regime then I'm prepared to pay it.
I hope the Israelis smash the Iranian nuclear, industrial and oil refineries into dust unless or until there's regime change.
What about flattening Tehran, Gaza style?
How many people across the Middle East is Bibi allowed to kill since 0ctober 7th 2023? How many deaths has he sanctioned since he became Prime Minister? He will go down in history and one of the World's greatest monsters.
Now before you charge me with anti-Semitism, my concern is for Netanyahu's morality. I am not questioning Judaism or the right for Israel to exist.
So what you are basically saying is How many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died?
I am sure Netanyahu has no maximum number for the collateral death rate for Arabs and Persians. Quite possibly, the more the merrier.
I get that your think you're being clever with this asinine question but it has never been a part of just war theory to place an upper limit on casualties, and never will be.
What was the upper limit of Axis deaths for Churchill?
What was the upper limit of Japanese deaths for Truman and Roosevelt?
What was the upper limit of enemy deaths for Lloyd George and Asquith?
What was the upper limit of Confederate deaths for Lincoln?
The enemy in war stops dying when they surrender unconditionally. There is no numerical limit until then, never has been, never will be, so stop being so asinine.
About bike building. Had a long conversation with a roadie about carbon frames. The argument I couldn't rebut was 'lose the fork'. What you save with carbon can be replicated with a 5-10kg drop in weight. Then there is the failure mode on some forks.
Compromise and get a nice titanium frame. Light and fast without the need to watch for stress cracks.
Canyon had a "do not ride" order on many of their Speedmax bikes because the carbon fibre steering tube was fracturing. Something was scoring the tube, so every turn was potentially slightly weakening it. There are a few YouTube videos of steering tubes that were near failure.
I'm very nervous about buying a second-hand CF bike. I'd feel much happier with steel or titanium. But because everyone wants CF, they seem rarer in race / TT bikes.
Canyon has just opened an "Experience Center" 15 minutes drive from me. You go up, and they let you try out any of their bikes. I'm not going there, because I'd leave with a $5,000 bike. Or two.
You could always buy one for yourself. And one for me.
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
Jeremy Clarkson's documentary – The Greatest Raid of All – about the St Nazaire Raid of 1942, included a section on the founding of the Commandos and the move away from drills and parades (square-bashing). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zd0Oy8JyQ
(A question that has just occurred to me is whether the raid was perhaps counter-productive in the end but what do I know?)
Anyway, I suspect Trump's problem is that his best soldiers haven't done this since basic training many years ago.
Surely they would have done the square-bashing in basic training, before joining the Commandos? (Or could you join the Commandos from outside the military?). Whatever, those troops looked as though they just didn't care. They were not even attempting to march. I could do better in school, and I spent ages with my leg in a cast...
As for the St Nazaire raid: I've seen similar debates over the Dambusters Raid. Was it worth it?
You simply cannot tell, as we cannot go back and do it again. But in a war you have to try some things, even if they fail. I was bemused by the people shocked that the first Challenger II got knocked out in Ukraine, or the first Abrams. Yes, it's a shame, but tanks are there to be put in danger's way. if you don't want to lose them, don't use them. And lose.
The effect of the raid was to destroy the dock so that Tirpitz was effectively confined to a Norweigan fjord but from there it had a huge psychological effect on Arctic convoys, especially the ill-fated PQ17, and diverted huge RAF and RN efforts to sink it over the next couple of years. It would probably have been easier to let it out into the open sea where the Home Fleet could have sunk it, like Bismarck and all the others.
Labour have always been ahead of the Tories on this one too, but it has never stopped enough people voting Conservative
Not true, when Dave was in charge and in the Corbyn era the Tories regularly led on public services.
Heck at one point even Mrs May led Corbyn on the NHS!!!
In terms of NHS productivity, the Conservatives actually had a brilliant record. They increased it by 15% (1.6% per year) between 2010 and 2019 - that's much faster than what the private sector achieved.
Their failure was to cut prevention, public health and capital investment - so we have a highly effective hospital service only.
Given that prevention means stopping people from getting old, and people get old no matter what, that's a difficult problem to handle.
Demographics are changing either way.
The way to lower demand is to lower life expectancy, but nobody is going to strive to do that.
I know we disagree on this but the vast majority of the growing pressure on the NHS is not age related. It's growing at 3% in real terms per annum - that's simply far too fast to be explained by a bump in the demographic profile.
That's why I have the pessimistic view that a universal healthcare service is doomed to fail unless there is a punchy public health campaign to bring the general standard of health up significantly, or else start to restrict spending on treatments for preventable diseases or for those who are not looking after themselves.
Anyway, I'm off for 25k slow run. I've nearly lost my big toenail so that will probably offset the health gains...
Our age profile is growing too. Demand is overwhelmingly and exponentially set by age.
I'm 42 and I've set myself the goal of looking after myself since I turned 40, I've lost over 60 pounds by switching to my carnivore diet . . . But being in my 40s that has changed my interactions with the NHS from zero to zero.
Does the carnivore diet really work?
In one sense it’s just another fad that works by restricting calorie intake: The high fat intake probably helps with satiation, which is the main problem most dieters face - hunger is difficult to cope with. It’s also an expensive way to get your calories.
On the flip side, if it works for you then it works. Just make sure to supplement your diet with enough veggies to supply the essential bits and pieces you won’t get from meat alone - quite a few of the nuttier end of the US right wing “eating meat makes me more manly” brigade made themselves quite seriously ill due to things like vitamin C deficiency.
Expensive is relative.
Is meat expensive versus some other stuff? Yes, absolutely. On the other hand other choices aren't always cheaper.
Eg a pack of black pudding from Aldi is 99p. That will do my breakfast for a couple of days, or on the rare times I'm hungry after dinner I'll quickly cook a slice (25p). Most packets of crisps or sweets cost way more than 25p.
A kg of chicken thighs costs £6.50 at Aldi. That can do my lunch and evening meals for two days.
So £7.50 say for 3 meals a day, for 2 days. Just over a pound a meal.
A single McDonald's meal can cost £8.
A bag of Doritos as a snack, not a meal, can cost £2.50
WTF thinks after dinner , I fancy a slice of black pudding because it is cheap , or thinks multiple days dinner of battery hen thighs is yummy because they are dirt cheap. Fine if you like eating crap but what a f****ing life.
I never took you for a snob Malcolm. Personally I don't like Black Pudding - its a texture thing - but the vast majority of my friends think it is fab and would certainly have it as a snack if it were available.
I think Malcolm point is that your friends choose it because they think it is fab, not because of cost
Still, that was Richard's response, I personally love black pudding but would never think about having it at 9 pm at night. It si a breakfast food or a starter with scallops, not an after dinner snack.
You're missing out then. It's a tasty snack, I love it, and its not just cheap but tasty, convenient and quick in the air fryer.
Quick, tasty, cheap and convenient? What's not to like?
I'm never one to want to see the price of petrol go up, but if paying more for a litre of unleaded is the price we need to pay to see the elimination of the Iranian regime then I'm prepared to pay it.
I hope the Israelis smash the Iranian nuclear, industrial and oil refineries into dust unless or until there's regime change.
What about flattening Tehran, Gaza style?
How many people across the Middle East is Bibi allowed to kill since 0ctober 7th 2023? How many deaths has he sanctioned since he became Prime Minister? He will go down in history and one of the World's greatest monsters.
Now before you charge me with anti-Semitism, my concern is for Netanyahu's morality. I am not questioning Judaism or the right for Israel to exist.
So what you are basically saying is How many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died?
I am sure Netanyahu has no maximum number for the collateral death rate for Arabs and Persians. Quite possibly, the more the merrier.
I get that your think you're being clever with this asinine question but it has never been a part of just war theory to place an upper limit on casualties, and never will be.
What was the upper limit of Axis deaths for Churchill?
What was the upper limit of Japanese deaths for Truman and Roosevelt?
What was the upper limit of enemy deaths for Lloyd George and Asquith?
What was the upper limit of Confederate deaths for Lincoln?
The enemy in war stops dying when they surrender unconditionally. There is no numerical limit until then, never has been, never will be, so stop being so asinine.
I don't believe Truman, Roosevelt, Lloyd-George, Asquith and Lincoln were caught out by Max Hastings being overtly prejudiced about creeds and races they didn't like and can now use as human shields in order to keep themselves at arms length from the Israeli court system and custodial sentences.
And what a stupid thing to say. If you want to claim plausible deniability then you can't go around vetoing things (or saying you have at least) as then you're accountable for anything you haven't vetoed.
So moronic from my side of the fence, and moronic from the other side too.
Just an utter moron. The problem is he's an egotistical fool who wants every story to be about him, you can't make a story about you if you want plausible deniability though.
I'm never one to want to see the price of petrol go up, but if paying more for a litre of unleaded is the price we need to pay to see the elimination of the Iranian regime then I'm prepared to pay it.
I hope the Israelis smash the Iranian nuclear, industrial and oil refineries into dust unless or until there's regime change.
What about flattening Tehran, Gaza style?
How many people across the Middle East is Bibi allowed to kill since 0ctober 7th 2023? How many deaths has he sanctioned since he became Prime Minister? He will go down in history and one of the World's greatest monsters.
Now before you charge me with anti-Semitism, my concern is for Netanyahu's morality. I am not questioning Judaism or the right for Israel to exist.
So what you are basically saying is How many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died?
I am sure Netanyahu has no maximum number for the collateral death rate for Arabs and Persians. Quite possibly, the more the merrier.
I get that your think you're being clever with this asinine question but it has never been a part of just war theory to place an upper limit on casualties, and never will be.
What was the upper limit of Axis deaths for Churchill?
What was the upper limit of Japanese deaths for Truman and Roosevelt?
What was the upper limit of enemy deaths for Lloyd George and Asquith?
What was the upper limit of Confederate deaths for Lincoln?
The enemy in war stops dying when they surrender unconditionally. There is no numerical limit until then, never has been, never will be, so stop being so asinine.
I don't believe Truman, Roosevelt, Lloyd-George, Asquith and Lincoln were caught out by Max Hastings being overtly prejudiced about creeds and races they didn't like and can now use as human shields in order to keep themselves at arms length from the Israeli court system and custodial sentences.
What were their upper limits?
Or is upper limits a nonsense you've coined that doesn't exist in just war theory and never has?
Labour have always been ahead of the Tories on this one too, but it has never stopped enough people voting Conservative
Not true, when Dave was in charge and in the Corbyn era the Tories regularly led on public services.
Heck at one point even Mrs May led Corbyn on the NHS!!!
In terms of NHS productivity, the Conservatives actually had a brilliant record. They increased it by 15% (1.6% per year) between 2010 and 2019 - that's much faster than what the private sector achieved.
Their failure was to cut prevention, public health and capital investment - so we have a highly effective hospital service only.
Given that prevention means stopping people from getting old, and people get old no matter what, that's a difficult problem to handle.
Demographics are changing either way.
The way to lower demand is to lower life expectancy, but nobody is going to strive to do that.
I know we disagree on this but the vast majority of the growing pressure on the NHS is not age related. It's growing at 3% in real terms per annum - that's simply far too fast to be explained by a bump in the demographic profile.
That's why I have the pessimistic view that a universal healthcare service is doomed to fail unless there is a punchy public health campaign to bring the general standard of health up significantly, or else start to restrict spending on treatments for preventable diseases or for those who are not looking after themselves.
Anyway, I'm off for 25k slow run. I've nearly lost my big toenail so that will probably offset the health gains...
Our age profile is growing too. Demand is overwhelmingly and exponentially set by age.
I'm 42 and I've set myself the goal of looking after myself since I turned 40, I've lost over 60 pounds by switching to my carnivore diet . . . But being in my 40s that has changed my interactions with the NHS from zero to zero.
Does the carnivore diet really work?
In one sense it’s just another fad that works by restricting calorie intake: The high fat intake probably helps with satiation, which is the main problem most dieters face - hunger is difficult to cope with. It’s also an expensive way to get your calories.
On the flip side, if it works for you then it works. Just make sure to supplement your diet with enough veggies to supply the essential bits and pieces you won’t get from meat alone - quite a few of the nuttier end of the US right wing “eating meat makes me more manly” brigade made themselves quite seriously ill due to things like vitamin C deficiency.
Expensive is relative.
Is meat expensive versus some other stuff? Yes, absolutely. On the other hand other choices aren't always cheaper.
Eg a pack of black pudding from Aldi is 99p. That will do my breakfast for a couple of days, or on the rare times I'm hungry after dinner I'll quickly cook a slice (25p). Most packets of crisps or sweets cost way more than 25p.
A kg of chicken thighs costs £6.50 at Aldi. That can do my lunch and evening meals for two days.
So £7.50 say for 3 meals a day, for 2 days. Just over a pound a meal.
A single McDonald's meal can cost £8.
A bag of Doritos as a snack, not a meal, can cost £2.50
WTF thinks after dinner , I fancy a slice of black pudding because it is cheap , or thinks multiple days dinner of battery hen thighs is yummy because they are dirt cheap. Fine if you like eating crap but what a f****ing life.
I never took you for a snob Malcolm. Personally I don't like Black Pudding - its a texture thing - but the vast majority of my friends think it is fab and would certainly have it as a snack if it were available.
I think Malcolm point is that your friends choose it because they think it is fab, not because of cost
Still, that was Richard's response, I personally love black pudding but would never think about having it at 9 pm at night. It si a breakfast food or a starter with scallops, not an after dinner snack.
You're missing out then. It's a tasty snack, I love it, and its not just cheap but tasty, convenient and quick in the air fryer.
Quick, tasty, cheap and convenient? What's not to like?
The black pudding part. (Disclaimer: actually never tried it, don't like the look of it.)
Labour have always been ahead of the Tories on this one too, but it has never stopped enough people voting Conservative
Not true, when Dave was in charge and in the Corbyn era the Tories regularly led on public services.
Heck at one point even Mrs May led Corbyn on the NHS!!!
In terms of NHS productivity, the Conservatives actually had a brilliant record. They increased it by 15% (1.6% per year) between 2010 and 2019 - that's much faster than what the private sector achieved.
Their failure was to cut prevention, public health and capital investment - so we have a highly effective hospital service only.
Given that prevention means stopping people from getting old, and people get old no matter what, that's a difficult problem to handle.
Demographics are changing either way.
The way to lower demand is to lower life expectancy, but nobody is going to strive to do that.
I know we disagree on this but the vast majority of the growing pressure on the NHS is not age related. It's growing at 3% in real terms per annum - that's simply far too fast to be explained by a bump in the demographic profile.
That's why I have the pessimistic view that a universal healthcare service is doomed to fail unless there is a punchy public health campaign to bring the general standard of health up significantly, or else start to restrict spending on treatments for preventable diseases or for those who are not looking after themselves.
Anyway, I'm off for 25k slow run. I've nearly lost my big toenail so that will probably offset the health gains...
Our age profile is growing too. Demand is overwhelmingly and exponentially set by age.
I'm 42 and I've set myself the goal of looking after myself since I turned 40, I've lost over 60 pounds by switching to my carnivore diet . . . But being in my 40s that has changed my interactions with the NHS from zero to zero.
Does the carnivore diet really work?
In one sense it’s just another fad that works by restricting calorie intake: The high fat intake probably helps with satiation, which is the main problem most dieters face - hunger is difficult to cope with. It’s also an expensive way to get your calories.
On the flip side, if it works for you then it works. Just make sure to supplement your diet with enough veggies to supply the essential bits and pieces you won’t get from meat alone - quite a few of the nuttier end of the US right wing “eating meat makes me more manly” brigade made themselves quite seriously ill due to things like vitamin C deficiency.
Expensive is relative.
Is meat expensive versus some other stuff? Yes, absolutely. On the other hand other choices aren't always cheaper.
Eg a pack of black pudding from Aldi is 99p. That will do my breakfast for a couple of days, or on the rare times I'm hungry after dinner I'll quickly cook a slice (25p). Most packets of crisps or sweets cost way more than 25p.
A kg of chicken thighs costs £6.50 at Aldi. That can do my lunch and evening meals for two days.
So £7.50 say for 3 meals a day, for 2 days. Just over a pound a meal.
A single McDonald's meal can cost £8.
A bag of Doritos as a snack, not a meal, can cost £2.50
WTF thinks after dinner , I fancy a slice of black pudding because it is cheap , or thinks multiple days dinner of battery hen thighs is yummy because they are dirt cheap. Fine if you like eating crap but what a f****ing life.
I never took you for a snob Malcolm. Personally I don't like Black Pudding - its a texture thing - but the vast majority of my friends think it is fab and would certainly have it as a snack if it were available.
I think Malcolm point is that your friends choose it because they think it is fab, not because of cost
Still, that was Richard's response, I personally love black pudding but would never think about having it at 9 pm at night. It si a breakfast food or a starter with scallops, not an after dinner snack.
You're missing out then. It's a tasty snack, I love it, and its not just cheap but tasty, convenient and quick in the air fryer.
Quick, tasty, cheap and convenient? What's not to like?
The black pudding part. (Disclaimer: actually never tried it, don't like the look of it.)
A friend of mine serves it alongside salami and chorizo before dinner, uncooked. I mean, it's cooked already, but not cooked a second time. In that state, it's a more acquired taste.
And what a stupid thing to say. If you want to claim plausible deniability then you can't go around vetoing things (or saying you have at least) as then you're accountable for anything you haven't vetoed.
So moronic from my side of the fence, and moronic from the other side too.
Just an utter moron. The problem is he's an egotistical fool who wants every story to be about him, you can't make a story about you if you want plausible deniability though.
How many $Trump coins has the Supreme Spiritual Leader bought?
I'm having a bit of a mare at the moment. Managed to break an old component which is no longer in production, but it also turns out the rest of the groupset is incompatible with what's available.
My mechanic has given me the choice of a risky £150 bodge that might break mid tour/commute, or replacing everything for £500+. It's not my bike, but I did mess it up...
Ebay is your friend
The amount of 'new old stock' things that people keep lying around is amazing
I am always worried about buying parts of ebay for two reasons.
1) They are knock-offs 2) They have been knocked-off somebody elses bike / car when the owner parked it up to go to work.
Its hard enough navigating Amazon these days with all the fakes and very dodgy suppliers. Is it isn't sold by Amazon I now have to do a full companies house, google search, trust pilot, court records, etc to check if they appear to be legit.
Mostly stolen, I believe, on eBay
Amazon probably just as bad. Worse, because of “binning”, buying stuff from legitimate business, on Amazon, is hazardous.
What happens is that if a product is supposed to be the same, products from multiple suppliers are dumped in the same bin at the Amazon warehouse. So the fake memory cards go in the same bin as the legit ones.
When an order comes in, it’s filled by a dip into the bin. If you are unlucky…
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
What an utterly bizarre take. If you are seriously judging the US military’s competence on their ability to march/ wear wonderful uniforms etc such as at the trooping of the colour then please, please agree you will never accept being Minister of Defence.
The US military, in most areas are more competent than most nations on earth. There might be the odd battle group, regiment etc that, on a man to man basis, could beat their US equivalent but to suggest they aren’t competent based on a joke parade is definitely a “you problem”.
We are amazing at military parades, ask @Dura_Ace how much relevance it had to competence in Iraq or Afghanistan.
By all means criticise the US where it deserves it but to make a point on this basis is very weak. Maybe if they have to come and save Europe again you can write to the President and criticise their parade abilities whilst you are out on the front line.
I'm having a bit of a mare at the moment. Managed to break an old component which is no longer in production, but it also turns out the rest of the groupset is incompatible with what's available.
My mechanic has given me the choice of a risky £150 bodge that might break mid tour/commute, or replacing everything for £500+. It's not my bike, but I did mess it up...
Ebay is your friend
The amount of 'new old stock' things that people keep lying around is amazing
I am always worried about buying parts of ebay for two reasons.
1) They are knock-offs 2) They have been knocked-off somebody elses bike / car when the owner parked it up to go to work.
Its hard enough navigating Amazon these days with all the fakes and very dodgy suppliers. Is it isn't sold by Amazon I now have to do a full companies house, google search, trust pilot, court records, etc to check if they appear to be legit.
Mostly stolen, I believe, on eBay
Amazon probably just as bad. Worse, because of “binning”, buying stuff from legitimate business, on Amazon, is hazardous.
What happens is that if a product is supposed to be the same, products from multiple suppliers are dumped in the same bin at the Amazon warehouse. So the fake memory cards go in the same bin as the legit ones.
When an order comes in, it’s filled by a dip into the bin. If you are unlucky…
It is increasingly feeling like going on an 18-30 holiday and sleeping around without using protection....who knows what nastiness you are going to pick up.
About bike building. Had a long conversation with a roadie about carbon frames. The argument I couldn't rebut was 'lose the fork'. What you save with carbon can be replicated with a 5-10kg drop in weight. Then there is the failure mode on some forks.
I'm having a bit of a mare at the moment. Managed to break an old component which is no longer in production, but it also turns out the rest of the groupset is incompatible with what's available.
My mechanic has given me the choice of a risky £150 bodge that might break mid tour/commute, or replacing everything for £500+. It's not my bike, but I did mess it up...
Ebay is your friend
The amount of 'new old stock' things that people keep lying around is amazing
I am always worried about buying parts of ebay for two reasons.
1) They are knock-offs 2) They have been knocked-off somebody elses bike / car when the owner parked it up to go to work.
Its hard enough navigating Amazon these days with all the fakes and very dodgy suppliers. Is it isn't sold by Amazon I now have to do a full companies house, google search, trust pilot, court records, etc to check if they appear to be legit.
Mostly stolen, I believe, on eBay
Amazon probably just as bad. Worse, because of “binning”, buying stuff from legitimate business, on Amazon, is hazardous.
What happens is that if a product is supposed to be the same, products from multiple suppliers are dumped in the same bin at the Amazon warehouse. So the fake memory cards go in the same bin as the legit ones.
When an order comes in, it’s filled by a dip into the bin. If you are unlucky…
It is increasingly feeling like going on an 18-30 holiday and sleeping around without using protection....who knows what nastiness you are going to pick up.
Dunno about you but I spent half the day here. Did any other PB-ers visit? I thought I glimpsed @Richard_Tyndall but possibly imagining it
Coz it’s a spooky place
It might also be my new favourite place on earth
Because this is Trælanípa - the “slave cliff of Vágar” in the Faroes. Where the “floating lake” of Sørvágsvatn meets the sea and empties in a misty, endless waterfall, like a gutter in a storm. The cliff is thus named because this is where Vikings threw unwanted slaves - infirm, annoying - to their deaths
They clearly chose this place for a reason. It’s perfectly satanic. It’s not a rubbish bin for unwanted thralls, it’s a place of spectacle, a stage for ritual death, requiring a pilgrimage of murderers
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
Jeremy Clarkson's documentary – The Greatest Raid of All – about the St Nazaire Raid of 1942, included a section on the founding of the Commandos and the move away from drills and parades (square-bashing). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zd0Oy8JyQ
(A question that has just occurred to me is whether the raid was perhaps counter-productive in the end but what do I know?)
Anyway, I suspect Trump's problem is that his best soldiers haven't done this since basic training many years ago.
There’s a dubious theory on Twitter that the slovenliness was a deliberate insult from the army to the orange C in C.
Re square bashing, the British state broadcaster was virtually orgasmic yesterday over the parade smartness and timing of HMG’s troops, so eye of the beholder I guess.
Robert Graves recounted that when he was training Australian troops in France, in WWI, a deputation came to him. And asked if they could leave off all the square bashing, since they weren’t in the Guards and they wanted kill some Germans.
Graves replied that when they had as many battle honours as the Guards division, they could leave off square bashing.
His theory on drill was interesting, since he was pretty anti-military. He suggested that it was about training subconscious group action - making acting together instinctive.
If a company wants to build Britain’s roads, railways, hospitals or schools — then our new rules make sure they also create local jobs and growth for British workers.
I'm never one to want to see the price of petrol go up, but if paying more for a litre of unleaded is the price we need to pay to see the elimination of the Iranian regime then I'm prepared to pay it.
I hope the Israelis smash the Iranian nuclear, industrial and oil refineries into dust unless or until there's regime change.
What about flattening Tehran, Gaza style?
How many people across the Middle East is Bibi allowed to kill since 0ctober 7th 2023? How many deaths has he sanctioned since he became Prime Minister? He will go down in history and one of the World's greatest monsters.
Now before you charge me with anti-Semitism, my concern is for Netanyahu's morality. I am not questioning Judaism or the right for Israel to exist.
So what you are basically saying is How many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died?
I am sure Netanyahu has no maximum number for the collateral death rate for Arabs and Persians. Quite possibly, the more the merrier.
I get that your think you're being clever with this asinine question but it has never been a part of just war theory to place an upper limit on casualties, and never will be.
What was the upper limit of Axis deaths for Churchill?
What was the upper limit of Japanese deaths for Truman and Roosevelt?
What was the upper limit of enemy deaths for Lloyd George and Asquith?
What was the upper limit of Confederate deaths for Lincoln?
The enemy in war stops dying when they surrender unconditionally. There is no numerical limit until then, never has been, never will be, so stop being so asinine.
I don't believe Truman, Roosevelt, Lloyd-George, Asquith and Lincoln were caught out by Max Hastings being overtly prejudiced about creeds and races they didn't like and can now use as human shields in order to keep themselves at arms length from the Israeli court system and custodial sentences.
What were their upper limits?
Or is upper limits a nonsense you've coined that doesn't exist in just war theory and never has?
Your cavalier disregard for the value of life is quite discombobulating. Although your "let it rip" and to hell with the consequences during COVID caused consternation amongst some of us.
I agree that the notion of a maximum acceptable death toll is somewhat nebulous, although by the end of Netanyahu's current campaign which could take years to fulfil do you have a number that causes you concern? More than the Holocaust? More than the population of Israel? Or is it a case of whatever it takes to keep Bibi out of jail?
If a company wants to build Britain’s roads, railways, hospitals or schools — then our new rules make sure they also create local jobs and growth for British workers.
Our Plan for Change will get Britain building.
Can't be long until Gulags for Slags getting a re-airing.
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
What an utterly bizarre take. If you are seriously judging the US military’s competence on their ability to march/ wear wonderful uniforms etc such as at the trooping of the colour then please, please agree you will never accept being Minister of Defence.
(Snip)
What do you think the purpose of the parade was? Was it a jolly carnival, or was it supposed to show the current American forces at their best to American and the world? If the former, fair enough. If the latter, then it was an epic fail. And will have been seen as such in every country that can actually organise parades. The reenactors were far better.
As it happens, I agree that the US military can be incredibly competent. This parade did not show any of that competence; in fact, it showed incompetence. Which was the point of my comment.
I always thought of Trump as a showman. That was not a show of martial power; it was a comedy.
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
Jeremy Clarkson's documentary – The Greatest Raid of All – about the St Nazaire Raid of 1942, included a section on the founding of the Commandos and the move away from drills and parades (square-bashing). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zd0Oy8JyQ
(A question that has just occurred to me is whether the raid was perhaps counter-productive in the end but what do I know?)
Anyway, I suspect Trump's problem is that his best soldiers haven't done this since basic training many years ago.
There’s a dubious theory on Twitter that the slovenliness was a deliberate insult from the army to the orange C in C.
Re square bashing, the British state broadcaster was virtually orgasmic yesterday over the parade smartness and timing of HMG’s troops, so eye of the beholder I guess.
Robert Graves recounted that when he was training Australian troops in France, in WWI, a deputation came to him. And asked if they could leave off all the square bashing, since they weren’t in the Guards and they wanted kill some Germans.
Graves replied that when they had as many battle honours as the Guards division, they could leave off square bashing.
His theory on drill was interesting, since he was pretty anti-military. He suggested that it was about training subconscious group action - making acting together instinctive.
Not sure it was “his theory”, it’s been the whole purpose behind drill since ancient times, from, phalanx to pike to musket, frankly the theory in the British army long before Graves was around and chaps wore red coats for battle.
Make movements and orders instinctive in your soldiers and you might win, if not then chaos and loss.
Dunno about you but I spent half the day here. Did any other PB-ers visit? I thought I glimpsed @Richard_Tyndall but possibly imagining it
Coz it’s a spooky place
It might also be my new favourite place on earth
Because this is Trælanípa - the “slave cliff of Vágar” in the Faroes. Where the “floating lake” of Sørvágsvatn meets the sea and empties in a misty, endless waterfall, like a gutter in a storm. The cliff is thus named because this is where Vikings threw unwanted slaves - infirm, annoying - to their deaths
They clearly chose this place for a reason. It’s perfectly satanic. It’s not a rubbish bin for unwanted thralls, it’s a place of spectacle, a stage for ritual death, requiring a pilgrimage of murderers
Good evening
Very apt given that you'd been chucked into the PB equivalent for talking about the booming bangs.
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
Jeremy Clarkson's documentary – The Greatest Raid of All – about the St Nazaire Raid of 1942, included a section on the founding of the Commandos and the move away from drills and parades (square-bashing). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zd0Oy8JyQ
(A question that has just occurred to me is whether the raid was perhaps counter-productive in the end but what do I know?)
Anyway, I suspect Trump's problem is that his best soldiers haven't done this since basic training many years ago.
There’s a dubious theory on Twitter that the slovenliness was a deliberate insult from the army to the orange C in C.
Re square bashing, the British state broadcaster was virtually orgasmic yesterday over the parade smartness and timing of HMG’s troops, so eye of the beholder I guess.
Robert Graves recounted that when he was training Australian troops in France, in WWI, a deputation came to him. And asked if they could leave off all the square bashing, since they weren’t in the Guards and they wanted kill some Germans.
Graves replied that when they had as many battle honours as the Guards division, they could leave off square bashing.
His theory on drill was interesting, since he was pretty anti-military. He suggested that it was about training subconscious group action - making acting together instinctive.
That is absolutely the point. It’s so the battalion (or whatever unit) acts as a single organism
If you have trained them for weeks to march in time to perfect precision then that unit will execute battlefield maneuvers with similar organised skill. It is not any different to a football or rugby team rehearsing set pieces. Or that is the theory anyway
It’s all rendered irrelevant by the advent of drones
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
What an utterly bizarre take. If you are seriously judging the US military’s competence on their ability to march/ wear wonderful uniforms etc such as at the trooping of the colour then please, please agree you will never accept being Minister of Defence.
(Snip)
What do you think the purpose of the parade was? Was it a jolly carnival, or was it supposed to show the current American forces at their best to American and the world? If the former, fair enough. If the latter, then it was an epic fail. And will have been seen as such in every country that can actually organise parades. The reenactors were far better.
As it happens, I agree that the US military can be incredibly competent. This parade did not show any of that competence; in fact, it showed incompetence. Which was the point of my comment.
I always thought of Trump as a showman. That was not a show of martial power; it was a comedy.
I think, based on the soldiers waving from vehicles to the re-enactment groups wearing revolutionary war, civil war and world war 2 outfits marching in it is was a jolly. If the US military wanted to show their forces at their best then it wouldn’t have been marching, it’s not really their strong suit.
Dunno about you but I spent half the day here. Did any other PB-ers visit? I thought I glimpsed @Richard_Tyndall but possibly imagining it
Coz it’s a spooky place
It might also be my new favourite place on earth
Because this is Trælanípa - the “slave cliff of Vágar” in the Faroes. Where the “floating lake” of Sørvágsvatn meets the sea and empties in a misty, endless waterfall, like a gutter in a storm. The cliff is thus named because this is where Vikings threw unwanted slaves - infirm, annoying - to their deaths
They clearly chose this place for a reason. It’s perfectly satanic. It’s not a rubbish bin for unwanted thralls, it’s a place of spectacle, a stage for ritual death, requiring a pilgrimage of murderers
Good evening
Very apt given that you'd been chucked into the PB equivalent for talking about the booming bangs.
No I wasn’t. I was apparently banned for something else entirely, which was not even in the rule book
It doesn’t matter. I had a pleasant break. The Faroes are utterly dismal and brilliant at the same time
Dunno about you but I spent half the day here. Did any other PB-ers visit? I thought I glimpsed @Richard_Tyndall but possibly imagining it
Coz it’s a spooky place
It might also be my new favourite place on earth
Because this is Trælanípa - the “slave cliff of Vágar” in the Faroes. Where the “floating lake” of Sørvágsvatn meets the sea and empties in a misty, endless waterfall, like a gutter in a storm. The cliff is thus named because this is where Vikings threw unwanted slaves - infirm, annoying - to their deaths
They clearly chose this place for a reason. It’s perfectly satanic. It’s not a rubbish bin for unwanted thralls, it’s a place of spectacle, a stage for ritual death, requiring a pilgrimage of murderers
Good evening
Very apt given that you'd been chucked into the PB equivalent for talking about the booming bangs.
No I wasn’t. I was apparently banned for something else entirely, which was not even in the rule book
It doesn’t matter. I had a pleasant break. The Faroes are utterly dismal and brilliant at the same time
The clips I've seen of the orange Taco's birthday parade make it seem utterly pathetic.
Are there any decent ones? Clips where the US military actually looks competent?
What an utterly bizarre take. If you are seriously judging the US military’s competence on their ability to march/ wear wonderful uniforms etc such as at the trooping of the colour then please, please agree you will never accept being Minister of Defence.
(Snip)
What do you think the purpose of the parade was? Was it a jolly carnival, or was it supposed to show the current American forces at their best to American and the world? If the former, fair enough. If the latter, then it was an epic fail. And will have been seen as such in every country that can actually organise parades. The reenactors were far better.
As it happens, I agree that the US military can be incredibly competent. This parade did not show any of that competence; in fact, it showed incompetence. Which was the point of my comment.
I always thought of Trump as a showman. That was not a show of martial power; it was a comedy.
I think, based on the soldiers waving from vehicles to the re-enactment groups wearing revolutionary war, civil war and world war 2 outfits marching in it is was a jolly. If the US military wanted to show their forces at their best then it wouldn’t have been marching, it’s not really their strong suit.
Then it's not a military parade, is it? It's a carnival or fair. And many parades held by various countries have more than passing nods to their country's great martial past - just look at the T-34s at previous Russian parades.
But this was sold as a parade, and other countries will be laughing at the US army's 'display'.
Dunno about you but I spent half the day here. Did any other PB-ers visit? I thought I glimpsed @Richard_Tyndall but possibly imagining it
Coz it’s a spooky place
It might also be my new favourite place on earth
Because this is Trælanípa - the “slave cliff of Vágar” in the Faroes. Where the “floating lake” of Sørvágsvatn meets the sea and empties in a misty, endless waterfall, like a gutter in a storm. The cliff is thus named because this is where Vikings threw unwanted slaves - infirm, annoying - to their deaths
They clearly chose this place for a reason. It’s perfectly satanic. It’s not a rubbish bin for unwanted thralls, it’s a place of spectacle, a stage for ritual death, requiring a pilgrimage of murderers
Good evening
Very apt given that you'd been chucked into the PB equivalent for talking about the booming bangs.
No I wasn’t. I was apparently banned for something else entirely, which was not even in the rule book
It doesn’t matter. I had a pleasant break. The Faroes are utterly dismal and brilliant at the same time
Ah OK. Glad you're enjoying.
If you want an absolutely mad and different holiday then the Faroes is the place
The weather is exceptionally unpleasant. It’s the second most sunless place on Earth after southwest Alaska. Thorshavn gets about 850 hours of sun a year
The Icelandics used to regard its weather as unusually grim. The icelandics!
And yet the landscapes, the people, the weirdness, the bathrooms ALL with heated floors, the amazing fish…
About bike building. Had a long conversation with a roadie about carbon frames. The argument I couldn't rebut was 'lose the fork'. What you save with carbon can be replicated with a 5-10kg drop in weight. Then there is the failure mode on some forks.
If a company wants to build Britain’s roads, railways, hospitals or schools — then our new rules make sure they also create local jobs and growth for British workers.
Our Plan for Change will get Britain building.
There is a theory that overuse of em dashes is a sign of AI-authorship.
I'm more concerned about what the Prime Minister has in mind. What is meant by creating growth for British workers (assuming it means anything at all, which I doubt)?
Comments
Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's supreme leader, US officials say
https://x.com/Reuters/status/1934286590156685405
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cje7edx5wzwo
"HS2 reports subcontractor over alleged fraud"
Boelter said he named “his five children after Christian virtues, Grace, Faith, Hope, Joy, and David, in what he calls a testament to God's blessings on his life.” Ah, yes, the Christian value of Dave.
https://bsky.app/profile/beyerstein.bsky.social/post/3lrnuyhvpcs2p
Fortunately, it had disc brakes, so it should be OK.
But if you're doing a sprint, you could do it on your old commuter bike - they're only 20 or 25km. When I did St Neots back in May, a lady was doing the standard distance (40km) on what appeared to be a fold-up bike. She wasn't that fast, but she seemed to be loving it, as were the crowds. My own bike is a £450 Halfords jobbie. which, to be fair, has been rather good as a starter bike.
Refraining from giving is not taking. And refraining from taking is not giving (except to socialists).
Journalists like u-turn stories because the readers do. No great mystery.
I think I value the better newspapers at about £100 per year. If they were what they once were then £250, perhaps more.
Newspapers like anyone else need to do market segmentation: and the biggest split is geography. You might persuade a Briton to pay £250 per year for The Times but an Australian or American only £50.
I share my parents account. They (The Times) don't care so far.
It comes down to simple trust in politicians and their ability to stand by their decisions, rather than to bend and sway to popular opinions
Starmer has been notable poor on this subject
And on your point about flight cancellation I would still feel badly at their handling of it
THG = The Hut Group....they are behind a load of brands like MyProtein and famous for the price of his protein bar is £5, but use a coupon and you get 50% off, but it only last for today, then they spam you 10 times a day with other coupon offers. 2 week later, that bar is again 50% off....
But I can highly recommend building your own bike - the main reason I've bought upgrades for mine over the years is that I enjoy stripping and rebuilding it.
If Iran does end up with a nuke, I guess it's all Trump's fault now.
Treat a heavier bike like do pulls ups with weights.
My mechanic has given me the choice of a risky £150 bodge that might break mid tour/commute, or replacing everything for £500+. It's not my bike, but I did mess it up...
The amount of 'new old stock' things that people keep lying around is amazing
1) They are knock-offs
2) They have been knocked-off somebody elses bike / car when the owner parked it up to go to work.
Its hard enough navigating Amazon these days with all the fakes and very dodgy suppliers. Is it isn't sold by Amazon I now have to do a full companies house, google search, trust pilot, court records, etc to check if they appear to be legit.
"Huge Clashes Across US As Anti-Americans Attack Troops"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MIa5cZU3KQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zd0Oy8JyQ
(A question that has just occurred to me is whether the raid was perhaps counter-productive in the end but what do I know?)
Anyway, I suspect Trump's problem is that his best soldiers haven't done this since basic training many years ago.
Fuel duty isn't even charged as a percentage - it's a flat rate. So it's less likely to exacerbate inflation that other taxes - if we get a massive oil shock from Iran, the fuel duty proportion of the cost will actually fall, not stay fixed like VAT.
When I see a donation link I will drop some of the money I am not having to pay the Telegraph into the PB server-fund.
https://road.cc/content/news/doctor-paralysed-after-planet-x-failure-wins-ps45m-payout-313877
Compromise and get a nice titanium frame. Light and fast without the need to watch for stress cracks.
As for the St Nazaire raid: I've seen similar debates over the Dambusters Raid. Was it worth it?
You simply cannot tell, as we cannot go back and do it again. But in a war you have to try some things, even if they fail. I was bemused by the people shocked that the first Challenger II got knocked out in Ukraine, or the first Abrams. Yes, it's a shame, but tanks are there to be put in danger's way. if you don't want to lose them, don't use them. And lose.
Iran, of course. The auto-incorrect intervened.
If the "Russians out of Iran" thing is correct in some way, what happens to Russia's drone supplies for use in Ukraine, given that Ukr has been blowing up their major drone factories?
https://www.gov.uk/product-safety-alerts-reports-recalls/product-recall-canyon-speedmax-cf-bicycles-2411-0071
I'm very nervous about buying a second-hand CF bike. I'd feel much happier with steel or titanium. But because everyone wants CF, they seem rarer in race / TT bikes.
Re square bashing, the British state broadcaster was virtually orgasmic yesterday over the parade smartness and timing of HMG’s troops, so eye of the beholder I guess.
For under £2k you could get a brand new well thought of 2025 model, which comes with little wear, space for ~32mm tyres and more modern places to fix bits of kit on, like mudguards etc.
eg https://road.cc/content/review/boardman-slr-90-carbon-313653
If you wanted to wait a few months, they would be around with discounts from perhaps November to January, as next year's will be around.
Or from the "one bike for work each year" crowd selling a nearly new one on.
What was the upper limit of Axis deaths for Churchill?
What was the upper limit of Japanese deaths for Truman and Roosevelt?
What was the upper limit of enemy deaths for Lloyd George and Asquith?
What was the upper limit of Confederate deaths for Lincoln?
The enemy in war stops dying when they surrender unconditionally. There is no numerical limit until then, never has been, never will be, so stop being so asinine.
And one for me.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03n3297/pq17-an-arctic-convoy-disaster
Quick, tasty, cheap and convenient? What's not to like?
And what a stupid thing to say. If you want to claim plausible deniability then you can't go around vetoing things (or saying you have at least) as then you're accountable for anything you haven't vetoed.
So moronic from my side of the fence, and moronic from the other side too.
Just an utter moron. The problem is he's an egotistical fool who wants every story to be about him, you can't make a story about you if you want plausible deniability though.
Or is upper limits a nonsense you've coined that doesn't exist in just war theory and never has?
Amazon probably just as bad. Worse, because of “binning”, buying stuff from legitimate business, on Amazon, is hazardous.
What happens is that if a product is supposed to be the same, products from multiple suppliers are dumped in the same bin at the Amazon warehouse. So the fake memory cards go in the same bin as the legit ones.
When an order comes in, it’s filled by a dip into the bin. If you are unlucky…
The US military, in most areas are more competent than most nations on earth. There might be the odd battle group, regiment etc that, on a man to man basis, could beat their US equivalent but to suggest they aren’t competent based on a joke parade is definitely a “you problem”.
We are amazing at military parades, ask @Dura_Ace how much relevance it had to competence in Iraq or Afghanistan.
By all means criticise the US where it deserves it but to make a point on this basis is very weak. Maybe if they have to come and save Europe again you can write to the President and criticise their parade abilities whilst you are out on the front line.
https://x.com/LeftieStats/status/1934288861389029684
🚨 Who would you trust to run the economy?
🔵 Jeremy Hunt – 62% (+3)
🔴 Rachel Reeves – 38% (-3)
Via
@MoreinCommon_
, June 2025 (+/- vs March)
Coz it’s a spooky place
It might also be my new favourite place on earth
Because this is Trælanípa - the “slave cliff of Vágar” in the Faroes. Where the “floating lake” of Sørvágsvatn meets the sea and empties in a misty, endless waterfall, like a gutter in a storm. The cliff is thus named because this is where Vikings threw unwanted slaves - infirm, annoying - to their deaths
They clearly chose this place for a reason. It’s perfectly satanic. It’s not a rubbish bin for unwanted thralls, it’s a place of spectacle, a stage for ritual death, requiring a pilgrimage of murderers
Good evening
Mr Blobby vs Rachel Reeves
Ant / Dec vs Rachel Reeves
Brenda from Bristol vs Rachel Reeves
Graves replied that when they had as many battle honours as the Guards division, they could leave off square bashing.
His theory on drill was interesting, since he was pretty anti-military. He suggested that it was about training subconscious group action - making acting together instinctive.
https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1934250894767391067
If a company wants to build Britain’s roads, railways, hospitals or schools — then our new rules make sure they also create local jobs and growth for British workers.
Our Plan for Change will get Britain building.
I agree that the notion of a maximum acceptable death toll is somewhat nebulous, although by the end of Netanyahu's current campaign which could take years to fulfil do you have a number that causes you concern? More than the Holocaust? More than the population of Israel? Or is it a case of whatever it takes to keep Bibi out of jail?
As it happens, I agree that the US military can be incredibly competent. This parade did not show any of that competence; in fact, it showed incompetence. Which was the point of my comment.
I always thought of Trump as a showman. That was not a show of martial power; it was a comedy.
Stride has fluffed it. He's not lazy and inactive but his public acticity seems to make things worse.
Make movements and orders instinctive in your soldiers and you might win, if not then chaos and loss.
If you have trained them for weeks to march in time to perfect precision then that unit will execute battlefield maneuvers with similar organised skill. It is not any different to a football or rugby team rehearsing set pieces. Or that is the theory anyway
It’s all rendered irrelevant by the advent of drones
It doesn’t matter. I had a pleasant break. The Faroes are utterly dismal and brilliant at the same time
Republicans against Trump
@RpsAgainstTrump
Trump says he’s “open” to Vladimir Putin serving as a mediator in the Israel–Iran conflict:
But this was sold as a parade, and other countries will be laughing at the US army's 'display'.
The weather is exceptionally unpleasant. It’s the second most sunless place on Earth after southwest Alaska. Thorshavn gets about 850 hours of sun a year
The Icelandics used to regard its weather as unusually grim. The icelandics!
And yet the landscapes, the people, the weirdness, the bathrooms ALL with heated floors, the amazing fish…
I'm more concerned about what the Prime Minister has in mind. What is meant by creating growth for British workers (assuming it means anything at all, which I doubt)?