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Could an Aberdeenshire hotelier become our Prime Minister? – politicalbetting.com

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  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 32,842

    I wouldn't be astonished to see a poll soon showing the Tories in fifth place.

    Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (21-22 Sep 2025)

    Reform: 29% (no change from 14-15 Sep)
    Lab: 21% (+1)
    Con: 16% (-1)
    Lib Dem: 14% (-1)
    Green: 12% (+2)
    SNP: 3% (=)


    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1970449019488084126

    Not a chance Labour have added a point. Have they been furiously fiddling with their methodology again?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 75,463

    ydoethur said:

    Could be worse, our bowling attack could be Fraser, Mulalley, Sailsbury and Malcolm with Chris Lewis as all rounder

    That's fighting talk, Angus Fraser would have been one of England's all time greats if the schedule hadn't ruined him.

    He would have thrived under central contracts.
    He made WG Grace look athletic. Filthy carthorse
    WG Grace was a champion hurdler in his youth.
    Angus was the hurdle!
    Careful. He might take a fence.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,888
    edited September 23

    MattW said:

    Can't get LBC in Mid Wales so have 5Live on. The utter drongo on now very, very critical of Davey. He is particularly annoyed that Davey mentioned Farage 30 times and Starmer not once, and that the BBC have given Farage a free ride for the last decade. A young guy, very angry with Davey, who is he?

    Drongo is a word I have not heard for a few years.
    Common in my youth in Birmingham.

    Is it a Brummie word?
    Quite possibly bab. Also commonly used in Aussie but I heard it in a time before Neighbours.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 57,409

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    It’s nothing to do with teams.

    As Charles Carmada said (ex-astronaut, and engineer who specialised in hypersonic heat shielding at NASA) - “Bill Nelson, Pam Melroy and the entire leadership team at NASA should be ashamed”

    See also the comments from Ed Pope, whose being doing this kind of stuff for 30 years.

    Just twiddling the re-entry a bit and trying again, *with people on board*, is barking.

    It’s reminds me of Ares I and the bullshit about SRB safety.
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 6,476

    I wouldn't be astonished to see a poll soon showing the Tories in fifth place.

    Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (21-22 Sep 2025)

    Reform: 29% (no change from 14-15 Sep)
    Lab: 21% (+1)
    Con: 16% (-1)
    Lib Dem: 14% (-1)
    Green: 12% (+2)
    SNP: 3% (=)


    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1970449019488084126

    Not a chance Labour have added a point. Have they been furiously fiddling with their methodology again?
    It’s MOE . The polls have been pretty static for ages .
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,888

    nico67 said:

    Telegraph now also covering the 700 grand cover up story.
    I suspect McSweeney will go fairly soon

    Good riddance to him .
    Maybe I dreamt it but I'm pretty sure this story about admin errors and electoral commission and £700k and Sweeney was doing the rounds months ago.

    The Tories and the Tory adjacent client media have already had two scalps. They are on a hatrick.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654

    ydoethur said:

    Could be worse, our bowling attack could be Fraser, Mulalley, Sailsbury and Malcolm with Chris Lewis as all rounder

    That's fighting talk, Angus Fraser would have been one of England's all time greats if the schedule hadn't ruined him.

    He would have thrived under central contracts.
    He made WG Grace look athletic. Filthy carthorse
    WG Grace was a champion hurdler in his youth.
    My dad knew someone who played against him.
    You can do 'played against/with someone who played against/with' in first class cricket in 7 steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace
  • Clutch_BromptonClutch_Brompton Posts: 783
    edited September 23
    OT - TBF Trump probably does have a better chance of becoming PM than the apparently permanently befuddled Jacob Rees-Mogg.
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,817
    stodge said:

    viewcode said:

    Sean_F said:

    IanB2 said:

    Meanwhile, research from Eurostat and the ONS in the Guardian:


    I'm not sure that a UK population of 86m should be considered desirable.
    I've seen The Economist in the past argue for 100m and suggest any cultural problems it causes could be solved by English lessons.
    ...and everybody breathing in and standing on tippy-toe
    We're going to be at 72 million by 2032 (if current projections are accurate).

    There's room for 100 million - there are 42,680 per sq mile in Tower Hamlets and in my neck of the woods (Newham) it's 25,660 per square mile in Newham while West Devon has 130. The area of West Devon is 448 square miles so to have the same density as Newham it would have a population of 12 million while it has 58,000 so accommodating 100 million wouldn't in theory be a problem.

    I'm NOT advocating it - simply there's room.

    Bangladesh has 170 million people in a country whose area is not much larger than England.
    Though, of couse, Bangladesh is another nation that's likely to be in population decline by 2100.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 75,463
    Foss said:

    stodge said:

    viewcode said:

    Sean_F said:

    IanB2 said:

    Meanwhile, research from Eurostat and the ONS in the Guardian:


    I'm not sure that a UK population of 86m should be considered desirable.
    I've seen The Economist in the past argue for 100m and suggest any cultural problems it causes could be solved by English lessons.
    ...and everybody breathing in and standing on tippy-toe
    We're going to be at 72 million by 2032 (if current projections are accurate).

    There's room for 100 million - there are 42,680 per sq mile in Tower Hamlets and in my neck of the woods (Newham) it's 25,660 per square mile in Newham while West Devon has 130. The area of West Devon is 448 square miles so to have the same density as Newham it would have a population of 12 million while it has 58,000 so accommodating 100 million wouldn't in theory be a problem.

    I'm NOT advocating it - simply there's room.

    Bangladesh has 170 million people in a country whose area is not much larger than England.
    Though, of couse, Bangladesh is another nation that's likely to be in population decline by 2100.
    And territorial decline as well...
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,888

    I wouldn't be astonished to see a poll soon showing the Tories in fifth place.

    Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (21-22 Sep 2025)

    Reform: 29% (no change from 14-15 Sep)
    Lab: 21% (+1)
    Con: 16% (-1)
    Lib Dem: 14% (-1)
    Green: 12% (+2)
    SNP: 3% (=)


    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1970449019488084126

    Not a chance Labour have added a point. Have they been furiously fiddling with their methodology again?
    I dunno. When Goodwin posts a FON poll which has Labour on circa 15% with RefCon on 50% it has to be gold standard, and on every one of the two dozen times it gets posted. Labour or the LDs grab an MoE point and for you right wingers the methodology must be faulty.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 75,463

    I wouldn't be astonished to see a poll soon showing the Tories in fifth place.

    Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (21-22 Sep 2025)

    Reform: 29% (no change from 14-15 Sep)
    Lab: 21% (+1)
    Con: 16% (-1)
    Lib Dem: 14% (-1)
    Green: 12% (+2)
    SNP: 3% (=)


    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1970449019488084126

    Not a chance Labour have added a point. Have they been furiously fiddling with their methodology again?
    Never heard it called that before.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,420
    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,202
    I may be late with this story but herewith an update.. More sleaze and lies from Labour.

    Starmer's chief of staff and £700k 'admin error' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15126587/Starmer-Chief-Staff-700k-admin-error-Bombshell-leaked-email-Labour-lawyer-Morgan-McSweeney-700-000-donations.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 56,071

    MattW said:

    Can't get LBC in Mid Wales so have 5Live on. The utter drongo on now very, very critical of Davey. He is particularly annoyed that Davey mentioned Farage 30 times and Starmer not once, and that the BBC have given Farage a free ride for the last decade. A young guy, very angry with Davey, who is he?

    Drongo is a word I have not heard for a few years.
    Common in my youth in Birmingham.

    Is it a Brummie word?
    It is originally a glossy black bird, like a small crow. Plenty in the Indian sub-continent - so maybe that's the source of it coming into English useage?
  • I wouldn't be astonished to see a poll soon showing the Tories in fifth place.

    Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (21-22 Sep 2025)

    Reform: 29% (no change from 14-15 Sep)
    Lab: 21% (+1)
    Con: 16% (-1)
    Lib Dem: 14% (-1)
    Green: 12% (+2)
    SNP: 3% (=)


    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1970449019488084126

    Not a chance Labour have added a point. Have they been furiously fiddling with their methodology again?
    I dunno. When Goodwin posts a FON poll which has Labour on circa 15% with RefCon on 50% it has to be gold standard, and on every one of the two dozen times it gets posted. Labour or the LDs grab an MoE point and for you right wingers the methodology must be faulty.
    Smithson's First Law Of Polling, isn't it?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 56,071
    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    Only Trump can prevent it...
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 56,071
    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    He's FINALLY seeing that backing Ukraine is his way to land a Nobel Peace Prize...
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,888

    I may be late with this story but herewith an update.. More sleaze and lies from Labour.

    Starmer's chief of staff and £700k 'admin error' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15126587/Starmer-Chief-Staff-700k-admin-error-Bombshell-leaked-email-Labour-lawyer-Morgan-McSweeney-700-000-donations.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton

    A few days late, but it reappeared earlier in this thread, but this time you have quoted the Mail.

    If it results in the useless McSweeney falling on his sword, post away.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 56,071
    Sems there's a fortune to be made as an administrator for senior Labour figures. None of them can administer their way out a paper bag without "errors".

  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 75,463

    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    He's FINALLY seeing that backing Ukraine is his way to land a Nobel Peace Prize...
    Or alternatively, he's doing what he's always done and saying whatever he thinks the audience he's trying to pitch to wants to hear.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 15,608

    Andy_JS said:

    I wouldn't be astonished to see a poll soon showing the Tories in fifth place.

    Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (21-22 Sep 2025)

    Reform: 29% (no change from 14-15 Sep)
    Lab: 21% (+1)
    Con: 16% (-1)
    Lib Dem: 14% (-1)
    Green: 12% (+2)
    SNP: 3% (=)


    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1970449019488084126

    Ironically Kemi is the best leader they've had since John Major imo. Hopefully she can do something to turn the situation around.
    Everything is very flat atm, most likely boost if she gets one this year will come via the Budget and response. Or a currently unseen Reform collapse of any magnitude would benefit them, as would crossover with Labour in a series of polls filtering into the narrative
    The question of whether a Tory leader is any good has to be contextual. In the olden days a Tory opposition could hang around being modestly competent and combative, waiting for Labour to screw up so that they could retake their natural position in the universe.

    Not now. The test of whether Kemi is any good is whether under her leadership the voter can answer with crisp clarity these important questions:

    Are you and your party competent
    What are your distinctive and unique political beliefs
    How will you resolve the big political and economic questions

    As a Tory voter for 50 years my answers are:
    No; No idea; No idea.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 4,079

    OT - TBF Trump probably does have a better chance of becoming PM than the apparently permanently befuddled Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    You might like to think that but can you see Mr Trump standing as a candidate to be elected MP for Little Puddlesby or somewhere, which is the essential first step?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,791

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 1,681
    Guardian have fact-checked his UN speech, why bother?
    But then as my client hasn't been awarded any projects recently, I've also just readily agreed to do some entirely futile report.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,888

    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    He's FINALLY seeing that backing Ukraine is his way to land a Nobel Peace Prize...
    He's already resolved seven wars since January. Does he really need another to get his Nobel prize?

    It's been a busy day today too. He found a cure for autism ( don't consume paracetamol) and London is no longer subject to the Sharia legal system it was this morning.

    On more pressing matters, Liverpool Southampton is so far so dreary.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 1,681
    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    He's FINALLY seeing that backing Ukraine is his way to land a Nobel Peace Prize...
    Or alternatively, he's doing what he's always done and saying whatever he thinks the audience he's trying to pitch to wants to hear.
    Should be noted that he's not committing the US to support Ukraine.
  • isamisam Posts: 42,765
    REVEALED: Today we're taking the unprecedented step of publishing leaked legal advice given to Starmer’s Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney.

    It shows how authorities may have been misled over hundreds of thousands of pounds of donations used to install Starmer as Labour leader.

    https://x.com/conservatives/status/1970544603611746390?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,420
    @kaitlancollins
    Trump: "Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act."
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 1,681

    I may be late with this story but herewith an update.. More sleaze and lies from Labour.

    Starmer's chief of staff and £700k 'admin error' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15126587/Starmer-Chief-Staff-700k-admin-error-Bombshell-leaked-email-Labour-lawyer-Morgan-McSweeney-700-000-donations.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton

    A few days late, but it reappeared earlier in this thread, but this time you have quoted the Mail.

    If it results in the useless McSweeney falling on his sword, post away.
    Particularly if it ends the influence of Maurice "orange trump Labour" Glasman.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 15,608
    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    I remain extremely doubtful about the possibility of a human mission to Mars which both arrives on Mars and successfully returns to Earth. As I understand it the intention is to do this by 2030s. I don't think so.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,888
    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    He's FINALLY seeing that backing Ukraine is his way to land a Nobel Peace Prize...
    Or alternatively, he's doing what he's always done and saying whatever he thinks the audience he's trying to pitch to wants to hear.
    Are you sure he is that sophisticated? Just seemed like 56 minutes of rambling old bollocks to me.

    Interestingly on R4 PM the 56 minute speech was condensed down to a few incredibly impressive minutes. The edit was so good Trump sounded very credible. Evan and his guests then earnestly discussed the contents of the edit.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,420
    @cnn.com‬

    Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, is leaving the Justice Department, the attorney general and her deputy confirmed in statements provided to CNN.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,691
    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    Indeed, that's fair from a business POV.

    I've always been *exceptionally* bearish about The Boring Company, and I feel like my scepticism has been well-rewarded. ;)

    But I would quibble about optimistic timelines. The world has changed over the last two or three decades. Tesla has a massive technical debt with FSD that it has not yet filled, and which people have paid vast amounts of money for. Then there's the Roadster 2. Announced 14 years ago, with deposits being taken in 2017, when it was due for release in 2020. Five years later, and it is nowhere to be seen. They have taken many thousands of $50,000 deposits for something that is now many years late.

    There comes a time when that is no longer an entrepreneur being optimistic, and it becomes fraud.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 4,184
    Slightly disappointing that the Rapture appears to have gone AWOL again.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 6,798
    edited September 23

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    He's FINALLY seeing that backing Ukraine is his way to land a Nobel Peace Prize...
    Or alternatively, he's doing what he's always done and saying whatever he thinks the audience he's trying to pitch to wants to hear.
    Are you sure he is that sophisticated? Just seemed like 56 minutes of rambling old bollocks to me.

    Interestingly on R4 PM the 56 minute speech was condensed down to a few incredibly impressive minutes. The edit was so good Trump sounded very credible. Evan and his guests then earnestly discussed the contents of the edit.
    The BBC have really jumped the Trump/Reform shark. I can’t figure out whether they have a hidden agenda or a death wish.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 6,798

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Do you have a preferred order of Goatness?
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Do you have a preferred order of Goatness?
    Sir James and then your pleasure
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 4,079
    algarkirk said:

    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    I remain extremely doubtful about the possibility of a human mission to Mars which both arrives on Mars and successfully returns to Earth. As I understand it the intention is to do this by 2030s. I don't think so.
    Perhaps if the AI project turbo-charges the SpaceX development soon, it might be feasible. I'd be quite disappointed if the venture wasn't the result of human ingenuity, though.
  • Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Do you have a preferred order of Goatness?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4N0lRRvM3E
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,926
    edited September 23

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Thanks for this, I've been thinking about doing something similar myself for a while. Lucky that Anderson and Stewart just managed to overlap with each other.

    Another interesting cricket fact imo is that the only England player who played in the 80s, 90s and noughties is Mike Atherton.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654
    algarkirk said:

    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    I remain extremely doubtful about the possibility of a human mission to Mars which both arrives on Mars and successfully returns to Earth. As I understand it the intention is to do this by 2030s. I don't think so.
    Mars to stay is more feasible with any return infrastructure having to be built by the colonists so the first return journey might be 5 years to a decade after settlement
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,791

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    It might be possible to shorten it to five if you can bring in Geoffrey Boycott, simply because he played for such a long time.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 53,491

    Slightly disappointing that the Rapture appears to have gone AWOL again.

    Nah. Jesus just took a look around US Evangelicals and decided a quiet night in was in order...
  • Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Brian Close was still playing as late as 1986:

    https://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1986/NZ_IN_ENG/NZ_DB-CLOSE-XI_31AUG-02SEP1986.html

    Is there anyone who he played with in the 1980s who might have played against Jimmy Anderson ?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,888
    ...

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    When posters get double figure likes for posts like "Starmer is a w@nker" or "my dog got run over by a Ferrari this morning" your post deserves to go down in PB folklore history for its research and ingenuity.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 15,608

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Impressive. Much easier but still thought provoking is the simple overlap of lives, just because people live long. Those in their late 90s now were alive when Thomas Hardy was alive. When Thomas Hardy was young, Wordsworth was still alive. And so on.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 4,079

    Slightly disappointing that the Rapture appears to have gone AWOL again.

    Oh, was it [supposed to be] today?
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654
    edited September 23
    Andy_JS said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Thanks for this, I've been thinking about doing something similar myself for a while. Lucky that Anderson and Stewart just managed to overlap with each other.

    Another interesting cricket fact imo is that the only England player who played in the 80s, 90s and noughties is Mike Atherton.
    Yes Stewart and Hussein both debuted in Feb 1990 just missing the 80s
    Brian Close is a massive bridge and lucky that Wyatt went on post war. Gubby Allen also did but missed the Yorkshire game in 1949 so never played Close.
    Grace and Rhodes coinciding in retirement and debut is a lovely cricket wrinkle
  • algarkirk said:

    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    I remain extremely doubtful about the possibility of a human mission to Mars which both arrives on Mars and successfully returns to Earth. As I understand it the intention is to do this by 2030s. I don't think so.
    Mars to stay is more feasible with any return infrastructure having to be built by the colonists so the first return journey might be 5 years to a decade after settlement
    "Dumbass Colonists!"
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654

    ...

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    When posters get double figure likes for posts like "Starmer is a w@nker" or "my dog got run over by a Ferrari this morning" your post deserves to go down in PB folklore history for its research and ingenuity.
    Thank you :)
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 20,571
    Portillo posing with some deltic porn live on BBC2. Filth
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,888
    algarkirk said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Impressive. Much easier but still thought provoking is the simple overlap of lives, just because people live long. Those in their late 90s now were alive when Thomas Hardy was alive. When Thomas Hardy was young, Wordsworth was still alive. And so on.
    On a similar startling note, from today back to my birthday is a longer time frame than my birthday to Queen Victoria's reign- just!
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,691
    algarkirk said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Impressive. Much easier but still thought provoking is the simple overlap of lives, just because people live long. Those in their late 90s now were alive when Thomas Hardy was alive. When Thomas Hardy was young, Wordsworth was still alive. And so on.
    I've been a bit staggered this year to think that it's 200 years since the first 'proper' railway (*) opened, and I have been alive for over a quarter of that time.

    (*) Depending on the definition of what a 'railway' is. Please let's not go there...
  • Been busy for a few hours and miss a Trump as PM post. Appreciate @TSE rightly associating the fascist with the shire - better than that other golf course elsewhere.

    Time to fight the slide towards Trump-style fascism. Well said Ed Davey.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654
    algarkirk said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Impressive. Much easier but still thought provoking is the simple overlap of lives, just because people live long. Those in their late 90s now were alive when Thomas Hardy was alive. When Thomas Hardy was young, Wordsworth was still alive. And so on.
    I love these sorts of things. Like the 1950 US game show with the civil war veteran taking part
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 5,358
    Hmmm. The current File on 4 Investigates is somewhat incendiary...
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,448

    algarkirk said:

    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    I remain extremely doubtful about the possibility of a human mission to Mars which both arrives on Mars and successfully returns to Earth. As I understand it the intention is to do this by 2030s. I don't think so.
    Mars to stay is more feasible with any return infrastructure having to be built by the colonists so the first return journey might be 5 years to a decade after settlement
    So... 5 years to a decade after they die?
  • carnforth said:

    stodge said:

    viewcode said:

    Sean_F said:

    IanB2 said:

    Meanwhile, research from Eurostat and the ONS in the Guardian:


    I'm not sure that a UK population of 86m should be considered desirable.
    I've seen The Economist in the past argue for 100m and suggest any cultural problems it causes could be solved by English lessons.
    ...and everybody breathing in and standing on tippy-toe
    We're going to be at 72 million by 2032 (if current projections are accurate).

    There's room for 100 million - there are 42,680 per sq mile in Tower Hamlets and in my neck of the woods (Newham) it's 25,660 per square mile in Newham while West Devon has 130. The area of West Devon is 448 square miles so to have the same density as Newham it would have a population of 12 million while it has 58,000 so accommodating 100 million wouldn't in theory be a problem.

    I'm NOT advocating it - simply there's room.

    Bangladesh has 170 million people in a country whose area is not much larger than England.
    Fewer deltas here too...
    But more NIMBYs.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 68,334

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    He's FINALLY seeing that backing Ukraine is his way to land a Nobel Peace Prize...
    Or alternatively, he's doing what he's always done and saying whatever he thinks the audience he's trying to pitch to wants to hear.
    Are you sure he is that sophisticated? Just seemed like 56 minutes of rambling old bollocks to me.

    Interestingly on R4 PM the 56 minute speech was condensed down to a few incredibly impressive minutes. The edit was so good Trump sounded very credible. Evan and his guests then earnestly discussed the contents of the edit.
    The BBC have really jumped the Trump/Reform shark. I can’t figure out whether they have a hidden agenda or a death wish.
    It's the latter.

    Desperate to be "relevant" they are front loading and promoting the very people who will end them.

  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,448
    AnneJGP said:

    algarkirk said:

    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    I remain extremely doubtful about the possibility of a human mission to Mars which both arrives on Mars and successfully returns to Earth. As I understand it the intention is to do this by 2030s. I don't think so.
    Perhaps if the AI project turbo-charges the SpaceX development soon, it might be feasible. I'd be quite disappointed if the venture wasn't the result of human ingenuity, though.
    If it's human ingenuity that created the rockets, the metals, fuel, the maths, the computers, and then the AI to get us there - I think - overall - it's a net win for human ingenuity.
  • Andy_JS said:

    I wouldn't be astonished to see a poll soon showing the Tories in fifth place.

    Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (21-22 Sep 2025)

    Reform: 29% (no change from 14-15 Sep)
    Lab: 21% (+1)
    Con: 16% (-1)
    Lib Dem: 14% (-1)
    Green: 12% (+2)
    SNP: 3% (=)


    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1970449019488084126

    Ironically Kemi is the best leader they've had since John Major imo. Hopefully she can do something to turn the situation around.
    Nah. For all his faults, that was David Cameron.
    The best one since Major was May, sadly betrayed by the ERG.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654
    ohnotnow said:

    algarkirk said:

    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    I remain extremely doubtful about the possibility of a human mission to Mars which both arrives on Mars and successfully returns to Earth. As I understand it the intention is to do this by 2030s. I don't think so.
    Mars to stay is more feasible with any return infrastructure having to be built by the colonists so the first return journey might be 5 years to a decade after settlement
    So... 5 years to a decade after they die?
    No reason they should die, the habitats and provisions would have been sent in previous launch windows
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 5,821

    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    He's FINALLY seeing that backing Ukraine is his way to land a Nobel Peace Prize...
    He's already resolved seven wars since January. Does he really need another to get his Nobel prize?

    It's been a busy day today too. He found a cure for autism ( don't consume paracetamol) and London is no longer subject to the Sharia legal system it was this morning.

    On more pressing matters, Liverpool Southampton is so far so dreary.
    I'm more into the BBC fact check noting a prior social media rumour (which I missed at the time) that London was going going to introduce Shakira law. Now, that I could support.

    In fact, Shakira's hips for president - they don't lie.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 4,184
    AnneJGP said:

    Slightly disappointing that the Rapture appears to have gone AWOL again.

    Oh, was it [supposed to be] today?
    I thought so on the basis of previous posts here. Though would be funny if I'd got it wrong and it did subsequently turn up tomorrow.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,202

    I may be late with this story but herewith an update.. More sleaze and lies from Labour.

    Starmer's chief of staff and £700k 'admin error' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15126587/Starmer-Chief-Staff-700k-admin-error-Bombshell-leaked-email-Labour-lawyer-Morgan-McSweeney-700-000-donations.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton

    A few days late, but it reappeared earlier in this thread, but this time you have quoted the Mail.

    If it results in the useless McSweeney falling on his sword, post away.
    I am not on site as much as I used to be
    Politicians largely give me the pip.. Maybe its my age...
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,420
    @tennesseelookout.com‬

    BREAKING: former Tennessee house speaker Glen Casada has been sentenced to three years in federal prison, one year of probation and a $30,000 fine for his role in a kickback scheme.

    @thetnholler.bsky.social‬

    UPDATE — Former speaker Casada gets 3 years for corruption after Cothren got 2.5

    (Next Q: Will Trump pardon them?)
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,828
    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    Tesla robotics is pretty far advanced - probably the best in America, but behind the Chinese

    Grok is good
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,926
    Is 12 months an appropriate sentence?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp8j9em75n8t
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,448
    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    I was a bit surprised by his Tommy pop-up. I thought Elon had been pretty well slapped down by shareholders/backers about the politics stuff. Maybe it's fine if it's 'in foreign lands'.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 4,184
    edited September 23
    Pro_Rata said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @annmarie

    POTUS: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”

    https://x.com/annmarie/status/1970563985113260524

    He's FINALLY seeing that backing Ukraine is his way to land a Nobel Peace Prize...
    He's already resolved seven wars since January. Does he really need another to get his Nobel prize?

    It's been a busy day today too. He found a cure for autism ( don't consume paracetamol) and London is no longer subject to the Sharia legal system it was this morning.

    On more pressing matters, Liverpool Southampton is so far so dreary.
    I'm more into the BBC fact check noting a prior social media rumour (which I missed at the time) that London was going going to introduce Shakira law. Now, that I could support.

    In fact, Shakira's hips for president - they don't lie.
    Whenever, wherever would they do that?
  • CookieCookie Posts: 16,230

    AnneJGP said:

    Slightly disappointing that the Rapture appears to have gone AWOL again.

    Oh, was it [supposed to be] today?
    I thought so on the basis of previous posts here. Though would be funny if I'd got it wrong and it did subsequently turn up tomorrow.
    Yes, it was due today. Not sure about time but I'd imagine they'd schedule it for the tea time news in America.
  • algarkirk said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Impressive. Much easier but still thought provoking is the simple overlap of lives, just because people live long. Those in their late 90s now were alive when Thomas Hardy was alive. When Thomas Hardy was young, Wordsworth was still alive. And so on.
    On a similar startling note, from today back to my birthday is a longer time frame than my birthday to Queen Victoria's reign- just!
    FALSE TEETH FROM BEYOND THE STARS!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1cMpKjoNaI
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,817
    edited September 23
    Cookie said:

    AnneJGP said:

    Slightly disappointing that the Rapture appears to have gone AWOL again.

    Oh, was it [supposed to be] today?
    I thought so on the basis of previous posts here. Though would be funny if I'd got it wrong and it did subsequently turn up tomorrow.
    Yes, it was due today. Not sure about time but I'd imagine they'd schedule it for the tea time news in America.
    Perhaps it happened and we - and everyone we know - just weren't good enough people?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,828
    edited September 23

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Very good!

    It would be interesting to do a political Kevin Bacon on this

    "X was in a Cabinet with X who was in a Cabinet with Gladstone/Disraeli/Pitt/Wellington"
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 57,409

    algarkirk said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Impressive. Much easier but still thought provoking is the simple overlap of lives, just because people live long. Those in their late 90s now were alive when Thomas Hardy was alive. When Thomas Hardy was young, Wordsworth was still alive. And so on.
    I've been a bit staggered this year to think that it's 200 years since the first 'proper' railway (*) opened, and I have been alive for over a quarter of that time.

    (*) Depending on the definition of what a 'railway' is. Please let's not go there...
    #JusticeforΔίολκος
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,926
    "Last Surviving Grandson of President John Tyler, Who Took Office in 1841, Dies at 96
    When Harrison Ruffin Tyler’s grandfather was born 235 years ago in 1790, George Washington had just become the nation’s first president

    Harrison Ruffin Tyler, grandson of the tenth American president John Tyler, died on May 25"

    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/last-surviving-grandson-of-president-john-tyler-who-took-office-in-1841-dies-at-96-180986724/
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 5,358

    Hmmm. The current File on 4 Investigates is somewhat incendiary...

    Definitely thrown the Home Office under the bus.

    NHS appointments at the opposite ends of the country for asylum hotel residents (taxi, £300 each way) because they were registered elsewhere and then moved.

    WTF?
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 6,281
    This tweet from Kemi’s account shows just how low they’re falling. Scrambling to still be seen as The Opposition.

    https://x.com/kemibadenoch/status/1970492106973286450?s=46

    In the past year, the Lib Dems have backed Keir Starmer in Parliament over 120 times.

    They are not a serious opposition party.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 68,334
    Leon said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Very good!

    It would be interesting to do a political Kevin Bacon on this

    "X was in a Cabinet with X who was in a Cabinet with Gladstone/Disraeli/Pitt/Wellington"
    Churchill takes one, rather amazingly, in one x->y leap from the Liberal cabinet of around 1910 to the mid 1950s!!!
  • CookieCookie Posts: 16,230
    Foss said:

    Cookie said:

    AnneJGP said:

    Slightly disappointing that the Rapture appears to have gone AWOL again.

    Oh, was it [supposed to be] today?
    I thought so on the basis of previous posts here. Though would be funny if I'd got it wrong and it did subsequently turn up tomorrow.
    Yes, it was due today. Not sure about time but I'd imagine they'd schedule it for the tea time news in America.
    Perhaps it happened and we - and everyone we know - just weren't good enough people?
    My theology is a little rusty, but ISTR when the rapture comes, 40,000 will be called. I think we'd barely notice if the 40,000 Christianest people were to suddenly disappear.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 88,205
    edited September 23
    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    Tesla robotics is pretty far advanced - probably the best in America, but behind the Chinese

    Grok is good
    The top guy at Tesla robotics left last week for Meta. I presume he got one of those comedy sized cheques from Zuckerberg.

    xAI speed of going from zero to catching up with the rest is very impressive. Meta haven't managed that.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 6,281
    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Pulpstar said:

    More depressing news:

    "Nasa has said it hopes to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon as soon as February to prepare for landing there as early as 2027.... The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface."

    Cool! I hope it'll be a safe mission.
    Well, it's first time out for the life support system. It's never flown in space before.

    It's the first time out for this version of the heat shield. The spacecraft will be flying an adjusted trajectory to see if that mitigates the high and uneven erosion of the heat shield on the previous test flight.

    There's a whole bunch of other firsts as well.
    It'll still be safer than Starship will be for many years... ;)
    We shall see


    Firstly, there are lots and lots of piccies of SH/SS with damage and exploding.

    Secondly, be careful not to give the impression you want a crewed SLS mission to fail, just because you're on Team SS.

    Thirdly, I really don't see SS being man-rated for earth landings in the near future. Do you?
    A way to go yet, but ay least Musk is getting on with it. One of the good things about his other rocket - Falcon is it's done so many missions the crash odds are a statistical reality rather than a computer model extrapolation
    Musk is a bit of a hero in terms of his space efforts. He's advancing knowledge at a similar rate to that which NASA did in the 1960s. I think its about the finest commitment to the future of humanity ever made by an individual. In which light I can forgive him for quite a lot.
    I wholeheartedly agree. The prior poster further up has an irritatingly childish attitude to Musk and the achievement of his companies.
    I admire what SpaceX has done, but SH/SS is nowhere near where Musk promised in terms of time and capability. Tesla has not delivered what it promised wrt self-driving - nowhere near.

    And as for Musk himself: there is little positive to be said about him personally. You just need to look at what he said to Tommy's march to see some evidence of that.

    I do not have a 'childish' attitude towards Musk. I have an realistic attitude.
    To be fair "entrepreneur being optimistic about timelines" is not exactly front page news.

    The thing I would be most critical about is just how thin Musk has allowed himself to be spread, and that is impacting all his business decisions. He's got Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/xAI, politics, the Boring Company, and probably half a dozen other things. His inattention to Tesla has led him to being behind Chinese vendors, while getting far too excited about the Cybertruck (which is now selling less than -not very successful- Ford Lightning).

    Of his various ventures, the only one I'm genuinely excited by right now is SpaceX.
    Tesla robotics is pretty far advanced - probably the best in America, but behind the Chinese

    Grok is good
    No love for Neuralink? By the way I am heavily bet against rcs on tsla. We have rehearsed the argument many times. I have listened. And I am still financially very long my view.

    Spacex criticism I can’t take seriously. “Oh you liar you still haven’t founded a city on Mars!”.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654
    Leon said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Very good!

    It would be interesting to do a political Kevin Bacon on this

    "X was in a Cabinet with X who was in a Cabinet with Gladastone/Disraeli/Pitt/Wellington"
    Identifying big leaps is key to that. Obviously Churchill will be a key leap he gets you to Asquith and then Gladstone, the route back to Churchill goes through Ken Clarke I guess and somene In The 1980s cabinet that gets us to the pre 1966 cabinet?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 47,564

    AnneJGP said:

    Slightly disappointing that the Rapture appears to have gone AWOL again.

    Oh, was it [supposed to be] today?
    I thought so on the basis of previous posts here. Though would be funny if I'd got it wrong and it did subsequently turn up tomorrow.
    How will I recognise the Rapture?
  • isamisam Posts: 42,765
    Home secretary suffers humiliating defeat — refused permission even to appeal against the blocking of an Eritrean migrant’s deportation to France under the one in, one out scheme.
    Labour in opposition cheered on the courts when a Tory government was similarly thwarted by the courts. Labour-inclined lawyers and judges have championed judicial activism and growing lawfare.
    It is being hoist by its own petard.


    https://x.com/afneil/status/1970565397821747263?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
  • Leon said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Very good!

    It would be interesting to do a political Kevin Bacon on this

    "X was in a Cabinet with X who was in a Cabinet with Gladstone/Disraeli/Pitt/Wellington"
    Churchill takes one, rather amazingly, in one x->y leap from the Liberal cabinet of around 1910 to the mid 1950s!!!
    It's a shame that Quintin Hogg/Lord Hailsham didn't join the Cabinet a bit earlier, because then you could have got to 1987 in another single leap.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 5,358
    kinabalu said:

    AnneJGP said:

    Slightly disappointing that the Rapture appears to have gone AWOL again.

    Oh, was it [supposed to be] today?
    I thought so on the basis of previous posts here. Though would be funny if I'd got it wrong and it did subsequently turn up tomorrow.
    How will I recognise the Rapture?
    The blameless and innocent will all have disappeared.

    Oops. No change then...
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 7,370
    isam said:

    Home secretary suffers humiliating defeat — refused permission even to appeal against the blocking of an Eritrean migrant’s deportation to France under the one in, one out scheme.
    Labour in opposition cheered on the courts when a Tory government was similarly thwarted by the courts. Labour-inclined lawyers and judges have championed judicial activism and growing lawfare.
    It is being hoist by its own petard.


    https://x.com/afneil/status/1970565397821747263?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q

    This is a refusal to allow appeal of the interim relief, not the substantive matter as I understand it.
  • Have we done this?

    Big Jet TV's Jerry Dyer talks to SKS about Gatwick's second runway:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HHYzVyNhtM
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,420
    Ha

    @FarnoushAmiri

    A U.N. official said the UN understands that someone from the president’s party who ran ahead of him inadvertently triggered the stop mechanism on the escalator. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House was operating the teleprompter for Trump.
  • Have we done this?

    Big Jet TV's Jerry Dyer talks to SKS about Gatwick's second runway:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HHYzVyNhtM

    Even plane spotters are more engaging than SKS....
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 68,334

    Leon said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Very good!

    It would be interesting to do a political Kevin Bacon on this

    "X was in a Cabinet with X who was in a Cabinet with Gladastone/Disraeli/Pitt/Wellington"
    Identifying big leaps is key to that. Obviously Churchill will be a key leap he gets you to Asquith and then Gladstone, the route back to Churchill goes through Ken Clarke I guess and somene In The 1980s cabinet that gets us to the pre 1966 cabinet?
    Hailsham might be a player in this.

  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654

    Leon said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Very good!

    It would be interesting to do a political Kevin Bacon on this

    "X was in a Cabinet with X who was in a Cabinet with Gladastone/Disraeli/Pitt/Wellington"
    Identifying big leaps is key to that. Obviously Churchill will be a key leap he gets you to Asquith and then Gladstone, the route back to Churchill goes through Ken Clarke I guess and somene In The 1980s cabinet that gets us to the pre 1966 cabinet?
    Hailsham might be a player in this.

    Yes just looked at that!
    Clarke Hailsham Eden Churchill Asquith Gladstone
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 6,281
    edited September 23

    Leon said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Very good!

    It would be interesting to do a political Kevin Bacon on this

    "X was in a Cabinet with X who was in a Cabinet with Gladastone/Disraeli/Pitt/Wellington"
    Identifying big leaps is key to that. Obviously Churchill will be a key leap he gets you to Asquith and then Gladstone, the route back to Churchill goes through Ken Clarke I guess and somene In The 1980s cabinet that gets us to the pre 1966 cabinet?
    1. Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone (Conservative)
Span: 59 years (1928–1987)
First: Attorney General (1928–1929)
Last: Lord Chancellor (1979–1987)
He held multiple senior roles, including Lord Chancellor three times, across governments from Baldwin to Thatcher.
    2. William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal)
Span: 53 years (1841–1894)
First: Vice-President of the Board of Trade (1841–1843)
Last: Prime Minister (1892–1894)
Gladstone served in four Liberal governments as PM and in key economic and foreign roles, shaping Victorian reforms.
    3. Winston Churchill (Conservative/Liberal)
Span: 47 years (1908–1955)
First: President of the Board of Trade (1908–1910)
Last: Prime Minister (1951–1955)
Churchill’s career spanned trade, home affairs, war leadership, and premierships during both world wars.
    4. Arthur James Balfour (Conservative)
Span: 42 years (1887–1929)
First: Chief Secretary for Ireland (1887–1891)
Last: Lord President of the Council (1925–1929)
Balfour was PM (1902–1905), Foreign Secretary during WWI, and key in early 20th-century diplomacy.
    5. Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire (Liberal Unionist)
Span: 35 years (1868–1903)
First: Postmaster General (1868–1871)
Last: Lord President of the Council (1895–1903)
He led Liberal Unionists, served in war and colonial offices, and was a major figure in late Victorian politics.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,828

    Leon said:

    Ive been entertaining myself with the shortest first class steps from Jimmy Anderson to WG Grace in first class cricket so im going to bore you with it

    Jimmy played with
    Alec Stewart Who played with and against
    Ian Botham who played with
    Brian Close (Somerset 1976) who played against
    Bob Wyatt (MCC vs Yorkshire 1949) who played with
    Wilfred Rhodes (Gower xi vs touring Australians 1930) who's first test was
    WG Graces last test

    I think that's the shortest route between the Goats

    Very good!

    It would be interesting to do a political Kevin Bacon on this

    "X was in a Cabinet with X who was in a Cabinet with Gladastone/Disraeli/Pitt/Wellington"
    Identifying big leaps is key to that. Obviously Churchill will be a key leap he gets you to Asquith and then Gladstone, the route back to Churchill goes through Ken Clarke I guess and somene In The 1980s cabinet that gets us to the pre 1966 cabinet?
    Gladstone also had an enormously long political career, a minister in 1841, still prime minister in 1894!

    So you could probably get back to the 18th century fairly quickly
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 47,564
    The Beeb imbuing Trump's ad hoc rambling with gravitas and meaning again, I see.
This discussion has been closed.