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  • boulayboulay Posts: 7,589
    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    boulay said:

    Another night of much of Newsnight approaching the atmosphere of a BBC One magazine show.

    The issues of distinctiveness at the BBC at the momenf are quite significant

    Someone appears to have looked at the One Show and Radio 5 and thought “that’s lovely” and decided that every bit of news and discussion needs to match. Wankers.
    I've spent the last 10 years avoiding The One Show as much as possible.
    it is low IQ dreck
    I managed to endure 5 minutes of it once whilst visiting someone’s house. There are people who actually watch it - I am at a loss to what part of their souls it fulfils.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 16,261
    edited October 10

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    That is the end to my National Trust Membership. The fucking morons are putting vegan tampons in men's toilets.
    Afaiac they can just FUCK OFF.


    National Trust puts vegan tampons in men’s toilets https://share.google/cDKJTSg9SAnmITEsa

    In case of a nose bleed ?
    Ever heard about male incontinence? Absorbent things can be a life saver if one is distant from home. (Fortunately not from experience, on my part.)
    My comment was meant as a joke. 😉

    My Dad had prostate cancer which made him incontinent which, as a private person, he found very embarrassing,

    Pads helped not sure a vegan tampon would.

    Oh, I didn't think you were being nasty, it's the sort of thing that isn't obvious - and while you have a point, 'tampon' could cover pads as well, by the time it's been through the usual mill.

    You have to remember that the usual suspects slagged off the NT for having a statue of a slave on display: bought by the original builder of the grand house in question precisely to express his views on the issue, and displayed precisely in the alcove which he built specially for it (Armstrong at Cragside). And that some on PB chorused in condemnation of the poor NT.

    On veganism, etc., it's an entirely sensible thing to do, to avoid any issues with religion or conscience.
    We’re National Trust members and will continue to be.

    Gibside is not far from us. Neither is Crook Hall.

    Cragside is a favourite spot of ours even if the walk up to the large ponds is somewhat challenging !!!!
    Has the National Trust still got any members?

    Surely they all left in protest after the NT's woke insistence on mentioning the role of slavery in funding the great houses of Britain?

    Weirdly, at Dunham Massey, the National Trust responded to BLM by removing tbe statue of the black freed slave, because having a statue of a black person was racist, because it drew attention to slavery.
    I think the assumption was that if the People From The Past had done it it must be somehow racist.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,974
    edited October 10
    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    boulay said:

    Another night of much of Newsnight approaching the atmosphere of a BBC One magazine show.

    The issues of distinctiveness at the BBC at the momenf are quite significant

    Someone appears to have looked at the One Show and Radio 5 and thought “that’s lovely” and decided that every bit of news and discussion needs to match. Wankers.
    I've spent the last 10 years avoiding The One Show as much as possible.
    it is low IQ dreck
    I remember when BBC1 in the evening was Tomorrow's World following by Top of the Pops. That's how I liked it. High-brow futurism followed by camp silliness.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 16,261
    boulay said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    boulay said:

    Another night of much of Newsnight approaching the atmosphere of a BBC One magazine show.

    The issues of distinctiveness at the BBC at the momenf are quite significant

    Someone appears to have looked at the One Show and Radio 5 and thought “that’s lovely” and decided that every bit of news and discussion needs to match. Wankers.
    I've spent the last 10 years avoiding The One Show as much as possible.
    it is low IQ dreck
    I managed to endure 5 minutes of it once whilst visiting someone’s house. There are people who actually watch it - I am at a loss to what part of their souls it fulfils.
    A friend of mine was a cameraman on the One Show. He's since moved upwards to Channel 5 documentaries on serial killers and air fryers.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 16,261
    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    boulay said:

    Another night of much of Newsnight approaching the atmosphere of a BBC One magazine show.

    The issues of distinctiveness at the BBC at the momenf are quite significant

    Someone appears to have looked at the One Show and Radio 5 and thought “that’s lovely” and decided that every bit of news and discussion needs to match. Wankers.
    I've spent the last 10 years avoiding The One Show as much as possible.
    it is low IQ dreck
    I remember when BBC1 in the evening was Tomorrow's World following by Top of the Pops. That's how I liked it. High-brow futurism followed by camp silliness.
    In fairness, in the 80s, 7-8, three nights a week it was Wogan and the remaining two Eastenders. Even in the golden age of telly, 7-8 was for low IQ dreck.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,468
    boulay said:

    Another night of much of Newsnight approaching the atmosphere of a BBC One magazine show.

    The issues of distinctiveness at the BBC at the momenf are quite significant

    Someone appears to have looked at the One Show and Radio 5 and thought “that’s lovely” and decided that every bit of news and discussion needs to match. Wankers.
    Or possibly "this is what I learned was good on my media degree". Distressing, in any case.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,468
    rcs1000 said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    That is the end to my National Trust Membership. The fucking morons are putting vegan tampons in men's toilets.
    Afaiac they can just FUCK OFF.


    National Trust puts vegan tampons in men’s toilets https://share.google/cDKJTSg9SAnmITEsa

    In case of a nose bleed ?
    Ever heard about male incontinence? Absorbent things can be a life saver if one is distant from home. (Fortunately not from experience, on my part.)
    My comment was meant as a joke. 😉

    My Dad had prostate cancer which made him incontinent which, as a private person, he found very embarrassing,

    Pads helped not sure a vegan tampon would.

    Oh, I didn't think you were being nasty, it's the sort of thing that isn't obvious - and while you have a point, 'tampon' could cover pads as well, by the time it's been through the usual mill.

    You have to remember that the usual suspects slagged off the NT for having a statue of a slave on display: bought by the original builder of the grand house in question precisely to express his views on the issue, and displayed precisely in the alcove which he built specially for it (Armstrong at Cragside). And that some on PB chorused in condemnation of the poor NT.

    On veganism, etc., it's an entirely sensible thing to do, to avoid any issues with religion or conscience.
    We’re National Trust members and will continue to be.

    Gibside is not far from us. Neither is Crook Hall.

    Cragside is a favourite spot of ours even if the walk up to the large ponds is somewhat challenging !!!!
    Me too, in Scotland (and therefore by courtesy with access to NT in England).

    One other thought - putting animal-derived stuff in contact with one's mucous membranes is a potentially dodgy business, especially in the era of rendered animal carcasses and such things as prion diseases. Another reason to avoid it and make life simpler.
    Pretty sure they are “vegan” not because they don’t contain animal products (cotton etc tends to be classified as a plant) but because they are not single use and not tested on animals (yep, vegan has seen mission creep).

    Assuming the reporting is correct this is more a story about whether people having menstrual bleeds should be using the mens toilets.

    But you knew that, didn’t you!
    A tampon that is “not single use”?!

    Ewwwh!
    Wait till you hear what people do when they don’t have single use nappies…
    Don't tell RFK Jr - he'll blame disposible nappies for autism.
    Is there more recorded autism now - post disposable nappies, than there was in pre-recorded time where there were no disposable nappies?

    I think the case is proven, M'Lord.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,468
    edited October 10


    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    27m
    Bitcoin COLLAPSING on Trump’s 100% tariff announcement on China.

    Here we go all over again.

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian

    Have you just managed to out-do Scotty by lazily @'ing a profile here that doesn't exist, then linking to a twitter profile rather than the message so that no-one can read the original message?

    If so - I applaud you. Remarkable work.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,468
    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    boulay said:

    Another night of much of Newsnight approaching the atmosphere of a BBC One magazine show.

    The issues of distinctiveness at the BBC at the momenf are quite significant

    Someone appears to have looked at the One Show and Radio 5 and thought “that’s lovely” and decided that every bit of news and discussion needs to match. Wankers.
    I've spent the last 10 years avoiding The One Show as much as possible.
    it is low IQ dreck
    I remember when BBC1 in the evening was Tomorrow's World following by Top of the Pops. That's how I liked it. High-brow futurism followed by camp silliness.
    In fairness, in the 80s, 7-8, three nights a week it was Wogan and the remaining two Eastenders. Even in the golden age of telly, 7-8 was for low IQ dreck.
    Everyone has forgotten Russell Harty. Poor bloke.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,876

    Cicero said:


    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    27m
    Bitcoin COLLAPSING on Trump’s 100% tariff announcement on China.

    Here we go all over again.

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian

    Beginning to look very smelly for the markets next week. Jamie Dimon's comments, plus tariffs, the US Federal shut down, there's an awful lot of shit just waiting to devalue the US... feeling a bit Lehman levels of nasty but with a five year old in charge this time...

    Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸

    @pmarca
    ·
    32m
    Years the commentariat has been convinced there is a tech bubble: 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.

    https://x.com/pmarca/status/1976760221126299673


    Not sure Jamie Dimon is "commentariat".

    Years in which AndreesonHorowitz funds have beaten the benchmark:

    2006, 2015
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,865
    edited October 10
    Cicero said:


    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    27m
    Bitcoin COLLAPSING on Trump’s 100% tariff announcement on China.

    Here we go all over again.

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian

    Beginning to look very smelly for the markets next week. Jamie Dimon's comments, plus tariffs, the US Federal shut down, there's an awful lot of shit just waiting to devalue the US... feeling a bit Lehman levels of nasty but with a five year old in charge this time...
    When markets crash, they generally do so in October - 1929, 1987, 2008, ... 2025?

    I'm no fan of shorter, colder days either, but that's a great argument against the rational markets hypothesis.
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 1,183
    rcs1000 said:

    Dopermean said:

    Dopermean said:

    Leon said:

    Having been here two days now - and walked and waymo’d much of the city, I can reliably inform PBers that - far from being a zombie-strewn hellzone, San Francisco is the delightful, eccentric, vibrant, historic, quirky and beautifully located city I remember from my last visit 20 years ago. If anything, it has improved

    The food is good, the people are fun, the oysters and lobster ravioli at johns grill (established 1908) are ace

    Yes, there are two neighbourhoods - Soma and tenderloin - where juddering fent addicts stagger around and droop to the ground, but you just speed through them in your luxury robocab

    Let this be a lesson to the more gullible PBers who spend all their time on X. Don’t believe everything you see on social media, kids

    Are you shilling for the San Francisco tourist board?
    I've heard it as crime-ridden and dangerous as London.
    A lot of London is neither crime-ridden or dangerous.
    Nonsense, the entirety of London, even Penge!!, is a dangerous crime-ridden no go zone.
    Especially Penge.

    Did you not hear about the Penge Bungalow murders?
    Prosecuted alone and without a leader
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 130,680
    Andy_JS said:

    boulay said:

    Another night of much of Newsnight approaching the atmosphere of a BBC One magazine show.

    The issues of distinctiveness at the BBC at the momenf are quite significant

    Someone appears to have looked at the One Show and Radio 5 and thought “that’s lovely” and decided that every bit of news and discussion needs to match. Wankers.
    I've spent the last 10 years avoiding The One Show as much as possible.
    Manages to get some big name guests on though including Hollywood A Listers while also doing segments from around the country and local hero sections etc.

    A politician who gets on the One Show probably gets a higher audience than on most news and current affairs programmes
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,876
    Stereodog said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Dopermean said:

    Dopermean said:

    Leon said:

    Having been here two days now - and walked and waymo’d much of the city, I can reliably inform PBers that - far from being a zombie-strewn hellzone, San Francisco is the delightful, eccentric, vibrant, historic, quirky and beautifully located city I remember from my last visit 20 years ago. If anything, it has improved

    The food is good, the people are fun, the oysters and lobster ravioli at johns grill (established 1908) are ace

    Yes, there are two neighbourhoods - Soma and tenderloin - where juddering fent addicts stagger around and droop to the ground, but you just speed through them in your luxury robocab

    Let this be a lesson to the more gullible PBers who spend all their time on X. Don’t believe everything you see on social media, kids

    Are you shilling for the San Francisco tourist board?
    I've heard it as crime-ridden and dangerous as London.
    A lot of London is neither crime-ridden or dangerous.
    Nonsense, the entirety of London, even Penge!!, is a dangerous crime-ridden no go zone.
    Especially Penge.

    Did you not hear about the Penge Bungalow murders?
    Prosecuted alone and without a leader
    Someone got it.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,974
    There have been 66 homicides in London this year so far. For a city of almost 10 million that's an incredibly low number.

    https://www.murdermap.co.uk/victims/murders-london-2025-total-how-many
  • BartholomewRobertsBartholomewRoberts Posts: 26,161


    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    27m
    Bitcoin COLLAPSING on Trump’s 100% tariff announcement on China.

    Here we go all over again.

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian

    Sadly that overvalued Ponzi scheme is still far too high and that 'collapse' is mostly reversing gains made in October so far and its still at far too high a price, more than what it was for most of the past year.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 35,032
    edited 12:53AM
    rcs1000 said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    That is the end to my National Trust Membership. The fucking morons are putting vegan tampons in men's toilets.
    Afaiac they can just FUCK OFF.


    National Trust puts vegan tampons in men’s toilets https://share.google/cDKJTSg9SAnmITEsa

    In case of a nose bleed ?
    Ever heard about male incontinence? Absorbent things can be a life saver if one is distant from home. (Fortunately not from experience, on my part.)
    My comment was meant as a joke. 😉

    My Dad had prostate cancer which made him incontinent which, as a private person, he found very embarrassing,

    Pads helped not sure a vegan tampon would.

    Oh, I didn't think you were being nasty, it's the sort of thing that isn't obvious - and while you have a point, 'tampon' could cover pads as well, by the time it's been through the usual mill.

    You have to remember that the usual suspects slagged off the NT for having a statue of a slave on display: bought by the original builder of the grand house in question precisely to express his views on the issue, and displayed precisely in the alcove which he built specially for it (Armstrong at Cragside). And that some on PB chorused in condemnation of the poor NT.

    On veganism, etc., it's an entirely sensible thing to do, to avoid any issues with religion or conscience.
    We’re National Trust members and will continue to be.

    Gibside is not far from us. Neither is Crook Hall.

    Cragside is a favourite spot of ours even if the walk up to the large ponds is somewhat challenging !!!!
    Me too, in Scotland (and therefore by courtesy with access to NT in England).

    One other thought - putting animal-derived stuff in contact with one's mucous membranes is a potentially dodgy business, especially in the era of rendered animal carcasses and such things as prion diseases. Another reason to avoid it and make life simpler.
    Pretty sure they are “vegan” not because they don’t contain animal products (cotton etc tends to be classified as a plant) but because they are not single use and not tested on animals (yep, vegan has seen mission creep).

    Assuming the reporting is correct this is more a story about whether people having menstrual bleeds should be using the mens toilets.

    But you knew that, didn’t you!
    A tampon that is “not single use”?!

    Ewwwh!
    Wait till you hear what people do when they don’t have single use nappies…
    Don't tell RFK Jr - he'll blame disposible nappies for autism.
    F***! The correlation is clear, my autistic son wore Huggies as a baby! Not only that but they must also be responsible for my non-autistic son's dyslexia. Can someone please inform RFK?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,974
    Watched the first 2 episodes of Celebrity Traitors. And it's very good indeed. Definitely watch.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    viewcode said:

    isam said:

    I’m watching ‘Sweet As You Are’ starring Liam Neeson and Miranda Richardson. Richardson is so beautiful. I had only really ever seen her in BlackAdder II as Queen Elizabeth before.

    I’m not particularly that way inclined but Neeson is also fairly beauteous. They made a lovely couple.
    Just like James Woods and Willem Dafoe, Liam Neeson is alleged to have a larger than usual penis.
    John Major, Michael Gove. Any current, non-Conservative MPs?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    Foxy said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @NoLieWithBTC

    Trump in 2017: “Qatar has been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”

    Trump administration in 2025: We are building a Qatari Air Force facility in the United States.

    https://x.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1976711898495119445

    Great bribe that plane!

    It's all about grift with Trump.
    Otoh the new facility will doubtless be paid for by Qatar. It's a new income stream for the US Treasury.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,974
    Trump's unpredictability is probably working as a positive for him so far.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,974
    "Stephen Pollard
    Donald Trump is an awful person – but a brilliant president" (£)

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/donald-trump-is-an-awful-person-but-a-brilliant-president
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    rcs1000 said:

    Stereodog said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Dopermean said:

    Dopermean said:

    Leon said:

    Having been here two days now - and walked and waymo’d much of the city, I can reliably inform PBers that - far from being a zombie-strewn hellzone, San Francisco is the delightful, eccentric, vibrant, historic, quirky and beautifully located city I remember from my last visit 20 years ago. If anything, it has improved

    The food is good, the people are fun, the oysters and lobster ravioli at johns grill (established 1908) are ace

    Yes, there are two neighbourhoods - Soma and tenderloin - where juddering fent addicts stagger around and droop to the ground, but you just speed through them in your luxury robocab

    Let this be a lesson to the more gullible PBers who spend all their time on X. Don’t believe everything you see on social media, kids

    Are you shilling for the San Francisco tourist board?
    I've heard it as crime-ridden and dangerous as London.
    A lot of London is neither crime-ridden or dangerous.
    Nonsense, the entirety of London, even Penge!!, is a dangerous crime-ridden no go zone.
    Especially Penge.

    Did you not hear about the Penge Bungalow murders?
    Prosecuted alone and without a leader
    Someone got it.
    Not if they think Rumpole was counsel for the prosecution.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    Andy_JS said:

    Watched the first 2 episodes of Celebrity Traitors. And it's very good indeed. Definitely watch.

    No need. Other people have watched it for us.

    CELEBRITY TRAITORS: First Episode Reaction
    The Rest is Entertainment

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDnaqQesFHI
  • MattWMattW Posts: 30,263
    That's a very good header, @TSE .

    I'm interested in the "tribes". Did we see part of this list before when a header looked at the Reform voter base?

    I think that his Trump obsession is a time bomb for Trump; the USA is not going to get better socially, no matter what happens to the economy.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 30,263
    Cookie said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    That is the end to my National Trust Membership. The fucking morons are putting vegan tampons in men's toilets.
    Afaiac they can just FUCK OFF.


    National Trust puts vegan tampons in men’s toilets https://share.google/cDKJTSg9SAnmITEsa

    In case of a nose bleed ?
    Ever heard about male incontinence? Absorbent things can be a life saver if one is distant from home. (Fortunately not from experience, on my part.)
    My comment was meant as a joke. 😉

    My Dad had prostate cancer which made him incontinent which, as a private person, he found very embarrassing,

    Pads helped not sure a vegan tampon would.

    Oh, I didn't think you were being nasty, it's the sort of thing that isn't obvious - and while you have a point, 'tampon' could cover pads as well, by the time it's been through the usual mill.

    You have to remember that the usual suspects slagged off the NT for having a statue of a slave on display: bought by the original builder of the grand house in question precisely to express his views on the issue, and displayed precisely in the alcove which he built specially for it (Armstrong at Cragside). And that some on PB chorused in condemnation of the poor NT.

    On veganism, etc., it's an entirely sensible thing to do, to avoid any issues with religion or conscience.
    We’re National Trust members and will continue to be.

    Gibside is not far from us. Neither is Crook Hall.

    Cragside is a favourite spot of ours even if the walk up to the large ponds is somewhat challenging !!!!
    Has the National Trust still got any members?

    Surely they all left in protest after the NT's woke insistence on mentioning the role of slavery in funding the great houses of Britain?

    Weirdly, at Dunham Massey, the National Trust responded to BLM by removing tbe statue of the black freed slave, because having a statue of a black person was racist, because it drew attention to slavery.
    I think the assumption was that if the People From The Past had done it it must be somehow racist.
    The last time I looked, the NT had about 5.4 million members.

    The Telegraph seems to be a bit overexcited, and trying to lay down regulations for how people should behave in toilets.

    But no condom machine? What are boomer gigolos supposed to do when one of the NT volunteers wants a quickie?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 30,263
    MattW said:

    That's a very good header, @TSE .

    I'm interested in the "tribes". Did we see part of this list before when a header looked at the Reform voter base?

    I think that his Trump obsession is a time bomb for Trump; the USA is not going to get better socially, no matter what happens to the economy.

    Typo - "time bomb for Farage".
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,984

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 1,718
    Andy_JS said:

    More evidence the French don't like us.

    "While the introduction of the new entry and exit service (EES) is being staggered across the EU, France has imposed extra checks on people entering from Britain via sea and rail that are not being enforced by other countries." (£)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/10/eu-fingerprint-checks-could-cause-four-hour-delays

    One in. One out.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It was probably inevitable, as it has been in the pipeline for some time.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 45,484
    Pro_Rata said:

    Cookie said:

    boulay said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    boulay said:

    Another night of much of Newsnight approaching the atmosphere of a BBC One magazine show.

    The issues of distinctiveness at the BBC at the momenf are quite significant

    Someone appears to have looked at the One Show and Radio 5 and thought “that’s lovely” and decided that every bit of news and discussion needs to match. Wankers.
    I've spent the last 10 years avoiding The One Show as much as possible.
    it is low IQ dreck
    I managed to endure 5 minutes of it once whilst visiting someone’s house. There are people who actually watch it - I am at a loss to what part of their souls it fulfils.
    A friend of mine was a cameraman on the One Show. He's since moved upwards to Channel 5 documentaries on serial killers and air fryers.
    "He cut them up into small pieces and they were ready in 15 minutes".
    I’m reminded of an exchange I saw on twitter.

    ‘Can anyone recommend an air fryer for a family of 12?’

    ‘Cool yer jets Jeffrey Dahmer.’
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 1,718
    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    That is the end to my National Trust Membership. The fucking morons are putting vegan tampons in men's toilets.
    Afaiac they can just FUCK OFF.


    National Trust puts vegan tampons in men’s toilets https://share.google/cDKJTSg9SAnmITEsa

    In case of a nose bleed ?
    Ever heard about male incontinence? Absorbent things can be a life saver if one is distant from home. (Fortunately not from experience, on my part.)
    My comment was meant as a joke. 😉

    My Dad had prostate cancer which made him incontinent which, as a private person, he found very embarrassing,

    Pads helped not sure a vegan tampon would.

    Oh, I didn't think you were being nasty, it's the sort of thing that isn't obvious - and while you have a point, 'tampon' could cover pads as well, by the time it's been through the usual mill.

    You have to remember that the usual suspects slagged off the NT for having a statue of a slave on display: bought by the original builder of the grand house in question precisely to express his views on the issue, and displayed precisely in the alcove which he built specially for it (Armstrong at Cragside). And that some on PB chorused in condemnation of the poor NT.

    On veganism, etc., it's an entirely sensible thing to do, to avoid any issues with religion or conscience.
    We’re National Trust members and will continue to be.

    Gibside is not far from us. Neither is Crook Hall.

    Cragside is a favourite spot of ours even if the walk up to the large ponds is somewhat challenging !!!!
    Is Cragside the place with the first hydro electric power supply in the UK?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,478
    Battlebus said:

    Is Cragside the place with the first hydro electric power supply in the UK?

    Yes
  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,512
    China's export controls struck me as very significant non-tariff barriers.

    It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that Trump has thrown his 'huge retaliatory tariff' hat down. This is probably about the first time you could say they are justified as a political response.

    Ignore the market reaction. US equities are up over 11% this year even after yesterday's fall. The nature of investment is things sometimes go down after going up. And I feel like markets have become complacent to political risks.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,478
    Ratters said:

    China's export controls struck me as very significant non-tariff barriers.

    It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that Trump has thrown his 'huge retaliatory tariff' hat down. This is probably about the first time you could say they are justified as a political response.

    Ignore the market reaction. US equities are up over 11% this year even after yesterday's fall. The nature of investment is things sometimes go down after going up. And I feel like markets have become complacent to political risks.

    80% of the stock market growth is AI
  • MattWMattW Posts: 30,263
    Battlebus said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    That is the end to my National Trust Membership. The fucking morons are putting vegan tampons in men's toilets.
    Afaiac they can just FUCK OFF.


    National Trust puts vegan tampons in men’s toilets https://share.google/cDKJTSg9SAnmITEsa

    In case of a nose bleed ?
    Ever heard about male incontinence? Absorbent things can be a life saver if one is distant from home. (Fortunately not from experience, on my part.)
    My comment was meant as a joke. 😉

    My Dad had prostate cancer which made him incontinent which, as a private person, he found very embarrassing,

    Pads helped not sure a vegan tampon would.

    Oh, I didn't think you were being nasty, it's the sort of thing that isn't obvious - and while you have a point, 'tampon' could cover pads as well, by the time it's been through the usual mill.

    You have to remember that the usual suspects slagged off the NT for having a statue of a slave on display: bought by the original builder of the grand house in question precisely to express his views on the issue, and displayed precisely in the alcove which he built specially for it (Armstrong at Cragside). And that some on PB chorused in condemnation of the poor NT.

    On veganism, etc., it's an entirely sensible thing to do, to avoid any issues with religion or conscience.
    We’re National Trust members and will continue to be.

    Gibside is not far from us. Neither is Crook Hall.

    Cragside is a favourite spot of ours even if the walk up to the large ponds is somewhat challenging !!!!
    Is Cragside the place with the first hydro electric power supply in the UK?
    Quite possibly.

    It's the one where they had table lights which were switched on and off by putting them in and out of a 'bowl' of mercury.
  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,512
    Scott_xP said:

    Ratters said:

    China's export controls struck me as very significant non-tariff barriers.

    It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that Trump has thrown his 'huge retaliatory tariff' hat down. This is probably about the first time you could say they are justified as a political response.

    Ignore the market reaction. US equities are up over 11% this year even after yesterday's fall. The nature of investment is things sometimes go down after going up. And I feel like markets have become complacent to political risks.

    80% of the stock market growth is AI
    Well European and UK equities are up a similar amount this year and that's not 80% AI.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 64,364
    Leon said:

    viewcode said:

    Leon said:

    Do we have any news of @Cyclefree?

    Thoughts and prayers. And for @HYUFD

    No. I asked yesterday but no response. She has not gotten back to us.
    Hm

    🙏🙏
    My understanding is Cyclefree is hanging in there.

    I am hoping to see her in a couple of months.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    edited 6:24AM
    The Nobel Peace Prize has become mired in scandal after suspicious bets were placed before a longshot was announced as the winner.
    ...
    Machado had just a 5 percent chance of claiming victory, according to prediction market Polymarket.

    But then a buying spree, from a newly created account '6741', rocketed her chances to 70 percent. That trader made more than $50,000 in profit.

    Another, 'GayPride,' also got in on the action, placing a series of bets after Machado's chances had shot up and earned more than $85,000, Polymarket data shows.

    A third, 'dirtycup', wagered around $70,000 just hours before the prize was announced, earning $30,000.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15182077/Nobel-Peace-Prize-betting-scandal-probe-launched-complete-unknown-beat-Trump.html

    The Mail story concerns Polymarket. It was mentioned on pb shortly before the prize was announced yesterday that Machado had been recently added to the field and was now odds-on favourite.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,957
    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    What a bizarre and concerning poll. Not the American thing, the other bit at the bottom. We (along with many similar countries) are struggling with a flat economy, ageing demographics, stagnant living standards, and tight public finances. That 88% of people consider this to mean "Britain is Broken" shows that febrile hyperbole has become the norm. Unless it's just become a phrase that means all is not well and some things need to change. Perhaps that's it. I don't like it anyway, all this "broken" and "fix" business. It's overwrought and leading to poor debate and decisions. We are not broken, and if we were it wouldn't be something fixable by politicians at Westminster.

    The problem is Starmer and Reeves, from before and after their election win, complained how bad everything is after 14 years of Tory rule, then produced the most anti business budget anyone could imagine, so yes Labour need to reflect on their own behaviour in this story
    No, that's not the problem. It's the gormless gullible public. I never went round saying Britain is Broken even during the worst times under the Tories, nor when I personally was struggling.
    The public have had years of being let down by politicians of all colours. It is hardly surprising they have a dim view of things, after that experience.
    Dim view, sure. I can relate to that. But Britain is Broken say 88%? Cmon. That's a major loss of judgement and perspective. And a dangerous one too since it fuels charlatans and extremists.
    It’s quite clear the country doesn’t work as it should for lots of people. It works fine for some - but that number is, I think, decreasing as each day goes by.

    There are a lot of reasons why. Housing costs, general costs of living, societal splintering/isolation, geographical inequalities, longer working hours for many, high taxes, cultural change/loss of identity. And many more. The solutions to these problems are myriad and in all fairness are probably not all preserves of either the right or the left. Some need global change and co-operation, not just national. But it is hard to look at the country now and see a country at ease with itself or that works well for its people.
    I’ve travelled extensively around both the USA and Europe these last 3 years. I’ve been all over both

    Objectively, Europe seems way more fucked up than America. Poorer, sadder, edgier, more fractious, more troubled, more menaced. Sadly I very much include the UK in this

    America has its issues but it is also has money energy and hope. The idea states are going to secede is a ludicrous fever dream of liberals (or QAnons on the other side). America’s borders are now secure (thanks to Trump). It is not militarily threatened by anyone. It does not have a massive problem with Muslim immigration. It has a commanding hold on the best technology. It has falling crime rates - San Francisco’s murder rate is at a 60 year low

    By contrast, Europe DOES seem broken. Free speech is collapsing. We are corralled by hideous new laws (online safety act). EU citizens can’t even use fucking AirPods because of their insane technology restrictions

    Europe needs a populist right revolution across the board, to become much more like America

    I accept PBers are largely going to hate this opinion, but it is my honest take from my intense travels in both places
    I an sure VP Vance is keenly reading your above application to be a speechwriter on his 2028 campaign with interest
    No, it's rather that Leon has fallen for the awesomeness of Governor Newsom.
    MAGA says California is a hellhole, remember ?
  • boulayboulay Posts: 7,589

    The Nobel Peace Prize has become mired in scandal after suspicious bets were placed before a longshot was announced as the winner.
    ...
    Machado had just a 5 percent chance of claiming victory, according to prediction market Polymarket.

    But then a buying spree, from a newly created account '6741', rocketed her chances to 70 percent. That trader made more than $50,000 in profit.

    Another, 'GayPride,' also got in on the action, placing a series of bets after Machado's chances had shot up and earned more than $85,000, Polymarket data shows.

    A third, 'dirtycup', wagered around $70,000 just hours before the prize was announced, earning $30,000.

    I wonder if “Gaypride” might have been one of those people who put a bet on a result they don’t want to soften the blow if they don’t win themselves.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,478

    The Nobel Peace Prize has become mired in scandal after suspicious bets were placed before a longshot was announced as the winner.
    ...
    Machado had just a 5 percent chance of claiming victory, according to prediction market Polymarket.

    But then a buying spree, from a newly created account '6741', rocketed her chances to 70 percent. That trader made more than $50,000 in profit.

    Another, 'GayPride,' also got in on the action, placing a series of bets after Machado's chances had shot up and earned more than $85,000, Polymarket data shows.

    A third, 'dirtycup', wagered around $70,000 just hours before the prize was announced, earning $30,000.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15182077/Nobel-Peace-Prize-betting-scandal-probe-launched-complete-unknown-beat-Trump.html

    The Mail story concerns Polymarket. It was mentioned on pb shortly before the prize was announced yesterday that Machado had been recently added to the field and was now odds-on favourite.

    Ladbrokes had her at 40/1 and said nobody placed a bet
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,957

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    What's weird to me, is JD.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 30,263
    edited 6:38AM
    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    JD Vance sounds quite like Mr Bufton-Tufton mowing his lawn in Tunbridge Wells on a Saturday afternoon, harrumphing in time to the Flymo. But I don't think he likes his Christianity escaping from the small box where he keeps it, and asking him awkward questions; we've seen that before with him. (Side note: that's a human characteristic, we all do it, and we all need challenging sometimes.)

    I think it's a fascinating exhibit. I'm in that part of Kent for a few days in December, and I'll go and have a look. A cathedral is a place where it is appropriate to ask questions about God, and cathedrals are - and always have been - buildings for everyone, so I think it's a great idea to poke some assumptions. Some people will huff and puff, and others will have think a bit more deeply.

    It was Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey who famously said "The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable", which is hackneyed but a good aphorism.

    We seem quite happy with Sheela-na-gigs, and this is far less provocative than those. I'd frame it far more as a Cathedral doing what cathedrals have always done.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283

    Leon said:

    viewcode said:

    Leon said:

    Do we have any news of @Cyclefree?

    Thoughts and prayers. And for @HYUFD

    No. I asked yesterday but no response. She has not gotten back to us.
    Hm

    🙏🙏
    My understanding is Cyclefree is hanging in there.

    I am hoping to see her in a couple of months.
    Didn't Cyclefree post here yesterday or the day before?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,957
    Ratters said:

    China's export controls struck me as very significant non-tariff barriers.

    It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that Trump has thrown his 'huge retaliatory tariff' hat down. This is probably about the first time you could say they are justified as a political response.

    Ignore the market reaction. US equities are up over 11% this year even after yesterday's fall. The nature of investment is things sometimes go down after going up. And I feel like markets have become complacent to political risks.

    China's export controls are a mirror image of the US chip export controls.
    Depending on how strictly they can enforce them (note US chip tech controls are pretty leaky, too) they might even be more economically consequential.

    They will certainly have teeth in much the same way the chip controls do. No third country will want to risk their own supply by publicly contravening them to re-export to the US.

    Also note it's not just refined rare earths, but also stuff like industrial diamonds.

    Second sourcing any if it will not be quick or easy.

    All this hardball might result in a comprehensive trade deal. If it doesn't, the global economy will experience rather more than a small hiccup.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,957

    Leon said:

    viewcode said:

    Leon said:

    Do we have any news of @Cyclefree?

    Thoughts and prayers. And for @HYUFD

    No. I asked yesterday but no response. She has not gotten back to us.
    Hm

    🙏🙏
    My understanding is Cyclefree is hanging in there.

    I am hoping to see her in a couple of months.
    Didn't Cyclefree post here yesterday or the day before?
    I have another friend with stage 4 cancer.
    During the times she's having chemo, stuff like posting on PB is not top of the list. Between those bouts, she lives a pretty active life.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 16,293
    edited 6:45AM
    MattW said:

    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    JD Vance sounds quite like Mr Bufton-Tufton mowing his lawn in Tunbridge Wells on a Saturday afternoon, harrumphing in time to the Flymo. But I don't think he likes his Christianity escaping from the small box where he keeps it, and asking him awkward questions; we've seen that before with him. (Side note: that's a human characteristic, we all do it, and we all need challenging sometimes.)

    I think it's a fascinating exhibit. I'm in that part of Kent for a few days in December, and I'll go and have a look. A cathedral is a place where it is appropriate to ask questions about God, and cathedrals are - and always have been - buildings for everyone, so I think it's a great idea to poke some assumptions. Some people will huff and puff, and others will have think a bit more deeply.

    It was Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey who famously said "The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable", which is hackneyed but a good aphorism.

    We seem quite happy with Sheela-na-gigs, and this is far less provocative than those. I'd frame it far more as a Cathedral doing what cathedrals have always done.
    Beyond the rights and wrongs of this exhibit, it’s another example of MAGA’s strange obsession with goings on in Britain. JD seems especially keen on commenting on niche British domestic developments.

    I suppose we should be flattered by the attention. It’s in sharp contrast to the experience of most of my lifetime when US politicians largely ignored our little island.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 20,168

    Cicero said:


    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    27m
    Bitcoin COLLAPSING on Trump’s 100% tariff announcement on China.

    Here we go all over again.

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian

    Beginning to look very smelly for the markets next week. Jamie Dimon's comments, plus tariffs, the US Federal shut down, there's an awful lot of shit just waiting to devalue the US... feeling a bit Lehman levels of nasty but with a five year old in charge this time...

    Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸

    @pmarca
    ·
    32m
    Years the commentariat has been convinced there is a tech bubble: 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.

    https://x.com/pmarca/status/1976760221126299673


    Not sure Jamie Dimon is "commentariat".

    That's someone who has never seen that The Day Today skit in the swimming pool.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 11,243

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    viewcode said:

    Leon said:

    Do we have any news of @Cyclefree?

    Thoughts and prayers. And for @HYUFD

    No. I asked yesterday but no response. She has not gotten back to us.
    Hm

    🙏🙏
    My understanding is Cyclefree is hanging in there.

    I am hoping to see her in a couple of months.
    Didn't Cyclefree post here yesterday or the day before?
    I have another friend with stage 4 cancer.
    During the times she's having chemo, stuff like posting on PB is not top of the list. Between those bouts, she lives a pretty active life.
    Cyclefree posted on the 8th on the Kemi thread.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 57,420
    The "Scientific Research Center for Rocket and Space Technology" in Moscow, appears to have a smoking problem…

    https://x.com/bohuslavskakate/status/1976703207406772700
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 10,853
    edited 7:04AM
    Mooring, P..B.

    Brexit is delivering fresh goods for British travellers on Sunday, when the new E.U. fingerprint and photo border rules come in.

    "Under EES, most non-EU or non-European Economic Area citizens or residents will be photographed and have their fingerprints scanned at the border to travel into the Schengen area.

    Travellers will need to scan their passport and may also be asked to confirm whether they have accommodation, a return ticket, sufficient funds and travel/medical insurance, although not all border crossings will demand this."
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,419

    rcs1000 said:

    Stereodog said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Dopermean said:

    Dopermean said:

    Leon said:

    Having been here two days now - and walked and waymo’d much of the city, I can reliably inform PBers that - far from being a zombie-strewn hellzone, San Francisco is the delightful, eccentric, vibrant, historic, quirky and beautifully located city I remember from my last visit 20 years ago. If anything, it has improved

    The food is good, the people are fun, the oysters and lobster ravioli at johns grill (established 1908) are ace

    Yes, there are two neighbourhoods - Soma and tenderloin - where juddering fent addicts stagger around and droop to the ground, but you just speed through them in your luxury robocab

    Let this be a lesson to the more gullible PBers who spend all their time on X. Don’t believe everything you see on social media, kids

    Are you shilling for the San Francisco tourist board?
    I've heard it as crime-ridden and dangerous as London.
    A lot of London is neither crime-ridden or dangerous.
    Nonsense, the entirety of London, even Penge!!, is a dangerous crime-ridden no go zone.
    Especially Penge.

    Did you not hear about the Penge Bungalow murders?
    Prosecuted alone and without a leader
    Someone got it.
    Not if they think Rumpole was counsel for the prosecution.
    He was once, and he did such a great job the defendant got off !
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,419

    Cicero said:


    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    27m
    Bitcoin COLLAPSING on Trump’s 100% tariff announcement on China.

    Here we go all over again.

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian

    Beginning to look very smelly for the markets next week. Jamie Dimon's comments, plus tariffs, the US Federal shut down, there's an awful lot of shit just waiting to devalue the US... feeling a bit Lehman levels of nasty but with a five year old in charge this time...

    Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸

    @pmarca
    ·
    32m
    Years the commentariat has been convinced there is a tech bubble: 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.

    https://x.com/pmarca/status/1976760221126299673


    Not sure Jamie Dimon is "commentariat".

    That's someone who has never seen that The Day Today skit in the swimming pool.
    I wonder if Jamie Dimon wore a bathing costume found in the changing room and danced around singing Joan Baez protest songs

    Probably not.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,419

    Leon said:

    viewcode said:

    Leon said:

    Do we have any news of @Cyclefree?

    Thoughts and prayers. And for @HYUFD

    No. I asked yesterday but no response. She has not gotten back to us.
    Hm

    🙏🙏
    My understanding is Cyclefree is hanging in there.

    I am hoping to see her in a couple of months.
    Didn't Cyclefree post here yesterday or the day before?
    I saw her post then to say she was going back to see her physician for an update.

    Not seen anything since.

    Hopefully she has got good news.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 16,488
    .

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is strangely obsessed with the minutiae of British life.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,419
    Ratters said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Ratters said:

    China's export controls struck me as very significant non-tariff barriers.

    It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that Trump has thrown his 'huge retaliatory tariff' hat down. This is probably about the first time you could say they are justified as a political response.

    Ignore the market reaction. US equities are up over 11% this year even after yesterday's fall. The nature of investment is things sometimes go down after going up. And I feel like markets have become complacent to political risks.

    80% of the stock market growth is AI
    Well European and UK equities are up a similar amount this year and that's not 80% AI.
    Japan has had a good year as well.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,419
    Ratters said:

    China's export controls struck me as very significant non-tariff barriers.

    It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that Trump has thrown his 'huge retaliatory tariff' hat down. This is probably about the first time you could say they are justified as a political response.

    Ignore the market reaction. US equities are up over 11% this year even after yesterday's fall. The nature of investment is things sometimes go down after going up. And I feel like markets have become complacent to political risks.

    The consensus seems to be he is after a deal and it is a negotiating ploy.

    He has not cancelled his meeting with Xi.

    We have seen the Trump playbook. TACO Trump.

    I’m expecting a lot of buying the dip by retail investors.
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,889

    .

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is strangely obsessed with the minutiae of British life.
    Wannabe colonisers. Not to say he's wrong about the exhibit though.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 45,484

    .

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is strangely obsessed with the minutiae of British life.
    As is ‘culturally British’ Musk.
    They both seem overly interested in Europe in general. I think it’s partly that they see the lack of general enthusiasm for the US populist experiment with truth as a reproach. As with falling enthusiasm in their own country, they think shouting at people, threats and bigger lies will change things.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 4,095
    MattW said:

    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    JD Vance sounds quite like Mr Bufton-Tufton mowing his lawn in Tunbridge Wells on a Saturday afternoon, harrumphing in time to the Flymo. But I don't think he likes his Christianity escaping from the small box where he keeps it, and asking him awkward questions; we've seen that before with him. (Side note: that's a human characteristic, we all do it, and we all need challenging sometimes.)

    I think it's a fascinating exhibit. I'm in that part of Kent for a few days in December, and I'll go and have a look. A cathedral is a place where it is appropriate to ask questions about God, and cathedrals are - and always have been - buildings for everyone, so I think it's a great idea to poke some assumptions. Some people will huff and puff, and others will have think a bit more deeply.

    It was Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey who famously said "The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable", which is hackneyed but a good aphorism.

    We seem quite happy with Sheela-na-gigs, and this is far less provocative than those. I'd frame it far more as a Cathedral doing what cathedrals have always done.
    Is this one of those exhibitions that tours round most cathedrals? Is each instance unique? How do they get the paint/medium off the stone?

    (Addressed to anyone who knows, not to you specifically.)

    I wonder how they'd feel if some unauthorised artist plastered graffiti on the outside walls!
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 53,533

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
    We didn't buy the Chagos from Mauritius. We detached them before Mauritius gained independence and deported the Chaggosians to Mauritius.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 45,484
    AnneJGP said:

    MattW said:

    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    JD Vance sounds quite like Mr Bufton-Tufton mowing his lawn in Tunbridge Wells on a Saturday afternoon, harrumphing in time to the Flymo. But I don't think he likes his Christianity escaping from the small box where he keeps it, and asking him awkward questions; we've seen that before with him. (Side note: that's a human characteristic, we all do it, and we all need challenging sometimes.)

    I think it's a fascinating exhibit. I'm in that part of Kent for a few days in December, and I'll go and have a look. A cathedral is a place where it is appropriate to ask questions about God, and cathedrals are - and always have been - buildings for everyone, so I think it's a great idea to poke some assumptions. Some people will huff and puff, and others will have think a bit more deeply.

    It was Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey who famously said "The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable", which is hackneyed but a good aphorism.

    We seem quite happy with Sheela-na-gigs, and this is far less provocative than those. I'd frame it far more as a Cathedral doing what cathedrals have always done.
    Is this one of those exhibitions that tours round most cathedrals? Is each instance unique? How do they get the paint/medium off the stone?

    (Addressed to anyone who knows, not to you specifically.)

    I wonder how they'd feel if some unauthorised artist plastered graffiti on the outside walls!
    It’s removable stickers.
    Much easier to remedy than the vulgar alterations to the White House I imagine,
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,984
    Foxy said:

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
    We didn't buy the Chagos from Mauritius. We detached them before Mauritius gained independence and deported the Chaggosians to Mauritius.
    Weren't they only 'united' as a colonial administrative unit?
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 11,243
    Foxy said:

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
    We didn't buy the Chagos from Mauritius. We detached them before Mauritius gained independence and deported the Chaggosians to Mauritius.
    That’s what I thought. So curious that the BBC would say otherwise
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 1,718
    edited 7:27AM

    AnneJGP said:

    MattW said:

    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    JD Vance sounds quite like Mr Bufton-Tufton mowing his lawn in Tunbridge Wells on a Saturday afternoon, harrumphing in time to the Flymo. But I don't think he likes his Christianity escaping from the small box where he keeps it, and asking him awkward questions; we've seen that before with him. (Side note: that's a human characteristic, we all do it, and we all need challenging sometimes.)

    I think it's a fascinating exhibit. I'm in that part of Kent for a few days in December, and I'll go and have a look. A cathedral is a place where it is appropriate to ask questions about God, and cathedrals are - and always have been - buildings for everyone, so I think it's a great idea to poke some assumptions. Some people will huff and puff, and others will have think a bit more deeply.

    It was Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey who famously said "The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable", which is hackneyed but a good aphorism.

    We seem quite happy with Sheela-na-gigs, and this is far less provocative than those. I'd frame it far more as a Cathedral doing what cathedrals have always done.
    Is this one of those exhibitions that tours round most cathedrals? Is each instance unique? How do they get the paint/medium off the stone?

    (Addressed to anyone who knows, not to you specifically.)

    I wonder how they'd feel if some unauthorised artist plastered graffiti on the outside walls!
    It’s removable stickers.
    Much easier to remedy than the vulgar alterations to the White House I imagine,
    The 1812 1814 alterations?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283

    .

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is strangely obsessed with the minutiae of British life.
    I am rarely sure whether JD Vance is using Britain for coded criticisms of his boss. In this case, alterations to the White House.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,205
    dr_spyn said:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yk16gpxj0o

    Might be nothing, might be something to stymie Blair's appointment as Lord High Protector of Gaza.

    Where are the minutes of the meeting
  • MattWMattW Posts: 30,263
    edited 7:29AM
    AnneJGP said:

    MattW said:

    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    JD Vance sounds quite like Mr Bufton-Tufton mowing his lawn in Tunbridge Wells on a Saturday afternoon, harrumphing in time to the Flymo. But I don't think he likes his Christianity escaping from the small box where he keeps it, and asking him awkward questions; we've seen that before with him. (Side note: that's a human characteristic, we all do it, and we all need challenging sometimes.)

    I think it's a fascinating exhibit. I'm in that part of Kent for a few days in December, and I'll go and have a look. A cathedral is a place where it is appropriate to ask questions about God, and cathedrals are - and always have been - buildings for everyone, so I think it's a great idea to poke some assumptions. Some people will huff and puff, and others will have think a bit more deeply.

    It was Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey who famously said "The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable", which is hackneyed but a good aphorism.

    We seem quite happy with Sheela-na-gigs, and this is far less provocative than those. I'd frame it far more as a Cathedral doing what cathedrals have always done.
    Is this one of those exhibitions that tours round most cathedrals? Is each instance unique? How do they get the paint/medium off the stone?

    (Addressed to anyone who knows, not to you specifically.)

    I wonder how they'd feel if some unauthorised artist plastered graffiti on the outside walls!
    The cathedral's page about it is here, but does not explain afaics:
    https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/news/posts/delight-and-displeasure-art-installation-s-questions-to-god-divide-public-opinion/

    I'd guess that it will be some peelable surface - which could be paint on or stick on.

    I have used paint-on protection to pre-protect walls against graffiti (so you can just hose it all off and repaint to protect for next time), or once to waterproof a shower set against a stone house wall.
  • AugustusCarp2AugustusCarp2 Posts: 485

    .

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is strangely obsessed with the minutiae of British life.
    I am rarely sure whether JD Vance is using Britain for coded criticisms of his boss. In this case, alterations to the White House.
    Hmmmm..... that's an interesting idea. I must watch out for more examples.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 64,364
    DavidL said:

    So, we are expecting a demonstration in favour of the Palestinians in London and a counter demonstration. Both large enough to cause the police serious concerns and to make public order Orders.

    Why?

    Why is this still going ahead in light of the deal, the ceasefire and these incredible pictures this morning of Palestinians in Gaza walking home?

    Some people just can't give up on the hate, no matter what. Even when its vicarious. God help us, there is enough to do. Go and raise money for these benighted people who have lost everything. But no, screaming about from the River to the sea is more satisfying.

    You need to view it as an identity thing, and not a political thing.

    These people don't actually really care about the details of Palestine/Gaza/Israel; it's just part of their social identity.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 64,364
    Foxy said:

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
    We didn't buy the Chagos from Mauritius. We detached them before Mauritius gained independence and deported the Chaggosians to Mauritius.
    Except the Chaggosians are huge supporters of British sovereignty and like to wear British Indian Ocean Territory T-Shirts.

    Why are we cutting across the principle of self-determination now?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 56,555

    DavidL said:

    So, we are expecting a demonstration in favour of the Palestinians in London and a counter demonstration. Both large enough to cause the police serious concerns and to make public order Orders.

    Why?

    Why is this still going ahead in light of the deal, the ceasefire and these incredible pictures this morning of Palestinians in Gaza walking home?

    Some people just can't give up on the hate, no matter what. Even when its vicarious. God help us, there is enough to do. Go and raise money for these benighted people who have lost everything. But no, screaming about from the River to the sea is more satisfying.

    You need to view it as an identity thing, and not a political thing.

    These people don't actually really care about the details of Palestine/Gaza/Israel; it's just part of their social identity.
    The "social identity" of this doctor in my view makes her unsuitable for employment in the NHS: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15173239/NHS-junior-doctor-escaped-suspension-second-tribunal.html

    We need to get less tolerant of this nonsense.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 35,032
    edited 7:45AM
    Foxy said:

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
    We didn't buy the Chagos from Mauritius. We detached them before Mauritius gained independence and deported the Chaggosians to Mauritius.
    Deploying facts to discount a PB faithful narrative will never catch on. I suspect you will have posters pushing back with whataboutery before you know it.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 35,032
    Andy_JS said:

    "Stephen Pollard
    Donald Trump is an awful person – but a brilliant president" (£)

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/donald-trump-is-an-awful-person-but-a-brilliant-president

    The Spectator has long since employed idiots with idiot narratives.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 15,628
    AnneJGP said:

    MattW said:

    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    JD Vance sounds quite like Mr Bufton-Tufton mowing his lawn in Tunbridge Wells on a Saturday afternoon, harrumphing in time to the Flymo. But I don't think he likes his Christianity escaping from the small box where he keeps it, and asking him awkward questions; we've seen that before with him. (Side note: that's a human characteristic, we all do it, and we all need challenging sometimes.)

    I think it's a fascinating exhibit. I'm in that part of Kent for a few days in December, and I'll go and have a look. A cathedral is a place where it is appropriate to ask questions about God, and cathedrals are - and always have been - buildings for everyone, so I think it's a great idea to poke some assumptions. Some people will huff and puff, and others will have think a bit more deeply.

    It was Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey who famously said "The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable", which is hackneyed but a good aphorism.

    We seem quite happy with Sheela-na-gigs, and this is far less provocative than those. I'd frame it far more as a Cathedral doing what cathedrals have always done.
    Is this one of those exhibitions that tours round most cathedrals? Is each instance unique? How do they get the paint/medium off the stone?

    (Addressed to anyone who knows, not to you specifically.)

    I wonder how they'd feel if some unauthorised artist plastered graffiti on the outside walls!
    Graffiti is odd. Drop into Salthouse church on the north Norfolk coast, where centuries ago people - probably small bored boys - carved graffiti of sailing ships in the choir stalls. Pompeii has lots of carefully preserved graffiti. So does the Tower of London, Carlisle Castle and many more.

    But I still dislike most modern graffiti as much as everyone else. And I fear that the cathedral is engaged in an exercise more carefully controlled than it cares to think.

    (Vance's performance earlier this year towards Zelensky was a piece of aural graffiti hard to erase).
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 56,555

    Foxy said:

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
    We didn't buy the Chagos from Mauritius. We detached them before Mauritius gained independence and deported the Chaggosians to Mauritius.
    Deploying facts to discount a PB faithful narrative will never catch on. I suspect you will have posters pushing back with whataboutery before you know it.
    The "facts" are that we did not buy the Chagos islands from Mauritius because Mauritius never owned then, never had had claim on them, have no right to them and yet we are paying them to take them off us. Its ridiculous but so are so many other things.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 45,842
    https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/oct/11/michelle-mone-doug-barrowman-ppe-medpro-vip-lane-ppe-contracts-dhsc

    A Graun 'Saturday Read' feature on PPE Medpro and the likely (or otherwise) next stages.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 11,243

    Foxy said:

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
    We didn't buy the Chagos from Mauritius. We detached them before Mauritius gained independence and deported the Chaggosians to Mauritius.
    Deploying facts to discount a PB faithful narrative will never catch on. I suspect you will have posters pushing back with whataboutery before you know it.
    You may have noticed the “question mark” and the end of my original post?

    It’s used to indicate that someone is unsure of something and asking for clarification.

    We now have two conflicting sources: @Foxy and the BBC.

    But you go with whatever makes you feel better about yourself.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283

    dr_spyn said:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yk16gpxj0o

    Might be nothing, might be something to stymie Blair's appointment as Lord High Protector of Gaza.

    Where are the minutes of the meeting
    A memo written by senior civil servant Matthew Rycroft, dated 14 May 2002, briefs Sir Tony about "super-rich" financial adviser Epstein ahead of a meeting scheduled at 17.00 GMT that day.

    The meeting was six years before Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yk16gpxj0o

    What is that abomination behind Tony Blair? Is it an AI version of what a Union Jack would look like if drawn by someone who'd never seen the flag?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 124,226

    NEW THREAD

  • boulayboulay Posts: 7,589

    Foxy said:

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
    We didn't buy the Chagos from Mauritius. We detached them before Mauritius gained independence and deported the Chaggosians to Mauritius.
    Deploying facts to discount a PB faithful narrative will never catch on. I suspect you will have posters pushing back with whataboutery before you know it.
    You might get posters pushing back with the more nuanced facts that whilst Chagos was detached it was attached originally as a colonial act by the French lumping dispersed islands in their Indian Ocean territories together regardless of history or proximity.

    It’s not as if before the nasty Europeans came along there was a nice happy place where Chagos was part of Mauritius. Each others existence was most likely completely unknown.

    So to try and defend handing it back to Mauritius based on it being “part of Mauritius previously” is a bit disingenuous because there was a longer history before colonists where Chagos was definitely not part of Mauritius so Mauritius’ claims lie solely based on them being a colonial entity.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 30,263
    edited 7:55AM
    algarkirk said:

    AnneJGP said:

    MattW said:

    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    JD Vance sounds quite like Mr Bufton-Tufton mowing his lawn in Tunbridge Wells on a Saturday afternoon, harrumphing in time to the Flymo. But I don't think he likes his Christianity escaping from the small box where he keeps it, and asking him awkward questions; we've seen that before with him. (Side note: that's a human characteristic, we all do it, and we all need challenging sometimes.)

    I think it's a fascinating exhibit. I'm in that part of Kent for a few days in December, and I'll go and have a look. A cathedral is a place where it is appropriate to ask questions about God, and cathedrals are - and always have been - buildings for everyone, so I think it's a great idea to poke some assumptions. Some people will huff and puff, and others will have think a bit more deeply.

    It was Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey who famously said "The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable", which is hackneyed but a good aphorism.

    We seem quite happy with Sheela-na-gigs, and this is far less provocative than those. I'd frame it far more as a Cathedral doing what cathedrals have always done.
    Is this one of those exhibitions that tours round most cathedrals? Is each instance unique? How do they get the paint/medium off the stone?

    (Addressed to anyone who knows, not to you specifically.)

    I wonder how they'd feel if some unauthorised artist plastered graffiti on the outside walls!
    Graffiti is odd. Drop into Salthouse church on the north Norfolk coast, where centuries ago people - probably small bored boys - carved graffiti of sailing ships in the choir stalls. Pompeii has lots of carefully preserved graffiti. So does the Tower of London, Carlisle Castle and many more.

    But I still dislike most modern graffiti as much as everyone else. And I fear that the cathedral is engaged in an exercise more carefully controlled than it cares to think.

    (Vance's performance earlier this year towards Zelensky was a piece of aural graffiti hard to erase).
    I like murals, but not usually graffiti; as art on hoardings around building sites is one exception. There's an argument for it in Penge, however.

    Canterbury Cathedral do a "Historical Graffiti" tour !
    https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/visit/explore-discover/historic-graffiti/

    I'll make one my piccie for today:

  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 32,874
    ...
    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    Yes. Graffiti is a selfish and nihilistic act - it declares that the perpetrator's feelings in that one moment trump everyone else's feelings and wishes, forever. It is a blight on communities and a visual measure of social decline. And both those are true in this exhibit - the ugly daubings of cod philosophy by a favoured few are placed above the importance of the potential comfort/feeling of closeness to the divine/transcendent spiritual experience of the many. And their presence is, unintentionally, a striking visual symbol of the decline of the Church.

    I am very against interventions from the US in our domestic affairs, so I suppose I should be anti these comments, but on the other hand, the age of the Cathedral makes it Vance's heritage as much as mine.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 45,842

    dr_spyn said:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yk16gpxj0o

    Might be nothing, might be something to stymie Blair's appointment as Lord High Protector of Gaza.

    Where are the minutes of the meeting
    A memo written by senior civil servant Matthew Rycroft, dated 14 May 2002, briefs Sir Tony about "super-rich" financial adviser Epstein ahead of a meeting scheduled at 17.00 GMT that day.

    The meeting was six years before Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yk16gpxj0o

    What is that abomination behind Tony Blair? Is it an AI version of what a Union Jack would look like if drawn by someone who'd never seen the flag?
    At that era (unless Mr Blair is using hair dye), not AI. It's just a conference graphic backdrop seen out of focus and quite possibly with the colours washed out or the Pantone adjusted to serve as aforesaid backdrop.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 35,032
    Andy_JS said:

    Trump's unpredictability is probably working as a positive for him so far.

    Hasn't he been entirely predictable.

    His friend gives Donald an expensive aircraft as a present. Donald likes presents. Another friend bombs the gift giver's home city. The gift giver is angry and wonders why he was so generous. Donald tells his other friend to never bomb his gift giving friend's home city again. The gift giver asks for a favour...
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 45,484
    DavidL said:

    So, we are expecting a demonstration in favour of the Palestinians in London and a counter demonstration. Both large enough to cause the police serious concerns and to make public order Orders.

    Why?

    Why is this still going ahead in light of the deal, the ceasefire and these incredible pictures this morning of Palestinians in Gaza walking home?

    Some people just can't give up on the hate, no matter what. Even when its vicarious. God help us, there is enough to do. Go and raise money for these benighted people who have lost everything. But no, screaming about from the River to the sea is more satisfying.

    2 days after the inception of a shakily constructed ceasefire is of course when people should stop bothering about stuff, I believe normal service returned to Europe on 13/11/18.

    On a mildly connected note, Scotland has finally been dragged into this conflict.
    Hands off our museums you propagandising, fascist twats.

    https://x.com/OborneTweets/status/1976692913749844444
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 20,498
    Fishing said:

    Cicero said:


    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    27m
    Bitcoin COLLAPSING on Trump’s 100% tariff announcement on China.

    Here we go all over again.

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian

    Beginning to look very smelly for the markets next week. Jamie Dimon's comments, plus tariffs, the US Federal shut down, there's an awful lot of shit just waiting to devalue the US... feeling a bit Lehman levels of nasty but with a five year old in charge this time...
    When markets crash, they generally do so in October - 1929, 1987, 2008, ... 2025?

    I'm no fan of shorter, colder days either, but that's a great argument against the rational markets hypothesis.
    I've heard the argument that this is because people go on holiday in the summer, escape the herd mentality, and so when they return in September they look at the market and the economy with fresh eyes.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 4,095
    MattW said:

    AnneJGP said:

    MattW said:

    ydoethur said:

    JD Vance calls Canterbury Cathedral exhibit 'ugly'
    ...
    Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64e0v34jo

    Trendy vicar.

    He is actually right though, it looks absolutely hideous. Shockingly inappropriate and utterly without any feeling for the building.

    I mean, I don't know that somebody who has a face like a smacked arse and the soul of a Mafia Don is in a position to lecture. But he does, for once, have a point.
    JD Vance sounds quite like Mr Bufton-Tufton mowing his lawn in Tunbridge Wells on a Saturday afternoon, harrumphing in time to the Flymo. But I don't think he likes his Christianity escaping from the small box where he keeps it, and asking him awkward questions; we've seen that before with him. (Side note: that's a human characteristic, we all do it, and we all need challenging sometimes.)

    I think it's a fascinating exhibit. I'm in that part of Kent for a few days in December, and I'll go and have a look. A cathedral is a place where it is appropriate to ask questions about God, and cathedrals are - and always have been - buildings for everyone, so I think it's a great idea to poke some assumptions. Some people will huff and puff, and others will have think a bit more deeply.

    It was Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey who famously said "The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable", which is hackneyed but a good aphorism.

    We seem quite happy with Sheela-na-gigs, and this is far less provocative than those. I'd frame it far more as a Cathedral doing what cathedrals have always done.
    Is this one of those exhibitions that tours round most cathedrals? Is each instance unique? How do they get the paint/medium off the stone?

    (Addressed to anyone who knows, not to you specifically.)

    I wonder how they'd feel if some unauthorised artist plastered graffiti on the outside walls!
    The cathedral's page about it is here, but does not explain afaics:
    https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/news/posts/delight-and-displeasure-art-installation-s-questions-to-god-divide-public-opinion/

    I'd guess that it will be some peelable surface - which could be paint on or stick on.

    I have used paint-on protection to pre-protect walls against graffiti (so you can just hose it all off and repaint to protect for next time), or once to waterproof a shower set against a stone house wall.
    Amuses me that the link shows the explanation about the exhibition directly underneath their welcome to Sarah Mullaly, rather giving the impression that the exhibition is to welcome her.

    Be interesting to hear if the exhibition does go on tour. Some of the exhibitions that tour cathedrals are amazing. I remember one about the moon.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 32,874

    Foxy said:

    Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd721j8390zo

    This is what annoys me about government. There's no joined-up thinking, no forward planning.

    Step 1. Grant Chagossians the right to British citizenship.
    Step 2. Trigger migration by handing Chagos to Mauritius.
    Step 3. Get taken completely by surprise when they show up at Heathrow.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Worth mentioning, yet again, that step 2 is insane.
    It mentioned in the article that the UK original “bought” Chagos from Mauritius.

    So we paid for it and now we are paying compensation for having it?
    We didn't buy the Chagos from Mauritius. We detached them before Mauritius gained independence and deported the Chaggosians to Mauritius.
    Deploying facts to discount a PB faithful narrative will never catch on. I suspect you will have posters pushing back with whataboutery before you know it.
    Foxy's argument is not factual - it paints a false picture by omission. The UK paid a £3 million grant to Mauritius in 1965, hundreds of thousands more in the 1970s, and millions more in the 1980s. You can argue that is not 'buying' - not least because they never owned the islands, so were not in a position to sell them. But is certainly financial compensation.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 32,874
    edited 8:02AM
    Duplicate post.
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