There are mornings when you wake so dark and early and beautifully sad, the last erotic dream melds seamlessly into the halflight of the day, and all the cool world is unreal
Good morning from Mendocino
Is 7am so early ?
6.15 is early
It’s also necessary. I gotta be cycling through the redwoods by 10am
Early for a Sunday, TBF.
I have decided that California is nice and people should move here. In the south you’ve got lots of sun, it’s like the Med. These lovely soft evenings. Palm trees. If you’re googling look for “Los Angeles”
In the middle the coast is lush. They have Sea otters. San Francisco is the main city here, barely known but a hidden gem. Set on a bay with magnificent scenery - check the “golden gate bridge” - it’s quite something
Inland you’ve got wine and bears and stuff. Then up here in the north it’s all mighty forests and Cioppino
If any PBers are looking for travel inspo, they could do worse. “California”. It’s on the far west coast of the USA
There are mornings when you wake so dark and early and beautifully sad, the last erotic dream melds seamlessly into the halflight of the day, and all the cool world is unreal
Good morning from Mendocino
Is 7am so early ?
6.15 is early
It’s also necessary. I gotta be cycling through the redwoods by 10am
Early for a Sunday, TBF.
I have decided that California is nice and people should move here. In the south you’ve got lots of sun, it’s like the Med. These lovely soft evenings. Palm trees. If you’re googling look for “Los Angeles”
In the middle the coast is lush. They have Sea otters. San Francisco is the main city here, barely known but a hidden gem. Set on a bay with magnificent scenery - check the “golden gate bridge” - it’s quite something
Inland you’ve got wine and bears and stuff. Then up here in the north it’s all mighty forests and Cioppino
If any PBers are looking for travel inspo, they could do worse. “California”. It’s on the far west coast of the USA
Until the earthquakes.
And the fires.
And the psychopathic acid-drenched hippies.
And ICE agents.
I preferred the old, more moderate ICE before it became so extreme, Vanilla ICE as it was.
Well, that should prevent the Poles from returning and undercutting our plumbers - the solemn, unspoken goal of Brexit. Mission accomplished.
It's a good news story really. But I suppose many will take it as the opposite, ie if they can boom so could we if it weren't for ... insert reasons according to taste.
Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen (Hebrew: אֱלִיָּהוּ בֵּן שָׁאוּל כֹּהֵן; Arabic: إيلياهو بن شاؤول كوهين; 26 December 1924 – 18 May 1965) was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy. He is best known for his espionage work in Syria between 1961 and 1965, where he developed close relationships with the Syrian political and military hierarchy.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cohen
On Syria's shortlist for deputy defence minister right up until his arrest, and public hanging.
Well, that should prevent the Poles from returning and undercutting our plumbers - the solemn, unspoken goal of Brexit. Mission accomplished.
It's a good news story really. But I suppose many will take it as the opposite, ie if they can boom so could we if it weren't for ... (insert reasons according to taste).
It will be a good news story when it actually happens. For now it's a useful source of clickbait.
Take, for example this proxy measure:
Share of household expenditure on groceries, 2023, UK: 9% Share of household expenditure on groceries, 2023, PL: 19%
Ok turns out I’m not on a bike I’m on a tiny converted tandem skunk themed railway carriage with pedal powered e-engines. And free popcorn. Heading into the redwoods along a 150 year old timber line
In May 2026, if the Tories get pummelled, but Labour gets eviscerated, will that give Kemi more breathing space?
The issue in May is how the Conservatives do against Reform. If there is some evidence that Reform is stalling against the Tories but making headway still against Labour, the Conservative Party should give her another year.
How would you identify that - reality is the Tories are going to lose a pile of seats (most of them) and reform are going to win a whole lot of councils..
The only upside is that our local elections are in 2027 by which time it should be obvious that Reforms local authority management isn't exactly improving things elsewhere,
London has all out elections next year most of England doesn't. Reform do worst in London and the Stamp Duty cut will go down well there.
Scotland and Wales have elections too but while Reform will do well in Wales they are unlikely to do as well in Scotland
Yes, the problem is these are local council elections and the last time I looked it wasn't Newham or Bromley or Richmond Councils who set the stamp duty rate. There's also the other small problem a) Labour might shoot the Conservatie fox and abolish Stamp Duty themselves and b) even if they don't, the implementation of the Stamp Duty abolition might not be until 2029 so why should people vote for a party promising something they have no power to enact for another three years?
Spurious logic at best.
Worth remembering you can still get a starter property in parts of London for under £300k which is the threshold for the levying of stamp duty on purchases for first time buyers. For example, there are one bedroom flats in East Ham and Beckton available for £200-£250k (10 years ago, they were barely £100k which tells you a lot).
I'd also add a lot of first time buyers in London are looking for rental property and anecdotally I think we are seeing some demographic and ethnic changes in my part of the world as a result of the new developments of leasehold flats going up in Barking and Ilford.
Just a question about the Badenoch proposal - is it only on the purchase of primary residences? I assume so but of course that won't stop those wishing to accumulate property buying them in the name of relatives etc.
Labour are of course whacking up taxes further in their Budget this autumn not cutting them. East Ham and Barking never elect Tory councillors anyway, it is voters in areas like Westminster, Wandsworth, Barnet, Richmond upon Thames Kemi will have targeted with her Stamp Duty cut and yes it is focused on primary residences
Why do you only ever look at policies for their political benefit, rather than what’s good for the country? Maybe that’s part of our national malaise.
Any party which ignores its own core vote and does not put its people first is doomed to extinction
Which is why as I pointed out in the first post of this thread - the Tories are headed for extinction... Since 2016 they've ignored their core vote to deliver Brexit regardless of everything else..
The reason the Tories are heading for extinction has nothing to do with Brexit imo.
Brexit and Boris Johnson's handling of Brexit are crucial to the current state of the Conservative Party. A Conservative Party without Spreadsheet Phil, Rory the Tory and Dominic Grieve is not the Conservative Party, and Johnson threw them out over Brexit.
The left's pet Tories.
I always find it rather amusing when non-Tories try and tell Tories what real Tories look like.
Transparently self-serving.
'We need to ensure those types of Tories prevail'
Piss off.
How rude!
Of course it's self serving. I don't mind a one nation Tory Government, but I don't want racist national socialist Tories ruining my country. My vote is the same value as yours.
I don't 'try to ensure' pet Labourites of mine 'prevail'. I state openly who impresses me and why, caveat it with what my biases are, and leave it there.
Didn't you PB Tories all spend three of your British pounds to vote for Corbyn and banish the Labour Party into perpetual opposition. Without the outrageous Boris Johnson premiership it would have.worked too.
Me? Oh I’m just in Drive Thru Tree Memorial Park where I’m about to DRIVE THROUGH A TREE, until I discover that actually my American Chevrolet SUV is too fat to drive thru the drive thru tree
Somewhere buried in there is a deep and meaningful metaphor
Me? Oh I’m just in Drive Thru Tree Memorial Park where I’m about to DRIVE THROUGH A TREE, until I discover that actually my American Chevrolet SUV is too fat to drive thru the drive thru tree
Somewhere buried in there is a deep and meaningful metaphor
Is it a metaphor about posting on the wrong thread?
Tories are fiddling around the edges - same as Labour. And performative "we'll cut the civil service" - because *everyone* knows there's an army of penpushers - without being about to specify whom.
An idea: the Big Picture. Tories say "our national debt is grotesque. It's built over decades, including under our watch. A system which we now need to change. So we're going to make significant cuts"
A starter for 10. Our road network is shagged, the bits we do cost £stupid. Why don't the Tories propose private toll motorways? Easy planning clearance for companies who want to build tolled bypasses of the worst bits. We get new stuff without paying for it, it's pay and play for users.
I would imagine because if they did they would get abuse from Labour and the Lib Dem’s for pricing out ordinary working people from road travel, then there would be some attacks for whoever they choose to run the scheme as inevitably there will be someone at the top of the sort of company who can do it who knows a senior Tory and finally the Lib Dem’s would be campaigning on a local level against building the toll stations in their constituencies even where it might be the essential or best space to make this work.
Yesterday you were talking about cross party consensus on things that need to be done but you know full well that consensus would only be ok if it’s an area one approves of.
They should call the new toll roads “autoroutes”, the toll booths “peages” and promise some nice “aires” operated by Autogrill along the way.
Interestingly the Mayor of London has shown that with a bit of confidence you can push through major projects in the face of opposition with long term positive results. We all know about ULEZ (see last week’s good news on NO2 readings in London), but who outside the capital has even heard about the tolling of the Blackwall and Silvertown crossings?
The GLA has managed to get the Silvertown tunnel built and turned it and the previously free Blackwall into toll tunnels. You’d think the outcry would be deafening. But aside from a few half hearted local campaigns it’s been met with a shrug. And the promised traffic gridlock on both sides of the river has failed to materialise.
The toll might be part of the reason there isn't gridlock. Could probably make an argument that some tolls boost the economy by stripping out some of the less economically viable traffic, opening up the roads for the firms that depend on them.
I'm pretty convinced this is true about the Edinburgh bypass. It's a really handy way to get from the east of the city to the business parks in the west - much better than the two buses/trams alternative because the marginal cost of driving is so low. But it also means that the freight trying to move from the NE of England in towards Glasgow/the Highlands gets caught up in commuter traffic.
Edinburgh and Glasgow being great examples of what I am talking about. For me to head south I have two choices - Glasgow commuter traffic as I briefly enter the City of Glasgow on the M73, or Edinburgh commuter traffic as I enter the City of Edinburgh on the A720.
The "M7 Fastlink" scheme long cancelled. Company builds a motorway from the M74 at Abington, crossing the M8 to the M9 at Grangemouth. Charges a toll, but it opens up traffic flow through the central belt, unjamming parts of Glasgow and Edinburgh commuter networks.
Personally I'd build it in the public sector - my proposal is a StateCo road construction business. But the Tories like private so have a consortium do it for profit. Whatever. At least we would build *something*. As opposed to nothing as we always seem to do.
We have travelled from Llandudno to Lossiemouth countless times and use the M6, M74, then to Perth, A9 to Aviemore, then on to Elgin and Lossiemouth . Occasionally we have gone via Edinburgh and the M90 but the first route is our preferred choice
The lack of dualling the A9 to Inverness is disgraceful and it remains one of the most dangerous roads in UK
The A9 should have been duelled years ago, and it would have saved lives. I came from Aviemore and most locals living along the route all know the notorious accident blackspots.
Comments
https://x.com/mrmbrown/status/1977414995639161173?s=61
@thetimes
.
"In some ways Poland is already ahead...[with] faster mobile internet, cheaper electricity and more high-speed rail"
https://x.com/notesfrompoland/status/1977337321629659539
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owoo5hmTUf0
People of Doncaster North. Are you happy with your MP? Would you like it if someone from your neck of the woods kicked him out?
Saudi Al-Hadath reported from sources that the remains of spy Eli Cohen who was buried in Syria may soon be handed over to Israel.
https://x.com/Osint613/status/1977360667083448829
Quite the legend.
Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen (Hebrew: אֱלִיָּהוּ בֵּן שָׁאוּל כֹּהֵן; Arabic: إيلياهو بن شاؤول كوهين; 26 December 1924 – 18 May 1965) was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy. He is best known for his espionage work in Syria between 1961 and 1965, where he developed close relationships with the Syrian political and military hierarchy..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cohen
On Syria's shortlist for deputy defence minister right up until his arrest, and public hanging.
NEW THREAD
Take, for example this proxy measure:
Share of household expenditure on groceries, 2023, UK: 9%
Share of household expenditure on groceries, 2023, PL: 19%
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/food-expenditure-share-gdp
Superb Americana
Somewhere buried in there is a deep and meaningful metaphor