Both the erroneously released prisoners are back in custody then. Well done to the person responsible for their recapture, David Lammy. After all the brickbats thrown at him in recent days it's only fair he now takes the plaudits.
It's so easy for him, when they all head for his constituency or within a stone's throw of it, though?
Both the erroneously released prisoners are back in custody then. Well done to the person responsible for their recapture, David Lammy. After all the brickbats thrown at him in recent days it's only fair he now takes the plaudits.
Lightweight Lammy!
The people responsible in both cases were the public and in todays a Sky journalist as well
Nothing to do with Lammy though an answer to prayer by him
Lib Dem (Gareth Williams) 471 Reform 212 Conservative 100 Labour 26 Independent 12
Lib Dem gain from Reform
Only a Town Council but..., last week it happened at Bromsgrove. Reform are not invincible. Interesting their win at Harborough yesterday, on the face of it Cons, Labour and Greens vote fell, Lib Dem held steady and only 98 behind.
Local elections sine May have given Reform 57 victories, LDs 47, Cons 16, Labour 13, Greens 11. Total votes Reform lead with 27%, Lib Dems second on 20%. Cons Labour and Greens mid to low teens.
Quite remarkable how the LDs get almost no publicity, but plod on and either retain or increase their votes.
Absolutely no sign over the last month of the "Green surge", perhaps it is concentrated in London and the University Towns. Keep waiting for it to show, maybe next week, maybe not.
Other than Reform doing quite to very well, I think it's hard to transpose the national polls on to local by elections. For the rest of them, it's all about the local set up. That often favours the Lib Dems.
Isn't that kind of how elections work generally, though, particularly in a situation like we have now with Reform ahead and four parties in the teens of %?
There are a load of places where people are going to be trying to work out how best to achieve what they want - that might either be punishing the Government or stopping Reform. The local set up matters quite a lot in that situation.
As has been said, maybe it's just been the wrong by-elections in the wrong places for the Greens since Polanski got in. But another possibility is they are awash with SWP types who basically want to debate Gaza and wealth taxes in dusty halls and fantasise about being Zohran Mamdani, but actually aren't that arsed with the boring logistics of running election campaigns, pointing at potholes and so forth.
I was quite surprised to learn that Apple iphone Air has been a huge L for Apple. I presumed that people that love the Apple design language would be all over it (having inferior specs has never been a problem in the past for Apple products).
Apple should bring back the SE for those of us with reasonably-sized hands.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I look out across a valley to what was his Devon home.
ITV has said it is in "preliminary" discussions to sell its broadcasting business to Sky for £1.6bn, a move that could reshape the UK's television landscape.
The talks focus on ITV's Media and Entertainment division, which includes its free-to-air TV channels as well as the ITV X streaming service.
The discussions with Sky, which is owned by US-based Comcast, come as the television industry faces fierce competition from streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+.
The deal would not include ITV's production arm - ITV Studios - which makes popular programmes such as Love Island and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.
If they're willing to go cheap, they must have found a way to build it with their usual 35% or so gross margin, or I don't think they'd bother.
Since macs are only 8% of Apple's revenue, I doubt it would be transformative to their share price.
Rumour mill is that they're sweating the design of an old iPhone chip. It'd be a nice web terminal/chromebook replacement/second system but it'll not keep up with their mainstream offerings.
Still, it will get your kids hooked on the ecosystem - which is probably the core goal.
The MacAir is gaining performance every year. I know quite a few developers who are using one.
If all you need is a terminal to open a session to a VDI, then a cheaper, even smaller machine would be useful
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
I went to a lecture about Stalingrad. During the course of one day's fighting, the Germans took 3,000 casualties, advancing twenty meters into the Tractor Factory. That degree of carnage exceeds anything in Blackadder.
Captain Darling is definitely wearing the ribbon of the Military Cross.
Hindsight is easy and all that but I think its Beevor who makes the point that the Germans main goal on the Eastern Front was encirclements (huge Cannae style battles) didn't do the obvious thing at Stalingrad - having reach the Volga to the North and South of the city, just work up and down the river back to encircle the defenders. Instead they tried frontal attack after frontal attack. Whether it would have worked is anyone's guess, and I'm pretty sure that they would still have lost the war in the end, but its an interesting counterfactual.
Even if they'd taken the city, they would still have been crushed, in Operation Uranus. As early as 31st August, the Quartermaster of the Sixth Army was noting signs of malnutrition, among the soldiers. All their supplies were conveyed up one single track railway, infested by partisans.
What goes around... And now the Freedom of Russia Legion partisans are destroying the Russian railway network in the war against Ukraine:
Ninety violent or sex offenders have been mistakenly released from prison in the last year,
Your joking, not another one 90....
The prison service appears to be totally broken. They literally have one job to do, and that’s to keep the dangerous people away from the rest of us.
How can they possibly lose half a dozen people every week?
Because prisons are overcrowded, guards are undertrained with few entry requirements snd administrative systems archaic. We have neglected our prisons as much as anywhere else in the public estate so shouldn't be surprised that they work badly. The Probation service is pretty hopeless too. At £60 000 per prisoner per year it is very much as Douglas Hurd described 30 years ago "an expensive way of making bad people worse".
On a recent inspection at Leicester Prison* the governor didn't know how many prisoners he had that day. A pretty core figure I would have thought.
*Leicester Prison is opposite my hospital and particularly chaotic, as it is short term with lots of remand prisoners and newly sentenced who are awaiting moves to longer term prisons.
I’ve not worked in a prison but I have worked in an hotel - how many customers are in beds tonight is kinda a key metric. Much easier with a prison too, guests can’t just bring a friend in with them and there’s supposed to be paperwork of comings and goings.
As others have said, it does appear that a lot of money is being spent with poor value achieved, yet prison officers are not particularly well paid, and every month or two there’s a scandal involving a young woman working in a men’s prison with predictable results.
The building themselves are often in poor condition too, they should probably look at selling off a lot of the estate that’s in urban areas (the old prison in Oxford city centre is now a funky hotel) and build new facilities on military land.
Public sector pay is one of those magic bullets I very much wish we could use. In a perfect world I would very much like that our public servants were paid much better than they are and payscales significantly reformed so that progression is encouraged. We should as part of that be reforming public sector pensions.
Of course the unions would hate absolutely everything I’ve just typed so it’s pie in the sky, but I can dream. I think there’s a lot of great people in the public sector but they are trapped by overbearing bureaucracy and static pay and progression structures.
They probably need fewer people paid more money, and yes get rid of the archaic systems of work and pensions.
It’s really obvious in my trade, IT, when you see ads for senior IT managers on £50k in the public sector in London, with a long list of formal qualifications as prerequisites and a five-stage application process.
The helpdesk Level 2 in the private sector is making that salary in London.
Why any public sector is based in London is beyond me.
All public sector work, beyond frontline services, should be moved out of overheated and overexpensive London. Move all civil servants elsewhere.
I'd move Parliament and the PM's office too while we're at it.
I think the experience of the ONS, based in Newport, offers a cautionary tale. It's hard to get good people to move to Newport, where there are few other employers of graduates with advanced skills in the area of data and statistics. Once you're there and have kids in school and put down roots you have no other job to go to. Your spouse might not find good work either. The ONS has been bedeviled by problems and mistakes, and staffing I suspect is a big part of their problem. There are other places outside London that might have the labour market to support a public body that wants a deep pool of talent, like Manchester or Leeds or Edinburgh. But they also have expensive housing markets. If you want good people you need a deep labour market which implies good private sector employers which implies high competitor salaries and expensive housing, sorry.
The move of the ONS to Newport has indeed been an exercise in how to do relocation badly. Also it is a shithole, so no chance getting people to trade the above for a nice place to live and a bigger house (which actually removes some of the need for career progression)
I was once involved with a move from London to Coventry and was slightly surprised by how many of my colleagues wanted to move. Well, lower living costs, opportunity to buy a big family house without a massive commute, plenty of housing at different price ranges, you can live in Stratford upon Avon if you can afford it. Only an hour from London by train, and it was an education quango so many spouses were teachers, and you can get a job anywhere.
I disagree that Newport is badly sited as a place to work, having worked at the Royal Gwent Hospital from 1986-1992, and then part-time there until 2005, with other commitments in Cardiff and latterly Caerphilly too. It is not far from Cardiff, where I lived and which has many opportunities, and it is within commuting distance of Bristol. There is attractive countryside for rural living to its east. It is much nicer than the upper reaches of the South Wales valleys, which are much higher, wetter and gloomier with very little decent housing.
I've been to Newport several times. The only reason why I don't think it's the worst town in the UK is because I've been to Middlesbrough. Saying it is adequate because it's near to Cardiff is like saying Hiroshima is adequate because it's near to Kyoto.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
After his quad bike accident he had virtually no memory of any of the work he'd done. Everything he watched was new to him.
Must be very strange indeed to see your life that everybody but you knows.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
That must have been quite something to behold!
I live in an area with a fair number of names floating about. Generally, they are very guarded and private when you knock on the door - and I get that as they are in the public eye and more mindful of privacy than most. But Rik Mayall was absolutely brilliant - unforgettable.
The more I think about it, the worse this is from Jenrick. Kids are being bullied on social media/WhatsApp by others creating deepfakes of them, and it makes their lives hell. Politicians should know better, they should be setting the standards, not lowering them.
I can't bear Jenrick, but give over, the comedy element of the clip is brilliant, and Lammy was so poor on Wednesday the clown image summed up his performance.
I would jump at any opportunity to dump all over Jenrick's political opportunism and his performative cruelty, but that is funny and is a wholly different proposition to the worrying uses of AI you suggest.
How is it different? To me it is the same thing; altering an image of someone to mock, ridicule or embarrass them, and sharing it for the world to see. The parallel with bullies deepfaking images of other kids and sharing them on snapchat/tiktok/whatsApp, or whatever it is the kids use, is striking
It should be beneath Parliament really. Imagine we started allowing it on here, would that raise or lower the standard of debate?
Lammy has put himself up for ridicule. He's a public figure and free game.
I can't overstate my disdain for Jenrick but I don't have a problem with his video. I am more concerned by his assertion on Ferrari yesterday that this government and the last are rubbish and he claimed to have cleansed himself of any blame by resigning from the Sunak Government. Of course he was banging on about asylum hotels when there is a video available of him saying how clever he was to house asylum seekers in hotels.
I can live with the comedy but not the disingenuous lying.
Lib Dem (Gareth Williams) 471 Reform 212 Conservative 100 Labour 26 Independent 12
Lib Dem gain from Reform
Only a Town Council but..., last week it happened at Bromsgrove. Reform are not invincible. Interesting their win at Harborough yesterday, on the face of it Cons, Labour and Greens vote fell, Lib Dem held steady and only 98 behind.
Local elections sine May have given Reform 57 victories, LDs 47, Cons 16, Labour 13, Greens 11. Total votes Reform lead with 27%, Lib Dems second on 20%. Cons Labour and Greens mid to low teens.
Quite remarkable how the LDs get almost no publicity, but plod on and either retain or increase their votes.
Absolutely no sign over the last month of the "Green surge", perhaps it is concentrated in London and the University Towns. Keep waiting for it to show, maybe next week, maybe not.
Other than Reform doing quite to very well, I think it's hard to transpose the national polls on to local by elections. For the rest of them, it's all about the local set up. That often favours the Lib Dems.
Isn't that kind of how elections work generally, though, particularly in a situation like we have now with Reform ahead and four parties in the teens of %?
There are a load of places where people are going to be trying to work out how best to achieve what they want - that might either be punishing the Government or stopping Reform. The local set up matters quite a lot in that situation.
As has been said, maybe it's just been the wrong by-elections in the wrong places for the Greens since Polanski got in. But another possibility is they are awash with SWP types who basically want to debate Gaza and wealth taxes in dusty halls and fantasise about being Zohran Mamdani, but actually aren't that arsed with the boring logistics of running election campaigns, pointing at potholes and so forth.
If by-elections were coming up in London Boroughs like Camden, Islington, Haringey, Hackney, or core cities, we’d probably see strong scores for the Greens.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
That must have been quite something to behold!
I live in an area with a fair number of names floating about. Generally, they are very guarded and private when you knock on the door - and I get that as they are in the public eye and more mindful of privacy than most. But Rik Mayall was absolutely brilliant - unforgettable.
A friend of mine canvassed Svetlana Stalin, when she lived in Cambridge.
I was quite surprised to learn that Apple iphone Air has been a huge L for Apple. I presumed that people that love the Apple design language would be all over it (having inferior specs has never been a problem in the past for Apple products).
Apple should bring back the SE for those of us with reasonably-sized hands.
My current phone is an SE2, my next phone is an SE3 I have sitting in the drawer.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
I went to a lecture about Stalingrad. During the course of one day's fighting, the Germans took 3,000 casualties, advancing twenty meters into the Tractor Factory. That degree of carnage exceeds anything in Blackadder.
Captain Darling is definitely wearing the ribbon of the Military Cross.
Hindsight is easy and all that but I think its Beevor who makes the point that the Germans main goal on the Eastern Front was encirclements (huge Cannae style battles) didn't do the obvious thing at Stalingrad - having reach the Volga to the North and South of the city, just work up and down the river back to encircle the defenders. Instead they tried frontal attack after frontal attack. Whether it would have worked is anyone's guess, and I'm pretty sure that they would still have lost the war in the end, but its an interesting counterfactual.
The Germans also failed to take Leningrad, despite putting it under siege that resulted in immense hunger and suffering for the population inside the city. So I wouldn't have thought that cutting off Stalingrad would have been all that much more successful.
They never surrounded Leningrad fully and also never made attempts to fully capture it. Leningrad was supplied over the ice road during the winter.
In Stalingrad the soviets were able to keep feeding in men and weapons over the who duration of the battle, something that closing off the Volga crossing would have stopped.
Years and years ago I read a book written mid-War about what the author expected afterwards. I think it was probably the first 'politics' book I ever read. I don't remember all of it, but one point I do recall is that the Finns, who were allegedly allied to the Germans had, once they had regained their lost territories, stopped. Had they push on towards Leningrad the situation might well have been different.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Does the Lego model also contain a tiny Lego model of the model within it? Or is this going full Synecdoche?
Yay, I am in Chester this week. Did the walk around the walls this morning. Am going to see this later this afternoon.
Is the Roman amphitheatre still visible? No idea if it is.
Railway bridge over the Dee is infamous - or rather its predecessor was. Cast iron in tension, not a good idea, cue quick whitewash of Stephensonian design by Brunel et al at the public inquiry.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
That must have been quite something to behold!
I live in an area with a fair number of names floating about. Generally, they are very guarded and private when you knock on the door - and I get that as they are in the public eye and more mindful of privacy than most. But Rik Mayall was absolutely brilliant - unforgettable.
A friend of mine canvassed Svetlana Stalin, when she lived in Cambridge.
Many decades ago I convinced Brian Blessed's wife, Hildegarde to stand for the LDs at the local elections. He tuned up while I was talking to her. He was as loud and terrifying in real life even though he was being very nice to me.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Does the Lego model also contain a tiny Lego model of the model within it? Or is this going full Synecdoche?
Yay, I am in Chester this week. Did the walk around the walls this morning. Am going to see this later this afternoon.
Is the Roman amphitheatre still visible? No idea if it is.
Railway bridge over the Dee is infamous - or rather its predecessor was. Cast iron in tension, not a good idea, cue quick whitewash of Stephensonian design by Brunel et al at the public inquiry.
Was the whitewash supposed to add to the structural resilience ?
Lib Dem (Gareth Williams) 471 Reform 212 Conservative 100 Labour 26 Independent 12
Lib Dem gain from Reform
Only a Town Council but..., last week it happened at Bromsgrove. Reform are not invincible. Interesting their win at Harborough yesterday, on the face of it Cons, Labour and Greens vote fell, Lib Dem held steady and only 98 behind.
Local elections sine May have given Reform 57 victories, LDs 47, Cons 16, Labour 13, Greens 11. Total votes Reform lead with 27%, Lib Dems second on 20%. Cons Labour and Greens mid to low teens.
Quite remarkable how the LDs get almost no publicity, but plod on and either retain or increase their votes.
Absolutely no sign over the last month of the "Green surge", perhaps it is concentrated in London and the University Towns. Keep waiting for it to show, maybe next week, maybe not.
Other than Reform doing quite to very well, I think it's hard to transpose the national polls on to local by elections. For the rest of them, it's all about the local set up. That often favours the Lib Dems.
Isn't that kind of how elections work generally, though, particularly in a situation like we have now with Reform ahead and four parties in the teens of %?
There are a load of places where people are going to be trying to work out how best to achieve what they want - that might either be punishing the Government or stopping Reform. The local set up matters quite a lot in that situation.
As has been said, maybe it's just been the wrong by-elections in the wrong places for the Greens since Polanski got in. But another possibility is they are awash with SWP types who basically want to debate Gaza and wealth taxes in dusty halls and fantasise about being Zohran Mamdani, but actually aren't that arsed with the boring logistics of running election campaigns, pointing at potholes and so forth.
If by-elections were coming up in London Boroughs like Camden, Islington, Haringey, Hackney, or core cities, we’d probably see strong scores for the Greens.
There was one in Camden at the end of August. Lib Dem gain from Labour, Greens fifth. . Look, I don't deny there are stronger places for the Greens, and of course vacancies now arising in London won't be filled until May under the six month rule. But they're on quite a run of saying, "well, it's the wrong place for us..." The question does have to be asked as to whether there are enough right places out there to convert polls into votes.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Does the Lego model also contain a tiny Lego model of the model within it? Or is this going full Synecdoche?
Yay, I am in Chester this week. Did the walk around the walls this morning. Am going to see this later this afternoon.
Is the Roman amphitheatre still visible? No idea if it is.
Railway bridge over the Dee is infamous - or rather its predecessor was. Cast iron in tension, not a good idea, cue quick whitewash of Stephensonian design by Brunel et al at the public inquiry.
Was the whitewash supposed to add to the structural resilience ?
Metaphorical, rather than to show up the cracks with a bit of blue ink sprayed on ...
Well Russian oil giant Lukoil, facing severe US sanctions, decided to divest its foreign operations to a Swiss-based company called Gunvor, also owned by Putin.
The US Treasury, responsible for sanctions, has blocked the deal by sanctioning Gunvor.
German Def Min Pistorius confirms year-end decision on Franco-German FCAS fighter jet project amid Dassault-Airbus tensions. Failure could push Germany toward Sweden/UK alternatives. €100B program at stake https://x.com/PolymarketIntel/status/1986767011142078729
Well Russian oil giant Lukoil, facing severe US sanctions, decided to divest its foreign operations to a Swiss-based company called Gunvor, also owned by Putin.
The US Treasury, responsible for sanctions, has blocked the deal by sanctioning Gunvor.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
That must have been quite something to behold!
I live in an area with a fair number of names floating about. Generally, they are very guarded and private when you knock on the door - and I get that as they are in the public eye and more mindful of privacy than most. But Rik Mayall was absolutely brilliant - unforgettable.
A friend of mine canvassed Svetlana Stalin, when she lived in Cambridge.
Many decades ago I convinced Brian Blessed's wife, Hildegarde to stand for the LDs at the local elections. He tuned up while I was talking to her. He was as loud and terrifying in real life even though he was being very nice to me.
Irrespecitive of my (or Brian Blessed's) political views, I'd vote for him if he was the local council candidate.
Ms Abbott is quite correct, if they are using the UK definition of trillion and billion.
Trillion = 10 exp 12, in Usonian-speak. BUT it is 10 exp 18 in UK usage.
Billion = 10 exp 9 if Usonian. It is, strictly, if not always now, 10 exp 12 in UK usage.
If a nurse earns 50K then 20 billion nurses' pay =
2 x 10 x 10 exp 12 x 5 x 10 exp 4 = 10 exp 18 = I trillion with a UF painted on it. QED.
[edited to correct slip!]
With all due respect, even that's not correct, because the nurse is paid 50k every year.
With all due respect, I didn't say it was salary. Neither did Ms Livermore or Ms Abbott. Just "pay package".
Ah, so on that basis, you are paid 3,000 more than me because my hourly rate is $26, and you are paid $78,000/year.
The key is in the phrase "That's 20 billion times more than a nurse in the UK earns."
It also assumes that Musk actually makes that amount. Which is 'ambitious' to say the least. (ie I don't think that those options will ever actually pay out)
I was pondering Musk's trillion dollars this morning whilst walking in Hyde Park
If you could collect al the leaves from all the trees there (before they mostly fell off) - and someone swapped you a ten dollar note for every leaf....
And then you did that for 100 years!
(250k per tree * 4k trees * 10 * 100 - using of course the now standard definition of a trillion.)
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Does the Lego model also contain a tiny Lego model of the model within it? Or is this going full Synecdoche?
Yay, I am in Chester this week. Did the walk around the walls this morning. Am going to see this later this afternoon.
Is the Roman amphitheatre still visible? No idea if it is.
Railway bridge over the Dee is infamous - or rather its predecessor was. Cast iron in tension, not a good idea, cue quick whitewash of Stephensonian design by Brunel et al at the public inquiry.
I like they corner where they demolished the Roman and Medieval walls to build the canal, but had to keep the canal when they built the railway
Ms Abbott is quite correct, if they are using the UK definition of trillion and billion.
Trillion = 10 exp 12, in Usonian-speak. BUT it is 10 exp 18 in UK usage.
Billion = 10 exp 9 if Usonian. It is, strictly, if not always now, 10 exp 12 in UK usage.
If a nurse earns 50K then 20 billion nurses' pay =
2 x 10 x 10 exp 12 x 5 x 10 exp 4 = 10 exp 18 = I trillion with a UF painted on it. QED.
[edited to correct slip!]
With all due respect, even that's not correct, because the nurse is paid 50k every year.
With all due respect, I didn't say it was salary. Neither did Ms Livermore or Ms Abbott. Just "pay package".
Ah, so on that basis, you are paid 3,000 more than me because my hourly rate is $26, and you are paid $78,000/year.
The key is in the phrase "That's 20 billion times more than a nurse in the UK earns."
It also assumes that Musk actually makes that amount. Which is 'ambitious' to say the least. (ie I don't think that those options will ever actually pay out)
I suspect Tesla (the stock) will be a pretty terrible performer over the next decade. I'd much rather have my money in SpaceX.
On which note, British Airways is installing Starlink so all BA flights will have free, fast wifi!
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
That must have been quite something to behold!
I live in an area with a fair number of names floating about. Generally, they are very guarded and private when you knock on the door - and I get that as they are in the public eye and more mindful of privacy than most. But Rik Mayall was absolutely brilliant - unforgettable.
A friend of mine canvassed Svetlana Stalin, when she lived in Cambridge.
Many decades ago I convinced Brian Blessed's wife, Hildegarde to stand for the LDs at the local elections. He tuned up while I was talking to her. He was as loud and terrifying in real life even though he was being very nice to me.
Irrespecitive of my (or Brian Blessed's) political views, I'd vote for him if he was the local council candidate.
Yes, who would risk an earful of Blessed to vote for someone else ?
Ms Abbott is quite correct, if they are using the UK definition of trillion.
Trillion = 10 exp 12, in Usonian-speak. BUT it is 10 exp 15 in UK usage.
Billion = 10 exp 9. (t can also be 10 exp 12 in UK usage, but this is pretty muych extinct. Hence the different meaning of trillion.)
If a nurse earns 50K then 20 billion nurses' pay =
2 x 10 x 10 exp 9 x 5 x 10 exp 4 = 10 exp 15 = I trillion with a UF painted on it. QED.
A trillion in the UK used to be 10¹⁸, until 1974 when it became 10¹²
I don't know when it was 10¹⁵
I remember growing up and understanding a billion to be a million million, then getting to secondary school and finding it had changed. It bafflrd me that you could do ths. How can you just change what a number means? Whatever next? A hundred suddenly actually means 4? Pi is redefined as 5?
I was pondering Musk's trillion dollars this morning whilst walking in Hyde Park
If you could collect al the leaves from all the trees there (before they mostly fell off) - and someone swapped you a ten dollar note for every leaf....
And then you did that for 100 years!
(250k per tree * 4k trees * 10 * 100 - using of course the now standard definition of a trillion.)
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
That must have been quite something to behold!
I live in an area with a fair number of names floating about. Generally, they are very guarded and private when you knock on the door - and I get that as they are in the public eye and more mindful of privacy than most. But Rik Mayall was absolutely brilliant - unforgettable.
A friend of mine canvassed Svetlana Stalin, when she lived in Cambridge.
Many decades ago I convinced Brian Blessed's wife, Hildegarde to stand for the LDs at the local elections. He tuned up while I was talking to her. He was as loud and terrifying in real life even though he was being very nice to me.
OF COURSE Brian Blessed has a wife called Hildegarde. I bet she's a retired valkyrie.
Ms Abbott is quite correct, if they are using the UK definition of trillion and billion.
Trillion = 10 exp 12, in Usonian-speak. BUT it is 10 exp 18 in UK usage.
Billion = 10 exp 9 if Usonian. It is, strictly, if not always now, 10 exp 12 in UK usage.
If a nurse earns 50K then 20 billion nurses' pay =
2 x 10 x 10 exp 12 x 5 x 10 exp 4 = 10 exp 18 = I trillion with a UF painted on it. QED.
[edited to correct slip!]
With all due respect, even that's not correct, because the nurse is paid 50k every year.
With all due respect, I didn't say it was salary. Neither did Ms Livermore or Ms Abbott. Just "pay package".
Ah, so on that basis, you are paid 3,000 more than me because my hourly rate is $26, and you are paid $78,000/year.
The key is in the phrase "That's 20 billion times more than a nurse in the UK earns."
It also assumes that Musk actually makes that amount. Which is 'ambitious' to say the least. (ie I don't think that those options will ever actually pay out)
I suspect Tesla (the stock) will be a pretty terrible performer over the next decade. I'd much rather have my money in SpaceX.
On which note, British Airways is installing Starlink so all BA flights will have free, fast wifi!
Bit shit if you find it's a code-share flight, though?
Ms Abbott is quite correct, if they are using the UK definition of trillion and billion.
Trillion = 10 exp 12, in Usonian-speak. BUT it is 10 exp 18 in UK usage.
Billion = 10 exp 9 if Usonian. It is, strictly, if not always now, 10 exp 12 in UK usage.
If a nurse earns 50K then 20 billion nurses' pay =
2 x 10 x 10 exp 12 x 5 x 10 exp 4 = 10 exp 18 = I trillion with a UF painted on it. QED.
[edited to correct slip!]
With all due respect, even that's not correct, because the nurse is paid 50k every year.
With all due respect, I didn't say it was salary. Neither did Ms Livermore or Ms Abbott. Just "pay package".
Ah, so on that basis, you are paid 3,000 more than me because my hourly rate is $26, and you are paid $78,000/year.
The key is in the phrase "That's 20 billion times more than a nurse in the UK earns."
It also assumes that Musk actually makes that amount. Which is 'ambitious' to say the least. (ie I don't think that those options will ever actually pay out)
I suspect Tesla (the stock) will be a pretty terrible performer over the next decade. I'd much rather have my money in SpaceX.
On which note, British Airways is installing Starlink so all BA flights will have free, fast wifi!
So BA finally gave in about not being able to charge vast sums per Mb?
Ms Abbott is quite correct, if they are using the UK definition of trillion.
Trillion = 10 exp 12, in Usonian-speak. BUT it is 10 exp 15 in UK usage.
Billion = 10 exp 9. (t can also be 10 exp 12 in UK usage, but this is pretty muych extinct. Hence the different meaning of trillion.)
If a nurse earns 50K then 20 billion nurses' pay =
2 x 10 x 10 exp 9 x 5 x 10 exp 4 = 10 exp 15 = I trillion with a UF painted on it. QED.
A trillion in the UK used to be 10¹⁸, until 1974 when it became 10¹²
I don't know when it was 10¹⁵
I remember growing up and understanding a billion to be a million million, then getting to secondary school and finding it had changed. It baffled me that you could do ths. How can you just change what a number means? Whatever next? A hundred suddenly actually means 4? Pi is redefined as 5?
I hate it when the meaning of words changes.
That's just culture vs maths... and the ascent of US culture over ours.
You encounter that all the time if you learn foreign languages (see, for example Korean vs Sino-Korean numbers).
Ms Abbott is quite correct, if they are using the UK definition of trillion.
Trillion = 10 exp 12, in Usonian-speak. BUT it is 10 exp 15 in UK usage.
Billion = 10 exp 9. (t can also be 10 exp 12 in UK usage, but this is pretty muych extinct. Hence the different meaning of trillion.)
If a nurse earns 50K then 20 billion nurses' pay =
2 x 10 x 10 exp 9 x 5 x 10 exp 4 = 10 exp 15 = I trillion with a UF painted on it. QED.
A trillion in the UK used to be 10¹⁸, until 1974 when it became 10¹²
I don't know when it was 10¹⁵
I remember growing up and understanding a billion to be a million million, then getting to secondary school and finding it had changed. It bafflrd me that you could do ths. How can you just change what a number means? Whatever next? A hundred suddenly actually means 4? Pi is redefined as 5?
I hate it when the meaning of words changes.
We used to have a word for 10^9 - a milliard.
And also the Indiana state legislature once tried to rule that pi was 3.
Ms Abbott is quite correct, if they are using the UK definition of trillion.
Trillion = 10 exp 12, in Usonian-speak. BUT it is 10 exp 15 in UK usage.
Billion = 10 exp 9. (t can also be 10 exp 12 in UK usage, but this is pretty muych extinct. Hence the different meaning of trillion.)
If a nurse earns 50K then 20 billion nurses' pay =
2 x 10 x 10 exp 9 x 5 x 10 exp 4 = 10 exp 15 = I trillion with a UF painted on it. QED.
A trillion in the UK used to be 10¹⁸, until 1974 when it became 10¹²
I don't know when it was 10¹⁵
I remember growing up and understanding a billion to be a million million, then getting to secondary school and finding it had changed. It bafflrd me that you could do ths. How can you just change what a number means? Whatever next? A hundred suddenly actually means 4? Pi is redefined as 5?
I hate it when the meaning of words changes.
Yes, like MTG changing her approach. Unsettles one's faith in reality, like an earthquake.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
That must have been quite something to behold!
I live in an area with a fair number of names floating about. Generally, they are very guarded and private when you knock on the door - and I get that as they are in the public eye and more mindful of privacy than most. But Rik Mayall was absolutely brilliant - unforgettable.
A friend of mine canvassed Svetlana Stalin, when she lived in Cambridge.
Many decades ago I convinced Brian Blessed's wife, Hildegarde to stand for the LDs at the local elections. He tuned up while I was talking to her. He was as loud and terrifying in real life even though he was being very nice to me.
OF COURSE Brian Blessed has a wife called Hildegarde. I bet she's a retired valkyrie.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
That must have been quite something to behold!
I live in an area with a fair number of names floating about. Generally, they are very guarded and private when you knock on the door - and I get that as they are in the public eye and more mindful of privacy than most. But Rik Mayall was absolutely brilliant - unforgettable.
A friend of mine canvassed Svetlana Stalin, when she lived in Cambridge.
Many decades ago I convinced Brian Blessed's wife, Hildegarde to stand for the LDs at the local elections. He tuned up while I was talking to her. He was as loud and terrifying in real life even though he was being very nice to me.
OF COURSE Brian Blessed has a wife called Hildegarde. I bet she's a retired valkyrie.
The Trump administration moved on Friday to deny swift and full food stamp payments to millions of low-income Americans, as it asked a federal appeals court to halt a judge’s recent order that would preserve those benefits during the shutdown.
NY Times
A hell of a lot of those food stamp people will have voted for Trump.
The Trump administration moved on Friday to deny swift and full food stamp payments to millions of low-income Americans, as it asked a federal appeals court to halt a judge’s recent order that would preserve those benefits during the shutdown.
NY Times
A hell of a lot of those food stamp people will have voted for Trump.
German Def Min Pistorius confirms year-end decision on Franco-German FCAS fighter jet project amid Dassault-Airbus tensions. Failure could push Germany toward Sweden/UK alternatives. €100B program at stake https://x.com/PolymarketIntel/status/1986767011142078729
If you go into a co-production aircraft deal with the French, you have to accept that the French will be in charge of the design, dictate the pace, and name the thing, because if you don't they will bugger off and do their own version. See Concorde, Jaguar, Rafale, Typhoon. A400M... They allow you the privilege of contributing money every now and then.
They will however allow you access to the plans and the software, which makes them better than the Americans.
German Def Min Pistorius confirms year-end decision on Franco-German FCAS fighter jet project amid Dassault-Airbus tensions. Failure could push Germany toward Sweden/UK alternatives. €100B program at stake https://x.com/PolymarketIntel/status/1986767011142078729
If you go into a co-production aircraft deal with the French, you have to accept that the French will be in charge of the design, dictate the pace, and name the thing, because if you don't they will bugger off and do their own version. See Concorde, Jaguar, Rafale, Typhoon. A400M... They allow you the privilege of contributing money every now and then.
They will however allow you access to the plans and the software, which makes them better than the Americans.
To be fair to the French, they do do big projects pretty well.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Does the Lego model also contain a tiny Lego model of the model within it? Or is this going full Synecdoche?
Yay, I am in Chester this week. Did the walk around the walls this morning. Am going to see this later this afternoon.
Is the Roman amphitheatre still visible? No idea if it is.
Railway bridge over the Dee is infamous - or rather its predecessor was. Cast iron in tension, not a good idea, cue quick whitewash of Stephensonian design by Brunel et al at the public inquiry.
Yes, or at least half of it is. The other half is under some listed buildings of very little obvious merit. There is an iron bridge across the Dee that was built for Queen Victoria. I didn't really notice anything exciting about the current railway bridge, perhaps its a replacement. The weir was somewhat in spate this morning with the river challenging its banks. All quite impressive.
German Def Min Pistorius confirms year-end decision on Franco-German FCAS fighter jet project amid Dassault-Airbus tensions. Failure could push Germany toward Sweden/UK alternatives. €100B program at stake https://x.com/PolymarketIntel/status/1986767011142078729
If you go into a co-production aircraft deal with the French, you have to accept that the French will be in charge of the design, dictate the pace, and name the thing, because if you don't they will bugger off and do their own version. See Concorde, Jaguar, Rafale, Typhoon. A400M... They allow you the privilege of contributing money every now and then.
They will however allow you access to the plans and the software, which makes them better than the Americans.
To be fair to the French, they do do big projects pretty well.
More than 1000 small boat migrants have crossed the Channel in the last 24 hours...
This weeks friday evening copy / pasta tweets on weekly achievements from Labour MPs might be a bit quiet on how successful one thousand in, one out....
Once again - the number of immigrants crossing the channel is a function of the weather.
When it's good they come. When it's bad, they don't
But, but, surely the gangs are all smashed by now and the swops with France are discouraging people from making the effort? I mean, Starmer told us this was a priority, right?
Labour made it sound so easy, and now the problem is worse than ever. One of Starmer's failings, of which he clearly has many, is expectations management. He's not up to the job.
Would anyone object if I wrote the next thread entirely in Latin?
Unless it involves asking how many parts Gaul is divided into, whether Caesar had some jam for tea or Pompey had a rat, or how often they loved a table, I probably won't be able to read it. Although I can tell you who those who are about to die will salute, if that's any help.
German Def Min Pistorius confirms year-end decision on Franco-German FCAS fighter jet project amid Dassault-Airbus tensions. Failure could push Germany toward Sweden/UK alternatives. €100B program at stake https://x.com/PolymarketIntel/status/1986767011142078729
If you go into a co-production aircraft deal with the French, you have to accept that the French will be in charge of the design, dictate the pace, and name the thing, because if you don't they will bugger off and do their own version. See Concorde, Jaguar, Rafale, Typhoon. A400M... They allow you the privilege of contributing money every now and then.
They will however allow you access to the plans and the software, which makes them better than the Americans.
The Germans just claim to want to order far more than anyone else, then reduce the order and demand the workshare stays the same. Or they will collapse the project.
German Def Min Pistorius confirms year-end decision on Franco-German FCAS fighter jet project amid Dassault-Airbus tensions. Failure could push Germany toward Sweden/UK alternatives. €100B program at stake https://x.com/PolymarketIntel/status/1986767011142078729
If you go into a co-production aircraft deal with the French, you have to accept that the French will be in charge of the design, dictate the pace, and name the thing, because if you don't they will bugger off and do their own version. See Concorde, Jaguar, Rafale, Typhoon. A400M... They allow you the privilege of contributing money every now and then.
They will however allow you access to the plans and the software, which makes them better than the Americans.
To be fair to the French, they do do big projects pretty well.
Apart from Airbus - which is an enormous exception - has any Franco-German (or indeed any French collaborative) project ended well ?
More than 1000 small boat migrants have crossed the Channel in the last 24 hours...
This weeks friday evening copy / pasta tweets on weekly achievements from Labour MPs might be a bit quiet on how successful one thousand in, one out....
Once again - the number of immigrants crossing the channel is a function of the weather.
When it's good they come. When it's bad, they don't
But, but, surely the gangs are all smashed by now and the swops with France are discouraging people from making the effort? I mean, Starmer told us this was a priority, right?
Labour made it sound so easy, and now the problem is worse than ever. One of Starmer's failings, of which he clearly has many, is expectations management. He's not up to the job.
Has there ever been a party in Government with worse communication machinery?
If England won the World cup and Starmer scored the hatrick to beat Germany at a packed Wembley Stadium, Morgan McSweeney's team would sell it as a disastrous defeat.
Once again, the slavish adherence to the worthless Baxter calculations. If you think the Conservatives will only win 15 seats on those numbers, I've a warehouse of bridges to which I'll gladly provide access.
Would anyone object if I wrote the next thread entirely in Latin?
Unless it involves asking how many parts Gaul is divided into, whether Caesar had some jam for tea or Pompey had a rat, or how often they loved a table, I probably won't be able to read it. Although I can tell you who those who are about to die will salute, if that's any help.
At the Grammar School I attended we had a choice at the end of the year at which we were 14. Latin, History and Geography or Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Plus, of course English, Maths and two languages. Somewhat to the Headmaster's annoyance I chose the Science option, and other than the rather primitive Latin associated with prescription writing I've had no contact with the language since. That was a 73 years ago!
I suppose a thread written in latin - post hoc ergo propter hoc - would be preferrable to the usual barrage of quotes and misquotes from Monty Python, Blackadder and Fawlty Towers which seem to be the lingua franca of most theads these days.
When I am sub editor (only a matter of time), I could care less about AI but the first person who misquotes Cleese gets the ban hammer.
Both the erroneously released prisoners are back in custody then. Well done to the person responsible for their recapture, David Lammy. After all the brickbats thrown at him in recent days it's only fair he now takes the plaudits.
trolling us like this demeans years of thoughtful posting.
Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.
There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!
Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!
Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch
“What’s the scale of this Darling?” “One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”
On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.
I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.
Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.
"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"
Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!
I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.
That must have been quite something to behold!
I live in an area with a fair number of names floating about. Generally, they are very guarded and private when you knock on the door - and I get that as they are in the public eye and more mindful of privacy than most. But Rik Mayall was absolutely brilliant - unforgettable.
A friend of mine canvassed Svetlana Stalin, when she lived in Cambridge.
Many decades ago I convinced Brian Blessed's wife, Hildegarde to stand for the LDs at the local elections. He tuned up while I was talking to her. He was as loud and terrifying in real life even though he was being very nice to me.
OF COURSE Brian Blessed has a wife called Hildegarde. I bet she's a retired valkyrie.
Both the erroneously released prisoners are back in custody then. Well done to the person responsible for their recapture, David Lammy. After all the brickbats thrown at him in recent days it's only fair he now takes the plaudits.
trolling us like this demeans years of thoughtful posting.
Comments
Nothing to do with Lammy though an answer to prayer by him
There are a load of places where people are going to be trying to work out how best to achieve what they want - that might either be punishing the Government or stopping Reform. The local set up matters quite a lot in that situation.
As has been said, maybe it's just been the wrong by-elections in the wrong places for the Greens since Polanski got in. But another possibility is they are awash with SWP types who basically want to debate Gaza and wealth taxes in dusty halls and fantasise about being Zohran Mamdani, but actually aren't that arsed with the boring logistics of running election campaigns, pointing at potholes and so forth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeCUoWHf6SM
Must be very strange indeed to see your life that everybody but you knows.
I can't overstate my disdain for Jenrick but I don't have a problem with his video. I am more concerned by his assertion on Ferrari yesterday that this government and the last are rubbish and he claimed to have cleansed himself of any blame by resigning from the Sunak Government. Of course he was banging on about asylum hotels when there is a video available of him saying how clever he was to house asylum seekers in hotels.
I can live with the comedy but not the disingenuous lying.
@TheGreenParty
Tesla have approved a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk. That's 20 billion times more than a nurse in the UK earns.
Don't let anyone tell you immigrants or disabled people are the problem. It's the richest 1% hoarding all the wealth.
Time to tax the super-rich properly.
https://x.com/TheGreenParty/status/1986764326380654813
Trillion = 10 exp 12, in Usonian-speak. BUT it is 10 exp 18 in UK usage.
Billion = 10 exp 9 if Usonian. It is, strictly, if not always now, 10 exp 12 in UK usage.
If a nurse earns 50K then 20 billion nurses' pay =
2 x 10 x 10 exp 12 x 5 x 10 exp 4 = 10 exp 18 = I trillion with a UF painted on it. QED.
[edited to correct slip!]
Railway bridge over the Dee is infamous - or rather its predecessor was. Cast iron in tension, not a good idea, cue quick whitewash of Stephensonian design by Brunel et al at the public inquiry.
Huge if true. Positively Trumpian.
I don't know when it was 10¹⁵
.
Look, I don't deny there are stronger places for the Greens, and of course vacancies now arising in London won't be filled until May under the six month rule. But they're on quite a run of saying, "well, it's the wrong place for us..." The question does have to be asked as to whether there are enough right places out there to convert polls into votes.
German Def Min Pistorius confirms year-end decision on Franco-German FCAS fighter jet project amid Dassault-Airbus tensions. Failure could push Germany toward Sweden/UK alternatives. €100B program at stake
https://x.com/PolymarketIntel/status/1986767011142078729
The key is in the phrase "That's 20 billion times more than a nurse in the UK earns."
Someone must have been using an old dictionary, though.
If you could collect al the leaves from all the trees there (before they mostly fell off) - and someone swapped you a ten dollar note for every leaf....
And then you did that for 100 years!
(250k per tree * 4k trees * 10 * 100 - using of course the now standard definition of a trillion.)
I was quite pleased with this thought.
On which note, British Airways is installing Starlink so all BA flights will have free, fast wifi!
I hate it when the meaning of words changes.
https://x.com/Bricktop_NAFO/status/1986725674560676311
I bet she's a retired valkyrie.
Ha!
You encounter that all the time if you learn foreign languages (see, for example Korean vs Sino-Korean numbers).
And also the Indiana state legislature once tried to rule that pi was 3.
NY Times
A hell of a lot of those food stamp people will have voted for Trump.
They will however allow you access to the plans and the software, which makes them better than the Americans.
https://neolatinlexicon.org/latin/poll_polling_public_opinion_research/
The've done this for Tornado and Eurofighter.
NEW THREAD
If England won the World cup and Starmer scored the hatrick to beat Germany at a packed Wembley Stadium, Morgan McSweeney's team would sell it as a disastrous defeat.
Somewhat to the Headmaster's annoyance I chose the Science option, and other than the rather primitive Latin associated with prescription writing I've had no contact with the language since. That was a 73 years ago!
When I am sub editor (only a matter of time), I could care less about AI but the first person who misquotes Cleese gets the ban hammer.
Cui lecta potenter erit res, nec facundia deseret hunc, nec lucidus ordo.
Choose your subject matter carefully in your writings and you won't lack fluency or clarity.
Which is good guidance for all of us.
£34 booked so far.
Most of it on Wham.
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/special-bets/market/1.250143431
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/latino-voter-shifts-tuesdays-elections-alarm-republicans-rcna242186
Seems voters don't actually like having their faces eaten by leopards after all.