In rural Derbyshire this week where today at least has been pretty bleak with rain on and off.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) got us here and to be honest not bad at all. A very busy five coach train which was taken out of service at Derby and everyone heading on to Chesterfield and Sheffield had to switch to another train on an adjacent platform at Derby but all well organised.
We’ve discovered we can now travel direct to Lincoln and Cleethorpes from our local stop - Mrs Stodge did wonder about the attraction of a December afternoon in the latter to which I could provide no real answer.
EMR is run by Transport UK who took over the Abellio franchises in the UK a couple of years ago.
More importantly, is there a train back from Cleethorpes?
Surely it would be unnecessarily cruel for there NOT to be one?
Look what happened recently - they were running an empty train from Manc to London because DfT (or whoever it was), not the unfortunate TOC, said. Think of the cruelty implicit in *that*.
Edit: else they'd have piled up all their trains in Manc within a month.
In rural Derbyshire this week where today at least has been pretty bleak with rain on and off.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) got us here and to be honest not bad at all. A very busy five coach train which was taken out of service at Derby and everyone heading on to Chesterfield and Sheffield had to switch to another train on an adjacent platform at Derby but all well organised.
We’ve discovered we can now travel direct to Lincoln and Cleethorpes from our local stop - Mrs Stodge did wonder about the attraction of a December afternoon in the latter to which I could provide no real answer.
EMR is run by Transport UK who took over the Abellio franchises in the UK a couple of years ago.
More importantly, is there a train back from Cleethorpes?
Both Lincoln and Cleethorpes are medieval, just in different ways.
Grumble: Just discovered that from 31 December I can't pay in cheques (for Lloyds) at the banking hub. Apparently it's not worth their while serving customers who don't have smartphones.
Some cheques you cannot pay in on a phone either.
Can one post cheques to one's bank or does one need to travel to walk in through the door (assuming one can walk, of course)?
I once did that and three days later it hadn’t been cashed. I popped in on my way home from work to ask about it and it was still in the letterbox. The teller said they only check the post sporadically !!
So that means send it by signed-for delivery. Wow. Clearly they don't intend cheque use to continue, whatever authorities may say.
I just dropped it in the bank letterbox when I was cycling in to work.
I think you’re right. The day of the cheque is coming to an end.
If you are a legacy bank like Lloyds, Barclays etc. you are competing these days with the e-banks like Monzo who will absolutely not be giving you a cheque book or a branch service.
I imagine at some point legacy banks will offer paid for services, like use of branches, cheque books etc. whilst they have free accounts for customers who are happy to do everything online to complete with the e-banks offerings.
I know Manchester is famously a shock city but this does seem to be going a bit far ...
Grumble: Just discovered that from 31 December I can't pay in cheques (for Lloyds) at the banking hub. Apparently it's not worth their while serving customers who don't have smartphones.
Some cheques you cannot pay in on a phone either.
Can one post cheques to one's bank or does one need to travel to walk in through the door (assuming one can walk, of course)?
I once did that and three days later it hadn’t been cashed. I popped in on my way home from work to ask about it and it was still in the letterbox. The teller said they only check the post sporadically !!
So that means send it by signed-for delivery. Wow. Clearly they don't intend cheque use to continue, whatever authorities may say.
Don’t forget to include a bill for postage, and an administration charge. Play them at their own game.
@viewcode, I believe you are writing a piece on sex/gender equality and discrimination. You might find this article interesting on the For Women Scotland case and the far reaching implications of the Supreme Court judgment.
Thank you for the contribution. I will read it but I don't know if I will have space to fit it it.
The article is on its sixth draft and is over 2,200 words not including the 16 appendices and the three of the four (@DavidL hasn't kicked in yet) discussants. The subheadings are:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT “FWS VS THE SCOTTISH MINISTERS”: 16APR2025
3. THE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT AND TOILETS
4. THE EHRC INTERIM GUIDANCE: APR-JUN 2025
5. THE EQUAL TREATMENT BENCH BOOK: MAY 2025 UPDATE
6. KELLY AND PEGGIE DEC 2025
6B. THE WOMEN’S INSTITUTE: 03DEC2025
7. SULLIVAN REPORT AT RSS CONFERENCE 02SEP2025
8. GLP v EHRC NOV 2025
9. THE EHRC FINAL GUIDANCE NOV 2025
10. HARWOOD AND FORAN SUBSTACKS
11. THE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT AND RIGHTS
12. SUMMARY
13. AFTERWORD
You might want to look at this - but IANAE and leave it entirely to you to decide if it is any interest.
To state the obvious - but it's perhaps not stated often enough - for questions like who can use which loo, who uses which changing room etc, the answer has to be obvious, unambiguous, applicable to everyone and immediate. You can't hang on while you litigate it or consult a handbook.
The moment it is complicated, it's the wrong answer.
In rural Derbyshire this week where today at least has been pretty bleak with rain on and off.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) got us here and to be honest not bad at all. A very busy five coach train which was taken out of service at Derby and everyone heading on to Chesterfield and Sheffield had to switch to another train on an adjacent platform at Derby but all well organised.
We’ve discovered we can now travel direct to Lincoln and Cleethorpes from our local stop - Mrs Stodge did wonder about the attraction of a December afternoon in the latter to which I could provide no real answer.
EMR is run by Transport UK who took over the Abellio franchises in the UK a couple of years ago.
More importantly, is there a train back from Cleethorpes?
Try doing what my ~70 year friend buddy does from Mansfield.
Cycle to Lincoln on a Brompton and get the train back. It's about 35 miles from there, and offroad and flat (very flat, Lincolnshire). For me the similar journey is Chesterfield and back, which is NOT flat.
Grumble: Just discovered that from 31 December I can't pay in cheques (for Lloyds) at the banking hub. Apparently it's not worth their while serving customers who don't have smartphones.
Some cheques you cannot pay in on a phone either.
Can one post cheques to one's bank or does one need to travel to walk in through the door (assuming one can walk, of course)?
I thought Post Offices will bank cheques for you. (As a bonus, you could end up with a double credit if they use Horizon.)
Edit: According to Gemini: "Yes, you can bank cheques at thousands of Post Office branches across the UK, provided your bank offers this service. Most major UK banks participate in this service, but you should confirm with your specific bank. Note that some banks like Halifax and Lloyds are ending this service from December 31, 2025"
Ooops
I've just put a couple of cheques in the post for Christmas presents. 😒
In rural Derbyshire this week where today at least has been pretty bleak with rain on and off.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) got us here and to be honest not bad at all. A very busy five coach train which was taken out of service at Derby and everyone heading on to Chesterfield and Sheffield had to switch to another train on an adjacent platform at Derby but all well organised.
We’ve discovered we can now travel direct to Lincoln and Cleethorpes from our local stop - Mrs Stodge did wonder about the attraction of a December afternoon in the latter to which I could provide no real answer.
EMR is run by Transport UK who took over the Abellio franchises in the UK a couple of years ago.
More importantly, is there a train back from Cleethorpes?
Try doing what my ~70 year friend buddy does from Mansfield.
Cycle to Lincoln on a Brompton and get the train back. It's about 35 miles from there, and offroad and flat (very flat, Lincolnshire). For me the similar journey is Chesterfield and back, which is NOT flat.
Brilliant observation from lawyer Eva Chipiuk on the lessons of Nuremberg...
"After the Nuremberg Trials, one of the most unsettling conclusions did not come from the courtroom, but from the psychiatrist tasked with evaluating the defendants.
Dr. Douglas Kelley, the U.S. Army psychiatrist assigned to assess many of the senior Nazi officials, expected to find monsters people fundamentally different from the rest of humanity. He did not.
What disturbed him most was how ordinary they were.
They were not raving madmen. They were not obvious sociopaths. They were intelligent, educated, and often convinced they were simply doing their duty, following orders, or serving a higher cause. Kelley warned that this was the real danger: evil does not always look abnormal. It often presents itself as competence, obedience, and institutional loyalty.
His central warning was deeply uncomfortable there are people with morally vacant or destructive tendencies everywhere. In every society. In every era. What determines the outcome is whether systems elevate those people, shield them from accountability, and normalize their behavior, and whether ordinary citizens are willing to question authority when it matters most.
Modern bureaucracies and institutions are powerful precisely because they diffuse responsibility. Decisions are broken into policies, protocols, committees, and “best practices.” Harm is rarely framed as harm; it is reframed as necessity, risk management, or compliance. Individuals are encouraged not to think morally, but procedurally.
This is how ordinary people become capable of extraordinary wrongdoing by outsourcing conscience to institutions and convincing themselves that accountability lies somewhere else.
The lesson of Nuremberg is not that “those people were different.” It is that they were not.
That is why vigilance matters. That is why blind trust in authority is dangerous. And that is why a healthy society must protect dissent, accountability, and moral courage especially when it is inconvenient.
History does not repeat itself because people forget facts. It repeats itself when people convince themselves, “It could never happen here.”
Grumble: Just discovered that from 31 December I can't pay in cheques (for Lloyds) at the banking hub. Apparently it's not worth their while serving customers who don't have smartphones.
Some cheques you cannot pay in on a phone either.
Can one post cheques to one's bank or does one need to travel to walk in through the door (assuming one can walk, of course)?
I thought Post Offices will bank cheques for you. (As a bonus, you could end up with a double credit if they use Horizon.)
Edit: According to Gemini: "Yes, you can bank cheques at thousands of Post Office branches across the UK, provided your bank offers this service. Most major UK banks participate in this service, but you should confirm with your specific bank. Note that some banks like Halifax and Lloyds are ending this service from December 31, 2025"
Ooops
I've just put a couple of cheques in the post for Christmas presents. 😒
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
NEW: Keir Starmer says he is "frustrated" with the number of regulations he faces
"Every time I go to pull a lever, there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations, arms-length bodies that mean the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be"
You'd think they'd have worked that one out before getting into government, if they were serious. It's not as though it's some big secret.
And don't get your hopes up (though TBF this doesn't seem to be official yet).
The Government is considering requiring that everyone hire an architect in order to submit a planning application or a building control application.
This would be a mistake. If the state wants buildings to meet certain standards, it should simply require that they do so. We have a system for this – two systems, in fact, namely building regulations and planning.
There is no good reason to require hiring people with architecture degrees to sign off designs. This is a classic case of valuing process over outcomes. Developers could and would simply employ tame architects to rubber-stamp whatever they were doing anyway. 'Protection of function' is a completely toothless instrument for improving design standards.
What it would do, of course, is add cost -- exactly what British housebuilding does not need at the moment.
The Government should discard this idea immediately.
I think quite a lot of regulation is proposed by the professional bodies who get paid for navigating its complexities. Requiring their participation is a nice touch.
NEW: Keir Starmer says he is "frustrated" with the number of regulations he faces
"Every time I go to pull a lever, there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations, arms-length bodies that mean the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be"
You'd think they'd have worked that one out before getting into government, if they were serious. It's not as though it's some big secret.
And don't get your hopes up (though TBF this doesn't seem to be official yet).
The Government is considering requiring that everyone hire an architect in order to submit a planning application or a building control application.
This would be a mistake. If the state wants buildings to meet certain standards, it should simply require that they do so. We have a system for this – two systems, in fact, namely building regulations and planning.
There is no good reason to require hiring people with architecture degrees to sign off designs. This is a classic case of valuing process over outcomes. Developers could and would simply employ tame architects to rubber-stamp whatever they were doing anyway. 'Protection of function' is a completely toothless instrument for improving design standards.
What it would do, of course, is add cost -- exactly what British housebuilding does not need at the moment.
The Government should discard this idea immediately.
It's a terrible idea. It would add hugely to the cost of dealing with bureaucracy, advantage a special interest group, result in a highly perverse outcome of less construction getting done and generally make everything in the industry and for ordinary people worse.
So I imagine it'll be on the books by the summer.
And then hopefully neutered or abandoned within a couple of years.
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
Odd thing, but whenever I hear German spoken I feel I ought to be able to understand (I don't).
It’s the way they always, at the end of the sentence, the verb put!
Mrs. F and I are currently learning Gaelic at our local OIR. We have been told that Gaelic is more like German than any other non celtic language. As I failed German O level, it helps explain why I am finding Gaelic so difficult.
NEW: Keir Starmer says he is "frustrated" with the number of regulations he faces
"Every time I go to pull a lever, there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations, arms-length bodies that mean the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be"
You'd think they'd have worked that one out before getting into government, if they were serious. It's not as though it's some big secret.
And don't get your hopes up (though TBF this doesn't seem to be official yet).
The Government is considering requiring that everyone hire an architect in order to submit a planning application or a building control application.
This would be a mistake. If the state wants buildings to meet certain standards, it should simply require that they do so. We have a system for this – two systems, in fact, namely building regulations and planning.
There is no good reason to require hiring people with architecture degrees to sign off designs. This is a classic case of valuing process over outcomes. Developers could and would simply employ tame architects to rubber-stamp whatever they were doing anyway. 'Protection of function' is a completely toothless instrument for improving design standards.
What it would do, of course, is add cost -- exactly what British housebuilding does not need at the moment.
The Government should discard this idea immediately.
I think quite a lot of regulation is proposed by the professional bodies who get paid for navigating its complexities. Requiring their participation is a nice touch.
Brilliant observation from lawyer Eva Chipiuk on the lessons of Nuremberg...
"After the Nuremberg Trials, one of the most unsettling conclusions did not come from the courtroom, but from the psychiatrist tasked with evaluating the defendants.
Dr. Douglas Kelley, the U.S. Army psychiatrist assigned to assess many of the senior Nazi officials, expected to find monsters people fundamentally different from the rest of humanity. He did not.
What disturbed him most was how ordinary they were.
They were not raving madmen. They were not obvious sociopaths. They were intelligent, educated, and often convinced they were simply doing their duty, following orders, or serving a higher cause. Kelley warned that this was the real danger: evil does not always look abnormal. It often presents itself as competence, obedience, and institutional loyalty.
His central warning was deeply uncomfortable there are people with morally vacant or destructive tendencies everywhere. In every society. In every era. What determines the outcome is whether systems elevate those people, shield them from accountability, and normalize their behavior, and whether ordinary citizens are willing to question authority when it matters most.
Modern bureaucracies and institutions are powerful precisely because they diffuse responsibility. Decisions are broken into policies, protocols, committees, and “best practices.” Harm is rarely framed as harm; it is reframed as necessity, risk management, or compliance. Individuals are encouraged not to think morally, but procedurally.
This is how ordinary people become capable of extraordinary wrongdoing by outsourcing conscience to institutions and convincing themselves that accountability lies somewhere else.
The lesson of Nuremberg is not that “those people were different.” It is that they were not.
That is why vigilance matters. That is why blind trust in authority is dangerous. And that is why a healthy society must protect dissent, accountability, and moral courage especially when it is inconvenient.
History does not repeat itself because people forget facts. It repeats itself when people convince themselves, “It could never happen here.”
They measured or estimated their IQs. In general they were in the slightly above average intelligence to gifted, rather than genius.
(Trigger warning for @Malmesbury : incoming Mark Felton.)
Doctors reject government offer and strikes will go ahead
Time to bring in Badenoch promise to outlaw strikes by doctors, same as police
The NHS already has massive monopsonistic power in the UK - it's why drugs are so cheap and why NHS wages have been cut by 20% in real terms in the last 20 years. 11% of GDP v 18% in the US.
Banning strikes will turn the stream of doctors to Australia into a flood, and it's your demographic that will suffer the worst.
I simply do not accept that
As Badenoch says minimum levels of service would be required
Ultimately the country cannot be blackmailed by vested interests
Imagine if the police went on strike
Tough. You can't coerce people into working in the NHS - you have to pay them a fair wage.
NHS productivity has grown by 5%* since 2010, and their wages cut by 20%. If it were a free labour market they'd be paid much more than they are now.
*14% before 2020.
Indeed, if they don't like the wage, they're welcome to resign and let someone else fill the vacancy.
Striking is not the same as resigning.
I'd have thought a libertarian like you would have been all for the right to strike.
You are surely not saying we should legislate to limit such an individual liberty?
No, I am not.
But I equally think any employer should be able to terminate, without notice, anyone who goes on strike.
If you don't want the job then feel free to not work, but don't complain if your employer then offers that job to someone who does want it.
To strike, not work, but also bedblock that job so nobody else can do it permanently either is not liberal either.
That is quite funny. The only death I've ever seen him genuinely sad about was the Notorious RBG. Even the overwrought emoting over that piece of shit Charlie Kirk was obviously feigned.
Well he must have been upset about Ivana. I mean, she's buried by the first tee on one of his golf courses.
In rural Derbyshire this week where today at least has been pretty bleak with rain on and off.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) got us here and to be honest not bad at all. A very busy five coach train which was taken out of service at Derby and everyone heading on to Chesterfield and Sheffield had to switch to another train on an adjacent platform at Derby but all well organised.
We’ve discovered we can now travel direct to Lincoln and Cleethorpes from our local stop - Mrs Stodge did wonder about the attraction of a December afternoon in the latter to which I could provide no real answer.
EMR is run by Transport UK who took over the Abellio franchises in the UK a couple of years ago.
More importantly, is there a train back from Cleethorpes?
Try doing what my ~70 year friend buddy does from Mansfield.
Cycle to Lincoln on a Brompton and get the train back. It's about 35 miles from there, and offroad and flat (very flat, Lincolnshire). For me the similar journey is Chesterfield and back, which is NOT flat.
Doctors reject government offer and strikes will go ahead
Time to bring in Badenoch promise to outlaw strikes by doctors, same as police
The NHS already has massive monopsonistic power in the UK - it's why drugs are so cheap and why NHS wages have been cut by 20% in real terms in the last 20 years. 11% of GDP v 18% in the US.
Banning strikes will turn the stream of doctors to Australia into a flood, and it's your demographic that will suffer the worst.
I simply do not accept that
As Badenoch says minimum levels of service would be required
Ultimately the country cannot be blackmailed by vested interests
Imagine if the police went on strike
Tough. You can't coerce people into working in the NHS - you have to pay them a fair wage.
NHS productivity has grown by 5%* since 2010, and their wages cut by 20%. If it were a free labour market they'd be paid much more than they are now.
*14% before 2020.
Indeed, if they don't like the wage, they're welcome to resign and let someone else fill the vacancy.
Striking is not the same as resigning.
I'd have thought a libertarian like you would have been all for the right to strike.
You are surely not saying we should legislate to limit such an individual liberty?
No, I am not.
But I equally think any employer should be able to terminate, without notice, anyone who goes on strike.
If you don't want the job then feel free to not work, but don't complain if your employer then offers that job to someone who does want it.
To strike, not work, but also bedblock that job so nobody else can do it permanently either is not liberal either.
My grandfather, and his father and some of his brothers are down in the 1921 census as working at a particular S.Welsh colliery, but on strike!
Doctors reject government offer and strikes will go ahead
Time to bring in Badenoch promise to outlaw strikes by doctors, same as police
The NHS already has massive monopsonistic power in the UK - it's why drugs are so cheap and why NHS wages have been cut by 20% in real terms in the last 20 years. 11% of GDP v 18% in the US.
Banning strikes will turn the stream of doctors to Australia into a flood, and it's your demographic that will suffer the worst.
I simply do not accept that
As Badenoch says minimum levels of service would be required
Ultimately the country cannot be blackmailed by vested interests
Imagine if the police went on strike
Tough. You can't coerce people into working in the NHS - you have to pay them a fair wage.
NHS productivity has grown by 5%* since 2010, and their wages cut by 20%. If it were a free labour market they'd be paid much more than they are now.
*14% before 2020.
Indeed, if they don't like the wage, they're welcome to resign and let someone else fill the vacancy.
Striking is not the same as resigning.
I'd have thought a libertarian like you would have been all for the right to strike.
You are surely not saying we should legislate to limit such an individual liberty?
No, I am not.
But I equally think any employer should be able to terminate, without notice, anyone who goes on strike.
If you don't want the job then feel free to not work, but don't complain if your employer then offers that job to someone who does want it.
To strike, not work, but also bedblock that job so nobody else can do it permanently either is not liberal either.
My grandfather, and his father and some of his brothers are down in the 1921 census as working at a particular S.Welsh colliery, but on strike!
Decades ago, we had a friend living in Yorkshire who was a fire & rescue man. His son was dead keen to join the brigade. After years of longing, he finally achieved his aim - just in time to join his new colleagues on their strike action.
Lots of talk locally that Prince George will be attending his Mater’s Alma Mater, ie Marlborough College. We might see some increased security; he might be in the boarding house that I deliver to
I already deliver to good friends of theirs. He was at prep school and Eton with William, and he used to stay at her place In Edinburgh when visiting from St Andrews
They (the royal friends, not the royals) sent me a lovely card and a delicious box of chocolates after I got hit by the car. I ate all of the chocolates in one sitting; they were so good, it was worth feeling sick for an hour afterwards
You’ll have to get him up to Devil’s End !
One year I was in Charbonnel et Walker at Christmas time
An old chap in front of me was buying and having gift wrapped and posted a vast number of their largest boxes - same for each. He was reading out addresses to the shop ladies helping him
Some of the names were famous… and some not.
I nearly guffawed when in between members of the Lords he muttered “Y, address Z, grandchildren’s nanny” and similar.
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
How popular would Vance be after replacing Trump? Is there any relevant polling?
My optimistic view is that Vance would be much less popular than Trump, and so Congressional Republicans would feel able to oppose him in a way they don't with Trump, and so his actions would be much more constrained than are Trump's.
In rural Derbyshire this week where today at least has been pretty bleak with rain on and off.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) got us here and to be honest not bad at all. A very busy five coach train which was taken out of service at Derby and everyone heading on to Chesterfield and Sheffield had to switch to another train on an adjacent platform at Derby but all well organised.
We’ve discovered we can now travel direct to Lincoln and Cleethorpes from our local stop - Mrs Stodge did wonder about the attraction of a December afternoon in the latter to which I could provide no real answer.
EMR is run by Transport UK who took over the Abellio franchises in the UK a couple of years ago.
More importantly, is there a train back from Cleethorpes?
Try doing what my ~70 year friend buddy does from Mansfield.
Cycle to Lincoln on a Brompton and get the train back. It's about 35 miles from there, and offroad and flat (very flat, Lincolnshire). For me the similar journey is Chesterfield and back, which is NOT flat.
He was cycling around Beijing last summer.
One in the 9? million.
I didn't get the reference and have looked it up - a song by Kate Melua - fine. I remember it now. But I did not know until now that it was written by Mike Batt, of Wombles fame.
Not that it's of any consequence, but a personal milestone today: since roughly 2012, I've been going to my kids' Christmas nativities. Reckon I've done 30-odd. Last one today - my youngest daughter leaves primary school next summer. It wasn't the most memorable of nativities, but it was pleasingly typical - the familiar words, a mixture of songs traditional and primary-school-inane, the always-incongruous desert scene in the background, the rag, tag and bobtail of kids taking part (I particularly enjoyed the king in the too-large crown which had to balance on his ears, making them stick out; and the fact that the Angel Gabriel was wearing deely boppers bearing the legend 'Ho Ho Ho'. A slight lump in the throat as I reflected on that period of my life passing on; happiness that the rituals still go on albeit with different people doing them. I'm generally not keen on religion but this is a bit of religion I'll happily allow into Christmas.
That's a real talent, Cookie, to recognise a moment of subtle significance as it's happening rather than only when looking back. The "I wish I'd .... at the time" thing you often hear from older people, misting up, as they sink into reminiscence. Caveat, one can go too far with it, find yourself constantly straining to find these moments, be so keen not to miss any that you end up imbuing the most prosaic of events with a poignancy they do not have, but I sense you have the balance spot on.
NEW: Keir Starmer says he is "frustrated" with the number of regulations he faces
"Every time I go to pull a lever, there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations, arms-length bodies that mean the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be"
You'd think they'd have worked that one out before getting into government, if they were serious. It's not as though it's some big secret.
And don't get your hopes up (though TBF this doesn't seem to be official yet).
The Government is considering requiring that everyone hire an architect in order to submit a planning application or a building control application.
This would be a mistake. If the state wants buildings to meet certain standards, it should simply require that they do so. We have a system for this – two systems, in fact, namely building regulations and planning.
There is no good reason to require hiring people with architecture degrees to sign off designs. This is a classic case of valuing process over outcomes. Developers could and would simply employ tame architects to rubber-stamp whatever they were doing anyway. 'Protection of function' is a completely toothless instrument for improving design standards.
What it would do, of course, is add cost -- exactly what British housebuilding does not need at the moment.
The Government should discard this idea immediately.
I know several sane ones whose reaction to this would be “Fuck off. Keep fucking off until I can’t see you anymore. Then fuck off some more”
Process State thinking.
One I encountered the other day was a proposal to try and prevent people who aren’t tradesmen getting tradesmen qualifications. Yes - someone thinks that people getting certified as qualified electricians but not doing that as their day job is a problem.
Except no one in the building trade thinks it’s a problem. The kind of amateur-but-*qualified* work you see is nearly always of extremely high standard.
I recall one job where we opened up the mains box to discover all the wires beautifully curved in a perfect fan. Each one labelled with a tag. The home owner then handed over a wiring diagram (computer drawn) for the whole house that the previous owner had done to go with it. Numbers on the tags corresponded to the diagram. The sparky said that he’d never seen such beautiful work - though it was crazy, over the top good.
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
How popular would Vance be after replacing Trump? Is there any relevant polling?
My optimistic view is that Vance would be much less popular than Trump, and so Congressional Republicans would feel able to oppose him in a way they don't with Trump, and so his actions would be much more constrained than are Trump's.
US foreign policy is in the hands of the President. Sure Congress has some checks but limited and generally ineffectual.
Vance is not just pro Putin, but anti-UK and Europe. Trump doesn't particularly care as long as he is front and centre of the news and getting paid.
NEW: Keir Starmer says he is "frustrated" with the number of regulations he faces
"Every time I go to pull a lever, there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations, arms-length bodies that mean the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be"
You'd think they'd have worked that one out before getting into government, if they were serious. It's not as though it's some big secret.
And don't get your hopes up (though TBF this doesn't seem to be official yet).
The Government is considering requiring that everyone hire an architect in order to submit a planning application or a building control application.
This would be a mistake. If the state wants buildings to meet certain standards, it should simply require that they do so. We have a system for this – two systems, in fact, namely building regulations and planning.
There is no good reason to require hiring people with architecture degrees to sign off designs. This is a classic case of valuing process over outcomes. Developers could and would simply employ tame architects to rubber-stamp whatever they were doing anyway. 'Protection of function' is a completely toothless instrument for improving design standards.
What it would do, of course, is add cost -- exactly what British housebuilding does not need at the moment.
The Government should discard this idea immediately.
I know several sane ones whose reaction to this would be “Fuck off. Keep fucking off until I can’t see you anymore. Then fuck off some more”
Process State thinking.
One I encountered the other day was a proposal to try and prevent people who aren’t tradesmen getting tradesmen qualifications. Yes - someone thinks that people getting certified as qualified electricians but not doing that as their day job is a problem.
Except no one in the building trade thinks it’s a problem. The kind of amateur-but-*qualified* work you see is nearly always of extremely high standard.
I recall one job where we opened up the mains box to discover all the wires beautifully curved in a perfect fan. Each one labelled with a tag. The home owner then handed over a wiring diagram (computer drawn) for the whole house that the previous owner had done to go with it. Numbers on the tags corresponded to the diagram. The sparky said that he’d never seen such beautiful work - though it was crazy, over the top good.
It won't happen in those terms in a million years.
Do they really think the Chartered Town Planners and Chartered Surveyors will take that lying down?
Never mind all the people who are not architects who currently do thebulk of small planning applications.
Or people like small builders and me who might even do it under a Building Notice, where you are just confident you will get it right, tell them, and get started.
Doctors reject government offer and strikes will go ahead
Time to bring in Badenoch promise to outlaw strikes by doctors, same as police
The NHS already has massive monopsonistic power in the UK - it's why drugs are so cheap and why NHS wages have been cut by 20% in real terms in the last 20 years. 11% of GDP v 18% in the US.
Banning strikes will turn the stream of doctors to Australia into a flood, and it's your demographic that will suffer the worst.
I simply do not accept that
As Badenoch says minimum levels of service would be required
Ultimately the country cannot be blackmailed by vested interests
Imagine if the police went on strike
Tough. You can't coerce people into working in the NHS - you have to pay them a fair wage.
NHS productivity has grown by 5%* since 2010, and their wages cut by 20%. If it were a free labour market they'd be paid much more than they are now.
*14% before 2020.
Indeed, if they don't like the wage, they're welcome to resign and let someone else fill the vacancy.
Striking is not the same as resigning.
I'd have thought a libertarian like you would have been all for the right to strike.
You are surely not saying we should legislate to limit such an individual liberty?
No, I am not.
But I equally think any employer should be able to terminate, without notice, anyone who goes on strike.
If you don't want the job then feel free to not work, but don't complain if your employer then offers that job to someone who does want it.
To strike, not work, but also bedblock that job so nobody else can do it permanently either is not liberal either.
This would turn some contract law principles upside down. You can, of course, unilaterally terminate an employment contract if you are so inclined - but it won't be a) cost free and b) it's a gift to lawyers when working out the costs.
Doctors reject government offer and strikes will go ahead
Time to bring in Badenoch promise to outlaw strikes by doctors, same as police
The NHS already has massive monopsonistic power in the UK - it's why drugs are so cheap and why NHS wages have been cut by 20% in real terms in the last 20 years. 11% of GDP v 18% in the US.
Banning strikes will turn the stream of doctors to Australia into a flood, and it's your demographic that will suffer the worst.
I simply do not accept that
As Badenoch says minimum levels of service would be required
Ultimately the country cannot be blackmailed by vested interests
Imagine if the police went on strike
Tough. You can't coerce people into working in the NHS - you have to pay them a fair wage.
NHS productivity has grown by 5%* since 2010, and their wages cut by 20%. If it were a free labour market they'd be paid much more than they are now.
*14% before 2020.
Indeed, if they don't like the wage, they're welcome to resign and let someone else fill the vacancy.
Striking is not the same as resigning.
I'd have thought a libertarian like you would have been all for the right to strike.
You are surely not saying we should legislate to limit such an individual liberty?
No, I am not.
But I equally think any employer should be able to terminate, without notice, anyone who goes on strike.
If you don't want the job then feel free to not work, but don't complain if your employer then offers that job to someone who does want it.
To strike, not work, but also bedblock that job so nobody else can do it permanently either is not liberal either.
This would turn some contract law principles upside down. You can, of course, unilaterally terminate an employment contract if you are so inclined - but it won't be a) cost free and b) it's a gift to lawyers when working out the costs.
I’m starting to think ScottXP may be right and the Trumpdozer is suffering from cognitive decline.
It's been so obvious, since well before the last presidential election.
He was however perfectly lucid at the recent World Cup draw. Indeed he seemed rather more relaxed and comfortable than any of the other presenters. This may of course have been that he was used to the game show format, but you certainly would not have called him gaga.
Beware of wishful thinking. Peak Trump has been called many times.
About those savings at Reform run councils. Seems that they have indeed found mismanagement by the previous lot but unfortunately all that has happened is that it will cost them to sort it. Some issues are best left alone.
Junior doctors vote to go on strike. How is Streeting being talked about as the next leader? He got a bigger budget and what has he delivered?
He’s against a militant group who don’t understand they are not going to get more money.
Basically the doctors are just going to continue striking while being told that you’ve already had a 28+ whatever increase you are not getting any more
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
I see that. But for me the monstrosity of Trump is worse. This person should not be in any position of power let alone the WH. It's absurd and it's pure drip drip poison. It's like he's seeking out everything decent in this world and shitting on it. And what a damaging role model. Emboldening and validating all the wrong things and all the wrong people. It's no choice at all but I'd rather have a straight up 'hate his ideas and his policies and everything he stands for' politician as president.
Doctors reject government offer and strikes will go ahead
Time to bring in Badenoch promise to outlaw strikes by doctors, same as police
The NHS already has massive monopsonistic power in the UK - it's why drugs are so cheap and why NHS wages have been cut by 20% in real terms in the last 20 years. 11% of GDP v 18% in the US.
Banning strikes will turn the stream of doctors to Australia into a flood, and it's your demographic that will suffer the worst.
Comparing with US is utter bollox and if they want to go to Australia they should make sure they pay back all their traing costs and F*** off
They have to pay back all their training costs even if they stay
An interesting sheet about making chicane barriers acceptable from Wheels for Wellbeing.
eg There is the theoretical perfectly maintained, clean, usable version that never exists *, and this real world version for a 2-ply barrier. They go up to at least 4 ply (a barrier-barrier-barrier-barrier):
Grumble: Just discovered that from 31 December I can't pay in cheques (for Lloyds) at the banking hub. Apparently it's not worth their while serving customers who don't have smartphones.
Some cheques you cannot pay in on a phone either.
Can one post cheques to one's bank or does one need to travel to walk in through the door (assuming one can walk, of course)?
I thought Post Offices will bank cheques for you. (As a bonus, you could end up with a double credit if they use Horizon.)
Edit: According to Gemini: "Yes, you can bank cheques at thousands of Post Office branches across the UK, provided your bank offers this service. Most major UK banks participate in this service, but you should confirm with your specific bank. Note that some banks like Halifax and Lloyds are ending this service from December 31, 2025"
Ooops
I've just put a couple of cheques in the post for Christmas presents. 😒
one way of making sure you don't spend much at xmas
I’m starting to think ScottXP may be right and the Trumpdozer is suffering from cognitive decline.
It's been so obvious, since well before the last presidential election.
He was however perfectly lucid at the recent World Cup draw. Indeed he seemed rather more relaxed and comfortable than any of the other presenters. This may of course have been that he was used to the game show format, but you certainly would not have called him gaga.
Beware of wishful thinking. Peak Trump has been called many times.
Believe me, I wish we didn't have someone with dementia in the White House.
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
I see that. But for me the monstrosity of Trump is worse. This person should not be in any position of power let alone the WH. It's absurd and it's pure drip drip poison. It's like he's seeking out everything decent in this world and shitting on it. And what a damaging role model. Emboldening and validating all the wrong things and all the wrong people. It's no choice at all but I'd rather have a straight up 'hate his ideas and his policies and everything he stands for' politician as president.
Odd thing, but whenever I hear German spoken I feel I ought to be able to understand (I don't).
It’s the way they always, at the end of the sentence, the verb put!
Mrs. F and I are currently learning Gaelic at our local OIR. We have been told that Gaelic is more like German than any other non celtic language. As I failed German O level, it helps explain why I am finding Gaelic so difficult.
I don't suppose the inflection at the *beginning* of the word for the genitive helps ...
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
How popular would Vance be after replacing Trump? Is there any relevant polling?
My optimistic view is that Vance would be much less popular than Trump, and so Congressional Republicans would feel able to oppose him in a way they don't with Trump, and so his actions would be much more constrained than are Trump's.
US foreign policy is in the hands of the President. Sure Congress has some checks but limited and generally ineffectual.
Vance is not just pro Putin, but anti-UK and Europe. Trump doesn't particularly care as long as he is front and centre of the news and getting paid.
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
How popular would Vance be after replacing Trump? Is there any relevant polling?
My optimistic view is that Vance would be much less popular than Trump, and so Congressional Republicans would feel able to oppose him in a way they don't with Trump, and so his actions would be much more constrained than are Trump's.
Newsom beats Vance 54% to 46% in a November Verasight poll, although MC has Vance beating Newsom 42% to 41% and Harris beating Vance 42% to 42%.
OnPoint in August had Buttigieg beating Vance 41% to 37% and Newsom beating Vance 39% to 37%.
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
How popular would Vance be after replacing Trump? Is there any relevant polling?
My optimistic view is that Vance would be much less popular than Trump, and so Congressional Republicans would feel able to oppose him in a way they don't with Trump, and so his actions would be much more constrained than are Trump's.
Newsom beats Vance 54% to 46% in a November Verasight poll, although MC has Vance beating Newsom 42% to 41% and Harris beating Vance 42% to 42%.
OnPoint in August had Buttigieg beating Vance 41% to 37% and Newsom beating Vance 39% to 37%.
An interesting sheet about making chicane barriers acceptable from Wheels for Wellbeing.
eg There is the theoretical perfectly maintained, clean, usable version that never exists *, and this real world version for a 2-ply barrier. They go up to at least 4 ply (a barrier-barrier-barrier-barrier):
It's hard to know what is and is not parody, any more.
I checked multiple sources on social media before posting it as, even by Trumps standards, I found that hard to fathom.
Especially after Rob Reiners dignified comments in the aftermath of the Kirk shooting, given they were politically miles apart.
He is suffering rapid and serious mental decline
That may be the case, but Trump has always been a really shitty person and a massive narcissist who makes absolutely everything, even tragedy, about him. I'm no longer interested in why anybody still supports him, I simply make a mental note against them forever.
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
I wonder though whether, if the spell of Trump is broken and he is replaced by Vance ,that a sufficient number of GOP senators and representatives might rediscover their backbones particularly when it comes to Putin.
Vance would not hold the GOP in thrall/terror the way Trump does. Particularly if it looks like they are headed for a massacre in the mid-terms.
That Reiner post from the President of the United States. I mean c'mon. This surely isn't tolerable for much longer. It's beyond bad, it's just wrong. There has to be a way. If it gives us Vance so be it.
If it was anyone but Vance I would agree. But Vance it would be.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
I wonder though whether, if the spell of Trump is broken and he is replaced by Vance ,that a sufficient number of GOP senators and representatives might rediscover their backbones particularly when it comes to Putin.
Vance would not hold the GOP in thrall/terror the way Trump does. Particularly if it looks like they are headed for a massacre in the mid-terms.
The other factor to consider is the manner in which Trump departs. There's potential for the MAGA base to turn against Vance if it's perceived that Trump was forced out.
Given the contemporary popularity of conspiracy theories this could also apply in the scenarios where Trump dies in office, or genuinely bows out willingly.
NEW: Keir Starmer says he is "frustrated" with the number of regulations he faces
"Every time I go to pull a lever, there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations, arms-length bodies that mean the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be"
If only there was something he was in a position to do about it.
INT: the interior of a passenger plane PILOT SUNAK: (slumped over the controls) "...chess set. HS2. briefcase..." FLIGHT ATTENDANT BRITT ELECTORATE: "Does anybody know how to fly the plane!" PASSENGER STARMER: "I'm a lawyer" (strides to the cockpit) ELECTORATE: "We are saved!" PILOT STARMER: "Ladies and gentlement, there is no need to panic. I am now in charge" ELECTORATE: "Bbbut...arent you going to do anything?" PILOT STARMER: "Nonsense. the system is sound, it just needs to be run by nice people" ELECTORATE: "BUT WE'RE CRASHING" PILOT STARMER: (twiddles knobs, kills the old and sick, kills foetuses up to the day of delivery, eliminates trans people, mandates ID cards) ELECTORATE: (wearily) "You have no fucking idea how to fly the plane do you?" PILOT STARMER: "Not really, no"
Comments
Edit: else they'd have piled up all their trains in Manc within a month.
The moment it is complicated, it's the wrong answer.
Cycle to Lincoln on a Brompton and get the train back. It's about 35 miles from there, and offroad and flat (very flat, Lincolnshire). For me the similar journey is Chesterfield and back, which is NOT flat.
He was cycling around Beijing last summer.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SnV7p6lxi_M
"After the Nuremberg Trials, one of the most unsettling conclusions did not come from the courtroom, but from the psychiatrist tasked with evaluating the defendants.
Dr. Douglas Kelley, the U.S. Army psychiatrist assigned to assess many of the senior Nazi officials, expected to find monsters people fundamentally different from the rest of humanity. He did not.
What disturbed him most was how ordinary they were.
They were not raving madmen. They were not obvious sociopaths. They were intelligent, educated, and often convinced they were simply doing their duty, following orders, or serving a higher cause. Kelley warned that this was the real danger: evil does not always look abnormal. It often presents itself as competence, obedience, and institutional loyalty.
His central warning was deeply uncomfortable there are people with morally vacant or destructive tendencies everywhere. In every society. In every era. What determines the outcome is whether systems elevate those people, shield them from accountability, and normalize their behavior, and whether ordinary citizens are willing to question authority when it matters most.
Modern bureaucracies and institutions are powerful precisely because they diffuse responsibility. Decisions are broken into policies, protocols, committees, and “best practices.” Harm is rarely framed as harm; it is reframed as necessity, risk management, or compliance. Individuals are encouraged not to think morally, but procedurally.
This is how ordinary people become capable of extraordinary wrongdoing by outsourcing conscience to institutions and convincing themselves that accountability lies somewhere else.
The lesson of Nuremberg is not that “those people were different.” It is that they were not.
That is why vigilance matters. That is why blind trust in authority is dangerous. And that is why a healthy society must protect dissent, accountability, and moral courage especially when it is inconvenient.
History does not repeat itself because people forget facts. It repeats itself when people convince themselves, “It could never happen here.”
Requiring their participation is a nice touch.
So I imagine it'll be on the books by the summer.
And then hopefully neutered or abandoned within a couple of years.
At least, Trump in his narcissism and suggestibility can be played both ways even if, fundamentally, he's malignantly egotistical.
Vance, on the other hand, encourages all Trump's worst instincts when it comes to foreign affairs. It's his influence Starmer, Merz, etc, are trying to counter. It would be frying pan into the fire for us in Europe if JD takes over.
(Trigger warning for @Malmesbury : incoming Mark Felton.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr20Ac6bd9M
But I equally think any employer should be able to terminate, without notice, anyone who goes on strike.
If you don't want the job then feel free to not work, but don't complain if your employer then offers that job to someone who does want it.
To strike, not work, but also bedblock that job so nobody else can do it permanently either is not liberal either.
A finer tribute no man has made to his ex.
An old chap in front of me was buying and having gift wrapped and posted a vast number of their largest boxes - same for each. He was reading out addresses to the shop ladies helping him
Some of the names were famous… and some not.
I nearly guffawed when in between members of the Lords he muttered “Y, address Z, grandchildren’s nanny” and similar.
Talk about your Dukes and dustmen.
My optimistic view is that Vance would be much less popular than Trump, and so Congressional Republicans would feel able to oppose him in a way they don't with Trump, and so his actions would be much more constrained than are Trump's.
As regards content, it is quite a turnaround for Herr Merz, who used to be very much known as an Americanophile. Blunt indeed.
I know several sane ones whose reaction to this would be “Fuck off. Keep fucking off until I can’t see you anymore. Then fuck off some more”
Process State thinking.
One I encountered the other day was a proposal to try and prevent people who aren’t tradesmen getting tradesmen qualifications. Yes - someone thinks that people getting certified as qualified electricians but not doing that as their day job is a problem.
Except no one in the building trade thinks it’s a problem. The kind of amateur-but-*qualified* work you see is nearly always of extremely high standard.
I recall one job where we opened up the mains box to discover all the wires beautifully curved in a perfect fan. Each one labelled with a tag. The home owner then handed over a wiring diagram (computer drawn) for the whole house that the previous owner had done to go with it. Numbers on the tags corresponded to the diagram. The sparky said that he’d never seen such beautiful work - though it was crazy, over the top good.
Compare him (or Biden) to Reagan's last speech. And Reagan was supposed to be out to lunch at this point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8QxCD6ir8&t=2s
Vance is not just pro Putin, but anti-UK and Europe. Trump doesn't particularly care as long as he is front and centre of the news and getting paid.
Do they really think the Chartered Town Planners and Chartered Surveyors will take that lying down?
Never mind all the people who are not architects who currently do thebulk of small planning applications.
Or people like small builders and me who might even do it under a Building Notice, where you are just confident you will get it right, tell them, and get started.
How is Streeting being talked about as the next leader? He got a bigger budget and what has he delivered?
Beware of wishful thinking. Peak Trump has been called many times.
https://www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/campaigns-and-policy/comment-and-media/kent-changes-dre/
Basically the doctors are just going to continue striking while being told that you’ve already had a 28+ whatever increase you are not getting any more
eg There is the theoretical perfectly maintained, clean, usable version that never exists *, and this real world version for a 2-ply barrier. They go up to at least 4 ply (a barrier-barrier-barrier-barrier):
https://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/guide-to-chicane-accessibility/
* In practice, no Council knows what they installed 23 years ago because they have no records.
NEW THREAD
1975, it seems. https://publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/10.1308/rcsbull.2023.61
But he holidayed in the Cotswolds!
...thinks...
Ah, I see.
Chintz doesn't do it for everyone.
OnPoint in August had Buttigieg beating Vance 41% to 37% and Newsom beating Vance 39% to 37%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election#General_election
How standard is this feature?
Vance would not hold the GOP in thrall/terror the way Trump does. Particularly if it looks like they are headed for a massacre in the mid-terms.
Given the contemporary popularity of conspiracy theories this could also apply in the scenarios where Trump dies in office, or genuinely bows out willingly.
PILOT SUNAK: (slumped over the controls) "...chess set. HS2. briefcase..."
FLIGHT ATTENDANT BRITT ELECTORATE: "Does anybody know how to fly the plane!"
PASSENGER STARMER: "I'm a lawyer" (strides to the cockpit)
ELECTORATE: "We are saved!"
PILOT STARMER: "Ladies and gentlement, there is no need to panic. I am now in charge"
ELECTORATE: "Bbbut...arent you going to do anything?"
PILOT STARMER: "Nonsense. the system is sound, it just needs to be run by nice people"
ELECTORATE: "BUT WE'RE CRASHING"
PILOT STARMER: (twiddles knobs, kills the old and sick, kills foetuses up to the day of delivery, eliminates trans people, mandates ID cards)
ELECTORATE: (wearily) "You have no fucking idea how to fly the plane do you?"
PILOT STARMER: "Not really, no"