Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Compelling analysis, but you would think the USN already know how Iran would contest any breach of their blockade. Maybe they just did it to demonstrate the folly of their thinking to the dumbasses in the White House.
Postal voters vote - nudging an 80% return rate in some of the wards in Bradford, 70% on average, with still a couple of days to go.
Any idea what percentage of the votes will be postal? Local elections are not renowned for high turnouts.
75% plus return isn’t however unusual for postal votes; it’s the standard. But a fair few are handed in to polling stations on the day, so if Bradford is already at 80%, that’s high.
I believe the last GE achieved the record for the highest proportion of total votes that were by post rather than in person; I can’t remember whether it was a quarter or a third; I’ve a feeling it was the latter. The stat is in the 2024 election campaign book somewhere
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It worries me that the intelligentsia gets so worked up about IQ, both on right and left. It rarely matters much and in future Grok and ChatGPT will do all our thinking for us so IQ won't matter at all.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It's a reasonable assumption that we are evolved to be survival seeking rather than truth seeking creatures. Where the two coincide that's fine and there are lots of areas where they do. But there is much in our world where this won't apply - like what is happening in the world that does not directly impact our short or medium term survival. Truth entirely for its own intrinsic sake is quite a long way up the Maslow hierarchy of needs.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It worries me that the intelligentsia gets so worked up about IQ, both on right and left. It rarely matters much and in future Grok and ChatGPT will do all our thinking for us so IQ won't matter at all.
Yes I can't wait for the day when human beings no longer need to think for themselves.........
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
Sounds a bit like spectator readers apart from the last three words.
Postal voters vote - nudging an 80% return rate in some of the wards in Bradford, 70% on average, with still a couple of days to go.
Any idea what percentage of the votes will be postal? Local elections are not renowned for high turnouts.
75% plus return isn’t however unusual for postal votes; it’s the standard. But a fair few are handed in to polling stations on the day, so if Bradford is already at 80%, that’s high.
I believe the last GE achieved the record for the highest proportion of total votes that were by post rather than in person; I can’t remember whether it was a quarter or a third; I’ve a feeling it was the latter. The stat is in the 2024 election campaign book somewhere
Turnout in local elections is usually much lower than a general though.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It worries me that the intelligentsia gets so worked up about IQ, both on right and left. It rarely matters much and in future Grok and ChatGPT will do all our thinking for us so IQ won't matter at all.
Financial Times @FT Javier Milei's popularity in Argentina is falling as government officials face graft allegations and unemployment climbs. https://ft.trib.al/y64eLzw
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
Isn't that the point, though ? Since the entire subject is fraught with all manner of problems of definition and testability, getting worked up about it is in itself pretty well as irrational as ignoring it.
It's not the same thing as (for example) choosing to global warming, or choosing to believe that vaccines don't work.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It worries me that the intelligentsia gets so worked up about IQ, both on right and left. It rarely matters much and in future Grok and ChatGPT will do all our thinking for us so IQ won't matter at all.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
We have a whole section of the population willing to believe that men can become women and vice versa. I still do not understand this belief.
Is there an oversimplification here? It depends on whether we are talking about things or about words. The debate gets muddled by muddling the distinction.
With words you can deem something. 'Dogs are not allowed in this building; guide dogs are deemed to be cats'.
Whether or not you can change the 'thing' WRT men and women (I don't think you can FWIW) compassion and generosity might sometimes suggest that we do a bit of deeming.
In the same way, being old fashioned I don't think there is such a 'thing' as same sex marriage. I am with the Roman Catholics in thinking marriage means 'one man and one woman', and that same sex relationships - about which I am perfectly comfortable - have a different nature. Call it civil partnership perhaps. But I can still do a bit of deeming where it would seem ungenerous and impolite.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It worries me that the intelligentsia gets so worked up about IQ, both on right and left. It rarely matters much and in future Grok and ChatGPT will do all our thinking for us so IQ won't matter at all.
Yes I can't wait for the day when human beings no longer need to think for themselves.........
"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."
Financial Times @FT Javier Milei's popularity in Argentina is falling as government officials face graft allegations and unemployment climbs. https://ft.trib.al/y64eLzw
This analysis is interesting in a geeky way. Tumble-dryers are quite efficient providing you stop before the clothes are completely dry and finish them off through airing. Problem is, people run them too long.
For real efficiency -> washing line under a shelter or a drying rack. I use my second shower and a small dehumidifier.
It's just the Telegraph trolling the basement dwellers of Tunbridge Wells. The Two Minute Hate is important. It will be the same sort of 7 day wonder as the LED light bulb outrage.
We don't have one and haven't had one for 20.yrs Outside is best.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
Sounds a bit like spectator readers apart from the last three words.
Complete chaos in Washington on what to do about Hormuz. The Iranians will surely conclude that they have deterred the latest US effort to get ships moving and that Trump is desperate for a deal before he goes to China. So they will toughen their negotiating demands. And the price of oil stays high.
Does anyone know what Trump was trying to do with "Operation Freedom" ? Whatever it was, it doesn't seem to have worked. Freedom not required presumably.
Don't worry. MAGA have this one sorted.
This doesn't make much sense on its face, but among Rubio/Vance/Hegseth/Caine someone would have leveled the obvious objections to it, so I'm going to peacefully and serenely trust the plan https://x.com/willchamberlain/status/2051824504960074226
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
Sounds a bit like spectator readers apart from the last three words.
China has called for a “complete cessation of hostilities” in Iran with “the utmost urgency”.
Xi has Trump wriggling on a hook now. Trump is off to Beijing in a few days and his ego won’t allow his big trip blowing up in his face…or getting cancelled. Explains some of his flipflopping.
Trump's problem is that he's been as exposed as unwilling to accept casualties.
And without a willingness to do so the US military is much reduced in capability.
Trump's problem is he is a stupid, corrupt, senile narcissist. He refused to listen to his military advisors on what would happen. He appears unable to even understand what the Iranians want or might do. He's focused primarily on headlines (headlines about him, but avoiding headlines about him and Epstein).
It strikes me youre the one who cannot see past headlines.
The Islamic Republic is dead in all but name.
It's economy is totally wrecked It will need all its money to repair the war damage There will be no spare cash to fund proxies It has a seethingly discontent population In 5-10 years the Carribean basin will be a more reliable oil supplier than the Gulf so even less cash
Iran is screwed
Closing Hormuz was tactically sensible but strategically a disaster.
The Islamic republic will endure. However longer term other sources of oil and gas and routes avoiding Hormuz will be found.
Israel may look at the Ben Gurion canal again.
However the Whitehouse seems optimistic as to a resolution
More and more Frank Herbert looks like a visionary with his pronouncements on AI now that the US, China and Russia among others are allowing autonomous AI control of offensive weaponry.
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Quite a few people in education that I’ve spoken with think it did great harm to the teenagers who were forced to not interact with other teenagers for months and were also really scared because they realised that their parents were genuinely scared of covid.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It's a reasonable assumption that we are evolved to be survival seeking rather than truth seeking creatures. Where the two coincide that's fine and there are lots of areas where they do. But there is much in our world where this won't apply - like what is happening in the world that does not directly impact our short or medium term survival. Truth entirely for its own intrinsic sake is quite a long way up the Maslow hierarchy of needs.
Our modern lives are so different from the environment we lived in for most of our evolution (as hunter-gatherers, mainly in Africa) that it's tricky to draw any inferences.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It worries me that the intelligentsia gets so worked up about IQ, both on right and left. It rarely matters much and in future Grok and ChatGPT will do all our thinking for us so IQ won't matter at all.
Yes I can't wait for the day when human beings no longer need to think for themselves.........
"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."
John does have a point though. If we are all in awe of super machines it could be a source of unity. Not much reason for anyone to think they're better than anyone else. More like feudal times perhaps?
This analysis is interesting in a geeky way. Tumble-dryers are quite efficient providing you stop before the clothes are completely dry and finish them off through airing. Problem is, people run them too long.
For real efficiency -> washing line under a shelter or a drying rack. I use my second shower and a small dehumidifier.
It's just the Telegraph trolling the basement dwellers of Tunbridge Wells. The Two Minute Hate is important. It will be the same sort of 7 day wonder as the LED light bulb outrage.
We don't have one and haven't had one for 20.yrs Outside is best.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
However suppose for a moment there are hard truths to know about race and IQ. Another truth the 20th century tells us is that applying a set of political principles to a sub set of the human race as a whole leads to a century of an unimaginable horror show. and piles of corpses millions deep.
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It worries me that the intelligentsia gets so worked up about IQ, both on right and left. It rarely matters much and in future Grok and ChatGPT will do all our thinking for us so IQ won't matter at all.
Yes I can't wait for the day when human beings no longer need to think for themselves.........
"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."
John does have a point though. If we are all in awe of super machines it could be a source of unity. Not much reason for anyone to think they're better than anyone else. More like feudal times perhaps?
More like pets. Selectively bred and indoctrinated.
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Quite a few people in education that I’ve spoken with think it did great harm to the teenagers who were forced to not interact with other teenagers for months and were also really scared because they realised that their parents were genuinely scared of covid.
Having teenage grandchildren I quite agree. One of ours is only just becoming 'normal' again, poor girl. And she's almost no longer a teenager.
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
A friend of mine, now deceased (at 91) used to get cross when 'Spanish' flu was discussed. 'It started in the US' he used to say. 'It was American flu!'
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
Both Reform and the Greens are currently beyond the pale, as far as I'm concerned.
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
From Wikipedia:
7,111,504(updated 3 April 2026) confirmed COVID-induced deaths have been reported worldwide. As of January 2023, taking into account likely COVID-induced deaths via excess deaths, the 95% confidence interval suggests the pandemic has caused between 19.1 and 36 million deaths.
Equates to a little under 0.1% of the global population on strictly confirmed numbers, and between 0.3-0.4% of global population in the middle of the confidence interval.
Similar central estimate would have Spanish flu in your range of about 2% of global population, so about 5-7x worse on those central estimates and, of course, the age profile of the Spanish flu deaths, whether we like it or not, is very relevant.
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
But that was just a very very nasty disease. They didn’t have lockdowns. International travel didn’t end. Schools weren’t closed worldwide
Covid was unique
Pretty much everywhere in the world had lockdowns. A unique experiment in human history and arguably a total disaster
China has called for a “complete cessation of hostilities” in Iran with “the utmost urgency”.
Xi has Trump wriggling on a hook now. Trump is off to Beijing in a few days and his ego won’t allow his big trip blowing up in his face…or getting cancelled. Explains some of his flipflopping.
Trump's problem is that he's been as exposed as unwilling to accept casualties.
And without a willingness to do so the US military is much reduced in capability.
Trump's problem is he is a stupid, corrupt, senile narcissist. He refused to listen to his military advisors on what would happen. He appears unable to even understand what the Iranians want or might do. He's focused primarily on headlines (headlines about him, but avoiding headlines about him and Epstein).
It strikes me youre the one who cannot see past headlines.
The Islamic Republic is dead in all but name.
It's economy is totally wrecked It will need all its money to repair the war damage There will be no spare cash to fund proxies It has a seethingly discontent population In 5-10 years the Carribean basin will be a more reliable oil supplier than the Gulf so even less cash
Iran is screwed
Closing Hormuz was tactically sensible but strategically a disaster.
The Islamic republic will endure. However longer term other sources of oil and gas and routes avoiding Hormuz will be found.
Israel may look at the Ben Gurion canal again.
However the Whitehouse seems optimistic as to a resolution
Are you talking about the Iranian or US blockade of the SAME strait?
The Iranians want: (1) Preservation of the regime and (2) Money. They aren't out of the woods on (1) but the regime is looking a lot better embedded than it did before Operation Epic Clusterfuck. The blockade provides realistic means of making money when they were already under sanctions and they may not need to offer anything substantial on disarmament along the way.
The Americans want: (1) to get out of the mess that they created and (2) Reopen Hormuz. Blockading the strait to reopen it isn't obviously good strategy. It does make sense if the aim is to force Iran to make a deal with the Americans rather than partially reopen Hormuz on Iran's terms. But the US does actually need to do that deal , which is the Money point above.
I wouldn't say either side are brilliant strategists but the Iranians do at least seem to know what they want and have thought-out ways to achieve it.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
There are various reasons people are drawn towards the Greens. I have some sympathy with leftists who bemoan a huge financial crisis then all the talk of austerity, a climate crisis and expensive housing.
However if you believe we are living in a society that is structurally racist and fundamentally corrupt, what does that say about a minority group who seem disproportionately successful in such a settlement? It doesn't reflect well on them. In an earlier age they might have been called the bourgeoisie. So long as Jews are seen as doing well in a profoundly immoral society they will be a target for the radical left. There's no answer other than to try and minimise the number of people attracted to revolutionary sentiment. (Our education system seems to be doing the opposite). Or for Jews to be less successful.
On one of the pro Gaza marches some bohemian chap was bemoaning that there was a lot of Jewish money in the arts. Now you might think that a wannabe artist would be quite grateful for this! But of course not. You see most artists don't get grants and are inevitably a little envious of those that do. So by being generous patrons you unfortunately become a target for resentment.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
However suppose for a moment there are hard truths to know about race and IQ. Another truth the 20th century tells us is that applying a set of political principles to a sub set of the human race as a whole leads to a century of an unimaginable horror show. and piles of corpses millions deep.
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
But what if your job depends on you recruiting the best spin bowlers? And your time and money is limited, as it always is. Where would you look?
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
However suppose for a moment there are hard truths to know about race and IQ. Another truth the 20th century tells us is that applying a set of political principles to a sub set of the human race as a whole leads to a century of an unimaginable horror show. and piles of corpses millions deep.
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
But what if your job depends on you recruiting the best spin bowlers? And your time and money is limited, as it always is. Where would you look?
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
However suppose for a moment there are hard truths to know about race and IQ. Another truth the 20th century tells us is that applying a set of political principles to a sub set of the human race as a whole leads to a century of an unimaginable horror show. and piles of corpses millions deep.
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
But what if your job depends on you recruiting the best spin bowlers? And your time and money is limited, as it always is. Where would you look?
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
But that was just a very very nasty disease. They didn’t have lockdowns. International travel didn’t end. Schools weren’t closed worldwide
Covid was unique
Pretty much everywhere in the world had lockdowns. A unique experiment in human history and arguably a total disaster
Maybe 15 million died worldwide as a consequence of Covid 19; 50-100 million for Spanish flu on a smaller world population. The Covid numbers would undoubtedly be much higher without the medical and non-medical interventions. Possibly similar numbers to Spanish Flu.
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
But that was just a very very nasty disease. They didn’t have lockdowns. International travel didn’t end. Schools weren’t closed worldwide
Covid was unique
Pretty much everywhere in the world had lockdowns. A unique experiment in human history and arguably a total disaster
Maybe 15 million died worldwide as a consequence of Covid 19; 50-100 million for Spanish flu on a smaller world population. The Covid numbers would undoubtedly be much higher without the medical and non-medical interventions. Possibly similar numbers to Spanish Flu.
Covid is fascinatingly unique. For the first time in human history, every human being on earth shares a recent traumatic memory. That has never been true before
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
However suppose for a moment there are hard truths to know about race and IQ. Another truth the 20th century tells us is that applying a set of political principles to a sub set of the human race as a whole leads to a century of an unimaginable horror show. and piles of corpses millions deep.
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
Richard Nixon pretty much acknowledged it was better not to know this stuff if it was true.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
Both Reform and the Greens are currently beyond the pale, as far as I'm concerned.
To me too.
I have some considerable sympathy with those concerned about housing, student loans etc.,. But zero sympathy with those allying themselves with racists and anti-semites and finding excuses for them. I am pretty shocked and saddened finding such people on here, frankly. It makes this forum markedly more unpleasant and reduces the space for intelligent discussion.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
However suppose for a moment there are hard truths to know about race and IQ. Another truth the 20th century tells us is that applying a set of political principles to a sub set of the human race as a whole leads to a century of an unimaginable horror show. and piles of corpses millions deep.
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
But what if your job depends on you recruiting the best spin bowlers? And your time and money is limited, as it always is. Where would you look?
My short list would not be based on the generalities of ethnicity but on the specifics of individuals. You can't get a decent XI from an abstraction, they have to be people. Neither Plato's forms nor Aristotle's universals understand the laws of cricket.
There were rather more than that (Australia for example, completely quarantined itself for a while). A large difference was the state of knowledge of disease spread, and how to control it; just as our plans for COVID were unhelpfully based on flu, those of the earlier pandemic were largely based on experience with TB.
Many of the debates we had again a century later took place in 1919.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
You are so full of bile and prejudice it must be a struggle living with yourself.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
However suppose for a moment there are hard truths to know about race and IQ. Another truth the 20th century tells us is that applying a set of political principles to a sub set of the human race as a whole leads to a century of an unimaginable horror show. and piles of corpses millions deep.
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
But what if your job depends on you recruiting the best spin bowlers? And your time and money is limited, as it always is. Where would you look?
My short list would not be based on the generalities of ethnicity but on the specifics of individuals. You can't get a decent XI from an abstraction, they have to be people. Neither Plato's forms nor Aristotle's universals understand the laws of cricket.
In any event, cricket quite righty defies rational analysis.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/06/dangerous-decadent-depraved-cricket-love-affair-with-the-cover-drive-the-spin ...“The cover drive is not like other shots,” writes Jon Hotten. “It is dangerous and beautiful. It is decadent and depraved. It is the purest expression of mastery in batsmanship and it is a destroyer of innings, of matches, of careers. It is addictive, compulsive, indulgent. It makes crowds go ‘aaaahhh’. It makes coaches slam their fists into dressing room walls.”..
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
But that was just a very very nasty disease. They didn’t have lockdowns. International travel didn’t end. Schools weren’t closed worldwide
Covid was unique
Pretty much everywhere in the world had lockdowns. A unique experiment in human history and arguably a total disaster
Maybe 15 million died worldwide as a consequence of Covid 19; 50-100 million for Spanish flu on a smaller world population. The Covid numbers would undoubtedly be much higher without the medical and non-medical interventions. Possibly similar numbers to Spanish Flu.
Covid is fascinatingly unique. For the first time in human history, every human being on earth shares a recent traumatic memory. That has never been true before
Spanish Flu was unusual in that it seems to have primarily hit healthy young people perhaps lacking immunity from previous epidemics. As far as I know the death toll wouldn't be nearly as high today because most people died from secondary bacterial infections that are treatable by antibiotics.
China has called for a “complete cessation of hostilities” in Iran with “the utmost urgency”.
Xi has Trump wriggling on a hook now. Trump is off to Beijing in a few days and his ego won’t allow his big trip blowing up in his face…or getting cancelled. Explains some of his flipflopping.
Trump's problem is that he's been as exposed as unwilling to accept casualties.
And without a willingness to do so the US military is much reduced in capability.
Trump's problem is he is a stupid, corrupt, senile narcissist. He refused to listen to his military advisors on what would happen. He appears unable to even understand what the Iranians want or might do. He's focused primarily on headlines (headlines about him, but avoiding headlines about him and Epstein).
It strikes me youre the one who cannot see past headlines.
The Islamic Republic is dead in all but name.
It's economy is totally wrecked It will need all its money to repair the war damage There will be no spare cash to fund proxies It has a seethingly discontent population In 5-10 years the Carribean basin will be a more reliable oil supplier than the Gulf so even less cash
Iran is screwed
Closing Hormuz was tactically sensible but strategically a disaster.
The Islamic republic will endure. However longer term other sources of oil and gas and routes avoiding Hormuz will be found.
Israel may look at the Ben Gurion canal again.
However the Whitehouse seems optimistic as to a resolution
Are you talking about the Iranian or US blockade of the SAME strait?
The Iranians want: (1) Preservation of the regime and (2) Money. They aren't out of the woods on (1) but the regime is looking a lot better embedded than it did before Operation Epic Clusterfuck. The blockade provides realistic means of making money when they were already under sanctions and they may not need to offer anything substantial on disarmament along the way.
The Americans want: (1) to get out of the mess that they created and (2) Reopen Hormuz. Blockading the strait to reopen it isn't obviously good strategy. It does make sense if the aim is to force Iran to make a deal with the Americans rather than partially reopen Hormuz on Iran's terms. But the US does actually need to do that deal , which is the Money point above.
I wouldn't say either side are brilliant strategists but the Iranians do at least seem to know what they want and have thought-out ways to achieve it.
Specifically I was talking of Iran, as a response to Alan’s comment about them.
I don’t feel there are any great options now. Only less bad ones.
But both parties will need a deal of sorts but longer term I do think Iran has shot itself in the foot here.
China has called for a “complete cessation of hostilities” in Iran with “the utmost urgency”.
Xi has Trump wriggling on a hook now. Trump is off to Beijing in a few days and his ego won’t allow his big trip blowing up in his face…or getting cancelled. Explains some of his flipflopping.
Trump's problem is that he's been as exposed as unwilling to accept casualties.
And without a willingness to do so the US military is much reduced in capability.
Trump's problem is he is a stupid, corrupt, senile narcissist. He refused to listen to his military advisors on what would happen. He appears unable to even understand what the Iranians want or might do. He's focused primarily on headlines (headlines about him, but avoiding headlines about him and Epstein).
It strikes me youre the one who cannot see past headlines.
The Islamic Republic is dead in all but name.
It's economy is totally wrecked It will need all its money to repair the war damage There will be no spare cash to fund proxies It has a seethingly discontent population In 5-10 years the Carribean basin will be a more reliable oil supplier than the Gulf so even less cash
Iran is screwed
Lol. You should apply for a job at the White House.
I think you need to get past just despising trump
In 10 years time when he's not on the scene Iran will still be fked and not the power it once was.
However to cheer you up I suspect the same will also be true of Israel as if the Middle east is no longer the focus of energy then the US will see its strategic concerns elsewhere
Hmm. Successful and justified military action to weaken Iran or clueless vanity-driven blundering without a plan or a point? Only the most ardent Trumpers are still clinging to the left side of that. You're cutting him way too much slack because he infuriates 'lefties'. That's why you polish his turds. And boy this is a big one.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
You are so full of bile and prejudice it must be a struggle living with yourself.
The only person full of bile and prejudice here is you. You are one of this site's biggest misogynists and have consistently insulted me in unpleasantly personal terms.
The only struggle I currently have is living with Stage 4 cancer, a struggle which will be made a tiny bit easier by not spending any more time on a forum with the likes of you on it.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
There's nothing wrong with scrutiny, but every party has a few nutters, and highighting them in election week is what some journalists do. It doesn't make it "a party for such people".
That said, I don't want to quarrel over it as we agree that the statements that you quote sound revolting and you obviously feel not enough is being done quickly enough. You may be right.
China has called for a “complete cessation of hostilities” in Iran with “the utmost urgency”.
Xi has Trump wriggling on a hook now. Trump is off to Beijing in a few days and his ego won’t allow his big trip blowing up in his face…or getting cancelled. Explains some of his flipflopping.
Trump's problem is that he's been as exposed as unwilling to accept casualties.
And without a willingness to do so the US military is much reduced in capability.
Trump's problem is he is a stupid, corrupt, senile narcissist. He refused to listen to his military advisors on what would happen. He appears unable to even understand what the Iranians want or might do. He's focused primarily on headlines (headlines about him, but avoiding headlines about him and Epstein).
It strikes me youre the one who cannot see past headlines.
The Islamic Republic is dead in all but name.
It's economy is totally wrecked It will need all its money to repair the war damage There will be no spare cash to fund proxies It has a seethingly discontent population In 5-10 years the Carribean basin will be a more reliable oil supplier than the Gulf so even less cash
Iran is screwed
Closing Hormuz was tactically sensible but strategically a disaster.
The Islamic republic will endure. However longer term other sources of oil and gas and routes avoiding Hormuz will be found.
Israel may look at the Ben Gurion canal again.
However the Whitehouse seems optimistic as to a resolution
Are you talking about the Iranian or US blockade of the SAME strait?
The Iranians want: (1) Preservation of the regime and (2) Money. They aren't out of the woods on (1) but the regime is looking a lot better embedded than it did before Operation Epic Clusterfuck. The blockade provides realistic means of making money when they were already under sanctions and they may not need to offer anything substantial on disarmament along the way.
The Americans want: (1) to get out of the mess that they created and (2) Reopen Hormuz. Blockading the strait to reopen it isn't obviously good strategy. It does make sense if the aim is to force Iran to make a deal with the Americans rather than partially reopen Hormuz on Iran's terms. But the US does actually need to do that deal , which is the Money point above.
I wouldn't say either side are brilliant strategists but the Iranians do at least seem to know what they want and have thought-out ways to achieve it.
Specifically I was talking of Iran, as a response to Alan’s comment about them.
I don’t feel there are any great options now. Only less bad ones.
But both parties will need a deal of sorts but longer term I do think Iran has shot itself in the foot here.
What do you think the Iranian regime should do differently in its own interest in the circumstances it finds itself? (Apart from, don't be a murderous regime)
'80% of Labour voters want a “customs union” with the EU.
However polling for Queen Mary University London has found only 9% of Labour voters think UK tariff policy should be decided by someone other than the UK govt...exactly what a customs union with the EU would entail.'
China has called for a “complete cessation of hostilities” in Iran with “the utmost urgency”.
Xi has Trump wriggling on a hook now. Trump is off to Beijing in a few days and his ego won’t allow his big trip blowing up in his face…or getting cancelled. Explains some of his flipflopping.
Trump's problem is that he's been as exposed as unwilling to accept casualties.
And without a willingness to do so the US military is much reduced in capability.
Trump's problem is he is a stupid, corrupt, senile narcissist. He refused to listen to his military advisors on what would happen. He appears unable to even understand what the Iranians want or might do. He's focused primarily on headlines (headlines about him, but avoiding headlines about him and Epstein).
It strikes me youre the one who cannot see past headlines.
The Islamic Republic is dead in all but name.
It's economy is totally wrecked It will need all its money to repair the war damage There will be no spare cash to fund proxies It has a seethingly discontent population In 5-10 years the Carribean basin will be a more reliable oil supplier than the Gulf so even less cash
Iran is screwed
Lol. You should apply for a job at the White House.
I think you need to get past just despising trump
In 10 years time when he's not on the scene Iran will still be fked and not the power it once was.
However to cheer you up I suspect the same will also be true of Israel as if the Middle east is no longer the focus of energy then the US will see its strategic concerns elsewhere
Hmm. Successful and justified military action to weaken Iran or clueless vanity-driven blundering without a plan or a point? Only the most ardent Trumpers are still clinging to the left side of that. You're cutting him way too much slack because he infuriates 'lefties'. That's why you polish his turds. And boy this is a big one.
Yes. Most people do hold the USA and Iran to different standards. Trump dragging the USA to somewhere above Mad Mullah level feels retrograde. At least with Iran the only way is up.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
Both Reform and the Greens are currently beyond the pale, as far as I'm concerned.
Me too. Though I have different emotional reactions to them. With Reform, I simply disagree on a lot of things*. Whereas the Green party manage to combine being toxically wrong about things at the same time as maintaining a pious moral superiority.
'80% of Labour voters want a “customs union” with the EU.
However polling for Queen Mary University London has found only 9% of Labour voters think UK tariff policy should be decided by someone other than the UK govt...exactly what a customs union with the EU would entail.'
Mmm. I favour our ability to say that we'll sign up to a customs union and follow its agreed tariffs. I don't see a contradiction.
'80% of Labour voters want a “customs union” with the EU.
However polling for Queen Mary University London has found only 9% of Labour voters think UK tariff policy should be decided by someone other than the UK govt...exactly what a customs union with the EU would entail.'
80% of voters want to have their cake and eat it. I think, in practice, the vast majority of voters don’t know anything about the details of tariff policy and just want cheap goods and successful businesses. They don’t really care about the minutiae of how you achieve that.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
However suppose for a moment there are hard truths to know about race and IQ. Another truth the 20th century tells us is that applying a set of political principles to a sub set of the human race as a whole leads to a century of an unimaginable horror show. and piles of corpses millions deep.
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
But what if your job depends on you recruiting the best spin bowlers? And your time and money is limited, as it always is. Where would you look?
My short list would not be based on the generalities of ethnicity but on the specifics of individuals. You can't get a decent XI from an abstraction, they have to be people. Neither Plato's forms nor Aristotle's universals understand the laws of cricket.
China has called for a “complete cessation of hostilities” in Iran with “the utmost urgency”.
Xi has Trump wriggling on a hook now. Trump is off to Beijing in a few days and his ego won’t allow his big trip blowing up in his face…or getting cancelled. Explains some of his flipflopping.
Trump's problem is that he's been as exposed as unwilling to accept casualties.
And without a willingness to do so the US military is much reduced in capability.
Trump's problem is he is a stupid, corrupt, senile narcissist. He refused to listen to his military advisors on what would happen. He appears unable to even understand what the Iranians want or might do. He's focused primarily on headlines (headlines about him, but avoiding headlines about him and Epstein).
It strikes me youre the one who cannot see past headlines.
The Islamic Republic is dead in all but name.
It's economy is totally wrecked It will need all its money to repair the war damage There will be no spare cash to fund proxies It has a seethingly discontent population In 5-10 years the Carribean basin will be a more reliable oil supplier than the Gulf so even less cash
Iran is screwed
Closing Hormuz was tactically sensible but strategically a disaster.
The Islamic republic will endure. However longer term other sources of oil and gas and routes avoiding Hormuz will be found.
Israel may look at the Ben Gurion canal again.
However the Whitehouse seems optimistic as to a resolution
Are you talking about the Iranian or US blockade of the SAME strait?
The Iranians want: (1) Preservation of the regime and (2) Money. They aren't out of the woods on (1) but the regime is looking a lot better embedded than it did before Operation Epic Clusterfuck. The blockade provides realistic means of making money when they were already under sanctions and they may not need to offer anything substantial on disarmament along the way.
The Americans want: (1) to get out of the mess that they created and (2) Reopen Hormuz. Blockading the strait to reopen it isn't obviously good strategy. It does make sense if the aim is to force Iran to make a deal with the Americans rather than partially reopen Hormuz on Iran's terms. But the US does actually need to do that deal , which is the Money point above.
I wouldn't say either side are brilliant strategists but the Iranians do at least seem to know what they want and have thought-out ways to achieve it.
Specifically I was talking of Iran, as a response to Alan’s comment about them.
I don’t feel there are any great options now. Only less bad ones.
But both parties will need a deal of sorts but longer term I do think Iran has shot itself in the foot here.
What do you think the Iranian regime should do differently in its own interest in the circumstances it finds itself? (Apart from, don't be a murderous regime)
IANAE, and only am informed by what I’ve read. Happy to be schooled but…..
Have clear lines of demarcation and authority to make agreements swiftly.
Show some will to compromise and come to an agreement. Same goes for the US.
Consider the 105 million Iranians health and wellbeing and not just the regime. Just because the regime can tough out sanctions doesn’t mean its citizens can, or should.
Try to re-engage with the international community and realise longer terms their actions will damage themselves. Also stop funding proxies and demonising Israel. Other Arab nations seek normal relations with Israel. They should.
However it could all become very N Korea in future.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
There are various reasons people are drawn towards the Greens. I have some sympathy with leftists who bemoan a huge financial crisis then all the talk of austerity, a climate crisis and expensive housing.
However if you believe we are living in a society that is structurally racist and fundamentally corrupt, what does that say about a minority group who seem disproportionately successful in such a settlement? It doesn't reflect well on them. In an earlier age they might have been called the bourgeoisie. So long as Jews are seen as doing well in a profoundly immoral society they will be a target for the radical left. There's no answer other than to try and minimise the number of people attracted to revolutionary sentiment. (Our education system seems to be doing the opposite). Or for Jews to be less successful.
On one of the pro Gaza marches some bohemian chap was bemoaning that there was a lot of Jewish money in the arts. Now you might think that a wannabe artist would be quite grateful for this! But of course not. You see most artists don't get grants and are inevitably a little envious of those that do. So by being generous patrons you unfortunately become a target for resentment.
This is where IQ is relevant, even if we wish it wasn't. Average Ashkenazim Jewish IQ is ~115. A full SD above the norm. Even if you set aside all cultural factors (a Jewish emphasis on education, a culture of hard work and capitalism, etc) that means Jews are going to be markedly more successful than any other ethnic group. And they are. Whether you look at Nobel prizes or Fields medals, CEOs or billionaires, thriving entrepreneurs or go-getting retail barons, Jews are and will be "over-represented". This causes resentment which turns into prejudice which, if not stopped, eventually turns into pogroms
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
You are so full of bile and prejudice it must be a struggle living with yourself.
The only person full of bile and prejudice here is you. You are one of this site's biggest misogynists and have consistently insulted me in unpleasantly personal terms.
The only struggle I currently have is living with Stage 4 cancer, a struggle which will be made a tiny bit easier by not spending any more time on a forum with the likes of you on it.
Don't let him get to you
He is not worth it and certainly your posts are much appreciated by many of us as is your commentary on your health issues which we wish you well with
Jesus X Christ this country. HS2 are digging up my road AGAIN. This must be the twentieth time in ten years. By now the Chinese would have built a tramline to Neptune
China has called for a “complete cessation of hostilities” in Iran with “the utmost urgency”.
Xi has Trump wriggling on a hook now. Trump is off to Beijing in a few days and his ego won’t allow his big trip blowing up in his face…or getting cancelled. Explains some of his flipflopping.
Trump's problem is that he's been as exposed as unwilling to accept casualties.
And without a willingness to do so the US military is much reduced in capability.
Trump's problem is he is a stupid, corrupt, senile narcissist. He refused to listen to his military advisors on what would happen. He appears unable to even understand what the Iranians want or might do. He's focused primarily on headlines (headlines about him, but avoiding headlines about him and Epstein).
It strikes me youre the one who cannot see past headlines.
The Islamic Republic is dead in all but name.
It's economy is totally wrecked It will need all its money to repair the war damage There will be no spare cash to fund proxies It has a seethingly discontent population In 5-10 years the Carribean basin will be a more reliable oil supplier than the Gulf so even less cash
Iran is screwed
Closing Hormuz was tactically sensible but strategically a disaster.
The Islamic republic will endure. However longer term other sources of oil and gas and routes avoiding Hormuz will be found.
Israel may look at the Ben Gurion canal again.
However the Whitehouse seems optimistic as to a resolution
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
Both Reform and the Greens are currently beyond the pale, as far as I'm concerned.
To me too.
I have some considerable sympathy with those concerned about housing, student loans etc.,. But zero sympathy with those allying themselves with racists and anti-semites and finding excuses for them. I am pretty shocked and saddened finding such people on here, frankly. It makes this forum markedly more unpleasant and reduces the space for intelligent discussion.
There does seem to be a solid proportion of the radical left who are unable to separate disgust for the actions of the Israeli state from their views of British Jews. They derailed Corbyn's project with him being either complicit or horrible naive. They are now set on derailing Polanski's project.
But to mirror back to you; I have huge sympathy for those who find the rise of anti-semitism to be a defining feature of our politics. I share the fears about its rise.
However, in my view your credibility in challenging that is reduced when you refer to (disgusting) comments about Zionists being fed into shredders as if they are comments about British Jews as a whole (assuming this is the minority you are referring to).
In my view a large part of why we are not able to have a better discussion about anti-semitism in UK is that both sides fail to speak carefully about a very fraught subject, so are misunderstood (sometimes intentionally). I have some sympathy for those on the left who are unwilling to engage properly with discussions of anti-semitism when their opponents appear unwilling to distinguish between anti-semitism, anti-zionism, or anti-settlerism. I have some sympathy with Polanski (even though I think he is being politically very naive elsewhere) when he tries to make the point that British Jews are not homogeneous in their views and that to pretend they are is as alienating for some Jews as it would be to consider me a Reform supporter because I am English.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
You are so full of bile and prejudice it must be a struggle living with yourself.
The only person full of bile and prejudice here is you. You are one of this site's biggest misogynists and have consistently insulted me in unpleasantly personal terms.
The only struggle I currently have is living with Stage 4 cancer, a struggle which will be made a tiny bit easier by not spending any more time on a forum with the likes of you on it.
@Cyclefree take youe lively mind off the numbskull @Roger - I need gardening advice. I have a new little bay tree on my balcony, and it's in trouble. I'm getting conflicting advice online. Some say give it regular deep draughts of water, some say let it dry, it loves drought
Jesus X Christ this country. HS2 are digging up my road AGAIN. This must be the twentieth time in ten years. By now the Chinese would have built a tramline to Neptune
Think yourself lucky,
In my neck of the woods, they're digging up roads to replace Victorian/Edwardian gas infrastructure.
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
A friend of mine, now deceased (at 91) used to get cross when 'Spanish' flu was discussed. 'It started in the US' he used to say. 'It was American flu!'
Indeed. We don’t 100% know where it began, but the first cases appear to be from Kansas. (However, some research suggests an earlier origin in France.) It’s called Spanish flu because Spain was neutral in WWI and had a freer press, so a lot of the earliest reporting was from Spain, giving the misleading impression that it began there. The pandemic produced many of the same debates that we saw again under COVID-19: restrictions on movement, mask wearing, conspiracy theories etc. On the last, there were claims that Spanish flu was a deliberate weapon by the Germans, including that is was spread in German aspirin tablets.
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
You are so full of bile and prejudice it must be a struggle living with yourself.
The only person full of bile and prejudice here is you. You are one of this site's biggest misogynists and have consistently insulted me in unpleasantly personal terms.
The only struggle I currently have is living with Stage 4 cancer, a struggle which will be made a tiny bit easier by not spending any more time on a forum with the likes of you on it.
@Cyclefree take youe lively mind off the numbskull @Roger - I need gardening advice. I have a new little bay tree on my balcony, and it's in trouble. I'm getting conflicting advice online. Some say give it regular deep draughts of water, some say let it dry, it loves drought
Thoughts?
On those lines, I have a growing bay tree in a pot. Is it too late in the year to replant it in the garden ?
Jesus X Christ this country. HS2 are digging up my road AGAIN. This must be the twentieth time in ten years. By now the Chinese would have built a tramline to Neptune
More and more Frank Herbert looks like a visionary with his pronouncements on AI now that the US, China and Russia among others are allowing autonomous AI control of offensive weaponry.
Pretty sure I saw a documentary by James Cameron about machines controlling weaponry.
Biological use of molybdenum and tungsten stems back to 3.4 billion years ago https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72133-0 The biological significance of the transition metal molybdenum (Mo) lies in its function at the catalytic center of several enzymes that drive a wide spectrum of redox reactions underlying global biogeochemical cycles, yet a paradox persists. While modern life ubiquitously relies on Mo, geochemical evidence suggests that its availability in early Earth’s anoxic oceans was extremely limited. Modern organisms can use Mo down to trace levels; however, the rates of Mo-dependent metabolisms slow down when Mo availability decreases, posing fundamental questions about the extent to which changing Mo abundances shaped the evolution of molybdoenzymes, and when early life began harnessing Mo. Here, we confront this evolutionary enigma by reconstructing the temporal and ecological emergence of molybdoenzymes, their transport systems, and biosynthetic pathways. In parallel, we examine biological tungsten (W) usage due to shared chemical properties and cofactor biosynthetic pathways with Mo. We provide molecular dating evidence of Mo/W utilization back to the Eo- to Mesoarchean (~3.7–3.1 Ga). These findings challenge prevailing assumptions about trace metal availability on the early Earth and underscore the profound antiquity and adaptability of Mo-based biochemistry in shaping early microbial evolution...
Jesus X Christ this country. HS2 are digging up my road AGAIN. This must be the twentieth time in ten years. By now the Chinese would have built a tramline to Neptune
Think yourself lucky,
In my neck of the woods, they're digging up roads to replace Victorian/Edwardian gas infrastructure.
But I genuinely don't understand it. They have been building HS2 since 2017, down here at Euston/Camden. LITERALLY almost a decade. How the fuck can they still be discovering stuff they have to dig up, at the same place, yet again, nine years later???
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
However suppose for a moment there are hard truths to know about race and IQ. Another truth the 20th century tells us is that applying a set of political principles to a sub set of the human race as a whole leads to a century of an unimaginable horror show. and piles of corpses millions deep.
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
The problem is I think she would have accepted it as true had Watson found the opposite
Something that many find hard to deal with is their cause attracts nutters.
If you hold a peaceful demo against McDonalds in parts of semi-rural France, for example, some very nasty people may well show up. Blood and soil, save-our-culture-from-immigrants etc.
This is because McDonalds is foreign and associated with franchises being owned by migrants.
You can either kick the thugs out and have a smaller demo/organisation. Or not.
China has called for a “complete cessation of hostilities” in Iran with “the utmost urgency”.
Xi has Trump wriggling on a hook now. Trump is off to Beijing in a few days and his ego won’t allow his big trip blowing up in his face…or getting cancelled. Explains some of his flipflopping.
Trump's problem is that he's been as exposed as unwilling to accept casualties.
And without a willingness to do so the US military is much reduced in capability.
Trump's problem is he is a stupid, corrupt, senile narcissist. He refused to listen to his military advisors on what would happen. He appears unable to even understand what the Iranians want or might do. He's focused primarily on headlines (headlines about him, but avoiding headlines about him and Epstein).
It strikes me youre the one who cannot see past headlines.
The Islamic Republic is dead in all but name.
It's economy is totally wrecked It will need all its money to repair the war damage There will be no spare cash to fund proxies It has a seethingly discontent population In 5-10 years the Carribean basin will be a more reliable oil supplier than the Gulf so even less cash
Iran is screwed
Closing Hormuz was tactically sensible but strategically a disaster.
The Islamic republic will endure. However longer term other sources of oil and gas and routes avoiding Hormuz will be found.
Israel may look at the Ben Gurion canal again.
However the Whitehouse seems optimistic as to a resolution
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It worries me that the intelligentsia gets so worked up about IQ, both on right and left. It rarely matters much and in future Grok and ChatGPT will do all our thinking for us so IQ won't matter at all.
Bollocks commentary about IQ is largely a concern of the online right these days. The libertarian techbros obsess about it. The likes of X is full of IQ nonsense, regurgitated here by the usual suspects, which has zero connection to the large and ongoing modern study of intelligence in psychology. One tell is how the online right’s theories always seem to come back to 19th century racial categories that modern genetics show to be meaningless.
More and more Frank Herbert looks like a visionary with his pronouncements on AI now that the US, China and Russia among others are allowing autonomous AI control of offensive weaponry.
Pretty sure I saw a documentary by James Cameron about machines controlling weaponry.
Jesus X Christ this country. HS2 are digging up my road AGAIN. This must be the twentieth time in ten years. By now the Chinese would have built a tramline to Neptune
Think yourself lucky,
In my neck of the woods, they're digging up roads to replace Victorian/Edwardian gas infrastructure.
But I genuinely don't understand it. They have been building HS2 since 2017, down here at Euston/Camden. LITERALLY almost a decade. How the fuck can they still be discovering stuff they have to dig up, at the same place, yet again, nine years later???
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I know it's a pain but I'm afraid you reactionary righties can't expect to keep the mendacious populist lane all to yourselves. Given how wide it is it's only fair you share it with others.
Indeed not. Given how important it is - apparently - to the young to have "strong cultural-progressive positions that are fundamental to political identity" (as @IanB2 put it) there needs to be a party for such people, preferably led by a liar (as all populist leaders tend to be), and the fact that some of its activists call a minority "an abomination on the planet", "cockroaches" or to be fed "feet first" into a shredder reply really is neither here nor there. This is just "the media having a go" according to @NickPalmer and not the sort of scrutiny that all political parties do and should face.
You are so full of bile and prejudice it must be a struggle living with yourself.
The only person full of bile and prejudice here is you. You are one of this site's biggest misogynists and have consistently insulted me in unpleasantly personal terms.
The only struggle I currently have is living with Stage 4 cancer, a struggle which will be made a tiny bit easier by not spending any more time on a forum with the likes of you on it.
@Cyclefree take youe lively mind off the numbskull @Roger - I need gardening advice. I have a new little bay tree on my balcony, and it's in trouble. I'm getting conflicting advice online. Some say give it regular deep draughts of water, some say let it dry, it loves drought
Thoughts?
On those lines, I have a growing bay tree in a pot. Is it too late in the year to replant it in the garden ?
I planted mine in the garden two weeks ago and it’s doing fine.
Postal voters vote - nudging an 80% return rate in some of the wards in Bradford, 70% on average, with still a couple of days to go.
Any idea what percentage of the votes will be postal? Local elections are not renowned for high turnouts.
75% plus return isn’t however unusual for postal votes; it’s the standard. But a fair few are handed in to polling stations on the day, so if Bradford is already at 80%, that’s high.
I believe the last GE achieved the record for the highest proportion of total votes that were by post rather than in person; I can’t remember whether it was a quarter or a third; I’ve a feeling it was the latter. The stat is in the 2024 election campaign book somewhere
Turnout in local elections is usually much lower than a general though.
At the polling station, yes, but less so for postal votes
Jesus X Christ this country. HS2 are digging up my road AGAIN. This must be the twentieth time in ten years. By now the Chinese would have built a tramline to Neptune
Think yourself lucky,
In my neck of the woods, they're digging up roads to replace Victorian/Edwardian gas infrastructure.
But I genuinely don't understand it. They have been building HS2 since 2017, down here at Euston/Camden. LITERALLY almost a decade. How the fuck can they still be discovering stuff they have to dig up, at the same place, yet again, nine years later???
Zack Polanski: "The Green Party are an anti-racist party" Nick Robinson: "You can't just say the words 'we're an anti-racist party' when I've just read you out five of the most revolting comments"
Lol
Sure he can as long as there are people who will believe it. I fear that young women in particular seem to be susceptible to social media manipulation by these types just as young men have become susceptible to social media manipulation by Andrew Tate and others like him.
It’s like the young women I met in Africa. Bright, smart, likeable, kind. But they’ve been persuaded to believe obviously untrue things. Consoling “facts” which can be falsified in seconds. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer the comforting lie - which is nearly always lefty and woke
I shared a house with a young French girl about twenty years ago, when James D Watson made his controversial comments about race and IQ. We discussed it and she said even if he were proven to be right, she wouldn’t believe it and thought we should carry on as if he were wrong.
I’m not saying he was right, I struggle to see how it could be proven one way or the other, but it did surprise me she thought that way, and it is proof that people will, or are prepared to, value consoling facts over hard truths . I suppose it is a more compassionate view and the left want/aim to be compassionate.
It worries me that the intelligentsia gets so worked up about IQ, both on right and left. It rarely matters much and in future Grok and ChatGPT will do all our thinking for us so IQ won't matter at all.
Bollocks commentary about IQ is largely a concern of the online right these days. The libertarian techbros obsess about it. The likes of X is full of IQ nonsense, regurgitated here by the usual suspects, which has zero connection to the large and ongoing modern study of intelligence in psychology. One tell is how the online right’s theories always seem to come back to 19th century racial categories that modern genetics show to be meaningless.
You're the halfwit who thought there were absolutely no racial differences between Africans and others and race does not exist and any differences are invented and it was all lurid mythology designed by fascists, until I pointed out to you the salient fact that non-Africans have a notable component of Neanderthal DNA and modern Africans have barely any, which is fundamentally important for our understanding of human evolution, and hominid interbreeding, apart from anything else
You're a cretin. Yet again I shudder in horror at the fact a moron like you was on a sub-committee of SAGE. It's like putting the late Keith Chegwin in charge of HS2*
Just received a personally addressed letter from Ruth Davidson (they even spelled my name correctly), they must have a lot of money to spaff about so indiscriminately. She entreats me to vote SCon on the list to 'absolutely ensure they (the SNP) don't win a majority of seats on 7th May'. Q: what happens if they do win a majority?
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
But that was just a very very nasty disease. They didn’t have lockdowns. International travel didn’t end. Schools weren’t closed worldwide
Covid was unique
Pretty much everywhere in the world had lockdowns. A unique experiment in human history and arguably a total disaster
Eh? What? First of all it was a different time so international travel for the vast majority wasn't a thing so you can't use that comparison and as far as lockdowns were concerned they were widespread and for very long periods. Most were organised regionally rather than nationally, but that again reflects the time. There was even mandatory mask wearing.
So yes schools were closed as were theatres, churches, public meetings etc. Lockdowns sometimes were only for a month, but others for half a year.
It was very similar to Covid (if you take into account the time difference of less travel and more regional rather national control around the world), except the death toll was far more severe and more devastating on the young.
'Just a very nasty disease'! Honestly what nonsense. It was far worse. Why do you have to over dramatise everything you live through.
More and more Frank Herbert looks like a visionary with his pronouncements on AI now that the US, China and Russia among others are allowing autonomous AI control of offensive weaponry.
Pretty sure I saw a documentary by James Cameron about machines controlling weaponry.
More and more Frank Herbert looks like a visionary with his pronouncements on AI now that the US, China and Russia among others are allowing autonomous AI control of offensive weaponry.
Pretty sure I saw a documentary by James Cameron about machines controlling weaponry.
Jesus X Christ this country. HS2 are digging up my road AGAIN. This must be the twentieth time in ten years. By now the Chinese would have built a tramline to Neptune
During these last four years I've been asking people worldwide about their pando experiences (the similarities and differences are both fascinating). Some of the worst stories are Chinese
Typical bedwetting from the Torygraph. Hardly anyone will know or care.
They will as it will cost more to buy and more to. Use. He is an epic cnt
Heat pump tumble dryers are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to use & the lower electricity costs over their lifetime vastly outweighs the initial extra expense.
Plus you can put the things anywhere & don’t have to watch all that lovely heat being vented out of the house in winter like all condenser tumble dryers.
Yep. Bought our one a year and a bit ago and its ace.
Same, my cleaner says it is awesome.
I'd say the same, but the my wife would (a) kill me for calling her the cleaner and (b) she isn't very good at cleaning...
This is a very British thing. Having a terrible cleaner but being too polite to mention anything
I just occasionally mumble about “uhm, dusting” and leave it at that. Partly coz she’s also a true chirpy cockney lass in her later years. They’re a dying breed in these parts so I feel I’m doing my bit by paying her to not clean very well
I think it is also a terribly British thing to be terribly uncomfortable to admit to having a cleaner at all.
The absolute worst thing about the pandemic for me was that I had to clean my own house as well as wash and iron my clothes.
I’ve employed a cleaner from 2000 onwards so this was a new hell for me.
Likewise. I had to do HOOVERING
FFS
In truth I think I was so depressed I quickly gave up cleaning and just let everything fester for five months
My other problem is that I am as germaphobe and neat freak, so I couldn’t leave things untidy.
It was a circle of hell.
I got chatting about the pando with the locals in Rwanda. It was a suicide-inducing disaster for them as well. Esp those in the tourist biz. No money for 2 years and no government furlough to bail them out. And lockdowns
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
Spanish flu. Worldwide and just over 100 years ago and devastating compared to Covid. Covid killed 0.01% of the world population. Spanish flu killed between 1 - 5.4% of the world population so 100 - 500 times more lethal and impacted the whole world.
A friend of mine, now deceased (at 91) used to get cross when 'Spanish' flu was discussed. 'It started in the US' he used to say. 'It was American flu!'
Indeed. We don’t 100% know where it began, but the first cases appear to be from Kansas. (However, some research suggests an earlier origin in France.) It’s called Spanish flu because Spain was neutral in WWI and had a freer press, so a lot of the earliest reporting was from Spain, giving the misleading impression that it began there. The pandemic produced many of the same debates that we saw again under COVID-19: restrictions on movement, mask wearing, conspiracy theories etc. On the last, there were claims that Spanish flu was a deliberate weapon by the Germans, including that is was spread in German aspirin tablets.
The only reason it’s called Spanish Flu was that news reporting wasn’t censored there so the press reports started there and it became a short cut when the story couldn’t be hidden any longer
NEW: Two immigration lawyers have been arrested after the BBC found asylum seekers are being told to say they’re gay
Legal profession is a bit of a mess. There should be oversight and professional standards but these seem to be rarely applied. It's been a race to the bottom in standards (and profitability) for a while.
Comments
The pandemic is a unique thing. Never before has one event impacted every single person on the planet in a fairly similar way. Parts of the world never saw the Black Death. World War Two barely touched some countries
But the pando was everywhere doing evil shit to everyone. I suspect we all have PTSD but just don’t realise because it’s universal
I believe the last GE achieved the record for the highest proportion of total votes that were by post rather than in person; I can’t remember whether it was a quarter or a third; I’ve a feeling it was the latter. The stat is in the 2024 election campaign book somewhere
Financial Times
@FT
Javier Milei's popularity in Argentina is falling as government officials face graft allegations and unemployment climbs. https://ft.trib.al/y64eLzw
https://x.com/FT/status/2051769934124855455?s=20
Since the entire subject is fraught with all manner of problems of definition and testability, getting worked up about it is in itself pretty well as irrational as ignoring it.
It's not the same thing as (for example) choosing to global warming, or choosing to believe that vaccines don't work.
With words you can deem something. 'Dogs are not allowed in this building; guide dogs are deemed to be cats'.
Whether or not you can change the 'thing' WRT men and women (I don't think you can FWIW) compassion and generosity might sometimes suggest that we do a bit of deeming.
In the same way, being old fashioned I don't think there is such a 'thing' as same sex marriage. I am with the Roman Catholics in thinking marriage means 'one man and one woman', and that same sex relationships - about which I am perfectly comfortable - have a different nature. Call it civil partnership perhaps. But I can still do a bit of deeming where it would seem ungenerous and impolite.
Outside is best.
MAGA have this one sorted.
This doesn't make much sense on its face, but among Rubio/Vance/Hegseth/Caine someone would have leveled the obvious objections to it, so I'm going to peacefully and serenely trust the plan
https://x.com/willchamberlain/status/2051824504960074226
The Islamic republic will endure. However longer term other sources of oil and gas and routes avoiding Hormuz will be found.
Israel may look at the Ben Gurion canal again.
However the Whitehouse seems optimistic as to a resolution
https://x.com/axios/status/2051967721596739698?s=61
➡️ REF UK 28% (+1)
🌹 LAB 21% (+1)
🌳 CON 20% (-1)
🌍 GREEN 12% (-1)
🔶 LIB DEM 12% (+1)
❓OTH 5% (+2)
https://x.com/LukeTryl/status/2051919626590679211?s=20
Fact X may be true of sub set Y as a whole. Let is say that Indians produce the best spin bowlers. But they didn't produce Shane Warne, better than all of them. The moment you take your eye of people as human individuals, you lose something vital to our common humanity. So what the French girl though 20 years ago may have been inelegantly expressed but on the whole she was right.
The Amish might do well.
AFAICS Restore UK have no candidates in the locals, and his Yarmouth operation only has 10.
Have I missed something?
https://democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2026/04/13/2026-local-election-data-summary/
A friend of mine, now deceased (at 91) used to get cross when 'Spanish' flu was discussed. 'It started in the US' he used to say. 'It was American flu!'
7,111,504(updated 3 April 2026) confirmed COVID-induced deaths have been reported worldwide. As of January 2023, taking into account likely COVID-induced deaths via excess deaths, the 95% confidence interval suggests the pandemic has caused between 19.1 and 36 million deaths.
Equates to a little under 0.1% of the global population on strictly confirmed numbers, and between 0.3-0.4% of global population in the middle of the confidence interval.
Similar central estimate would have Spanish flu in your range of about 2% of global population, so about 5-7x worse on those central estimates and, of course, the age profile of the Spanish flu deaths, whether we like it or not, is very relevant.
Covid was unique
Pretty much everywhere in the world had lockdowns. A unique experiment in human history and arguably a total disaster
The Iranians want: (1) Preservation of the regime and (2) Money. They aren't out of the woods on (1) but the regime is looking a lot better embedded than it did before Operation Epic Clusterfuck. The blockade provides realistic means of making money when they were already under sanctions and they may not need to offer anything substantial on disarmament along the way.
The Americans want: (1) to get out of the mess that they created and (2) Reopen Hormuz. Blockading the strait to reopen it isn't obviously good strategy. It does make sense if the aim is to force Iran to make a deal with the Americans rather than partially reopen Hormuz on Iran's terms. But the US does actually need to do that deal , which is the Money point above.
I wouldn't say either side are brilliant strategists but the Iranians do at least seem to know what they want and have thought-out ways to achieve it.
However if you believe we are living in a society that is structurally racist and fundamentally corrupt, what does that say about a minority group who seem disproportionately successful in such a settlement? It doesn't reflect well on them. In an earlier age they might have been called the bourgeoisie. So long as Jews are seen as doing well in a profoundly immoral society they will be a target for the radical left. There's no answer other than to try and minimise the number of people attracted to revolutionary sentiment. (Our education system seems to be doing the opposite). Or for Jews to be less successful.
On one of the pro Gaza marches some bohemian chap was bemoaning that there was a lot of Jewish money in the arts. Now you might think that a wannabe artist would be quite grateful for this! But of course not. You see most artists don't get grants and are inevitably a little envious of those that do. So by being generous patrons you unfortunately become a target for resentment.
The slight problem about the Venn diagram of “Non-loonies”, “non-fascists” and “prepared to join his party” is a Monday problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwXOEFK6Swo
I have some considerable sympathy with those concerned about housing, student loans etc.,. But zero sympathy with those allying themselves with racists and anti-semites and finding excuses for them. I am pretty shocked and saddened finding such people on here, frankly. It makes this forum markedly more unpleasant and reduces the space for intelligent discussion.
A large difference was the state of knowledge of disease spread, and how to control it; just as our plans for COVID were unhelpfully based on flu, those of the earlier pandemic were largely based on experience with TB.
Many of the debates we had again a century later took place in 1919.
There's a lengthy account here:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2862334/
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/06/dangerous-decadent-depraved-cricket-love-affair-with-the-cover-drive-the-spin
...“The cover drive is not like other shots,” writes Jon Hotten. “It is dangerous and beautiful. It is decadent and depraved. It is the purest expression of mastery in batsmanship and it is a destroyer of innings, of matches, of careers. It is addictive, compulsive, indulgent. It makes crowds go ‘aaaahhh’. It makes coaches slam their fists into dressing room walls.”..
I don’t feel there are any great options now. Only less bad ones.
But both parties will need a deal of sorts but longer term I do think Iran has shot itself in the foot here.
@annmarie
Trump’s latest on Iran
https://x.com/annmarie/status/2051991872248148276?s=20
As announced on BSky
@atrupar.com
Now Trump is announcing peace and war in the same statement. It’s completely incoherent batshit lunacy.
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3ml6mvats2c2f
NEW: Two immigration lawyers have been arrested after the BBC found asylum seekers are being told to say they’re gay
The only struggle I currently have is living with Stage 4 cancer, a struggle which will be made a tiny bit easier by not spending any more time on a forum with the likes of you on it.
That said, I don't want to quarrel over it as we agree that the statements that you quote sound revolting and you obviously feel not enough is being done quickly enough. You may be right.
'80% of Labour voters want a “customs union” with the EU.
However polling for Queen Mary University London has found only 9% of Labour voters think UK tariff policy should be decided by someone other than the UK govt...exactly what a customs union with the EU would entail.'
Though I have different emotional reactions to them. With Reform, I simply disagree on a lot of things*. Whereas the Green party manage to combine being toxically wrong about things at the same time as maintaining a pious moral superiority.
I pop out for some soup and you lot are at it.
Do I need to send you all for a time-out?
Have clear lines of demarcation and authority to make agreements swiftly.
Show some will to compromise and come to an agreement. Same goes for the US.
Consider the 105 million Iranians health and wellbeing and not just the regime. Just because the regime can tough out sanctions doesn’t mean its citizens can, or should.
Try to re-engage with the international community and realise longer terms their actions will damage themselves. Also stop funding proxies and demonising Israel. Other Arab nations seek normal relations with Israel. They should.
However it could all become very N Korea in future.
He is not worth it and certainly your posts are much appreciated by many of us as is your commentary on your health issues which we wish you well with
But to mirror back to you; I have huge sympathy for those who find the rise of anti-semitism to be a defining feature of our politics. I share the fears about its rise.
However, in my view your credibility in challenging that is reduced when you refer to (disgusting) comments about Zionists being fed into shredders as if they are comments about British Jews as a whole (assuming this is the minority you are referring to).
In my view a large part of why we are not able to have a better discussion about anti-semitism in UK is that both sides fail to speak carefully about a very fraught subject, so are misunderstood (sometimes intentionally). I have some sympathy for those on the left who are unwilling to engage properly with discussions of anti-semitism when their opponents appear unwilling to distinguish between anti-semitism, anti-zionism, or anti-settlerism. I have some sympathy with Polanski (even though I think he is being politically very naive elsewhere) when he tries to make the point that British Jews are not homogeneous in their views and that to pretend they are is as alienating for some Jews as it would be to consider me a Reform supporter because I am English.
Thoughts?
Schrödinger's War.
In my neck of the woods, they're digging up roads to replace Victorian/Edwardian gas infrastructure.
Is it too late in the year to replant it in the garden ?
Did involve some time travel elements too.
Biological use of molybdenum and tungsten stems back to 3.4 billion years ago
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72133-0
The biological significance of the transition metal molybdenum (Mo) lies in its function at the catalytic center of several enzymes that drive a wide spectrum of redox reactions underlying global biogeochemical cycles, yet a paradox persists. While modern life ubiquitously relies on Mo, geochemical evidence suggests that its availability in early Earth’s anoxic oceans was extremely limited. Modern organisms can use Mo down to trace levels; however, the rates of Mo-dependent metabolisms slow down when Mo availability decreases, posing fundamental questions about the extent to which changing Mo abundances shaped the evolution of molybdoenzymes, and when early life began harnessing Mo. Here, we confront this evolutionary enigma by reconstructing the temporal and ecological emergence of molybdoenzymes, their transport systems, and biosynthetic pathways. In parallel, we examine biological tungsten (W) usage due to shared chemical properties and cofactor biosynthetic pathways with Mo. We provide molecular dating evidence of Mo/W utilization back to the Eo- to Mesoarchean (~3.7–3.1 Ga). These findings challenge prevailing assumptions about trace metal availability on the early Earth and underscore the profound antiquity and adaptability of Mo-based biochemistry in shaping early microbial evolution...
Something that many find hard to deal with is their cause attracts nutters.
If you hold a peaceful demo against McDonalds in parts of semi-rural France, for example, some very nasty people may well show up. Blood and soil, save-our-culture-from-immigrants etc.
This is because McDonalds is foreign and associated with franchises being owned by migrants.
You can either kick the thugs out and have a smaller demo/organisation. Or not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Variety
Trebles all round for the contractors.
You're a cretin. Yet again I shudder in horror at the fact a moron like you was on a sub-committee of SAGE. It's like putting the late Keith Chegwin in charge of HS2*
*actually, he'd probably do better, scrap that
Q: what happens if they do win a majority?
So yes schools were closed as were theatres, churches, public meetings etc. Lockdowns sometimes were only for a month, but others for half a year.
It was very similar to Covid (if you take into account the time difference of less travel and more regional rather national control around the world), except the death toll was far more severe and more devastating on the young.
'Just a very nasty disease'! Honestly what nonsense. It was far worse. Why do you have to over dramatise everything you live through.
Film (OKish) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114367/
During these last four years I've been asking people worldwide about their pando experiences (the similarities and differences are both fascinating). Some of the worst stories are Chinese