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Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks.

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Morris_Dancer

Good evening, everyone.

TheScreamingEagles

Link 18 - Must remember to do my annual Eurovision thread soon.

Morris_Dancer

Mr. Eagles, I think that's a misuse of the word 'must'.

RobD

Evening!

RobD

TheScreamingEagles said:

Link 18 - Must remember to do my annual Eurovision thread soon.

*speechless*

dr_spyn

Red Wine and Lasagne all round.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ed-balls-day-live-twitter-3466960#.U16wUUoMzsU.twitter

Happy Ed Balls Day.

Freggles

I thought every time you did Nighthawks was technically a Eurovision thread.

HurstLlama

With regard to point number 4, surely it could equally be said that British Indians could help the Conservatives win the General Election. Where does Sunil's mum stand on the issue? Alas the good Cap'n Doc is away on the Calicut (a fine pirate name) coast, so we shall probably never know.

anotherDave

Links 7 and 10 are the same.

GeoffM

anotherDave said:

Links 7 and 10 are the same.

And ironically it wasn't even worth reading *once*

TheScreamingEagles

anotherDave said:

Links 7 and 10 are the same.

Link 10 fixed now

Freggles

Ed Balls

DavidL

My son got back from a 3 day school trip this afternoon. Never even went in the school building. But he still has homework sent to him by e-mail on his iPad. Teaching kids the downside of modern technology from an early age.

AndyJS

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

MrJones

#10

If you have an area with a 1:1 ratio of young males to young females and then make it 2:1 or 3:1 over a short period of time what happens?

According to the political class who have been doing this up and down the country for the last 14 years nothing happens.

JosiasJessop

All your data are belong to US: (*)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27191500

(*) Extra Geek points if you understand this reference.

Neil

AndyJS said:

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

Couldnt happen to a nicer bunch.

JosiasJessop

MrJones said:

#10

If you have an area with a 1:1 ratio of young males to young females and then make it 2:1 or 3:1 over a short period of time what happens?

According to the political class who have been doing this up and down the country for the last 14 years nothing happens.

Lots of blindness?

Morris_Dancer

Mr. Jessop, Garland will make you fall down.

Ishmael_X

MrJones said:

#10

If you have an area with a 1:1 ratio of young males to young females and then make it 2:1 or 3:1 over a short period of time what happens?

According to the political class who have been doing this up and down the country for the last 14 years nothing happens.

Where, and how, has this happened?

JosiasJessop

Morris_Dancer said:

Mr. Jessop, Garland will make you fall down.

At a guess, Final Fantasy?

Theuniondivvie

AndyJS said:

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

Must be 'cos all the 'decent' ones have strayed to pastures new.

'Ukip Is Party For 'Decent BNP Supporters', Says Deputy Chair Neil Hamilton'

http://tinyurl.com/nsaova4

Morris_Dancer

Mr. Jessop, the first one, original translation had an early villain proclaim to the party that he would "make them all fall down!". Found that through 8-bit Theater, at nuklearpower.

SimonStClare

No.1- The UKIP party is practicing what is in effect a form of 'Euracism'.

Former Labour immigration minister Barbara Roche, has her work cut out for her if she expects 'euracism' to resonate with anyone other than the Guardian readership.

IOS

RE the last thread.

Not sure that we can make out a badly targeted conference call where you can't even speak will win over that many voters.

Like getting to listen to a low quality radio broadcast with no decent questions.

JosiasJessop

Remember the poster who assured us no-one had died at Stafford Hospital through poor care? (*)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-27192012

(*) Okay, it was 'statistically no excess deaths' or somesuch. Rubbish at the time, rubbish now.

GIN1138

When will Dave call me?

dr_spyn

@GIN1138 But what will you call Dave?

TheScreamingEagles

Sun Politics @Sun_Politics · 3s
YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Labour lead by five points: CON 32%, LAB 37%, LD 10%, UKIP 15%

Tykejohnno

Sun Politics ‏@Sun_Politics · 14 secs
YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Labour lead by five points: CON 32%, LAB 37%, LD 10%, UKIP 15%

kle4

Morris_Dancer said:

Mr. Jessop, the first one, original translation had an early villain proclaim to the party that he would "make them all fall down!". Found that through 8-bit Theater, at nuklearpower.

Awesome comic. The 'heroes' once used a pre-fight one liner so stupid it killed the villain it was aimed at, which makes me think of political punchlines for some reason. Very quotable too. Who could forget such lines as 'Oh, we've ruined millions of lives. They're just being babies about it'.

kle4

With post-budget bumps now firmly in the rearview mirror, how long before the Tories start tearing into themselves in panic again? I'd say the approaching Euro humiliation, but that can be dismissed as 'no-one cares about the EU elections/protest vote' stuff, and they just might retain discipline for a little while afterwards.

IOS

Smashing it.

Bring on the general election now.

philiph

IOS said:

Smashing it.

Bring on the general election now.

Next one (election, not GE) is a few days /weeks away. You expect a Labour success?

Neil

IOS said:

Smashing it.

Bring on the general election now.

Dont get too excited. That was just the Cornish subsample.

kle4

IOS said:

Smashing it.

Bring on the general election now.

Patience, greedy one. Labour have it in the bag enough as it is, no need to rush in. May as well let the natural economic recovery reverse some more of the job Labour will have from 2015, and it's not like there's much damage that will be achieved elsewhere in the last year.

IOS

Neil

We are no longer in mid term. The Tories just aren't going to break through in the numbers needed for a majority. We may have to have a coalition with the Lib Dems but we should take number 10 in 13 months.

kle4

I think the government's made some pretty popular moves with welfare and such things, but this in effect signing on every day thing just sounds unreasonable. I would be surprised if it caught on as popular in the public imagination like the 26k cap, but I've been wrong before.

AndyJS

Seats in the south-east the Tories have failed to contest: (info from VoteUK forum)

Slough (Wexham Lea): only 2 candidates in 3-candidate seat
Milton Keynes (Bletchley East): only 1 candidate in 3-candidate seat
Eastleigh (Eastleigh North)
Eastleigh (Hedge End Grange Park)
Hart (Blackwater & Hawley): only 1 candidate in 3-candidate seat
Hart (Yateley East): only 1 candidate in 3-candidate seat
Hart (Yateley West): only 2 candidates in 3-candidate seat
Adur (Marine): Tories never stand against Shoreham Beach Residents' Association (on ballot as Independent)

I don't know what's going on in Hart. Normally that's a safe Tory area.

IOS

Philip

I expect Tory destruction. And given our electoral system comrade that is all we need to see.

Tim_B

This is one of those days when I find myself thinking that maybe living in England isn't as bad as I remember....

After a nice weekend with temperatures of 80, my cell phone has been blowing up for the last hour or so with weather warnings - heavy rain, supercell thunderstorm wrapped tornadoes (sic), heavy downpour, large hail and damaging winds. As if that's not enough, it will last until Wednesday evening!

Tornadoes are on the ground in Mississippi, which has declared a state of emergency, the edge of the storm has reached Alabama. It's coming.

How badly is it raining over there? :-)

philiph

IOS said:

Philip

I expect Tory destruction. And given our electoral system comrade that is all we need to see.

Glad to see you have learnt from past experience.

I agree, you should win in May 2015, but the party isn't fit for the job they will need to take on. If the electorate realise that, the keys won't come your way.

AndyJS

IOS said:

Smashing it.

Bring on the general election now.

Let's see how Labour do as far as real votes on 22nd May are concerned. Last year their projected national share was 29% IIRC.

kle4

philiph said:

IOS said:

Philip

I expect Tory destruction. And given our electoral system comrade that is all we need to see.

Glad to see you have learnt from past experience.

I agree, you should win in May 2015, but the party isn't fit for the job they will need to take on. If the electorate realise that, the keys won't come your way.

If people start feeling the effects of the economic recovery they may well think that the job needed is not that great and they can take the risk. At the least enough will not fear a Labour win, in addition to their base support, that with the Tories falling over themselves Labour are home and dry.

In fairness, I have thought it would be so since 2010, and I now actually own a hat to eat should I turn out to be wrong on that score.

on 3. If Cameron and Miliband decide they can safely shut Clegg out, and I think they are right because Clegg is so personally unpopular I cannot see a concerted campaign of complaints at the action, they will jump at the chance. Both of the big two yearn for the total destruction of a major third party which they regard as taking votes which should go to them, and any way to formalize that narrative any further would be eagerly seized.

TheScreamingEagles

Dan Hodges ‏@DPJHodges 20m

Further evidence of how brain dead Ukip supporters are. One of them just described me as "Ed Miliband's lap dog".

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 3m

@DPJHodges called "Ed Miliband's lap dog" by kipper
the Tweet of the night.

Scott_P

@JohnRentoul: MT of the Day @jakegoretzki Have you got your Guardian Compass yet? "Never lose your moral bearings again" http://t.co/0no7RuEF1S

kle4

16 is a little gloomy. I have seen plenty of comment online about how the recovery isn't a recovery at all, and it's all still a pretty hopeless situation, which may well be right, so I try not to worry about it - those saying the recovery isn't real generally also make a point about how the only way to truly resolve matters is to do x, y or z, where each option is something so disruptive and substantive that no government would ever undertake it, so if we're just going to crash and burn again, then screw it, I may as well relax as it is inevitable. Maybe in the next major crash house prices will actually become reasonable instead of just drop a little for awhile.

AndyJS

One of the most interesting things with the local election results will be adding up the votes in Labour targets which are voting this year.

We'll get "results" for the 12 Labour targets in Greater London: Hendon, Brent Central, Brentford & Isleworth, Enfield North, Croydon Central, Harrow East, Ealing Central & Acton, Ilford North, Battersea, Finchley & Golders Green, Hornsey & Wood Green, Bermondsey & Old Southwark.

Also 5 Labour targets in the West Midlands metropolitan area: Wolverhampton SW, Halesowen & Rowley Regis, B'ham Yardley, Dudley South, Stourbridge.

3 Labour targets in Greater Manchester and Merseyside: Manchester Withington, Bury North, Wirral West.

8 Labour targets in West Yorkshire: Bradford East, Dewsbury, Pudsey, Keighley, Elmet & Rothwell, Colne Valley, Calder Valley, Leeds NW.

CarlottaVance

Salmond studies at the Putin school of diplomacy
Threatening the EU states whose goodwill he might need after independence highlights the Scottish First Minister's curious approach to world affairs

So, what are we talking about here? A new Cod War with Admiral Alex or Ensign Eck (take your pick) pitting his unarmed fishery protection vessels against the Spanish, Portuguese, French trawler armadas – and, who knows, maybe even English, Welsh and Northern Irish fishing vessels?

And making threats about what might happen to the EU's existing members if they don't all rush to admit this new member doesn't appear an especially good negotiating stance, does it?

This warning of some kind of blockade of Scotland's territorial waters against Europe's fishing fleets if his aims of EU entry are thwarted is one that Mr Salmond has made before.

But yesterday's repetition will certainly ensure that his Bruges speech is remembered, perhaps not quite as well as is Margaret Thatcher's from 25 years ago, but remembered nevertheless.

CarlottaVance

Alex Salmond's fisheries threat to EU alarms industry
David Mundell, the Scotland Office minister, said Salmond had made a significant legal and diplomatic error by threatening to block access to Norwegian waters. He said an independent Scotland would be legally obliged to allow safe passage to foreign ships with Norwegian fishing rights.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/28/alex-salmond-fisheries-eu-scotland

kle4

Scott_P said:

@JohnRentoul: MT of the Day @jakegoretzki Have you got your Guardian Compass yet? "Never lose your moral bearings again" http://t.co/0no7RuEF1S

OK, that is actually hilarious, with at least a grain of truth from some quarters, where an over-focus on the West as responsible or singly morally reprehensible for things are concerned.

Please please please note the word 'over-focus', which accepts the presence of such arguments.

IOS

Philip

The right wing in this country doesn't give a toss about Labour's ability to govern. It is more interested in telling Cameron to P!SS off.

Gotta love Dave. Split the right and unite the left.

Scott_P

@hugorifkind: In fairness, Salmond gave that interview pre-Crimea, so he had no way of knowing Putin was worse than any other gay-hating murderous thug.

Jonathan

Happy Ed Balls day.

GIN1138

dr_spyn said:

@GIN1138 But what will you call Dave?

I've been a Dave Fan(ish) over the years!

GIN1138

GSP Prediction:

+0.6%

A little bit below expectation because of the rain. Umbrella makers and sellers +10,000%.

Richard_Nabavi

Another excellent set of links from TSE.

But the big news tonight is that DavidL is officially enrolled into the distinguished and select band of Honorary PB Tories, who have won bets off 'tim', late of this parish (tim, of course, is 100% reliable on paying up). Congratulations!

However, I'm disturbed to see that DavidL thinks that packaging up his winnings and sending them off to some worthy cause, or even to BetterTogether, somehow exonerates him from his responsibilities as a PB Tory. It doesn't work like that - noblesse oblige and all that stuff. Neil's cocktails, and JohnO's explorations of the late-night railway network, are higher causes. We must fix the date!

AndyJS

Link 7 reports the following paragraph from Matthew Goodwin and Robert Ford:

"Ethnic-minority voters shun the party totally."

Not true. Lizzy Vaid and Sanya-Jeet Thandi for example:

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Devon-UKIP-voter-revealed-party-s-events-manager/story-20999035-detail/story.html

http://www.channel4.com/news/ukip-youth-members-who-and-why-ukip-party-conference

CarlottaVance

For London PBers - what your tube map currently looks like:

www.stationmasterapp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/StrikeMap.jpg

TGOHF

Scott_P said:

@hugorifkind: In fairness, Salmond gave that interview pre-Crimea, so he had no way of knowing Putin was worse than any other gay-hating murderous thug.

Eck has form on the Balkans - has anyone asked him about Mugabe ?

Ninoinoz

Theuniondivvie said:

AndyJS said:

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

Must be 'cos all the 'decent' ones have strayed to pastures new.

'Ukip Is Party For 'Decent BNP Supporters', Says Deputy Chair Neil Hamilton'

http://tinyurl.com/nsaova4

Not particularly likely as former BNP members are barred from membership of UKIP and thus from standing as a UKIP candidate.

JohnO

Richard_Nabavi said:

Another excellent set of links from TSE.

But the big news tonight is that DavidL is officially enrolled into the distinguished and select band of Honorary PB Tories, who have won bets off 'tim', late of this parish (tim, of course, is 100% reliable on paying up). Congratulations!

However, I'm disturbed to see that DavidL thinks that packaging up his winnings and sending them off to some worthy cause, or even to BetterTogether, somehow exonerates him from his responsibilities as a PB Tory. It doesn't work like that - noblesse oblige and all that stuff. Neil's cocktails, and JohnO's explorations of the late-night railway network, are higher causes. We must fix the date!

Standing...OK chaise longue ovation to that man.

kle4

Ninoinoz said:

Theuniondivvie said:

AndyJS said:

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

Must be 'cos all the 'decent' ones have strayed to pastures new.

'Ukip Is Party For 'Decent BNP Supporters', Says Deputy Chair Neil Hamilton'

http://tinyurl.com/nsaova4

Not particularly likely as former BNP members are barred from membership of UKIP and thus from standing as a UKIP candidate.

I had presumed he meant decent BNP 'supporters', that is to say frustrated and angry people who felt no-one else was speaking for them but who did not share the offensive racial views of the BNP, have come to UKIP, while the offensive core of the BNP would not of course find a home with UKIP.

TGOHF

Billy Connolly comes out for...........NO !

Carnyx

CarlottaVance said:

Salmond studies at the Putin school of diplomacy
Threatening the EU states whose goodwill he might need after independence highlights the Scottish First Minister's curious approach to world affairs

So, what are we talking about here? A new Cod War with Admiral Alex or Ensign Eck (take your pick) pitting his unarmed fishery protection vessels against the Spanish, Portuguese, French trawler armadas – and, who knows, maybe even English, Welsh and Northern Irish fishing vessels?

And making threats about what might happen to the EU's existing members if they don't all rush to admit this new member doesn't appear an especially good negotiating stance, does it?

This warning of some kind of blockade of Scotland's territorial waters against Europe's fishing fleets if his aims of EU entry are thwarted is one that Mr Salmond has made before.

But yesterday's repetition will certainly ensure that his Bruges speech is remembered, perhaps not quite as well as is Margaret Thatcher's from 25 years ago, but remembered nevertheless.

Hmm, no views on the direct MoD threat to annexe a large chunk of Scotland around Faslane and Coulport to the EWNIish Empire in the event of independence? That's real threatening.

anotherDave

Do bookmakers still pay out in cash, or do they have to pay out by cheque?

foxinsoxuk

It was not some "LibLabCon" who said this, it was UKIPs own Deputy Leader, and if you read the link it seems that Farage agrees.

Ninoinoz said:

Theuniondivvie said:

AndyJS said:

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

Must be 'cos all the 'decent' ones have strayed to pastures new.

'Ukip Is Party For 'Decent BNP Supporters', Says Deputy Chair Neil Hamilton'

http://tinyurl.com/nsaova4

Not particularly likely as former BNP members are barred from membership of UKIP and thus from standing as a UKIP candidate.

Ninoinoz

kle4 said:

Ninoinoz said:

Theuniondivvie said:

AndyJS said:

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

Must be 'cos all the 'decent' ones have strayed to pastures new.

'Ukip Is Party For 'Decent BNP Supporters', Says Deputy Chair Neil Hamilton'

http://tinyurl.com/nsaova4

Not particularly likely as former BNP members are barred from membership of UKIP and thus from standing as a UKIP candidate.

I had presumed he meant decent BNP 'supporters', that is to say frustrated and angry people who felt no-one else was speaking for them but who did not share the offensive racial views of the BNP, have come to UKIP, while the offensive core of the BNP would not of course find a home with UKIP.

It was actually in reply to this posting:

AndyJS said:

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

Ninoinoz said:

Not particularly likely as former BNP members are barred from membership of UKIP and thus from standing as a UKIP candidate.

TGOHF

Link 16 is delicious - for fans of sour grapes everywhere - heh.

kle4

Ninoinoz said:

kle4 said:

Ninoinoz said:

Theuniondivvie said:

AndyJS said:

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

Must be 'cos all the 'decent' ones have strayed to pastures new.

'Ukip Is Party For 'Decent BNP Supporters', Says Deputy Chair Neil Hamilton'

http://tinyurl.com/nsaova4

Not particularly likely as former BNP members are barred from membership of UKIP and thus from standing as a UKIP candidate.

I had presumed he meant decent BNP 'supporters', that is to say frustrated and angry people who felt no-one else was speaking for them but who did not share the offensive racial views of the BNP, have come to UKIP, while the offensive core of the BNP would not of course find a home with UKIP.

It was actually in reply to this posting:

AndyJS said:

The BNP collapse is highlighted by the fact they're contesting just 4 seats in Barking & Dagenham in the local elections.

Ninoinoz said:

Not particularly likely as former BNP members are barred from membership of UKIP and thus from standing as a UKIP candidate.

Ah I see.

CarlottaVance

Carnyx said:

CarlottaVance said:

Salmond studies at the Putin school of diplomacy
Threatening the EU states whose goodwill he might need after independence highlights the Scottish First Minister's curious approach to world affairs

So, what are we talking about here? A new Cod War with Admiral Alex or Ensign Eck (take your pick) pitting his unarmed fishery protection vessels against the Spanish, Portuguese, French trawler armadas – and, who knows, maybe even English, Welsh and Northern Irish fishing vessels?

And making threats about what might happen to the EU's existing members if they don't all rush to admit this new member doesn't appear an especially good negotiating stance, does it?

This warning of some kind of blockade of Scotland's territorial waters against Europe's fishing fleets if his aims of EU entry are thwarted is one that Mr Salmond has made before.

But yesterday's repetition will certainly ensure that his Bruges speech is remembered, perhaps not quite as well as is Margaret Thatcher's from 25 years ago, but remembered nevertheless.

Hmm, no views on the direct MoD threat to annexe a large chunk of Scotland around Faslane and Coulport to the EWNIish Empire in the event of independence? That's real threatening.

That was promptly disowned at the time - has the a Scottish Govt "clarified" Salmond's remarks?

Richard_Nabavi

Link 16 is particularly amusing: the Guardianistas reduced to lurching from deficit denial to recovery denial. It's the wrong sort of growth, it's not real employment, the ONS are charlatans, the CBI don't really think the economic outlook is 'exceptionally strong', or, if they do, it's somehow because they are on the side of the mega-rich, business investment can't really be improving, the Chambers of Commerce are lying when they say exports are at a record level, the OECD are crooks, it's all so much better over in France where the government followed Ed Miliband's advice...

NickPalmer

Tim_B said:

Tornadoes are on the ground in Mississippi, which has declared a state of emergency, the edge of the storm has reached Alabama. It's coming.

How badly is it raining over there? :-)

Rain. Hmm. Remind me what that's like? Generally unny and pleasant this week - the canvassers have been developing suntans :-)

rcs1000

MrJones said:

#10

If you have an area with a 1:1 ratio of young males to young females and then make it 2:1 or 3:1 over a short period of time what happens?

According to the political class who have been doing this up and down the country for the last 14 years nothing happens.

I like it: we should start importing females.

I've gone on eBay to see if I can pick up a few, but so far, no luck.

Richard_Nabavi

rcs1000 said:

MrJones said:

#10

If you have an area with a 1:1 ratio of young males to young females and then make it 2:1 or 3:1 over a short period of time what happens?

According to the political class who have been doing this up and down the country for the last 14 years nothing happens.

I like it: we should start importing females.

I've gone on eBay to see if I can pick up a few, but so far, no luck.

You've clearly been too mean in your bidding. Or maybe you made the beginner's mistake of attaching a photo?

Quincel

NickPalmer said:

Tim_B said:

Tornadoes are on the ground in Mississippi, which has declared a state of emergency, the edge of the storm has reached Alabama. It's coming.

How badly is it raining over there? :-)

Rain. Hmm. Remind me what that's like? Generally unny and pleasant this week - the canvassers have been developing suntans :-)

Good way to get plenty of exercise and fresh air too, I presume. You should recruit activists by calling it a weight-loss vote-gain system.

TGOHF

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/10794169/Scotland-is-voting-for-fiscal-austerity-it-just-doesnt-know-it.html

AndyJS

Another Brit killed in St Lucia:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/bahamas/10794308/British-educated-multi-millionaire-Oliver-Gobat-feared-murdered-in-St-Lucia.html

NickPalmer

Got my first Euro election leaflet in London today - from the LibDems. Quite niche, hammering home the pro-EU message ("Europe is good for business say captains of industry"), features the environment and LGBT rights. As expected no commitments to do anything (Bill Newton-Dunn confirmed in debate at the weekend that they were under party orders not to commit to anytning, though he's defying them). That said, it seems unobjectionable (to me anyway), doesn't attack other parties except for passing snipes at UKIP and "some Conservatives" and looks well designed to appeal to socially liberal green Tories and Orange Bookers. Not sure if it will bowl over many others.

Blueberry

So I'm a euracist. Pronounced, I presume, you_racist???

I predict this word won't be used often enough to make the OED.

But when Barbara writes her memoirs, I might just buy them to see if she explains what on earth she was thinking.

HurstLlama

Tim_B said:

This is one of those days when I find myself thinking that maybe living in England isn't as bad as I remember....

After a nice weekend with temperatures of 80, my cell phone has been blowing up for the last hour or so with weather warnings - heavy rain, supercell thunderstorm wrapped tornadoes (sic), heavy downpour, large hail and damaging winds. As if that's not enough, it will last until Wednesday evening!

Tornadoes are on the ground in Mississippi, which has declared a state of emergency, the edge of the storm has reached Alabama. It's coming.

How badly is it raining over there? :-)

Maybe the weather you are experiencing is just judgement on you for trying to escape your native home. After a mild, but damp, winter we are now well into an English spring - showers, mild sunshine and cloudy days all nicely mixed up and the countryside looking wonderful. I stopped off for a glass at the Sportsman on my way home this lunchtime and sitting there in the sun with a pint of Harvey's best looking out over the green fields, hedgerows and woods with the great mound of Wolstonbury Hill in the background I just knew God is an English gentleman of the old school. Of course Cameron and his builder chums are going to feck it all up so you might just as well sit tight in your desert with its extremes of weather.

corporeal

HurstLlama said:

Tim_B said:

This is one of those days when I find myself thinking that maybe living in England isn't as bad as I remember....

After a nice weekend with temperatures of 80, my cell phone has been blowing up for the last hour or so with weather warnings - heavy rain, supercell thunderstorm wrapped tornadoes (sic), heavy downpour, large hail and damaging winds. As if that's not enough, it will last until Wednesday evening!

Tornadoes are on the ground in Mississippi, which has declared a state of emergency, the edge of the storm has reached Alabama. It's coming.

How badly is it raining over there? :-)

Maybe the weather you are experiencing is just judgement on you for trying to escape your native home. After a mild, but damp, winter we are now well into an English spring - showers, mild sunshine and cloudy days all nicely mixed up and the countryside looking wonderful. I stopped off for a glass at the Sportsman on my way home this lunchtime and sitting there in the sun with a pint of Harvey's best looking out over the green fields, hedgerows and woods with the great mound of Wolstonbury Hill in the background I just knew God is an English gentleman of the old school. Of course Cameron and his builder chums are going to feck it all up so you might just as well sit tight in your desert with its extremes of weather.

Meanwhile in Wales it's been bucketing down all day (and hailed yesterday). My rugby club's pitch has ducks swimming on it.

corporeal

NickPalmer said:

Got my first Euro election leaflet in London today - from the LibDems. Quite niche, hammering home the pro-EU message ("Europe is good for business say captains of industry"), features the environment and LGBT rights. As expected no commitments to do anything (Bill Newton-Dunn confirmed in debate at the weekend that they were under party orders not to commit to anytning, though he's defying them). That said, it seems unobjectionable (to me anyway), doesn't attack other parties except for passing snipes at UKIP and "some Conservatives" and looks well designed to appeal to socially liberal green Tories and Orange Bookers. Not sure if it will bowl over many others.

So I can put you down as a maybe then Nick?

Tim_B

HurstLlama said:

Tim_B said:

This is one of those days when I find myself thinking that maybe living in England isn't as bad as I remember....

After a nice weekend with temperatures of 80, my cell phone has been blowing up for the last hour or so with weather warnings - heavy rain, supercell thunderstorm wrapped tornadoes (sic), heavy downpour, large hail and damaging winds. As if that's not enough, it will last until Wednesday evening!

Tornadoes are on the ground in Mississippi, which has declared a state of emergency, the edge of the storm has reached Alabama. It's coming.

How badly is it raining over there? :-)

Maybe the weather you are experiencing is just judgement on you for trying to escape your native home. After a mild, but damp, winter we are now well into an English spring - showers, mild sunshine and cloudy days all nicely mixed up and the countryside looking wonderful. I stopped off for a glass at the Sportsman on my way home this lunchtime and sitting there in the sun with a pint of Harvey's best looking out over the green fields, hedgerows and woods with the great mound of Wolstonbury Hill in the background I just knew God is an English gentleman of the old school. Of course Cameron and his builder chums are going to feck it all up so you might just as well sit tight in your desert with its extremes of weather.

Given the apparently biblical levels of rain, hail, and wind we are expecting until Wednesday evening, 'desert' may be overstating it just a tad :-)

Oddly enough the next book on my pile to read is RF Delderfield's God Is An Englishman.....

- and my wife just found out her citizenship interview is at the end of next month.

HYUFD

Polly Toynbee and Nick Robinson in spat on his 'fish and chips' report tonight

Iain Dale ‏@IainDale · 1h
Im sensing @bbcnickrobinson has a new producer, who was presumably trained on @bbctw...

Polly Toynbee ‏@pollytoynbee · 45m
@bbcnickrobinson Talk to and interview people everywhere, but don't distract from seriousness of what they say by serving fish and chips


Nick Robinson ‏@bbcnickrobinson · 31m
@pollytoynbee So if I am one side of the counter it's patronising but if I am the other it's journalism? Honestly

Tim_B

corporeal said:

HurstLlama said:

Tim_B said:

This is one of those days when I find myself thinking that maybe living in England isn't as bad as I remember....

After a nice weekend with temperatures of 80, my cell phone has been blowing up for the last hour or so with weather warnings - heavy rain, supercell thunderstorm wrapped tornadoes (sic), heavy downpour, large hail and damaging winds. As if that's not enough, it will last until Wednesday evening!

Tornadoes are on the ground in Mississippi, which has declared a state of emergency, the edge of the storm has reached Alabama. It's coming.

How badly is it raining over there? :-)

Maybe the weather you are experiencing is just judgement on you for trying to escape your native home. After a mild, but damp, winter we are now well into an English spring - showers, mild sunshine and cloudy days all nicely mixed up and the countryside looking wonderful. I stopped off for a glass at the Sportsman on my way home this lunchtime and sitting there in the sun with a pint of Harvey's best looking out over the green fields, hedgerows and woods with the great mound of Wolstonbury Hill in the background I just knew God is an English gentleman of the old school. Of course Cameron and his builder chums are going to feck it all up so you might just as well sit tight in your desert with its extremes of weather.

Meanwhile in Wales it's been bucketing down all day (and hailed yesterday). My rugby club's pitch has ducks swimming on it.

Sounds like you'd enjoy the weather here this week!

HYUFD

Christine Hamilton discusses the Clifford verdict
https://audioboo.fm/boos/2112334-clifford-verdict

RobD

HYUFD said:

Polly Toynbee and Nick Robinson in spat on his 'fish and chips' report tonight

Iain Dale ‏@IainDale · 1h
Im sensing @bbcnickrobinson has a new producer, who was presumably trained on @bbctw...

Polly Toynbee ‏@pollytoynbee · 45m
@bbcnickrobinson Talk to and interview people everywhere, but don't distract from seriousness of what they say by serving fish and chips


Nick Robinson ‏@bbcnickrobinson · 31m
@pollytoynbee So if I am one side of the counter it's patronising but if I am the other it's journalism? Honestly

I'll have you know that 'This Week' is the pinnacle of public service broadcasting. Titter

Tim_B

RobD said:

HYUFD said:

Polly Toynbee and Nick Robinson in spat on his 'fish and chips' report tonight

Iain Dale ‏@IainDale · 1h
Im sensing @bbcnickrobinson has a new producer, who was presumably trained on @bbctw...

Polly Toynbee ‏@pollytoynbee · 45m
@bbcnickrobinson Talk to and interview people everywhere, but don't distract from seriousness of what they say by serving fish and chips


Nick Robinson ‏@bbcnickrobinson · 31m
@pollytoynbee So if I am one side of the counter it's patronising but if I am the other it's journalism? Honestly

I'll have you know that 'This Week' is the pinnacle of public service broadcasting. Titter

Is a villla in Tuscany patronising or journalism - or just one of the few places you can't get fish and chips?

HYUFD

RobD Indeed, with Polly it would probably be guacomale

RobD

Tim_B said:

Is a villla in Tuscany patronising or journalism - or just one of the few places you can't get fish and chips?

If Robinson was looking to meet 'ordinary voters', he's got a much better shot of doing that at a chippy than in a Tuscan villa! Saying that, I haven't watched the report, so I shan't comment further. ;-)

NickPalmer

corporeal said:

So I can put you down as a maybe then Nick?

Lol. Well, if we had AV you'd get 3rd out of the 10 or so parties on offer (after Lab and Greens, mainly because of the animal welfare things in the latter). It's a nice decent leaflet which reflects credit on her within the constraints set by head office.

foxinsoxuk

You are very much mistaken; one town in Tuscany is known for its Scottish Fish and Chips festival:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/jul/10/barga-festivals-fish-chips-tuscany

I expect that they can do a deep fried Mars bar for Polly as an off the menu treat....

Tim_B said:

RobD said:

HYUFD said:

Polly Toynbee and Nick Robinson in spat on his 'fish and chips' report tonight

Iain Dale ‏@IainDale · 1h
Im sensing @bbcnickrobinson has a new producer, who was presumably trained on @bbctw...

Polly Toynbee ‏@pollytoynbee · 45m
@bbcnickrobinson Talk to and interview people everywhere, but don't distract from seriousness of what they say by serving fish and chips


Nick Robinson ‏@bbcnickrobinson · 31m
@pollytoynbee So if I am one side of the counter it's patronising but if I am the other it's journalism? Honestly

I'll have you know that 'This Week' is the pinnacle of public service broadcasting. Titter

Is a villla in Tuscany patronising or journalism - or just one of the few places you can't get fish and chips?

tpfkar

Link 19 is two years old. She has become a fine councillor who works hard in her ward - and considerably more effective than other members of the Labour group who don't make headlines.

SouthamObserver

Rain is a blessed gift from on high. We need more of it. Shame there was no snow this winter. Last week in Ottawa it was still on the ground in certain shadowy spots. They had so much this year they were sick of it. Same story when I went down to Boston. It rained there on Saturday. I went to my first ever ice hockey game. The Bruins v Detroit. It was very strange. Strong skating, lots of bumps, no-one ever really having much control over the puck. 19,000 or so packed in. Lots of noise. Sam Adams and very tasty chicken in an executive box for me, which was nice.

SouthamObserver

The world's top 50 restaurants. Anyone been to any of them?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/10793325/Worlds-Best-Restaurants-2014-the-top-50-in-full.html

Tim_B

foxinsoxuk said:

You are very much mistaken; one town in Tuscany is known for its Scottish Fish and Chips festival:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/jul/10/barga-festivals-fish-chips-tuscany

I expect that they can do a deep fried Mars bar for Polly as an off the menu treat....

Tim_B said:

RobD said:

HYUFD said:

Polly Toynbee and Nick Robinson in spat on his 'fish and chips' report tonight

Iain Dale ‏@IainDale · 1h
Im sensing @bbcnickrobinson has a new producer, who was presumably trained on @bbctw...

Polly Toynbee ‏@pollytoynbee · 45m
@bbcnickrobinson Talk to and interview people everywhere, but don't distract from seriousness of what they say by serving fish and chips


Nick Robinson ‏@bbcnickrobinson · 31m
@pollytoynbee So if I am one side of the counter it's patronising but if I am the other it's journalism? Honestly

I'll have you know that 'This Week' is the pinnacle of public service broadcasting. Titter

Is a villla in Tuscany patronising or journalism - or just one of the few places you can't get fish and chips?

When I was back in England, I used to love either Harry Ramsden in Guiseley, where I used to go regularly as a kid, and the Wetherby Whaler was fantastic too.

AndyJS

Cheryl Gillan's HS2 amendment defeated by 451 votes to 50, a majority of 401.

General principles approved by 452 votes to 41 votes, a majority of 411.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27184269

isam

SouthamObserver said:

The world's top 50 restaurants. Anyone been to any of them?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/10793325/Worlds-Best-Restaurants-2014-the-top-50-in-full.html

0/50

But on Saturday night I ate at Meson Don Felipe in Southwark and it was great

SouthamObserver

High achieving, middle class boy in custody after teacher's murder:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10794504/Leeds-teacher-murder-boy-15-in-custody-after-Anne-Maguire-stabbed-to-death.html

Horrible story. Sincere condolences to the teacher's friends and family.