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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Pick Corbyn now and do it all again in three years time?

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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,771

    it doesn't perhaps occur to you that Labour might be the dying force ?

    Labour 232 MPs
    UKIP 1 MP
    Relative movement

    Labour -26
    UKIP +1
    Relative is meaningless without looking at the whole package (including the starting point and the fact that Carswell and Reckless were both incumbents). At the rate of one gain from two defections every five years it will only take 600 defections (if 600 seats is permanent) before UKIP can form a majority government in the year 3515.
    yeah it was a windup for Sunil, much as he occasionally likes to wind me up.

    Take your head out of your arse and lighten up, it's Friday.
    UKIP wouldn't have any MPs if Carswell and Reckless hadn't attended the Guy Burgess school of loyalty.
    Osborne drove them to it.
    Turned UKIP into a joke post election.

    Osborne is a genius.
    The public finances would say otherwise.

    Osborne is just a UKIP recruiting sergeant cunningly placed to empty the Conservatives of MPs.
    Hmmm.... does that make Farage the anti-recruiting sergeant?
    Well he'll lose the EU ref on current trends, does that count ?
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    "Sadly, it isn't surprising that these men are all of Muslim Asian backgrounds. I wonder if the local authorities looked the other way once again. Will Lowell Goddard's review include local governments, or is it just looking at Westminster?"

    Aylesbury Vale/Buckinghamshire are Tory authorities though so shouldn't have the same political issues as Rotherham. The issue is more likely to be with Thames Valley Police as there have also been abuse convictions in Oxford and Wycombe.

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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453

    Calling all Lib Dems, UKIP and Scottish Labour candidates.

    @IsabelHardman: Were you a candidate who didn’t win a seat in 2015 and could bear having a chat with me about your experiences? Please let me know...

    Paging Ed Balls, Vince Cable, Mark Reckless...
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    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.
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    MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792

    TOPPING said:

    Barnesian said:


    That is a misleading caricature of Corbyn that will be dispelled. I think he will appeal to the angry WWC who despise the London elite of all politcal parties.

    "The Angry WWC" wants someone who will stand up for them. Corbyn isn't that.

    He does not stand for their aspirations, their hopes, their desire for a better life.

    His position on immigration is totally contrary to the demands of 'the angry WWC'
    Plus, like most lefties, Corbyn will despair at the WWC's failure to adopt "correct" thinking and attitudes.
    Now if Kier Hardie was cloned and brought to adulthood, he could lead Labour and recapture the WWC vote as he was very anti-immigrant and would revive SLAB. Job done.
    Corbyn will be the first bearded Labour leader since Hardie. A party in turmoil yearning for a patriarch.
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,507

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    Four candles?

    :lol:
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    Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    it doesn't perhaps occur to you that Labour might be the dying force ?

    As part of the natural pendulum of politics there will always be a party of the left and a party of the right. If not Labour, who is going to replace them on the left? The Lib Dems? The Nigel Farage Party? Labour are wounded but not dead any more than the Tories under Hague/IDS/Howard were not mortally wounded forever.

    In Scotland Labour are dying as the SNP are replacing them on the left (and as taxes are not presently an issue as money is raised in Westminster the pendulum is broken on the right).
    The Left is in a mess. There's nothing to say labour has to be the incumbent leftist party. They have the advantage of incumbency but increasing their faultlines are looking chasms. It will take a strong leader to bring the pieces back together. Currently I can't see one.
    Agreed completely that there's no reason that Labour has to be the incumbent leftist party but from the starting point of well over 200 seats, even if Corbyn drives the party further backwards I don't see who can or will displace them.

    In a parallel universe where Cameron scraped a majority government in 2010 and "I agree with" Nick Clegg remained on the opposition benches with a starting point of 23% of the vote then he could have surged relative to Milliband and we could potentially be looking at crossover between Labour and the Liberals.

    But for all the difficulties Labour has, their potential leftwing opposition is dead and buried. It will take some time to find the strong leader I agree and we could be looking at 18-20 years of Tory government (like Thatcher/Major) but eventually a sanish Labourite will be found and the pendulum will swing left.

    For all the problems Labour has, there is no real left-wing alternative. So they'll stay in opposition as they're currently crap, but they'll remain the opposition.
    That might have been the case under a two party system, now with much more chioice and less brand loyalty it's less certain. They still have all the advantages but a decent challenger could give them a run for their money.
    We still have a two party system.

    England election results 2015 - 533 total seats
    Tories (inc Speaker) 319 (60%)
    Labour 206 (39%)
    Lib Dems 6 (1%)
    UKIP 1 (0%)
    Greens 1 (0%)

    Two parties got 99%. Yeah the two party system is dead if they only get 99% of seats *rolleyes*
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    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584

    A Tory majority.

    Balls and Reckless out.

    We are discussing the idea of Corbyn being elected leader of the Labour party.

    ...

    I shall shortly wake up and find that it is May 6th.

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    MikeLMikeL Posts: 7,319
    If Corbyn wins surely the policies which will overwhelm everything will be:

    - abolishing Royal Family
    - Unilateral nuclear disarmament
    - friends of Hamas / Hezbollah

    Not saying that his anti-austerity stuff won't be popular with some - but the media will go absolutely crazy re the above stuff to the extent that it will dominate everything and prevent him getting his economic message across.
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    TOPPING, the one fact that is true is that there is an imbalance in the number of males to females in some Asian countries. That is a cultural problem which is more likely to lead to other problems. Nothing to do with race or dna, just a question of numbers. The use of medical diagnostics is just making matters worse as the years go by.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    http://www.nudoadopt.com/italia.php
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    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820

    Osborne is just a UKIP recruiting sergeant cunningly placed to empty the Conservatives of MPs.

    A very ineffective one, in that case, given the Conservatives have gained 121 seats since he became a key figure, and UKIP have gained one.
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    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,762

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    Sponsor a copse of 60 trees at a Woodland Trust site.

    I did that (50 trees) for my other half's 50th.
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    EPGEPG Posts: 6,071
    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.
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    Cyclefree true.

    The one thing that New Labour/Progress want is power.

    Socialists cry "Power to the people", and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean—power over people, power to the State.
    - M. H. Thatcher, speech to Conservative Central Council (15 March, 1986)
    "Power to the people" Citizen Smith?
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    Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    it doesn't perhaps occur to you that Labour might be the dying force ?

    Labour 232 MPs
    UKIP 1 MP
    Relative movement

    Labour -26
    UKIP +1
    Relative is meaningless without looking at the whole package (including the starting point and the fact that Carswell and Reckless were both incumbents). At the rate of one gain from two defections every five years it will only take 600 defections (if 600 seats is permanent) before UKIP can form a majority government in the year 3515.
    yeah it was a windup for Sunil, much as he occasionally likes to wind me up.

    Take your head out of your arse and lighten up, it's Friday.
    UKIP wouldn't have any MPs if Carswell and Reckless hadn't attended the Guy Burgess school of loyalty.
    Osborne drove them to it.
    Turned UKIP into a joke post election.

    Osborne is a genius.
    The public finances would say otherwise.

    Osborne is just a UKIP recruiting sergeant cunningly placed to empty the Conservatives of MPs.
    If for every reckless MP who quits to UKIP we can gain dozens net of new MPs (plus regain Reckless's own seat) then long may Osborne continue to do that. :)

    Osborne can continue to make you and me both happy by doing that.
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    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,762
    Right, I'm off to the CLP. I will report back at 9ish.

    Laters...
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    Depending on what she likes to do in the garden, we bought my mother a really nice wooden hammock as she loves lying in the sun reading.

    http://www.burfordbarn.co.uk/online_products/Hammock_Stands.html
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    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976
    edited July 2015

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Rather than an extravagant gift, may I suggest getting together as many family members and friends for a ‘surprise’ celebratory party. – and if there’s anything left in the kitty, helping out those that would appreciate help with travel expenses etc.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited July 2015
    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it now? Let me guess: you're a Labour supporter.
    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,657
    One Valentine's Day I promised my then girlfriend a present that no other woman had ever received in history.

    I gave her a bottle of toilet duck.
  • Options

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?
    ....

    Gold Bus Pass Holder?
    Innocent face
    ...and a good divorce lawyer!
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    EPGEPG Posts: 6,071
    AndyJS said:

    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it?

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    So when White English people do something, it's statistics. When other people do something, it's their culture's fault.

    There was a similar discussion on PB a few days ago. White English people in the 1800s strapping Indians to the wrong ends of cannons was not to be criticised, because Indian people had done it to Indian people before. So that "Indian cultural practice" (not my words, but a quote) was wrong like ladies on funeral pyres, but when White people did it, it was merely something that was considered generally the done thing at the time in that part of the Empire, and not a practice to be judged or criticised.
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    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    edited July 2015
    I doubt very much whether any other party will displace Labour as the left-of-centre party in the UK, as long as we have FPTP. It is possible that Labour will split if Corbyn is elected as leader, and a splinter party formed, but it would be extremely hard for such a party to gain enough traction to displace Labour. The LibDems have missed their chance to displace Labour as the fiscally-sane party of the left. UKIP is a different kettle of fish, which might continue to take votes off Labour, but is never going to eat into Labour's academic, metropolitan, feminist, or ethnic support segments.

    The most likely outcome of Labour's travails is disarray, similar to (but worse than) that suffered by the Conservatives in the dark days of IDS, but not extinction. Eventually they'll recover, but it could take a long time.
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    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,242

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    If Herself is a Gardener you could go for a really nice pair of secateurs, similarly inscribed, or some really special plant e.g. a David Austin rose or a lovely tree. Or something like a chinotto orange plant - I was given one by Mr Cyclefree and it was covered in beautiful scented flowers and now has many small oranges. They are used to make Campari.



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    PaulyPauly Posts: 897
    The comment on solidarity with Europe requiring a political union is just intellectually dishonest in my opinion. Even if you accept that it does mean political union - that doesn't mean the union we've ended up with.
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    BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,008

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    Sponsor a copse of 60 trees at a Woodland Trust site.

    I did that (50 trees) for my other half's 50th.
    We planted an orchard of 40 trees for our 40th wedding anniversary.
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,463

    TOPPING, the one fact that is true is that there is an imbalance in the number of males to females in some Asian countries. That is a cultural problem which is more likely to lead to other problems. Nothing to do with race or dna, just a question of numbers. The use of medical diagnostics is just making matters worse as the years go by.

    I am not saying there aren't repugnant behaviours displayed by cultures that are explicable by many factors (although by the reckoning above in particular there should be similar issues with mainland Chinese men..perhaps there are?). Just that the focus on ethnicity in these cases is sometimes used to illustrate a spurious point by some.

    Of course absolutely not saying that was your aim.
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    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,617

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    Nice tasteful bit of garden statuary? Venus de Milo, Sundial, fishing gnome?

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    JEOJEO Posts: 3,656
    edited July 2015
    EPG said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it?

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    So when White English people do something, it's statistics. When other people do something, it's their culture's fault.

    There was a similar discussion on PB a few days ago. White English people in the 1800s strapping Indians to the wrong ends of cannons was not to be criticised, because Indian people had done it to Indian people before. So that "Indian cultural practice" (not my words, but a quote) was wrong like ladies on funeral pyres, but when White people did it, it was merely something that was considered generally the done thing at the time in that part of the Empire, and not a practice to be judged or criticised.
    We were actually discussing the British in India, and race was not involved in the discussion until you just racialised the subject in your post. Given that the British did it only in India, in response to one rebellion, and they never did it at home in Britain, while the Indians themselves had been practicing it for centuries, it is entirely fair to say it was an Indian cultural practice and not a British cultural practice.

    Also, no-one said it should not be judged or criticised, just that it should be understood that it wasn't something the British did to make India worse in the discussion of whether Britain should pay reparations. You are twisting what was said in order to imply people are racist. It's a very unpleasant tactic.
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    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820

    Nice tasteful bit of garden statuary? Venus de Milo, Sundial, fishing gnome?

    A reproduction Edstone?
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    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,617
    EPG said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it?

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    So when White English people do something, it's statistics. When other people do something, it's their culture's fault.

    There was a similar discussion on PB a few days ago. White English people in the 1800s strapping Indians to the wrong ends of cannons was not to be criticised, because Indian people had done it to Indian people before. So that "Indian cultural practice" (not my words, but a quote) was wrong like ladies on funeral pyres, but when White people did it, it was merely something that was considered generally the done thing at the time in that part of the Empire, and not a practice to be judged or criticised.
    Desperate gabbling and messy false equivalence in the face of uncomfortable facts. It's the left wing way.
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    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,617

    Nice tasteful bit of garden statuary? Venus de Milo, Sundial, fishing gnome?

    A reproduction Edstone?
    Hahaha we have a winner. Or why not the original? Might look nice with some mossy overgrowth.
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    DisraeliDisraeli Posts: 1,106

    One Valentine's Day I promised my then girlfriend a present that no other woman had ever received in history.

    I gave her a bottle of toilet duck.

    Is "bottle of toilet duck" some sort of Yorkshire equivalent of London rhyming slang? :innocent:
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    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976

    Nice tasteful bit of garden statuary? Venus de Milo, Sundial, fishing gnome?

    A reproduction Edstone?
    Arf – however, I fear for the long term prospects of your marriage Mr Nabavi..! :lol:
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,463

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    A sun lounger with integral drinks holder so that you can be with your beloved while she toils in the garden.

    Failing that, those mats/kneepads are usually much appreciated by gardeners, I understand, but hardly special unless you jazzed them up/personalised them somehow.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Rather than an extravagant gift, may I suggest getting together as many family members and friends for a ‘surprise’ celebratory party. – and if there’s anything left in the kitty, helping out those that would appreciate help with travel expenses etc.
    Be careful. My vision of hell involves having to be polite to people at a surprise party when you really would rather chill on the sofa.

    Inviting friends and family round for an event is a good idea though. Memories last better than physical items.
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    EPGEPG Posts: 6,071
    JEO said:

    EPG said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it?

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    So when White English people do something, it's statistics. When other people do something, it's their culture's fault.

    There was a similar discussion on PB a few days ago. White English people in the 1800s strapping Indians to the wrong ends of cannons was not to be criticised, because Indian people had done it to Indian people before. So that "Indian cultural practice" (not my words, but a quote) was wrong like ladies on funeral pyres, but when White people did it, it was merely something that was considered generally the done thing at the time in that part of the Empire, and not a practice to be judged or criticised.
    We were actually discussing the British in India, and race was not involved in the discussion until you just racialised the subject in your post. Given that the British did it only in India, in response to one rebellion, and they never did it at home in Britain, while the Indians themselves had been practicing it for centuries, it is entirely fair to say it was an Indian cultural practice and not a British cultural practice.

    Also, no-one said it should not be judged or criticised, just that it should be understood that it wasn't something the British did to make India worse in the discussion of whether Britain should pay reparations. You are twisting what was said in order to imply people are racist. It's a very unpleasant tactic.
    Don't worry. I don't think the Indian discussion was racialised. It's just not controversial, surely, to say that White people were responsible for British policies in India. (Nor do I think the analysis of South Asian Muslim paedophile rings is racialised - it's too impressionistic, which is a flaw, but not racist.) I will let your analysis stand for itself as I have already outlined where I disagree with it.
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    RobDRobD Posts: 59,021

    EPG said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it?

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    So when White English people do something, it's statistics. When other people do something, it's their culture's fault.

    There was a similar discussion on PB a few days ago. White English people in the 1800s strapping Indians to the wrong ends of cannons was not to be criticised, because Indian people had done it to Indian people before. So that "Indian cultural practice" (not my words, but a quote) was wrong like ladies on funeral pyres, but when White people did it, it was merely something that was considered generally the done thing at the time in that part of the Empire, and not a practice to be judged or criticised.
    Desperate gabbling and messy false equivalence in the face of uncomfortable facts. It's the left wing way.
    Quite. I think he is saying we only frown upon things done by others that we don't do ourselves. Well, I'm okay with that when it comes to paedophilia.
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    EPGEPG Posts: 6,071

    EPG said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it?

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    So when White English people do something, it's statistics. When other people do something, it's their culture's fault.

    There was a similar discussion on PB a few days ago. White English people in the 1800s strapping Indians to the wrong ends of cannons was not to be criticised, because Indian people had done it to Indian people before. So that "Indian cultural practice" (not my words, but a quote) was wrong like ladies on funeral pyres, but when White people did it, it was merely something that was considered generally the done thing at the time in that part of the Empire, and not a practice to be judged or criticised.
    Desperate gabbling and messy false equivalence in the face of uncomfortable facts. It's the left wing way.
    Now this I don't like - be more like JEO and sincerely disagree using facts rather than baseless accusations about my being left-wing, which is not only not true but not even relevant and just an ad hominem appeal to the fact that most PBers (like me) are anti-left wing.
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    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    edited July 2015

    Nice tasteful bit of garden statuary? Venus de Milo, Sundial, fishing gnome?

    A reproduction Edstone?
    Arf – however, I fear for the long term prospects of your marriage Mr Nabavi..! :lol:
    I did once suggest we should get some gnomes to abseil down a rather ugly stone support wall, and my brother-in-law suggested we should also look for some to bivouac on a ledge on the wall, but neither suggestion was well received. We covered the wall with a rose instead.
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    JEOJEO Posts: 3,656
    edited July 2015
    EPG said:

    JEO said:

    EPG said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it?

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    So when White English people do something, it's statistics. When other people do something, it's their culture's fault.

    There was a similar discussion on PB a few days ago. White English people in the 1800s strapping Indians to the wrong ends of cannons was not to be criticised, because Indian people had done it to Indian people before. So that "Indian cultural practice" (not my words, but a quote) was wrong like ladies on funeral pyres, but when White people did it, it was merely something that was considered generally the done thing at the time in that part of the Empire, and not a practice to be judged or criticised.
    We were actually discussing the British in India, and race was not involved in the discussion until you just racialised the subject in your post. Given that the British did it only in India, in response to one rebellion, and they never did it at home in Britain, while the Indians themselves had been practicing it for centuries, it is entirely fair to say it was an Indian cultural practice and not a British cultural practice.

    Also, no-one said it should not be judged or criticised, just that it should be understood that it wasn't something the British did to make India worse in the discussion of whether Britain should pay reparations. You are twisting what was said in order to imply people are racist. It's a very unpleasant tactic.
    Don't worry. I don't think the Indian discussion was racialised. It's just not controversial, surely, to say that White people were responsible for British policies in India. (Nor do I think the analysis of South Asian Muslim paedophile rings is racialised - it's too impressionistic, which is a flaw, but not racist.) I will let your analysis stand for itself as I have already outlined where I disagree with it.
    You were implying quite heavily in your post that I had a double standard between white people and non-white people. And you did that based on changing the term "British" to "white people" and claiming I said things I did not say. It was an unpleasant thing to do.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,012
    EPG said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it?

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    So when White English people do something, it's statistics. When other people do something, it's their culture's fault.

    There was a similar discussion on PB a few days ago. White English people in the 1800s strapping Indians to the wrong ends of cannons was not to be criticised, because Indian people had done it to Indian people before. So that "Indian cultural practice" (not my words, but a quote) was wrong like ladies on funeral pyres, but when White people did it, it was merely something that was considered generally the done thing at the time in that part of the Empire, and not a practice to be judged or criticised.
    I don't recall anyone saying that blowing people from cannon was not to be criticised.
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    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976

    Be careful. My vision of hell involves having to be polite to people at a surprise party when you really would rather chill on the sofa.

    Inviting friends and family round for an event is a good idea though. Memories last better than physical items.
    Why not both Dr Fox - A photo of the event in a silver frame perhaps?
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,012
    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    Exactly the argument that the Guardian made when the Times began revealing the Rotherham scandal in 2011. Fortunately, the Times stuck to its guns.
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    TomsToms Posts: 2,478
    edited July 2015
    at HurstLlama

    I assume kisso/strippo/grams are out. Food always figures high on my lists. How about cooking a nice meal. And don't forget (yet another) treat for the cat.
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    David_EvershedDavid_Evershed Posts: 6,506
    Six men involved in a child sex ring in Buckinghamshire have been found guilty of abusing two schoolgirls on a "massive scale".

    The Old Bailey heard the abuse in Aylesbury went on for years and involved rape and child prostitution.

    Eleven defendants faced trial, accused of 47 sexual offences between 2006 and 2012.

    Four were cleared of any wrongdoing, while the jury could not reach a verdict on one of the men.

    Vikram Singh, Akbarav Khan, Asif Hussain, Mohammed Imran, Taimoor Khan and Arshad Jani were all found guilty.

    The six who have been convicted will be sentenced in September.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-33656802

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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    My other half was recently given a garden gnome like this:

    http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51b8bcb074c5b6750b0000fe._w.1500_s.fit_.jpg

    (The lime/yellow one, if you must know). He did well to look grateful.
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    Chris123Chris123 Posts: 174
    edited July 2015
    Danny565 said:

    Danny565 said:

    Lets keep it simple

    Is Burnham sigifigantly better/more electable than Ed Miliband?
    Is Cooper sigifigantly better/more electable than Ed Miliband?

    If the answer to both of those questions is NO then Labour have a big f-ing problem.

    IMO Burnham will prove to be about the same as Ed, Yvette is a bit better.
    How come your adoration of Liz has worn off? :p
    What adoration for Liz? She's said some sensible things which the party doesn't want to hear, but as far as her actual leadership qualities are concerned, she's completely useless: she lacks charisma, can't answer a simple question, talks too much, and gets herself tied in knots on even the simplest subjects. She looks and sounds like a rather naive primary school teacher.

    I'm sure she's very nice, though.
    Prepare to be bowled over by her competence and intellectual heft on her answers about the economy (from 3:14):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogeOqw4dTAA
    The demeanor of a patronizing schoolteacher and the intellectual heft of a a one pound, one fish, sales(wo)man... An empty suit that comes across as a one trick pony that keeps on repeating the same boilerplate phrases but can't answer in-depth follow-up questions...

    At least this guy is more entertaining:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Jvo7U39-A
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    TomsToms Posts: 2,478
    Toms said:

    at HurstLlama

    I assume kisso/strippo/grams are out. Food always figures high on my lists. How about cooking a nice meal. And don't forget (yet another) treat for the cat.

    And you can buy some very nice old even Victorian wine glasses.
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    RobDRobD Posts: 59,021
    antifrank said:

    My other half was recently given a garden gnome like this:

    http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51b8bcb074c5b6750b0000fe._w.1500_s.fit_.jpg

    (The lime/yellow one, if you must know). He did well to look grateful.

    Interesting. Could have been worse:

    https://noiseinthecrowd.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/ofitg-whoslistening.jpg
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Nice tasteful bit of garden statuary? Venus de Milo, Sundial, fishing gnome?

    A reproduction Edstone?
    Arf – however, I fear for the long term prospects of your marriage Mr Nabavi..! :lol:
    I did once suggest we should get some gnomes to abseil down a rather ugly stone support wall, and my brother-in-law suggested we should also look for some to bivouac on a ledge on the wall, but neither suggestion was well received. We covered the wall with a rose instead.
    My Dad picked up some gargoyles from a church that was being knocked down...left them in storage for 30 years, but they are now adorning a seat in his new garden.
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    @HurstLlama How about something that commemorates her day - such as a vintage copy of The Times and a romantic notice in the birthday current issue? And as a keen gardener, see if you can find a plant that includes her name? I really like the idea of engraved/monogrammed implements

    There are many suppliers of some really nice things http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=personalised+garden+tools&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=25771376696&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10301557425199094228&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2o6b1z1n4f_e
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,154
    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    They have been squeezed out by the meerkat ornament, it seems. Tragic....
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    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    edited July 2015

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    Was there a correlation between propensity to vote LibDem, and gnome ownership?
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    I can't bear garden gnomes. They give me the creeps - like clowns and toby jugs.

    Unlike @antifrank - I'd be crushingly disappointed to get one as a gift.

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    They have been squeezed out by the meerkat ornament, it seems. Tragic....

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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    They have been squeezed out by the meerkat ornament, it seems. Tragic....

    How does Torbay score for finials? The northern Irish love a good finial - eagles, lions and pineapples all feature strongly on gateposts.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    Was there a correlation between propensity to vote LibDem, and gnome ownership?
    I have a Leicester City Gnome in my front shrubbery (named Billy Gnomates). Fox jr gave it to Mrs Fox one Christmas. I do not think it was on her santa list. He seems quite happy amongst the hostas and dicentra.
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    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976
    Charles said:

    Nice tasteful bit of garden statuary? Venus de Milo, Sundial, fishing gnome?

    A reproduction Edstone?
    Arf – however, I fear for the long term prospects of your marriage Mr Nabavi..! :lol:
    I did once suggest we should get some gnomes to abseil down a rather ugly stone support wall, and my brother-in-law suggested we should also look for some to bivouac on a ledge on the wall, but neither suggestion was well received. We covered the wall with a rose instead.
    My Dad picked up some gargoyles from a church that was being knocked down...left them in storage for 30 years, but they are now adorning a seat in his new garden.
    It must run in the family – Salisbury museum has a wonderful Turner exhibition at the mo, with lots of paintings, sketches and water colours of your old gaff at Stourhead c1800. – The gardens were fair littered with bits of old salvage even then, but fortunately not a gnome in site.
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    @HurstLama

    Tickets for next year's Chelsea or Hampton Court Flower Shows to include a night(s) and dinner in London?
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    Nothing to do with Labour (at least, not directly) and nothing to do with garden gnomes, the ONS has just issued a tweet that tells us quite a bit about this country:

    ONS ‏@ONS · 3m3 minutes ago
    England's 8 largest city regions (excl London) produce 23% of England's total economic output. London produces 26% http://ow.ly/Q2EMr

    In other words, London's economy is bigger than all the next eight biggest city regions in England put together.

    Greater Manchester 56,265 4.3%
    West Midlands 55,686 4.3%
    West Yorkshire 46,237 3.6%
    North East 33,933 2.6%
    Bristol 29,309 2.3%
    Liverpool 27,002 2.1%
    Sheffield 22,560 1.7%
    Nottingham 21,303 1.6%

    Total City Regions 292,295 23%

    London 338,475 26%


    It would have been good to see where Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff feature in this.
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    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    My thanks to those who have chipped in with ideas for Herself's birthday present. I knew the brains trust of PB could be relied upon. I think I am going to doing a combination of things suggested, including the Woodland Trust, which I would never have thought of but Herself will love.

    Cheers all.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @benatipsosmori: Osborne is the best rated Conservative Chancellor since Lawson in 1987. More think budget good than bad for selves http://t.co/Le45OTPe8A

    This post sponsored by NewsSense™
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    RobDRobD Posts: 59,021
    Scott_P said:

    @benatipsosmori: Osborne is the best rated Conservative Chancellor since Lawson in 1987. More think budget good than bad for selves http://t.co/Le45OTPe8A

    This post sponsored by NewsSense™

    We've known for a long while that our George is the most popular heir-to-a-baronetcy in the realm.
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,771
    Scott_P said:

    @benatipsosmori: Osborne is the best rated Conservative Chancellor since Lawson in 1987. More think budget good than bad for selves http://t.co/Le45OTPe8A

    This post sponsored by NewsSense™

    ROFL Lawson went under a cloud having delivered a boom that turned to bust
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    volcanopetevolcanopete Posts: 2,078

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    Best to stick with vouchers.As it's a special occasion,make it Co-op vouchers.

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    RobDRobD Posts: 59,021

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    Best to stick with vouchers.As it's a special occasion,make it Co-op vouchers.

    Co-op funeral vouchers, surely?
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,165
    Sean_F said:

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    Exactly the argument that the Guardian made when the Times began revealing the Rotherham scandal in 2011. Fortunately, the Times stuck to its guns.
    I think, statistically, the group most likely to be paedophiles will turn out to be MPs.
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    FlightpathlFlightpathl Posts: 1,243
    rcs1000 said:

    Sean_F said:

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    Exactly the argument that the Guardian made when the Times began revealing the Rotherham scandal in 2011. Fortunately, the Times stuck to its guns.
    I think, statistically, the group most likely to be paedophiles will turn out to be MPs.
    Judges?
    But you ignore the wide variety of occasions available to everyone, including paedophiles.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    Plato said:
    Rather good. Plenty for hard working families.
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    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503
    Plato said:

    I can't bear garden gnomes. They give me the creeps - like clowns and toby jugs.

    Unlike @antifrank - I'd be crushingly disappointed to get one as a gift.

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    They have been squeezed out by the meerkat ornament, it seems. Tragic....

    My daughter is repelled by recreational vehicles. Something about the way the rear juts out so far from the rear axles. This was a new 'phobia' to me.
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    Just completed an Opinium political poll
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,018
    rcs1000 said:

    Sean_F said:

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    Exactly the argument that the Guardian made when the Times began revealing the Rotherham scandal in 2011. Fortunately, the Times stuck to its guns.
    I think, statistically, the group most likely to be paedophiles will turn out to be MPs.
    Dead MPs no doubt.
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    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503
    antifrank said:

    Nothing to do with Labour (at least, not directly) and nothing to do with garden gnomes, the ONS has just issued a tweet that tells us quite a bit about this country:

    ONS ‏@ONS · 3m3 minutes ago
    England's 8 largest city regions (excl London) produce 23% of England's total economic output. London produces 26% http://ow.ly/Q2EMr

    In other words, London's economy is bigger than all the next eight biggest city regions in England put together.

    Greater Manchester 56,265 4.3%
    West Midlands 55,686 4.3%
    West Yorkshire 46,237 3.6%
    North East 33,933 2.6%
    Bristol 29,309 2.3%
    Liverpool 27,002 2.1%
    Sheffield 22,560 1.7%
    Nottingham 21,303 1.6%

    Total City Regions 292,295 23%

    London 338,475 26%


    It would have been good to see where Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff feature in this.

    It's not apples-to-apples, but in the Dec '14 regional GVA report, Wales had the lowest GVA per head @ £16.9k, compared to Scotland @ £21.9k and London @ £40.2k.

    Wales did have the top highest rate of increase. Given the differential growth rates between Wales and London, I'd expect the Welsh to overtake London sometime in the sixth millennium.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,017
    Good evening, everyone.

    Note to self: don't buy Miss Plato a gnome clown toby jug for Christmas.
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    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503
    SeanT said:

    John_M said:

    Plato said:

    I can't bear garden gnomes. They give me the creeps - like clowns and toby jugs.

    Unlike @antifrank - I'd be crushingly disappointed to get one as a gift.

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    They have been squeezed out by the meerkat ornament, it seems. Tragic....

    My daughter is repelled by recreational vehicles. Something about the way the rear juts out so far from the rear axles. This was a new 'phobia' to me.
    The movie INSIDE OUT has a recurring riff on odd childhood phobias, from clowns to broccoli.

    BTW it's a fecking incredible film, in case I hadn't made that clear.
    No spoilers! I'm taking my daughter to see it next week, due to living in the provinces and having to wait for the wagon to deliver the film.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited July 2015
    antifrank said:

    Nothing to do with Labour (at least, not directly) and nothing to do with garden gnomes, the ONS has just issued a tweet that tells us quite a bit about this country:

    ONS ‏@ONS · 3m3 minutes ago
    England's 8 largest city regions (excl London) produce 23% of England's total economic output. London produces 26% http://ow.ly/Q2EMr

    In other words, London's economy is bigger than all the next eight biggest city regions in England put together.

    Greater Manchester 56,265 4.3%
    West Midlands 55,686 4.3%
    West Yorkshire 46,237 3.6%
    North East 33,933 2.6%
    Bristol 29,309 2.3%
    Liverpool 27,002 2.1%
    Sheffield 22,560 1.7%
    Nottingham 21,303 1.6%

    Total City Regions 292,295 23%

    London 338,475 26%


    It would have been good to see where Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff feature in this.

    How much of London's economic output is based on electronic transfers which could in theory be based in any other city?
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    DisraeliDisraeli Posts: 1,106
    SeanT said:

    John_M said:

    Plato said:

    I can't bear garden gnomes. They give me the creeps - like clowns and toby jugs.

    Unlike @antifrank - I'd be crushingly disappointed to get one as a gift.

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    They have been squeezed out by the meerkat ornament, it seems. Tragic....

    My daughter is repelled by recreational vehicles. Something about the way the rear juts out so far from the rear axles. This was a new 'phobia' to me.
    The movie INSIDE OUT has a recurring riff on odd childhood phobias, from clowns to broccoli.

    BTW it's a fecking incredible film, in case I hadn't made that clear.
    I read a couple of reviews, which agree with your high opinion of the film.

    The CIF comments in the Guardian though....

    Being an American corporate body of course Pixar will encourage us to look in rather than out and to blame our alienation on our id, ego and subconscious. The real cause of our neurosis and sadness is how we relate to the means of production ...

    They have captured moving house and changing school perfectly, it is a huge upheaval which thanks to George Osborne's cuts many kids in the UK will be able to relate to.

    Most of the kids hit hardest by Osborne's cuts have never really felt Riley's security. Just the constant family tension caused by unpaid bills, the lingering threat of unsecure employment and the constant upheaval of moving home every 6 to 12 months as their BTL landlord prices them out of their home again.


    They just cant stop themselves! :smile:
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,017
    Mr. JS, also worth comparing populations.
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    RobDRobD Posts: 59,021
    Disraeli said:

    SeanT said:

    John_M said:

    Plato said:

    I can't bear garden gnomes. They give me the creeps - like clowns and toby jugs.

    Unlike @antifrank - I'd be crushingly disappointed to get one as a gift.

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    They have been squeezed out by the meerkat ornament, it seems. Tragic....

    My daughter is repelled by recreational vehicles. Something about the way the rear juts out so far from the rear axles. This was a new 'phobia' to me.
    The movie INSIDE OUT has a recurring riff on odd childhood phobias, from clowns to broccoli.

    BTW it's a fecking incredible film, in case I hadn't made that clear.
    I read a couple of reviews, which agree with your high opinion of the film.

    The CIF comments in the Guardian though....

    Being an American corporate body of course Pixar will encourage us to look in rather than out and to blame our alienation on our id, ego and subconscious. The real cause of our neurosis and sadness is how we relate to the means of production ...

    They have captured moving house and changing school perfectly, it is a huge upheaval which thanks to George Osborne's cuts many kids in the UK will be able to relate to.

    Most of the kids hit hardest by Osborne's cuts have never really felt Riley's security. Just the constant family tension caused by unpaid bills, the lingering threat of unsecure employment and the constant upheaval of moving home every 6 to 12 months as their BTL landlord prices them out of their home again.


    They just cant stop themselves! :smile:
    I think "unspoofable" is the word you are looking for.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    EPG said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you know why, you plonker? Because in a country which is 88% white you'd EXPECT most of those convicted for any crime to be white. Get it?

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    So when White English people do something, it's statistics. When other people do something, it's their culture's fault.
    No, that wasn't what I was saying at all.
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916

    Good evening, everyone.

    Note to self: don't buy Miss Plato a gnome clown toby jug for Christmas.

    Just a case of champers for her will do nicely.
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    EPGEPG Posts: 6,071
    rcs1000 said:

    Sean_F said:

    EPG said:

    Nobody obsesses over White English culture when White English paedophile rings are convicted.

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/03/five-men-found-guilty-of-being-members-of-predatory-paedophile-ring-wales

    There was not a word on PB about those funny ethnic surnames like Cook or Huxley.

    Exactly the argument that the Guardian made when the Times began revealing the Rotherham scandal in 2011. Fortunately, the Times stuck to its guns.
    I think, statistically, the group most likely to be paedophiles will turn out to be MPs.
    I didn't want to say anything about that to avoid causing trouble for Mr Smithson Sr, not knowing where exactly to draw the line. But it is worth considering whether power rather than religion or ethnicity corrupts.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Plato said:

    I can't bear garden gnomes. They give me the creeps - like clowns and toby jugs.

    Unlike @antifrank - I'd be crushingly disappointed to get one as a gift.

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    They have been squeezed out by the meerkat ornament, it seems. Tragic....

    Oi! Toby jugs are named after my cousin Tobias. They were a marketing gimmick for one of our businesses.
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340

    Mr. JS, also worth comparing populations.

    I can't help on AndyJS's question but I can help on yours. The population of the eight English Core City regions is just under 15 million and that of London is just over 8.5 million:

    http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/regional-trends/cities-analysis/city-regions/rpt.html#tab-Population--Household-Incomes-and-Housing

    London is far more productive than the average for England and the next eight are far less productive than the average for England.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Charles said:

    Nice tasteful bit of garden statuary? Venus de Milo, Sundial, fishing gnome?

    A reproduction Edstone?
    Arf – however, I fear for the long term prospects of your marriage Mr Nabavi..! :lol:
    I did once suggest we should get some gnomes to abseil down a rather ugly stone support wall, and my brother-in-law suggested we should also look for some to bivouac on a ledge on the wall, but neither suggestion was well received. We covered the wall with a rose instead.
    My Dad picked up some gargoyles from a church that was being knocked down...left them in storage for 30 years, but they are now adorning a seat in his new garden.
    It must run in the family – Salisbury museum has a wonderful Turner exhibition at the mo, with lots of paintings, sketches and water colours of your old gaff at Stourhead c1800. – The gardens were fair littered with bits of old salvage even then, but fortunately not a gnome in site.
    We were Turner's patron - most of the Tate collection used to be ours :(
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    The_ApocalypseThe_Apocalypse Posts: 7,830
    There is nothing that states Labour must be the opposition 'centre-left' party; the trouble is, is that there is no political party as of now, or in the immediate future who looks to be challenging Labour's place. The LDs had the chance between 2005-2010, but they were governed by Orange Brookers who were more pre-occupied with the LDs moving to the centre-ground. The LDs are now nowhere near close to challenging Labour.

    On the Tories: they are essentially a middle class party, who stand-up for, and protect the interests of the middle class, and the wealthy. For all the talk of the Tories being the party who give you a help in hand, social mobility has fallen in the last 30 years - in which there have been three Conservative PMs. So the rightwards shift that occurred politically in the 1980s, has hardly helped open doors for the most vulnerable in our society. As for shifting the debate as rightwards as did occur under Thatcher; that would require the Tories' to change social attitudes quite extensively, in a way I don't think will happen. The Liberal-left still control influential cultural centres in this country, and I don't see that rapidly changing in the next five years. The Tories' best communicator of ideas/arguments, Cameron isn't even serving a full-term - and Osborne, who looks best positioned to succeed him is not the natural communicator Cameron is.
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    mattmatt Posts: 3,789
    antifrank said:

    Nothing to do with Labour (at least, not directly) and nothing to do with garden gnomes, the ONS has just issued a tweet that tells us quite a bit about this country:

    ONS ‏@ONS · 3m3 minutes ago
    England's 8 largest city regions (excl London) produce 23% of England's total economic output. London produces 26% http://ow.ly/Q2EMr

    In other words, London's economy is bigger than all the next eight biggest city regions in England put together.

    Greater Manchester 56,265 4.3%
    West Midlands 55,686 4.3%
    West Yorkshire 46,237 3.6%
    North East 33,933 2.6%
    Bristol 29,309 2.3%
    Liverpool 27,002 2.1%
    Sheffield 22,560 1.7%
    Nottingham 21,303 1.6%

    Total City Regions 292,295 23%

    London 338,475 26%


    It would have been good to see where Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff feature in this.

    antifrank said:

    Nothing to do with Labour (at least, not directly) and nothing to do with garden gnomes, the ONS has just issued a tweet that tells us quite a bit about this country:

    ONS ‏@ONS · 3m3 minutes ago
    England's 8 largest city regions (excl London) produce 23% of England's total economic output. London produces 26% http://ow.ly/Q2EMr

    In other words, London's economy is bigger than all the next eight biggest city regions in England put together.

    Greater Manchester 56,265 4.3%
    West Midlands 55,686 4.3%
    West Yorkshire 46,237 3.6%
    North East 33,933 2.6%
    Bristol 29,309 2.3%
    Liverpool 27,002 2.1%
    Sheffield 22,560 1.7%
    Nottingham 21,303 1.6%

    Total City Regions 292,295 23%

    London 338,475 26%


    It would have been good to see where Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff feature in this.

    London is an enormous talent vacuum. The brightest and best in Britain and much of Europe do end up there. It's easy to forget that when you're there but comes alive when you found yourself dealing with nominally equivalents in Leeds, Manchester or Birmingham. When you go outside the bigger cities, the better paid professionals tend to be in the public sector. Whether that's healthy or indeed resolvable is an interesting discussion.

    Query how some of those are detained though. Take Rolls-Royce: HQ in London, all its employment and value added in Bristol and Derby. Would that be a London economy benefit?
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    MetatronMetatron Posts: 193
    er your `buts` avoids the 2 main charges against Corbyn`s politics - that his `internationalism` consists of maximising publicity of every possible human rights abuse committed by Britain,America and Israel while trying to cover up the human rights abuses carried out by the enemies of Britain,America and Israel such as the IRA,Venezula,Cuba,Hamas etc
    that his economics would have to be based on taxing to unprecedented levels ordinary property owners and savers as cash rich corporations and individuals would find loopholes to protect their wealth or leave the country
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    The_ApocalypseThe_Apocalypse Posts: 7,830
    CIF is not worse than the Telegraph comments' section. I've seen that comments' section delve into the worse kind of misogyny and racism at times.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,017
    Mr. Antifrank, cheers.

    I agree, though there are a couple of factors that make direct comparison a little false.

    For a start, West Yorkshire isn't a city. Neither is the West Midlands.

    Plus, London will get a 'capital bonus'. It's natural for the capital of a country to get headquarters established there over other potential locations.

    Not that I'm arguing against London being the wealthiest part of the UK. But then, if the cluster of museums, art galleries and transport spending were suddenly dumped on Leeds, say, one suspects the latter city would suddenly seem much more prosperous.

    There's also the unique, otherworldly nature of the property market.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    For all the talk of the Tories being the party who give you a help in hand, social mobility has fallen in the last 30 years - in which there have been three Conservative PMs.

    Um, most of the fall happened during Blair/Brown's government, not under the tories

    A lot, however, was down to the abolition of grammar schools (started under Labour, continued under the Tories) and the assisted places scheme (uniquely Labour).

    This is why Gove's reforms are so critical: education has to be at the heart of turning this country around
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    Another point is that everything costs more in London, which presumably makes their economic figures look amazing compared to elsewhere. For example in Birmingham you can eat in a Michelin starred restaurant for £30. In London the same thing would cost at least £100.
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    The_Apocalypse

    The LDs had the chance between 1997-2005, but they had a pact with Labour and wasted resources on decapitation strategies against leading Conservative MPs. As a result from 97 to 2010 they suffered a net drop in councillors even before they formed the govt.

    Crucially in 2005 at a time when Labour under Blair was at its lowest level of support, Razzall was still doing deals with Labour to avoid competing with an incumbent Govt. Madness. As a party of the left it should have had the aim of replacing Labour not the Conservatives.
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340

    Mr. Antifrank, cheers.

    I agree, though there are a couple of factors that make direct comparison a little false.

    For a start, West Yorkshire isn't a city. Neither is the West Midlands.

    Plus, London will get a 'capital bonus'. It's natural for the capital of a country to get headquarters established there over other potential locations.

    Not that I'm arguing against London being the wealthiest part of the UK. But then, if the cluster of museums, art galleries and transport spending were suddenly dumped on Leeds, say, one suspects the latter city would suddenly seem much more prosperous.

    There's also the unique, otherworldly nature of the property market.

    All of that has some force. It does not explain why these eight cities are less productive than the English average (in some cases far less productive):

    ONS ‏@ONS · 58m58 minutes ago
    Labour productivity in northern & midlands city regions 9-16% below England average http://ow.ly/Q2FCY
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    Charles said:

    For all the talk of the Tories being the party who give you a help in hand, social mobility has fallen in the last 30 years - in which there have been three Conservative PMs.

    Um, most of the fall happened during Blair/Brown's government, not under the tories

    A lot, however, was down to the abolition of grammar schools (started under Labour, continued under the Tories) and the assisted places scheme (uniquely Labour).

    This is why Gove's reforms are so critical: education has to be at the heart of turning this country around
    The programme the other night about Labour luvvie Melvin Bragg had him lamenting with another long term Labour luvvie about the fact that people like them from WC backgrounds now had less chance of top universities, due to the mass closures of grammar schools, a process driven through by socialists in govt and in the public service....

    Pulling the ladder up by Labour socialists to the next generation.
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    mattmatt Posts: 3,789
    edited July 2015
    AndyJS said:

    Another point is that everything costs more in London, which presumably makes their economic figures look amazing compared to elsewhere. For example in Birmingham you can eat in a Michelin starred restaurant for £30. In London the same thing would cost at least £100.

    You'll struggle to eat in a Michelin starred restaurant at all in Manchester. Look at set lunch prices in London: you're wrong.
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,154
    SeanT said:

    John_M said:

    SeanT said:

    John_M said:

    Plato said:

    I can't bear garden gnomes. They give me the creeps - like clowns and toby jugs.

    Unlike @antifrank - I'd be crushingly disappointed to get one as a gift.

    On the subject of gnomes, my extensive leafletting around Torbay - a place I would have expected to be a strong redoubt of the cheerful ceramic characters - showed them to be seriously endangered.

    They have been squeezed out by the meerkat ornament, it seems. Tragic....

    My daughter is repelled by recreational vehicles. Something about the way the rear juts out so far from the rear axles. This was a new 'phobia' to me.
    The movie INSIDE OUT has a recurring riff on odd childhood phobias, from clowns to broccoli.

    BTW it's a fecking incredible film, in case I hadn't made that clear.
    No spoilers! I'm taking my daughter to see it next week, due to living in the provinces and having to wait for the wagon to deliver the film.
    I won't spoil it by saying you're in for a treat. Watch it in 3D if you can, tho it's not essential.

    People are speculating it might be the first animated movie to win Best Film. I doubt it, seeing as they didn't even nominate the phenomenal LEGO MOVIE in "Best Animated Feature".

    But it will like BE the best movie released this year.

    Here's a taste of the rapturous critical reception (warning: SPOILERS):

    http://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/inside-out-review-disney-pixar-cannes-1201499227/
    I think Oscar would have to change the rules for it to qualify - currently only possible to win in the Animated section. Which is a bit crap when Lord of the Rings won best Oscar for being a CGI fest....
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    SandraMSandraM Posts: 206
    RobD said:

    As it is Friday afternoon I wonder if I could tap into the collective wisdom on a personal matter.

    In a couple of weeks it will be Herself's 60th birthday and I feel obliged to mark the occasion with a present of some lasting significance as opposed to consumables like perfume. The question is what?

    Jewellery is a non-starter as, save for her wedding ring, she never wears it and all the jewellery I have bought her over the years, including her engagement ring, remains locked in a box. A couple of christmases ago I bought her a spade and that seemed to go down quite well so I thought maybe a garden fork. Not a common implement, you understand, but a nice lady's one in stainless steel with perhaps an inscription on a silver plate mounted on the handle ("Herself on her sixtieth, 7 August 2015").

    If not a fork I am a really stuck and would be grateful for suggestions.

    Best to stick with vouchers.As it's a special occasion,make it Co-op vouchers.

    Co-op funeral vouchers, surely?
    For my 60th my husband took me to Bruges. It was a lovely three-day break but the trip did include an excursion to Ypres and sites of WWI which meant I visited a cemetery on my 60th birthday.

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