However, if we measure it by average deaths by year Nazism absolutely dwarfs any other system - roughly four times as bad as Maoism. However, that was stopped after a few years (it is horrendous to think what Hitler might have done had he lasted for 27 years like Mao). He 'achieved' this, incidentally, in about half the population Mao had at his disposal.
The Imperial Japanese Army probably significantly outdid the Nazis, some people claim, doubled them.
The figure to top is approximately 40 million on the most conservative estimate. I'd be surprised to learn the IJA beat that, but I will admit I don't know enough about the Pacific war to be sure.
"The family members of the three Somali men found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in Rusholme, Manchester, in 2013, showed their support for the trio Bilal Ahmed, Mowled Yussaf and Muhyadeen Osman) by attending court.
Their victim, an A-grade student from a middle class family, was subjected to the most degrading and terrifying ordeal imaginable. The three men raped her six times over 30 minutes in a squalid hotel room in Rusholme. As he was led away from the dock to begin his ten year prison term, ringleader Yussaf stuck his middle finger up at the victim's parents not once but twice. Ahmed sarcastically blew a kiss at the couple shortly before sentence was delivered.
These were just two examples of the gauntlet of intimidation and abuse the couple have faced from the families and friends of the convicted men during the two-week trial"
I wish all three of them a very uncomfortable time in prison. I wish we had an arrangement with the USA where we could send some of our nastiest criminals to serve time in their federal penitentiaries.
However, if we measure it by average deaths by year Nazism absolutely dwarfs any other system - roughly four times as bad as Maoism. However, that was stopped after a few years (it is horrendous to think what Hitler might have done had he lasted for 27 years like Mao). He 'achieved' this, incidentally, in about half the population Mao had at his disposal.
The Imperial Japanese Army probably significantly outdid the Nazis, some people claim, doubled them.
The figure to top is approximately 40 million on the most conservative estimate. I'd be surprised to learn the IJA beat that, but I will admit I don't know enough about the Pacific war to be sure.
They had a head start of course, starting in 1931.
In making this comparison, does one need to factor in the technological level of the societies involved? Or not? Technology is not really the limiting factor is it? Actually, what are the limiting factors? Ie what causes murderous regimes not to murder everyone they, in principle, want to? Bad organisation? Resistance? Tendency to overreach and go down to military defeat?
"The family members of the three Somali men found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in Rusholme, Manchester, in 2013, showed their support for the trio Bilal Ahmed, Mowled Yussaf and Muhyadeen Osman) by attending court.
Their victim, an A-grade student from a middle class family, was subjected to the most degrading and terrifying ordeal imaginable. The three men raped her six times over 30 minutes in a squalid hotel room in Rusholme. As he was led away from the dock to begin his ten year prison term, ringleader Yussaf stuck his middle finger up at the victim's parents not once but twice. Ahmed sarcastically blew a kiss at the couple shortly before sentence was delivered.
These were just two examples of the gauntlet of intimidation and abuse the couple have faced from the families and friends of the convicted men during the two-week trial"
I wish all three of them a very uncomfortable time in prison. I wish we had an arrangement with the USA where we could send some of our nastiest criminals to serve time in their federal penitentiaries.
Anyway, it's a musing for the future, at this stage. I just don't trust Microsoft not to enforce downloading of their apparently service-based Windows 10 monstrosity.
So he was merciful and did not install Windows 8 then? Or was he holding that back for later when she wanted to try true masochism?
I'm no fan of Microsoft - but Windows 10 is running much more smoothly and quickly on my geriatric laptop than Windows 8 - I reckoned it had reached the end of the road - W10 gave it a new lease of life.....
What could be simpler than 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound, 5 shillings to a crown, 2 shillings to a florin, 21 shillings to a guinea and 13d 4s to a mark?
However, if we measure it by average deaths by year Nazism absolutely dwarfs any other system - roughly four times as bad as Maoism. However, that was stopped after a few years (it is horrendous to think what Hitler might have done had he lasted for 27 years like Mao). He 'achieved' this, incidentally, in about half the population Mao had at his disposal.
The Imperial Japanese Army probably significantly outdid the Nazis, some people claim, doubled them.
The figure to top is approximately 40 million on the most conservative estimate. I'd be surprised to learn the IJA beat that, but I will admit I don't know enough about the Pacific war to be sure.
They had a head start of course, starting in 1931.
In making this comparison, does one need to factor in the technological level of the societies involved? Or not? Technology is not really the limiting factor is it? Actually, what are the limiting factors? Ie what causes murderous regimes not to murder everyone they, in principle, want to? Bad organisation? Resistance? Tendency to overreach and go down to military defeat?
Well, when you start to come down to that, it's difficult to make any precise assumptions. For example, Seumas Milne claimed Stalin 'only' had around 750,000 killed, but even if that figure is correctly compiled which it almost certainly isn't, that does rather overlook the millions who died in his enforced famines or in the GULAGs. For Hitler, I was including a large proportion of the dead of WWII, on the basis that that was very much Nazism's war, but there are others who could argue that the other way.
And of course, do we factor in suicides caused by the regime? If so, how do we know that's the thing that finally tips the balance?
Discussing all these is a really interesting A-level lesson on Stalin. But it does make factual accuracy and drawing precise conclusions difficult.
who could forget McCauley's laconic observation: 'Marxism in theory has been one of the twentieth century's great ideas...Marxism in practice has failed everywhere it has been tried.'
Doesn't that allow us, from a twenty-first century position (and from 1950 onwards, in reality), to argue that Marxism in theory was not actually one of the twentieth century's great ideas, but an epic fuck-up? Did any other idea of the twentieth century end up with more blood on its hands?
Nationalism
Nationalism wasn't a twentieth century idea. It has been around ever since boundaries - since one tribe claimed ownership of all the land to that river over there, and another disputed that.
National Socialism was a twentieth century idea, but arguably was the anti-matter to communism's matter.
What is undeniable is that anybody expounding their beliefs based on National Socialism would be flung to the outer edges of political acceptability this century. That somebody can still get away with expounding their beliefs based on Marxism is, to me, equally grotesque. Both should be buried in an unmarked grave.
It is interesting whether Capitalism fights wars, or just benefits from those who have declared them based on political or religious clashes. I am prepared to concede that one war declared by Capitalism was Iraq...
"The family members of the three Somali men found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in Rusholme, Manchester, in 2013, showed their support for the trio Bilal Ahmed, Mowled Yussaf and Muhyadeen Osman) by attending court.
Their victim, an A-grade student from a middle class family, was subjected to the most degrading and terrifying ordeal imaginable. The three men raped her six times over 30 minutes in a squalid hotel room in Rusholme. As he was led away from the dock to begin his ten year prison term, ringleader Yussaf stuck his middle finger up at the victim's parents not once but twice. Ahmed sarcastically blew a kiss at the couple shortly before sentence was delivered.
These were just two examples of the gauntlet of intimidation and abuse the couple have faced from the families and friends of the convicted men during the two-week trial"
I wish all three of them a very uncomfortable time in prison. I wish we had an arrangement with the USA where we could send some of our nastiest criminals to serve time in their federal penitentiaries.
It would only be fitting that they should experience what they inflicted on their victim.
"The family members of the three Somali men found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in Rusholme, Manchester, in 2013, showed their support for the trio Bilal Ahmed, Mowled Yussaf and Muhyadeen Osman) by attending court.
Their victim, an A-grade student from a middle class family, was subjected to the most degrading and terrifying ordeal imaginable. The three men raped her six times over 30 minutes in a squalid hotel room in Rusholme. As he was led away from the dock to begin his ten year prison term, ringleader Yussaf stuck his middle finger up at the victim's parents not once but twice. Ahmed sarcastically blew a kiss at the couple shortly before sentence was delivered.
These were just two examples of the gauntlet of intimidation and abuse the couple have faced from the families and friends of the convicted men during the two-week trial"
I wish all three of them a very uncomfortable time in prison. I wish we had an arrangement with the USA where we could send some of our nastiest criminals to serve time in their federal penitentiaries.
It would only be fitting that they should experience what they inflicted on their victim.
You prefer revenge to justice, then? Most conservatives do.
"The family members of the three Somali men found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in Rusholme, Manchester, in 2013, showed their support for the trio Bilal Ahmed, Mowled Yussaf and Muhyadeen Osman) by attending court.
Their victim, an A-grade student from a middle class family, was subjected to the most degrading and terrifying ordeal imaginable. The three men raped her six times over 30 minutes in a squalid hotel room in Rusholme. As he was led away from the dock to begin his ten year prison term, ringleader Yussaf stuck his middle finger up at the victim's parents not once but twice. Ahmed sarcastically blew a kiss at the couple shortly before sentence was delivered.
These were just two examples of the gauntlet of intimidation and abuse the couple have faced from the families and friends of the convicted men during the two-week trial"
I wish all three of them a very uncomfortable time in prison. I wish we had an arrangement with the USA where we could send some of our nastiest criminals to serve time in their federal penitentiaries.
It would only be fitting that they should experience what they inflicted on their victim.
It's not so very long ago in this country that castration was indeed the penalty for such a crime.
I take it that was what you were referring too rather than suggesting that in a U.S. penitentiary they would be systematically raped in surroundings reminiscent of a budget hotel in Manchester? I mean, even San Quentin isn't that bad...
Within countries, you've had people relying on the age old method of bashing in someone's head with a rock.
The other aspect of this is that none of it happened in a vacuum, especially in the middle of the century. Once one 'side' crossed a line, the others typically followed.
The only conclusion I'd come up with is that both supranational ideological movements of the 20th century collapsed under a mass weight of blood and corpses.
"The family members of the three Somali men found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in Rusholme, Manchester, in 2013, showed their support for the trio Bilal Ahmed, Mowled Yussaf and Muhyadeen Osman) by attending court.
Their victim, an A-grade student from a middle class family, was subjected to the most degrading and terrifying ordeal imaginable. The three men raped her six times over 30 minutes in a squalid hotel room in Rusholme. As he was led away from the dock to begin his ten year prison term, ringleader Yussaf stuck his middle finger up at the victim's parents not once but twice. Ahmed sarcastically blew a kiss at the couple shortly before sentence was delivered.
These were just two examples of the gauntlet of intimidation and abuse the couple have faced from the families and friends of the convicted men during the two-week trial"
I wish all three of them a very uncomfortable time in prison. I wish we had an arrangement with the USA where we could send some of our nastiest criminals to serve time in their federal penitentiaries.
It would only be fitting that they should experience what they inflicted on their victim.
You prefer revenge to justice, then? Most conservatives do.
Locking them up and telling them why they have been bad is no justice.
Mr. Doethur, not sure if it's still the case, but a few years ago paedophiles in Germany could opt to be castrated in return for having a large chunk chopped off (ahem) their sentence.
"The family members of the three Somali men found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in Rusholme, Manchester, in 2013, showed their support for the trio Bilal Ahmed, Mowled Yussaf and Muhyadeen Osman) by attending court.
Their victim, an A-grade student from a middle class family, was subjected to the most degrading and terrifying ordeal imaginable. The three men raped her six times over 30 minutes in a squalid hotel room in Rusholme. As he was led away from the dock to begin his ten year prison term, ringleader Yussaf stuck his middle finger up at the victim's parents not once but twice. Ahmed sarcastically blew a kiss at the couple shortly before sentence was delivered.
These were just two examples of the gauntlet of intimidation and abuse the couple have faced from the families and friends of the convicted men during the two-week trial"
I wish all three of them a very uncomfortable time in prison. I wish we had an arrangement with the USA where we could send some of our nastiest criminals to serve time in their federal penitentiaries.
Mass immigration is sending the country down the toilet
"It is interesting whether Capitalism fights wars, or just benefits from those who have declared them based on political or religious clashes. I am prepared to concede that one war declared by Capitalism was Iraq..."
I think there's a fair argument that a lot of older wars were capitalist wars. Boxer rebellion/opium war springs to mind.
Mr. Doethur, not sure if it's still the case, but a few years ago paedophiles in Germany could opt to be castrated in return for having a large chunk chopped off (ahem) their sentence.
It's still the case in Poland, don't know about Germany.
What could be simpler than 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound, 5 shillings to a crown, 2 shillings to a florin, 21 shillings to a guinea and 13d 4s to a mark?
Yeah but what the conversion to the standard Altairian dollar?
"It is interesting whether Capitalism fights wars, or just benefits from those who have declared them based on political or religious clashes. I am prepared to concede that one war declared by Capitalism was Iraq..."
I think there's a fair argument that a lot of older wars were capitalist wars. Boxer rebellion/opium war springs to mind.
I'll certainly give you the Opium Wars. High-pressure salesmen, backed up with gunboats.
Within countries, you've had people relying on the age old method of bashing in someone's head with a rock.
The other aspect of this is that none of it happened in a vacuum, especially in the middle of the century. Once one 'side' crossed a line, the others typically followed.
The only conclusion I'd come up with is that both supranational ideological movements of the 20th century collapsed under a mass weight of blood and corpses.
Yet Labour offer us a leader who still sees one of those movements as a guiding light....
Mr. Moses, I'd read that about Apple. I do wonder if this is the Tarkin Paradox: the tighter the electronic giants make their grip, the more consumers will slip through their fingers.
Mr. Moses (2), dollar? Such modernist tosh has no place in the world. Thalers, man!
[The Kuhrisch, in my 'serious' books, use thalers, from which dollars are derived].
Miss Plato, what matters more than individuals is chemistry. Still not convinced Evans will work out, though.
Edited extra bit: at least Vista didn't try and get you to install it every few days.
"It is interesting whether Capitalism fights wars, or just benefits from those who have declared them based on political or religious clashes. I am prepared to concede that one war declared by Capitalism was Iraq..."
I think there's a fair argument that a lot of older wars were capitalist wars. Boxer rebellion/opium war springs to mind.
I'll certainly give you the Opium Wars. High-pressure salesmen, backed up with gunboats.
Al Capone: "you can get more of what you want with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile".
Within countries, you've had people relying on the age old method of bashing in someone's head with a rock.
The other aspect of this is that none of it happened in a vacuum, especially in the middle of the century. Once one 'side' crossed a line, the others typically followed.
The only conclusion I'd come up with is that both supranational ideological movements of the 20th century collapsed under a mass weight of blood and corpses.
Yet Labour offer us a leader who still sees one of those movements as a guiding light....
File that one under "converted, preaching to the"!
I completely agree with your earlier point that one ideology is completely non-grata, to the point where people who don't express opinions remotely as extreme, get tarnished by that brush, but the equally degrading and brutal opposite ideology doesn't get the same treatment.
I've several mates who said, in the build up to the last election, that why people couldn't see Socialism without the Communism. My reply was *always* that its never too far away.
Yesterday evening you mentioned social conservatism (I'm not entirely sure what that is) and that "even kippers" seemed relaxed about gay marriage. I find this sort of generalisation irksome, the vast majority of kippers are live and let live types who don't give a toss about gay marriage either way, its about consenting adults. Where I object is govt telling the Church what it must do, it is not the state's place.
I'll ask you a straight question, and perhaps you can consider the social conservative issue here:
Do you ever envisage gay marriage taking place in a mosque or synagogue?
Yes, and I would be quite happy with it in my own Church too. Indeed the Reform Jews support gay marriage:
You are partially right in that there is a libertarian streak in kipperdom that is relaxed about these issues. There is also a socially authoritarian streak that vigorously opposed it too in both kipperdom and the right of the Conservative party too. I remember the conversations here about it.
My objection to Islam in Britain is a left wing one. Organised Islam is systematically mysogynistic, homophobic, patriarchal, and anti-diversity.
Incidentally, most Jews I know are ambivalent about gays but that doesn't answer my question about mosques and synagogues. I'd suggest your authoritarian guns need a different target.
Could you rephrase your question then? I am not sure what you are asking.
UKIP is the only major party in Great Britain that is even ambivalent on gay marriage. It is fairly easy to find supporting evidence for this:
"It is interesting whether Capitalism fights wars, or just benefits from those who have declared them based on political or religious clashes. I am prepared to concede that one war declared by Capitalism was Iraq..."
I think there's a fair argument that a lot of older wars were capitalist wars. Boxer rebellion/opium war springs to mind.
I'll certainly give you the Opium Wars. High-pressure salesmen, backed up with gunboats.
Al Capone: "you can get more of what you want with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile".
"Speak softly and carry a big stick"
Incidentally, its quotes like this that come to mind when we talk about ISIS. OK, we might not be able to talk with them (publicly) now, but if we can't put any pressure on them ...
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
Mr Corbyn will tell the Association of Labour Councillors conference he wants councils to become "public entrepreneurs" with greater freedom to spend taxpayers' money and to borrow to fund investment and public services.
What could possibly go wrong....90% of private company start-ups fail...obviously the difference is it would be OUR money that has to bail them out (again).
Yes what could go wrong indeed. Free money for Labour councils. Borrowed money on top of a Labour governments borrowed (and printed) money.
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
I made the point last night that even UKIP is moving towards approval of gay marriage. My contention is that middle England is not as "socially conservative" as pb kippers claim. Here is some polling evidence of that:
Support for gay marriage is at its lowest in UKIP supporters. Of course there is more to "social conservatism" than opposition to equality for homosexuals, but it is a sample issue.
Are you seriously disputing that kippers are no more supportive of "social conservatism" than other parties?
It does of course beg the question of what is meant by the term.
Off out now, as some errands to run before the big lunchtime match. Leicester City are still value for this, though I would recommend the Draw no bet option as I think that a nil nil is quite possible. 5/1 on a Leicester win is a good price though. This Leicester team has been getting better as the season goes on, while the ManCs have some key injuries. Not in the bag of course but I would rate it as a fairly equal match.
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
A good exmple of how bonkers you are, and desperate in trying to link support for gay marriage with 'embracing' Muslim' culture.
What could be simpler than 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound, 5 shillings to a crown, 2 shillings to a florin, 21 shillings to a guinea and 13d 4s to a mark?
You missed out 4 farthings (or 16 quarter farthings) to a penny.
And here's a sobering thought
"By the 1950s bus conductors were refusing to accept farthing coins and their value was so small that their usefulness was felt to be over. None were minted after 1956 and they were not legal tender after 1960. The new penny introduced in 1971 is about the same size as a farthing (20 millimetres in diameter), but such has been the fall in the value of money that its purchasing power is less than 50 per cent of what the farthing’s was on its final day. - See more at: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/farthings-last-day#sthash.cCUsiugJ.dpuf"
I agree with David that whoever of Trump or Rubio wins New Hampshire is likely to be GOP nominee with Cruz becoming their main conservative rival going into South Carolina.
I made the point last night that even UKIP is moving towards approval of gay marriage. My contention is that middle England is not as "socially conservative" as pb kippers claim. Here is some polling evidence of that:
Support for gay marriage is at its lowest in UKIP supporters. Of course there is more to "social conservatism" than opposition to equality for homosexuals, but it is a sample issue.
Are you seriously disputing that kippers are no more supportive of "social conservatism" than other parties?
It does of course beg the question of what is meant by the term.
Off out now, as some errands to run before the big lunchtime match. Leicester City are still value for this, though I would recommend the Draw no bet option as I think that a nil nil is quite possible. 5/1 on a Leicester win is a good price though. This Leicester team has been getting better as the season goes on, while the ManCs have some key injuries. Not in the bag of course but I would rate it as a fairly equal match.
Who are the pb kippers you refer to? You're bandying around accusations with no basis in fact.
Yesterday evening you mentioned social conservatism (I'm not entirely sure what that is) and that "even kippers" seemed relaxed about gay marriage. I find this sort of generalisation irksome, the vast majority of kippers are live and let live types who don't give a toss about gay marriage either way, its about consenting adults. Where I object is govt telling the Church what it must do, it is not the state's place.
I'll ask you a straight question, and perhaps you can consider the social conservative issue here:
Do you ever envisage gay marriage taking place in a mosque or synagogue?
Yes, and I would be quite happy with it in my own Church too. Indeed the Reform Jews support gay marriage:
You are partially right in that there is a libertarian streak in kipperdom that is relaxed about these issues. There is also a socially authoritarian streak that vigorously opposed it too in both kipperdom and the right of the Conservative party too. I remember the conversations here about it.
My objection to Islam in Britain is a left wing one. Organised Islam is systematically mysogynistic, homophobic, patriarchal, and anti-diversity.
It's stuck in the middle ages. And you are right to condemn it as 'organised islam'
who could forget McCauley's laconic observation: 'Marxism in theory has been one of the twentieth century's great ideas...Marxism in practice has failed everywhere it has been tried.'
Doesn't that allow us, from a twenty-first century position (and from 1950 onwards, in reality), to argue that Marxism in theory was not actually one of the twentieth century's great ideas, but an epic fuck-up? Did any other idea of the twentieth century end up with more blood on its hands?
Nationalism
Not even close. Not even a fraction of that due to Marxism.
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
To quote from my own post at 0757 today:
"My objection to Islam in Britain is a left wing one. Organised Islam is systematically mysogynistic, homophobic, patriarchal, and anti-diversity. "
I think that a fairly clear statement that I neither expect or want Britain to embrace Muslim culture!
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
The hypocrisy goes back a long way - to the 1920s when people started to regard alcoholism (and other addictions) as medical issues rather than moral weaknesses. At least, I assume that's the UKIP position. If I'm wrong, please enlighten me.
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
A good exmple of how bonkers you are, and desperate in trying to link support for gay marriage with 'embracing' Muslim' culture.
Oh dear Mr flightpath, you're confused again.
Let me be clear so you can do your own research.
I'm very comfortable about gay marriage, pop down to your local mosque or synagogue and ask them if there'll perform a gay marriage ceremony.
And them come back to me and talk about who is bonkers.
I want the same laws to apply equally and fairly - do you?
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
The hypocrisy goes back a long way - to the 1920s when people started to regard alcoholism (and other addictions) as medical issues rather than moral weaknesses. At least, I assume that's the UKIP position. If I'm wrong, please enlighten me.
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
To quote from my own post at 0757 today:
"My objection to Islam in Britain is a left wing one. Organised Islam is systematically mysogynistic, homophobic, patriarchal, and anti-diversity. "
I think that a fairly clear statement that I neither expect or want Britain to embrace Muslim culture!
Kippers are detached from reality. I'm not saying socialists aren't mind... The notion that kippers are forward thinkers is the joke of the century.
"He still trails Trump in the NH polls and if the Donald does win on Tuesday then Rubio’s record of a third and a second won’t look too hot against Cruz and Trump with a state a piece"
Pretty piss poor analysis. The true gauge is not Rubio's absolute performance in IA and NH, or even his performance there relative to Trump and Cruz. Rather it his performance relative to what he would need to do to be on track to win the nomination given the particular characteristics of each state race. Whether he wins or loses NH is almost irrelevant so long as he is still viewed as viable and as the most credible non-Trump, non-Cruz candidate going forward. A strong third after Trump and Cruz, with him well ahead of Bush, Kasich and Christie would accomplish that.
"He still trails Trump in the NH polls and if the Donald does win on Tuesday then Rubio’s record of a third and a second won’t look too hot against Cruz and Trump with a state a piece"
Pretty piss poor analysis. The true gauge is not Rubio's absolute performance in IA and NH, or even his performance there relative to Trump and Cruz. Rather it his performance relative to what he would need to do to be on track to win the nomination given the particular characteristics of each state race. Whether he wins or loses NH is almost irrelevant so long as he is still viewed as viable and as the most credible non-Trump, non-Cruz candidate going forward. A strong third after Trump and Cruz, with him well ahead of Bush, Kasich and Christie would accomplish that.
No David is right. No candidate on either side has become their party's nominee without winning Iowa or New Hampshire since 1976 other than Bill Clinton but he won South Carolina and was a better fit for that state than Rubio
Correct: Nationalism was a result of the 1848 "revolutions". Modern constructs - say, Italy and Germany - are a result. No wonder the EU laud them...!
Don't be stupid. I might as well cite the Monroe Doctrine . What a pathetic tortuous way to bring the EU into things. The last few days have been an eye opener. Gawd knows what sort of place this will be in a few weeks time.
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
The hypocrisy goes back a long way - to the 1920s when people started to regard alcoholism (and other addictions) as medical issues rather than moral weaknesses. At least, I assume that's the UKIP position. If I'm wrong, please enlighten me.
Yes you are wrong. But then you already knew that and are just trolling for fun.
Even if no charges result, could this leave Clinton fatally damaged?
Not that I know much about US politics at all, but to an uneducated observer it remains quite astonishing (and concerning if one is pretty scared about the potential Republican nominees) quite how uncompetitive the Democrat field is. Hillary just seems an obviously flawed candidate (even without the email stuff) and isn't exactly a spring chicken either. And their plan B is Joe Biden! Are there any Democrats out there who would be decent candidates but for some strange reason decided not to get involved in the race this time (strange because any Democrat wanting to be President would surely not have a better opportunity? Are they all concluding that they want the Congress to become more favourable first?).
Who are the potential Vice President nominees?
Julian Castro, the young Hispanic Housing Secretary, will likely be Hillary's Vice Presidential nominee
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
The hypocrisy goes back a long way - to the 1920s when people started to regard alcoholism (and other addictions) as medical issues rather than moral weaknesses. At least, I assume that's the UKIP position. If I'm wrong, please enlighten me.
Yes you are wrong. But then you already knew that and are just trolling for fun.
I genuinely had no idea. Please provide a link where I can find UKIP's healthcare policy.
Don't be stupid. I might as well cite the Monroe Doctrine . What a pathetic tortuous way to bring the EU into things. The last few days have been an eye opener. Gawd knows what sort of place this will be in a few weeks time.
I quote David Thomson: And which published work have you produced...?
Re the previous comments on Windows 10, I thought of this (although it is a bit old now). https://xkcd.com/528/
Windows 10 seems to be working alright on my laptop (this is being typed, mistyped, on a tablet). It's a HP Pavilion bought in PC World at about £150 off. Reasonable value. Came with W8 and I left it at that, but it looked to have installed 10 behind my back. Its main annoyance is hitting prt scr by accident and sendind screen shots to some cloud gizmo. But very good battery life. Pity you have to 'rent' MS Office.
I tried a chrome book , great for browsing but I did not like the cloud word processing software. Then the keys started sticking, seems to be so common that PC World gave me a voucher back to buy something else, ie the Pavilion. Starts quickly and has 8 hrs battery. Not too heavy. End of advert.
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
A good exmple of how bonkers you are, and desperate in trying to link support for gay marriage with 'embracing' Muslim' culture.
Oh dear Mr flightpath, you're confused again.
Let me be clear so you can do your own research.
I'm very comfortable about gay marriage, pop down to your local mosque or synagogue and ask them if there'll perform a gay marriage ceremony.
And them come back to me and talk about who is bonkers.
I want the same laws to apply equally and fairly - do you?
No one is forcing any religious establishment to perform gay weddings.
I genuinely had no idea. Please provide a link where I can find UKIP's healthcare policy.
If you want UKIP's healthcare policy just go and google it like I did. It is very obvious. Of course you will find no mention at all of them, regarding alcohol and drug addiction as moral weakness just as you won't in anyone else's manifestos. It is so blatantly obvious that addiction is a medical issue that no one needs to specify it.
What you will find is that many in UKIP do have a strong Libertarian view on drugs and alcohol with many, up to and including its leader, supporting the policy of decriminalisation of drug use and far more effort being put into helping addicts rather than treating them as criminals.
Farage in 2010 (and he repeated this in 2013 as well)
"I think we need a proper full Royal Commission on this whole area of drugs to investigate whether perhaps life might be better for millions of people living on council estates that are dominated by the drugs dealers, that are dominated by the crime that surrounds, the money that people raise, to get these drugs, let's find out through a Royal Commission whether perhaps we should decriminalise drugs, whether we should license them, license the users, and sell them at Boots - because frankly if you add up the costs of drugs to society the big problem is the fact that they're criminal and everything that goes with that. And I think there is an argument that says if we decriminalised it we would make the lives of millions of people far better than they are today."
To me that is a far more enlightened and 21st century position on drugs than that held by either of the main parties even with the possible exaggeration of 'millions of people'
Re the previous comments on Windows 10, I thought of this (although it is a bit old now). https://xkcd.com/528/
Windows 10 seems to be working alright on my laptop (this is being typed, mistyped, on a tablet). It's a HP Pavilion bought in PC World at about £150 off. Reasonable value. Came with W8 and I left it at that, but it looked to have installed 10 behind my back. Its main annoyance is hitting prt scr by accident and sendind screen shots to some cloud gizmo. But very good battery life. Pity you have to 'rent' MS Office.
I tried a chrome book , great for browsing but I did not like the cloud word processing software. Then the keys started sticking, seems to be so common that PC World gave me a voucher back to buy something else, ie the Pavilion. Starts quickly and has 8 hrs battery. Not too heavy. End of advert.
PS I hate printers and the cost of ink.
Windowd 10 is pretty solid and much faster than previous versions.
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
A good exmple of how bonkers you are, and desperate in trying to link support for gay marriage with 'embracing' Muslim' culture.
Oh dear Mr flightpath, you're confused again.
Let me be clear so you can do your own research.
I'm very comfortable about gay marriage, pop down to your local mosque or synagogue and ask them if there'll perform a gay marriage ceremony.
And them come back to me and talk about who is bonkers.
I want the same laws to apply equally and fairly - do you?
No one is forcing any religious establishment to perform gay weddings.
Correct. And let's face it, its not difficult to understand. And I agree with Dr Fox's comments about organised Islam, for instance it's misogyny. But not all Muslims are as mysogynist as Nigel Farage who is on record as saying he did not employ women as they would just go off and have babies (and then have the nerve to breast feed them).
With EU 'pooh' negotiations going 'breast-top-most' how long do the panel think that Labour Unity will last? Do Northern-Labour MPs follow party-doctrine or do the line-their-pockets as representatives of their community (sans parachute)...?
Don't be stupid. I might as well cite the Monroe Doctrine . What a pathetic tortuous way to bring the EU into things. The last few days have been an eye opener. Gawd knows what sort of place this will be in a few weeks time.
I quote David Thomson: And which published work have you produced...?
It's still stupid to quote him. And its still a tortuous way to bring in the EU. I bet McDonnell could quote Marx. I would not make him right.
Kippers don't want to go back to anything. All parties have an ideology, Ukip's is a libertarian state with low tax and minimal govt interference. I've attended dozens of meetings, most involve a good row over a few drinks and handshaking at the end. I appreciate that sounds odd to on message, statist, tribalists but it's reality. Whether the party grows or not is moot, we're a group of people tired of the way we're governed.
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
A good exmple of how bonkers you are, and desperate in trying to link support for gay marriage with 'embracing' Muslim' culture.
Oh dear Mr flightpath, you're confused again.
Let me be clear so you can do your own research.
I'm very comfortable about gay marriage, pop down to your local mosque or synagogue and ask them if there'll perform a gay marriage ceremony.
And them come back to me and talk about who is bonkers.
I want the same laws to apply equally and fairly - do you?
No one is forcing any religious establishment to perform gay weddings.
Correct. And let's face it, its not difficult to understand. And I agree with Dr Fox's comments about organised Islam, for instance it's misogyny. But not all Muslims are as mysogynist as Nigel Farage who is on record as saying he did not employ women as they would just go off and have babies (and then have the nerve to breast feed them).
When did Nigel Farage state that he does not employ women (I'm not holding my breath expecting an answer?)
Not that I know much about US politics at all, but to an uneducated observer it remains quite astonishing (and concerning if one is pretty scared about the potential Republican nominees) quite how uncompetitive the Democrat field is. Hillary just seems an obviously flawed candidate (even without the email stuff) and isn't exactly a spring chicken either. And their plan B is Joe Biden! Are there any Democrats out there who would be decent candidates but for some strange reason decided not to get involved in the race this time (strange because any Democrat wanting to be President would surely not have a better opportunity? Are they all concluding that they want the Congress to become more favourable first?).
I think the Democrats have the same legacy problem as Labour did after Tony. Gordon had completed dominated the scene as number 2, sometimes in a good way, sometimes a bad way, but it was very hard to see past him. Hillary is enormously experienced and from a wealthy, successful clan (important in America) with a husband who most Democats feel was a really good President and who is still around to help (few Democrats care about the sex stuff). The email story seems to them more process than real - she cut a corner of regulations, haven't we all, nobody got hurt - and they're dubious whether Bernie could win.
Naive question of my own: although I've been to Nevada I think of it as an obscure place I never hear much about, like Wiltshire or Rutland, and find it hard to imagine their caucuses (up next after NH) as crucial. Is that just being foreign, or do most Americans think hat what Nevada people want isn't necessarily too relevant to them?
How many government ministers from Cameron downwards have promised action against this:
' A hospital branded the worst in the NHS has been accused of operating a “gravy train” after paying £1.5m for a temporary finance director who presided over a quadrupling in its deficit.
Tim Bolot has just quit after 18 months at Medway Foundation trust, where he received one of the most generous NHS packages on record.
Ministers have repeatedly promised to clamp down on high rewards for “interim” managers, promising that their “exorbitant” rates will be reduced to those of permanent employees.
The Medway trust – which is rated inadequate and has been on “special measures” for almost three years – has now hired one of the best-paid “roving” executives to replace him.
Mr Cattell, who also has his own consultancy firm, is also among the best paid finance directors in the NHS.
His private firm was paid more than £330,000 a year when he was interim finance director at Mid Staffordshire foundation trust. In the two years before he left in 2012 its deficit rose from £4.7m to more than £16m. '
Mr. Moses, I'd read that about Apple. I do wonder if this is the Tarkin Paradox: the tighter the electronic giants make their grip, the more consumers will slip through their fingers.
Mr. Moses (2), dollar? Such modernist tosh has no place in the world. Thalers, man!
[The Kuhrisch, in my 'serious' books, use thalers, from which dollars are derived].
Miss Plato, what matters more than individuals is chemistry. Still not convinced Evans will work out, though.
Edited extra bit: at least Vista didn't try and get you to install it every few days.
Apples excuse for this foul behaviour doesn't stack up. AIUI (and I'm not clearest in the head atm (*)) the claim is that the fingerprint scanner is an integral part of the cryptographic security: it is directly tied in with the cryptographic part of the processor. Therefore if you change the fingerprint scanner then the entire cryptographic subsystem is compromised.
Which is fair enough, especially as the scanner might be vital for eviltude like ApplePay. In fact, it's good to see designers thinking of such risks and trying to mitigate against them (it'd be fun to know the details to work out potential exploits)
But if it was truly a security risk, they should check for an unofficial scanner part at *every* boot up, instead of whenever you update the OS. As OS's don't get updated for long periods, if it was a true security vulnerability it would leave the device compromised for that period.
It also does not explain why they brick the unit; it would be easy just to disable the cryptographic functions that may be affected, and inform the user of such.
The real reason they are doing this IMO is to force people to use their ultra-expensive repair service and the unholy rip-off that is AppleCare.
Basically: if you buy an Apple product, it doesn't belong to you. You pay them, and they own it. It's a very expensive rental scheme.
What could be simpler than 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound, 5 shillings to a crown, 2 shillings to a florin, 21 shillings to a guinea and 13d 4s to a mark?
You missed out 4 farthings (or 16 quarter farthings) to a penny.
And here's a sobering thought
"By the 1950s bus conductors were refusing to accept farthing coins and their value was so small that their usefulness was felt to be over. None were minted after 1956 and they were not legal tender after 1960. The new penny introduced in 1971 is about the same size as a farthing (20 millimetres in diameter), but such has been the fall in the value of money that its purchasing power is less than 50 per cent of what the farthing’s was on its final day. - See more at: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/farthings-last-day#sthash.cCUsiugJ.dpuf"
And yet we don't blink at buying some iPhone thingy or some such with more computing power than Apollo 11. The cost of a valve driven 405 line TV in 1956 was (I think) eye watering so much so that you rented them. You used to have tv repaimen who would come and replace the valves or the tube! Now we don't have lines we have plasma no tubes and several per house.
Because of the sheer volume of Iranian stuff it gives the impression of bias, but it also includes material which is anti-Assad and pro-Western, so I'm not sure if it's just that they include everything they get and the Iranians send them more. Certainly Assad's people are sounding cheerful, e.g. abolishing security checkpoints in Latakia since the enemy is now so far off that they aren't needed any more. Aleppo seems to be gradually falling, with a stream of messages reminiscent of the Stalingrad struggle which is seems to resemble - this battle for the cheese factory, that advance into a disputed farm. There was a menacing "If the Sauds intervene that would mean war" report from Russia, though the details seemed to be more legalistic than directly threatening.
Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who was the sixth man to walk on the moon, has died in Florida, aged 85
Within 20 years there will be nobody left alive who has walked on the moon.
If you had predicted that in the 1970s no one would have believed you.
Only 7 left of the original 12. It really is ridiculous we have not gone back in more than 43 years
Indeed. I think the moonlandings, which happened when I was between 4 and 7 years old have had more of an influence on my outlook than any other news event of my life. I don't know if others feel the same, but I think I grew up with the feeling that Humanity could do anything if it really tried. (That's not true of course, but it feels good to be optimistic.)
Because of the sheer volume of Iranian stuff it gives the impression of bias, but it also includes material which is anti-Assad and pro-Western, so I'm not sure if it's just that they include everything they get and the Iranians send them more. Certainly Assad's people are sounding cheerful, e.g. abolishing security checkpoints in Latakia since the enemy is now so far off that they aren't needed any more. Aleppo seems to be gradually falling, with a stream of messages reminiscent of the Stalingrad struggle which is seems to resemble - this battle for the cheese factory, that advance into a disputed farm. There was a menacing "If the Sauds intervene that would mean war" report from Russia, though the details seemed to be more legalistic than directly threatening.
What's happening with Cameron's '70,000' strong 'moderate' army ?
Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who was the sixth man to walk on the moon, has died in Florida, aged 85
Within 20 years there will be nobody left alive who has walked on the moon.
If you had predicted that in the 1970s no one would have believed you.
Only 7 left of the original 12. It really is ridiculous we have not gone back in more than 43 years
Indeed. I think the moonlandings, which happened when I was between 4 and 7 years old have had more of an influence on my outlook than any other news event of my life. I don't know if others feel the same, but I think I grew up with the feeling that Humanity could do anything if it really tried. (That's not true of course, but it feels good to be optimistic.)
I think we are just about exactly the same age. And yes the whole space programme had the same effect on me. It has been an almost life long disappointment since that we squandered such a fantastic opportunity.
In the Fifties and Sixties Sci-Fi novels pretty much took for granted that space travel would become routine.
Likewise the tv and film shows.
Even into the 1980s:
' Star Cops is a British science fiction television series first broadcast on BBC2 in 1987 ... Set in the year 2027, a time where Interplanetary travel has become commonplace '
How many government ministers from Cameron downwards have promised action against this:
' A hospital branded the worst in the NHS has been accused of operating a “gravy train” after paying £1.5m for a temporary finance director who presided over a quadrupling in its deficit.
If Labour had any sense they would highlight this issue - but then they probably see nothing wrong with public sector fatcats.
I would tend to agree, however later in the report its pointed out that Bolts payments were for 6 people and he was filling in for 2 jobs. It's also claimed (who knows) that the deficit is due to investments for future savings. The Telegraph call him Bolot, but his name seems to be Bolt. It's just as well journalists are not running the NHS.
Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who was the sixth man to walk on the moon, has died in Florida, aged 85
Within 20 years there will be nobody left alive who has walked on the moon.
If you had predicted that in the 1970s no one would have believed you.
Only 7 left of the original 12. It really is ridiculous we have not gone back in more than 43 years
Indeed. I think the moonlandings, which happened when I was between 4 and 7 years old have had more of an influence on my outlook than any other news event of my life. I don't know if others feel the same, but I think I grew up with the feeling that Humanity could do anything if it really tried. (That's not true of course, but it feels good to be optimistic.)
We can do anything (within reason). It's just that instead of space, our efforts have gone into other areas.
Just look at computer chips. The first integrated circuit was developed in the late 1950s; by the time of the Apollo mission there were chips like the Intel 4004 (a direct predecessor of today's x86 chips, and I think backwards compatible) had 2,300 transistors.
Modern chips can have 6 or 7 billion transistors, using tech as radical as FinFET.
Look at medical progress as well; the arts; cars / aviation (leaving aside speed), etc, etc.
Since it is saturday morning and in memory of Ed Mitchell, here is my favourite band of the moment Public Service Broadcasting with their tribute to the lunar landings.
How many government ministers from Cameron downwards have promised action against this:
' A hospital branded the worst in the NHS has been accused of operating a “gravy train” after paying £1.5m for a temporary finance director who presided over a quadrupling in its deficit.
If Labour had any sense they would highlight this issue - but then they probably see nothing wrong with public sector fatcats.
I would tend to agree, however later in the report its pointed out that Bolts payments were for 6 people and he was filling in for 2 jobs. It's also claimed (who knows) that the deficit is due to investments for future savings. The Telegraph call him Bolot, but his name seems to be Bolt. It's just as well journalists are not running the NHS.
The second 'job' was Interim 'Strategy Director' which sounds very much like a public sector non-job. And there's no indication that the other 5 people worked full time or indeed did any useful work at all. In my experience with anything to do with this sort of 'consultants' work is a misnomer as to their activities. 'Talk Crap, Cause Confusion' would be a better description.
Yesterday evening you mentioned social conservatism (I'm not entirely sure what that is) and that "even kippers" seemed relaxed about gay marriage. I find this sort of generalisation irksome, the vast majority of kippers are live and let live types who don't give a toss about gay marriage either way, its about consenting adults. Where I object is govt telling the Church what it must do, it is not the state's place.
I'll ask you a straight question, and perhaps you can consider the social conservative issue here:
Do you ever envisage gay marriage taking place in a mosque or synagogue?
Yes, and I would be quite happy with it in my own Church too. Indeed the Reform Jews support gay marriage:
You are partially right in that there is a libertarian streak in kipperdom that is relaxed about these issues. There is also a socially authoritarian streak that vigorously opposed it too in both kipperdom and the right of the Conservative party too. I remember the conversations here about it.
My objection to Islam in Britain is a left wing one. Organised Islam is systematically mysogynistic, homophobic, patriarchal, and anti-diversity.
What is this socially authoritarian nonsense you speak of? A fruitcake ex tory spoke of gays and floods and was sacked forthwith, of course that doesn't fit your agenda.
Kippers are ambivalent about gay marriage, in fact they're ambivalent about most things, leave people alone and stop interfering in their lives.
Two things motivate people to join UKIP. Opposition to EU membership, and opposition to mass immigration.
A third? Opposition to the twenty-first century?
That's Labour's speciality, surely?
Forever wanting the 1948 health settlement, the 1920's nationalised media settlement, historic obsession with the 1979 Prime Minister.
UKIP are more in tune with the modern world, I'm afraid.
They actually look at what is happening rather than some vision of how it ought to be if it was dreamed up by a load of stoned, socialist, late 1960s students - which is eerily reminiscent of Corbyn, McDonnell, Livingstone etc .
Mr. Jessop, and now we're on the verge of creating autonomous killing machines.
So, sci-fi's got some things right
Just as long as they can't climb stairs.
Before we had the little 'un, Mrs J was obsessed with the idea of an exoskeleton suit for babies, allowing them to do stuff. After seeing the chaos even a small toddler can cause, she's rather gone off the idea ...
In the Fifties and Sixties Sci-Fi novels pretty much took for granted that space travel would become routine.
Likewise the tv and film shows.
Even into the 1980s:
' Star Cops is a British science fiction television series first broadcast on BBC2 in 1987 ... Set in the year 2027, a time where Interplanetary travel has become commonplace '
That was a science fiction wasn't it? Great stuff I'm all for it, but its fiction with no reference to the problems of reality. And these ideas pre dated the moon landings. Jules Verne for instance and one of the earliest movies was about a journey to the moon. What science fiction takes little account of is energy, and of course gravity or lack of it. The biggest thing no one talks about in science fiction films/stories is artificial gravity. Oh and inertia.
I remember Star Cops. It was a good effort, you could do it now and set it 50 years into the future and it would stand up. David Calder, good actor.
Comments
Hell, they'll probably go the whole hog and reintroduce the groat.
In making this comparison, does one need to factor in the technological level of the societies involved? Or not? Technology is not really the limiting factor is it? Actually, what are the limiting factors? Ie what causes murderous regimes not to murder everyone they, in principle, want to? Bad organisation? Resistance? Tendency to overreach and go down to military defeat?
"I'll scrope your groat with a £5 note"
What could be simpler than 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound, 5 shillings to a crown, 2 shillings to a florin, 21 shillings to a guinea and 13d 4s to a mark?
And of course, do we factor in suicides caused by the regime? If so, how do we know that's the thing that finally tips the balance?
Discussing all these is a really interesting A-level lesson on Stalin. But it does make factual accuracy and drawing precise conclusions difficult.
National Socialism was a twentieth century idea, but arguably was the anti-matter to communism's matter.
What is undeniable is that anybody expounding their beliefs based on National Socialism would be flung to the outer edges of political acceptability this century. That somebody can still get away with expounding their beliefs based on Marxism is, to me, equally grotesque. Both should be buried in an unmarked grave.
It is interesting whether Capitalism fights wars, or just benefits from those who have declared them based on political or religious clashes. I am prepared to concede that one war declared by Capitalism was Iraq...
I take it that was what you were referring too rather than suggesting that in a U.S. penitentiary they would be systematically raped in surroundings reminiscent of a budget hotel in Manchester? I mean, even San Quentin isn't that bad...
The other aspect of this is that none of it happened in a vacuum, especially in the middle of the century. Once one 'side' crossed a line, the others typically followed.
The only conclusion I'd come up with is that both supranational ideological movements of the 20th century collapsed under a mass weight of blood and corpses.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/02/05/error-53-will-kill-your-iphone-6-but-its-for-the-best-says-apple/
I think there's a fair argument that a lot of older wars were capitalist wars. Boxer rebellion/opium war springs to mind.
Ex-F1 boss Eddie Jordan 'set to be named as a Top Gear host' https://t.co/VDv62dMPCW https://t.co/WVPzhtarie
https://xkcd.com/528/
Mr. Moses (2), dollar? Such modernist tosh has no place in the world. Thalers, man!
[The Kuhrisch, in my 'serious' books, use thalers, from which dollars are derived].
Miss Plato, what matters more than individuals is chemistry. Still not convinced Evans will work out, though.
Edited extra bit: at least Vista didn't try and get you to install it every few days.
I completely agree with your earlier point that one ideology is completely non-grata, to the point where people who don't express opinions remotely as extreme, get tarnished by that brush, but the equally degrading and brutal opposite ideology doesn't get the same treatment.
I've several mates who said, in the build up to the last election, that why people couldn't see Socialism without the Communism. My reply was *always* that its never too far away.
As, I think, we have seen.
Incidentally, its quotes like this that come to mind when we talk about ISIS. OK, we might not be able to talk with them (publicly) now, but if we can't put any pressure on them ...
Most importantly we have a vote on the ghastly EU which is the very epitome of everything kippers dislike: a bureaucratic, all watching, all controlling, undemocratic federal state.
Kippers are forward thinkers with a vision of independence and the power of individuals over the state, I'm far more comfortable with that than the hypocritical stance by so called liberals who bang on about gay marriage but expect us to embrace Muslim culture.
I still don't understand what you are getting at.
I made the point last night that even UKIP is moving towards approval of gay marriage. My contention is that middle England is not as "socially conservative" as pb kippers claim. Here is some polling evidence of that:
https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3371/Dramatic-change-in-attitudes-towards-gay-couples.aspx
Support for gay marriage is at its lowest in UKIP supporters. Of course there is more to "social conservatism" than opposition to equality for homosexuals, but it is a sample issue.
Are you seriously disputing that kippers are no more supportive of "social conservatism" than other parties?
It does of course beg the question of what is meant by the term.
Off out now, as some errands to run before the big lunchtime match. Leicester City are still value for this, though I would recommend the Draw no bet option as I think that a nil nil is quite possible. 5/1 on a Leicester win is a good price though. This Leicester team has been getting better as the season goes on, while the ManCs have some key injuries. Not in the bag of course but I would rate it as a fairly equal match.
And here's a sobering thought
"By the 1950s bus conductors were refusing to accept farthing coins and their value was so small that their usefulness was felt to be over. None were minted after 1956 and they were not legal tender after 1960. The new penny introduced in 1971 is about the same size as a farthing (20 millimetres in diameter), but such has been the fall in the value of money that its purchasing power is less than 50 per cent of what the farthing’s was on its final day. - See more at: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/farthings-last-day#sthash.cCUsiugJ.dpuf"
"My objection to Islam in Britain is a left wing one. Organised Islam is systematically mysogynistic, homophobic, patriarchal, and anti-diversity. "
I think that a fairly clear statement that I neither expect or want Britain to embrace Muslim culture!
Let me be clear so you can do your own research.
I'm very comfortable about gay marriage, pop down to your local mosque or synagogue and ask them if there'll perform a gay marriage ceremony.
And them come back to me and talk about who is bonkers.
I want the same laws to apply equally and fairly - do you?
Trump is 69, older than Hillary.
Nope, still can't make a connection.
The notion that kippers are forward thinkers is the joke of the century.
I might as well cite the Monroe Doctrine . What a pathetic tortuous way to bring the EU into things. The last few days have been an eye opener. Gawd knows what sort of place this will be in a few weeks time.
It seems to be more trouble than it's worth, at least in the way I envisaged using it.
I've decided to go with IMPORTDATA as CSV from Huffpost Pollster
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-new-hampshire-presidential-republican-primary
Much more user-friendly.
I tried a chrome book , great for browsing but I did not like the cloud word processing software. Then the keys started sticking, seems to be so common that PC World gave me a voucher back to buy something else, ie the Pavilion. Starts quickly and has 8 hrs battery. Not too heavy.
End of advert.
PS I hate printers and the cost of ink.
What you will find is that many in UKIP do have a strong Libertarian view on drugs and alcohol with many, up to and including its leader, supporting the policy of decriminalisation of drug use and far more effort being put into helping addicts rather than treating them as criminals.
Farage in 2010 (and he repeated this in 2013 as well)
"I think we need a proper full Royal Commission on this whole area of drugs to investigate whether perhaps life might be better for millions of people living on council estates that are dominated by the drugs dealers, that are dominated by the crime that surrounds, the money that people raise, to get these drugs, let's find out through a Royal Commission whether perhaps we should decriminalise drugs, whether we should license them, license the users, and sell them at Boots - because frankly if you add up the costs of drugs to society the big problem is the fact that they're criminal and everything that goes with that. And I think there is an argument that says if we decriminalised it we would make the lives of millions of people far better than they are today."
To me that is a far more enlightened and 21st century position on drugs than that held by either of the main parties even with the possible exaggeration of 'millions of people'
Windowd 10 is pretty solid and much faster than previous versions.
You also off the PrntScr to cloud option.
And I agree with Dr Fox's comments about organised Islam, for instance it's misogyny. But not all Muslims are as mysogynist as Nigel Farage who is on record as saying he did not employ women as they would just go off and have babies (and then have the nerve to breast feed them).
With EU 'pooh' negotiations going 'breast-top-most' how long do the panel think that Labour Unity will last? Do Northern-Labour MPs follow party-doctrine or do the line-their-pockets as representatives of their community (sans parachute)...?
:labour-are-fooked:
I bet McDonnell could quote Marx. I would not make him right.
You do come out with a lot of crap about UKIP.
I think the Democrats have the same legacy problem as Labour did after Tony. Gordon had completed dominated the scene as number 2, sometimes in a good way, sometimes a bad way, but it was very hard to see past him. Hillary is enormously experienced and from a wealthy, successful clan (important in America) with a husband who most Democats feel was a really good President and who is still around to help (few Democrats care about the sex stuff). The email story seems to them more process than real - she cut a corner of regulations, haven't we all, nobody got hurt - and they're dubious whether Bernie could win.
Naive question of my own: although I've been to Nevada I think of it as an obscure place I never hear much about, like Wiltshire or Rutland, and find it hard to imagine their caucuses (up next after NH) as crucial. Is that just being foreign, or do most Americans think hat what Nevada people want isn't necessarily too relevant to them?
' A hospital branded the worst in the NHS has been accused of operating a “gravy train” after paying £1.5m for a temporary finance director who presided over a quadrupling in its deficit.
Tim Bolot has just quit after 18 months at Medway Foundation trust, where he received one of the most generous NHS packages on record.
Ministers have repeatedly promised to clamp down on high rewards for “interim” managers, promising that their “exorbitant” rates will be reduced to those of permanent employees.
The Medway trust – which is rated inadequate and has been on “special measures” for almost three years – has now hired one of the best-paid “roving” executives to replace him.
Mr Cattell, who also has his own consultancy firm, is also among the best paid finance directors in the NHS.
His private firm was paid more than £330,000 a year when he was interim finance director at Mid Staffordshire foundation trust. In the two years before he left in 2012 its deficit rose from £4.7m to more than £16m. '
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs/12134988/Medway-Foundation-trust-gravy-train-attacked-as-deficit-quadruples-at-failing-hospital.html
If Labour had any sense they would highlight this issue - but then they probably see nothing wrong with public sector fatcats.
If you had predicted that in the 1970s no one would have believed you.
Which is fair enough, especially as the scanner might be vital for eviltude like ApplePay. In fact, it's good to see designers thinking of such risks and trying to mitigate against them (it'd be fun to know the details to work out potential exploits)
But if it was truly a security risk, they should check for an unofficial scanner part at *every* boot up, instead of whenever you update the OS. As OS's don't get updated for long periods, if it was a true security vulnerability it would leave the device compromised for that period.
It also does not explain why they brick the unit; it would be easy just to disable the cryptographic functions that may be affected, and inform the user of such.
The real reason they are doing this IMO is to force people to use their ultra-expensive repair service and the unholy rip-off that is AppleCare.
Basically: if you buy an Apple product, it doesn't belong to you. You pay them, and they own it. It's a very expensive rental scheme.
(*) Nothing unusual, I her you cry...
The US really needs congratulating for passing the Commercial Space Flight Amendments Act that allowed these companies to take off ...
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Hot+Topics/Syrian+Civil+War
Because of the sheer volume of Iranian stuff it gives the impression of bias, but it also includes material which is anti-Assad and pro-Western, so I'm not sure if it's just that they include everything they get and the Iranians send them more. Certainly Assad's people are sounding cheerful, e.g. abolishing security checkpoints in Latakia since the enemy is now so far off that they aren't needed any more. Aleppo seems to be gradually falling, with a stream of messages reminiscent of the Stalingrad struggle which is seems to resemble - this battle for the cheese factory, that advance into a disputed farm. There was a menacing "If the Sauds intervene that would mean war" report from Russia, though the details seemed to be more legalistic than directly threatening.
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/last-man-on-the-moon-documentary-february-release-1201659852/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3219604/
http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/
A lucky man in so many ways.
Even into the 1980s:
' Star Cops is a British science fiction television series first broadcast on BBC2 in 1987 ... Set in the year 2027, a time where Interplanetary travel has become commonplace '
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Cops
It's also claimed (who knows) that the deficit is due to investments for future savings.
The Telegraph call him Bolot, but his name seems to be Bolt. It's just as well journalists are not running the NHS.
Just look at computer chips. The first integrated circuit was developed in the late 1950s; by the time of the Apollo mission there were chips like the Intel 4004 (a direct predecessor of today's x86 chips, and I think backwards compatible) had 2,300 transistors.
Modern chips can have 6 or 7 billion transistors, using tech as radical as FinFET.
Look at medical progress as well; the arts; cars / aviation (leaving aside speed), etc, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHIo6qwJarI
So, sci-fi's got some things right
Forever wanting the 1948 health settlement, the 1920's nationalised media settlement, historic obsession with the 1979 Prime Minister.
UKIP are more in tune with the modern world, I'm afraid.
They actually look at what is happening rather than some vision of how it ought to be if it was dreamed up by a load of stoned, socialist, late 1960s students - which is eerily reminiscent of Corbyn, McDonnell, Livingstone etc .
Before we had the little 'un, Mrs J was obsessed with the idea of an exoskeleton suit for babies, allowing them to do stuff. After seeing the chaos even a small toddler can cause, she's rather gone off the idea ...
What science fiction takes little account of is energy, and of course gravity or lack of it. The biggest thing no one talks about in science fiction films/stories is artificial gravity. Oh and inertia.
I remember Star Cops. It was a good effort, you could do it now and set it 50 years into the future and it would stand up. David Calder, good actor.