The point is, ladies and gentleman, that Meeks, for lack of a better word, is good. Meeks is right, Meeks works. Meeks clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Meeks, in all of his forms; Meeks for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And Meeks, you mark my words, will not only save the LibDems, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the UK. Thank you very much.
Sometimes I feel that most PBers have a very different lifestyle from my own ...
The wide variety of backgrounds on PB is a great strength and much to be commended.
Oh, indeed. I look forward to offsetting the stories of posh hotels and the finest restaurants with my reviews of the best wild campsites along the Thames and the best one-pot recipes with spam.
Wild camping is surprisingly popular on both sides of the river from Battersea to Rotherhithe and a boon for those whose resources may not extend to conventional "holiday solutions".
Really ? I live only a mile from the Thames. In fact, since 1990, I have always lived near the river and I have never seen a camping spot.
Sometimes I feel that most PBers have a very different lifestyle from my own ...
The wide variety of backgrounds on PB is a great strength and much to be commended.
Oh, indeed. I look forward to offsetting the stories of posh hotels and the finest restaurants with my reviews of the best wild campsites along the Thames and the best one-pot recipes with spam.
Wild camping is surprisingly popular on both sides of the river from Battersea to Rotherhithe and a boon for those whose resources may not extend to conventional "holiday solutions".
Mostly green hipsters it seems. They have bushy beards, dreads, recycle found objects and engage in performance art.
It's very possible to have a good lunch at 3pm, ideally in a good pub on a Saturday, as you can allow the experience to drift long into the evening. The idea that dinner can be something consumed in the middle of the day is dying out I think, even in the the north. If you go to a restaurant in the north they call lunch lunch and dinner dinner. They don't call lunch dinner.
P.S. There is no such thing as brunch, unless you are Australian.
I didn't hear him threatening him with punishment. He shouldn't have gone bat shit crazy towards his elder....but still.
For me is the mindset of the guy giving it to the bookshop owner,he's nuts,just hope he's not living down my street and he's got a majority of muslims backing this.
Frightening future.
Its purely a function of criminal lunacy and violent nutters expanding their behaviour until they find boundaries.
It is our fault for letting them behave like this.
You may or may not agree with the philosophy expounded, but
Sort of related to the whole dinner/lunch/tea thing.
When does the afternoon end and the evening start?
Now this is an interesting question, and in no way as emotionally loaded as the lunch/dinner/tea one. I'd say in the winter it starts at dusk, and in the summer at about 6 o'clock.
Or to put it more succinctly, evening starts either at dusk or at 6pm, whichever is sooner.
If you don't agree with that, you're bloody uncivilised savages
For once I have to agree 100% with you.
My wife's (& my) Christmas present from our son and his family is a Champagne tea at Claridges. That's scheduled for mid-afternoon.
Incidentally, do I have wear a tie?
No tie needed. I think Claridges have no explicit dress code at all, but you'll feel out of place without a collared shirt and a jacket I'd suggest.
Last time I was at Claridges being dressed reasonably was more likely to make one feel out of place. The place had gone to the dogs, ditto the Ritz and Fortnums at least as far as afternoon tea is concerned.
Last year I had tea with Herself at the V&A, not in the same league, I know, but it was jolly nice and full of nice people (staff and punters). I think I'd sooner take my wife there rather than the usual haunts.
iPads for the Ritz staff...totally not on.
The Ritz insists on ties I think. The Dorchester is fussy about shoes. It's just their quest for money these days. I can't think of a single establishment in London that would actually let me in, and keep a Russian gangster out.
I know two.
Well. At least they would keep a Russian gangster out. I don't know you..,
Yes. Where I lived we got the two ITV signals: the London one and the one for the south of England. So an interesting juxtaposition of news was available: Brixton riots and council corruption in Haringey; farmer Giles wins Hampshire best beef herd for second year running.
We could get TVS too! I remember watching Southampton vs Liverpool highlights in 89 on a v dodgy reception. Nowadays you can watch all regional tv on Sky (well BBC)
Those London Programme titles and music actually look and feel exactly how London was in the early 80s to me. A kind of grimy, edgy atmosphere, it is certainly much nicer now in general
It's very possible to have a good lunch at 3pm, ideally in a good pub on a Saturday, as you can allow the experience to drift long into the evening. The idea that dinner can be something consumed in the middle of the day is dying out I think, even in the the north. If you go to a restaurant in the north they call lunch lunch and dinner dinner. They don't call lunch dinner.
P.S. There is no such thing as brunch, unless you are Australian.
Talking about the last bit but in an American sense. Why do we not have the American "brunch" when entire families go to the eateries to have breakfast ? The weather / climate is not that different. I should have added on weekends.
This is incredible. The last deterrent to false rape accusations is about to be removed. Rape complainants are already anonymous for life, now they won't even have to go to court. They will be video-taped somewhere else
You want revenge on your boyfriend? Did you have sex? Pah, just accuse him of rape. You will never be named, and you will never even have to see him in a court-room. He will get a year of hell, and be named, even if acquitted.
One effect of this would be to increase the rate of acquittals, I should think. If I were a juror, how could I convict a Defendant if their counsel had not had the chance to cross-examine the complainant in front of me?
It's very possible to have a good lunch at 3pm, ideally in a good pub on a Saturday, as you can allow the experience to drift long into the evening. The idea that dinner can be something consumed in the middle of the day is dying out I think, even in the the north. If you go to a restaurant in the north they call lunch lunch and dinner dinner. They don't call lunch dinner.
P.S. There is no such thing as brunch, unless you are Australian.
Talking about the last bit but in an American sense. Why do we not have the American "brunch" when entire families go to the eateries to have breakfast ? The weather / climate is not that different. I should have added on weekends.
Eating out for us revolves around booze rather than sugar I guess!
Regarding the thread to date, I find it hard to believe that ChaosOdin earns £100,000-£250,000 a year gross, literally thousands of pounds a week, and is nonetheless reduced to eating fish finger sandwiches for supper. What are these, caviar fish fingers?
Can someone explain?
I am in that income bracket, and rather like a fish finger sandwich every now and again. I am quite partial to beans on toast too.
Regarding the thread to date, I find it hard to believe that ChaosOdin earns £100,000-£250,000 a year gross, literally thousands of pounds a week, and is nonetheless reduced to eating fish finger sandwiches for supper. What are these, caviar fish fingers?
Can someone explain?
Sorry to sound gauche, I'm in that income bracket too, and sometimes you don't have the energy or time to cook something exotic.
Food is a lot like girlfriends, sometimes you need something cheap and easy.
I see there has been a discussion of food, poshness and suppers.
I once nearly wrote a book on The Seven Sins, including Gluttony, and discovered just how much King Edward VII ate, on a regular basis (and he was quite a fashion-setter, from his taste in food, right down to the unbuttoned lower waistcoat button)
Here you go:
For Edward, the day began with a glass of Guernsey milk in bed. Then he would shuffle down to breakfast: which comprised platefuls of bacon and eggs, and poached haddock, and chicken, with lashings of toast and butter.
Thus fortified, he would shoot pheasant for a couple of hours before imbibing hot turtle soup for elevenses, being sure to leave enough room for luncheon: maybe some game or cold meats, with big spreads of dressed salad and vegetables.
This was swiftly followed by tea at four, where, as his band played along, Edward would help himself to petit fours, preserved ginger, rolls, poached eggs, scones, hot cakes, cold cakes, sweet cakes and a special kind of Scotch shortcake.
Eight thirty brought a formal dinner, which comprised at least twelve courses, and invariably included whole salmons and turbots, various potages and soups, saddles of mutton, sirloins of beef, curries from India, dishes of snipe, ortolans, plover, goose, hare, and woodcock, followed by devilled herring and cream cheese, madeira, nuts, port, and liquers with chocolate. Edward was also as fond of peasant dishes like Irish stews and Scotch Broth as he was partial to sevruga. Then again, he did like quails hard-stuffed with foie gras and served with truffles, oysters, and prawns.
Towards the end of the evening, Edward would remind his guests of the benefit of a good supper before bed, perhaps some smoked oysters. Then he himself retired. But that wasn't quite the end of things.
Just in case the near-famished Prince got a little peckish in the wee small hours, his manservant would place a cold roast chicken on the royal bedside.
And he drank like a fish, smoked like a chimney, fornicated like a rabbit, and reached the ripe old age (for those days) of 70.
Regarding the thread to date, I find it hard to believe that ChaosOdin earns £100,000-£250,000 a year gross, literally thousands of pounds a week, and is nonetheless reduced to eating fish finger sandwiches for supper. What are these, caviar fish fingers?
Can someone explain?
To be fair to me I wanted to eat something nicer, but it was all my husband was willing to make me. And the most cooking I will do for myself these days is a bowl of cereal in the morning for my 5 year old daughter.
Last year I earned over the bracket you suggest (just) but didn't have half such an exotic life. I made it to Florida for two weeks in August but that was about it. So I do completely see your point!
I did just spend 1k on a fish pond filter... that is a cool rich person thing to do right?.....
Regarding the thread to date, I find it hard to believe that ChaosOdin earns £100,000-£250,000 a year gross, literally thousands of pounds a week, and is nonetheless reduced to eating fish finger sandwiches for supper. What are these, caviar fish fingers?
Can someone explain?
I am in that income bracket, and rather like a fish finger sandwich every now and again. I am quite partial to beans on toast too.
Then you're an idiot. Life is short. If you can afford great food, eat it as often as you can, from an aged ribeye fried at home, to black cod at Nobu. One day you will be dead, and the money means nothing.
This food doesn't have to be complex. It can be humble. Picnic food. But at the age of 53, with a bunch of money, and dwindling years ahead, if I'm doing a picnic I want jamon iberico de bellota, with artisanal sourdough bread, and tomatoes that basically give me a minor orgasm.
And Pio Cesare Barbaresco.
What about those famously frugal billionaires, like the brothers at Aldi and Lidl, who would chide people for throwing away pencils which still had an inch left in them, or the IKEA chap, who apparently uses bog standard IKEA furniture? They must have wasted some of those billions on something.
This is going to possibly the most ridiculous thing I have ever said, and I would only say it in the safety of an anonymous message board, but my approx. £250k a year doesn't make me feel that rich.
I just burned loads of my savings buying a house, so that may be part of it, but I also always worry that it could all end at any moment. I have a small software company and I am always worried that someone could come up with better products and we could go bust.
I don't know what else I would be able to get a job doing these days.
I see there has been a discussion of food, poshness and suppers.
I once nearly wrote a book on The Seven Sins, including Gluttony, and discovered just how much King Edward VII ate, on a regular basis (and he was quite a fashion-setter, from his taste in food, right down to the unbuttoned lower waistcoat button)
Here you go:
For Edward, the day began with a glass of Guernsey milk in bed. Then he would shuffle down to breakfast: which comprised platefuls of bacon and eggs, and poached haddock, and chicken, with lashings of toast and butter.
Thus fortified, he would shoot pheasant for a couple of hours before imbibing hot turtle soup for elevenses, being sure to leave enough room for luncheon: maybe some game or cold meats, with big spreads of dressed salad and vegetables.
This was swiftly followed by tea at four, where, as his band played along, Edward would help himself to petit fours, preserved ginger, rolls, poached eggs, scones, hot cakes, cold cakes, sweet cakes and a special kind of Scotch shortcake.
Eight thirty brought a formal dinner, which comprised at least twelve courses, and invariably included whole salmons and turbots, various potages and soups, saddles of mutton, sirloins of beef, curries from India, dishes of snipe, ortolans, plover, goose, hare, and woodcock, followed by devilled herring and cream cheese, madeira, nuts, port, and liquers with chocolate. Edward was also as fond of peasant dishes like Irish stews and Scotch Broth as he was partial to sevruga. Then again, he did like quails hard-stuffed with foie gras and served with truffles, oysters, and prawns.
Towards the end of the evening, Edward would remind his guests of the benefit of a good supper before bed, perhaps some smoked oysters. Then he himself retired. But that wasn't quite the end of things.
Just in case the near-famished Prince got a little peckish in the wee small hours, his manservant would place a cold roast chicken on the royal bedside.
And he drank like a fish, smoked like a chimney, fornicated like a rabbit, and reached the ripe old age (for those days) of 70.
He was a DUDE.
Also, our beloved King had a special chair made by Parisian carpenters, so, despite his corpulence, he could have anal, vaginal and oral sex with three different French courtesans simultaneously.
I once tried to track down this chair, and got as far as the auctioneer who sold it a few years ago, but the client refused to be named.
This is incredible. The last deterrent to false rape accusations is about to be removed. Rape complainants are already anonymous for life, now they won't even have to go to court. They will be video-taped somewhere else
You want revenge on your boyfriend? Did you have sex? Pah, just accuse him of rape. You will never be named, and you will never even have to see him in a court-room. He will get a year of hell, and be named, even if acquitted.
It seems bizarre to change the fundamental principles of how a trial works for one type of offence. There are lots of other types of trial where a victim could be frightened or intimidated.
I don't see how this change would necessarily even work in the victims favour, because it allows the defendant to tell his side of the story to the jury, whereas the accuser is simply stuck with giving evidence by some sort of pre recorded video link. Wouldn't this actually make it easier for the defence to cast doubt on the accuser in some ways?
This has the hallmarks of a stupid idea pushed forward by an amateur Justice Secretary. Next she will be looking at changing the test for conviction from 'beyond reasonable doubt' to a balance of probabilities test. Because we all agree we need to get the conviction rate up and thats the main thing, right?
Tim Farron maintains that the country voted to depart, but not for a detination.
QED : Theresa May is driving the Brexit bus to
Hard Brexit.
Looks like she might sign us up for the Euro army under cover of Brexit. Is she double-bluffing the hardliners?
Why is this a problem? If we voluntarily sign up for something and can easily extricate ourselves after a change in govt after our own election then that's great. To be dragged into the same thing purely because we're stuck unwillingly in a huge amorphous wannabe-nationstate is a whole different cup of tuna.
Regarding the thread to date, I find it hard to believe that ChaosOdin earns £100,000-£250,000 a year gross, literally thousands of pounds a week, and is nonetheless reduced to eating fish finger sandwiches for supper. What are these, caviar fish fingers?
Can someone explain?
I am in that income bracket, and rather like a fish finger sandwich every now and again. I am quite partial to beans on toast too.
Then you're an idiot. Life is short. If you can afford great food, eat it as often as you can, from an aged ribeye fried at home, to black cod at Nobu. One day you will be dead, and the money means nothing.
This food doesn't have to be complex. It can be humble. Picnic food. But at the age of 53, with a bunch of money, and dwindling years ahead, if I'm doing a picnic I want jamon iberico de bellota, with artisanal sourdough bread, and tomatoes that basically give me a minor orgasm.
And Pio Cesare Barbaresco.
The pleasure of a meal is substantially in the company. If fox jr fancies vegetarian toad in the hole, then I am happy to make it.
I enjoy my money, but I enjoy the simple things too.
Mr. Quidder, JK Rowling got repeatedly turned down too.
Publishers, especially large ones, are very conservative and risk averse. Self-publishing does remove them as strict gatekeepers, but it's very hard to make any money writing (don't let Mr. T fool you, there are thousands of struggling writers for every mid-list author, and hundreds of them for every A-list author).
There are probably 100,000 pro or semi-pro writers in the UK. Probably 1000 of them make a good living, i.e. over £50,000 a year?
Probably 100, at most, make £250,000 a year or more: so just 1 in 1000 writers makes very serious dosh.
Probably 10 make a million a year, or more. And are just stupidly rich.
So other than JK and yourself, who are the other 8 ;-)
Probably Robert Harris, Neil Gaiman, the Tolkien Estate, among others mentioned.
James Patterson at the top there, with a fairly impressive £71 million in one year.
Nora Roberts has written more than 215 novels
Jesus!
It's rude to make fun of people's names, but I was delighted for Wikipedia to inform me that her first husband was Ronald Aufdem-Brinke, which is an A++ surname.
Comments
http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/the-great-scone-map-of-the-uk-and-ireland
FWIW, I'm middle class Mancunian with middle class Scots familial influences and have always been unequivocally in the rhyme-with-gone category.
P.S. There is no such thing as brunch, unless you are Australian.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4326322/Muslim-BBC-presenter-sparks-uproar.html#ixzz4bgKmDjAQ
oh
What do you think he meant by that?
https://twitter.com/BestoftheMail/status/843421306905378817
Well. At least they would keep a Russian gangster out. I don't know you..,
Those London Programme titles and music actually look and feel exactly how London was in the early 80s to me. A kind of grimy, edgy atmosphere, it is certainly much nicer now in general
https://twitter.com/newstatesman/status/843578326627176449
I don't, ergo....
3% of people do not think it is morally obligatory to save an innocent child at no risk to themselves.
Source - tomorrows FT
http://www.bild.de/bild-plus/sport/fussball/thomas-tuchel/arsenal-fragt-an-dzfehlt-50916338,view=conversionToLogin.bild.html
Food is a lot like girlfriends, sometimes you need something cheap and easy.
Last year I earned over the bracket you suggest (just) but didn't have half such an exotic life. I made it to Florida for two weeks in August but that was about it. So I do completely see your point!
I did just spend 1k on a fish pond filter... that is a cool rich person thing to do right?.....
QED : Theresa May is driving the Brexit bus to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq4OtRsdXls
Hard Brexit.
I just burned loads of my savings buying a house, so that may be part of it, but I also always worry that it could all end at any moment. I have a small software company and I am always worried that someone could come up with better products and we could go bust.
I don't know what else I would be able to get a job doing these days.
NEW THREAD
I don't see how this change would necessarily even work in the victims favour, because it allows the defendant to tell his side of the story to the jury, whereas the accuser is simply stuck with giving evidence by some sort of pre recorded video link. Wouldn't this actually make it easier for the defence to cast doubt on the accuser in some ways?
This has the hallmarks of a stupid idea pushed forward by an amateur Justice Secretary. Next she will be looking at changing the test for conviction from 'beyond reasonable doubt' to a balance of probabilities test. Because we all agree we need to get the conviction rate up and thats the main thing, right?
If we voluntarily sign up for something and can easily extricate ourselves after a change in govt after our own election then that's great.
To be dragged into the same thing purely because we're stuck unwillingly in a huge amorphous wannabe-nationstate is a whole different cup of tuna.
I enjoy my money, but I enjoy the simple things too.