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  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,673
    edited January 2020
    HYUFD said:

    It is mainly shellfish exported to the EU, haddock etc is eaten here.

    I doubt the UK will ban all EU fishing in UK waters but as Varadkar states if the UK wants to increase the share of UK fishing fleets in UK waters that will mean a reduction of UK financial services presence in EU financial markets especially as Boris has made clear there will be no more full alignment with EU regulations
    Boris making something “clear” is meaningless.

    He keeps making clear there will be no customs border in the Irish Sea and that’s complete nonsense.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Entry 240,000,000 in America is just fucked up dude.

    https://twitter.com/ddmeyer/status/1220480907393372160?s=19
  • justin124 said:

    It was very moving . He was an active member of Maidenhead Labour Party and well known to Theresa May.
    'Ardent socialist' according to wiki, though I guess the ardour may have died down with age. Great man though.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,191
    Alright, who changed PB’s font?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,897
    edited January 2020

    Why. And it is not a policy - I watch few if any films anyway, just the violence in so many turns me off
    It's bizarre because 'american films' is not a genre definable by one element that is objected to. As with lots of things, adding 'most' or 'many' would make a bizarre generalisation much more reasonable, eg I don't watch most american films.

    It'd be like saying I never listen to any music because some rap songs contain the n word.
  • HYUFD said:

    It is mainly shellfish exported to the EU, haddock etc is eaten here.

    I doubt the UK will ban all EU fishing in UK waters but as Varadkar states if the UK wants to increase the share of UK fishing fleets in UK waters that will mean a reduction of UK financial services presence in EU financial markets especially as Boris has made clear there will be no more full alignment with EU regulations
    The test would be us being within the common fishing policy or not. There is a claim that spanish trawlers come and rake the sea of fish ignoring all rules in knowledge that there are no consequences to doing whatever they so wish.

    of course this might be baseless.. I suspect not though. When people become aware they can get away with something they will behave without any regard to the law/rules.
  • justin124 said:

    It was very moving . He was an active member of Maidenhead Labour Party and well known to Theresa May.
    I think he might have served as a labour councillor.
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    'Ardent socialist' according to wiki, though I guess the ardour may have died down with age. Great man though.

    'Ardent socialist' according to wiki, though I guess the ardour may have died down with age. Great man though.
    Indeed - a great example to all.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,284

    That is just so emotional and enriching
    Just can’t stop crying.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507

    Mr Dubs was playing the game and he knows it. I suspect you do also.
    Mr Dubs was one of those child refugees saved from the Nazis by actions such as those of Nicholas Winton. I doubt he considers saving children’s lives to be any sort of “game”.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,284
    Alistair said:

    Entry 240,000,000 in America is just fucked up dude.

    https://twitter.com/ddmeyer/status/1220480907393372160?s=19

    Looks like a classic example of plea bargaining to me. The DA will accept a plea down to 280 but not below it. Hence the bump.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,256
    edited January 2020

    Thanks for confirming my point.
    That Scotland is failing on devolved issues.....whose fault's that then?
  • MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    RobD said:

    Alright, who changed PB’s font?

    Wordpress has been updated and we are still getting the hang of it
  • Cyclefree said:

    Mr Dubs was one of those child refugees saved from the Nazis by actions such as those of Nicholas Winton. I doubt he considers saving children’s lives to be any sort of “game”.
    This was a game. Insert an amendment on emotional issue. Get someone who has good back story. Pure naked politics.

    This was never about the issue but about causing maximum damage knowing that the amendment would have to be removed.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,289

    Golly, the Union doesn't seem to be working very well for 3/4 of its members.
    I love this. Absolutely love this.

    Scotland does poorly = it's the Union.

    Scotland does well = it's the SNP Government of course!
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507
    DavidL said:

    Just can’t stop crying.
    The full documentary about him is worth watching - https://youtu.be/nT0yPjj0UqQ.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,289
    HYUFD said:

    It is mainly shellfish exported to the EU, haddock etc is eaten here.

    I doubt the UK will ban all EU fishing in UK waters but as Varadkar states if the UK wants to increase the share of UK fishing fleets in UK waters that will mean a reduction of UK financial services presence in EU financial markets especially as Boris has made clear there will be no more full alignment with EU regulations
    Diddums. Financial services is one of the few industries in the UK that can totally dust themselves off from even the hardest of Brexits.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,289
    HYUFD said:
    This must be one of those triple-bluffs if it's Peston reporting it.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,284

    Will the fish be asked to show their passports before making the ultimate sacrifice?
    Well if they don’t they get battered.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,289
    FF43 said:

    I think there's a haggle to be had in fishing where access ends up slightly less than now. This then gets highlighted as a UK "win", along with rhetoric around UK being an independent coastal state with control of its waters.

    It's in the the interest of neither side to allow fishing to block a deal.
    A post of yours I agree with for a change.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 29,306

    Utter rubbish. There is vast variety in the French portfolio, even for those that favour fruity plonk.
    Well, it has been some years since I did my sommelier training, and I did only complete level one, but I'm fairly confident it isn't utter rubbish, thanks anyway.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507

    This was a game. Insert an amendment on emotional issue. Get someone who has good back story. Pure naked politics.

    This was never about the issue but about causing maximum damage knowing that the amendment would have to be removed.
    Lord Dubs has been campaigning on this issue for a long time. He wasn’t just put forward at the last minute as a front because of his emotional backstory.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,289
    DavidL said:

    Looks like a classic example of plea bargaining to me. The DA will accept a plea down to 280 but not below it. Hence the bump.
    One of the worst aspects of the American justice system.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210
    DavidL said:

    Well if they don’t they get battered.
    Blimey. If that’s the best you can manage tonight we really have been left with just crumbs.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,112
    IanB2 said:

    Those made during and close after the war can be excused.

    To take your light hearted point seriously, I wonder whether an American would make Dunkirk in the same way. It's hardly a victory, however it was spun.
    One of the interesting things about that film was that it showed that that was how the squaddies thought they would be received. As failures.
  • EndillionEndillion Posts: 4,976
    ydoethur said:

    Blimey. If that’s the best you can manage tonight we really have been left with just crumbs.
    I think someone's feeding him lines.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 43,317
    RobD said:

    Alright, who changed PB’s font?

    It's a bit faint.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,284

    One of the worst aspects of the American justice system.
    The blackmail and long periods on remand are not good but plea bargaining is an essential part of any criminal justice system. There is simply not the capacity to operate any other way.

    When I operated as a fiscal I took the view that if something was being charged on summary complaint it was not that serious. It was intended to mark the card, make sure that the offender was not entitled to the presumption against a prison sentence that a first offender gets, sometimes just so they could be recalled on a sentence partly served. I was always open to deleting parts of the charge to avoid a trial. These days fiscals hands are much more tightly bound. No dropping a racial or sexual aggravation even if the evidence is poor. It is not an improvement.
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 4,502
    HYUFD said:

    So if more fish is caught by British fishermen more will be bought by British consumers.

    British fish from British waters for British dining tables
    You can’t force Brits to eat more fish ! They simply don’t eat that much . It doesn’t matter if you stick another stupid nationalistic slogan on it .
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,284
    Cyclefree said:

    Lord Dubs has been campaigning on this issue for a long time. He wasn’t just put forward at the last minute as a front because of his emotional backstory.
    I think that some people have just earned the right to a certain slack when judging their motives. For me anyone off a Kindertrain is such a person.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210
    nico67 said:

    You can’t force Brits to eat more fish ! They simply don’t eat that much . It doesn’t matter if you stick another stupid nationalistic slogan on it .
    I dunno, as a nation we seem to have got through the entire stock of Kippers recently.
  • timmotimmo Posts: 1,469
    edited January 2020
    I do hope we have a post on the possible global impact of Coronavirus.
    I went to a local authority planning session today for possible pandemic..its not Brexit we have to worry about I can assure you. you
  • Cyclefree said:

    Lord Dubs has been campaigning on this issue for a long time. He wasn’t just put forward at the last minute as a front because of his emotional backstory.
    I'm not sure if i should congratulate the statecraft of Dubs and Labour, or laugh at your naivety.

    Everything you've said about Dubs been a campaigner for a long time is absolutely true. However attaching this amendment to this bill was pure naked politics, and done in the absolute full knowledge that it would be overturned.
  • HYUFD said:

    So if more fish is caught by British fishermen more will be bought by British consumers.

    British fish from British waters for British dining tables
    Fish isn't vegetarian, let alone vegan!
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,284
    nico67 said:

    You can’t force Brits to eat more fish ! They simply don’t eat that much . It doesn’t matter if you stick another stupid nationalistic slogan on it .
    Not sure. In the 1800s some Scottish estate contracts used to stipulate that the food supplied to employees would not be salmon more than 4x a week. More recently I had serious problems with my gall bladder and I eat far more fish and less red meat as a result.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 43,317
    FF43 said:

    I think there's a haggle to be had in fishing where access ends up slightly less than now. This then gets highlighted as a UK "win", along with rhetoric around UK being an independent coastal state with control of its waters.

    It's in the the interest of neither side to allow fishing to block a deal.

    Iconic phrase for many Leavers. And it does sound rather noble and rugged TBF.
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 4,502
    If Bozo was so intent on uniting got the country after Brexit he wouldn’t tell his lobby fodder MPs to vote down amendments that clearly show he has no intention of doing zip to heal the divisions .

    The Dubs amendment and the one on Erasmus .

    Both voted down . He could have put forward some worded slightly different , even a few crumbs to indicate the country isn’t going to turn into a mean spirited rock on the shores of mainland Europe .

  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,671


    Fish isn't vegetarian, let alone vegan!

    What's that got to do with the price of fish ?
  • Pulpstar said:

    What's that got to do with the price of fish ?
    You've got no sole!
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,284
    ydoethur said:

    Blimey. If that’s the best you can manage tonight we really have been left with just crumbs.
    Surely at least a goujon.
  • nico67 said:

    If Bozo was so intent on uniting got the country after Brexit he wouldn’t tell his lobby fodder MPs to vote down amendments that clearly show he has no intention of doing zip to heal the divisions .

    The Dubs amendment and the one on Erasmus .

    Both voted down . He could have put forward some worded slightly different , even a few crumbs to indicate the country isn’t going to turn into a mean spirited rock on the shores of mainland Europe .

    Erasmus includes non-EU members like Turkey and Iceland.
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    timmo said:

    I do hope we have a post on the possible global impact of Coronavirus.
    I went to a local authority planning session today for possible pandemic..its not Brexit we have to worry about I can assure you. you

    Indeed
  • timmo said:

    I do hope we have a post on the possible global impact of Coronavirus.
    I went to a local authority planning session today for possible pandemic..its not Brexit we have to worry about I can assure you. you

    I do remember going to one of those for bird flu. What to do in the case of digging trenches and burying people as quickly as possible without family identification after death, death certificates signed without a visit by doctors, refrigerated lorries as temporary mortuaries.

    Referred to as "different ways of working".

    Probably not much different with a bit of added twitter.
  • Erasmus includes non-EU members like Turkey and Iceland.
    Yup, we used to be members of Erasmus in our own right, now we have to readmit. I would be surprised if we dont opt back in. But like the Dubs amendment, it was put in to fail.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 29,306


    One thing is that some of the French wine makers have disappeared up their own fundements - ridiculous prices, complex flavours that are massively over done etc. Keep an open mind & drink what you actually like. Some of the best Chardonnay comes from... Bulgaria. But you have to go there to drink it - for the moment

    If you can, visit where the wine is made. You can *see* the idiots from miles away - over restored buildings, complete with tasting rooms with 20 foot glass walls etc.

    I think the French system is flawed, with appellations, and therefore the desirability of the wine based purely on geography, not on the skills and efforts of the winemaker. By contrast German system is a model of teutonic efficiency, with quality based on the amount of sugar in the grapes.
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 4,502
    Bizarely the DT lover of Brexit suggests Nissan might be heading for the exit door .

    Oh well don’t expect Remainers to shed many tears for the turkeys in Sunderland who voted for Christmas .
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 52,195

    I think the French system is flawed, with appellations, and therefore the desirability of the wine based purely on geography, not on the skills and efforts of the winemaker. By contrast German system is a model of teutonic efficiency, with quality based on the amount of sugar in the grapes.
    Quality and the amount of sugar in the grapes are only faintly related. I've suffered undrinkably dry Champagnes. And gloried in Tokay's that could create more cases of gout per bottle than anything else on the planet.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,442
    nico67 said:

    Bizarely the DT lover of Brexit suggests Nissan might be heading for the exit door .

    Oh well don’t expect Remainers to shed many tears for the turkeys in Sunderland who voted for Christmas .

    I shed tears.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 52,195

    I do remember going to one of those for bird flu. What to do in the case of digging trenches and burying people as quickly as possible without family identification after death, death certificates signed without a visit by doctors, refrigerated lorries as temporary mortuaries.

    Referred to as "different ways of working".

    Probably not much different with a bit of added twitter.
    Traffic wardens issued SLRs?
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507

    Indeed
    Purely selfishly, as someone currently suffering from a cold, sore throat, lost voice and a tight chest - and with lungs that are sub-optimal - I'd prefer not to read about respiratory viruses, snake-induced or otherwise.

    Fortunately since Xmas I’ve been holed up in a remote corner of Cumbria (with only a 2-day visit to London at NY to expose me to danger) so I’m hoping that it’s just the usual winter bug and I will see my next birthday in 2 weeks time.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,284
    timmo said:

    I do hope we have a post on the possible global impact of Coronavirus.
    I went to a local authority planning session today for possible pandemic..its not Brexit we have to worry about I can assure you. you

    Tens of thousands infected 81 dead, nearly all old or with breathing difficulties. Suggests to me very low mortality, very low risk. Disruptive certainly but pandemic probably not. Unless it mutates of course.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507

    I'm not sure if i should congratulate the statecraft of Dubs and Labour, or laugh at your naivety.

    Everything you've said about Dubs been a campaigner for a long time is absolutely true. However attaching this amendment to this bill was pure naked politics, and done in the absolute full knowledge that it would be overturned.
    What was the good reason for overturning it? And how naive do you have to be to believe government assurances that they will take steps to help child refugees separated from their parents living here?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210
    nico67 said:

    Bizarely the DT lover of Brexit suggests Nissan might be heading for the exit door .

    Oh well don’t expect Remainers to shed many tears for the turkeys in Sunderland who voted for Christmas .

    My fellow Remainers will when they need Sunderland’s taxes to bail them out following the unraveling of their embezzlement gravy trains, er, banking businesses.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210
    Cyclefree said:

    Purely selfishly, as someone currently suffering from a cold, sore throat, lost voice and a tight chest - and with lungs that are sub-optimal - I'd prefer not to read about respiratory viruses, snake-induced or otherwise.

    Fortunately since Xmas I’ve been holed up in a remote corner of Cumbria (with only a 2-day visit to London at NY to expose me to danger) so I’m hoping that it’s just the usual winter bug and I will see my next birthday in 2 weeks time.
    Blimey, Cyclefree, that is crazy. I hope they find the right thing to treat it with soon.
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    ydoethur said:



    I know Fairbourne well. I assure you there are Welsh people there, although yes, the majority are English. If you include Friog as part of Fairbourne the proportion rises further.

    The real reason the article is stupid is because it’s plum wrong. Dunwich and Ravenspur spring to mind as settlements lost to the sea without me even bothering to search my mind. I think there are about 40 others in Humberside and Holdernesse alone.

    With Fairbourne, I suspect it will continue to be threatened until the instant Network Rail say that if the railway line floods, Gwynedd will have to fund the repairs - and then there will be a sudden change of heart.

    I know the area very well too. We must meet up and look for orchids on the dunes of Morfa Henddol.

    If you too know the area well, then you will know that Friog is not part of Fairbourne. Friog is not built on the spit. The railway line is not on the spit either, and in any case the responsibility for the railway line will not lie with Cyngor Gwynedd.

    There are paintings of Morfa Henddol from the nineteenth century before Fairbourne ever existed. They show beautiful, desolate, lonely marshland, with no human habitation. The Welsh had too much sense to build anything permanent there.

    For over a century, there has been building of new properties on inadequately defended coastal plains and salt marsh in Wales -- land on which building should never have been allowed.

    Why did this happen?

    Since the coming of the railways over 160 years ago, tourists visited coastal Wales for their holidays, and this led to the growth of resorts where little or nothing had existed before. Many of those tourists wished to settle permanently, or retire to, Wales, so new homes were built for them . . . with the inevitable consequences.

    Fairbourne's location is truly breathtaking. But nothing, nothing can be done to save it.

    Fairbourne itself has no history. The ugly buildings are not worth saving. It is a collection of shabby and semi-derelict bungalows that disfigure some of the most beautiful landscapes in Wales.

    Fairbourne should be left to fall in the sea. It should never have been.
  • Cyclefree said:

    What was the good reason for overturning it? And how naive do you have to be to believe government assurances that they will take steps to help child refugees separated from their parents living here?
    You do realise you have been played?
  • ralphmalphralphmalph Posts: 2,201
    edited January 2020
    Varadkar is talking his own book. If the EU do not get access to UK waters (which in itself is the wrong term it is quota that they want) the Germans , Dutch, Belgians, French and Spanish will remind Leo that he is in the CFP and so they want much larger quotas in the Irish waters than they do now, meaning cut the Irish fishing fleet by a lot. Also with the City, Canary Dwarf has told him they like the liquidity in London and that London provides a lot of business for them so he should preserve this.
    They only thing Leo forgot to say was please.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507

    You do realise you have been played?
    Only if I believed a word of what either Labour or the Tories said on this topic. Which I don’t. I simply believe that Lord Dubs is absolutely sincere in his campaigning on this issue, whatever games other people may be playing.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210
    edited January 2020

    I know the area very well too. We must meet up and look for orchids on the dunes of Morfa Henddol.

    If you too know the area well, then you will know that Friog is not part of Fairbourne. Friog is not built on the spit. The railway line is not on the spit either, and in any case the responsibility for the railway line will not lie with Cyngor Gwynedd.

    I’m curious as to how you think the village can be flooded and the railway line saved, given parts of it are lower than the village and the passage across the marsh to Morfa Mawddach in particular is where any flooding would likely happen first.
  • Fish isn't vegetarian, let alone vegan!
    Its better than vegan, its edible.
  • Cyclefree said:

    Only if I believed a word of what either Labour or the Tories said on this topic. Which I don’t. I simply believe that Lord Dubs is absolutely sincere in his campaigning on this issue, whatever games other people may be playing.
    Lord Dubs I have no doubt is 100% sincere.

    Its sad to see partisan gameplaying on both side around this matter using it as a political football.

    I hope in the cold light of day this issue can be treated with the sobriety it deserves and the right actions are taken without partisan politics.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 53,296

    Quality and the amount of sugar in the grapes are only faintly related. I've suffered undrinkably dry Champagnes. And gloried in Tokay's that could create more cases of gout per bottle than anything else on the planet.
    Anything that induces gout should be buried in a very, very deep pit.

    In my case, it is scallops.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507
    ydoethur said:

    Blimey, Cyclefree, that is crazy. I hope they find the right thing to treat it with soon.
    Benylin, Strepsils and Nurofen. Plus wrapping up warm, lots of sleep and some nice Scotch broth. It took me a month to get over the very strong antibiotics I was on before.

    It’s doing wonders for my reading mind. Halfway through Max Hastings’ book on the Vietnam War. And there are some fantastic radio programmes to catch up on too.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507
    DavidL said:

    Tens of thousands infected 81 dead, nearly all old or with breathing difficulties. Suggests to me very low mortality, very low risk. Disruptive certainly but pandemic probably not. Unless it mutates of course.
    Assuming we believe the Chinese have told the truth ......
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507

    Lord Dubs I have no doubt is 100% sincere.

    Its sad to see partisan gameplaying on both side around this matter using it as a political football.

    I hope in the cold light of day this issue can be treated with the sobriety it deserves and the right actions are taken without partisan politics.
    Agreed.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210
    Cyclefree said:

    Benylin, Strepsils and Nurofen. Plus wrapping up warm, lots of sleep and some nice Scotch broth. It took me a month to get over the very strong antibiotics I was on before.

    It’s doing wonders for my reading mind. Halfway through Max Hastings’ book on the Vietnam War. And there are some fantastic radio programmes to catch up on too.
    Is it any good? Was thinking of buying it for my sixth formers.
  • The internet can have a twisted sense of humour sometimes. I was just browsing Steam to see if there was anything good in the sale and noticed this user recommendation [not from a friend], took a screenshot but snipped out the reviewers username . . .

    image
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    edited January 2020
    ydoethur said:

    I’m curious as to how you think the village can be flooded and the railway line saved, given parts of it are lower than the village and the passage across the marsh to Morfa Mawddach in particular is where any flooding would likely happen first.
    It is the shingle embankment of the spit that the Fairbourne villagers want strengthening. They want protection against the sea waves, not the Afon Mawddach.

    Morfa Mawddach is of course very susceptible to flooding -- but saving the railway line (which does not go along the spit) is clearly much, much cheaper than building a granite embankment to encase the spit and save Fairbourne.
  • timmotimmo Posts: 1,469
    DavidL said:

    Tens of thousands infected 81 dead, nearly all old or with breathing difficulties. Suggests to me very low mortality, very low risk. Disruptive certainly but pandemic probably not. Unless it mutates of course.
    I got the feeling that the government dont believe the low figures coming out of China...there is a sense of a much bigger problem than is being reported
  • ralphmalphralphmalph Posts: 2,201
    ydoethur said:

    Is it any good? Was thinking of buying it for my sixth formers.
    If you want to recommend background reading to them about the Vietnam War, then I would put forward Chickenhawk. The memoirs of a helicopter pilot in 1966 at the early stages.
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    Cyclefree said:

    The full documentary about him is worth watching - https://youtu.be/nT0yPjj0UqQ.
    Thank you for that. I believe I have seen it before , but well worth seeing again. It shows us humanity at its worst - and its very best.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,507
    It is. There is quite a lot of detail in it and it’s quite long (necessarily), so I’m glad I saw the Vietnam documentary series first. Helps with the context and background to how the US system works, why some in the US were so bothered by the “loss” of China etc.
  • MonkeysMonkeys Posts: 758
    Will we all start eating cheap lobster and scallops?
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688

    If you want to recommend background reading to them about the Vietnam War, then I would put forward Chickenhawk. The memoirs of a helicopter pilot in 1966 at the early stages.
    Better still, show them part or all of the outstanding 10-part Ken Burns Lynn Novick series. Superlatives don't come close.

    In Vietnam it's known as The American War although that tv series brilliantly tells about the antecedents.
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,097
    nico67 said:

    Bizarely the DT lover of Brexit suggests Nissan might be heading for the exit door .

    Oh well don’t expect Remainers to shed many tears for the turkeys in Sunderland who voted for Christmas .

    I suspect most of the people who actually work in the Nissan plant voted remain. No idea if that's true of course.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,289
    Cyclefree said:

    Purely selfishly, as someone currently suffering from a cold, sore throat, lost voice and a tight chest - and with lungs that are sub-optimal - I'd prefer not to read about respiratory viruses, snake-induced or otherwise.

    Fortunately since Xmas I’ve been holed up in a remote corner of Cumbria (with only a 2-day visit to London at NY to expose me to danger) so I’m hoping that it’s just the usual winter bug and I will see my next birthday in 2 weeks time.
    Sorry to hear that.

    Hope you get well soon 😊
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,289
    Cyclefree said:

    Assuming we believe the Chinese have told the truth ......
    I don't. It'll be all about face over there and wanting to show the world they're competent and have got it under control.

    Individual casualties can go whistle.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,851

    Erasmus includes non-EU members like Turkey and Iceland.
    And on Saturday morning it will not include us.
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    edited January 2020
    I watched the film Contagion (2011) again last night. The problem with it is that's like watching a documentary i.e. entirely plausible in almost every regard and eerily close to the opening sequences of the Coronavirus. The first half hour of the film is pretty gripping.

    It doesn't need to be said, I guess, but we're standing quite close to a precipice.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,731

    What a complete twat. I really do wonder what has happened to the once great Conservative Party. It has been taken over by morons that should be more at home in the BNP. They are too lacking in self awareness to realise how insanely thick they look.
    They not only look thick they are thick , really really thick.
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    p.s. get better soon Cyclefree x
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,671
    edited January 2020
    Press coverage of the Italian regional elections is amusing - in the build up was all about "Can the right/Salvini take Emilia romagna ?!"
    After the elction is all about his "failure" to do so (Despite a ~ 6% swing to the right), more or less ignoring the huge swing achieved in Calabria.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,851
    edited January 2020
    Cyclefree said:

    It is. There is quite a lot of detail in it and it’s quite long (necessarily), so I’m glad I saw the Vietnam documentary series first. Helps with the context and background to how the US system works, why some in the US were so bothered by the “loss” of China etc.

    Hastings is addictive: I've got all of his historical back catalogue. His latest is "Chastise" about the Dambuster raids and it's out in paperback in the Autumn.

    Ps major symps for the illness: sounds like no fun at all.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,731
    DavidL said:

    In my experience its whisky for the toasts but for the rest of the night you drink what you want. A spicy red is particularly good with haggis.
    For sure David , you drink what you want even for the toast to the haggis.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 53,296
    timmo said:

    I got the feeling that the government dont believe the low figures coming out of China...there is a sense of a much bigger problem than is being reported
    I suspect the numbers we are getting are at least a week old. Not wrong as such, just not current.....
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210

    It is the shingle embankment of the spit that the Fairbourne villagers want strengthening. They want protection against the sea waves, not the Afon Mawddach.

    Morfa Mawddach is of course very susceptible to flooding -- but saving the railway line (which does not go along the spit) is clearly much, much cheaper than building a granite embankment to encase the spit and save Fairbourne.
    If the spit goes, so does the railway line. Very expensively. I cannot see a realistic way of saving the railway line if the sea defences are abandoned other than to raise the whole section from Friog Rocks to Barmouth Bridge on an embankment, which will certainly cost more than saving the village.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210
    @Cyclefree and @ralphmalph thanks for those recommendations. Will check them out.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492
    Have any more CLPs nominated people tonight?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210
    BigRich said:

    Have any more CLPs nominated people tonight?

    Nah, they’re sticking to nominating aliens. Much more fun.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,731
    LOL, an septic erse posts crap from another septic erse. What a pair of losers.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492
    ydoethur said:

    Nah, they’re sticking to nominating aliens. Much more fun.
    and possibly better leaders of the labour part! :wink:

    (I could not get the spell check to correct candadits so people was the easy alternative)
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,731

    Will the fish be asked to show their passports before making the ultimate sacrifice?
    That clown is barking
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,731
    HYUFD said:

    There will be a deal, as Varadkar has stated it is a matter of balancing fishing and financial services access and of course most of the UK fishing catch actually goes to the UK domestic market
    The deal will be selling Scottish fisherman down the river to get some advantage for southern England, BAU for the Tories.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,731

    Rank (change vs 2006)
    England: 12 ( - )
    UK: 15 (-1)
    Scotland: 21 (-5)
    NI: 25 (-3)
    Wales: 27 (-5)

    Scotland's areas of decline within its control are both fully devolved - Education and Health. I'm not sure Westminster can be blamed for the price of oil....
    You really are a nasty bit of work.
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    ydoethur said:

    If the spit goes, so does the railway line. Very expensively. I cannot see a realistic way of saving the railway line if the sea defences are abandoned other than to raise the whole section from Friog Rocks to Barmouth Bridge on an embankment, which will certainly cost more than saving the village.
    The perimeter of the land against which you are protecting the ocean waves is much, much greater if you want to save the whole of the spit. So, I'd like to see your back-of-the-envelope calculation on costs :wink:

    I agree there is ~ 1 km of railway track that is built on the Morfa, and parts of it will have to be raised if the line continues to cross the Afon Mawddach at the Barmouth bridge.

    It may be cheaper to take the railway line to Penmaenpool & cross the Mawddach there (there is a road bridge of course at Penmaenpool).
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 73,136
    ydoethur said:

    @Cyclefree and @ralphmalph thanks for those recommendations. Will check them out.

    Have you read Nick Turse’s Kill Anything That Moves ?
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 29,306
    Cyclefree said:

    Purely selfishly, as someone currently suffering from a cold, sore throat, lost voice and a tight chest - and with lungs that are sub-optimal - I'd prefer not to read about respiratory viruses, snake-induced or otherwise.

    Fortunately since Xmas I’ve been holed up in a remote corner of Cumbria (with only a 2-day visit to London at NY to expose me to danger) so I’m hoping that it’s just the usual winter bug and I will see my next birthday in 2 weeks time.
    Hope you feel better soon. Have you tried apple cider vinegar? They sell the organic stuff in COOP now. I use it to make salad dressing. Delicious.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,731
    edited January 2020
    Cyclefree said:

    Benylin, Strepsils and Nurofen. Plus wrapping up warm, lots of sleep and some nice Scotch broth. It took me a month to get over the very strong antibiotics I was on before.

    It’s doing wonders for my reading mind. Halfway through Max Hastings’ book on the Vietnam War. And there are some fantastic radio programmes to catch up on too.
    Be careful, my wife was similar and is still in hospital unwell after a month. We thought it was just a virus but ended up very serious pneumonia which they are still trying to control.
    PS: Not trying to alarm you.
  • ralphmalphralphmalph Posts: 2,201
    Nigelb said:

    Have you read Nick Turse’s Kill Anything That Moves ?
    No, do you recommend?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,210
    edited January 2020

    The perimeter of the land against which you are protecting the ocean waves is much, much greater if you want to save the whole of the spit. So, I'd like to see your back-of-the-envelope calculation on costs :wink:

    I agree there is ~ 1 km of railway track that is built on the Morfa, and parts of it will have to be raised if the line continues to cross the Afon Mawddach at the Barmouth bridge.

    It may be cheaper to take the railway line to Penmaenpool & cross the Mawddach there (there is a road bridge of course at Penmaenpool).
    Okaaaay...

    But since the land actually rises from Morfa Mawddach (where the line to Dolgellau diverged) to Barmouth Bridge, I’m not quite sure how that helps. The low point is about 400 yards north of Fairbourne station.

    I’m also wondering how (a) you get it back to Barmouth from Penmaenpool and (b) how the bloody hell you get the train to do a sharp right angled turn at the George III to cross the bridge.
This discussion has been closed.