There is still some 3.3 available with BF to lay Sunak for next Tory leader.
I say this half in jest but also with some seriousness that, for those backing Sunak, it's worth bearing in mind that he is only 5'5" and always looks dwarfed when he stands next to almost all male counterparts (and some female ones). There are enough studies out there to show that height - at least for a man - seems to have some effect on how a leader is perceived. I suspect it might be more of an issue within the internal Conservative electorate for the leadership.
Yes, good point. We've come a fair way in ditching the old prejudices about who can be PM - e.g. the last but one was not an Old Etonian - but is the country ready for a midget?
He's not a midget. He appears to be a normal sized human - who has been ingeniously miniatuarised by Japanese engineers. He is nano-tech applied to senior British politicians
And yes, FWIW, I do believe it will be an issue. As will this budget, which is already falling apart under closer scrutiny
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
Starmer can't have said that can he
I've found the source - it's Darlington's MP - an idiot of the highest order who I must remember to give a set of NI export papers to fill in to.
The full quote I believe:
“For the Chancellor, levelling up seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and reannouncing funding. That isn’t levelling up, it’s giving up.”
I haven't checked Hansard.
So as I said it's not an actual quote - it misses out the important bits of "few freeports and reannouncing funding" both of which are valid points for the second sentence.
Yes. It is like a film review on a poster or a book review on some pulp fiction. Technically accurate, but misleading.
Both parties do this - taking quotes out of context - and it doesn't help anyone. The misquoting of Boris saying "On the chin", for example...
Of course the difference is that Johnson was saying that 'some were saying take it on the chin' but he disagrees with that, with the snip at 'take it on the chin' to make it look like he was agreeing rather than disagreeing with that sentiment.
Starmer said that amongst other things sending jobs to Darlington was "giving up". That was snipped to say that . . . amongst other things sending jobs to Darlington was "giving up". He didn't disagree with what was quoted, its not misrepresented at all.
To be fair to Starmer (and I'm definitely not a fan), I think he was implying that moving the treasury wasn't delivering much, not that it was necessarily a bad idea.
That's 10s of millions for the local economy, though.
Not to mention that if you have the top mandarins being forced to even pass through the place, they will be making sure that a lot of spending accidentally happens there.
The Darlington branch of the Royal Opera House - where would that go?
Well the Hippodrome has been refurbished and now seats 1000 people (taking it up to the top tier of touring productions) and I think the Majestic seats 400....
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
In fairness to SKS this was not the full quote as he also mentioned freeports, but allowing for that he does seem to disagree that moving the treasury to Darlington and awarding freeport status to Teeside can be classed as 'levelling up.'
I suspect the majority of people in that part of the North East would disagree with him. I'd say Ben Houchen is a lot more popular in those parts right now than Sir Keir.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
Starmer can't have said that can he
I've found the source - it's Darlington's MP - an idiot of the highest order who I must remember to give a set of NI export papers to fill in to.
The full quote I believe:
“For the Chancellor, levelling up seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and reannouncing funding. That isn’t levelling up, it’s giving up.”
I haven't checked Hansard.
So as I said it's not an actual quote - it misses out the important bits of "few freeports and reannouncing funding" both of which are valid points for the second sentence.
Yes. It is like a film review on a poster or a book review on some pulp fiction. Technically accurate, but misleading.
Both parties do this - taking quotes out of context - and it doesn't help anyone. The misquoting of Boris saying "On the chin", for example...
Of course the difference is that Johnson was saying that 'some were saying take it on the chin' but he disagrees with that, with the snip at 'take it on the chin' to make it look like he was agreeing rather than disagreeing with that sentiment.
Starmer said that amongst other things sending jobs to Darlington was "giving up". That was snipped to say that . . . amongst other things sending jobs to Darlington was "giving up". He didn't disagree with what was quoted, its not misrepresented at all.
To be fair to Starmer (and I'm definitely not a fan), I think he was implying that moving the treasury wasn't delivering much, not that it was necessarily a bad idea.
That's 10s of millions for the local economy, though.
Not to mention that if you have the top mandarins being forced to even pass through the place, they will be making sure that a lot of spending accidentally happens there.
The Darlington branch of the Royal Opera House - where would that go?
Well the Hippodrome has been refurbished and now seats 1000 people (taking it up to the top tier of touring productions) and I think the Majestic seats 400....
Excellent. Need at least a half-dozen high end restaurants, next....
Great. Now there's an enormous solitary magpie sitting out there on my study balcony, squawking hellishly in my direction, like yer Actual Harbinger of Doom
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Fancy living ten miles from hope; can things get any worse?
11 miles from hope?
Two years ago I did a roadtrip around the SW USA. We passed through a bleak, tiny town in the desert called Hope. As we drove through, and exited, there was a sign saying You Are Now Beyond Hope
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
In fairness to SKS this was not the full quote as he also mentioned freeports, but allowing for that he does seem to disagree that moving the treasury to Darlington and awarding freeport status to Teeside can be classed as 'levelling up.'
I suspect the majority of people in that part of the North East would disagree with him. I'd say Ben Houchen is a lot more popular in those parts right now than Sir Keir.
It's poor politics from him. In trying to get in a cheap gag, he's left himself open to this sort of thing.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Fancy living ten miles from hope; can things get any worse?
11 miles from hope?
Two years ago I did a roadtrip around the SW USA. We passed through a bleak, tiny town in the desert called Hope. As we drove through, and exited, there was a sign saying You Are Now Beyond Hope
Moon willing to receive AstraZeneca vaccine shot: Cheong Wa Dae https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/119_304998.html President Moon Jae-in may take a COVID-19 vaccine, probably made by AstraZeneca, in the near future, his office said Thursday.
A specific schedule for a possible vaccination would be decided considering a related manual of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and the diplomatic calendar, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok told reporters.
He cited the possibility that Britain will host an in-person Group of Seven (G-7) summit in June. Moon has been invited to the session.
Health authorities have a priority list for the people to benefit from the free-of-charge vaccination program that got under way here last week. But there is an exception if urgent foreign travel is required, Kang pointed out.
A Cheong Wa Dae official later reaffirmed that Moon, 68, plans to "willingly" take AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine shot, as Pfizer-produced ones are now available for medical workers. ...
Great. Now there's an enormous solitary magpie sitting out there on my study balcony, squawking hellishly in my direction, like yer Actual Harbinger of Doom
And it is 5 degrees outside
You only have to worry about a single magpie up til noon. After noon they have no malevolent magical power.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Fancy living ten miles from hope; can things get any worse?
11 miles from hope?
Two years ago I did a roadtrip around the SW USA. We passed through a bleak, tiny town in the desert called Hope. As we drove through, and exited, there was a sign saying You Are Now Beyond Hope
Any good restaurants?
No. It was indescribably bleak, in the way that only small town, derelict America can be. In a town called Hope I have never felt such Hopelessness.
There is still some 3.3 available with BF to lay Sunak for next Tory leader.
I say this half in jest but also with some seriousness that, for those backing Sunak, it's worth bearing in mind that he is only 5'5" and always looks dwarfed when he stands next to almost all male counterparts (and some female ones). There are enough studies out there to show that height - at least for a man - seems to have some effect on how a leader is perceived. I suspect it might be more of an issue within the internal Conservative electorate for the leadership.
Yes, good point. We've come a fair way in ditching the old prejudices about who can be PM - e.g. the last but one was not an Old Etonian - but is the country ready for a midget?
He's not a midget. He appears to be a normal sized human - who has been ingeniously miniatuarised by Japanese engineers. He is nano-tech applied to senior British politicians
And yes, FWIW, I do believe it will be an issue. As will this budget, which is already falling apart under closer scrutiny
FWIW, I was told when I joined the FCO in 1980 that some very high percentage (I forget the exact number, but think it was upwards of 80%) of Ambassadors were over 6' and the average height was something like 6' 2"
There is still some 3.3 available with BF to lay Sunak for next Tory leader.
I say this half in jest but also with some seriousness that, for those backing Sunak, it's worth bearing in mind that he is only 5'5" and always looks dwarfed when he stands next to almost all male counterparts (and some female ones). There are enough studies out there to show that height - at least for a man - seems to have some effect on how a leader is perceived. I suspect it might be more of an issue within the internal Conservative electorate for the leadership.
Yes, good point. We've come a fair way in ditching the old prejudices about who can be PM - e.g. the last but one was not an Old Etonian - but is the country ready for a midget?
More importantly, is Rishi ready to be a dinky PM? Pretty much every full-length photo of him I recall is taken from a funny angle, as if someone is trying to confuse the heck out of the viewer.
There is still some 3.3 available with BF to lay Sunak for next Tory leader.
I say this half in jest but also with some seriousness that, for those backing Sunak, it's worth bearing in mind that he is only 5'5" and always looks dwarfed when he stands next to almost all male counterparts (and some female ones). There are enough studies out there to show that height - at least for a man - seems to have some effect on how a leader is perceived. I suspect it might be more of an issue within the internal Conservative electorate for the leadership.
This problem can easily be solved by only ever picturing Rishi next to Priti.
It even has a suitably terse and laconic Wiki page
"Hope is a small unincorporated community in the deserts of La Paz County, Arizona, United States. Its name was inspired by the community's hope for increased business after merchants visited the town. Today, it consists of one RV park, one gas station, one church, and one antique store."
Great. Now there's an enormous solitary magpie sitting out there on my study balcony, squawking hellishly in my direction, like yer Actual Harbinger of Doom
And it is 5 degrees outside
You only have to worry about a single magpie up til noon. After noon they have no malevolent magical power.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
In fairness to SKS this was not the full quote as he also mentioned freeports, but allowing for that he does seem to disagree that moving the treasury to Darlington and awarding freeport status to Teeside can be classed as 'levelling up.'
I suspect the majority of people in that part of the North East would disagree with him. I'd say Ben Houchen is a lot more popular in those parts right now than Sir Keir.
It's poor politics from him. In trying to get in a cheap gag, he's left himself open to this sort of thing.
Not to worry - it's not as if he is a north London MP who's inherited a big problem for his party in their former heartlands. Oh...wait a minute...
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
Starmer can't have said that can he
I've found the source - it's Darlington's MP - an idiot of the highest order who I must remember to give a set of NI export papers to fill in to.
The full quote I believe:
“For the Chancellor, levelling up seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and reannouncing funding. That isn’t levelling up, it’s giving up.”
I haven't checked Hansard.
So as I said it's not an actual quote - it misses out the important bits of "few freeports and reannouncing funding" both of which are valid points for the second sentence.
Yes. It is like a film review on a poster or a book review on some pulp fiction. Technically accurate, but misleading.
Both parties do this - taking quotes out of context - and it doesn't help anyone. The misquoting of Boris saying "On the chin", for example...
Of course the difference is that Johnson was saying that 'some were saying take it on the chin' but he disagrees with that, with the snip at 'take it on the chin' to make it look like he was agreeing rather than disagreeing with that sentiment.
Starmer said that amongst other things sending jobs to Darlington was "giving up". That was snipped to say that . . . amongst other things sending jobs to Darlington was "giving up". He didn't disagree with what was quoted, its not misrepresented at all.
To be fair to Starmer (and I'm definitely not a fan), I think he was implying that moving the treasury wasn't delivering much, not that it was necessarily a bad idea.
That's 10s of millions for the local economy, though.
Not to mention that if you have the top mandarins being forced to even pass through the place, they will be making sure that a lot of spending accidentally happens there.
The Darlington branch of the Royal Opera House - where would that go?
Well the Hippodrome has been refurbished and now seats 1000 people (taking it up to the top tier of touring productions) and I think the Majestic seats 400....
Excellent. Need at least a half-dozen high end restaurants, next....
What private schools are available, locally?
There's quite a few, ISTR, from the regular to the very posh indeed (Barnard Castle, of course).
There is still some 3.3 available with BF to lay Sunak for next Tory leader.
I say this half in jest but also with some seriousness that, for those backing Sunak, it's worth bearing in mind that he is only 5'5" and always looks dwarfed when he stands next to almost all male counterparts (and some female ones). There are enough studies out there to show that height - at least for a man - seems to have some effect on how a leader is perceived. I suspect it might be more of an issue within the internal Conservative electorate for the leadership.
Yes, good point. We've come a fair way in ditching the old prejudices about who can be PM - e.g. the last but one was not an Old Etonian - but is the country ready for a midget?
More importantly, is Rishi ready to be a dinky PM? Pretty much every full-length photo of him I recall is taken from a funny angle, as if someone is trying to confuse the heck out of the viewer.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Fancy living ten miles from hope; can things get any worse?
11 miles from hope?
Two years ago I did a roadtrip around the SW USA. We passed through a bleak, tiny town in the desert called Hope. As we drove through, and exited, there was a sign saying You Are Now Beyond Hope
Any good restaurants?
No. It was indescribably bleak, in the way that only small town, derelict America can be. In a town called Hope I have never felt such Hopelessness.
There's a lot of that in Arizona. The reservations are the worst. Yet the American Dream somehow lives on.
And Phoenix - probably the least sustainable city in the world - keeps on growing.
It would appear free money for all, with no requirement to repay is popular. Who would have thought?
Labour offer even more of this kind of thing. How popular are they?
Not true. Labour give with one hand and take with the other, which is no fun whatsoever. Sunak just gives free money, and lots of it, what's not to like?
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
Starmer can't have said that can he
I've found the source - it's Darlington's MP - an idiot of the highest order who I must remember to give a set of NI export papers to fill in to.
The full quote I believe:
“For the Chancellor, levelling up seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and reannouncing funding. That isn’t levelling up, it’s giving up.”
I haven't checked Hansard.
So as I said it's not an actual quote - it misses out the important bits of "few freeports and reannouncing funding" both of which are valid points for the second sentence.
Yes. It is like a film review on a poster or a book review on some pulp fiction. Technically accurate, but misleading.
Both parties do this - taking quotes out of context - and it doesn't help anyone. The misquoting of Boris saying "On the chin", for example...
Of course the difference is that Johnson was saying that 'some were saying take it on the chin' but he disagrees with that, with the snip at 'take it on the chin' to make it look like he was agreeing rather than disagreeing with that sentiment.
Starmer said that amongst other things sending jobs to Darlington was "giving up". That was snipped to say that . . . amongst other things sending jobs to Darlington was "giving up". He didn't disagree with what was quoted, its not misrepresented at all.
To be fair to Starmer (and I'm definitely not a fan), I think he was implying that moving the treasury wasn't delivering much, not that it was necessarily a bad idea.
That's 10s of millions for the local economy, though.
I agree - I think it is a good idea.
If you don't happen to live in Darlington, though, it might not cut through.
But plenty of people live in places like Darlington. Places that have felt ignored by many decades of London-dominance, followed by a couple of decades of London-plus-a-handful-of-favoured-big-cities dominance. It will cut through that the government is looking beyond those places. And, however unfairly, that Sneery Kier thinks anything outside of London is rubbish.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Fancy living ten miles from hope; can things get any worse?
11 miles from hope?
Two years ago I did a roadtrip around the SW USA. We passed through a bleak, tiny town in the desert called Hope. As we drove through, and exited, there was a sign saying You Are Now Beyond Hope
Any good restaurants?
No. It was indescribably bleak, in the way that only small town, derelict America can be. In a town called Hope I have never felt such Hopelessness.
There's a lot of that in Arizona. The reservations are the worst. Yet the American Dream somehow lives on.
And Phoenix - probably the least sustainable city in the world - keeps on growing.
I LOVE the American deserts. Spellbinding. I would happily see out my days in one of the nicer bits. Sedona? Southern Utah?
But yes the declining small towns can be depressing in a way that makes Welsh mining villages look vibrant and upbeat
Great. Now there's an enormous solitary magpie sitting out there on my study balcony, squawking hellishly in my direction, like yer Actual Harbinger of Doom
And it is 5 degrees outside
You only have to worry about a single magpie up til noon. After noon they have no malevolent magical power.
Is that true? Say it is so
Folklore passed down by word of mouth - but yes, that is what I have always believed.
To be safe, I always count it as up to 1 pm when in British Summer Time.
As I recall: 1) The reason to not push masks was more that we were worried there would be insufficient supply for clinical staff if everybody started wearing one, than because we thought they didn't help; 2) The main benefit of masks is they reduce the likelihood of transmitting the virus to someone else, and there is still limited evidence that they reduce the likelihood of the mask wearer catching the virus from someone else.
No. You’re wrong. Go back and google, they genuinely thought masks were worse than useless because they hasn’t grasped THAT basic fact - as mentioned below - that you wear a mask to protect others
And of course they protect you, as well, if you have a proper FFP2 or above
Jenny Harries, one of the top boffins, actually said THIS:
‘Wearing a face mask to protect from the coronavirus could actually increase the risk of becoming infected, England’s deputy chief medical officer has warned.‘
The stupid twats hadn’t looked at Asia and wondered why they were all wearing masks? These are supposedly top scientists. They made a fundamental howling error which cost many lives. They should be sacked and driven from public life
Oh, calm down. This is what Jenny Harries actually said:
What tends to happen is people will have one mask. They won't wear it all the time, they will take it off when they get home, they will put it down on a surface they haven't cleaned.
This is pretty accurate, in my view, and she didn't even mention the legions of chin-mask wearers. To the best of my knowledge, there is no hard evidence on the effectiveness of wearing masks improperly. It's likely that it's still a net positive, but I don't think we can safely say it's a huge one.
Jonathan Van Tam. April 4 2020. Ramming home the anti-mask message
He actually claims to have a “professor friend in Hong Kong, who agrees that masks are useless”. That would be Hong Kong, where they all wear masks?
Coronavirus: 'We do not recommend face masks for general wearing'
He didn’t grasp the fact that masks protect others, he didn’t understand asymptomatic transmission. He should go.
As he points out, people wearing masks in South East Asia is nothing new, and there's not much evidence it was ever effective at stopping disease. Prior to this pandemic, my understanding was it was an air quality thing, and the masks were there to stop air pollution rather than viruses.
Clearly it was a bad call, but I think saying he "didn’t understand asymptomatic transmission" is nonsense - what's your source for that? It's a completely separate issue from masks. Anyway, calling for his head over what was at the time a reasonable judgment call seems a bit off, to say the least.
Thinking about other people - it’ll never catch on...
You just have to spend a week in the Far East to understand that's why they wear masks. To protect others when they have a bug,
Clearly Mr Van Tam has never been east of Suez, despite having a "good professor friend in Hong Kong who tells me insane untruths"
Although Van Tam is something of a cult figure now, he must have been one of those behind some seriously bad calls at the start of the pandemic.
I remember a TV appearance of his in March probably when he was utterly contemptuous of calls for a rapid expansion of testing, arguing that mass testing just wasn't the way to control the virus. I remember it well only because it made me so angry at the time.
More generally, as some countries early on managed to contain the virus, and others didn't, there was a systematic failure to rapidly learn from and copy techniques that the successful ones were using.
Region of Residence 1st dose 2nd dose Cumulative Total Doses to Date Total 231,00244,001 275,003 East Of England 28,941 4,259 33,200 London 33,278 5,884 39,162 Midlands 44,746 11,845 56,591 North East And Yorkshire 32,547 4,946 37,493 North West 26,927 4,260 31,187 South East 29,808 8,114 37,922 South West 34,556 4,642 39,198
As I recall: 1) The reason to not push masks was more that we were worried there would be insufficient supply for clinical staff if everybody started wearing one, than because we thought they didn't help; 2) The main benefit of masks is they reduce the likelihood of transmitting the virus to someone else, and there is still limited evidence that they reduce the likelihood of the mask wearer catching the virus from someone else.
No. You’re wrong. Go back and google, they genuinely thought masks were worse than useless because they hasn’t grasped THAT basic fact - as mentioned below - that you wear a mask to protect others
And of course they protect you, as well, if you have a proper FFP2 or above
Jenny Harries, one of the top boffins, actually said THIS:
‘Wearing a face mask to protect from the coronavirus could actually increase the risk of becoming infected, England’s deputy chief medical officer has warned.‘
The stupid twats hadn’t looked at Asia and wondered why they were all wearing masks? These are supposedly top scientists. They made a fundamental howling error which cost many lives. They should be sacked and driven from public life
Oh, calm down. This is what Jenny Harries actually said:
What tends to happen is people will have one mask. They won't wear it all the time, they will take it off when they get home, they will put it down on a surface they haven't cleaned.
This is pretty accurate, in my view, and she didn't even mention the legions of chin-mask wearers. To the best of my knowledge, there is no hard evidence on the effectiveness of wearing masks improperly. It's likely that it's still a net positive, but I don't think we can safely say it's a huge one.
Jonathan Van Tam. April 4 2020. Ramming home the anti-mask message
He actually claims to have a “professor friend in Hong Kong, who agrees that masks are useless”. That would be Hong Kong, where they all wear masks?
Coronavirus: 'We do not recommend face masks for general wearing'
He didn’t grasp the fact that masks protect others, he didn’t understand asymptomatic transmission. He should go.
As he points out, people wearing masks in South East Asia is nothing new, and there's not much evidence it was ever effective at stopping disease. Prior to this pandemic, my understanding was it was an air quality thing, and the masks were there to stop air pollution rather than viruses.
Clearly it was a bad call, but I think saying he "didn’t understand asymptomatic transmission" is nonsense - what's your source for that? It's a completely separate issue from masks. Anyway, calling for his head over what was at the time a reasonable judgment call seems a bit off, to say the least.
Thinking about other people - it’ll never catch on...
You just have to spend a week in the Far East to understand that's why they wear masks. To protect others when they have a bug,
Clearly Mr Van Tam has never been east of Suez, despite having a "good professor friend in Hong Kong who tells me insane untruths"
Although Van Tam is something of a cult figure now, he must have been one of those behind some seriously bad calls at the start of the pandemic.
I remember a TV appearance of his in March probably when he was utterly contemptuous of calls for a rapid expansion of testing, arguing that mass testing just wasn't the way to control the virus. I remember it well only because it made me so angry at the time.
More generally, as some countries early on managed to contain the virus, and others didn't, there was a systematic failure to rapidly learn from and copy techniques that the successful ones were using.
Yes. This. And I believe it was the scientists who were saying quarantine was pointless?? And yes they were quite arrogant about it: We know best.
I too was screaming at the TV. I knew better than THEM
They cannot be allowed to get away with this shit. No one needs to go on trial, but if you fuck up your one job - public health - with such incalculable and horrendous consequences - so many lives lost, so many businesses ruined - then there has to be SOME cost
Not quite beaten in Wales - but getting damned close.
There was a doctor on BBC Wales yesterday who is expecting another big Welsh Covid wave in a few months, and the Welsh NHS will again be under strain.
Drakeford has really made a dog's breakfast of Covid hasn't he?
The BBC will always be able to dredge up someone who predicts another big wave. Let's wait and see. But I don't see why Wales, in particular, will suffer another big wave.
Great. Now there's an enormous solitary magpie sitting out there on my study balcony, squawking hellishly in my direction, like yer Actual Harbinger of Doom
And it is 5 degrees outside
You only have to worry about a single magpie up til noon. After noon they have no malevolent magical power.
Is that true? Say it is so
Folklore passed down by word of mouth - but yes, that is what I have always believed.
To be safe, I always count it as up to 1 pm when in British Summer Time.
Earlier in the pandemic, I remember some of us on here saying the otherwise-perplexing differences in death rates - eg rich elderly Japan doing well, likewise poor young Vietnam - might largely be down to obesity. Japan and Vietnam are two of the thinnest countries in the world, few have died. America, probably the fattest, has the biggest death toll of all. Britain is almost as fat, and here we are.
“About 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths from Covid were in countries with high levels of overweight people, says the report from the World Obesity Federation. Countries such as the UK, US and Italy, where more than 50% of adults are overweight, have the biggest proportions of deaths linked to coronavirus”
This might, incidentally, partly explain the elevated death rates in some BAME communities, which have an even worse weight problem
This should also put to bed, forever, the idea you can be fat and still healthy. We all need to eat fish and salad
You were not on this board "Earlier in the pandemic". You joined in December. Unless you have another identity...
I did. Earlier on I self-identified as a fit healthy man. Now, I fear, like so many, after months of lockdown, I am a bit of a fattie
But it is coming off. I hope
Conversely it's the one thing I score on. I eat and drink too much. I smoke. I'm sedentary. I'm knocking on. I have a tense neurotic personality. But I'm slim. Bit of a clothes horse in fact. Wouldn't look out of place on the catwalk.
Me too (this one has a certain Glasgow vibe if you're familiar with Billy Connolly's ouevre).
That's not a Glaswegian vibe it is a universal vibe of when you go to the cinema and refuse to pay cinema prices for snacks and sneak in your own.
What was that disease Akhenaten and his sister had ...?
There is still some 3.3 available with BF to lay Sunak for next Tory leader.
I say this half in jest but also with some seriousness that, for those backing Sunak, it's worth bearing in mind that he is only 5'5" and always looks dwarfed when he stands next to almost all male counterparts (and some female ones). There are enough studies out there to show that height - at least for a man - seems to have some effect on how a leader is perceived. I suspect it might be more of an issue within the internal Conservative electorate for the leadership.
Yes, good point. We've come a fair way in ditching the old prejudices about who can be PM - e.g. the last but one was not an Old Etonian - but is the country ready for a midget?
Nasty.
Yes. Very bottom drawer. Still, he does get an easy ride.
Not quite beaten in Wales - but getting damned close.
There was a doctor on BBC Wales yesterday who is expecting another big Welsh Covid wave in a few months, and the Welsh NHS will again be under strain.
Drakeford has really made a dog's breakfast of Covid hasn't he?
These figures are very good. I don't think you will be short of finding people predicting another wave in a few months. We need to be prepared in case they are right. But you won't be short of people saying this is the final major wave either. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Another day in which 80+ is lower than 60-79. Though ONLY JUST. We're three months into vaccinations now. It feels like 80+ deaths should be much lower by now.
Moon willing to receive AstraZeneca vaccine shot: Cheong Wa Dae https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/119_304998.html President Moon Jae-in may take a COVID-19 vaccine, probably made by AstraZeneca, in the near future, his office said Thursday.
A specific schedule for a possible vaccination would be decided considering a related manual of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and the diplomatic calendar, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok told reporters.
He cited the possibility that Britain will host an in-person Group of Seven (G-7) summit in June. Moon has been invited to the session.
Health authorities have a priority list for the people to benefit from the free-of-charge vaccination program that got under way here last week. But there is an exception if urgent foreign travel is required, Kang pointed out.
A Cheong Wa Dae official later reaffirmed that Moon, 68, plans to "willingly" take AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine shot, as Pfizer-produced ones are now available for medical workers. ...
Verdict on the budget and EFO - We're all fucked, the numbers don't make any sense and the chancellor has hidden a lot of the pain with a CT rise that will literally never yield what he thinks it will because if it does then domestic companies all turn into takeover targets for multinationals who will offshore the profits and avoid the new rate of tax.
I fear that this is all going to come apart at the seams very badly in the run up to the election and Starmer might just become PM by default because of job losses due to business investment dropping off a cliff.
Budgets are largely theatre and often bear limited resemblance to what actually happens in practice. Yesterday will make little difference to the Tories prospects in 2024.
I do wonder just what the next election will be fought on. Labour seem to have dropped their radicalism and the Cons having done the one thing they were elected to do - Brexit - have become rather pointless. We hear much about the War on Woke but this is an essentially trivial matter and surely cannot bear the weight of being placed front and centre. The pandemic dwarfs everything right now but soon it will be over apart from the economic response and there's no great gap between the parties on that. Neither are going to prioritize repairing the public finances. So we could be looking at one of those "narcissism of small differences" elections where the driving force of the parties is purely to win power rather than what they plan to do with it. Who does this favour? Probably Labour but I really don't know. I do know it's less than inspiring.
If uninspiring politics will save us from damaging egotistical incompetent twats like Johnson, Corbyn and Rees-Mogg, (to name but a few) then I am all in favour of being uninspired.
There is that. Bland is not the worst thing in the world. But I like some ideological bite. For me, on election night, there should be a large section of the public feeling genuinely excited about the prospect of winning and just as genuinely nauseous at the thought of the other side winning. I just prefer that climate. I also think corruption and grift and the shallow obsession with ego and personalities is more likely when politics becomes more about being than doing.
I tend to agree with you, but didn't you feel 'genuinely excited' in 1997 when Blair won, despite his victory not containing much ideological bite? I certainly did: it was such a relief after waiting since 1979. Like you, I'd like Labour to be more radical, but any prospect of victory under a reasonably redistributive manifesto would suffice - better than more Tory years.
Oh gosh yes. 97 was cosmic. Naked in garden with brandy bottle type reaction. In fact strike that "type". It's why I can never properly join in the Blair hate. He gave me that...
Gave you what ???
Champagne bottles strewn in the corridors of the BBC, according to a well known quote from a Beeboid. To be fair I think everyone was relieved to get a change in 1997.
But Liz is only good for replicating EU deals? How is this possible? The UK can't do independent trade policy, its impossible.
Well, let's not exaggerate. This is not a trade deal, it's a ceasefire in a dispute in which we no longer should really be involved. It's the very bare minimum of what we should be able to agree with the US. But it's very welcome nonetheless: credit where credit is due.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Fancy living ten miles from hope; can things get any worse?
11 miles from hope?
Two years ago I did a roadtrip around the SW USA. We passed through a bleak, tiny town in the desert called Hope. As we drove through, and exited, there was a sign saying You Are Now Beyond Hope
Any good restaurants?
No. It was indescribably bleak, in the way that only small town, derelict America can be. In a town called Hope I have never felt such Hopelessness.
There's a lot of that in Arizona. The reservations are the worst. Yet the American Dream somehow lives on.
And Phoenix - probably the least sustainable city in the world - keeps on growing.
I LOVE the American deserts. Spellbinding. I would happily see out my days in one of the nicer bits. Sedona? Southern Utah?
But yes the declining small towns can be depressing in a way that makes Welsh mining villages look vibrant and upbeat
Sedona is hippy-ville isn't it? Higher altitude and not 50C in the summer. I'd go for that.
Utah - hmm - wasn't convinced. Though the landscape is indeed spectacular.
I tried to recreate a bit of SW desert in my garden. The cacti lasted about 10 years but one particularly grim and damp winter finished them off. They don't mind the cold, though. Camping in Utah in December was, er, challenging.
Verdict on the budget and EFO - We're all fucked, the numbers don't make any sense and the chancellor has hidden a lot of the pain with a CT rise that will literally never yield what he thinks it will because if it does then domestic companies all turn into takeover targets for multinationals who will offshore the profits and avoid the new rate of tax.
I fear that this is all going to come apart at the seams very badly in the run up to the election and Starmer might just become PM by default because of job losses due to business investment dropping off a cliff.
Budgets are largely theatre and often bear limited resemblance to what actually happens in practice. Yesterday will make little difference to the Tories prospects in 2024.
I do wonder just what the next election will be fought on. Labour seem to have dropped their radicalism and the Cons having done the one thing they were elected to do - Brexit - have become rather pointless. We hear much about the War on Woke but this is an essentially trivial matter and surely cannot bear the weight of being placed front and centre. The pandemic dwarfs everything right now but soon it will be over apart from the economic response and there's no great gap between the parties on that. Neither are going to prioritize repairing the public finances. So we could be looking at one of those "narcissism of small differences" elections where the driving force of the parties is purely to win power rather than what they plan to do with it. Who does this favour? Probably Labour but I really don't know. I do know it's less than inspiring.
If uninspiring politics will save us from damaging egotistical incompetent twats like Johnson, Corbyn and Rees-Mogg, (to name but a few) then I am all in favour of being uninspired.
There is that. Bland is not the worst thing in the world. But I like some ideological bite. For me, on election night, there should be a large section of the public feeling genuinely excited about the prospect of winning and just as genuinely nauseous at the thought of the other side winning. I just prefer that climate. I also think corruption and grift and the shallow obsession with ego and personalities is more likely when politics becomes more about being than doing.
I tend to agree with you, but didn't you feel 'genuinely excited' in 1997 when Blair won, despite his victory not containing much ideological bite? I certainly did: it was such a relief after waiting since 1979. Like you, I'd like Labour to be more radical, but any prospect of victory under a reasonably redistributive manifesto would suffice - better than more Tory years.
Oh gosh yes. 97 was cosmic. Naked in garden with brandy bottle type reaction. In fact strike that "type". It's why I can never properly join in the Blair hate. He gave me that...
Gave you what ???
- He gave me a good time, is what I'm trying to say. A night of real passion.
Another day in which 80+ is lower than 60-79. Though ONLY JUST. We're three months into vaccinations now. It feels like 80+ deaths should be much lower by now.
I'd have bitten your arm off for these figures in early Jan TBH.
It even has a suitably terse and laconic Wiki page
"Hope is a small unincorporated community in the deserts of La Paz County, Arizona, United States. Its name was inspired by the community's hope for increased business after merchants visited the town. Today, it consists of one RV park, one gas station, one church, and one antique store."
I have to say, If I was governor or president, I'd consider simply relocating some of these people and letting these places become ghost towns. Would be better and cheaper int he long run than providing support to places which aren't sufficent.
There is still some 3.3 available with BF to lay Sunak for next Tory leader.
I say this half in jest but also with some seriousness that, for those backing Sunak, it's worth bearing in mind that he is only 5'5" and always looks dwarfed when he stands next to almost all male counterparts (and some female ones). There are enough studies out there to show that height - at least for a man - seems to have some effect on how a leader is perceived. I suspect it might be more of an issue within the internal Conservative electorate for the leadership.
Yes, good point. We've come a fair way in ditching the old prejudices about who can be PM - e.g. the last but one was not an Old Etonian - but is the country ready for a midget?
That's racist. He's comfortably above average height for a man of Indian origin.
Did Harry have any "problem" with the Royal Family before Meghan came along?
Because, from looking at how he carried out his duties as a Commonwealth ambassador, and for the armed forces, and the fun he had with the Queen (and her too) making that video for the Invictus Games with Obama it sure didn't look like it. He was also very close to his brother - very close.
I'm sure he was personally lonely and unhappy, and aching for the right partner that understood him, but things seemed to change only after about 18 months after they hooked up.
Harry is an unhappy and troubled young man. His friends and family helped him for many years. Unfortunately Meghan came on the scene and used his troubles for her own ends.
William isn’t the brightest, but he loves his brother and tried to warn him. And we all know how that particular movie plays out!
I agree with that, but I don't think it helps that Harry, according to a friend of mine who was at Eton with him, is quite exceptionally dim.
I'm not sure that's news.
Harry's had a miserable life.
His mother died at the hands of the media before he was a teenager, there were many allegations that his grandfather ordered the assassination of his mother.
The divorce and adultery of his parents were played out in public, all of that has to have an impact on you.
It explains his drug use, racist language, and his love of parties which have all hinted at an unhappy life.
He tried to follow tradition, a European prince going to the middle east to kill muslims, and the media ruined that as well.
No wonder he despises the media.
I wouldn't want to have been dealt his cards.
I'd be deeply upset (for years) about losing my mum now and I'm almost forty.
#first post Please allow me to introduce myself... Been lurking on here since mid-2020 when I was reading all sorts of stuff anywhere and everywhere about US Presidential candidates, then the election itself. I'm not a betting man but I did find that betting sites like this plus ofc 538.com were good at giving background information; most of it interesting. [I did bet on Biden winning WH21 and turned a tiny stake of £100 into £141 :-) ] Me? Born and educated in Scotland; spent most of my working life in [in order] England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland. Moved back to Edinburgh when semi-retirement beckoned. Staunchly pro-EU [both my kids live and work in Europe], fervently pro-independence for Scotland. So on both counts in a massive minority on here. My reading of the site here after about a year is that most contributors are in the main Tory-leaning, pro-Brexit, pro-Union, cricket-lovers. Way to stereotype, right? With the run-up to Holyrood '21 things will get more interesting / catty. Looking forward to it. Might even wager a small bet on the performance of the pro-Indy parties. ...pleased to meet you
The issue of past state aid to either Boeing or Airbus has been rendered somewhat moot by the events of the last year. If either are to survive and prosper, they will likely need a great deal more in one form or another.
But Liz is only good for replicating EU deals? How is this possible? The UK can't do independent trade policy, its impossible.
Well, let's not exaggerate. This is not a trade deal, it's a ceasefire in a dispute in which we no longer should really be involved. It's the very bare minimum of what we should be able to agree with the US. But it's very welcome nonetheless: credit where credit is due.
My point is that people who bought into the idea that the UK would be unable to operate an independent trade policy need to have a rethink. Just as the EU seeks to dilute the value of the UK-EU deal with retaliatory tariffs the UK is shifting its own trade to face away from the EU. I've probably said this about a thousand times, this sequence of events probably isn't going to work out for the benefit of the EU as we move further away from them rather than closer.
It even has a suitably terse and laconic Wiki page
"Hope is a small unincorporated community in the deserts of La Paz County, Arizona, United States. Its name was inspired by the community's hope for increased business after merchants visited the town. Today, it consists of one RV park, one gas station, one church, and one antique store."
I have to say, If I was governor or president, I'd consider simply relocating some of these people and letting these places become ghost towns. Would be better and cheaper int he long run than providing support to places which aren't sufficent.
I often thought the same about some of our mining villages, but can you imagine what would happen if a politician actually said it?
Another day in which 80+ is lower than 60-79. Though ONLY JUST. We're three months into vaccinations now. It feels like 80+ deaths should be much lower by now.
You have to wonder at that point though, how many over 80s are 'dying with COVID' rather than 'dying due to COVID'.
Not quite beaten in Wales - but getting damned close.
There was a doctor on BBC Wales yesterday who is expecting another big Welsh Covid wave in a few months, and the Welsh NHS will again be under strain.
Drakeford has really made a dog's breakfast of Covid hasn't he?
These figures are very good. I don't think you will be short of finding people predicting another wave in a few months. We need to be prepared in case they are right. But you won't be short of people saying this is the final major wave either. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
If Drakeford is dull enough (he is!) to open Wales a few weeks before England (as he did in October) St David's Centre will be overrun with shoppers from Essex, as it was last time.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Fancy living ten miles from hope; can things get any worse?
11 miles from hope?
Two years ago I did a roadtrip around the SW USA. We passed through a bleak, tiny town in the desert called Hope. As we drove through, and exited, there was a sign saying You Are Now Beyond Hope
Any good restaurants?
No. It was indescribably bleak, in the way that only small town, derelict America can be. In a town called Hope I have never felt such Hopelessness.
There's a lot of that in Arizona. The reservations are the worst. Yet the American Dream somehow lives on.
And Phoenix - probably the least sustainable city in the world - keeps on growing.
I LOVE the American deserts. Spellbinding. I would happily see out my days in one of the nicer bits. Sedona? Southern Utah?
But yes the declining small towns can be depressing in a way that makes Welsh mining villages look vibrant and upbeat
Sedona is hippy-ville isn't it? Higher altitude and not 50C in the summer. I'd go for that.
Utah - hmm - wasn't convinced. Though the landscape is indeed spectacular.
I tried to recreate a bit of SW desert in my garden. The cacti lasted about 10 years but one particularly grim and damp winter finished them off. They don't mind the cold. Camping in Utah in December was, er, challenging.
Indeed! Perhaps the coldest night of my life was when I went ghost-towning and camping in the American desert with my brother and two lapsed Mormon guides (who loved beer, women and guns)
We thought: desert, sun, heat, it'll stay pretty warm, so we went to Wal-Mart and skimped on cheap sleeping bags.
OMFG it went down to about minus 20 C. It was hideous. Scary
Southern Utah is great though. There are some nice, buzzing small towns you can walk around and the many National Parks are Wow
The key to a nice life out there, as you imply, is choosing a somewhat higher elevation so you get the sun but you avoid the more ridiculous temperatures. Sedona does that
#first post Please allow me to introduce myself... Been lurking on here since mid-2020 when I was reading all sorts of stuff anywhere and everywhere about US Presidential candidates, then the election itself. I'm not a betting man but I did find that betting sites like this plus ofc 538.com were good at giving background information; most of it interesting. [I did bet on Biden winning WH21 and turned a tiny stake of £100 into £141 :-) ] Me? Born and educated in Scotland; spent most of my working life in [in order] England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland. Moved back to Edinburgh when semi-retirement beckoned. Staunchly pro-EU [both my kids live and work in Europe], fervently pro-independence for Scotland. So on both counts in a massive minority on here. My reading of the site here after about a year is that most contributors are in the main Tory-leaning, pro-Brexit, pro-Union, cricket-lovers. Way to stereotype, right? With the run-up to Holyrood '21 things will get more interesting / catty. Looking forward to it. Might even wager a small bet on the performance of the pro-Indy parties. ...pleased to meet you
There is still some 3.3 available with BF to lay Sunak for next Tory leader.
I say this half in jest but also with some seriousness that, for those backing Sunak, it's worth bearing in mind that he is only 5'5" and always looks dwarfed when he stands next to almost all male counterparts (and some female ones). There are enough studies out there to show that height - at least for a man - seems to have some effect on how a leader is perceived. I suspect it might be more of an issue within the internal Conservative electorate for the leadership.
This problem can easily be solved by only ever picturing Rishi next to Priti.
Or LotR style perspective shots... I know they half tried that with the staircase thing, but with some practice they can make it look less obvious. Look out for the Treasury signing up WingNut films for some promo videos.
#first post Please allow me to introduce myself... Been lurking on here since mid-2020 when I was reading all sorts of stuff anywhere and everywhere about US Presidential candidates, then the election itself. I'm not a betting man but I did find that betting sites like this plus ofc 538.com were good at giving background information; most of it interesting. [I did bet on Biden winning WH21 and turned a tiny stake of £100 into £141 :-) ] Me? Born and educated in Scotland; spent most of my working life in [in order] England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland. Moved back to Edinburgh when semi-retirement beckoned. Staunchly pro-EU [both my kids live and work in Europe], fervently pro-independence for Scotland. So on both counts in a massive minority on here. My reading of the site here after about a year is that most contributors are in the main Tory-leaning, pro-Brexit, pro-Union, cricket-lovers. Way to stereotype, right? With the run-up to Holyrood '21 things will get more interesting / catty. Looking forward to it. Might even wager a small bet on the performance of the pro-Indy parties. ...pleased to meet you
Nice to meet you Radge. If you stay longer with the site, you'll see that the political balance is constantly, if slowly, changing. For a long while, it felt like the Tories were in a minority here. And for a long while it was lonely as a Brexiter.
But Liz is only good for replicating EU deals? How is this possible? The UK can't do independent trade policy, its impossible.
This is good news on many, many levels:
1. The UK is not going to let great be the enemy of good 2. The US under Biden is keen to work with the UK (in fact, I suspect this wouldn't have happened with Trump, simply because it would never have been a priority for him) 3. And, of course, it is good for purchasers of Scotch in the US!
There is still some 3.3 available with BF to lay Sunak for next Tory leader.
I say this half in jest but also with some seriousness that, for those backing Sunak, it's worth bearing in mind that he is only 5'5" and always looks dwarfed when he stands next to almost all male counterparts (and some female ones). There are enough studies out there to show that height - at least for a man - seems to have some effect on how a leader is perceived. I suspect it might be more of an issue within the internal Conservative electorate for the leadership.
Yes, good point. We've come a fair way in ditching the old prejudices about who can be PM - e.g. the last but one was not an Old Etonian - but is the country ready for a midget?
He's not a midget. He appears to be a normal sized human - who has been ingeniously miniatuarised by Japanese engineers. He is nano-tech applied to senior British politicians
It even has a suitably terse and laconic Wiki page
"Hope is a small unincorporated community in the deserts of La Paz County, Arizona, United States. Its name was inspired by the community's hope for increased business after merchants visited the town. Today, it consists of one RV park, one gas station, one church, and one antique store."
I have to say, If I was governor or president, I'd consider simply relocating some of these people and letting these places become ghost towns. Would be better and cheaper int he long run than providing support to places which aren't sufficent.
Americans are quite unsentimental about letting towns die. That's why there are so many ghost towns.
I'd give Hope Arizona another ten years and then it will be just a gas station on the desert highway and no one else at all.
My point is that people who bought into the idea that the UK would be unable to operate an independent trade policy need to have a rethink. Just as the EU seeks to dilute the value of the UK-EU deal with retaliatory tariffs the UK is shifting its own trade to face away from the EU. I've probably said this about a thousand times, this sequence of events probably isn't going to work out for the benefit of the EU as we move further away from them rather than closer.
You are right, it's not going to work out for the benefit of the EU, and I also agree that (in the absence of a sane UK government, which realistically we're not going to get anytime soon), it will get worse as we diverge further. The trade frictions we've bizarrely decide to impose, mostly for no reason at all, will indeed hit them slightly. Unfortunately they'll hit us massively more, as indeed Lord Frost pointed out back in 2016:
So all these arrangements would leave the UK with less access to the single market than before. Would this be outweighed by freedom to negotiate our own trading arrangements with other countries? A simple bit of maths shows the answer is no. The EU already has FTAs covering nearly 60% of the UK’s trade, including the EU itself. If TTIP and the EU/Japan FTA can be negotiated soon, that figure goes up to 80%. It can’t possibly make sense to have less good arrangements with the 60% or 80% in return for slightly better arrangements with the 20%.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Fancy living ten miles from hope; can things get any worse?
11 miles from hope?
Two years ago I did a roadtrip around the SW USA. We passed through a bleak, tiny town in the desert called Hope. As we drove through, and exited, there was a sign saying You Are Now Beyond Hope
Any good restaurants?
No. It was indescribably bleak, in the way that only small town, derelict America can be. In a town called Hope I have never felt such Hopelessness.
There's a lot of that in Arizona. The reservations are the worst. Yet the American Dream somehow lives on.
And Phoenix - probably the least sustainable city in the world - keeps on growing.
I like Phoenix!
Indeed, I like all of Arizona, from the impoverished small towns with the gun racks and the Trump banners, to the gleaming office buildings of Scottsdale.
I'm calling bollocks on the height thing. Both Thatcher and HMQ are tiny.
Most of the public never see them in the flesh and those that do, whilst they might be surprised at their height, don't find it anything more than a curiosity.
It might be a problem for him if he was on the pull in a nightclub. But most politicians seeking the office of PM don't do that.
But Liz is only good for replicating EU deals? How is this possible? The UK can't do independent trade policy, its impossible.
This is good news on many, many levels:
1. The UK is not going to let great be the enemy of good 2. The US under Biden is keen to work with the UK (in fact, I suspect this wouldn't have happened with Trump, simply because it would never have been a priority for him) 3. And, of course, it is good for purchasers of Scotch in the US!
Agreed on all three points, I'd add a fourth - good for producers of Scotch in Scotland who can now get back to normal with US exports.
Reading the actual wording, this 4 months is expected to be made permanent once a few finer details are figured out.
Not quite beaten in Wales - but getting damned close.
There was a doctor on BBC Wales yesterday who is expecting another big Welsh Covid wave in a few months, and the Welsh NHS will again be under strain.
Drakeford has really made a dog's breakfast of Covid hasn't he?
These figures are very good. I don't think you will be short of finding people predicting another wave in a few months. We need to be prepared in case they are right. But you won't be short of people saying this is the final major wave either. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
If Drakeford is dull enough (he is!) to open Wales a few weeks before England (as he did in October) St David's Centre will be overrun with shoppers from Essex, as it was last time.
The separate Covid policies for each nation to score points against London have been a disaster. Given people travel, it makes as much sense as Totnes having a different Covid regime to Exeter.
I'm calling bollocks on the height thing. Both Thatcher and HMQ are tiny.
Most of the public never see them in the flesh and those that do, whilst they might be surprised at their height, don't find it anything more than a curiosity.
It might be a problem for him if he was on the pull in a nightclub. But most politicians seeking the office of PM don't do that.
But if he ever became PM he would be constantly photographed meeting other world leaders who would be about twice the size.
Remember the photos of the Obamas meeting the Queen. It was jarring. On a visceral level it will affect Sunak's chances. It shouldn't but it will.
He is obviously sensitive about it hence the weirdly-angled photos
I'd be curious as to what the plan is when the Chancellor isn't the MP for Richmond or elsewhere in the Tees Valley.
And remember this is the point - the Treasury needs to know how the rest of the country works so that policies reflect the needs of all the UK not just London.
Another day in which 80+ is lower than 60-79. Though ONLY JUST. We're three months into vaccinations now. It feels like 80+ deaths should be much lower by now.
Context is that (a) they weren't all vaccinated three months ago, it takes time to develop immunity, their immune systems will be less good than a 20 year olds, not many have reached full immunity from second dose + a week or two, it takes time to die.
I'm calling bollocks on the height thing. Both Thatcher and HMQ are tiny.
Most of the public never see them in the flesh and those that do, whilst they might be surprised at their height, don't find it anything more than a curiosity.
It might be a problem for him if he was on the pull in a nightclub. But most politicians seeking the office of PM don't do that.
HMQ had the advantage of not having to win an election, so I'm not sure how relevant that is!
(Was she particularly short anyway, for a woman, when she took the crown?)
Theory: Covid has rendered Brexit pointless, indeed self harming.
I voted to Leave (and it was a close call: I decided on the day) because I really did think we would move to a lower tax, more deregulated economy. Not Singapore-on-Thames, that was always a pipe-dream, but definitely something more nimble.
We are not getting that, because Covid. Instead, we are getting a high tax, low growth economy, essentially a European economy, but without the benefits of the European Single Market, Customs Union or Freedom of Movement. We will be a kind of particularly isolated France, minus the sunshine and vasty fields.
Meanwhile we have destabilised Northern Ireland, fuelled Scottish indy (maybe even Welsh indy), we have divided the nation bitterly and we face a decade of austerity. The future will be dominated by bitter quarrels with Brussels, from which we gain very little.
It is most unfortunate. Brexit could have worked. It might still work in 10-20 years. But in the short-medium term, Covid has turned Brexit into a nightmare. The worst case scenario
For me, forgetting about Brexit good or bad, it's just been a monumental waste of time if we don't now do some serious things (other than border controls and trade deals) we couldn't have done as EU members. Like you, I sense we are not going to, regardless of who wins the next election.
#first post Please allow me to introduce myself... Been lurking on here since mid-2020 when I was reading all sorts of stuff anywhere and everywhere about US Presidential candidates, then the election itself. I'm not a betting man but I did find that betting sites like this plus ofc 538.com were good at giving background information; most of it interesting. [I did bet on Biden winning WH21 and turned a tiny stake of £100 into £141 :-) ] Me? Born and educated in Scotland; spent most of my working life in [in order] England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland. Moved back to Edinburgh when semi-retirement beckoned. Staunchly pro-EU [both my kids live and work in Europe], fervently pro-independence for Scotland. So on both counts in a massive minority on here. My reading of the site here after about a year is that most contributors are in the main Tory-leaning, pro-Brexit, pro-Union, cricket-lovers. Way to stereotype, right? With the run-up to Holyrood '21 things will get more interesting / catty. Looking forward to it. Might even wager a small bet on the performance of the pro-Indy parties. ...pleased to meet you
Great to have you here. Welcome.
What's your 2-line take on the Salmond vs Sturgeon thing?
I'm calling bollocks on the height thing. Both Thatcher and HMQ are tiny.
Most of the public never see them in the flesh and those that do, whilst they might be surprised at their height, don't find it anything more than a curiosity.
It might be a problem for him if he was on the pull in a nightclub. But most politicians seeking the office of PM don't do that.
The problem isn't so much the relative tinyness of Rishi- it's the impression given by all those M.C. Escher pictures, that there's something funny about height that he wants to hide. A bit like when Dave and his imagemongers tried to make out that he was less posh than he was.
It's always the coverup that gets you into trouble.
Not quite beaten in Wales - but getting damned close.
There was a doctor on BBC Wales yesterday who is expecting another big Welsh Covid wave in a few months, and the Welsh NHS will again be under strain.
Drakeford has really made a dog's breakfast of Covid hasn't he?
These figures are very good. I don't think you will be short of finding people predicting another wave in a few months. We need to be prepared in case they are right. But you won't be short of people saying this is the final major wave either. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
If Drakeford is dull enough (he is!) to open Wales a few weeks before England (as he did in October) St David's Centre will be overrun with shoppers from Essex, as it was last time.
I don't think he will and even if he does Wales now has more fully vaccinated people than any EU country except Malta. We are likely going to have another wave - likely in the Autumn I think - but I genuinely think it will be small enough that it won't place much strain on the health services. If we start vaccinating secondary school kids (I don't see why this should be an issue - everyone my age (47) had a BCG shot age 13/14) this summer we may even dodge that.
My point is that people who bought into the idea that the UK would be unable to operate an independent trade policy need to have a rethink. Just as the EU seeks to dilute the value of the UK-EU deal with retaliatory tariffs the UK is shifting its own trade to face away from the EU. I've probably said this about a thousand times, this sequence of events probably isn't going to work out for the benefit of the EU as we move further away from them rather than closer.
You are right, it's not going to work out for the benefit of the EU, and I also agree that (in the absence of a sane UK government, which realistically we're not going to get anytime soon), it will get worse as we diverge further. The trade frictions we've bizarrely decide to impose, mostly for no reason at all, will indeed hit them slightly. Unfortunately they'll hit us massively more, as indeed Lord Frost pointed out back in 2016:
So all these arrangements would leave the UK with less access to the single market than before. Would this be outweighed by freedom to negotiate our own trading arrangements with other countries? A simple bit of maths shows the answer is no. The EU already has FTAs covering nearly 60% of the UK’s trade, including the EU itself. If TTIP and the EU/Japan FTA can be negotiated soon, that figure goes up to 80%. It can’t possibly make sense to have less good arrangements with the 60% or 80% in return for slightly better arrangements with the 20%.
Tbh, that's written in a world where APAC wasn't warily looking at China and desperate to sign 90-95% trade deals with the UK pretty fast. AIUI the UK is opening up talks for financial and other services to be added as an optional area of mutual recognition within the CPTPP, if that is the case then it's proceeding almost exactly as we all said it would. The UK would prioritise services trade with those nations that are interested in doing so and services trade isn't hampered by physical borders so the Treasury's gravity model is basically worthless.
We also know that the TTIP isn't happening and the UK is set to join the CPTPP and with it's allies set on trying to draw the US into it as well.
What may have been true in 2016 (and I don't think it was then) definitely isn't today. The EU has said it wants and arm's length relationship with the UK, which is fine, that's their prerogative, but the inevitable result of that is that the UK will simply diverge and devalue the relationship until it reaches a point where an official dilution becomes official policy.
Another day in which 80+ is lower than 60-79. Though ONLY JUST. We're three months into vaccinations now. It feels like 80+ deaths should be much lower by now.
Context is that (a) they weren't all vaccinated three months ago, it takes time to develop immunity, their immune systems will be less good than a 20 year olds, not many have reached full immunity from second dose + a week or two, it takes time to die.
AND the overall numbers are relatively small.
We'll get there.
Assuming this is the death within 28 days of positive test figure, there will also be a higher number of deaths with rather than due to Covid in the higher age group and maybe more detection of Covid as the oldest age group perhaps most likely to be having hospital procedures (which often requires a test before, now).
It even has a suitably terse and laconic Wiki page
"Hope is a small unincorporated community in the deserts of La Paz County, Arizona, United States. Its name was inspired by the community's hope for increased business after merchants visited the town. Today, it consists of one RV park, one gas station, one church, and one antique store."
I have to say, If I was governor or president, I'd consider simply relocating some of these people and letting these places become ghost towns. Would be better and cheaper int he long run than providing support to places which aren't sufficent.
I often thought the same about some of our mining villages, but can you imagine what would happen if a politician actually said it?
surely it occurs naturally anyway? Ulnaby is a local example where the village disappeared over time.
I'd be curious as to what the plan is when the Chancellor isn't the MP for Richmond or elsewhere in the Tees Valley.
And remember this is the point - the Treasury needs to know how the rest of the country works so that policies reflect the needs of all the UK not just London.
Or indeed the next time we have a government with a tiny (or no) majority, and ministers are tied to Westminster.
#first post Please allow me to introduce myself... Been lurking on here since mid-2020 when I was reading all sorts of stuff anywhere and everywhere about US Presidential candidates, then the election itself. I'm not a betting man but I did find that betting sites like this plus ofc 538.com were good at giving background information; most of it interesting. [I did bet on Biden winning WH21 and turned a tiny stake of £100 into £141 :-) ] Me? Born and educated in Scotland; spent most of my working life in [in order] England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland. Moved back to Edinburgh when semi-retirement beckoned. Staunchly pro-EU [both my kids live and work in Europe], fervently pro-independence for Scotland. So on both counts in a massive minority on here. My reading of the site here after about a year is that most contributors are in the main Tory-leaning, pro-Brexit, pro-Union, cricket-lovers. Way to stereotype, right? With the run-up to Holyrood '21 things will get more interesting / catty. Looking forward to it. Might even wager a small bet on the performance of the pro-Indy parties. ...pleased to meet you
Welcome.
Not sure you're entirely right on your characterisation of PB. It definitely leans more right than left - at the moment. But there was a time when it was all Lib Dems. As Tim says it changes.
And I am sure there are many more Remainers than Leavers, that's one thing that has never changed, it's just that the argument has died away so you don't notice
Another day in which 80+ is lower than 60-79. Though ONLY JUST. We're three months into vaccinations now. It feels like 80+ deaths should be much lower by now.
The reporting of deaths is massively lagged and there were still plenty of unvaccinated 80 year olds up to the 2nd half of Jan - with a 3 week lag for protection, and a 2-4 weel lag from infection to death, then a 0-4 week lag on the death being officially reported, we've a while to go yet before you'd expect them to be out of the figures.
Nice to know Starmer's views on Darlington - does he post on here as Roger?
Is that real? That looks like a faked-up image of the sort of thing right wingers like me assume Keir thinks.
It is a highly selective quoting, only the gullible fall for it.
The full quote is
"Moving parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn't levelling up, that is giving up."
The full quote isn't much better.
In the wider context it is.
The Chancellor’s one nominally long-term policy was his references to “levelling up.”
But what does this actually look like? It’s not the transformative shift in power, wealth and resources we need to rebalance our economy.
It’s not the bold, long-term plan we need to upskill our economy, to tackle educational attainment or to raise life-expectancy.
It certainly isn’t a plan to focus government’s resources on preventative services and early years. For the Chancellor “levelling up” seems to mean moving some parts of the Treasury to Darlington, creating a few freeports and re-announcing funding. That isn’t levelling up: it’s giving up.
And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be better served making sure the Government’s Brexit deal actually works for Britain’s manufacturers, who now face more red-tape when they were promised less.
For our financial services – still waiting for the Chancellor to make good on his promises.
For the small businesses and fishing communities whose goods and produce are now left unsold in warehouses. And for our artists and performers who just want to be able to tour.
Ooh, goody. Does this mean we're going to have a moratorium on taking tiny snippets of what a politician has said without the context?
I live in Hope, well I live in Dore which is ten miles from Hope.
Fancy living ten miles from hope; can things get any worse?
11 miles from hope?
Two years ago I did a roadtrip around the SW USA. We passed through a bleak, tiny town in the desert called Hope. As we drove through, and exited, there was a sign saying You Are Now Beyond Hope
Any good restaurants?
No. It was indescribably bleak, in the way that only small town, derelict America can be. In a town called Hope I have never felt such Hopelessness.
There's a lot of that in Arizona. The reservations are the worst. Yet the American Dream somehow lives on.
And Phoenix - probably the least sustainable city in the world - keeps on growing.
I like Phoenix!
Indeed, I like all of Arizona, from the impoverished small towns with the gun racks and the Trump banners, to the gleaming office buildings of Scottsdale.
Grand Canyon. Painted Desert. Meteor Crater. Winslow - for Route 66 and Eagles lyrics.
Comments
And yes, FWIW, I do believe it will be an issue. As will this budget, which is already falling apart under closer scrutiny
https://twitter.com/PJTheEconomist/status/1367424933211561985?s=20
I suspect the majority of people in that part of the North East would disagree with him. I'd say Ben Houchen is a lot more popular in those parts right now than Sir Keir.
What private schools are available, locally?
And it is 5 degrees outside
What would Keith say?
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/119_304998.html
President Moon Jae-in may take a COVID-19 vaccine, probably made by AstraZeneca, in the near future, his office said Thursday.
A specific schedule for a possible vaccination would be decided considering a related manual of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and the diplomatic calendar, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok told reporters.
He cited the possibility that Britain will host an in-person Group of Seven (G-7) summit in June. Moon has been invited to the session.
Health authorities have a priority list for the people to benefit from the free-of-charge vaccination program that got under way here last week. But there is an exception if urgent foreign travel is required, Kang pointed out.
A Cheong Wa Dae official later reaffirmed that Moon, 68, plans to "willingly" take AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine shot, as Pfizer-produced ones are now available for medical workers. ...
For example:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvmI6zAXAAMYYP0?format=jpg&name=medium
Or:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evl-9uiXIAA4kTG?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
HOPE, ARIZONA
It even has a suitably terse and laconic Wiki page
"Hope is a small unincorporated community in the deserts of La Paz County, Arizona, United States. Its name was inspired by the community's hope for increased business after merchants visited the town. Today, it consists of one RV park, one gas station, one church, and one antique store."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope,_Arizona
In the second photo he is utterly dwarfed by the door.
He looks like one of those mad tiny elves you see about 3 minutes into a DMT trip
And Phoenix - probably the least sustainable city in the world - keeps on growing.
But yes the declining small towns can be depressing in a way that makes Welsh mining villages look vibrant and upbeat
To be safe, I always count it as up to 1 pm when in British Summer Time.
I remember a TV appearance of his in March probably when he was utterly contemptuous of calls for a rapid expansion of testing, arguing that mass testing just wasn't the way to control the virus. I remember it well only because it made me so angry at the time.
More generally, as some countries early on managed to contain the virus, and others didn't, there was a systematic failure to rapidly learn from and copy techniques that the successful ones were using.
Drakeford has really made a dog's breakfast of Covid hasn't he?
Region of Residence 1st dose 2nd dose Cumulative Total Doses to Date
Total 231,002 44,001 275,003
East Of England 28,941 4,259 33,200
London 33,278 5,884 39,162
Midlands 44,746 11,845 56,591
North East And Yorkshire 32,547 4,946 37,493
North West 26,927 4,260 31,187
South East 29,808 8,114 37,922
South West 34,556 4,642 39,198
I too was screaming at the TV. I knew better than THEM
They cannot be allowed to get away with this shit. No one needs to go on trial, but if you fuck up your one job - public health - with such incalculable and horrendous consequences - so many lives lost, so many businesses ruined - then there has to be SOME cost
Redundancy without pension seems fair
https://twitter.com/trussliz/status/1367444525870968832
Well done, Liz.
But I don't see why Wales, in particular, will suffer another big wave.
What do you make of him?
Though ONLY JUST. We're three months into vaccinations now. It feels like 80+ deaths should be much lower by now.
Be afraid....
To be fair I think everyone was relieved to get a change in 1997.
Utah - hmm - wasn't convinced. Though the landscape is indeed spectacular.
I tried to recreate a bit of SW desert in my garden. The cacti lasted about 10 years but one particularly grim and damp winter finished them off. They don't mind the cold, though. Camping in Utah in December was, er, challenging.
I'd be deeply upset (for years) about losing my mum now and I'm almost forty.
Please allow me to introduce myself...
Been lurking on here since mid-2020 when I was reading all sorts of stuff anywhere and everywhere about US Presidential candidates, then the election itself. I'm not a betting man but I did find that betting sites like this plus ofc 538.com were good at giving background information; most of it interesting. [I did bet on Biden winning WH21 and turned a tiny stake of £100 into £141 :-) ]
Me? Born and educated in Scotland; spent most of my working life in [in order] England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland. Moved back to Edinburgh when semi-retirement beckoned. Staunchly pro-EU [both my kids live and work in Europe], fervently pro-independence for Scotland. So on both counts in a massive minority on here.
My reading of the site here after about a year is that most contributors are in the main Tory-leaning, pro-Brexit, pro-Union, cricket-lovers. Way to stereotype, right?
With the run-up to Holyrood '21 things will get more interesting / catty. Looking forward to it. Might even wager a small bet on the performance of the pro-Indy parties.
...pleased to meet you
If either are to survive and prosper, they will likely need a great deal more in one form or another.
We thought: desert, sun, heat, it'll stay pretty warm, so we went to Wal-Mart and skimped on cheap sleeping bags.
OMFG it went down to about minus 20 C. It was hideous. Scary
Southern Utah is great though. There are some nice, buzzing small towns you can walk around and the many National Parks are Wow
The key to a nice life out there, as you imply, is choosing a somewhat higher elevation so you get the sun but you avoid the more ridiculous temperatures. Sedona does that
1. The UK is not going to let great be the enemy of good
2. The US under Biden is keen to work with the UK (in fact, I suspect this wouldn't have happened with Trump, simply because it would never have been a priority for him)
3. And, of course, it is good for purchasers of Scotch in the US!
I'd give Hope Arizona another ten years and then it will be just a gas station on the desert highway and no one else at all.
So all these arrangements would leave the UK with less access to the single market than before. Would this be outweighed by freedom to negotiate our own trading arrangements with other countries? A simple bit of maths shows the answer is no. The EU already has FTAs covering nearly 60% of the UK’s trade, including the EU itself. If TTIP and the EU/Japan FTA can be negotiated soon, that figure goes up to 80%. It can’t possibly make sense to have less good arrangements with the 60% or 80% in return for slightly better arrangements with the 20%.
https://issuu.com/portland_comms/docs/brexitbooklet_online_3_?e=7459321/36134988
Indeed, I like all of Arizona, from the impoverished small towns with the gun racks and the Trump banners, to the gleaming office buildings of Scottsdale.
Next PM nailed on.
Most of the public never see them in the flesh and those that do, whilst they might be surprised at their height, don't find it anything more than a curiosity.
It might be a problem for him if he was on the pull in a nightclub. But most politicians seeking the office of PM don't do that.
Reading the actual wording, this 4 months is expected to be made permanent once a few finer details are figured out.
Remember the photos of the Obamas meeting the Queen. It was jarring. On a visceral level it will affect Sunak's chances. It shouldn't but it will.
He is obviously sensitive about it hence the weirdly-angled photos
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19135921.chancellor-exchequer-will-based-darlington-part-week-rishi-sunak-confirms-visit/
I'd be curious as to what the plan is when the Chancellor isn't the MP for Richmond or elsewhere in the Tees Valley.
And remember this is the point - the Treasury needs to know how the rest of the country works so that policies reflect the needs of all the UK not just London.
AND the overall numbers are relatively small.
We'll get there.
(Was she particularly short anyway, for a woman, when she took the crown?)
What's your 2-line take on the Salmond vs Sturgeon thing?
It's always the coverup that gets you into trouble.
We also know that the TTIP isn't happening and the UK is set to join the CPTPP and with it's allies set on trying to draw the US into it as well.
What may have been true in 2016 (and I don't think it was then) definitely isn't today. The EU has said it wants and arm's length relationship with the UK, which is fine, that's their prerogative, but the inevitable result of that is that the UK will simply diverge and devalue the relationship until it reaches a point where an official dilution becomes official policy.
Not sure you're entirely right on your characterisation of PB. It definitely leans more right than left - at the moment. But there was a time when it was all Lib Dems. As Tim says it changes.
And I am sure there are many more Remainers than Leavers, that's one thing that has never changed, it's just that the argument has died away so you don't notice