Been down the pub again tonight. Very inventive what this particular place did with its beer garden. A lovely tent/sail/marquee thing with gas burners plus a futurist bubble pod for posh dinners.
Pretty busy, walked in, scanned the NHS QR voluntarily because nobody asked. Nobody wearing masks other than the waiting staff. A mix of scruffy cyclists like me, a bunch of beer drinking geezers and some dressed-up girls having al fresco birthday drinks. A very pleasant experience.
Barman told me they’ll keep the set up beyond 17 May: have expanded their garden on to the pavements and the council have turned a blind eye. Meanwhile, everyone loves the smart tent.
Could have been a bit warmer, but one can’t control the weather.
8/10.
I counted 5 hardy individuals sat outside our local this evening, wrapped up in their big coats.
Not exactly al fresco weather today.
The northerners on this site do a really terrible job of promoting the north.
Let's face it, it's effing freezing in London at the moment. Another day that barely crept into double digits
We are having a cold, wet Spring. Bad timing
I think Manchester was the warmest place in the country last weekend.
As it always is, of course. Like the Atacama Desert, here, only drier.
"We are having a cold, wet Spring"
Not my way. We having a very very dry and very cold spring. Garden is struggling.
Jesus.
Truth, boots on, lying, globe, etc
I have now amended and apologised for my insane remark that "we are having a wet spring" about nine times. It is not wet. It is DRY. I just lazily said "cold and wet" as shorthand for SHIT
But it is shit. The stats show we have endured one of the coldest, unsunniest half years in British weather history
Unsunny? Surely you must be joking. It’s been cold, but sunny almost every day
Re the Auschwitz joke, quite a lot of Jewish humour (including Holocaust humour) is black as pitch.
The only way to deal with something so inhumane and unspeakable, is humour: after a certain amount of time
Tho I often wonder if people laughed IN Auschwitz. I believe they must have done, just as they must have made love, told stories, played practical jokes. it is human life, it is irrepressible
I like to imagine an elderly Jew, standing by the ovens, glancing at the chimneys, then leaning over and saying to his skeptical cousin, "at least the trains run on time"
The primary sources suggest otherwise. Read Primo Levi; there's stuff of that sort in The Truce, his getting home after Auschwitz book, none in If This Is A Man.
I've read Levi. A fine writer. But I don't believe it. I do not believe there is anywhere on earth without human jokes, not even Auschwitz. Indeed the urge to laugh mockingly at the Nazis would have been intense - it would be the only possible revenge. There are jokes in the camps in Schindler's List, and I know the guy that wrote that screenplay - he did his research
We also know there was sex in the camps. Hence, Joy Division
I believe - I am suspicious of over-detailed knowledge of the death camps. Read Levi, then stop. Someone recently pointed out that there are about a dozen books in print with a title in the format "The {Flint-knapper} of Auschwitz."
No offence, but I will read what I like about Auschwitz
The immortal Jewish gift for humour would not have ended at "Arbeit Macht Frei". Someone, somewhere, told a jolly good joke, and someone else laughed. It was probably rather dark
I've read accounts of jokes told by concentration camp inmates. As you might imagine, they are very dark jokes.
Yes, people clearly joked in Auschwitz, just as they will joke on their deathbeds. Death is death, whether individual or industrialised, and we cope by joking. It is emblematic of humanity
I remember Nigella Lawson's account, of her husband John Diamond dying of cancer. There is something called "the bleeding point" in emergency medicine, and this related to his terminal care.
In the very last hours of his life the doctor was trying to explain this concept to Diamond, as a way of buying him a bit more time, but Diamond said:
"what's the bleeding point?" in a rather pointed way
A brilliant joke at the edge of death. That's what people do
First time I spoke with my brother after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer I just didn't know how to talk to him, what to say.
I was emotional, he was calm.
He told me that life goes on - pause - well, for you lot it will.
We both laughed, (me through the tears) - but it was a moment I will never forget and utterly changed the mood.
Been down the pub again tonight. Very inventive what this particular place did with its beer garden. A lovely tent/sail/marquee thing with gas burners plus a futurist bubble pod for posh dinners.
Pretty busy, walked in, scanned the NHS QR voluntarily because nobody asked. Nobody wearing masks other than the waiting staff. A mix of scruffy cyclists like me, a bunch of beer drinking geezers and some dressed-up girls having al fresco birthday drinks. A very pleasant experience.
Barman told me they’ll keep the set up beyond 17 May: have expanded their garden on to the pavements and the council have turned a blind eye. Meanwhile, everyone loves the smart tent.
Could have been a bit warmer, but one can’t control the weather.
8/10.
I counted 5 hardy individuals sat outside our local this evening, wrapped up in their big coats.
Not exactly al fresco weather today.
The northerners on this site do a really terrible job of promoting the north.
Let's face it, it's effing freezing in London at the moment. Another day that barely crept into double digits
We are having a cold, wet Spring. Bad timing
I think Manchester was the warmest place in the country last weekend.
As it always is, of course. Like the Atacama Desert, here, only drier.
"We are having a cold, wet Spring"
Not my way. We having a very very dry and very cold spring. Garden is struggling.
Jesus.
Truth, boots on, lying, globe, etc
I have now amended and apologised for my insane remark that "we are having a wet spring" about nine times. It is not wet. It is DRY. I just lazily said "cold and wet" as shorthand for SHIT
But it is shit. The stats show we have endured one of the coldest, unsunniest half years in British weather history
Unsunny? Surely you must be joking. It’s been cold, but sunny almost every day
I'm a slap head - spent the afternoon in a pub garden Monday.
At times warm, at times chilly
But I have a burnt head now
But god, great to be out and just chatting about stuff with a mate.
Been down the pub again tonight. Very inventive what this particular place did with its beer garden. A lovely tent/sail/marquee thing with gas burners plus a futurist bubble pod for posh dinners.
Pretty busy, walked in, scanned the NHS QR voluntarily because nobody asked. Nobody wearing masks other than the waiting staff. A mix of scruffy cyclists like me, a bunch of beer drinking geezers and some dressed-up girls having al fresco birthday drinks. A very pleasant experience.
Barman told me they’ll keep the set up beyond 17 May: have expanded their garden on to the pavements and the council have turned a blind eye. Meanwhile, everyone loves the smart tent.
Could have been a bit warmer, but one can’t control the weather.
8/10.
I counted 5 hardy individuals sat outside our local this evening, wrapped up in their big coats.
Not exactly al fresco weather today.
The northerners on this site do a really terrible job of promoting the north.
Let's face it, it's effing freezing in London at the moment. Another day that barely crept into double digits
We are having a cold, wet Spring. Bad timing
I think Manchester was the warmest place in the country last weekend.
As it always is, of course. Like the Atacama Desert, here, only drier.
"We are having a cold, wet Spring"
Not my way. We having a very very dry and very cold spring. Garden is struggling.
Jesus.
Truth, boots on, lying, globe, etc
I have now amended and apologised for my insane remark that "we are having a wet spring" about nine times. It is not wet. It is DRY. I just lazily said "cold and wet" as shorthand for SHIT
But it is shit. The stats show we have endured one of the coldest, unsunniest half years in British weather history
Meanwhile its 87F (30C) in my office and it is pouring with rain outside (2"/hour pouring) at 18:15 local time
I've been in the same carriage of the London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly train as Angela Rayner, she didn't seem overly tall.
She travels first class?
Standing up?
No, she was sat down for the most of the journey.
"She was SITTING down for most of the journey."
HTH!
No TSE was writing formal Yorkshire. In everyday parlance I believe the sentence used by any self respecting Yorkshireman would have been thus: "She were sat down for most o' t' journey".
Re the Auschwitz joke, quite a lot of Jewish humour (including Holocaust humour) is black as pitch.
The only way to deal with something so inhumane and unspeakable, is humour: after a certain amount of time
Tho I often wonder if people laughed IN Auschwitz. I believe they must have done, just as they must have made love, told stories, played practical jokes. it is human life, it is irrepressible
I like to imagine an elderly Jew, standing by the ovens, glancing at the chimneys, then leaning over and saying to his skeptical cousin, "at least the trains run on time"
The primary sources suggest otherwise. Read Primo Levi; there's stuff of that sort in The Truce, his getting home after Auschwitz book, none in If This Is A Man.
I've read Levi. A fine writer. But I don't believe it. I do not believe there is anywhere on earth without human jokes, not even Auschwitz. Indeed the urge to laugh mockingly at the Nazis would have been intense - it would be the only possible revenge. There are jokes in the camps in Schindler's List, and I know the guy that wrote that screenplay - he did his research
We also know there was sex in the camps. Hence, Joy Division
I believe - I am suspicious of over-detailed knowledge of the death camps. Read Levi, then stop. Someone recently pointed out that there are about a dozen books in print with a title in the format "The {Flint-knapper} of Auschwitz."
No offence, but I will read what I like about Auschwitz
The immortal Jewish gift for humour would not have ended at "Arbeit Macht Frei". Someone, somewhere, told a jolly good joke, and someone else laughed. It was probably rather dark
I've read accounts of jokes told by concentration camp inmates. As you might imagine, they are very dark jokes.
Yes, people clearly joked in Auschwitz, just as they will joke on their deathbeds. Death is death, whether individual or industrialised, and we cope by joking. It is emblematic of humanity
I remember Nigella Lawson's account, of her husband John Diamond dying of cancer. There is something called "the bleeding point" in emergency medicine, and this related to his terminal care.
In the very last hours of his life the doctor was trying to explain this concept to Diamond, as a way of buying him a bit more time, but Diamond said:
"what's the bleeding point?" in a rather pointed way
A brilliant joke at the edge of death. That's what people do
First time I spoke with my brother after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer I just didn't know how to talk to him, what to say.
I was emotional, he was calm.
He told me that life goes on - pause - well, for you lot it will.
We both laughed, (me through the tears) - but it was a moment I will never forget and utterly changed the mood.
Deeply moving.
Only on PB could we switch from John Lewis to coping with the End in a few posts.
I've been in the same carriage of the London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly train as Angela Rayner, she didn't seem overly tall.
She travels first class?
Standing up?
No, she was sat down for the most of the journey.
"She was SITTING down for most of the journey."
HTH!
No TSE was writing formal Yorkshire. In everyday parlance I believe the sentence used by any self respecting Yorkshireman would have been thus: "She were sat down for most o' t' journey".
Why do you Northerners talk so foony?
A Northerner could tell I was a Southerner, as I got the "for" wrong. Of course it should have been " f' ".
I don’t remember you saying that about Jeremy Corbyn, and he had much worse numbers against a weaker albeit much better PM.
Are you actually claiming Theresa May is a "much better PM" than Boris?
On what metric? What on earth did she do that makes her "much better"? She spent tortuous post-Brexit years agreeing to everything the EU wanted, so she could bring home a Brexit deal which was so shit she couldn't get it through parliament. This was a result of her own initial howling errors, when she imposed red lines at the start which painted her into a terrible corner. All her own fault. She achieved nothing else in office.
As an election-winning politician she is *much better* than Boris in the same way that Worksop is "much better" than Paris, ie this is a view so eccentric only one person in the entire world believes it, and it's not even her, it's you.
Even she knows she is shit at elections, she nearly lost to JEREMY CORBYN
"much better"
lol
Actually, the person who gave the EU what they wanted - a border in the Irish Sea - was Boris Johnson.
That will be the same Boris Johnson who said he wouldn't enforce the border, prior to the deal being signed, and they entrusted enforcing that border to . . . Boris Johnson.
Now they're acting all surprised that the Boris isn't enforcing the border. Funny that. 😂
So you’re saying it’s OK he lied about never agreeing to one, because he also lied about enforcing it?
No. I'm saying he said he'd never have a border, he said he'd never enforce one, now he's not enforcing one and the EU are whinging "why isn't he enforcing a border"? When he told them he wouldn't!
I mean what did they expect? Probably Theresa May style just to see the UK rollover and play dead.
Except he told them he would and they signed a withdrawal agreement on that basis (otherwise they certainly wouldn’t have signed).
A politician lied to the EU????
Perish the thought. The sainted EU, which never lies to anyone.... except when, say, they want to adopt an entire Constitution by stealth, voiding national referendums.
"Public opinion will be led - without knowing it - to adopt the policies we would never dare present to them directly. All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden or disguised in some way."
Ex French president, Giscard D'Estaing: chair of the convention that drafted the EU Constitution.
Well they also had a chance to hold up or vote down the TCA having been told by Boris that the UK will simply ignore the NI protocol for as long as it suits us. They didn't, so clearly they don't care that much.
Wasn't there some talk a couple of months back that there would be opposition to the TCA in the EU parliament ?
Yes, the leader of the EPP said they wouldn't ratify it until the UK complied fully with the NI protocol.
As if that was ever going to happen. No one gives a shit about NI, it's only ever been a tool to try and keep the UK within the EU's sphere of influence.
If Brexit starts to be perceived as a success, it will have an interesting effect on the political dynamics in Northern Ireland. Unionists now have a practical, non-sectarian objective of overturning or renegotiating the protocol.
Brexit being a success and the UK economy growing faster outside of the EU becomes an existential crisis for them, Ireland would be a sideshow. The oddest part is that the TCA has literally handed the UK the tools to be successful outside of the EU with a truly independent trade policy while keeping most EU trade. However it happened, the fact of the matter is that the EU has given the UK a greenlight to diverge standards and regulations with little to no recourse. I said it at the time, I was pretty stunned by the reversals in position from the EU on everything except fish and border pedantry. On the LPF, governance and tariffs the UK ended up winning and to a much greater extent than even I was hoping for or thought possible. It was quite a change in fortunes once Frost successfully got Barnier out of the room and bogged him down with the minutiae of fishing rights.
I don’t remember you saying that about Jeremy Corbyn, and he had much worse numbers against a weaker albeit much better PM.
Are you actually claiming Theresa May is a "much better PM" than Boris?
On what metric? What on earth did she do that makes her "much better"? She spent tortuous post-Brexit years agreeing to everything the EU wanted, so she could bring home a Brexit deal which was so shit she couldn't get it through parliament. This was a result of her own initial howling errors, when she imposed red lines at the start which painted her into a terrible corner. All her own fault. She achieved nothing else in office.
As an election-winning politician she is *much better* than Boris in the same way that Worksop is "much better" than Paris, ie this is a view so eccentric only one person in the entire world believes it, and it's not even her, it's you.
Even she knows she is shit at elections, she nearly lost to JEREMY CORBYN
"much better"
lol
Actually, the person who gave the EU what they wanted - a border in the Irish Sea - was Boris Johnson.
That will be the same Boris Johnson who said he wouldn't enforce the border, prior to the deal being signed, and they entrusted enforcing that border to . . . Boris Johnson.
Now they're acting all surprised that the Boris isn't enforcing the border. Funny that. 😂
So you’re saying it’s OK he lied about never agreeing to one, because he also lied about enforcing it?
No. I'm saying he said he'd never have a border, he said he'd never enforce one, now he's not enforcing one and the EU are whinging "why isn't he enforcing a border"? When he told them he wouldn't!
I mean what did they expect? Probably Theresa May style just to see the UK rollover and play dead.
Except he told them he would and they signed a withdrawal agreement on that basis (otherwise they certainly wouldn’t have signed).
A politician lied to the EU????
Perish the thought. The sainted EU, which never lies to anyone.... except when, say, they want to adopt an entire Constitution by stealth, voiding national referendums.
"Public opinion will be led - without knowing it - to adopt the policies we would never dare present to them directly. All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden or disguised in some way."
Ex French president, Giscard D'Estaing: chair of the convention that drafted the EU Constitution.
Well they also had a chance to hold up or vote down the TCA having been told by Boris that the UK will simply ignore the NI protocol for as long as it suits us. They didn't, so clearly they don't care that much.
Wasn't there some talk a couple of months back that there would be opposition to the TCA in the EU parliament ?
Yes, the leader of the EPP said they wouldn't ratify it until the UK complied fully with the NI protocol.
As if that was ever going to happen. No one gives a shit about NI, it's only ever been a tool to try and keep the UK within the EU's sphere of influence.
If Brexit starts to be perceived as a success, it will have an interesting effect on the political dynamics in Northern Ireland. Unionists now have a practical, non-sectarian objective of overturning or renegotiating the protocol.
Brexit being a success and the UK economy growing faster outside of the EU becomes an existential crisis for them, Ireland would be a sideshow. The oddest part is that the TCA has literally handed the UK the tools to be successful outside of the EU with a truly independent trade policy while keeping most EU trade. However it happened, the fact of the matter is that the EU has given the UK a greenlight to diverge standards and regulations with little to no recourse. I said it at the time, I was pretty stunned by the reversals in position from the EU on everything except fish and border pedantry. On the LPF, governance and tariffs the UK ended up winning and to a much greater extent than even I was hoping for or thought possible. It was quite a change in fortunes once Frost successfully got Barnier out of the room and bogged him down with the minutiae of fishing rights.
A good friend of mine was commenting yesterday that Frost's performance on Brexit was such that it was a pity that being PM in the Lords had gone out of fashion. Not quite going to match Kate Bingham but a truly inspired appointment.
I don’t remember you saying that about Jeremy Corbyn, and he had much worse numbers against a weaker albeit much better PM.
Are you actually claiming Theresa May is a "much better PM" than Boris?
On what metric? What on earth did she do that makes her "much better"? She spent tortuous post-Brexit years agreeing to everything the EU wanted, so she could bring home a Brexit deal which was so shit she couldn't get it through parliament. This was a result of her own initial howling errors, when she imposed red lines at the start which painted her into a terrible corner. All her own fault. She achieved nothing else in office.
As an election-winning politician she is *much better* than Boris in the same way that Worksop is "much better" than Paris, ie this is a view so eccentric only one person in the entire world believes it, and it's not even her, it's you.
Even she knows she is shit at elections, she nearly lost to JEREMY CORBYN
"much better"
lol
Actually, the person who gave the EU what they wanted - a border in the Irish Sea - was Boris Johnson.
That will be the same Boris Johnson who said he wouldn't enforce the border, prior to the deal being signed, and they entrusted enforcing that border to . . . Boris Johnson.
Now they're acting all surprised that the Boris isn't enforcing the border. Funny that. 😂
So you’re saying it’s OK he lied about never agreeing to one, because he also lied about enforcing it?
No. I'm saying he said he'd never have a border, he said he'd never enforce one, now he's not enforcing one and the EU are whinging "why isn't he enforcing a border"? When he told them he wouldn't!
I mean what did they expect? Probably Theresa May style just to see the UK rollover and play dead.
Except he told them he would and they signed a withdrawal agreement on that basis (otherwise they certainly wouldn’t have signed).
A politician lied to the EU????
Perish the thought. The sainted EU, which never lies to anyone.... except when, say, they want to adopt an entire Constitution by stealth, voiding national referendums.
"Public opinion will be led - without knowing it - to adopt the policies we would never dare present to them directly. All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden or disguised in some way."
Ex French president, Giscard D'Estaing: chair of the convention that drafted the EU Constitution.
Well they also had a chance to hold up or vote down the TCA having been told by Boris that the UK will simply ignore the NI protocol for as long as it suits us. They didn't, so clearly they don't care that much.
Wasn't there some talk a couple of months back that there would be opposition to the TCA in the EU parliament ?
Yes, the leader of the EPP said they wouldn't ratify it until the UK complied fully with the NI protocol.
As if that was ever going to happen. No one gives a shit about NI, it's only ever been a tool to try and keep the UK within the EU's sphere of influence.
If Brexit starts to be perceived as a success, it will have an interesting effect on the political dynamics in Northern Ireland. Unionists now have a practical, non-sectarian objective of overturning or renegotiating the protocol.
Brexit being a success and the UK economy growing faster outside of the EU becomes an existential crisis for them, Ireland would be a sideshow. The oddest part is that the TCA has literally handed the UK the tools to be successful outside of the EU with a truly independent trade policy while keeping most EU trade. However it happened, the fact of the matter is that the EU has given the UK a greenlight to diverge standards and regulations with little to no recourse. I said it at the time, I was pretty stunned by the reversals in position from the EU on everything except fish and border pedantry. On the LPF, governance and tariffs the UK ended up winning and to a much greater extent than even I was hoping for or thought possible. It was quite a change in fortunes once Frost successfully got Barnier out of the room and bogged him down with the minutiae of fishing rights.
Well said.
I think the EU, besides getting bogged down on fishing rights, rather fell for their own spin that border pedantry mattered.
We've had years of the great and the good proclaiming that border pedantry would be devastating. The viewpoint, as shown by some here like Rochdale or Nabavi, was that they simply couldn't see Britain succeeding outside of the CU etc. We would choose 'not to get pregnant' as some put it.
In the end the border pedantry has kicked in, some are screaming blue murder about it, but most other people have shrugged and moved on.
Indeed. I wrote that without thinking. Twaddle. It's been incredibly dry.
But fuck it is cold. And (recent days apart) it has been very grey. This is fact
Average day time maximum for London in late April should be 16c or 60F in old money.
As you say, we're well below that - I thought today was a notch less cold than yesterday but 12c is more early March than late April.
It's been incredibly dry but the other noteworthy feature is or are the overnight frosts. I think we've had 12 air frosts in London this month so far which is the most in 50-60 years.
I suspect it'll get wetter before it gets appreciably warmer.
Indeed but averages are averages for a reason. Some Aprils are colder, some warmer. As for the rain: let’s hope we get it. It’s desperately needed.
Despite the grey and cold (and it is grey and cold) the pubs of London (that are open) are vividly boisterous
As I write, the Edinboro Castle is audible from my table, with drunken kids shouting Oggy oggy oggy, oi oi oi, in call and response - in traditional Cornish style
Re the Auschwitz joke, quite a lot of Jewish humour (including Holocaust humour) is black as pitch.
The only way to deal with something so inhumane and unspeakable, is humour: after a certain amount of time
Tho I often wonder if people laughed IN Auschwitz. I believe they must have done, just as they must have made love, told stories, played practical jokes. it is human life, it is irrepressible
I like to imagine an elderly Jew, standing by the ovens, glancing at the chimneys, then leaning over and saying to his skeptical cousin, "at least the trains run on time"
"Hartlepool, a once-thriving steel town and industrial port that served the nearby Durham coalfield, was recently named the 10th most deprived town in England. Its unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country. Even on this picturesque spot, flats change hands for £30,000, a fraction of what they fetch in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, just 25 miles away."
I don’t remember you saying that about Jeremy Corbyn, and he had much worse numbers against a weaker albeit much better PM.
Are you actually claiming Theresa May is a "much better PM" than Boris?
On what metric? What on earth did she do that makes her "much better"? She spent tortuous post-Brexit years agreeing to everything the EU wanted, so she could bring home a Brexit deal which was so shit she couldn't get it through parliament. This was a result of her own initial howling errors, when she imposed red lines at the start which painted her into a terrible corner. All her own fault. She achieved nothing else in office.
As an election-winning politician she is *much better* than Boris in the same way that Worksop is "much better" than Paris, ie this is a view so eccentric only one person in the entire world believes it, and it's not even her, it's you.
Even she knows she is shit at elections, she nearly lost to JEREMY CORBYN
"much better"
lol
Actually, the person who gave the EU what they wanted - a border in the Irish Sea - was Boris Johnson.
That will be the same Boris Johnson who said he wouldn't enforce the border, prior to the deal being signed, and they entrusted enforcing that border to . . . Boris Johnson.
Now they're acting all surprised that the Boris isn't enforcing the border. Funny that. 😂
So you’re saying it’s OK he lied about never agreeing to one, because he also lied about enforcing it?
No. I'm saying he said he'd never have a border, he said he'd never enforce one, now he's not enforcing one and the EU are whinging "why isn't he enforcing a border"? When he told them he wouldn't!
I mean what did they expect? Probably Theresa May style just to see the UK rollover and play dead.
Except he told them he would and they signed a withdrawal agreement on that basis (otherwise they certainly wouldn’t have signed).
A politician lied to the EU????
Perish the thought. The sainted EU, which never lies to anyone.... except when, say, they want to adopt an entire Constitution by stealth, voiding national referendums.
"Public opinion will be led - without knowing it - to adopt the policies we would never dare present to them directly. All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden or disguised in some way."
Ex French president, Giscard D'Estaing: chair of the convention that drafted the EU Constitution.
Well they also had a chance to hold up or vote down the TCA having been told by Boris that the UK will simply ignore the NI protocol for as long as it suits us. They didn't, so clearly they don't care that much.
Wasn't there some talk a couple of months back that there would be opposition to the TCA in the EU parliament ?
It was the topic of conversation when talk of a second Brexit referendum dried up at north London dinner parties....
Indeed. I wrote that without thinking. Twaddle. It's been incredibly dry.
But fuck it is cold. And (recent days apart) it has been very grey. This is fact
Average day time maximum for London in late April should be 16c or 60F in old money.
As you say, we're well below that - I thought today was a notch less cold than yesterday but 12c is more early March than late April.
It's been incredibly dry but the other noteworthy feature is or are the overnight frosts. I think we've had 12 air frosts in London this month so far which is the most in 50-60 years.
I suspect it'll get wetter before it gets appreciably warmer.
Indeed but averages are averages for a reason. Some Aprils are colder, some warmer. As for the rain: let’s hope we get it. It’s desperately needed.
Despite the grey and cold (and it is grey and cold) the pubs of London (that are open) are vividly boisterous
As I write, the Edinboro Castle is audible from my table, with drunken kids shouting Oggy oggy oggy, oi oi oi, in call and response - in traditional Cornish style
Indeed. I wrote that without thinking. Twaddle. It's been incredibly dry.
But fuck it is cold. And (recent days apart) it has been very grey. This is fact
Average day time maximum for London in late April should be 16c or 60F in old money.
As you say, we're well below that - I thought today was a notch less cold than yesterday but 12c is more early March than late April.
It's been incredibly dry but the other noteworthy feature is or are the overnight frosts. I think we've had 12 air frosts in London this month so far which is the most in 50-60 years.
I suspect it'll get wetter before it gets appreciably warmer.
Indeed but averages are averages for a reason. Some Aprils are colder, some warmer. As for the rain: let’s hope we get it. It’s desperately needed.
Despite the grey and cold (and it is grey and cold) the pubs of London (that are open) are vividly boisterous
As I write, the Edinboro Castle is audible from my table, with drunken kids shouting Oggy oggy oggy, oi oi oi, in call and response - in traditional Cornish style
"Boris Johnson's personal mobile phone number has been found to be freely available online.
The number, published on a press release in 2006, appears to have not been changed since. Last week officials denied that the prime minister had been told to change his mobile number. It is understood there were suggestions within government that he should be less willing to pass on his contact details to external organisations.
'Starmer's key architect of his leadership campaign last year has announced he is quitting, and others say the mood in the party is grim'
Bring back Corbyn....
Absolutely not, we had a tough enough job getting rid of him in 2017 and 2019.
At least Starmer is not a communist and is prepared to stand behind the Union flag unlike his predecessor. Plus Corbyn was 11% behind in the 2017 county council elections, Starmer will likely make gains merely because the gap is closer
"Boris Johnson's personal mobile phone number has been found to be freely available online.
The number, published on a press release in 2006, appears to have not been changed since. Last week officials denied that the prime minister had been told to change his mobile number. It is understood there were suggestions within government that he should be less willing to pass on his contact details to external organisations.
You would imagine that would be hassle he could do without. Mind you that's what makes Boris, Boris I guess. Am I alone in finding him weird on a number of different levels?
"Footage then shows passengers chant 'oggy, oggy, oggy' as they sit bunched together.
"Northumbria Police confirmed "enquiries are being carried out to identify those involved"."
This Cornish call-and-response seems to be a quiet young rebellion, UK-wide, against lockdown. Good for them. Kernow bys Vyken!
I an going to rebel-yell it next time I go to the pub. Fuck it
I remember it being chanted as a motivational tool in Lancashire in under 11's rugby. So that would be 1976/7. Haven't heard it for decades, mind.
Tracing Google News, "Oggy Oggy Oggy" seems to have re-emerged in the north of England, as an inspirational/rebellious chant against Covid and Lockdown, in the summer of last year, via the "Great North Run" (where it has been used for years)
From there it has spread to kids in the north, and from them down south, over time, to kids in Camden, tonight (and across London, this week).
Truly fascinating. Earlier I dissed the internet, but only the internet allows us to do this kind of immediate sociological research. Hm.
@Skynews: All over-40s in England can now book COVID vaccine appointments
So by the time the pubs are open indoors, almost anyone with any risk factor will have had at least one dose? We really are on the way back to normal aren’t we?
@Skynews: All over-40s in England can now book COVID vaccine appointments
So by the time the pubs are open indoors, almost anyone with any risk factor will have had at least one dose? We really are on the way back to normal aren’t we?
@Skynews: All over-40s in England can now book COVID vaccine appointments
So by the time the pubs are open indoors, almost anyone with any risk factor will have had at least one dose? We really are on the way back to normal aren’t we?
@Skynews: All over-40s in England can now book COVID vaccine appointments
So by the time the pubs are open indoors, almost anyone with any risk factor will have had at least one dose? We really are on the way back to normal aren’t we?
Yeh, but, but...
Also, the evidence is mounting that all the vaccines (except that Chinese one) are highly effective against Saffer, Indian, Cockney, etc. Covid.
"Footage then shows passengers chant 'oggy, oggy, oggy' as they sit bunched together.
"Northumbria Police confirmed "enquiries are being carried out to identify those involved"."
This Cornish call-and-response seems to be a quiet young rebellion, UK-wide, against lockdown. Good for them. Kernow bys Vyken!
I an going to rebel-yell it next time I go to the pub. Fuck it
I remember it being chanted as a motivational tool in Lancashire in under 11's rugby. So that would be 1976/7. Haven't heard it for decades, mind.
Tracing Google News, "Oggy Oggy Oggy" seems to have re-emerged in the north of England, as an inspirational/rebellious chant against Covid and Lockdown, in the summer of last year, via the "Great North Run" (where it has been used for years)
From there it has spread to kids in the north, and from them down south, over time, to kids in Camden, tonight (and across London, this week).
Truly fascinating. Earlier I dissed the internet, but only the internet allows us to do this kind of immediate sociological research. Hm.
Yeah, remember it from the great north run, but it's just a pretty common thing in my experience. Also found on a stag party in Berlin, numerous lower league footie matches.
Re the internet, I have colleagues looking into Twitter and the like for pharmacovigilance. They're actually finding it reasonably effective for more minor side effects of medications - trawling the data you can pick up evidence before it comes through by other means, from people who would never bother with yellow card and probably never heard of it. You also get to learn the astonishing amount of personal stuff people post on Twitter (interesting ethical issues there - it is, of course, public data, but the people are also becoming unconsented research participants with potentials for harms if e.g. quoted in a publication). Current thinking is that quotes are of course anonymised but also subtlely changed to prevent search identifying the original poster.
Edit: So there's me waking up the computer and commenting on a zombie thread without refreshing the page first
It looks to me the DUP vote is fragmenting towards TUV, Alliance and, above all, Will Not Vote. Hence the perceived need to shore up the base, by being hard-line on the Protocol etc.
The DUP runs the risk, I think, of no longer being the first or second party in Northern Ireland if it falls behind Alliance in vote share. Would Alliance would get the Deputy FM post in that case?
Due To The Good Friday Agreement, Alliance can only gain the First Minister role because they are not officially know as neither of Unionist or Nationalist.
They would have to gain the most seats and if they were second, the third party would unfortunately get the Deputy Minister Role.
Is this an existential crisis for the DUP? Having outflanked the UUP, are they going to themselves be outflanked by this new grouping?
Alliance will definitely make gains in D.U.P areas / locations in the Northern Irish 2022 Election. If the surge was to continue, Alliance could be the top party before the end of this Decade.
Lucidtalk today had 6% of 2017 Sinn Fein voters voting Alliance now but only 4% of 2017 DUP voters voting Alliance, so Sinn Fein have actually lost more voters to the Alliance than the DUP have. The SDLP have lost a full 27% of their 2017 voters to the Alliance and the UUP have also lost 12% of their 2017 vote to the Alliance. So the DUP are actually leaking least of the main parties to the Alliance, they are leaking votes to the hard right to TUV instead
Comments
Makes it sound like April this year is ages ago…
I was emotional, he was calm.
He told me that life goes on - pause - well, for you lot it will.
We both laughed, (me through the tears) - but it was a moment I will never forget and utterly changed the mood.
At times warm, at times chilly
But I have a burnt head now
But god, great to be out and just chatting about stuff with a mate.
Only on PB could we switch from John Lewis to coping with the End in a few posts.
Noel Clarke excels in Rear Window-inspired thriller
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/apr/26/viewpoint-review-noel-clarke-excels-in-rear-window-inspired-thriller
Night all!
I don’t think that is fair journalism.
BBC among many who have “reported” this “story”
I think the EU, besides getting bogged down on fishing rights, rather fell for their own spin that border pedantry mattered.
We've had years of the great and the good proclaiming that border pedantry would be devastating. The viewpoint, as shown by some here like Rochdale or Nabavi, was that they simply couldn't see Britain succeeding outside of the CU etc. We would choose 'not to get pregnant' as some put it.
In the end the border pedantry has kicked in, some are screaming blue murder about it, but most other people have shrugged and moved on.
What is even the journalist angle / justification?
Pub-crawl. You may need to look it up in the dictionary, to remind yourself....
A difficult, but important listen.
Here's a BBC documentary from 1963 about high and long term unemployment in Hartlepool:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p053r2q1/waiting-for-work
I'm topping up at these prices. Sorry for Johnson wallpaper lovers.
GOTV.
Is "Oggy oggy oggy, oi oi oi" cornish?
We used to sing at as lads in the Scouts every annual camp. Every one of us from Birmingham born and bred.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oggy_Oggy_Oggy
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/100533551#/
Possibly of interest to PB's California boys and Roger ?
This one more for Boris with its 10 bedrooms, Victoria features and wallpaper at under £0.5m:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/104722100#/
The Telegraph
@Telegraph
Social distancing for large events can be scrapped from June 21, Boris Johnson will be told next week.
The number, published on a press release in 2006, appears to have not been changed since. Last week officials denied that the prime minister had been told to change his mobile number. It is understood there were suggestions within government that he should be less willing to pass on his contact details to external organisations.
Downing Street declined to comment."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56937889
At least Starmer is not a communist and is prepared to stand behind the Union flag unlike his predecessor. Plus Corbyn was 11% behind in the 2017 county council elections, Starmer will likely make gains merely because the gap is closer
The Oggy Oggy Oggy thing is not my drunken imagination. Here are some kids on the Metro in Newcastle chanting it, in October last year
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/shocking-footage-shows-rowdy-revellers-19127981
"Footage then shows passengers chant 'oggy, oggy, oggy' as they sit bunched together.
"Northumbria Police confirmed "enquiries are being carried out to identify those involved"."
This Cornish call-and-response seems to be a quiet young rebellion, UK-wide, against lockdown. Good for them. Kernow bys Vyken!
I an going to rebel-yell it next time I go to the pub. Fuck it
So that would be 1976/7.
Haven't heard it for decades, mind.
Mind you that's what makes Boris, Boris I guess.
Am I alone in finding him weird on a number of different levels?
From there it has spread to kids in the north, and from them down south, over time, to kids in Camden, tonight (and across London, this week).
Truly fascinating. Earlier I dissed the internet, but only the internet allows us to do this kind of immediate sociological research. Hm.
https://youtu.be/O-EKY7z_jeE?t=40
But I never followed football significantly.
Re the internet, I have colleagues looking into Twitter and the like for pharmacovigilance. They're actually finding it reasonably effective for more minor side effects of medications - trawling the data you can pick up evidence before it comes through by other means, from people who would never bother with yellow card and probably never heard of it. You also get to learn the astonishing amount of personal stuff people post on Twitter (interesting ethical issues there - it is, of course, public data, but the people are also becoming unconsented research participants with potentials for harms if e.g. quoted in a publication). Current thinking is that quotes are of course anonymised but also subtlely changed to prevent search identifying the original poster.
Edit: So there's me waking up the computer and commenting on a zombie thread without refreshing the page first