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Bet on Raducanu for SPOTY before tonight’s final – politicalbetting.com

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  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183
    MattW said:

    Leon said:

    There is ONE bar open in Zurich international; terminal 1. Saturday evening. 7.45pm.

    One

    Be careful guys, it’s still hell out there

    You not got access a the first class lounge? Having to slum it with the plebs.
    I think it only applies when you are flying.

    Unless presumably your are Peter Mandelson then you demand how important you are, and steal someone's First Class place.
    There are many programmes - like Priority Pass, Amex Platinum/Centurion, Diners Club - that get you access to lounges without the expense of a First/Business Class ticket.

    When I was a CFO in London, I'd fly everywhere on EasyJet and use the Priority Pass lounge network - it worked out very cost efficient.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183
    kle4 said:

    Stocky said:

    Raducanu 4/7
    Fernandez 6/4

    Fernandez the higher-ranked player. A bit of patriotism in the betting?

    Fernandez should be favourite, surely?

    Both are lowly ranked compared to who would be expected to be in the final, so it might be considered a crapshoot. I mean, is the 100th best player in the world that much better than the 150th for example? Raducanu has had the more dominant path to the final (albeit in part as she has not played as many high ranked players as Fernandez) so maybe that is it.

    But on paper, certainly, Fernandez should win.
    Fernandez has knocked out a lot of really highly rated players. She should be favourite.

    But not the dominant one, perhaps 42 - 58, something like that.
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    Leon said:

    Foxy said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    The thing I never understand about the Last Night angst, the Boat Race etc etc is that it is such a small part of national life - you can ignore it trivially.

    Mind you, there is nothing quite like watching idiots marooning their cars in the Thames, by parking on boat ramps without permission, while seated in a good pub. There is something very calming about sipping a pint and watching the water crawling towards the morons Chelsea tractor......
    The guardian publishes this wank because their idiot readers lap it up. Every year. Without fail. It’s no better or worse than another express article about sizzling weather or princess diana
    I haven't seen anything on it in the Guardian today. Could you direct me to it?
    It worries me that you’re a doctor. You’re not the brightest


    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/10/rewrite-rule-britannia-what-would-you-do-with-the-last-night-of-the-proms?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
    But its okay to have pomp and circumstance without the singing. Absolutely no one with a brain could object to that. The words make it into something opposite to what Elgar intended, so refreshing to go back to the original the pomp versus reality of actual battle.

    Jersulem also stolen from the intention of the original prose, nor is it remotely as good or as patriotic as Parry’s blessed pair, thanks to fact Jerusalem not a real hymn, so we can swap that out for a change and have a far better prom.

    But we are not allowed to because the swastika wearing brigade like Leon won’t allow that, without giving any rational reason why not.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,201
    edited September 2021
    ..
  • state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,813
    edited September 2021
    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Stocky said:

    Raducanu 4/7
    Fernandez 6/4

    Fernandez the higher-ranked player. A bit of patriotism in the betting?

    Fernandez should be favourite, surely?

    Both are lowly ranked compared to who would be expected to be in the final, so it might be considered a crapshoot. I mean, is the 100th best player in the world that much better than the 150th for example? Raducanu has had the more dominant path to the final (albeit in part as she has not played as many high ranked players as Fernandez) so maybe that is it.

    But on paper, certainly, Fernandez should win.
    Fernandez has knocked out a lot of really highly rated players. She should be favourite.

    But not the dominant one, perhaps 42 - 58, something like that.
    you have convinced me to put my winnings from labour having a poll lead by end of 2021 on Fernandez . Tennis and rugby are my least favourite mainstream sports so rarely bet on them as i find them tedious to watch and presenters on both up themselves. However there does seem to be unusual value in the non-brit
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362
    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    As one knocks out even the flimsiest of PB posts it's a struggle to not accidentally reveal that one's thoughts have turned yet again to "hot teen girls".
    It is my aim in life to reach the elevated stage where I am so skilled at ‘PB-ing’, every single one of my comments JUSTIFIABLY references ‘hot teen girls’ but in a surprisingly varied way which wrong-foots my political foes

    If that fails I’ll just go total Hyufd about Scottish indy
  • kle4 said:

    Stocky said:

    Raducanu 4/7
    Fernandez 6/4

    Fernandez the higher-ranked player. A bit of patriotism in the betting?

    Fernandez should be favourite, surely?

    Both are lowly ranked compared to who would be expected to be in the final, so it might be considered a crapshoot. I mean, is the 100th best player in the world that much better than the 150th for example? Raducanu has had the more dominant path to the final (albeit in part as she has not played as many high ranked players as Fernandez) so maybe that is it.

    But on paper, certainly, Fernandez should win.
    Rankings really mean very little here. Raducanu has hardly played any tournaments. What she has played so far is clearly worthy of a top ten player rating, although that level may not be currently sustainable. She has only ever lost a couple of tour level matches where she has not pulled out with injury.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,695

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Stocky said:

    Raducanu 4/7
    Fernandez 6/4

    Fernandez the higher-ranked player. A bit of patriotism in the betting?

    Fernandez should be favourite, surely?

    Both are lowly ranked compared to who would be expected to be in the final, so it might be considered a crapshoot. I mean, is the 100th best player in the world that much better than the 150th for example? Raducanu has had the more dominant path to the final (albeit in part as she has not played as many high ranked players as Fernandez) so maybe that is it.

    But on paper, certainly, Fernandez should win.
    Fernandez has knocked out a lot of really highly rated players. She should be favourite.

    But not the dominant one, perhaps 42 - 58, something like that.
    you have convinced me to put my winnings from labour having a poll lead by end of 2021 on Fernandez . Tennis and rugby are my least favourite mainstream sports so rarely bet on them as i find them tedious to watch and presenters on both up themselves. However there does seem to be unusual value in the non-brit
    Yes, it may well be a value bet. I might even watch a bit of it. Fortunately I have a night off from removing artesanal stone dildos from the rectums of syphalitic old men.

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316
    UK cases by specimen date

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  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316
    UK cases by specimen date and scaled to 100K

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  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316
    UK case summary

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  • Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    Next up: the annual national debate about the John Lewis Christmas ad.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316
    UK hospitals

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  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362
    I’m starting to like the IQ challenging levels of bureaucracy required for international travel during Covid. It’s like going to Warsaw, Budapest or Tashkent in about 1965. The sense of being watched. The endless red tape. The deep, deep scrutiny.

    Last night I had to steal out into a rain laden Lucerne evening to get a furtive antigen test from a bored hot teen girl pharmacist. She yawned, seductively. I ate a fine praline on the way home
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316
    UK Deaths

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  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316
    UK R

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  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,050
    edited September 2021

    Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    Next up: the annual national debate about the John Lewis Christmas ad.
    Might be on borrowed time....that thing we tell kids about like renting vhs and using pay phones.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316
    Age related data

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  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316
    Age related data scaled to 100K

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  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362

    UK cases by specimen date

    image

    Malmesbury, I’m in awe, as ever, of your data crunching. You are indispensable. Thankyou

    I have just one request

    Is there any way you could break down the British stats by hotness, teen-ness and girlness? ie give us the R0 for ‘hot teen girls’ as against, fuck it, ‘everyone else’?

    I think it would be hugely useful and germane data
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    Between 1901 and 1934 Edward Elgar composed five marches and sketched a sixth, the title he took from Act III, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Othello:

    Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
    The spirit-stirring drum, th'ear-piercing fife,
    The royal banner, and all quality,
    Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!

    For the first is set a motto for the whole set of marches, set to a verse from Lord de Tabley's poem "The March of Glory" on assumption the splendid show of military pageantry—"Pomp"—has no connection with the drabness and terror to come —"Circumstance"

    Like a proud music that draws men on to die
    Madly upon the spears in martial ecstasy,
    A measure that sets heaven in all their veins
    And iron in their hands.
    I hear the Nation march
    Beneath her ensign as an eagle's wing;
    O'er shield and sheeted targe
    The banners of my faith most gaily swing;
    Moving to victory with solemn noise,
    With worship and with conquest, and the voice of myriads.

    As a tune, March number one quickly became very popular, on its Proms debut the audience demanded two encores. There was no singing involved at this stage, just pure appreciation of the music Elgar composed.

    But what of appreciation and understanding of an artists work, if it is only the pomp cut from the relating circumstance? How often do we hear Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1 performed in its initial full colour glory, that once so wowed audiences? How well do we know it for what it actually is?

    Don’t just accept my spin or opinion, lets listen to Elgar in his own words, in a lecture at Birmingham University

    “The commonplace mind can never be anything but commonplace, and no amount of education, no polish of a university, can eradicate the stain from the low type of mind which is the English commonplace,” he declared to a shocked room. “An Englishman will take you into a large room, beautifully proportioned, and will point out to you that it is white – all over white – and somebody will say, ‘What exquisite taste.’ You know in your own mind, in your own soul, that is not taste at all – that it is the want of taste, that it is mere evasion. English music is white, and evades everything.”

    This isn’t an argument against pageantry. There is certainly a place for pageantry, like for example inside American graduation ceremony’s, where strangely enough it’s the most regular place on earth you will hear Pomp and Circumstance.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,175
    In the time it took me to work out what I was doing on Betfair, Raducanu's price shortened by 0.02.
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,418

    What journalist has had a good COVID and not shown themselves up as a total moron for whom Bayes Theorem is just beyond their intellectual capabilities?

    Fergus Walsh
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    gealbhan said:

    Leon said:

    Foxy said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    The thing I never understand about the Last Night angst, the Boat Race etc etc is that it is such a small part of national life - you can ignore it trivially.

    Mind you, there is nothing quite like watching idiots marooning their cars in the Thames, by parking on boat ramps without permission, while seated in a good pub. There is something very calming about sipping a pint and watching the water crawling towards the morons Chelsea tractor......
    The guardian publishes this wank because their idiot readers lap it up. Every year. Without fail. It’s no better or worse than another express article about sizzling weather or princess diana
    I haven't seen anything on it in the Guardian today. Could you direct me to it?
    It worries me that you’re a doctor. You’re not the brightest


    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/10/rewrite-rule-britannia-what-would-you-do-with-the-last-night-of-the-proms?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
    But its okay to have pomp and circumstance without the singing. Absolutely no one with a brain could object to that. The words make it into something opposite to what Elgar intended, so refreshing to go back to the original the pomp versus reality of actual battle.

    Jersulem also stolen from the intention of the original prose, nor is it remotely as good or as patriotic as Parry’s blessed pair, thanks to fact Jerusalem not a real hymn, so we can swap that out for a change and have a far better prom.

    But we are not allowed to because the swastika wearing brigade like Leon won’t allow that, without giving any rational reason why not.
    Word salad. Blest Pair of Sirens is not a hymn either, nor is it prose. Jerusalem is an exceptionally great poem.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310
    Re Charles and Leus and dodgy overseas money - I wrote this - https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2020/07/23/laundering-reputations-china-and-its-uighurs/#vanilla-comments - in July 2020 about how Russians and others launder their reputations by sucking up to - and financing - the great and the good.

    Note the reference to the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society - set up by one Michael Wynn-Jones, a questionable individual, who was involved in introducing that Saudi businessman who got a gong from Charles in return for money (which recently resulted in Michael Fawcett resigning as CEO of one of Charles's charities). This character is very close to some dubious Russians I know a fair bit about, who are also close to the Tory party. (The clues are in the header.)

    The whole thing stinks. Is there no-one sensible advising the Royals? No-one able to do a bit of due diligence and ask some pretty obvious and basic questions about people keen to meet and befriend them?
  • Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    The thing I never understand about the Last Night angst, the Boat Race etc etc is that it is such a small part of national life - you can ignore it trivially.

    Mind you, there is nothing quite like watching idiots marooning their cars in the Thames, by parking on boat ramps without permission, while seated in a good pub. There is something very calming about sipping a pint and watching the water crawling towards the morons Chelsea tractor......
    The guardian publishes this wank because their idiot readers lap it up. Every year. Without fail. It’s no better or worse than another express article about sizzling weather or princess diana
    Not sure why the Guardian is so anti Last Night of the Prom or indeed the Boat race given the average reader of of their paper is a lot more likely to participate or watch either than the average bloke or gal-Perhaps a case of Robert Peston levels of self loathing (with his krap about being a middle aged white man and so lucky to be in a job there of )
    Not sure many Guardian readers could bear to watch Last Night of the Prom. I couldn't and I'm not a Guardian reader.
    Of course they do , so they can secretly like it and then write how awfullly white and middle class it is. A bit like when undercover reporters used to act shocked when they did (numerous) undercover visits to sex shows in Soho in the 1960s 70s
    Guardian readers secretly like lots of things that are awfully white and middle class, but I'm pretty sure that the Last Night of the Proms isn't one of them.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    Farooq said:

    darkage said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Nigelb said:
    "I doubt Johnson can keep his bubble machine blowing out the myth that austerity is over. Whether it’s soaring food bank use from universal credit cuts or the NHS struggling with waiting times, sooner rather than later, enough voters will see through his make-believe politics."

    Polly Toynbee
    He could keep throwing in some super populist policies each election. I am convinced there will a restoration of capital punishment for cop killers and nonces before Johnson's tenure is finally up

    He doesn't believes that it is right, any more than I do. But if it keeps his dream alive, who cares?
    If that's what voters want, what's the problem? I wouldn't support it myself though.
    This is why we have a sovereign parliament. MPs should be smarter than us ( Richard Burgon excepted) and be voted in to do things on our behalf that we are too stupid to think through ourselves.

    When a government decides in order to preserve itself it offers the voters choices that it believes are in the grand-scheme sub-optimal, but deliberately pander to people's basest instincts, the system has failed.

    If restoration of capital punishment isn't controversial enough for you, where would you draw the line?
    In recent years, this idea is no longer true. Many MP's coming through the system do not come across as being particularly smart at all, the classic example of this is Nick Clegg being replaced by Jared O'Mara. The smart people avoid politics nowadays, The Elite politicians are being replaced by hobbyist activists and veteran local councillors who are causing untold amounts of chaos.

    There is an idea that elitism is a bad thing; I don't agree when it comes to representative democracy.

    Part of the problem is being high-profile helps you, even if you're high profile for being a complete plank.
    Which political party hasn't had an attention seeking moron as leader in the last few years? There are better people out there. I'll say it again there are better people out there. But people love their clickbait, and their controversy and pwning the other side and all that crap. Whereas you should be thinking carefully about your vote and being prepared to change your mind.

    The argument for elites being better is tempting when you think of O'Mara, but I'll see your Jared and raise you a Jacob Rees-Mogg.
    I would say that Rees Mogg is quite smart, and good at playing the clickbait game.

    Of the tories, Priti Patel seems like someone who isn't that smart, but who has gone right to the top. She seems to have little comprehension of the nuance of her position as home secretary. She has been openly enthusiastic about capital punishment in the past.
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    Really I would like to share with you Bert’s Blest Pair - just post it, be done, alas something keeps getting in the way. The problem is Jerusalem, and myriad positions from vested interests as regards this song. The Anglican Church has never been happy with Jerusalem being considered a hymn and used as part of a hymnal, and they a correct, there isn’t the clarity for a hymn. You don’t project onto a hymn, the hymn projects onto you. Look at these verses. What is the virtue they are extolling? What specifically are they adoring?

    Yet some people get quite bothered by any historical and pragmatic reading of Blake’s poetic musings which do not fit their own fanciful interpretion of the song they love, particularly when read counter to their perceived ownership of historical Jesus, which Blake is directly challenging in these verses. Yet they can’t explain the sexual imagery or why it indiscriminately erects itself, nor be specific about poetry so duly enigmatic it may be nothing more than a mill dark and satanic once gutted by fire, standing between a poet’s home and his bread shop – possibly gutted in industrial dispute. Unfortunately for them, historical Jesus visited these shores for trade and construction guidance, to build a settlement, as the considerable time Blake spent researching British and Mediterranean oral history excitedly reports back, Blake actually believed it’s possibility and that is how he is writing it.

    Whilst Elgar we know wasn’t entirely happy with his serious work taken from him by others, reduced to mere pageantry, I sense with Blake it might be the other way around - he may have been pleasured how his poetic enthusiasms and musings were orchestrated into a wonderful, widely popular song, if he had lived to have sung it himself.

    where pageantry could be assumed to draw others to wider appreciation of Elgar, Parry’s music or Blake’s output it actually does not. As Elgar explained to us, all the commonplace mind wants is more pageantry, worthier musical works thus overlooked, stuck in a long que behind this fluff. Overlooked for a charade of a song. Bastardised and warped versions of originals.

    Last Night of the Prom’s is rightly doomed. It’s an abomination against culture.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362
    I’m on a flight with the English Ladies Golf team - no joke - quite a lot of hot teen girls actually - and they’ve just announced ‘can the person who took the wrong laptop from the Moscow flight please report to the cabin’

    This is Cold War 3.0 with added slapstick. Everyone giggles, nervously, behind masks

    Meanwhile, they smirk in Beijing
  • [Vic Reeves voice] RADUCANU!!!
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,175
    No sound on Channel 4HD. Not an auspicious start...
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,420
    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    There is ONE bar open in Zurich international; terminal 1. Saturday evening. 7.45pm.

    One

    Be careful guys, it’s still hell out there

    You not got access a the first class lounge? Having to slum it with the plebs.
    Swissair kindly bought my flights. But yes. Prole class.

    That said I estimate this trip would have cost something like £7,000 for 6 days, if I’d been unfortunate enough to be ponying up my own wonga
    Where can we read your piece, or is it behind a firewall?
    I fear the dildo knappers gazette is indeed paywalled. Soz
    Never mind, perhaps this other PB denizen will be writing about it:
    https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/1436658104167456774

    You want to be careful, you might find yourself sharing a flight with him and he’s known for his alcohol intake…
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,198
    tlg86 said:

    No sound on Channel 4HD. Not an auspicious start...

    Thank god it's back.
    No it isn't
    Yes it is!
  • Level at 38 each

    Opinium
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362
    There’s a hot teen girl four rows down reading ‘Le Monde Diplomatique’

    I’ll stop now. We’re taking off. Guten Abend
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,720
    I used to abhor ladies tennis - just best of three sets, endless baseline rallies (starting with Chris Evert) etc, but now it's the men's game I abhor with it's emphasis on power and speed as the be all and end all.
    Looking forward to this final. Really don't care much who wins but I think it will be Raducanu.
  • Well I've had £10 on Fernandez who I think might be value at 2.74
  • kicorsekicorse Posts: 434
    On the article, it was Tom Daley who was SPOTY favourite before Raducanu's run. Like her, his appeal has somewhat transcended sport. Peaty and Kenny are also obvious contenders. Raducanu's odds are almost identical to her odds of winning the final, and I think that's about right.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,409
    edited September 2021
    dixiedean said:

    ******* Betting Post ******

    Know nowt about tennis. Rugby League is my game. And I can spot biased patriotic odds too.
    On which topic. Catalans Dragons, of Perpignan France have won 19 games and lost 2 finishing top of the league. Despite flying in and out same day for all their games in England because of Covid.
    To win the Grand Final and Championship they will need to win one home playoff game. Then the GF at Old Trafford.
    Available odds for this eminently acheivable feat? Well 3-1 at Skybet. Better than 5/2 everywhere. They aren't even favourites!
    Basically being given coin toss odds of winning 2 games because they are foreign.
    I mean DYOR. But to me that's an absolute steal.

    NB. They have the added bonus of being the best all round side in the competition. It isn't a fluke in the slightest.

    Oops. Lost 3. Just got beaten at home. But in meaningless game at which they got the League Trophy.
    Maybe their odds will drift more I hope?
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,059
    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    There is ONE bar open in Zurich international; terminal 1. Saturday evening. 7.45pm.

    One

    Be careful guys, it’s still hell out there

    You not got access a the first class lounge? Having to slum it with the plebs.
    Swissair kindly bought my flights. But yes. Prole class.

    That said I estimate this trip would have cost something like £7,000 for 6 days, if I’d been unfortunate enough to be ponying up my own wonga
    Where can we read your piece, or is it behind a firewall?
    I fear the dildo knappers gazette is indeed paywalled. Soz
    Never mind, perhaps this other PB denizen will be writing about it:
    https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/1436658104167456774

    You want to be careful, you might find yourself sharing a flight with him and he’s known for his alcohol intake…
    They are clearly different people. This "Sean T" guy was drinking white wine. Leon was drinking red. Case closed.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,198

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    The thing I never understand about the Last Night angst, the Boat Race etc etc is that it is such a small part of national life - you can ignore it trivially.

    Mind you, there is nothing quite like watching idiots marooning their cars in the Thames, by parking on boat ramps without permission, while seated in a good pub. There is something very calming about sipping a pint and watching the water crawling towards the morons Chelsea tractor......
    The guardian publishes this wank because their idiot readers lap it up. Every year. Without fail. It’s no better or worse than another express article about sizzling weather or princess diana
    Not sure why the Guardian is so anti Last Night of the Prom or indeed the Boat race given the average reader of of their paper is a lot more likely to participate or watch either than the average bloke or gal-Perhaps a case of Robert Peston levels of self loathing (with his krap about being a middle aged white man and so lucky to be in a job there of )
    Not sure many Guardian readers could bear to watch Last Night of the Prom. I couldn't and I'm not a Guardian reader.
    Of course they do , so they can secretly like it and then write how awfullly white and middle class it is. A bit like when undercover reporters used to act shocked when they did (numerous) undercover visits to sex shows in Soho in the 1960s 70s
    Guardian readers secretly like lots of things that are awfully white and middle class, but I'm pretty sure that the Last Night of the Proms isn't one of them.
    I can't do 2 minutes of it. Truly, I can't.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,420
    If I were betting, I’d be betting on Fernandez.

    Not because she’s likelier to win, although I think she should be favourite, but because that way I’ll be happy whoever wins.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,420
    CatMan said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    There is ONE bar open in Zurich international; terminal 1. Saturday evening. 7.45pm.

    One

    Be careful guys, it’s still hell out there

    You not got access a the first class lounge? Having to slum it with the plebs.
    Swissair kindly bought my flights. But yes. Prole class.

    That said I estimate this trip would have cost something like £7,000 for 6 days, if I’d been unfortunate enough to be ponying up my own wonga
    Where can we read your piece, or is it behind a firewall?
    I fear the dildo knappers gazette is indeed paywalled. Soz
    Never mind, perhaps this other PB denizen will be writing about it:
    https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/1436658104167456774

    You want to be careful, you might find yourself sharing a flight with him and he’s known for his alcohol intake…
    They are clearly different people. This "Sean T" guy was drinking white wine. Leon was drinking red. Case closed.
    Are you sure? It might just be a re port.
  • Labour 38 with Opinium, lovely
  • MightyAlexMightyAlex Posts: 1,660
    Remember the "righteous" drone strike to prevent ISIS-K attacks at Kabul airport.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/11/us-drone-strike-mistakenly-targeted-afghan-aid-worker-investigation-finds

    "The victim, the newspaper said, was 43-year-old Zemari Ahmadi, who died with nine members of his family, including seven children, when a missile from a US air force Reaper drone struck his car as he arrived home from work in a residential neighborhood of Kabul"
  • Jesus Christ BoJo -17, Starmer -7
  • Radders..

    Ugh.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,175
    England missed out not getting this kid...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Musiala
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183
    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "@GoodwinMJ

    Michel Barnier calls for a national referendum on immigration & for France to regain its “legal sovereignty in order to no longer be subject to the judgments” of the European Courts. Monsieur Cherry Picker!"

    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1436655468991197191

    That’s hilarious. If he wins. That’s basically Frexit
    With Ms Le Pen having moved to a more pro-EU position, it's very smart politics.
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,720
    Great advert for Prime Video provided by Channel 4.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,409
    ydoethur said:

    CatMan said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    There is ONE bar open in Zurich international; terminal 1. Saturday evening. 7.45pm.

    One

    Be careful guys, it’s still hell out there

    You not got access a the first class lounge? Having to slum it with the plebs.
    Swissair kindly bought my flights. But yes. Prole class.

    That said I estimate this trip would have cost something like £7,000 for 6 days, if I’d been unfortunate enough to be ponying up my own wonga
    Where can we read your piece, or is it behind a firewall?
    I fear the dildo knappers gazette is indeed paywalled. Soz
    Never mind, perhaps this other PB denizen will be writing about it:
    https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/1436658104167456774

    You want to be careful, you might find yourself sharing a flight with him and he’s known for his alcohol intake…
    They are clearly different people. This "Sean T" guy was drinking white wine. Leon was drinking red. Case closed.
    Are you sure? It might just be a re port.
    Shiraz eggs are eggs.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,994
    edited September 2021
    Johnson approval rating slumps to its lowest points since becoming PM https://twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/status/1436769929164988424
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,201
    Taz said:

    What journalist has had a good COVID and not shown themselves up as a total moron for whom Bayes Theorem is just beyond their intellectual capabilities?

    Fergus Walsh
    The one with the Daily Stats.

    Who will presumably soon be leaving the Indy for somewhere credible.
  • Starmer has the momentum, now it’s time to carry it into conference season and get into the 40s
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,673
    Arguably a better poll for Lab than the YG lead
    Britain Elects
    @BritainElects
    ·
    11m
    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 38% (-2)
    LAB: 38% (+3)
    LDEM: 8% (+1)
    GRN: 6% (-)

    via
    @OpiniumResearch
    , 09 - 11 Sep
  • Wow. This arrangement of Barber's Adagio for strings at The Last Night of the Proms is making me cry. Such a weight of emotion on 9/11
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,219
    kinabalu said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    The thing I never understand about the Last Night angst, the Boat Race etc etc is that it is such a small part of national life - you can ignore it trivially.

    Mind you, there is nothing quite like watching idiots marooning their cars in the Thames, by parking on boat ramps without permission, while seated in a good pub. There is something very calming about sipping a pint and watching the water crawling towards the morons Chelsea tractor......
    The guardian publishes this wank because their idiot readers lap it up. Every year. Without fail. It’s no better or worse than another express article about sizzling weather or princess diana
    Not sure why the Guardian is so anti Last Night of the Prom or indeed the Boat race given the average reader of of their paper is a lot more likely to participate or watch either than the average bloke or gal-Perhaps a case of Robert Peston levels of self loathing (with his krap about being a middle aged white man and so lucky to be in a job there of )
    Not sure many Guardian readers could bear to watch Last Night of the Prom. I couldn't and I'm not a Guardian reader.
    Of course they do , so they can secretly like it and then write how awfullly white and middle class it is. A bit like when undercover reporters used to act shocked when they did (numerous) undercover visits to sex shows in Soho in the 1960s 70s
    Guardian readers secretly like lots of things that are awfully white and middle class, but I'm pretty sure that the Last Night of the Proms isn't one of them.
    I can't do 2 minutes of it. Truly, I can't.
    Same here. Puke inducing.
  • tlg86 said:

    No sound on Channel 4HD. Not an auspicious start...

    Is it going to be like their coverage of the cricket in India?
  • Which journalist?

    You get one guess....

    Inclined to complain to @Ofcom about this headline - this level of statistical ignorance, from a journalist of this profile, represents a risk to public health.

    https://twitter.com/robfordmancs/status/1436768078138908673?s=20
  • Arguably a better poll for Lab than the YG lead
    Britain Elects
    @BritainElects
    ·
    11m
    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 38% (-2)
    LAB: 38% (+3)
    LDEM: 8% (+1)
    GRN: 6% (-)

    via
    @OpiniumResearch
    , 09 - 11 Sep

    You a Starmerite now then? I’m dizzy
  • No policies Starmer Labour still able to pull almost 40% of the vote.

    This tells us one thing as I have said before, it seems like the Tory vote is not strong
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,050
    edited September 2021

    Which journalist?

    You get one guess....

    Inclined to complain to @Ofcom about this headline - this level of statistical ignorance, from a journalist of this profile, represents a risk to public health.

    https://twitter.com/robfordmancs/status/1436768078138908673?s=20

    Already discussed...Prof Peston.... AGAIN.......last month it was the government hiding true case numbers by ignoring reinfections, now its the super secret fact that more double vaxxed oldies have fot covid than unvaxxed....

    If one of my employees was this incomponent, they would be looking for a new job.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,175

    Labour 38 with Opinium, lovely

    YouGov really do seem to find more "others". Con + Lab:

    YouGov - 68%
    Opinium - 76%
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183
    geoffw said:

    I used to abhor ladies tennis - just best of three sets, endless baseline rallies (starting with Chris Evert) etc, but now it's the men's game I abhor with it's emphasis on power and speed as the be all and end all.
    Looking forward to this final. Really don't care much who wins but I think it will be Raducanu.

    Raducanu - despite being a slight 18 year old - is a very powerful player. She hits the ball enormously hard.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,409
    I am surprised by this sudden turn in the polls. Just as I was constantly astonished for how long the PM defied gravity. Surely any fool could see that there would come a time after the pandemic when the largesse would end, and being all things to all people would run out of road?
    I obviously gave folk too much credit.
  • Remember the "righteous" drone strike to prevent ISIS-K attacks at Kabul airport.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/11/us-drone-strike-mistakenly-targeted-afghan-aid-worker-investigation-finds

    "The victim, the newspaper said, was 43-year-old Zemari Ahmadi, who died with nine members of his family, including seven children, when a missile from a US air force Reaper drone struck his car as he arrived home from work in a residential neighborhood of Kabul"

    The NYT video is worth watching:

    https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/100000007857564/haiti-jovenel-moise-assassinated-dea.html?playlistId=video/investigations
  • ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    There is ONE bar open in Zurich international; terminal 1. Saturday evening. 7.45pm.

    One

    Be careful guys, it’s still hell out there

    You not got access a the first class lounge? Having to slum it with the plebs.
    Swissair kindly bought my flights. But yes. Prole class.

    That said I estimate this trip would have cost something like £7,000 for 6 days, if I’d been unfortunate enough to be ponying up my own wonga
    Where can we read your piece, or is it behind a firewall?
    I fear the dildo knappers gazette is indeed paywalled. Soz
    Never mind, perhaps this other PB denizen will be writing about it:
    https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/1436658104167456774

    You want to be careful, you might find yourself sharing a flight with him and he’s known for his alcohol intake…
    So Sean drinks white wine, Leon posted his glass earlier - it was red wine.

    OK, they were sharing a table on that terrace, but definitely different people.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,667
    What time is the tennis final expected to start?
  • What time is the tennis final expected to start?

    9pm
  • Boris Johnson has fallen to his lowest approval rating since becoming Prime Minister, a net score of -17.

    Approve: 32% (-3)
    Neither approve or disapprove: 19% (NC)
    Disapprove: 49% (+4)


    https://twitter.com/OpiniumResearch/status/1436766995681251329?s=20
  • dixiedean said:

    I am surprised by this sudden turn in the polls. Just as I was constantly astonished for how long the PM defied gravity. Surely any fool could see that there would come a time after the pandemic when the largesse would end, and being all things to all people would run out of road?
    I obviously gave folk too much credit.

    I think there is an inherent softness in the Tory vote. I believe it is strong when Corbyn is the PM and Brexit hasn’t been done.

    I genuinely wonder if at some point in the future we might conclude 2019 was the perfect storm for Johnson and any other Labour leader would have not produced a landslide
  • geoffw said:

    I used to abhor ladies tennis - just best of three sets, endless baseline rallies (starting with Chris Evert) etc, but now it's the men's game I abhor with it's emphasis on power and speed as the be all and end all.
    Looking forward to this final. Really don't care much who wins but I think it will be Raducanu.

    If it ain't serve-volley, it ain't tennis.

    Punters may have other reasons for watching hot teen girls on a tennis court.
  • tlg86 said:

    England missed out not getting this kid...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Musiala

    From the link, England did get him but then he changed his mind.
  • Cons not switching to Lab in big numbers:

    What would 2019 Conservative voters do now?(Compared to 13th May, the peak of the Tory vaccine bounce)

    Stick with the Tories: 66% (-16)
    Switch to Labour: 5% (+2)
    Switch to other parties: 10% (+5)
    Undecided about how they would vote: 18% (+8)


    https://twitter.com/OpiniumResearch/status/1436766744056524800?s=20
  • dixiedean said:

    I am surprised by this sudden turn in the polls. Just as I was constantly astonished for how long the PM defied gravity. Surely any fool could see that there would come a time after the pandemic when the largesse would end, and being all things to all people would run out of road?
    I obviously gave folk too much credit.

    It is clear people support taxes as long as it is not on them and I believe the pensioner reduction from 8% to 2.5% is playing its part

    As far as the last point is concerned, and working pensioners paying NI, it is the right thing to do no matter the political fallout
  • CatMan said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    There is ONE bar open in Zurich international; terminal 1. Saturday evening. 7.45pm.

    One

    Be careful guys, it’s still hell out there

    You not got access a the first class lounge? Having to slum it with the plebs.
    Swissair kindly bought my flights. But yes. Prole class.

    That said I estimate this trip would have cost something like £7,000 for 6 days, if I’d been unfortunate enough to be ponying up my own wonga
    Where can we read your piece, or is it behind a firewall?
    I fear the dildo knappers gazette is indeed paywalled. Soz
    Never mind, perhaps this other PB denizen will be writing about it:
    https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/1436658104167456774

    You want to be careful, you might find yourself sharing a flight with him and he’s known for his alcohol intake…
    They are clearly different people. This "Sean T" guy was drinking white wine. Leon was drinking red. Case closed.
    I was far, far too late, wasn't I?
  • 10% of Tories switching to other parties, Lib Dems have an in here if they wish to take it

  • Latest German poll: https://twitter.com/Wahlrecht_de/status/1436771285359546368

    INSA/BamS: SPD 26 % | CDU/CSU 20 % | GRÜNE 15 % | FDP 13 % | AfD 11 % | DIE LINKE 6 % | Sonstige 9 %

    SPD appears to have plateaued at 26% but things are still dire for the CDU/CSU.

    I pay the most interest to INSA polling because it was the most accurate German polling institute in 2017 and got the SPD and AfD shares in particular spot on.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,104
    gealbhan said:

    Between 1901 and 1934 Edward Elgar composed five marches and sketched a sixth, the title he took from Act III, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Othello:

    Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
    The spirit-stirring drum, th'ear-piercing fife,
    The royal banner, and all quality,
    Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!

    For the first is set a motto for the whole set of marches, set to a verse from Lord de Tabley's poem "The March of Glory" on assumption the splendid show of military pageantry—"Pomp"—has no connection with the drabness and terror to come —"Circumstance"

    Like a proud music that draws men on to die
    Madly upon the spears in martial ecstasy,
    A measure that sets heaven in all their veins
    And iron in their hands.
    I hear the Nation march
    Beneath her ensign as an eagle's wing;
    O'er shield and sheeted targe
    The banners of my faith most gaily swing;
    Moving to victory with solemn noise,
    With worship and with conquest, and the voice of myriads.

    As a tune, March number one quickly became very popular, on its Proms debut the audience demanded two encores. There was no singing involved at this stage, just pure appreciation of the music Elgar composed.

    But what of appreciation and understanding of an artists work, if it is only the pomp cut from the relating circumstance? How often do we hear Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1 performed in its initial full colour glory, that once so wowed audiences? How well do we know it for what it actually is?

    Don’t just accept my spin or opinion, lets listen to Elgar in his own words, in a lecture at Birmingham University

    “The commonplace mind can never be anything but commonplace, and no amount of education, no polish of a university, can eradicate the stain from the low type of mind which is the English commonplace,” he declared to a shocked room. “An Englishman will take you into a large room, beautifully proportioned, and will point out to you that it is white – all over white – and somebody will say, ‘What exquisite taste.’ You know in your own mind, in your own soul, that is not taste at all – that it is the want of taste, that it is mere evasion. English music is white, and evades everything.”

    This isn’t an argument against pageantry. There is certainly a place for pageantry, like for example inside American graduation ceremony’s, where strangely enough it’s the most regular place on earth you will hear Pomp and Circumstance.

    Elgar’s War Requiem, a work of considerable depth (and rather beautiful), is not unknown at the Proms, though.
  • IshmaelZ said:

    gealbhan said:

    Leon said:

    Foxy said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    The thing I never understand about the Last Night angst, the Boat Race etc etc is that it is such a small part of national life - you can ignore it trivially.

    Mind you, there is nothing quite like watching idiots marooning their cars in the Thames, by parking on boat ramps without permission, while seated in a good pub. There is something very calming about sipping a pint and watching the water crawling towards the morons Chelsea tractor......
    The guardian publishes this wank because their idiot readers lap it up. Every year. Without fail. It’s no better or worse than another express article about sizzling weather or princess diana
    I haven't seen anything on it in the Guardian today. Could you direct me to it?
    It worries me that you’re a doctor. You’re not the brightest


    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/10/rewrite-rule-britannia-what-would-you-do-with-the-last-night-of-the-proms?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
    But its okay to have pomp and circumstance without the singing. Absolutely no one with a brain could object to that. The words make it into something opposite to what Elgar intended, so refreshing to go back to the original the pomp versus reality of actual battle.

    Jersulem also stolen from the intention of the original prose, nor is it remotely as good or as patriotic as Parry’s blessed pair, thanks to fact Jerusalem not a real hymn, so we can swap that out for a change and have a far better prom.

    But we are not allowed to because the swastika wearing brigade like Leon won’t allow that, without giving any rational reason why not.
    Word salad. Blest Pair of Sirens is not a hymn either, nor is it prose. Jerusalem is an exceptionally great poem.
    Pomp and Circumstance without singing is just another American high school graduation ceremony. Jerusalem is remarkable for being claimed by both right and left -- as a paean to England and to socialism.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,667

    What time is the tennis final expected to start?

    9pm
    Thanks
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316

    Which journalist?

    You get one guess....

    Inclined to complain to @Ofcom about this headline - this level of statistical ignorance, from a journalist of this profile, represents a risk to public health.

    https://twitter.com/robfordmancs/status/1436768078138908673?s=20

    Already discussed...Prof Peston.... AGAIN.......last month it was the government hiding true case numbers by ignoring reinfections, now its the super secret fact that more double vaxxed oldies have fot covid than unvaxxed....

    If one of my employees was this incomponent, they would be looking for a new job.
    "Well, the trouble with our journalist friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.”
  • Which journalist?

    You get one guess....

    Inclined to complain to @Ofcom about this headline - this level of statistical ignorance, from a journalist of this profile, represents a risk to public health.

    https://twitter.com/robfordmancs/status/1436768078138908673?s=20

    Already discussed...Prof Peston.... AGAIN.......last month it was the government hiding true case numbers by ignoring reinfections, now its the super secret fact that more double vaxxed oldies have fot covid than unvaxxed....

    If one of my employees was this incomponent, they would be looking for a new job.
    "Well, the trouble with our journalist friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.”
    Dunning Kruger Effect....
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,720

    geoffw said:

    I used to abhor ladies tennis - just best of three sets, endless baseline rallies (starting with Chris Evert) etc, but now it's the men's game I abhor with it's emphasis on power and speed as the be all and end all.
    Looking forward to this final. Really don't care much who wins but I think it will be Raducanu.

    If it ain't serve-volley, it ain't tennis.

    Punters may have other reasons for watching hot teen girls on a tennis court.
    Fernandez is a base-line player who seems reluctant to come forward, though she has real subtlety in her passing shots and down-the-line shots. But yes, I agree with you that serve-volley is more watchable, and Raducanu has shown she can do that, and mix it up and adapt her style as the match develops.

  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,695

    10% of Tories switching to other parties, Lib Dems have an in here if they wish to take it

    Oh, I think so. It is worth being a fairly fiscally dry alternative to both Starmerism and Johnsonian staffing. Between being pro business, pro free trade with Europe and financially sound we should be able to persuade a number of traditional Tories. Steer clear of culture war stuff, and be the party of pragmatic competent government. It works at a local level.
  • kicorsekicorse Posts: 434
    kinabalu said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    So who will be watching Last Night of the Proms tonight? Someone's got to make sure all the old songs are still there while the rest of us watch the tennis. You'd think Channel 4 would have splashed it on their website but no.

    Let’s hope somebody is, choleric EU flag count by the Gammons has become a fine tradition.
    As is, equally, a hand wringing series of articles in the guardian saying ‘how can we let this jingoistic Rule Britannia nonsense go on’

    They are as predictable as Daily Mail photos of hot teen girls jumping up and down, celebrating their A Level results

    And both are as British as, well, the Last Night of the Proms
    The thing I never understand about the Last Night angst, the Boat Race etc etc is that it is such a small part of national life - you can ignore it trivially.

    Mind you, there is nothing quite like watching idiots marooning their cars in the Thames, by parking on boat ramps without permission, while seated in a good pub. There is something very calming about sipping a pint and watching the water crawling towards the morons Chelsea tractor......
    The guardian publishes this wank because their idiot readers lap it up. Every year. Without fail. It’s no better or worse than another express article about sizzling weather or princess diana
    Not sure why the Guardian is so anti Last Night of the Prom or indeed the Boat race given the average reader of of their paper is a lot more likely to participate or watch either than the average bloke or gal-Perhaps a case of Robert Peston levels of self loathing (with his krap about being a middle aged white man and so lucky to be in a job there of )
    Not sure many Guardian readers could bear to watch Last Night of the Prom. I couldn't and I'm not a Guardian reader.
    Of course they do , so they can secretly like it and then write how awfullly white and middle class it is. A bit like when undercover reporters used to act shocked when they did (numerous) undercover visits to sex shows in Soho in the 1960s 70s
    Guardian readers secretly like lots of things that are awfully white and middle class, but I'm pretty sure that the Last Night of the Proms isn't one of them.
    I can't do 2 minutes of it. Truly, I can't.
    My brother's in-laws have a tradition of going to one of the Battle Proms every year, and I was invited this year. First chance to see everyone since the wedding. I swallowed my pride, though I drew the line at waving a flag or singing along to Rule Britannia. (I did sing along to Jerusalem: it's a great tune and the lyrics are too ludicrous to get po-faced about.) At the end of the day, most of the music was really good, and if you take the side acts (Red Arrows etc) as pure entertainment, they're fun too. So yeah, I enjoyed it, even if I was cringing inside at several points.

    In fairness, I don't much read the Guardian. But my politics is pretty Guardian-reader.
  • I have just noted that working pensioners will not pay NI before April 23 when the 1.25% tax becomes hypothecated to the NHS and social care
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,316
    Nigelb said:

    gealbhan said:

    Between 1901 and 1934 Edward Elgar composed five marches and sketched a sixth, the title he took from Act III, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Othello:

    Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
    The spirit-stirring drum, th'ear-piercing fife,
    The royal banner, and all quality,
    Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!

    For the first is set a motto for the whole set of marches, set to a verse from Lord de Tabley's poem "The March of Glory" on assumption the splendid show of military pageantry—"Pomp"—has no connection with the drabness and terror to come —"Circumstance"

    Like a proud music that draws men on to die
    Madly upon the spears in martial ecstasy,
    A measure that sets heaven in all their veins
    And iron in their hands.
    I hear the Nation march
    Beneath her ensign as an eagle's wing;
    O'er shield and sheeted targe
    The banners of my faith most gaily swing;
    Moving to victory with solemn noise,
    With worship and with conquest, and the voice of myriads.

    As a tune, March number one quickly became very popular, on its Proms debut the audience demanded two encores. There was no singing involved at this stage, just pure appreciation of the music Elgar composed.

    But what of appreciation and understanding of an artists work, if it is only the pomp cut from the relating circumstance? How often do we hear Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1 performed in its initial full colour glory, that once so wowed audiences? How well do we know it for what it actually is?

    Don’t just accept my spin or opinion, lets listen to Elgar in his own words, in a lecture at Birmingham University

    “The commonplace mind can never be anything but commonplace, and no amount of education, no polish of a university, can eradicate the stain from the low type of mind which is the English commonplace,” he declared to a shocked room. “An Englishman will take you into a large room, beautifully proportioned, and will point out to you that it is white – all over white – and somebody will say, ‘What exquisite taste.’ You know in your own mind, in your own soul, that is not taste at all – that it is the want of taste, that it is mere evasion. English music is white, and evades everything.”

    This isn’t an argument against pageantry. There is certainly a place for pageantry, like for example inside American graduation ceremony’s, where strangely enough it’s the most regular place on earth you will hear Pomp and Circumstance.

    Elgar’s War Requiem, a work of considerable depth (and rather beautiful), is not unknown at the Proms, though.
    Some years ago, Classic FM invited on a noted critic of their work. Who proceeded to damn them for not playing the output of BBC Radio 3. For about 20 minutes.

    When it was gently pointed out to him that, well, BBC Radio 3 is there and broadcast to the entire country, he wasn't fazed.

    Apparently the idea that someone, somewhere is listening to "bad culture" is horrifying.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Fernandez @2.76 is too long surely?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,695

    dixiedean said:

    I am surprised by this sudden turn in the polls. Just as I was constantly astonished for how long the PM defied gravity. Surely any fool could see that there would come a time after the pandemic when the largesse would end, and being all things to all people would run out of road?
    I obviously gave folk too much credit.

    It is clear people support taxes as long as it is not on them and I believe the pensioner reduction from 8% to 2.5% is playing its part

    As far as the last point is concerned, and working pensioners paying NI, it is the right thing to do no matter the political fallout
    I think that the NI hike has annoyed a fair few pensioners. Some think more of their children and grandchildren than their wallets.
  • Foxy said:

    10% of Tories switching to other parties, Lib Dems have an in here if they wish to take it

    Oh, I think so. It is worth being a fairly fiscally dry alternative to both Starmerism and Johnsonian staffing. Between being pro business, pro free trade with Europe and financially sound we should be able to persuade a number of traditional Tories. Steer clear of culture war stuff, and be the party of pragmatic competent government. It works at a local level.
    I really would like to see their offer but if it includes rejoining the EU then I would not support them, otherwise I am genuinely interested
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,198
    dixiedean said:

    ******* Betting Post ******

    Know nowt about tennis. Rugby League is my game. And I can spot biased patriotic odds too.
    On which topic. Catalans Dragons, of Perpignan France have won 19 games and lost 2 finishing top of the league. Despite flying in and out same day for all their games in England because of Covid.
    To win the Grand Final and Championship they will need to win one home playoff game. Then the GF at Old Trafford.
    Available odds for this eminently acheivable feat? Well 3-1 at Skybet. Better than 5/2 everywhere. They aren't even favourites!
    Basically being given coin toss odds of winning 2 games because they are foreign.
    I mean DYOR. But to me that's an absolute steal.

    NB. They have the added bonus of being the best all round side in the competition. It isn't a fluke in the slightest.

    Thank you. Doing it. Great to get a value bet on something I'm clueless about.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,175

    tlg86 said:

    England missed out not getting this kid...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Musiala

    From the link, England did get him but then he changed his mind.
    I suspect the FA were complacent and thought it was a done deal.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183


    Latest German poll: https://twitter.com/Wahlrecht_de/status/1436771285359546368

    INSA/BamS: SPD 26 % | CDU/CSU 20 % | GRÜNE 15 % | FDP 13 % | AfD 11 % | DIE LINKE 6 % | Sonstige 9 %

    SPD appears to have plateaued at 26% but things are still dire for the CDU/CSU.

    I pay the most interest to INSA polling because it was the most accurate German polling institute in 2017 and got the SPD and AfD shares in particular spot on.

    I think we need to seriously consider the possibility that Herr Niemand's Sonstige gets into the Bundestag this time around.
  • Alistair said:

    Fernandez @2.76 is too long surely?

    Yup.

    I hope she beats the grammar school girl.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183
    Alistair said:

    Fernandez @2.76 is too long surely?

    Yes.

    I would say she should be 1.8, and Raducanu around 2.2.
This discussion has been closed.