The world's climate is fucked. I hate these fossil fuel bastards so much. They will destroy the only planet we have.
What, like Alderan in Star Wars? Or do you mean the planet will become uninhabitable if the temperature rises a few more degrees, despite the fact that we live from the Sahara to arctic?
And under water. Moron.
Except it won't. Moron.
Bits of it will be but only a fraction more than already is. And will be again in the future no matter what we do about CO2.
The under water thing is interesting. I studied Earth Science back in the early 80s and we were told to expect significant eustatic sea level rises in the following decade. Most of the examples given by journalists are actually isostatic (localised) changes, not due to global sea level rises but local geological movement (eg southern Egland)
I think there is pretty clear evidence of some eustatic changes these days. It is no where near as bad as was predicted but it is there and there is nothing to say it won't increase in rate as things get warmer.
The problem we have - which is what I was referring to in my snapped reply to IshmaelZ - is that even if we do all the net zero stuff and stop any man made influence on the climate it probably won't make a blind bit of difference. Natural variation will result in much higher sea levels and we have put ourselves in the very poor position of having 10% of the world's population living within 10m of sealevel and almost half living within 30m. When sealevels rise - as they inevitably will - those people are screwed.
Of course England, just like poor old New Orleans, has the additional problem of isostatic change so they are sinking even if sealevel doesn't change. Malc will be okay though up in Scotland.
I have spent the day teaching the evidence for climate change in the geological record to leaders of the branches of the Young Archaeologist Club from across England so this is all nice and fresh in my mind.
A bonus at last for living here , though I may not be around by then.
Come-on Malc living in Scotland puts you in one of the very special places in the world. Think of all the real drab shit-holes there across the world and be happy.
PS hope Mrs G is feeling better soon.
I am happy here Ben , I meant I will likely be 6 feet under by then.
I understand the Liberal Democrats will also not be standing in the Southend West by-election that will follow Sir David Amess' death. Labour sources are saying the same.
I'm not an expert in the last rites so can anyone tell me if the priest needs to be in physical contact with the dying person?
If you are prepped for it you anoint, and give them a communion wafer. Presumably a random passing priest would not have those about his person, but would just say a prayer sort of thing. I am appalled he wasn't allowed to do even that.
I am despise all religion.
That being said, freedom of religious conscience is vital - history tells us what you get if you don't have that.
Given the hundreds of years of history of Last Rites - and given that there are all kinds of compromises* to meet medical and other needs - this should have been allowed.
*Ask someone involved in the Ebola outbreaks how the Last Rites are administered there, for those that want them - the priests and the medics have come up with as sensible compromise, in all the cases that I have heard of...
The rather archaic word 'viand' which means thing to eat, or probably better know as meat in French, is from vivandi - to be lived, like in modus vivandi. A well hidden one is laundry, from lavandarius and lavanda, “things to be washed"
I understand the Liberal Democrats will also not be standing in the Southend West by-election that will follow Sir David Amess' death. Labour sources are saying the same.
Any other way: and it would create an incentive to assassinate MP's, which is completely unacceptable. Sadly there are lots of mad people in society who would consider doing similar acts, this one way to deter them.
A number of sad anniversaries this week. Pip has already referred to the Aberfan disaster but this week is also the 60th anniversary of the Paris massacres when at least 200 demonstrators were executed by the French police and dumped in the River Seine. What is particularly terrible, apart from the obvious loss of life, is that the French media were complicit in covering up the massacre for almost 40 years.
Never heard of it before. Just googled it. Atrocious. Absolutely abominable.
Hilariously, the Vichyite's in the police had purged the ones who'd been in the Resistance - they were really getting the "old gang back together"......
Weekend special of Etymology Etcetera is on the English words from Latin gerunds and gerundives.
Obviously on Political Betting we have to start with 'referendum' - this is the gerundive of referre, to bring back or reconsider. So literally 'thing to be brought back'
I have in an earlier post mentioned propaganda, the gerundive of propagare, to spread. So it means 'things to be spread'.
I think we should have a special political mention for agenda - the gerundive of agere, to act or do, so 'things to be done'. The reason for the political mention is for those who remember Yes Minister's Bernard teaching us that 'if there's only one thing on the agenda, then it's an agendum'
On a very similar note we have hacienda. This is a Spanish derivation of the Latin facienda, the gerundive of facere - to do or make. So a hacienda is basically a load of work to be done!
I like the etymology of innuendo; it literally means 'thing nodded in', from in- + nuero, I nod. Addendum, thing to be added and memorandum, thing to be remembered are rather more obvious ones.
On a more controversial, fig related, note we have pudenda. I believe that it was originally meant as the genitals of either gender, but has definitely become far more associated with the lady bits. It is the gerundive of pudere - to be ashamed or cause shame, so literally things to cause shame or be ashamed of!
On a nicer girl related note, we have the names Amanda and Miranda. Amanda is the the gerundive of amare, to love, so female to be loved. Miranda, actually an invention by Will Shakespeare, is the gerundive of mirare to admire, so female to be admired.
We have some other words that are derived from gerundives, but have lost their ending. 'legend' is from the gerundive of legere - to read, so thing to be read. 'dividend' is a thing to be divided (and older readers may remember it from maths as the opposite of a 'multiplicand')
The recently mentioned crescendo is from the Latin crescendus - to be increased. 'diminuendo' is its opposite. An interesting musical term is 'glissando', which is literally 'to be slid'. This wasn't a Latin word; it came to Italian from the middle French glisser, which came via Frankish from proto Germanic glidana, to glide or slide.
The rather archaic word 'viand' which means thing to eat, or probably better know as meat in French, is from vivandi - to be lived, like in modus vivandi. A well hidden one is laundry, from lavandarius and lavanda, “things to be washed"
And I'll (finally!) finish with QED - quod erat demonstrandum - which was to be demonstrated.
A great post. I'd always thought that QED was 'as we have demonstrated'. Maths is in a sorry state if all of the proofs that sign off with QED are still to be demonstrated.
No, It's which *was* to be proved, i.e. that's what we set out to prove, and we have now done so.
There is or was a restaurant called Bibendum, It is necessary to drink. The classic gerundive is delenda est Carthago, Carthage must be destroyed.
I understand the Liberal Democrats will also not be standing in the Southend West by-election that will follow Sir David Amess' death. Labour sources are saying the same.
Any other way: and it would create an incentive to assassinate MP's, which is completely unacceptable. Sadly there are lots of mad people in society who would consider doing similar acts, this one way to deter them.
I recognise I may be in a minority on this but I don't agree with the decision of the Labour or Liberal Democrat parties not to contest a by-election in Southend West.
When both Sir Anthony Berry and Ian Gow were murdered by the IRA in 1984 and 1990 respectively, the resulting by-elections were contested.
I didn't agree with the LD and Conservative decision not to contest the Batley & Spen by-election in 2016 though I appreciated after the angst of the referendum campaign there was an understandable desire not to re-open the divisions of that campaign.
You don't defend and protect democracy by negating democracy - the democratic process has to be seen to be stronger than any terrorist. That means the full and open debate of contrasting and competing view and that debate to be seen to be dignified and peaceful yet open and inclusive.
The more people engage with and feel part of the democratic process the stronger the bulwark against individual or organised attacks on the freedoms that process bestows.
The more we can be seen to be fostering a spirit of dignified and open debate the more chance we have to mitigate the levels of anger within society to which some have alluded in the past 24 hours.
The world's climate is fucked. I hate these fossil fuel bastards so much. They will destroy the only planet we have.
What, like Alderan in Star Wars? Or do you mean the planet will become uninhabitable if the temperature rises a few more degrees, despite the fact that we live from the Sahara to arctic?
And under water. Moron.
I assume you consider Waterworld a documentary? Seriously, I’m not a moron. I work in science and have read widely on the area of climate change. Claims of the destruction of the planet deserve to be ridiculed. We should do all we can to preserve the ecosystems and flora and fauna of the world, without resorting to stupid hyperbole.
I'm guessing you don't work very hard in science if you think Hey, we live in really hot and cold places already is a serious argument. No, waterworld is not a documentary, and the hundreds of millions of people who are going to have their lives disrupted by rising sea levels are mainly brown and foreign, so your joke is especially apposite and amusing.
I know it’s pointless engaging. We will adapt. I despair of the nihilistic end of days perversion that has enveloped too much of climate science, even if it is mainly the reporting. I bit on your comment, because, no, the world isn’t going to be destroyed. But as others have said, I think you don’t want a sensible debate, just to get reactions. I’m happy with my contribution to science. I’ve devoted my life to it, accepting that it would pay far less than I could earn elsewhere. I don’t regret that. I help train the next generation of pharmacists and chemists. I hope you have something you enjoy in your life, that isn’t trying to get a rise out of anonymously folk on pb.
"Alex Scott in tears as she learns her ancestor owned 26 slaves on Who Do You Think You Are?
Alex Scott becomes emotional on Who Do You Think You Are? when she learns her great grandfather owned 26 slaves. The BBC pundit, 37, is horrified to find her 4x great grandfather Robert Francis Coombs was a slave owner with over two dozen people captive at his huge property in Jamaica."
I understand the Liberal Democrats will also not be standing in the Southend West by-election that will follow Sir David Amess' death. Labour sources are saying the same.
Any other way: and it would create an incentive to assassinate MP's, which is completely unacceptable. Sadly there are lots of mad people in society who would consider doing similar acts, this one way to deter them.
I recognise I may be in a minority on this but I don't agree with the decision of the Labour or Liberal Democrat parties not to contest a by-election in Southend West.
When both Sir Anthony Berry and Ian Gow were murdered by the IRA in 1984 and 1990 respectively, the resulting by-elections were contested.
I didn't agree with the LD and Conservative decision not to contest the Batley & Spen by-election in 2016 though I appreciated after the angst of the referendum campaign there was an understandable desire not to re-open the divisions of that campaign.
You don't defend and protect democracy by negating democracy - the democratic process has to be seen to be stronger than any terrorist. That means the full and open debate of contrasting and competing view and that debate to be seen to be dignified and peaceful yet open and inclusive.
The more people engage with and feel part of the democratic process the stronger the bulwark against individual or organised attacks on the freedoms that process bestows.
The more we can be seen to be fostering a spirit of dignified and open debate the more chance we have to mitigate the levels of anger within society to which some have alluded in the past 24 hours.
There’s a cold pragmatism to be taken into account here. It’s the safest of safe seats. What’s the point of risking a possible backlash for a seat you’re not going to win in a month of Sundays?
Weekend special of Etymology Etcetera is on the English words from Latin gerunds and gerundives.
Obviously on Political Betting we have to start with 'referendum' - this is the gerundive of referre, to bring back or reconsider. So literally 'thing to be brought back'
I have in an earlier post mentioned propaganda, the gerundive of propagare, to spread. So it means 'things to be spread'.
I think we should have a special political mention for agenda - the gerundive of agere, to act or do, so 'things to be done'. The reason for the political mention is for those who remember Yes Minister's Bernard teaching us that 'if there's only one thing on the agenda, then it's an agendum'
On a very similar note we have hacienda. This is a Spanish derivation of the Latin facienda, the gerundive of facere - to do or make. So a hacienda is basically a load of work to be done!
I like the etymology of innuendo; it literally means 'thing nodded in', from in- + nuero, I nod. Addendum, thing to be added and memorandum, thing to be remembered are rather more obvious ones.
On a more controversial, fig related, note we have pudenda. I believe that it was originally meant as the genitals of either gender, but has definitely become far more associated with the lady bits. It is the gerundive of pudere - to be ashamed or cause shame, so literally things to cause shame or be ashamed of!
On a nicer girl related note, we have the names Amanda and Miranda. Amanda is the the gerundive of amare, to love, so female to be loved. Miranda, actually an invention by Will Shakespeare, is the gerundive of mirare to admire, so female to be admired.
We have some other words that are derived from gerundives, but have lost their ending. 'legend' is from the gerundive of legere - to read, so thing to be read. 'dividend' is a thing to be divided (and older readers may remember it from maths as the opposite of a 'multiplicand')
The recently mentioned crescendo is from the Latin crescendus - to be increased. 'diminuendo' is its opposite. An interesting musical term is 'glissando', which is literally 'to be slid'. This wasn't a Latin word; it came to Italian from the middle French glisser, which came via Frankish from proto Germanic glidana, to glide or slide.
The rather archaic word 'viand' which means thing to eat, or probably better know as meat in French, is from vivandi - to be lived, like in modus vivandi. A well hidden one is laundry, from lavandarius and lavanda, “things to be washed"
And I'll (finally!) finish with QED - quod erat demonstrandum - which was to be demonstrated.
A great post. I'd always thought that QED was 'as we have demonstrated'. Maths is in a sorry state if all of the proofs that sign off with QED are still to be demonstrated.
No, It's which *was* to be proved, i.e. that's what we set out to prove, and we have now done so.
There is or was a restaurant called Bibendum, It is necessary to drink. The classic gerundive is delenda est Carthago, Carthage must be destroyed.
There still is a Bibendum. It has an excellent oyster bar
"Alex Scott in tears as she learns her ancestor owned 26 slaves on Who Do You Think You Are?
Alex Scott becomes emotional on Who Do You Think You Are? when she learns her great grandfather owned 26 slaves. The BBC pundit, 37, is horrified to find her 4x great grandfather Robert Francis Coombs was a slave owner with over two dozen people captive at his huge property in Jamaica."
Absolutely jammed. Visitors from all over the world. Sales pinging.
London will not be beaten
Not my thing (Frieze) , but the resurrection of arts etc in London is most welcome. I wonder to what extent the spring (morphically) will visit those areas that have become really dead. Great to wave the London flag even if it looks like Boris on a highwire.
The Remoaners all said that the London art market would decamp en masse to Paris when Brexit happened. And a couple of galleries did open Paris branches.
But there has been no exodus, at all. The share of the global art market in each city has remained the same, London has 20%, Paris has 7%. There is no comparison.
It is possible London will actually grow relative to Paris as Brexit is offering big tax advantages to dealers, even as it complicates the movement of art between the EU and UK
And the obvious pzazz and va-va-voom of this year's Frieze shows that London is definitely roaring back
Well that's encouraging. The event itself and the whole art scene is small potatoes, but if it's indicative of the big picture then that's great.
I firmly believe it is indicative. The art scene is a bellwether for wider cultural/societal/economic changes
My feeling now is that the death of big cities has been wildly exaggerated. People want to crowd together and gossip and drink and flirt and fuck with other people, new people, exciting people, young people, weird people. You can only do this in cities, and you can only do it brilliantly and extravagantly in great world cities like London
So the really big cities will be fine. Post pandemic changes will probably hit smaller cities more severely
Specific to London, the menace of Brexit is also exaggerated. London has a critical mass, and a fundamental attraction: English language, time zone, culture, common law, accumulated wealth, the City, the West End, the culture, and so on, and so forth.
It will take some knocks from Brexit, but there will also be new opportunities, which is exactly what was predicted by non-hysterical Leavers, and is exactly what is already happening in the art market: Brexit makes it hassly for EU dealers to come to London, with their work, BUT it also makes the London art market potentially more flexible on tax, which could be pretty attractive
Incidentally, there is a threat to London as a global art capital, but it is from Hong Kong, not anywhere in the EU.
Hong Kong has eaten up a lot of the business once done in London and NYC, whether that will continue no one knows. Beijing is not helping its own cause. And at the London auctions this week there was, apparently, a notable presence of Asian buyers, spending more than anyone else. So that threat may also prove temporary, or a new equlibirium will be reached where there are three major art centres: NYC, London, Hong Kong
Finally, some of the best art at Frieze this year is Korean. What is this weird cultural explosion they are having?
First they took over pop music, now they are doing TV, next contemporary art?!
I hope you're right and I share many of these thoughts. Poke about in the lesser visited places in London though. Smithfield for example - it's not right.
I walk and cycle the streets of our great city. I see great vibrancy as before, but there are real holes.
I do get about quite a lot, and I do see some sad sights still
Smithfield has been fucked for years tho, hasn't it? Even before Covid it was in swift decline, the meat market shut and the concert hall cancelled, and the nightlife/restaurant/bar scene shifted in toto from St John St to Shoreditch
I am much more optimistic about Camden than I was. I remember posting on here in late Spring about a walk from Highgate to Primrose Hill in the evening when it was positively dystopian. Horrible. So many places closed, with no sign of reopening
Even 2 months ago much of the area around the market was grim.
Now 90% of places have reopened or have been taken over by new business. Which is great to see
I haven't been to Canary Wharf. I do wonder how they are doing there
A similar thing happened here. Restaurants and bars were shuttered in the first quarter of the year and whole areas looked dystopian.
But now new restaurants have taken their place, and the new places are packed.
I recognise I may be in a minority on this but I don't agree with the decision of the Labour or Liberal Democrat parties not to contest a by-election in Southend West.
When both Sir Anthony Berry and Ian Gow were murdered by the IRA in 1984 and 1990 respectively, the resulting by-elections were contested.
I didn't agree with the LD and Conservative decision not to contest the Batley & Spen by-election in 2016 though I appreciated after the angst of the referendum campaign there was an understandable desire not to re-open the divisions of that campaign.
You don't defend and protect democracy by negating democracy - the democratic process has to be seen to be stronger than any terrorist. That means the full and open debate of contrasting and competing view and that debate to be seen to be dignified and peaceful yet open and inclusive.
The more people engage with and feel part of the democratic process the stronger the bulwark against individual or organised attacks on the freedoms that process bestows.
The more we can be seen to be fostering a spirit of dignified and open debate the more chance we have to mitigate the levels of anger within society to which some have alluded in the past 24 hours.
There’s a cold pragmatism to be taken into account here. It’s the safest of safe seats. What’s the point of risking a possible backlash for a seat you’re not going to win in a month of Sundays?
Most candidates in most seats in most by-elections aren't going to win in a month of Sundays yet they still put up and if nothing else go through the motions.
I'd argue the most effective defence against those who would undermine our democracy is to see that democratic process in action - seeing the candidates knocking on doors, holding public meetings, arguing with dignity and honesty, debating the issues of the day openly and without rancour.
I understand why some indeed many would consider it appropriate not to contest the by-election under the circumstances - I simply don't agree with them.
"Alex Scott in tears as she learns her ancestor owned 26 slaves on Who Do You Think You Are?
Alex Scott becomes emotional on Who Do You Think You Are? when she learns her great grandfather owned 26 slaves. The BBC pundit, 37, is horrified to find her 4x great grandfather Robert Francis Coombs was a slave owner with over two dozen people captive at his huge property in Jamaica."
Absolutely jammed. Visitors from all over the world. Sales pinging.
London will not be beaten
Not my thing (Frieze) , but the resurrection of arts etc in London is most welcome. I wonder to what extent the spring (morphically) will visit those areas that have become really dead. Great to wave the London flag even if it looks like Boris on a highwire.
The Remoaners all said that the London art market would decamp en masse to Paris when Brexit happened. And a couple of galleries did open Paris branches.
But there has been no exodus, at all. The share of the global art market in each city has remained the same, London has 20%, Paris has 7%. There is no comparison.
It is possible London will actually grow relative to Paris as Brexit is offering big tax advantages to dealers, even as it complicates the movement of art between the EU and UK
And the obvious pzazz and va-va-voom of this year's Frieze shows that London is definitely roaring back
I regularly attend my local art week and usually buy a work from a local artist for £50-100. My father was an amateur artist and I have done a few paintings myself. At the moment I have about 95 works on my walls. Until recently the most expensive was a Darren Baker which I bought from the artist himself. But last year I bought a Philip Grey for nearly £7000. I am a believer that good art is a sound investment.
Having just (as previously mentioned) obtained probate on the parental estate, I am wondering about doing a collection or two - for interest and maybe investment.
The world's climate is fucked. I hate these fossil fuel bastards so much. They will destroy the only planet we have.
What, like Alderan in Star Wars? Or do you mean the planet will become uninhabitable if the temperature rises a few more degrees, despite the fact that we live from the Sahara to arctic?
And under water. Moron.
I assume you consider Waterworld a documentary? Seriously, I’m not a moron. I work in science and have read widely on the area of climate change. Claims of the destruction of the planet deserve to be ridiculed. We should do all we can to preserve the ecosystems and flora and fauna of the world, without resorting to stupid hyperbole.
I'm guessing you don't work very hard in science if you think Hey, we live in really hot and cold places already is a serious argument. No, waterworld is not a documentary, and the hundreds of millions of people who are going to have their lives disrupted by rising sea levels are mainly brown and foreign, so your joke is especially apposite and amusing.
I know it’s pointless engaging. We will adapt. I despair of the nihilistic end of days perversion that has enveloped too much of climate science, even if it is mainly the reporting. I bit on your comment, because, no, the world isn’t going to be destroyed. But as others have said, I think you don’t want a sensible debate, just to get reactions. I’m happy with my contribution to science. I’ve devoted my life to it, accepting that it would pay far less than I could earn elsewhere. I don’t regret that. I help train the next generation of pharmacists and chemists. I hope you have something you enjoy in your life, that isn’t trying to get a rise out of anonymously folk on pb.
Well, which of us is making debate impossible? How do you expect me to engage seriously with you if make these baseless "only want to get a rise" accusations? Your initial "we live in the Sahara and the Arctic anyway" point was, as I am sure you will on reflection agree, embarrassingly stupid. When you say We will adapt, how do you know? What is to say that actually this is too difficult, and we won't? As to your dedication to science, it is really quite hard to gauge the relevance of that. For all I know you are in the position of a one legged man who has devoted his life to a career in bum kicking. Happy to be corrected of course
I understand the Liberal Democrats will also not be standing in the Southend West by-election that will follow Sir David Amess' death. Labour sources are saying the same.
Any other way: and it would create an incentive to assassinate MP's, which is completely unacceptable. Sadly there are lots of mad people in society who would consider doing similar acts, this one way to deter them.
I recognise I may be in a minority on this but I don't agree with the decision of the Labour or Liberal Democrat parties not to contest a by-election in Southend West.
When both Sir Anthony Berry and Ian Gow were murdered by the IRA in 1984 and 1990 respectively, the resulting by-elections were contested.
I didn't agree with the LD and Conservative decision not to contest the Batley & Spen by-election in 2016 though I appreciated after the angst of the referendum campaign there was an understandable desire not to re-open the divisions of that campaign.
You don't defend and protect democracy by negating democracy - the democratic process has to be seen to be stronger than any terrorist. That means the full and open debate of contrasting and competing view and that debate to be seen to be dignified and peaceful yet open and inclusive.
The more people engage with and feel part of the democratic process the stronger the bulwark against individual or organised attacks on the freedoms that process bestows.
The more we can be seen to be fostering a spirit of dignified and open debate the more chance we have to mitigate the levels of anger within society to which some have alluded in the past 24 hours.
There’s a cold pragmatism to be taken into account here. It’s the safest of safe seats. What’s the point of risking a possible backlash for a seat you’re not going to win in a month of Sundays?
Good point.
Perhaps in this (and other similar) situations, parties could run candidates, who then stand on the same platform, that stresses solidarity with the late MP, his family and friends, and eschews ordinary political/electoral/ideological arguments? With a joint manifesto to that effect? Leaving the choice open to other parties & independents to do as they decide best by their own lights?
This way, party supporters could still vote for the candidate of their choice, ditto swing & unaligned voters?
Senior Labour figure who knew Sir David Amess “pretty well” gets in touch to propose that Opposition parties should give Tories “a free run” & not stand in Southend West by-election.
It is probably well intentioned but I totally disagree with that. All elections should be properly contested otherwise you create an incentive to change how elections are held. Now admittedly it's incredibly unlikely that someone would resort to violence to bring about an uncontested election, more likely they would want to elminate someone and create an opportunity for an opponent, but the principle should be upheld that elections are contested, and that changes are never made to how an election is held in response to threats or actual violence.
The idea that major parties shouldn't contest by-elections when the previous MP has been murdered didn't exist before the killing of Jo Cox. The famous Lib Dem victory in Eastbourne in 1990 was a direct result of the assassination of Ian Gow by the IRA. Similarly the seats of Airey Neave, Roy Bradford and Sir Anthony Berry saw all the major parties (NI parties in the case of Bradford) stand in the subsequent elections (Neave was killed just before the 1979 election so no by-election was held but the Liberals/Labour still stood in the GE).
There was a by-election in Batley in 2016 after Cox's death with the English Democrats and BNP coming second and third respectively to Labour in the absence of the Tories/Lib Dems/UKIP/Greens.
On topic - I am just old enough to remember the Aberfan disaster, was 11 when it happened.
Recall rather vividly seeing coverage on American TV, think on the "Today Show" which was on at our house as a matter of routine every weekday morning before I left for school.
Probably remember it because yours truly was, like most of the victims, a school kid. Did not make me fearful, for one thing we did NOT have a massive slag heap overhanging my home town. But did feel a strong sense of empathy, because it was easy for me (and my friends) to relate to the situation.
It may also be true that I & my fellow students in West Virginia were influenced - indirectly but significantly - by our state's own history of mining disasters. Including the worst one in US history, the Monangah explosion, which killed (at least) 362 miners, predominately Italian immigrants. Including relatives of US Sen. Joe Manchin.
And just two years after Aberfan, WVa experienced the Farmington mine explosion, where most of the trapped miners were rescued, but 19 died underground. And since then there have been other similar tragedies.
My hometown was NOT a mining community per se, our thing was a BIG aluminum plant. However, many of the workers and their families came from the coalfields. So they could understand and feel what had happened in & to Aberfan, and what & how the people there were suffering.
My own family was not from the same background. But I must have absorbed a bit of coal dust growing up, because to this day when I hear reports of a mine disaster, it most definitely strikes a nerve.
So thanks, Pip, for remembering this tragic event - and let us never forget.
My wife was born in 1960. It is one of her earlier memories. Utter shock and horror in her Primary 2 class.
Completely O/T - I decided to go cold turkey on social media. Deactivated them all, FB, IG and Twitter…save for LinkedIn, which my firm more or less makes us use. So, through force of habit, I’ve spent some mindless minutes scrolling through my LinkedIn feed.
Lord, what a f**king shitshow I have never seen a more embarrassing site - a litany of brown nosing, virtue signalling and weird haiku style motivational stories in my entire life. And that’s before we get onto the egregious redefinition of the word “humbled” that is it’s signature feature. Makes this place look sane.
The world's climate is fucked. I hate these fossil fuel bastards so much. They will destroy the only planet we have.
What, like Alderan in Star Wars? Or do you mean the planet will become uninhabitable if the temperature rises a few more degrees, despite the fact that we live from the Sahara to arctic?
And under water. Moron.
I assume you consider Waterworld a documentary? Seriously, I’m not a moron. I work in science and have read widely on the area of climate change. Claims of the destruction of the planet deserve to be ridiculed. We should do all we can to preserve the ecosystems and flora and fauna of the world, without resorting to stupid hyperbole.
I'm guessing you don't work very hard in science if you think Hey, we live in really hot and cold places already is a serious argument. No, waterworld is not a documentary, and the hundreds of millions of people who are going to have their lives disrupted by rising sea levels are mainly brown and foreign, so your joke is especially apposite and amusing.
I know it’s pointless engaging. We will adapt. I despair of the nihilistic end of days perversion that has enveloped too much of climate science, even if it is mainly the reporting. I bit on your comment, because, no, the world isn’t going to be destroyed. But as others have said, I think you don’t want a sensible debate, just to get reactions. I’m happy with my contribution to science. I’ve devoted my life to it, accepting that it would pay far less than I could earn elsewhere. I don’t regret that. I help train the next generation of pharmacists and chemists. I hope you have something you enjoy in your life, that isn’t trying to get a rise out of anonymously folk on pb.
Well, which of us is making debate impossible? How do you expect me to engage seriously with you if make these baseless "only want to get a rise" accusations? Your initial "we live in the Sahara and the Arctic anyway" point was, as I am sure you will on reflection agree, embarrassingly stupid. When you say We will adapt, how do you know? What is to say that actually this is too difficult, and we won't? As to your dedication to science, it is really quite hard to gauge the relevance of that. For all I know you are in the position of a one legged man who has devoted his life to a career in bum kicking. Happy to be corrected of course
It’s not a stupid point. Human existence is possible across vast climate ranges. The planets temperature raising by 2 or 3 degrees does not mean the end of civilisation. It means challenges and adaptation. You called me a moron in your first reply. Hardly conducive. I’m happy with my publication record thanks.
Senior Labour figure who knew Sir David Amess “pretty well” gets in touch to propose that Opposition parties should give Tories “a free run” & not stand in Southend West by-election.
It is probably well intentioned but I totally disagree with that. All elections should be properly contested otherwise you create an incentive to change how elections are held. Now admittedly it's incredibly unlikely that someone would resort to violence to bring about an uncontested election, more likely they would want to elminate someone and create an opportunity for an opponent, but the principle should be upheld that elections are contested, and that changes are never made to how an election is held in response to threats or actual violence.
The idea that major parties shouldn't contest by-elections when the previous MP has been murdered didn't exist before the killing of Jo Cox. The famous Lib Dem victory in Eastbourne in 1990 was a direct result of the assassination of Ian Gow by the IRA. Similarly the seats of Airey Neave, Roy Bradford and Sir Anthony Berry saw all the major parties (NI parties in the case of Bradford) stand in the subsequent elections (Neave was killed just before the 1979 election so no by-election was held but the Liberals/Labour still stood in the GE).
There was a by-election in Batley in 2016 after Cox's death with the English Democrats and BNP coming second and third respectively to Labour in the absence of the Tories/Lib Dems/UKIP/Greens.
I agree but if you were SKS you don't really want ANY by elections.
The world's climate is fucked. I hate these fossil fuel bastards so much. They will destroy the only planet we have.
What, like Alderan in Star Wars? Or do you mean the planet will become uninhabitable if the temperature rises a few more degrees, despite the fact that we live from the Sahara to arctic?
And under water. Moron.
I assume you consider Waterworld a documentary? Seriously, I’m not a moron. I work in science and have read widely on the area of climate change. Claims of the destruction of the planet deserve to be ridiculed. We should do all we can to preserve the ecosystems and flora and fauna of the world, without resorting to stupid hyperbole.
I'm guessing you don't work very hard in science if you think Hey, we live in really hot and cold places already is a serious argument. No, waterworld is not a documentary, and the hundreds of millions of people who are going to have their lives disrupted by rising sea levels are mainly brown and foreign, so your joke is especially apposite and amusing.
I know it’s pointless engaging. We will adapt. I despair of the nihilistic end of days perversion that has enveloped too much of climate science, even if it is mainly the reporting. I bit on your comment, because, no, the world isn’t going to be destroyed. But as others have said, I think you don’t want a sensible debate, just to get reactions. I’m happy with my contribution to science. I’ve devoted my life to it, accepting that it would pay far less than I could earn elsewhere. I don’t regret that. I help train the next generation of pharmacists and chemists. I hope you have something you enjoy in your life, that isn’t trying to get a rise out of anonymously folk on pb.
Well, which of us is making debate impossible? How do you expect me to engage seriously with you if make these baseless "only want to get a rise" accusations? Your initial "we live in the Sahara and the Arctic anyway" point was, as I am sure you will on reflection agree, embarrassingly stupid. When you say We will adapt, how do you know? What is to say that actually this is too difficult, and we won't? As to your dedication to science, it is really quite hard to gauge the relevance of that. For all I know you are in the position of a one legged man who has devoted his life to a career in bum kicking. Happy to be corrected of course
It’s not a stupid point. Human existence is possible across vast climate ranges. The planets temperature raising by 2 or 3 degrees does not mean the end of civilisation. It means challenges and adaptation. You called me a moron in your first reply. Hardly conducive. I’m happy with my publication record thanks.
The world's climate is fucked. I hate these fossil fuel bastards so much. They will destroy the only planet we have.
Remember this?
"Arctic summer ice may be gone in five years, Al Gore warns Monday December 14 2009, 5.22pm, The Times
The Arctic polar ice cap could disappear entirely in the summer months in as little as five years, Al Gore, the former American Vice-President, said today. Mr Gore was the star draw at a Copenhagen summit side event during which Scandinavian scientists delivered a grim update on the state of the Greenland ice sheet and its potential to contribute to rising sea levels over the coming century."
The world's climate is fucked. I hate these fossil fuel bastards so much. They will destroy the only planet we have.
What, like Alderan in Star Wars? Or do you mean the planet will become uninhabitable if the temperature rises a few more degrees, despite the fact that we live from the Sahara to arctic?
And under water. Moron.
I assume you consider Waterworld a documentary? Seriously, I’m not a moron. I work in science and have read widely on the area of climate change. Claims of the destruction of the planet deserve to be ridiculed. We should do all we can to preserve the ecosystems and flora and fauna of the world, without resorting to stupid hyperbole.
I'm guessing you don't work very hard in science if you think Hey, we live in really hot and cold places already is a serious argument. No, waterworld is not a documentary, and the hundreds of millions of people who are going to have their lives disrupted by rising sea levels are mainly brown and foreign, so your joke is especially apposite and amusing.
I know it’s pointless engaging. We will adapt. I despair of the nihilistic end of days perversion that has enveloped too much of climate science, even if it is mainly the reporting. I bit on your comment, because, no, the world isn’t going to be destroyed. But as others have said, I think you don’t want a sensible debate, just to get reactions. I’m happy with my contribution to science. I’ve devoted my life to it, accepting that it would pay far less than I could earn elsewhere. I don’t regret that. I help train the next generation of pharmacists and chemists. I hope you have something you enjoy in your life, that isn’t trying to get a rise out of anonymously folk on pb.
Well, which of us is making debate impossible? How do you expect me to engage seriously with you if make these baseless "only want to get a rise" accusations? Your initial "we live in the Sahara and the Arctic anyway" point was, as I am sure you will on reflection agree, embarrassingly stupid. When you say We will adapt, how do you know? What is to say that actually this is too difficult, and we won't? As to your dedication to science, it is really quite hard to gauge the relevance of that. For all I know you are in the position of a one legged man who has devoted his life to a career in bum kicking. Happy to be corrected of course
It’s not a stupid point. Human existence is possible across vast climate ranges. The planets temperature raising by 2 or 3 degrees does not mean the end of civilisation. It means challenges and adaptation. You called me a moron in your first reply. Hardly conducive. I’m happy with my publication record thanks.
Did I say it meant the end of civilization?
You said ‘destroy the planet’. Did you not mean that then?
I’m curious, do those opposing parties not contesting by-elections in these circumstances also oppose the Speaker getting a clear run at general elections?
Absolutely jammed. Visitors from all over the world. Sales pinging.
London will not be beaten
Not my thing (Frieze) , but the resurrection of arts etc in London is most welcome. I wonder to what extent the spring (morphically) will visit those areas that have become really dead. Great to wave the London flag even if it looks like Boris on a highwire.
The Remoaners all said that the London art market would decamp en masse to Paris when Brexit happened. And a couple of galleries did open Paris branches.
But there has been no exodus, at all. The share of the global art market in each city has remained the same, London has 20%, Paris has 7%. There is no comparison.
It is possible London will actually grow relative to Paris as Brexit is offering big tax advantages to dealers, even as it complicates the movement of art between the EU and UK
And the obvious pzazz and va-va-voom of this year's Frieze shows that London is definitely roaring back
Well that's encouraging. The event itself and the whole art scene is small potatoes, but if it's indicative of the big picture then that's great.
I firmly believe it is indicative. The art scene is a bellwether for wider cultural/societal/economic changes
My feeling now is that the death of big cities has been wildly exaggerated. People want to crowd together and gossip and drink and flirt and fuck with other people, new people, exciting people, young people, weird people. You can only do this in cities, and you can only do it brilliantly and extravagantly in great world cities like London
So the really big cities will be fine. Post pandemic changes will probably hit smaller cities more severely
Specific to London, the menace of Brexit is also exaggerated. London has a critical mass, and a fundamental attraction: English language, time zone, culture, common law, accumulated wealth, the City, the West End, the culture, and so on, and so forth.
It will take some knocks from Brexit, but there will also be new opportunities, which is exactly what was predicted by non-hysterical Leavers, and is exactly what is already happening in the art market: Brexit makes it hassly for EU dealers to come to London, with their work, BUT it also makes the London art market potentially more flexible on tax, which could be pretty attractive
Incidentally, there is a threat to London as a global art capital, but it is from Hong Kong, not anywhere in the EU.
Hong Kong has eaten up a lot of the business once done in London and NYC, whether that will continue no one knows. Beijing is not helping its own cause. And at the London auctions this week there was, apparently, a notable presence of Asian buyers, spending more than anyone else. So that threat may also prove temporary, or a new equlibirium will be reached where there are three major art centres: NYC, London, Hong Kong
Finally, some of the best art at Frieze this year is Korean. What is this weird cultural explosion they are having?
First they took over pop music, now they are doing TV, next contemporary art?!
I hope you're right and I share many of these thoughts. Poke about in the lesser visited places in London though. Smithfield for example - it's not right.
I walk and cycle the streets of our great city. I see great vibrancy as before, but there are real holes.
I do get about quite a lot, and I do see some sad sights still
Smithfield has been fucked for years tho, hasn't it? Even before Covid it was in swift decline, the meat market shut and the concert hall cancelled, and the nightlife/restaurant/bar scene shifted in toto from St John St to Shoreditch
I am much more optimistic about Camden than I was. I remember posting on here in late Spring about a walk from Highgate to Primrose Hill in the evening when it was positively dystopian. Horrible. So many places closed, with no sign of reopening
Even 2 months ago much of the area around the market was grim.
Now 90% of places have reopened or have been taken over by new business. Which is great to see
I haven't been to Canary Wharf. I do wonder how they are doing there
A similar thing happened here. Restaurants and bars were shuttered in the first quarter of the year and whole areas looked dystopian.
But now new restaurants have taken their place, and the new places are packed.
As we have discussed on here before, the huge world cities will be fine. LA, NYC, London, Paris, Hong Kong (tho with a political question mark over the last)
Bangkok will bounce back as will Sydney
These places will change, but they have always changed, they will remain popular. The accumulation of human capital and culture is too great for them to "die"
It's the small cities and towns around them that might really decay. As NPXMP said, what's the appeal of Godalming High Street if you are WFH? You could be anywhere. so you might as well move completely away from the SE and get a bigger house, greater rurality. Or downsize and move into London for the fun
The inbetweenlands will probably have a tough time
I vaguely recall from Latin that the Romans ate dormice. I suspect an element of pretension here.
The article says that they were a Roman delicacy. A "dormouse day" (unikeijonpäivä) is celebrated in Finland on 27th July when a notable civic figure is taken from his/her slumbers and thrown into the lake to wake up. He/she is then "dormouse" for the year.
"Alex Scott in tears as she learns her ancestor owned 26 slaves on Who Do You Think You Are?
Alex Scott becomes emotional on Who Do You Think You Are? when she learns her great grandfather owned 26 slaves. The BBC pundit, 37, is horrified to find her 4x great grandfather Robert Francis Coombs was a slave owner with over two dozen people captive at his huge property in Jamaica."
The world's climate is fucked. I hate these fossil fuel bastards so much. They will destroy the only planet we have.
What, like Alderan in Star Wars? Or do you mean the planet will become uninhabitable if the temperature rises a few more degrees, despite the fact that we live from the Sahara to arctic?
And under water. Moron.
I assume you consider Waterworld a documentary? Seriously, I’m not a moron. I work in science and have read widely on the area of climate change. Claims of the destruction of the planet deserve to be ridiculed. We should do all we can to preserve the ecosystems and flora and fauna of the world, without resorting to stupid hyperbole.
I'm guessing you don't work very hard in science if you think Hey, we live in really hot and cold places already is a serious argument. No, waterworld is not a documentary, and the hundreds of millions of people who are going to have their lives disrupted by rising sea levels are mainly brown and foreign, so your joke is especially apposite and amusing.
I know it’s pointless engaging. We will adapt. I despair of the nihilistic end of days perversion that has enveloped too much of climate science, even if it is mainly the reporting. I bit on your comment, because, no, the world isn’t going to be destroyed. But as others have said, I think you don’t want a sensible debate, just to get reactions. I’m happy with my contribution to science. I’ve devoted my life to it, accepting that it would pay far less than I could earn elsewhere. I don’t regret that. I help train the next generation of pharmacists and chemists. I hope you have something you enjoy in your life, that isn’t trying to get a rise out of anonymously folk on pb.
Well, which of us is making debate impossible? How do you expect me to engage seriously with you if make these baseless "only want to get a rise" accusations? Your initial "we live in the Sahara and the Arctic anyway" point was, as I am sure you will on reflection agree, embarrassingly stupid. When you say We will adapt, how do you know? What is to say that actually this is too difficult, and we won't? As to your dedication to science, it is really quite hard to gauge the relevance of that. For all I know you are in the position of a one legged man who has devoted his life to a career in bum kicking. Happy to be corrected of course
It’s not a stupid point. Human existence is possible across vast climate ranges. The planets temperature raising by 2 or 3 degrees does not mean the end of civilisation. It means challenges and adaptation. You called me a moron in your first reply. Hardly conducive. I’m happy with my publication record thanks.
Did I say it meant the end of civilization?
You said ‘destroy the planet’. Did you not mean that then?
The world's climate is fucked. I hate these fossil fuel bastards so much. They will destroy the only planet we have.
What, like Alderan in Star Wars? Or do you mean the planet will become uninhabitable if the temperature rises a few more degrees, despite the fact that we live from the Sahara to arctic?
And under water. Moron.
I assume you consider Waterworld a documentary? Seriously, I’m not a moron. I work in science and have read widely on the area of climate change. Claims of the destruction of the planet deserve to be ridiculed. We should do all we can to preserve the ecosystems and flora and fauna of the world, without resorting to stupid hyperbole.
I'm guessing you don't work very hard in science if you think Hey, we live in really hot and cold places already is a serious argument. No, waterworld is not a documentary, and the hundreds of millions of people who are going to have their lives disrupted by rising sea levels are mainly brown and foreign, so your joke is especially apposite and amusing.
I know it’s pointless engaging. We will adapt. I despair of the nihilistic end of days perversion that has enveloped too much of climate science, even if it is mainly the reporting. I bit on your comment, because, no, the world isn’t going to be destroyed. But as others have said, I think you don’t want a sensible debate, just to get reactions. I’m happy with my contribution to science. I’ve devoted my life to it, accepting that it would pay far less than I could earn elsewhere. I don’t regret that. I help train the next generation of pharmacists and chemists. I hope you have something you enjoy in your life, that isn’t trying to get a rise out of anonymously folk on pb.
Well, which of us is making debate impossible? How do you expect me to engage seriously with you if make these baseless "only want to get a rise" accusations? Your initial "we live in the Sahara and the Arctic anyway" point was, as I am sure you will on reflection agree, embarrassingly stupid. When you say We will adapt, how do you know? What is to say that actually this is too difficult, and we won't? As to your dedication to science, it is really quite hard to gauge the relevance of that. For all I know you are in the position of a one legged man who has devoted his life to a career in bum kicking. Happy to be corrected of course
It’s not a stupid point. Human existence is possible across vast climate ranges. The planets temperature raising by 2 or 3 degrees does not mean the end of civilisation. It means challenges and adaptation. You called me a moron in your first reply. Hardly conducive. I’m happy with my publication record thanks.
Did I say it meant the end of civilization?
You said ‘destroy the planet’. Did you not mean that then?
Did I? Where?
Fair enough, my error, that was another poster. You just went for under water. Which some of it will be, but most wont.
I vaguely recall from Latin that the Romans ate dormice. I suspect an element of pretension here.
The article says that they were a Roman delicacy. A "dormouse day" (unikeijonpäivä) is celebrated in Finland on 27th July when a notable civic figure is taken from his/her slumbers and thrown into the lake to wake up. He/she is then "dormouse" for the year.
I vaguely recall from Latin that the Romans ate dormice. I suspect an element of pretension here.
According to at least one source, stuffed mice are still consumed with gusto in Calabria
"There is a protected, fluffy tailed species of dormice that have been eaten since the days the Caesars ran things. Down in Calabria the rodents are still stuffed and chomped on. They are stuffed with meat, nuts, raisins, onions and spices. You can imagine little squeaks as you take a bite. I have no idea what they do with all those cute fluffy tails."
Which suggests that the mice mentioned in the story posted here on PB, were perhaps members of 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian equivalent to the Sicilian Mafia.
On topic - I am just old enough to remember the Aberfan disaster, was 11 when it happened.
Recall rather vividly seeing coverage on American TV, think on the "Today Show" which was on at our house as a matter of routine every weekday morning before I left for school.
Probably remember it because yours truly was, like most of the victims, a school kid. Did not make me fearful, for one thing we did NOT have a massive slag heap overhanging my home town. But did feel a strong sense of empathy, because it was easy for me (and my friends) to relate to the situation.
It may also be true that I & my fellow students in West Virginia were influenced - indirectly but significantly - by our state's own history of mining disasters. Including the worst one in US history, the Monangah explosion, which killed (at least) 362 miners, predominately Italian immigrants. Including relatives of US Sen. Joe Manchin.
And just two years after Aberfan, WVa experienced the Farmington mine explosion, where most of the trapped miners were rescued, but 19 died underground. And since then there have been other similar tragedies.
My hometown was NOT a mining community per se, our thing was a BIG aluminum plant. However, many of the workers and their families came from the coalfields. So they could understand and feel what had happened in & to Aberfan, and what & how the people there were suffering.
My own family was not from the same background. But I must have absorbed a bit of coal dust growing up, because to this day when I hear reports of a mine disaster, it most definitely strikes a nerve.
So thanks, Pip, for remembering this tragic event - and let us never forget.
My wife was born in 1960. It is one of her earlier memories. Utter shock and horror in her Primary 2 class.
The memories of the Aberfan disaster will not be forgotten by our family, not least because our eldest son was born here in St Asaph in North Wales just 8 days later on the 29th October
We were still grieving for all those children and looked at him in his cot in wonder, amazement and gratitude and found it hard not to feel a degree of guilt when thinking of the parents of those lost innocents
Our neighbour produced a huge mural painting of the face of each lost child ascending into Jesus's arms and it was very emotional
I vaguely recall from Latin that the Romans ate dormice. I suspect an element of pretension here.
The article says that they were a Roman delicacy. A "dormouse day" (unikeijonpäivä) is celebrated in Finland on 27th July when a notable civic figure is taken from his/her slumbers and thrown into the lake to wake up. He/she is then "dormouse" for the year.
I’ve heard there were individuals who consumed flaked dormouse. They obviously slumber with the fishies now.
I vaguely recall from Latin that the Romans ate dormice. I suspect an element of pretension here.
The article says that they were a Roman delicacy. A "dormouse day" (unikeijonpäivä) is celebrated in Finland on 27th July when a notable civic figure is taken from his/her slumbers and thrown into the lake to wake up. He/she is then "dormouse" for the year.
Absolutely jammed. Visitors from all over the world. Sales pinging.
London will not be beaten
Not my thing (Frieze) , but the resurrection of arts etc in London is most welcome. I wonder to what extent the spring (morphically) will visit those areas that have become really dead. Great to wave the London flag even if it looks like Boris on a highwire.
The Remoaners all said that the London art market would decamp en masse to Paris when Brexit happened. And a couple of galleries did open Paris branches.
But there has been no exodus, at all. The share of the global art market in each city has remained the same, London has 20%, Paris has 7%. There is no comparison.
It is possible London will actually grow relative to Paris as Brexit is offering big tax advantages to dealers, even as it complicates the movement of art between the EU and UK
And the obvious pzazz and va-va-voom of this year's Frieze shows that London is definitely roaring back
Well that's encouraging. The event itself and the whole art scene is small potatoes, but if it's indicative of the big picture then that's great.
I firmly believe it is indicative. The art scene is a bellwether for wider cultural/societal/economic changes
My feeling now is that the death of big cities has been wildly exaggerated. People want to crowd together and gossip and drink and flirt and fuck with other people, new people, exciting people, young people, weird people. You can only do this in cities, and you can only do it brilliantly and extravagantly in great world cities like London
So the really big cities will be fine. Post pandemic changes will probably hit smaller cities more severely
Specific to London, the menace of Brexit is also exaggerated. London has a critical mass, and a fundamental attraction: English language, time zone, culture, common law, accumulated wealth, the City, the West End, the culture, and so on, and so forth.
It will take some knocks from Brexit, but there will also be new opportunities, which is exactly what was predicted by non-hysterical Leavers, and is exactly what is already happening in the art market: Brexit makes it hassly for EU dealers to come to London, with their work, BUT it also makes the London art market potentially more flexible on tax, which could be pretty attractive
Incidentally, there is a threat to London as a global art capital, but it is from Hong Kong, not anywhere in the EU.
Hong Kong has eaten up a lot of the business once done in London and NYC, whether that will continue no one knows. Beijing is not helping its own cause. And at the London auctions this week there was, apparently, a notable presence of Asian buyers, spending more than anyone else. So that threat may also prove temporary, or a new equlibirium will be reached where there are three major art centres: NYC, London, Hong Kong
Finally, some of the best art at Frieze this year is Korean. What is this weird cultural explosion they are having?
First they took over pop music, now they are doing TV, next contemporary art?!
I hope you're right and I share many of these thoughts. Poke about in the lesser visited places in London though. Smithfield for example - it's not right.
I walk and cycle the streets of our great city. I see great vibrancy as before, but there are real holes.
I do get about quite a lot, and I do see some sad sights still
Smithfield has been fucked for years tho, hasn't it? Even before Covid it was in swift decline, the meat market shut and the concert hall cancelled, and the nightlife/restaurant/bar scene shifted in toto from St John St to Shoreditch
I am much more optimistic about Camden than I was. I remember posting on here in late Spring about a walk from Highgate to Primrose Hill in the evening when it was positively dystopian. Horrible. So many places closed, with no sign of reopening
Even 2 months ago much of the area around the market was grim.
Now 90% of places have reopened or have been taken over by new business. Which is great to see
I haven't been to Canary Wharf. I do wonder how they are doing there
A similar thing happened here. Restaurants and bars were shuttered in the first quarter of the year and whole areas looked dystopian.
But now new restaurants have taken their place, and the new places are packed.
As we have discussed on here before, the huge world cities will be fine. LA, NYC, London, Paris, Hong Kong (tho with a political question mark over the last)
Bangkok will bounce back as will Sydney
These places will change, but they have always changed, they will remain popular. The accumulation of human capital and culture is too great for them to "die"
It's the small cities and towns around them that might really decay. As NPXMP said, what's the appeal of Godalming High Street if you are WFH? You could be anywhere. so you might as well move completely away from the SE and get a bigger house, greater rurality. Or downsize and move into London for the fun
The inbetweenlands will probably have a tough time
So is Bognor truly buggered? Or not - at least until the sea rises?
Absolutely jammed. Visitors from all over the world. Sales pinging.
London will not be beaten
Not my thing (Frieze) , but the resurrection of arts etc in London is most welcome. I wonder to what extent the spring (morphically) will visit those areas that have become really dead. Great to wave the London flag even if it looks like Boris on a highwire.
The Remoaners all said that the London art market would decamp en masse to Paris when Brexit happened. And a couple of galleries did open Paris branches.
But there has been no exodus, at all. The share of the global art market in each city has remained the same, London has 20%, Paris has 7%. There is no comparison.
It is possible London will actually grow relative to Paris as Brexit is offering big tax advantages to dealers, even as it complicates the movement of art between the EU and UK
And the obvious pzazz and va-va-voom of this year's Frieze shows that London is definitely roaring back
I regularly attend my local art week and usually buy a work from a local artist for £50-100. My father was an amateur artist and I have done a few paintings myself. At the moment I have about 95 works on my walls. Until recently the most expensive was a Darren Baker which I bought from the artist himself. But last year I bought a Philip Grey for nearly £7000. I am a believer that good art is a sound investment.
Having just (as previously mentioned) obtained probate on the parental estate, I am wondering about doing a collection or two - for interest and maybe investment.
Any thoughts?
I quite like 1950s things.
My immediate reaction is that when I had to deal depressingly with three estates in succession of my parents and a second cousin, I promised myself a small but not trivial treat. In my case, for the latter two estates, it was booking in a prime Landmark Trust property for ourselves and some good friends. Covid got in the way of the most recent, but the one that did happen was one of the best holidays we have ever had.
Mutatis mutandis, by all means treat yourself to some art - but because you enjoy it. Investment is a bonus, which may not happen.
I vaguely recall from Latin that the Romans ate dormice. I suspect an element of pretension here.
According to at least one source, stuffed mice are still consumed with gusto in Calabria
"There is a protected, fluffy tailed species of dormice that have been eaten since the days the Caesars ran things. Down in Calabria the rodents are still stuffed and chomped on. They are stuffed with meat, nuts, raisins, onions and spices. You can imagine little squeaks as you take a bite. I have no idea what they do with all those cute fluffy tails."
Which suggests that the mice mentioned in the story posted here on PB, were perhaps members of 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian equivalent to the Sicilian Mafia.
I have inadvertently been to the 'Ndrangheta "capital"
Plati.
OMFG
I was just driving around the Aspromonte mountains and I tootled into town....
It is, anecdotally, the richest city per capita in Italy, and yet it looks like and claims to be the poorest. They don't like to flaunt their wealth. It is also without doubt the most hostile city in Italy. I have never felt so unnerved entering a European town, or maybe anywhere on earth. I got the hell out as quick as possible - pursued by kids throwing stones
Then I pulled over and Googled and discovered why it was so sinister
Completely O/T - I decided to go cold turkey on social media. Deactivated them all, FB, IG and Twitter…save for LinkedIn, which my firm more or less makes us use. So, through force of habit, I’ve spent some mindless minutes scrolling through my LinkedIn feed.
Lord, what a f**king shitshow I have never seen a more embarrassing site - a litany of brown nosing, virtue signalling and weird haiku style motivational stories in my entire life. And that’s before we get onto the egregious redefinition of the word “humbled” that is it’s signature feature. Makes this place look sane.
Completely O/T - I decided to go cold turkey on social media. Deactivated them all, FB, IG and Twitter…save for LinkedIn, which my firm more or less makes us use. So, through force of habit, I’ve spent some mindless minutes scrolling through my LinkedIn feed.
Lord, what a f**king shitshow I have never seen a more embarrassing site - a litany of brown nosing, virtue signalling and weird haiku style motivational stories in my entire life. And that’s before we get onto the egregious redefinition of the word “humbled” that is it’s signature feature. Makes this place look sane.
I've done similar. There is a tragic side to LinkedIn. Every day is a new day, usually something to do with gender or mental health. This inspires a few people to write these long confessional posts about how they tried to commit suicide; self harmed; were once in prison; are now trying to give up drinking (but haven't yet succeeded) or something similar, and then promote them to their colleagues and professional network; but with the hope that they will actually go viral. They really need to stop and think about what they are doing as many of them still clearly have trauma and issues and this type of exposure is unlikely to help them.
On the other hand, it is great for actual professional networking - I've got an open line to lots of really useful people, and it avoids the awkwardness of phone or formality of email. Also excellent for keeping on top of industry news without all the confusion and noise of twitter.
"Alex Scott in tears as she learns her ancestor owned 26 slaves on Who Do You Think You Are?
Alex Scott becomes emotional on Who Do You Think You Are? when she learns her great grandfather owned 26 slaves. The BBC pundit, 37, is horrified to find her 4x great grandfather Robert Francis Coombs was a slave owner with over two dozen people captive at his huge property in Jamaica."
Absolutely jammed. Visitors from all over the world. Sales pinging.
London will not be beaten
Not my thing (Frieze) , but the resurrection of arts etc in London is most welcome. I wonder to what extent the spring (morphically) will visit those areas that have become really dead. Great to wave the London flag even if it looks like Boris on a highwire.
The Remoaners all said that the London art market would decamp en masse to Paris when Brexit happened. And a couple of galleries did open Paris branches.
But there has been no exodus, at all. The share of the global art market in each city has remained the same, London has 20%, Paris has 7%. There is no comparison.
It is possible London will actually grow relative to Paris as Brexit is offering big tax advantages to dealers, even as it complicates the movement of art between the EU and UK
And the obvious pzazz and va-va-voom of this year's Frieze shows that London is definitely roaring back
Well that's encouraging. The event itself and the whole art scene is small potatoes, but if it's indicative of the big picture then that's great.
I firmly believe it is indicative. The art scene is a bellwether for wider cultural/societal/economic changes
My feeling now is that the death of big cities has been wildly exaggerated. People want to crowd together and gossip and drink and flirt and fuck with other people, new people, exciting people, young people, weird people. You can only do this in cities, and you can only do it brilliantly and extravagantly in great world cities like London
So the really big cities will be fine. Post pandemic changes will probably hit smaller cities more severely
Specific to London, the menace of Brexit is also exaggerated. London has a critical mass, and a fundamental attraction: English language, time zone, culture, common law, accumulated wealth, the City, the West End, the culture, and so on, and so forth.
It will take some knocks from Brexit, but there will also be new opportunities, which is exactly what was predicted by non-hysterical Leavers, and is exactly what is already happening in the art market: Brexit makes it hassly for EU dealers to come to London, with their work, BUT it also makes the London art market potentially more flexible on tax, which could be pretty attractive
Incidentally, there is a threat to London as a global art capital, but it is from Hong Kong, not anywhere in the EU.
Hong Kong has eaten up a lot of the business once done in London and NYC, whether that will continue no one knows. Beijing is not helping its own cause. And at the London auctions this week there was, apparently, a notable presence of Asian buyers, spending more than anyone else. So that threat may also prove temporary, or a new equlibirium will be reached where there are three major art centres: NYC, London, Hong Kong
Finally, some of the best art at Frieze this year is Korean. What is this weird cultural explosion they are having?
First they took over pop music, now they are doing TV, next contemporary art?!
I hope you're right and I share many of these thoughts. Poke about in the lesser visited places in London though. Smithfield for example - it's not right.
I walk and cycle the streets of our great city. I see great vibrancy as before, but there are real holes.
I do get about quite a lot, and I do see some sad sights still
Smithfield has been fucked for years tho, hasn't it? Even before Covid it was in swift decline, the meat market shut and the concert hall cancelled, and the nightlife/restaurant/bar scene shifted in toto from St John St to Shoreditch
I am much more optimistic about Camden than I was. I remember posting on here in late Spring about a walk from Highgate to Primrose Hill in the evening when it was positively dystopian. Horrible. So many places closed, with no sign of reopening
Even 2 months ago much of the area around the market was grim.
Now 90% of places have reopened or have been taken over by new business. Which is great to see
I haven't been to Canary Wharf. I do wonder how they are doing there
A similar thing happened here. Restaurants and bars were shuttered in the first quarter of the year and whole areas looked dystopian.
But now new restaurants have taken their place, and the new places are packed.
As we have discussed on here before, the huge world cities will be fine. LA, NYC, London, Paris, Hong Kong (tho with a political question mark over the last)
Bangkok will bounce back as will Sydney
These places will change, but they have always changed, they will remain popular. The accumulation of human capital and culture is too great for them to "die"
It's the small cities and towns around them that might really decay. As NPXMP said, what's the appeal of Godalming High Street if you are WFH? You could be anywhere. so you might as well move completely away from the SE and get a bigger house, greater rurality. Or downsize and move into London for the fun
The inbetweenlands will probably have a tough time
So is Bognor truly buggered? Or not - at least until the sea rises?
The actual south coast will probably be fine. It's far enough from London (even now) to have its own focus and identity. And it has the sea. But the squashed doughnut between (roughly) the M25 and the South Downs and the Chilterns, the classic commuterland, could be in trouble.
"Alex Scott in tears as she learns her ancestor owned 26 slaves on Who Do You Think You Are?
Alex Scott becomes emotional on Who Do You Think You Are? when she learns her great grandfather owned 26 slaves. The BBC pundit, 37, is horrified to find her 4x great grandfather Robert Francis Coombs was a slave owner with over two dozen people captive at his huge property in Jamaica."
Absolutely jammed. Visitors from all over the world. Sales pinging.
London will not be beaten
Not my thing (Frieze) , but the resurrection of arts etc in London is most welcome. I wonder to what extent the spring (morphically) will visit those areas that have become really dead. Great to wave the London flag even if it looks like Boris on a highwire.
The Remoaners all said that the London art market would decamp en masse to Paris when Brexit happened. And a couple of galleries did open Paris branches.
But there has been no exodus, at all. The share of the global art market in each city has remained the same, London has 20%, Paris has 7%. There is no comparison.
It is possible London will actually grow relative to Paris as Brexit is offering big tax advantages to dealers, even as it complicates the movement of art between the EU and UK
And the obvious pzazz and va-va-voom of this year's Frieze shows that London is definitely roaring back
Well that's encouraging. The event itself and the whole art scene is small potatoes, but if it's indicative of the big picture then that's great.
I firmly believe it is indicative. The art scene is a bellwether for wider cultural/societal/economic changes
My feeling now is that the death of big cities has been wildly exaggerated. People want to crowd together and gossip and drink and flirt and fuck with other people, new people, exciting people, young people, weird people. You can only do this in cities, and you can only do it brilliantly and extravagantly in great world cities like London
So the really big cities will be fine. Post pandemic changes will probably hit smaller cities more severely
Specific to London, the menace of Brexit is also exaggerated. London has a critical mass, and a fundamental attraction: English language, time zone, culture, common law, accumulated wealth, the City, the West End, the culture, and so on, and so forth.
It will take some knocks from Brexit, but there will also be new opportunities, which is exactly what was predicted by non-hysterical Leavers, and is exactly what is already happening in the art market: Brexit makes it hassly for EU dealers to come to London, with their work, BUT it also makes the London art market potentially more flexible on tax, which could be pretty attractive
Incidentally, there is a threat to London as a global art capital, but it is from Hong Kong, not anywhere in the EU.
Hong Kong has eaten up a lot of the business once done in London and NYC, whether that will continue no one knows. Beijing is not helping its own cause. And at the London auctions this week there was, apparently, a notable presence of Asian buyers, spending more than anyone else. So that threat may also prove temporary, or a new equlibirium will be reached where there are three major art centres: NYC, London, Hong Kong
Finally, some of the best art at Frieze this year is Korean. What is this weird cultural explosion they are having?
First they took over pop music, now they are doing TV, next contemporary art?!
I hope you're right and I share many of these thoughts. Poke about in the lesser visited places in London though. Smithfield for example - it's not right.
I walk and cycle the streets of our great city. I see great vibrancy as before, but there are real holes.
I do get about quite a lot, and I do see some sad sights still
Smithfield has been fucked for years tho, hasn't it? Even before Covid it was in swift decline, the meat market shut and the concert hall cancelled, and the nightlife/restaurant/bar scene shifted in toto from St John St to Shoreditch
I am much more optimistic about Camden than I was. I remember posting on here in late Spring about a walk from Highgate to Primrose Hill in the evening when it was positively dystopian. Horrible. So many places closed, with no sign of reopening
Even 2 months ago much of the area around the market was grim.
Now 90% of places have reopened or have been taken over by new business. Which is great to see
I haven't been to Canary Wharf. I do wonder how they are doing there
A similar thing happened here. Restaurants and bars were shuttered in the first quarter of the year and whole areas looked dystopian.
But now new restaurants have taken their place, and the new places are packed.
As we have discussed on here before, the huge world cities will be fine. LA, NYC, London, Paris, Hong Kong (tho with a political question mark over the last)
Bangkok will bounce back as will Sydney
These places will change, but they have always changed, they will remain popular. The accumulation of human capital and culture is too great for them to "die"
It's the small cities and towns around them that might really decay. As NPXMP said, what's the appeal of Godalming High Street if you are WFH? You could be anywhere. so you might as well move completely away from the SE and get a bigger house, greater rurality. Or downsize and move into London for the fun
The inbetweenlands will probably have a tough time
So is Bognor truly buggered? Or not - at least until the sea rises?
The actual south coast will probably be fine. It's far enough from London (even now) to have its own focus and identity. And it has the sea. But the squashed doughnut between (roughly) the M25 and the South Downs and the Chilterns, the classic commuterland, could be in trouble.
Anywhere that's ugly and soul-less, which exists solely to deliver people to London, is in deep shite
Somewhere like Bracknell. Luton. Hemel Hempstead. Crawley
I vaguely recall from Latin that the Romans ate dormice. I suspect an element of pretension here.
According to at least one source, stuffed mice are still consumed with gusto in Calabria
"There is a protected, fluffy tailed species of dormice that have been eaten since the days the Caesars ran things. Down in Calabria the rodents are still stuffed and chomped on. They are stuffed with meat, nuts, raisins, onions and spices. You can imagine little squeaks as you take a bite. I have no idea what they do with all those cute fluffy tails."
Which suggests that the mice mentioned in the story posted here on PB, were perhaps members of 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian equivalent to the Sicilian Mafia.
I have inadvertently been to the 'Ndrangheta "capital"
Plati.
OMFG
I was just driving around the Aspromonte mountains and I tootled into town....
It is, anecdotally, the richest city per capita in Italy, and yet it looks like and claims to be the poorest. They don't like to flaunt their wealth. It is also without doubt the most hostile city in Italy. I have never felt so unnerved entering a European town, or maybe anywhere on earth. I got the hell out as quick as possible - pursued by kids throwing stones
Then I pulled over and Googled and discovered why it was so sinister
Even then, parked in the woods, two cars soon hunted me down and asked me what I was doing. I said I was lost, and drove off. Fast
I recommend it if you like to come home with scary holiday stories
My dad had a somewhat similar experience when he went walking in the countryside outside Catania in the 1960's. Some guy suddenly appeared, waving a sawn off shotgun at him, before marching him back to the city.
Sticking by my prediction lab will be clearly ahead by May ‘22. It’s the economy, stupid.
The economy won't give Labour the lead. Full employment and rising real wages mean most people are doing okay.
The next important event is the budget on the 27th
Rishi has to address the present unfairness, but also he is far short of the revenue needed for all the NHS social care, education and benefits demands, and not even mentioning climate change with suggestions £5,000 subsidies for each gas heating boiler replaced by 2035
Wealth taxes will have to rise and let's hope he has the courage to address this issue
I understand the Liberal Democrats will also not be standing in the Southend West by-election that will follow Sir David Amess' death. Labour sources are saying the same.
I vaguely recall from Latin that the Romans ate dormice. I suspect an element of pretension here.
According to at least one source, stuffed mice are still consumed with gusto in Calabria
"There is a protected, fluffy tailed species of dormice that have been eaten since the days the Caesars ran things. Down in Calabria the rodents are still stuffed and chomped on. They are stuffed with meat, nuts, raisins, onions and spices. You can imagine little squeaks as you take a bite. I have no idea what they do with all those cute fluffy tails."
Which suggests that the mice mentioned in the story posted here on PB, were perhaps members of 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian equivalent to the Sicilian Mafia.
I have inadvertently been to the 'Ndrangheta "capital"
Plati.
OMFG
I was just driving around the Aspromonte mountains and I tootled into town....
It is, anecdotally, the richest city per capita in Italy, and yet it looks like and claims to be the poorest. They don't like to flaunt their wealth. It is also without doubt the most hostile city in Italy. I have never felt so unnerved entering a European town, or maybe anywhere on earth. I got the hell out as quick as possible - pursued by kids throwing stones
Then I pulled over and Googled and discovered why it was so sinister
Even then, parked in the woods, two cars soon hunted me down and asked me what I was doing. I said I was lost, and drove off. Fast
I recommend it if you like to come home with scary holiday stories
My dad had a somewhat similar experience when he went walking in the countryside outside Catania in the 1960's. Some guy suddenly appeared, waving a sawn off shotgun at him, before marching him back to the city.
Sardinia the same. I asked a native of Olbia to take me on a trip to the interior and he said he would not go himself, let alone take a foreigner.
Sticking by my prediction lab will be clearly ahead by May ‘22. It’s the economy, stupid.
The economy won't give Labour the lead. Full employment and rising real wages mean most people are doing okay.
Are wages rising in real terms for middle England?
A Romanian HGV driver was interviewed earlier today and he said the wages on offer in the UK were very attractive under the visa quota scheme and one of his friends has already left to go the UK and was not deterred by the time limit of the visa
Sticking by my prediction lab will be clearly ahead by May ‘22. It’s the economy, stupid.
The economy won't give Labour the lead. Full employment and rising real wages mean most people are doing okay.
Are wages rising in real terms for middle England?
A Romanian HGV driver was interviewed earlier today and he said the wages on offer in the UK were very attractive under the visa quota scheme and one of his friends has already left to go the UK and was not deterred by the time limit of the visa
Never mind the Romanian HGV drivers, how are the Albanian cab drivers coping?
I understand the Liberal Democrats will also not be standing in the Southend West by-election that will follow Sir David Amess' death. Labour sources are saying the same.
Sticking by my prediction lab will be clearly ahead by May ‘22. It’s the economy, stupid.
The economy won't give Labour the lead. Full employment and rising real wages mean most people are doing okay.
Are wages rising in real terms for middle England?
A Romanian HGV driver was interviewed earlier today and he said the wages on offer in the UK were very attractive under the visa quota scheme and one of his friends has already left to go the UK and was not deterred by the time limit of the visa
That's the very opposite of wages rising in Middle England.
Good evening everyone. Lovely day today. In Manchester this morning: was struck by the behaviour of people. I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do - they're really saying "We're not going to be cowed by scaremongerers in the public health lobby into living like recluses any more." People basically back to behaving like it was 2019. Then went for a walk with my Dad in the afternoon. Five mile round trip in the hills of the Forest of Bowland. You know all those hills you look at on your right as you're going up to the Lake District, vaguely thinking 'they look nice', but no more than that because you're going somewhere bigger and better? Those. They are well worth a visit. From the top of Clougha Pike you get a superb vista across almost all of Lancashire, over to the Lake District, Morecambe Bay, the Irish Sea, Blackpool... while behind you are the peaks of the Yorkshire Dales. We got to Clougha Pike about 5.45, just as the sun was starting to set. A little cloudy for a perfect sunset - just the hint of a massive red Orb poking through - but I wouldn't be surprised if, on a clear day, this is the finest sunset in England. Anyway, 5 miles and 800 feet of ascent - not a massive walk, but my Dad is 74 - I'll be very happy if I'm still doing those sorts of walks at 74.
Sticking by my prediction lab will be clearly ahead by May ‘22. It’s the economy, stupid.
The economy won't give Labour the lead. Full employment and rising real wages mean most people are doing okay.
Are wages rising in real terms for middle England?
Numbers I saw earlier in the week seemed to show real wages flattish since the start of 2021; a real and sharp increase at the end of 2020 but since then wages and prices keeping up with each other. Though that average covers everything from big wage rises to not a sausage.
And whatever happens from here, there's a chunky NI rise kicking in next Spring.
But the main thing these polls look like doing is steadying Labour nerves after that YouGov and Kantar a couple of days ago.
Does that mean Scottish Tories have a leadership election first?
We want a header from @malcolmg , informing us which of the candidates is marginally less contemptible than the others.
tbf to Mr Ross, being a footie ref, MSP and MP all at the same time is hard work, and he'd already stated he was going to step down as a MP at the next GE (not sure why he can't do so right now). It's nothing to do with the BC, I believe.
Edit: he ran for MSP this year while still a MP and got one of the regional seats. And no, he'll still be leader of SCUP - interesting he feels he has to do it at Holyrood not Westminster, though.
If the boundary commission proposals are accepted, his seat disappears anyway, so he’s nothing to lose.
Sticking by my prediction lab will be clearly ahead by May ‘22. It’s the economy, stupid.
The economy won't give Labour the lead. Full employment and rising real wages mean most people are doing okay.
Are wages rising in real terms for middle England?
A Romanian HGV driver was interviewed earlier today and he said the wages on offer in the UK were very attractive under the visa quota scheme and one of his friends has already left to go the UK and was not deterred by the time limit of the visa
That's the very opposite of wages rising in Middle England.
If UK HGV drivers are rising and attracting foreign drivers on short term visas how is that the opposite of wages rises in Middle England
Good evening everyone. Lovely day today. In Manchester this morning: was struck by the behaviour of people. I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do - they're really saying "We're not going to be cowed by scaremongerers in the public health lobby into living like recluses any more." People basically back to behaving like it was 2019. Then went for a walk with my Dad in the afternoon. Five mile round trip in the hills of the Forest of Bowland. You know all those hills you look at on your right as you're going up to the Lake District, vaguely thinking 'they look nice', but no more than that because you're going somewhere bigger and better? Those. They are well worth a visit. From the top of Clougha Pike you get a superb vista across almost all of Lancashire, over to the Lake District, Morecambe Bay, the Irish Sea, Blackpool... while behind you are the peaks of the Yorkshire Dales. We got to Clougha Pike about 5.45, just as the sun was starting to set. A little cloudy for a perfect sunset - just the hint of a massive red Orb poking through - but I wouldn't be surprised if, on a clear day, this is the finest sunset in England. Anyway, 5 miles and 800 feet of ascent - not a massive walk, but my Dad is 74 - I'll be very happy if I'm still doing those sorts of walks at 74.
Forest of Bowland is one of England's undiscovered gems. Too close to Lakes and Dales. So nobody there.
Absolutely jammed. Visitors from all over the world. Sales pinging.
London will not be beaten
Not my thing (Frieze) , but the resurrection of arts etc in London is most welcome. I wonder to what extent the spring (morphically) will visit those areas that have become really dead. Great to wave the London flag even if it looks like Boris on a highwire.
The Remoaners all said that the London art market would decamp en masse to Paris when Brexit happened. And a couple of galleries did open Paris branches.
But there has been no exodus, at all. The share of the global art market in each city has remained the same, London has 20%, Paris has 7%. There is no comparison.
It is possible London will actually grow relative to Paris as Brexit is offering big tax advantages to dealers, even as it complicates the movement of art between the EU and UK
And the obvious pzazz and va-va-voom of this year's Frieze shows that London is definitely roaring back
Well that's encouraging. The event itself and the whole art scene is small potatoes, but if it's indicative of the big picture then that's great.
I firmly believe it is indicative. The art scene is a bellwether for wider cultural/societal/economic changes
My feeling now is that the death of big cities has been wildly exaggerated. People want to crowd together and gossip and drink and flirt and fuck with other people, new people, exciting people, young people, weird people. You can only do this in cities, and you can only do it brilliantly and extravagantly in great world cities like London
So the really big cities will be fine. Post pandemic changes will probably hit smaller cities more severely
Specific to London, the menace of Brexit is also exaggerated. London has a critical mass, and a fundamental attraction: English language, time zone, common law, accumulated wealth, the City, the West End, the culture, and so on, and so forth.
It will take some knocks from Brexit, but there will also be new opportunities, which is exactly what was predicted by non-hysterical Leavers, and is exactly what is already happening in the art market: Brexit makes it hassly for EU dealers to come to London, with their work, BUT it also makes the London art market potentially more flexible on tax, which could be pretty attractive
Incidentally, there is a threat to London as a global art capital, but it is from Hong Kong, not anywhere in the EU.
Hong Kong has eaten up a lot of the business once done in London and NYC, whether that will continue no one knows. Beijing is not helping its own cause. And at the London auctions this week there was, apparently, a notable presence of Asian buyers, spending more than anyone else. So that threat may also prove temporary, or a new equlibirium will be reached where there are three major art centres: NYC, London, Hong Kong
Finally, some of the best art at Frieze this year is Korean. What is this weird cultural explosion they are having?
First they took over pop music, now they are doing TV, next contemporary art?!
There are a couple of points here: I think there are promising signs, but it is too early to declare that Brexit has not had an impact on the cultural scene in London. The pandemic, in combination with the very gradual introduction of restrictions on migration, mean that much has effectively been frozen in place, and what we are seeing now is effectively a release of pent up energy.
Secondly, I think that cities of whatever size have a lot going for them. The idea that you can live your life going from place to place within 15 minutes on foot, bike or public transport is very attractive. You have access to more social, cultural, leisure opportunities and can get more done in your day. In many ways this is more true in more compact second and third tier cities than London. It is easy to understand the appeal of somewhere like Brighton for this reason, but I was overhearing that the property market is booming in Sheffield, hipsters buying up run down terraces in long neglected areas close to the city centre.
The way this is all playing out supports my longstanding view that it is the overpriced car dependent dormitory suburbs of the south east that are going to be fucked after Covid.
I think that one of the great paradoxes of Brexit will be increasing the cultural space between Leaverstan and Remania.
The places that will thrive in the new arrangement will be led by the dynamics of the cutting edge in metropolitan salons, not workings men's clubs in small coalfield towns.
The small coalfield towns now have craft bars and trendy coffee shops to go with their new housing estates.
You really need to stop wallowing in the imagery of the past.
Does that mean Scottish Tories have a leadership election first?
We want a header from @malcolmg , informing us which of the candidates is marginally less contemptible than the others.
tbf to Mr Ross, being a footie ref, MSP and MP all at the same time is hard work, and he'd already stated he was going to step down as a MP at the next GE (not sure why he can't do so right now). It's nothing to do with the BC, I believe.
Edit: he ran for MSP this year while still a MP and got one of the regional seats. And no, he'll still be leader of SCUP - interesting he feels he has to do it at Holyrood not Westminster, though.
Money Carnyx, he is a greedy Tory. Not happy supping at one trough , he is gorging at two and has a job on the side to boot.
Hello, Malky; hope you are keeping well. Pheasant burgers and Aussie red for dinner, and the rain has come over from your side!
Hello Carnyx , I am well but wife has shingles now so not so great , medicine caused her breathing difficultise so she is suffering. She has had a tough 2 years. Dinner will be Carbonara with a few glasses of wine.
Our best wishes to you and your wife Malc. Hope she gets well soon.
Thank you
Three nice posts in a row from you, Malc! Hope it doesn’t destroy your street cred.
Good evening everyone. Lovely day today. In Manchester this morning: was struck by the behaviour of people. I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do - they're really saying "We're not going to be cowed by scaremongerers in the public health lobby into living like recluses any more." People basically back to behaving like it was 2019. Then went for a walk with my Dad in the afternoon. Five mile round trip in the hills of the Forest of Bowland. You know all those hills you look at on your right as you're going up to the Lake District, vaguely thinking 'they look nice', but no more than that because you're going somewhere bigger and better? Those. They are well worth a visit. From the top of Clougha Pike you get a superb vista across almost all of Lancashire, over to the Lake District, Morecambe Bay, the Irish Sea, Blackpool... while behind you are the peaks of the Yorkshire Dales. We got to Clougha Pike about 5.45, just as the sun was starting to set. A little cloudy for a perfect sunset - just the hint of a massive red Orb poking through - but I wouldn't be surprised if, on a clear day, this is the finest sunset in England. Anyway, 5 miles and 800 feet of ascent - not a massive walk, but my Dad is 74 - I'll be very happy if I'm still doing those sorts of walks at 74.
I cycled through the forest of Bowland 12 years ago - keep meaning to go back. It was as good as you describe, I don't remember seeing a forest though.
On the covid stuff, I've been travelling around the country and have to say everyone is treating it as if it is over. Amusingly though I just walked past a police raid of a nearby flat, they ran up to the building and then there was a brief delay while they put on their masks before going in.
Absolutely jammed. Visitors from all over the world. Sales pinging.
London will not be beaten
Not my thing (Frieze) , but the resurrection of arts etc in London is most welcome. I wonder to what extent the spring (morphically) will visit those areas that have become really dead. Great to wave the London flag even if it looks like Boris on a highwire.
The Remoaners all said that the London art market would decamp en masse to Paris when Brexit happened. And a couple of galleries did open Paris branches.
But there has been no exodus, at all. The share of the global art market in each city has remained the same, London has 20%, Paris has 7%. There is no comparison.
It is possible London will actually grow relative to Paris as Brexit is offering big tax advantages to dealers, even as it complicates the movement of art between the EU and UK
And the obvious pzazz and va-va-voom of this year's Frieze shows that London is definitely roaring back
Well that's encouraging. The event itself and the whole art scene is small potatoes, but if it's indicative of the big picture then that's great.
I firmly believe it is indicative. The art scene is a bellwether for wider cultural/societal/economic changes
My feeling now is that the death of big cities has been wildly exaggerated. People want to crowd together and gossip and drink and flirt and fuck with other people, new people, exciting people, young people, weird people. You can only do this in cities, and you can only do it brilliantly and extravagantly in great world cities like London
So the really big cities will be fine. Post pandemic changes will probably hit smaller cities more severely
Specific to London, the menace of Brexit is also exaggerated. London has a critical mass, and a fundamental attraction: English language, time zone, common law, accumulated wealth, the City, the West End, the culture, and so on, and so forth.
It will take some knocks from Brexit, but there will also be new opportunities, which is exactly what was predicted by non-hysterical Leavers, and is exactly what is already happening in the art market: Brexit makes it hassly for EU dealers to come to London, with their work, BUT it also makes the London art market potentially more flexible on tax, which could be pretty attractive
Incidentally, there is a threat to London as a global art capital, but it is from Hong Kong, not anywhere in the EU.
Hong Kong has eaten up a lot of the business once done in London and NYC, whether that will continue no one knows. Beijing is not helping its own cause. And at the London auctions this week there was, apparently, a notable presence of Asian buyers, spending more than anyone else. So that threat may also prove temporary, or a new equlibirium will be reached where there are three major art centres: NYC, London, Hong Kong
Finally, some of the best art at Frieze this year is Korean. What is this weird cultural explosion they are having?
First they took over pop music, now they are doing TV, next contemporary art?!
There are a couple of points here: I think there are promising signs, but it is too early to declare that Brexit has not had an impact on the cultural scene in London. The pandemic, in combination with the very gradual introduction of restrictions on migration, mean that much has effectively been frozen in place, and what we are seeing now is effectively a release of pent up energy.
Secondly, I think that cities of whatever size have a lot going for them. The idea that you can live your life going from place to place within 15 minutes on foot, bike or public transport is very attractive. You have access to more social, cultural, leisure opportunities and can get more done in your day. In many ways this is more true in more compact second and third tier cities than London. It is easy to understand the appeal of somewhere like Brighton for this reason, but I was overhearing that the property market is booming in Sheffield, hipsters buying up run down terraces in long neglected areas close to the city centre.
The way this is all playing out supports my longstanding view that it is the overpriced car dependent dormitory suburbs of the south east that are going to be fucked after Covid.
Mebbes
Brexit will do good and bad things. That is all we can say! So far the bad is not as bad as the worst predictions
Comments
That being said, freedom of religious conscience is vital - history tells us what you get if you don't have that.
Given the hundreds of years of history of Last Rites - and given that there are all kinds of compromises* to meet medical and other needs - this should have been allowed.
*Ask someone involved in the Ebola outbreaks how the Last Rites are administered there, for those that want them - the priests and the medics have come up with as sensible compromise, in all the cases that I have heard of...
Good spot!
And yet 4 point Tory lead.
Still holding firm on Labour lead by the end of the year
Churchill won the war, but voters preferred Attlee to win the peace...
Hilariously, the Vichyite's in the police had purged the ones who'd been in the Resistance - they were really getting the "old gang back together"......
Johnson has had a much higher approval rating than Starmer in every poll I've seen in a very long time now.
https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/smokehead/smokehead-whisky/
seems interesting to me, maybe a touch overdone on the peaty thing....
Seems reasonably consistent.
EDIT: And 6 point Boris best PM lead.
There is or was a restaurant called Bibendum, It is necessary to drink. The classic gerundive is delenda est Carthago, Carthage must be destroyed.
When both Sir Anthony Berry and Ian Gow were murdered by the IRA in 1984 and 1990 respectively, the resulting by-elections were contested.
I didn't agree with the LD and Conservative decision not to contest the Batley & Spen by-election in 2016 though I appreciated after the angst of the referendum campaign there was an understandable desire not to re-open the divisions of that campaign.
You don't defend and protect democracy by negating democracy - the democratic process has to be seen to be stronger than any terrorist. That means the full and open debate of contrasting and competing view and that debate to be seen to be dignified and peaceful yet open and inclusive.
The more people engage with and feel part of the democratic process the stronger the bulwark against individual or organised attacks on the freedoms that process bestows.
The more we can be seen to be fostering a spirit of dignified and open debate the more chance we have to mitigate the levels of anger within society to which some have alluded in the past 24 hours.
Only 7% believing their income will rise more than inflation next year does rather suggest that Philip_Thompson has a lot of work to do!
I’m happy with my contribution to science. I’ve devoted my life to it, accepting that it would pay far less than I could earn elsewhere. I don’t regret that. I help train the next generation of pharmacists and chemists. I hope you have something you enjoy in your life, that isn’t trying to get a rise out of anonymously folk on pb.
"Alex Scott in tears as she learns her ancestor owned 26 slaves on Who Do You Think You Are?
Alex Scott becomes emotional on Who Do You Think You Are? when she learns her great grandfather owned 26 slaves.
The BBC pundit, 37, is horrified to find her 4x great grandfather Robert Francis Coombs was a slave owner with over two dozen people captive at his huge property in Jamaica."
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/16439344/alex-scott-slaves-on-who-do-you-think-you-are/
I'm pretty confident we all have ancestors who were slaves *and* ancestors who were slave owners.
But now new restaurants have taken their place, and the new places are packed.
I'd argue the most effective defence against those who would undermine our democracy is to see that democratic process in action - seeing the candidates knocking on doors, holding public meetings, arguing with dignity and honesty, debating the issues of the day openly and without rancour.
I understand why some indeed many would consider it appropriate not to contest the by-election under the circumstances - I simply don't agree with them.
Any thoughts?
I quite like 1950s things.
Link:https://www.oecd.org/economic-outlook/
Dormice favoured by Italian mafia seized in drugs raid
Police carrying out a drugs raid on a cannabis farm in southern Italy have seized a stash of 235 frozen dormice - said to be a mafia delicacy.They were caught napping (both the dormice and the Mafiosi)
Perhaps in this (and other similar) situations, parties could run candidates, who then stand on the same platform, that stresses solidarity with the late MP, his family and friends, and eschews ordinary political/electoral/ideological arguments? With a joint manifesto to that effect? Leaving the choice open to other parties & independents to do as they decide best by their own lights?
This way, party supporters could still vote for the candidate of their choice, ditto swing & unaligned voters?
There was a by-election in Batley in 2016 after Cox's death with the English Democrats and BNP coming second and third respectively to Labour in the absence of the Tories/Lib Dems/UKIP/Greens.
Lord, what a f**king shitshow I have never seen a more embarrassing site - a litany of brown nosing, virtue signalling and weird haiku style motivational stories in my entire life. And that’s before we get onto the egregious redefinition of the word “humbled” that is it’s signature feature. Makes this place look sane.
"Arctic summer ice may be gone in five years, Al Gore warns
Monday December 14 2009, 5.22pm, The Times
The Arctic polar ice cap could disappear entirely in the summer months in as little as five years, Al Gore, the former American Vice-President, said today. Mr Gore was the star draw at a Copenhagen summit side event during which Scandinavian scientists delivered a grim update on the state of the Greenland ice sheet and its potential to contribute to rising sea levels over the coming century."
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/arctic-summer-ice-may-be-gone-in-five-years-al-gore-warns-tqxrj9chvfn
Crossover soon!
Bangkok will bounce back as will Sydney
These places will change, but they have always changed, they will remain popular. The accumulation of human capital and culture is too great for them to "die"
It's the small cities and towns around them that might really decay. As NPXMP said, what's the appeal of Godalming High Street if you are WFH? You could be anywhere. so you might as well move completely away from the SE and get a bigger house, greater rurality. Or downsize and move into London for the fun
The inbetweenlands will probably have a tough time
A "dormouse day" (unikeijonpäivä) is celebrated in Finland on 27th July when a notable civic figure is taken from his/her slumbers and thrown into the lake to wake up. He/she is then "dormouse" for the year.
offShut up.(And WTF is Alex Scott and why is her view in any way important?)
"There is a protected, fluffy tailed species of dormice that have been eaten since the days the Caesars ran things. Down in Calabria the rodents are still stuffed and chomped on. They are stuffed with meat, nuts, raisins, onions and spices. You can imagine little squeaks as you take a bite. I have no idea what they do with all those cute fluffy tails."
http://www.grandvoyageitaly.com/piazza/in-italy-theyll-eat-just-about-anything
Which suggests that the mice mentioned in the story posted here on PB, were perhaps members of 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian equivalent to the Sicilian Mafia.
We were still grieving for all those children and looked at him in his cot in wonder, amazement and gratitude and found it hard not to feel a degree of guilt when thinking of the parents of those lost innocents
Our neighbour produced a huge mural painting of the face of each lost child ascending into Jesus's arms and it was very emotional
Mutatis mutandis, by all means treat yourself to some art - but because you enjoy it. Investment is a bonus, which may not happen.
Plati.
OMFG
I was just driving around the Aspromonte mountains and I tootled into town....
It is, anecdotally, the richest city per capita in Italy, and yet it looks like and claims to be the poorest. They don't like to flaunt their wealth. It is also without doubt the most hostile city in Italy. I have never felt so unnerved entering a European town, or maybe anywhere on earth. I got the hell out as quick as possible - pursued by kids throwing stones
Then I pulled over and Googled and discovered why it was so sinister
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platì
Even then, parked in the woods, two cars soon hunted me down and asked me what I was doing. I said I was lost, and drove off. Fast
I recommend it if you like to come home with scary holiday stories
https://twitter.com/nmsonline/status/1449373508480520195
https://twitter.com/nmsonline/status/1449373508480520195/photo/1
On the other hand, it is great for actual professional networking - I've got an open line to lots of really useful people, and it avoids the awkwardness of phone or formality of email. Also excellent for keeping on top of industry news without all the confusion and noise of twitter.
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/hold-kamala-harris-father-claims-his-family-descends-irish-slave-owner-jamaica
If Harris ever becomes President presumably she will be in favour of having to pay reparations to herself.
Somewhere like Bracknell. Luton. Hemel Hempstead. Crawley
CON: 38% (-4)
LAB: 37% (-)
LDEM: 9% (+3)
via @DeltapollUK, 13 - 15 Oct
Chgs. w/ 26 Jul
Exciting.
Sticking by my prediction lab will be clearly ahead by May ‘22. It’s the economy, stupid.
Tory Remainers finally incensed by Brexit ‘shortages’? Suggests it won’t last IF the shortages ease
Disaffected Tory voters flocking to the LibDems is nothing new.
But this is just one poll - see how things look by the end of the year.
Rishi has to address the present unfairness, but also he is far short of the revenue needed for all the NHS social care, education and benefits demands, and not even mentioning climate change with suggestions £5,000 subsidies for each gas heating boiler replaced by 2035
Wealth taxes will have to rise and let's hope he has the courage to address this issue
I do not envy him
Lovely day today. In Manchester this morning: was struck by the behaviour of people. I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do - they're really saying "We're not going to be cowed by scaremongerers in the public health lobby into living like recluses any more." People basically back to behaving like it was 2019.
Then went for a walk with my Dad in the afternoon. Five mile round trip in the hills of the Forest of Bowland. You know all those hills you look at on your right as you're going up to the Lake District, vaguely thinking 'they look nice', but no more than that because you're going somewhere bigger and better? Those. They are well worth a visit. From the top of Clougha Pike you get a superb vista across almost all of Lancashire, over to the Lake District, Morecambe Bay, the Irish Sea, Blackpool... while behind you are the peaks of the Yorkshire Dales. We got to Clougha Pike about 5.45, just as the sun was starting to set. A little cloudy for a perfect sunset - just the hint of a massive red Orb poking through - but I wouldn't be surprised if, on a clear day, this is the finest sunset in England.
Anyway, 5 miles and 800 feet of ascent - not a massive walk, but my Dad is 74 - I'll be very happy if I'm still doing those sorts of walks at 74.
And whatever happens from here, there's a chunky NI rise kicking in next Spring.
But the main thing these polls look like doing is steadying Labour nerves after that YouGov and Kantar a couple of days ago.
Also expect a substantial rise in the minimum wage in the budget, together with other measures to help the low paid
I would be very surprised if Rishi does not do the above
You really need to stop wallowing in the imagery of the past.
This thread is no more
However the pension increase would have been 8% and a minimum wage increase won’t really cost the government anything.
On the covid stuff, I've been travelling around the country and have to say everyone is treating it as if it is over. Amusingly though I just walked past a police raid of a nearby flat, they ran up to the building and then there was a brief delay while they put on their masks before going in.