@SophyRidgeSky: A woman has never placed above a man in any Labour leadership election. Female candidates have always come bottom.
Owen Smith, the "normal" candidate....his words not mine.
In the Labour Party selectorate's defence on this issue, their women candidates have, at least in recent years, been awful. Angela Eagle may be an excellent constituency MP and effective in other ways, but was atrocious at arguing why she should lead the party. 'Because I'm a northern woman and not a Tory' doesn't cut it. Similarly, Yvette Cooper appeared to campaign on the basis of saying absolutely nothing to offend anyone. I initially had high hopes of Liz Kendall, but she quickly retreated into platitudes - although her problem was much more that the party didn't much like what she had to offer than anything to do with her gender. Is part of the problem the old Labour Party chestnut that 'it's time for a woman' - focusing debate much more on the gender of the candidate and much less on what the candidate has to offer? Other parties seem to pay much less attention to the gender of the candidate and therefore candidates - female or otherwise - are forced to put more effort into defining a policy position?
Quite. As much as PBTories are trying to write it out of history, Harriet Harman won an election with the Labour selectorate not so long ago - but the difference was that she actually based her campaign on things of substance for women - i.e. the gender pay gap, childcare, etc. Whether you agree with her stances on those issues or not, she was still trying to fight for proper causes, and for material change. That's a world away from the Eagles, Coopers and Kendalls of the world, who think "I'm a woman" is an argument in and of itself, that can substitute policies of substance (whether those policies are motivated by feminism or not).
(Incidentally, I've always thought Harman might well have beaten the Milibands in the 2010 leadership contest, if she'd gone for it.)
If this is correct, then May is less intelligent than she appears. It doesn't serve her purpose at all beyond what sacking him did. She'll have made an enemy of someone who does still have tendrils throughout the tory party.
Also, in the professional world when you are sacking someone you tend to do it in the most diplomatic way possible, does she think she's Lord Sugar on the apprentice, pointing her finger across the table at Ozzy?
I am glad to see Osborne out of government and hopefully an end to Osbornomics, I just down think it's a smart move on her part.
If this is true, then May is quite vindictive and not politically astute. There is no advantage for her in this. Possibly it might hurt her. And, I am no fan of Osborne.
Yes. Hampstead High Street is full of dreadfully overpriced shops - with one or two exceptions - and even more ghastly customers who bring out my inner SWP member! When I am dictator - along with abolishing cultural and moral relativism and identity politics (the phrase "Speaking as a ... woman/gay man etc...." will lead to a prison term) - Bugaboo prams, Farrow and Ball paint, overpriced croissants, coffee shops pretending that something akin to Ovaltine is a coffee and women wearing exercise gear with full make up and blow dried hair while driving those stupid four-wheeled tractor cars will all lead to some sort of punishment, yet to be determined. Oh and Waterstones will be required to have assistants who actually read books.
Hampstead High Street also has Jin Kichi, one of London's best (and best value) Japanese restaurants. There is also the Unitarian church and the Everyman cinema. Plus Tesco.
St Mary's Church in Holly Place is well worth visiting with a very interesting history. The Everyman is good. Can take or leave Tesco. Have never tried Jin Kichi. I like The Wells. One of the longer dog walks ends there and the hound loves the way he is petted by them.
I remember Hampstead when piano teachers could afford to live there. Our neighbours were piano teachers and we rented next door. When they sold their Edwardian house for £100,000 to retire to Suffolk we all fainted in shock. Now the place is full of bloody bankers and they probably spend that amount on a kitchen in which no actual cooking gets done!
@SophyRidgeSky: A woman has never placed above a man in any Labour leadership election. Female candidates have always come bottom.
Owen Smith, the "normal" candidate....his words not mine.
In the Labour Party selectorate's defence on this issue, their women candidates have, at least in recent years, been awful. Angela Eagle may be an excellent constituency MP and effective in other ways, but was atrocious at arguing why she should lead the party. 'Because I'm a northern woman and not a Tory' doesn't cut it. Similarly, Yvette Cooper appeared to campaign on the basis of saying absolutely nothing to offend anyone. I initially had high hopes of Liz Kendall, but she quickly retreated into platitudes - although her problem was much more that the party didn't much like what she had to offer than anything to do with her gender. Is part of the problem the old Labour Party chestnut that 'it's time for a woman' - focusing debate much more on the gender of the candidate and much less on what the candidate has to offer? Other parties seem to pay much less attention to the gender of the candidate and therefore candidates - female or otherwise - are forced to put more effort into defining a policy position?
Quite. As much as PBTories are trying to write it out of history, Harriet Harman won an election with the Labour selectorate not so long ago - but the difference was that she actually based her campaign on things of substance for women - i.e. the gender pay gap, childcare, etc. Whether you agree with her stances on those issues or not, she was still trying to fight for proper causes, and for material change. That's a world away from the Eagles, Coopers and Kendalls of the world, who think "I'm a woman" is an argument in and of itself, that can substitute policies of substance (whether those policies are motivated by feminism or not).
(Incidentally, I've always thought Harman might well have beaten the Milibands in the 2010 leadership contest, if she'd gone for it.)
She definitely would have. Probably will win even now.
Since being accused of being a fascist on here recently, I suppose I should be more forgiving of other people labelled as fascist, as its amazing what can get you labelled as such thesedays.
I was once accused of being an Islamophobe on PB
I'd actually be interested in taking those political compass style surveys for other countries, just to see if in Canada I was a raging conservative or something, but as I speak no other languages it'd be difficult to manage outside the anglosphere.
Last time I took a British one I had trended a bit left, actually. My best though was doing a survey and getting a percentage match against the parties that had 5 of them within 5% of each other. Apparently its only the Greens I have a real issue with.
Every time I do an American political compass one, I'm always a left wing Democrat.
Did one at random - apparently I'm currently a left moderate social libertarian, which is where PoliticaLCompass tells me Plaid Cymru and the SDLP are, neither of which I can vote for. Damn.
"French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Tuesday that the country can expect more attacks and deaths and will have to "learn to live with the threat".
"Even if these words are hard to say, it's my duty to do so: There will be other attacks and there will be other innocent people killed," Valls told French deputies debating an extension to the country's state of emergency.
"We must not become accustomed, but learn to live with this menace," added Valls, speaking days after an attacker ploughed a truck through a crowd at a July 14 fireworks display in Nice, killing 84 people."
So the message from the french government to it's people is "Live with it". Very reassuring.
People will riot against their government in the streets if they go on like that. I know that in the present climate talking about military coups is not fashionable, but those in the french military who where thinking about one in 2013 must be kicking themselves they didn't remove Hollande before all this carnage occurred.
What else can happen in the last 10 months of Hollande as french president, I dare not to think.
I shall always be a member/President of the George Osborne fan club. Top top bloke.
Just read this speech he gave last night, here's an excerpt, true one nation Toryism at its finest.
It was a Conservative, William Wilberforce, who ended the slave trade.
It was a Conservative, Edward Stanley, who then abolished slavery itself.
It was a Conservative, the Earl of Shaftesbury, who promoted the Factory Acts that limited working hours and banned the employment of young children.
It was a Conservative, Lord Salisbury, who introduced free elementary education.
It was Conservatives in government who extended the franchise to working men, and then a Conservative, Stanley Baldwin, that ensured equal votes for women.
It was a Conservative, Rab Butler, who legislated for universal state education.
It was a Conservative, Margaret Thatcher, who gave people the right to buy their council homes.
It was a Conservative, John Major, and his junior minister William Hague, who introduced the landmark Disability Discrimination Act.
And it was a Conservative, David Cameron, who introduced equal marriage.
Why aren’t we prouder of this record as a party? Why don’t we shout it from the rooftops?
It’s made our society stronger and fairer and better.
It’s been the all-too-well kept secret of our political success
A "one nation Tory" who compared benefit claimants to Mick Philpott, who drove countless more families to have to rely on food banks, who took money away from low-paid workers, who tried to impose disability cuts which were too harsh even for Iain Duncan Smith, etc.
I'm surprised it's not Poland for the UK too, there's about a million now I thought, and I presumed most people of Indian descent here were second or third generation so not foreign born, and the actual foreign born tally would be relatively low compared to the recent Polish influx.
If this is correct, then May is less intelligent than she appears. It doesn't serve her purpose at all beyond what sacking him did. She'll have made an enemy of someone who does still have tendrils throughout the tory party.
Also, in the professional world when you are sacking someone you tend to do it in the most diplomatic way possible, does she think she's Lord Sugar on the apprentice, pointing her finger across the table at Ozzy?
I am glad to see Osborne out of government and hopefully an end to Osbornomics, I just down think it's a smart move on her part.
If this is true, then May is quite vindictive and not politically astute. There is no advantage for her in this. Possibly it might hurt her. And, I am no fan of Osborne.
Osborne seems perfectly relaxed about it. He's been publically very generous to May. This may be a deliberate face/heel strategy to bolster her position and enhance her air of authority.
I think it was SO who made the point. When Labour talk about love, it's for their party. For Tories, it's the country. Cameron, Osborne et al will do what's right for the country.
Currently reading a history of Venice, which occasionally has to detour to encompass the pre-Reformation Papacy. John XXII (strictly speaking an anti-Pope) was a good example of the high Medieval breed. He was eventually charged with piracy, rape, sodomy, murder and incest. Apart from that, he was a really good bloke.
Still took over a hundred years before people decided that enough was enough.
Quite so, Mr. M (though I have long suspected John XXII was stitched up) and at one stage we did have three extant popes. The point remains that to reform the catholic church took, from an almost running start, decades and numerous wars and lots of deaths. Islam in not even ready to start the process. Look around - it is regressing.
What Mrs Free is hoping for is, I think. the same level of wish as for unicorns and every little girl to have a pony.
Mr Llama - what I am hoping for is for us to take the intellectual and ideological challenge to Islam in the same way that was done to Christianity. It was given no quarter and to survive it had to adapt. I am not expecting Islam to reform any time soon, if ever. But I am furious at the way we won't even try to stand up for our own values and at least take the fight to our intellectual enemies. We are abandoning those liberals within Islam who are trying save the best of Islam. We ought to stand with them and support them.
And if there is a chance that it gives courage to those who despair at what Islamism has done to the best of Islam, if it means that one or two or maybe more young men and women don't take the path of violence or see the errors of their ways, then isn't that worth doing?
FaIr go, Mrs Free, I am quite miffed that the majority will not stand up for majority opinion (at least the parliament and the departments of government) and say these are our values if you don't want to live by them fuck off or don't come here in the first place. But we must not say such things, to do so would be to be judgemental and say that our mores and values are better than another culture's.
Who, to get specific, are these liberals within Islam? Pretty damn difficult to be a liberal in a religion that claims to be your whole way of life, to be the perfect word of God and to require you to live a by a set of rules that may have made sense in the dark ages in the Middle East but are largely barking in Northern Europe in the 21st century.
If we can encourage a few more people to move away from this insane religion, fair enough, but don't think it will be easy or pain free. There will I think be more wars.
I'm surprised it's not Poland for the UK too, there's about a million now I thought, and I presumed most people of Indian descent here were second or third generation so not foreign born, and the actual foreign born tally would be relatively low compared to the recent Polish influx.
The ONS draws an interesting line:
India is the most common non-UK country of birth in 2014. An estimated 793,000 usual residents of the UK were born in India (9.6% of the total non-UK born population resident in the UK)
Polish is the most common non-British nationality in 2014. An estimated 853,000 usual residents of the UK have Polish nationality (16.0% of the total number of non-British nationals resident in the UK)
i.e. many Indians by birth now hold British nationality.
Whilst you might not agree or like George Osborne, I admired his loyalty to the party and Cameron, everything he did was for what he perceived in the best interests of Dave.
Funny, because I always thought he was supposed to be doing everything in the interests of the country.
Yes. Hampstead High Street is full of dreadfully overpriced shops - with one or two exceptions - and even more ghastly customers who bring out my inner SWP member! When I am dictator - along with abolishing cultural and moral relativism and identity politics (the phrase "Speaking as a ... woman/gay man etc...." will lead to a prison term) - Bugaboo prams, Farrow and Ball paint, overpriced croissants, coffee shops pretending that something akin to Ovaltine is a coffee and women wearing exercise gear with full make up and blow dried hair while driving those stupid four-wheeled tractor cars will all lead to some sort of punishment, yet to be determined. Oh and Waterstones will be required to have assistants who actually read books.
Hampstead High Street also has Jin Kichi, one of London's best (and best value) Japanese restaurants. There is also the Unitarian church and the Everyman cinema. Plus Tesco.
St Mary's Church in Holly Place is well worth visiting with a very interesting history. The Everyman is good. Can take or leave Tesco. Have never tried Jin Kichi. I like The Wells. One of the longer dog walks ends there and the hound loves the way he is petted by them.
I remember Hampstead when piano teachers could afford to live there. Our neighbours were piano teachers and we rented next door. When they sold their Edwardian house for £100,000 to retire to Suffolk we all fainted in shock. Now the place is full of bloody bankers and they probably spend that amount on a kitchen in which no actual cooking gets done!
For the record, I absolutely love to cook, it's one of my greatest pleasures (along with penning pieces on why real median income growth has been so poor).
Hampstead, ultimately, is awesome.
It's beautiful, historic, it has the Heath, it has great schools. It's safe. It's got some lovely pubs (don't forget The Flask).
It could do with better restaurants.
But all-in-all, I can't think of a place I'd rather be.
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
Whilst you might not agree or like George Osborne, I admired his loyalty to the party and Cameron, everything he did was for what he perceived in the best interests of Dave.
Funny, because I always thought he was supposed to be doing everything in the interests of the country.
I assume he felt the two were aligned. After all, that's why bad habits develop the longer politicians are in power, as they come to see what is good for them as what is good for the country, making compromises to hold onto power because obviously the best thing for the country is them remaining in power, no matter what they seem to do.
Whilst you might not agree or like George Osborne, I admired his loyalty to the party and Cameron, everything he did was for what he perceived in the best interests of Dave.
Funny, because I always thought he was supposed to be doing everything in the interests of the country.
That too, I'm tired, I meant from opposition through to Government, he did what was in the best interests of Dave/The Tories/The Country
Whilst you might not agree or like George Osborne, I admired his loyalty to the party and Cameron, everything he did was for what he perceived in the best interests of Dave.
No one can ever come up with any examples of George on the record/off the record criticising Dave.
Given the history of spats between No 10 and No 11 in the past, that's quite an achievement,
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
I'm very surprised the Poles are the most common in Norway. When I'm in Norway I seem to only ever meet Swedes.
And why are the Portuguese the most common country of origin in Luxembourg?
They're there to beg budget forbearance from Mr Juncker.
If its enough of them to get to the top of the foreign born population of Luxembourg, I'd suggest step 1 would be cull their overly large diplomatic staffing levels!
I'm really intrigued why Theresa May gave Boris the post of FS. I don't believe she set him up to fail because it would make her and the country a laughing stock and she would absolutely hate having her judgement called into question. She could, after all, just have let him stew on the backbenches.
I watched the press conference today and thought he just about got through it but he has to be a bit more authoritative and not stand there like a punch bag absorbing blows. I believe that it was the British hacks that put their American counterparts up to asking those sarky questions but then Boris knows how the game works.
I'm very surprised the Poles are the most common in Norway. When I'm in Norway I seem to only ever meet Swedes.
And why are the Portuguese the most common country of origin in Luxembourg?
They're there to beg budget forbearance from Mr Juncker.
If its enough of them to get to the top of the foreign born population of Luxembourg, I'd suggest step 1 would be cull their overly large diplomatic staffing levels!
Mr Juncker still soldiering on is he, btw?
I give him until about two weeks after Rajoy is reconfirmed as Prime Minister of Spain.
"French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Tuesday that the country can expect more attacks and deaths and will have to "learn to live with the threat".
"Even if these words are hard to say, it's my duty to do so: There will be other attacks and there will be other innocent people killed," Valls told French deputies debating an extension to the country's state of emergency.
"We must not become accustomed, but learn to live with this menace," added Valls, speaking days after an attacker ploughed a truck through a crowd at a July 14 fireworks display in Nice, killing 84 people."
He's not wrong, though, is he? France can't realistically stop another Nice style attack, or a guy on a train with an axe. Even if they sealed up their borders airtight, there are probably a few hundred home grown would be terrorists or lone wolf, self radicalised crazies who will be eager for 72 virgins. There are probably a few organised cells waiting for their moment in the sun too. France just has to live with it now.
Mr. Better, except for Woolfe[sp] are there any other announced UKIP leadership candidates.
Well it would explain why he was fawning a bit on Corbyn this afternoon on TV.
"Corbyn helped me rediscover my radicalism" and all.
In what sense is Corbyn radical? He's rather conservative if anything: an old-fashioned lefty of a type entirely familiar to anyone who remembers the 1970's. It is very good of him to conserve this type so that those who did not live through that time can think they've discovered the political Ark of the Covenant.
But radical in any meaningful sense he is not.
This. It's strange, but you could say that the most powerful figures at the top of Labour right now (Corbyn, McDonnell, McCluskey etc) are white, straight conservative men. Which is odd for a party that seems to identify itself with 'equality'. Increasingly, Labour is becoming more and more detached from that ideal.
OT, but I'm reading up on Marion Marechal Le Pen. She has some....errr....colourful views. I'm not a fan, I have to say.
Marion is the one that runs the South of France?
When I used to work in industrial relations, the unions sometimes sent in their team of middle aged white male officials to ask what we as an employer were doing on diversity; always seemed a bit incongruous.
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
I'm really intrigued why Theresa May gave Boris the post of FS. I don't believe she set him up to fail because it would make her and the country a laughing stock and she would absolutely hate having her judgement called into question. She could, after all, just have let him stew on the backbenches.
I watched the press conference today and thought he just about got through it but he has to be a bit more authoritative and not stand there like a punch bag absorbing blows. I believe that it was the British hacks that put their American counterparts up to asking those sarky questions but then Boris knows how the game works.
He will have to accept it in the short term, after what he has come out with. It all should wash away over time...by then he might have made all new gaffs of course.
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
I'm really intrigued why Theresa May gave Boris the post of FS. I don't believe she set him up to fail because it would make her and the country a laughing stock and she would absolutely hate having her judgement called into question. She could, after all, just have let him stew on the backbenches.
I watched the press conference today and thought he just about got through it but he has to be a bit more authoritative and not stand there like a punch bag absorbing blows. I believe that it was the British hacks that put their American counterparts up to asking those sarky questions but then Boris knows how the game works.
With most of the Foreign Office's most pressing roles now being hived off to other departments, it was a clever move by Mrs May, gives him a high profile role, and keeps him inside the tent.
Mr. Better, except for Woolfe[sp] are there any other announced UKIP leadership candidates.
Well it would explain why he was fawning a bit on Corbyn this afternoon on TV.
"Corbyn helped me rediscover my radicalism" and all.
In what sense is Corbyn radical? He's rather conservative if anything: an old-fashioned lefty of a type entirely familiar to anyone who remembers the 1970's. It is very good of him to conserve this type so that those who did not live through that time can think they've discovered the political Ark of the Covenant.
But radical in any meaningful sense he is not.
This. It's strange, but you could say that the most powerful figures at the top of Labour right now (Corbyn, McDonnell, McCluskey etc) are white, straight conservative men. Which is odd for a party that seems to identify itself with 'equality'. Increasingly, Labour is becoming more and more detached from that ideal.
OT, but I'm reading up on Marion Marechal Le Pen. She has some....errr....colourful views. I'm not a fan, I have to say.
Marion is the one that runs the South of France?
When I used to work in industrial relations, the unions sometimes sent in their team of middle aged white male officials to ask what we as an employer were doing on diversity; always seemed a bit incongruous.
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
Whilst you might not agree or like George Osborne, I admired his loyalty to the party and Cameron, everything he did was for what he perceived in the best interests of Dave.
No one can ever come up with any examples of George on the record/off the record criticising Dave.
Given the history of spats between No 10 and No 11 in the past, that's quite an achievement,
--------------------------------------------
God you're easily pleased, aren't you?
Can you explain your comment the other day, because you went silent when I asked it the other day, you said Labour hated Grammars, that's why they got rid of them, so why did Mrs Thatcher close more/merge more grammar schools than anyone else?
Yes. Hampstead High Street is full of dreadfully overpriced shops - with one or two exceptions - and even more ghastly customers who bring out my inner SWP member! When I am dictator - along with abolishing cultural and moral relativism and identity politics (the phrase "Speaking as a ... woman/gay man etc...." will lead to a prison term) - Bugaboo prams, Farrow and Ball paint, overpriced croissants, coffee shops pretending that something akin to Ovaltine is a coffee and women wearing exercise gear with full make up and blow dried hair while driving those stupid four-wheeled tractor cars will all lead to some sort of punishment, yet to be determined. Oh and Waterstones will be required to have assistants who actually read books.
Hampstead High Street also has Jin Kichi, one of London's best (and best value) Japanese restaurants. There is also the Unitarian church and the Everyman cinema. Plus Tesco.
St Mary's Church in Holly Place is well worth visiting with a very interesting history. The Everyman is good. Can take or leave Tesco. Have never tried Jin Kichi. I like The Wells. One of the longer dog walks ends there and the hound loves the way he is petted by them.
I remember Hampstead when piano teachers could afford to live there. Our neighbours were piano teachers and we rented next door. When they sold their Edwardian house for £100,000 to retire to Suffolk we all fainted in shock. Now the place is full of bloody bankers and they probably spend that amount on a kitchen in which no actual cooking gets done!
Cyclefree, can you recall the name of the cafe opposite Green Hill, next to Willoughby Road ? I spent many a Sunday morning reading papers after a rather heavy night !
Mr. Better, except for Woolfe[sp] are there any other announced UKIP leadership candidates.
"Corbyn helped me rediscover my radicalism" and all.
But radical in any meaningful sense he is not.
OT, but I'm reading up on Marion Marechal Le Pen. She has some....errr....colourful views. I'm not a fan, I have to say.
I recall reading some while ago that Marine Le Pen was truly the visionary of the family, and the one with intellect and guile, in that she eschewed the less wholesome tactics of her father (and I think he has been expelled from the FM now?) to broaden the appeal of the movement, but that Marion, her niece, was a chip off the old racist bloc of her granddad. No idea if that was or still is the case, admittedly.
And yes, from a shallow perspective SeanT is correct.
Yes, which is why I find the POV that Marion is the one to lead FN to glory, rather odd. It seems to me Marion is far more right-wing than her aunt. I'm not sure how that is going to make FN more transfer-friendly.
Marion is personally popular but her politics are pretty much identical to Jean-Marie minus the (overt) anti-semitism. She's actually so reactionary she supports pre-revolutionary ideals, I think she even supports the restoration of a monarchy, she would want a catholic theocratic state (she's also much more capitalist) - she doesn't support the values of the republic. Marine on the other hand is much more populist - statist on all fronts. She is arguing against islam, from the point of view that it is incompatible with the aggressively secular french state. Marine's position has a higher potential than Marion's.
Bloody hell. I wonder how the restoration of the monarchy would go down with the French population?
I doubt it's even possible to bring it back it's been so long since the last one, so in reality I think it's more she regrets the fact that they lost the monarchy, she often criticizes the idea of 'the republic' in interviews etc. It's definitely a toxic idea - she associated with a group that is extremely anti-republican/pro-monarchy, Action Francaise, and she had to apologise and confirm that she opposed restoring the monarchy (in mealy-mouthed terms).
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
Whilst you might not agree or like George Osborne, I admired his loyalty to the party and Cameron, everything he did was for what he perceived in the best interests of Dave.
No one can ever come up with any examples of George on the record/off the record criticising Dave.
Given the history of spats between No 10 and No 11 in the past, that's quite an achievement,
--------------------------------------------
God you're easily pleased, aren't you?
Can you explain your comment the other day, because you went silent when I asked it the other day, you said Labour hated Grammars, that's why they got rid of them, so why did Mrs Thatcher close more/merge more grammar schools than anyone else?
Talking in cliches is really all you can do, isn't?
Whilst you might not agree or like George Osborne, I admired his loyalty to the party and Cameron, everything he did was for what he perceived in the best interests of Dave.
No one can ever come up with any examples of George on the record/off the record criticising Dave.
Given the history of spats between No 10 and No 11 in the past, that's quite an achievement,
--------------------------------------------
God you're easily pleased, aren't you?
Can you explain your comment the other day, because you went silent when I asked it the other day, you said Labour hated Grammars, that's why they got rid of them, so why did Mrs Thatcher close more/merge more grammar schools than anyone else?
Talking in cliches is really all you can do, isn't?
Currently reading a history of Venice, which occasionally has to detour to encompass the pre-Reformation Papacy. John XXII (strictly speaking an anti-Pope) was a good example of the high Medieval breed. He was eventually charged with piracy, rape, sodomy, murder and incest. Apart from that, he was a really good bloke.
Still took over a hundred years before people decided that enough was enough.
Quite so, Mr. M (though I have long suspected John XXII was stitched up) and at one stage we did have three extant popes. The point remains that to reform the catholic church took, from an almost running start, decades and numerous wars and lots of deaths. Islam in not even ready to start the process. Look around - it is regressing.
What Mrs Free is hoping for is, I think. the same level of wish as for unicorns and every little girl to have a pony.
Islamic theology is very diverse. I recall you spent some time in Oman, where the Ibadi sect predominate and are quite content with other religions being practiced openly. They believe in reasoned argument, and predate the Sunni/Shia split.
There are also the interesting Ismaili and Alawite sects as well as religions like the Bahai with Islamic roots. Even within the much larger Sunni community there are strong traditions of mystical Sufism that are very compatible with Western societies.
The Wahabi schools are a very different matter, but their presence in Saudi has spread their ideas in a very aggressive way.
There is potential for Islam to evolve into a much more tolerable and tolerant form.
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
I doubt it. Satellites would have found those ships ages ago.
If they genuinely escaped they could be en route to Egypt, which is the only country in the region who came out in support of the coup, Al-Sisi would provide them with refuge and welcome an audition to the egyptian fleet.
The media certainly got this completely wrong having speculated prior to Mrs. May's coronation that Philip Hammond and George Osborne were likely to swap jobs, since the then Chancellor had long coveted the Foreign Office. Some swap!
One of the reasons it's going to be difficult for the commentariat is that May doesn't socialise, doesn't gossip. A riddle wrapped in an enigma etc.
Not really, May is proving far more Brownite in her behaviour than the Lobby's favourite Brown Markll model George Osborne. Anyone within the Conservative party who isn't concerned at May's brutal reshuffle, and the way many form Ministers were treated including Osborne, really needs to tweak their political antennae.
I'm surprised it's not Poland for the UK too, there's about a million now I thought, and I presumed most people of Indian descent here were second or third generation so not foreign born, and the actual foreign born tally would be relatively low compared to the recent Polish influx.
The ONS draws an interesting line:
India is the most common non-UK country of birth in 2014. An estimated 793,000 usual residents of the UK were born in India (9.6% of the total non-UK born population resident in the UK)
Polish is the most common non-British nationality in 2014. An estimated 853,000 usual residents of the UK have Polish nationality (16.0% of the total number of non-British nationals resident in the UK)
i.e. many Indians by birth now hold British nationality.
I was born in India. When I first arrived in Blighty in 1976, I spoke not a word of English - but that was because I was only 4 months old
I read something the other day that said there are more Britons in Australia than in the 27 EU countries combined. No idea of it's truth.
So, there are more Poles in Germany than in the UK. I thought they were all here.
Not necessarily - there are more Poles in Germany than any other nationality except Germans, and there are more Indians than any other nationality except British in the UK. But there could, in these circumstances, still be more Poles in the UK than in Germany.
The dominant overseas nation in Germany always used to be Turks.
My first kiss was with a Polish-born German, on a German exchange. She was called Tanja. I wonder what became of her.
I read something the other day that said there are more Britons in Australia than in the 27 EU countries combined. No idea of it's truth.
So, there are more Poles in Germany than in the UK. I thought they were all here.
No, there are more Poles here than in Germany. Germany just has a more diverse set of immigrants. About a quarter of UK immigrants are either Indian, Polish or Pakistani.
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
Excusing the Americanism, it is surely not four days' sailing to Greece.
Navigation has never been a core competence of the Turkish navy,
Pretty sure it's not that hard to find Greece though, unless there's some pretty brutal engine trouble!
Well their forbears found Greece in 1571, unfortunately there was a sizeable navy of the Holy League there too. The ottoman navy lost 75% of its ships captured or sunk, and 20,000 casualties.
Yes. Hampstead High Street is full of dreadfully overpriced shops - with one or two exceptions - and even more ghastly customers who bring out my inner SWP member! When I am dictator - along with abolishing cultural and moral relativism and identity politics (the phrase "Speaking as a ... woman/gay man etc...." will lead to a prison term) - Bugaboo prams, Farrow and Ball paint, overpriced croissants, coffee shops pretending that something akin to Ovaltine is a coffee and women wearing exercise gear with full make up and blow dried hair while driving those stupid four-wheeled tractor cars will all lead to some sort of punishment, yet to be determined. Oh and Waterstones will be required to have assistants who actually read books.
St Mary's Church in Holly Place is well worth visiting with a very interesting history. The Everyman is good. Can take or leave Tesco. Have never tried Jin Kichi. I like The Wells. One of the longer dog walks ends there and the hound loves the way he is petted by them.
I remember Hampstead when piano teachers could afford to live there. Our neighbours were piano teachers and we rented next door. When they sold their Edwardian house for £100,000 to retire to Suffolk we all fainted in shock. Now the place is full of bloody bankers and they probably spend that amount on a kitchen in which no actual cooking gets done!
For the record, I absolutely love to cook, it's one of my greatest pleasures (along with penning pieces on why real median income growth has been so poor).
Hampstead, ultimately, is awesome.
It's beautiful, historic, it has the Heath, it has great schools. It's safe. It's got some lovely pubs (don't forget The Flask).
It could do with better restaurants.
But all-in-all, I can't think of a place I'd rather be.
I wasn't getting at you re cooking. I only ever cook at weekends and have largely delegated this to my children so that they learn and can do it for me, thus freeing me up for my great love: gardening (and putting the world to rights on PB as I'm doing now in my garden, with the breeze through the trees and the different sounds of the breeze and the smell of the evergreen jasmine and the luminescent quality of agapanthus flowers and the purple lavender just getting past its best and the heart breaking soft sensual orange of the Lady of Shallot rose).
Hampstead is awesome as you say. I love it too. But I preferred it when you did not need to be a millionaire to live there. West Hampstead reminded me a bit of how Hampstead used to be when it was a bit more ordinary and not quite the bubble of wealth it has become.
I read something the other day that said there are more Britons in Australia than in the 27 EU countries combined. No idea of it's truth.
So, there are more Poles in Germany than in the UK. I thought they were all here.
Not necessarily - there are more Poles in Germany than any other nationality except Germans, and there are more Indians than any other nationality except British in the UK. But there could, in these circumstances, still be more Poles in the UK than in Germany.
The dominant overseas nation in Germany always used to be Turks.
My first kiss was with a Polish-born German, on a German exchange. She was called Tanja. I wonder what became of her.
I read something the other day that said there are more Britons in Australia than in the 27 EU countries combined. No idea of it's truth.
So, there are more Poles in Germany than in the UK. I thought they were all here.
My Girlfriends father goes to Germany to buy his cars second hand as the market is better there, its not that far of a drive from where he lives in South West Poland.
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
Excusing the Americanism, it is surely not four days' sailing to Greece.
Navigation has never been a core competence of the Turkish navy,
Pretty sure it's not that hard to find Greece though, unless there's some pretty brutal engine trouble!
From Smyrna to Athens it should be a 9 hour trip. I'm pretty sure if they escaped (a big if) they would be heading to Egypt.
Afterall the greek government is spineless enough to surrender them back to Erdogan, so Greece or any EU country would be not an option for them, and I doubt they would be heading to Russia if they are on the other side of the straits.
Whilst you might not agree or like George Osborne, I admired his loyalty to the party and Cameron, everything he did was for what he perceived in the best interests of Dave.
No one can ever come up with any examples of George on the record/off the record criticising Dave.
Given the history of spats between No 10 and No 11 in the past, that's quite an achievement,
--------------------------------------------
God you're easily pleased, aren't you?
Can you explain your comment the other day, because you went silent when I asked it the other day, you said Labour hated Grammars, that's why they got rid of them, so why did Mrs Thatcher close more/merge more grammar schools than anyone else?
Talking in cliches is really all you can do, isn't?
So, you can't answer my question.
Thought as much, you and facts are strangers.
Guess she thought it was a mistake by the time she became Tory Leader:
"People from my sort of background needed Grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn. - M. H. Thatcher, speech to the Conservative Party Conference, 14 October, 1977).
So IS has released a video of said perpetrator, he is definitely on the payroll. Unfortunately the fear is that more attacks will happen fairly thick and fast. A few weeks ago a senior US intelligence official put it this way 'our long summer of discontent has begun'.
He isn't understating it.
The story around the truck driving murderer in France seems to be mysteriously lacking in detail. Agencies outside France are thrown up this guy's name (or its an unfortunate same name co-incidence) but the French remain quiet on that. .
I read something the other day that said there are more Britons in Australia than in the 27 EU countries combined. No idea of it's truth.
It's true. But not by much. 1.3 million vs 1.2 million. It's also slightly distorted as a proportion of Brits in Spain aren't resident year-round.
I've said this before - but a free movement/labour deal with Canada, Australia and New Zealand would be of far more interest to far more Britons than any amount of free movement/labour around continental Europe. Language is far more of an issue than Europe's cheerleaders will acknowledge or understand.
I read something the other day that said there are more Britons in Australia than in the 27 EU countries combined. No idea of it's truth.
So, there are more Poles in Germany than in the UK. I thought they were all here.
My Girlfriends father goes to Germany to buy his cars second hand as the market is better there, its not that far of a drive from where he lives in South West Poland.
As they say in Germany, "Heute gestohlen, morgen in Polen."
I read something the other day that said there are more Britons in Australia than in the 27 EU countries combined. No idea of it's truth.
So, there are more Poles in Germany than in the UK. I thought they were all here.
Not necessarily - there are more Poles in Germany than any other nationality except Germans, and there are more Indians than any other nationality except British in the UK. But there could, in these circumstances, still be more Poles in the UK than in Germany.
The dominant overseas nation in Germany always used to be Turks.
My first kiss was with a Polish-born German, on a German exchange. She was called Tanja. I wonder what became of her.
The media certainly got this completely wrong having speculated prior to Mrs. May's coronation that Philip Hammond and George Osborne were likely to swap jobs, since the then Chancellor had long coveted the Foreign Office. Some swap!
One of the reasons it's going to be difficult for the commentariat is that May doesn't socialise, doesn't gossip. A riddle wrapped in an enigma etc.
Not really, May is proving far more Brownite in her behaviour than the Lobby's favourite Brown Markll model George Osborne. Anyone within the Conservative party who isn't concerned at May's brutal reshuffle, and the way many form Ministers were treated including Osborne, really needs to tweak their political antennae.
I read something the other day that said there are more Britons in Australia than in the 27 EU countries combined. No idea of it's truth.
It's true. But not by much. 1.3 million vs 1.2 million. It's also slightly distorted as a proportion of Brits in Spain aren't resident year-round.
I've said this before - but a free movement/labour deal with Canada, Australia and New Zealand would be of far more interest to far more Britons than any amount of free movement/labour around continental Europe. Language is far more of an issue than Europe's cheerleaders will acknowledge or understand.
The points system as used by Australia, or the slightly blurrier version used by Canada would suit me fine. Freedom of movement, as a principle, is just not attractive to me any longer.
Based on feedback here, our twin goals should be as little unskilled immigration as we can get away with and highly targeted Muslim immigration.
Currently reading a history of Venice, which occasionally has to detour to encompass the pre-Reformation Papacy. John XXII (strictly speaking an anti-Pope) was a good example of the high Medieval breed. He was eventually charged with piracy, rape, sodomy, murder and incest. Apart from that, he was a really good bloke.
Still took over a hundred years before people decided that enough was enough.
Quite so, Mr. M (though I have long suspected John XXII was stitched up) and at one stage we did have three extant popes. The point remains that to reform the catholic church took, from an almost running start, decades and numerous wars and lots of deaths. Islam in not even ready to start the process. Look around - it is regressing.
What Mrs Free is hoping for is, I think. the same level of wish as for unicorns and every little girl to have a pony.
Islamic theology is very diverse. I recall you spent some time in Oman, where the Ibadi sect predominate and are quite content with other religions being practiced openly. They believe in reasoned argument, and predate the Sunni/Shia split.
There are also the interesting Ismaili and Alawite sects as well as religions like the Bahai with Islamic roots. Even within the much larger Sunni community there are strong traditions of mystical Sufism that are very compatible with Western societies.
The Wahabi schools are a very different matter, but their presence in Saudi has spread their ideas in a very aggressive way.
There is potential for Islam to evolve into a much more tolerable and tolerant form.
Fair Go, Doc. So what is the UK and the West in general doing to dump on Wahabi (sponsored to the tune of hundreds of millions by the Saudis) and encourage these other forms?
Oh, by the way the Bahai sect is hated in Iran to the extent that its members have been executed for being apostates. The Alawites of course are the ruling clique in Syria who have been fighting for their survival, and not very nicely, for some years.
The idea that mainstream Islam is likely to be compatible with Western civilisation I find laughable.
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
I have done that too whilst playing Turkey, Sometimes in Diplomacy it is better to put a fleet under another nation's command than see it eliminated.
Hi HurstLlama, hope you and the family are well. I have now really annoyed our old collie dog by taking on a third rescue cat from the Cat Protection League. A very independent two year old maine coon X boy who we have quickly discovered prefers the company of Fitaloon and the lads to females!
Interesting news about those Turkish ships, IIRC, didn't the Turkish PM claim that the Navy had refused to join the attempted Military coup?
It is interesting that the Labour supporters you read on twitter etc, mainly base their views on their MP's as to whether;
a) they voted against Iraq b) they voted against benefit cuts
And in a few years both a and b will have changed to two other issues, which each time knocks out half of the potential field each time for the leadership. This will lead to MP's voting against their own party when it suits their own agenda....in fact it turns their party in a group of Corbyn's.
So IS has released a video of said perpetrator, he is definitely on the payroll. Unfortunately the fear is that more attacks will happen fairly thick and fast. A few weeks ago a senior US intelligence official put it this way 'our long summer of discontent has begun'.
He isn't understating it.
The story around the truck driving murderer in France seems to be mysteriously lacking in detail. Agencies outside France are thrown up this guy's name (or its an unfortunate same name co-incidence) but the French remain quiet on that. .
Should I place a big bet on Trump on Ladbrokes then ?
People go on and on about getting rid of "unskilled" immigration. I still don't understand where businesses are going to find the people to fill the thousands and thousands of jobs current filled by unskilled (but often extremely able) immigrants. Even if they pay a bit more.
I wonder just why May was so brutal towards Osborne?
Because he's a bit of a c*nt?
LOL everyone really does hate George Osborne!
Yes, but there's a reason for that.
In the end, everyone worked out that they were all dispensable, in Osborne's eyes, if he calculated it gave him a narrow tactical advantage for his career.
And he was happy to change those calculations frequently, and regularly.
Didn't help that he had less personal empathy than a great white shark either.
I'm not a fan of George Osborne myself. Indeed I was pretty happy to see that he was not going to be a part of this government! But I was just curious as to May's particular issue with him. When you say everyone felt they were dispensable to Osborne who are you referring to? MPs, membership, staff - the GBP? I get the feeling that his acolytes in the Treasury and the likes of Hancock, Javid and Perry certainly weren't feeling that they were dispensable to Osborne.
RE Osborne's empathy. Have there been any stories suggesting that he isn't the most empathetic person? He sure does come across that way!
Everyone. MPs, voters, members.
The way to get on with Osborne was to become his vassal. Refusal earned you personal enmity and exile. There was that MP who said, and I paraphrase slightly, 'people think Osborne is a Machiavellian devil. Well, I've worked with him and know him and I can tell you, he's much worse than that.'
He's now getting a bit of a taste of his own medicine.
I heard he was a lot nicer than he appeared, and David Cameron was a lot less nice, but it's all stories, I guess.
I was told, there's two types of people in the world, those who hate David Cameron, and those yet to meet him.
I found that an inaccurate statement.
Funny that so many people say they know the real politician well. The reality is that they have many cloakes - family, operational, friend, politician etc. Often I think a politician is good, others say the opposite. Speak as you find, I suppose. Dave was always jokey. Teresa always friendly but cool, Boris always as you expect, Zac the same you saw on telly, Justine brilliant, Jane Ellison, clever and positive
People go on and on about getting rid of "unskilled" immigration. I still don't understand where businesses are going to find the people to fill the thousands and thousands of jobs current filled by unskilled (but often extremely able) immigrants. Even if they pay a bit more.
Brits? Businesses could even (shock! horror!) put some effort into training Brits who don't immediately have the skills required, like they used to.
Currently reading a history of Venice, which occasionally has to detour to encompass the pre-Reformation Papacy. John XXII (strictly speaking an anti-Pope) was a good example of the high Medieval breed. He was eventually charged with piracy, rape, sodomy, murder and incest. Apart from that, he was a really good bloke.
Still took over a hundred years before people decided that enough was enough.
Quite so, Mr. M (though I have long suspected John XXII was stitched up) and at one stage we did have three extant popes. The point remains that to reform the catholic church took, from an almost running start, decades and numerous wars and lots of deaths. Islam in not even ready to start the process. Look around - it is regressing.
What Mrs Free is hoping for is, I think. the same level of wish as for unicorns and every little girl to have a pony.
Islamic theology is very diverse. I recall you spent some time in Oman, where the Ibadi sect predominate and are quite content with other religions being practiced openly. They believe in reasoned argument, and predate the Sunni/Shia split.
There are also the interesting Ismaili and Alawite sects as well as religions like the Bahai with Islamic roots. Even within the much larger Sunni community there are strong traditions of mystical Sufism that are very compatible with Western societies.
The Wahabi schools are a very different matter, but their presence in Saudi has spread their ideas in a very aggressive way.
There is potential for Islam to evolve into a much more tolerable and tolerant form.
Fair Go, Doc. So what is the UK and the West in general doing to dump on Wahabi (sponsored to the tune of hundreds of millions by the Saudis) and encourage these other forms?
Oh, by the way the Bahai sect is hated in Iran to the extent that its members have been executed for being apostates. The Alawites of course are the ruling clique in Syria who have been fighting for their survival, and not very nicely, for some years.
The idea that mainstream Islam is likely to be compatible with Western civilisation I find laughable.
The fight against Wahabbism certainly needs to be stronger. We should not let Saudi fund mosques and provide books.
Until the late 1980's, predominantly Muslim countries throughout MENA, and Asia were politically quite secular, and often had ellections that were pretty fair for developing countries. It is only since the eighties that Islamism has become such a dominant force.
Ataturk, Nasser and even Arafat were all of a political culture compatable with secular western institutions. It is not easy to go back to those days, but not inconceivable.
People go on and on about getting rid of "unskilled" immigration. I still don't understand where businesses are going to find the people to fill the thousands and thousands of jobs current filled by unskilled (but often extremely able) immigrants. Even if they pay a bit more.
It's a tough one but it seems to me somewhat crazy to in effect pay the British underclass not to work and then import workers from overseas. It's neither cost effective nor socially cohesive.
It is interesting that the Labour supporters you read on twitter etc, mainly base their views on their MP's as to whether;
a) they voted against Iraq b) they voted against benefit cuts
And in a few years both a and b will have changed to two other issues, which each time knocks out half of the potential field each time for the leadership. This will lead to MP's voting against their own party when it suits their own agenda....in fact it turns their party in a group of Corbyn's.
So the question is:-
1) Is it better to vote against the party all the time 2) or just occasionally assuming you can successfully guess what the bug bears will be in 2-5 years time...
I know Smith lost last night as he voted with the party on Trident so what is the next elephant trap May has lined up for Labour...
People go on and on about getting rid of "unskilled" immigration. I still don't understand where businesses are going to find the people to fill the thousands and thousands of jobs current filled by unskilled (but often extremely able) immigrants. Even if they pay a bit more.
Controlling unskilled immigration doesn't mean deporting those already here. We currently have 1.67 million unemployed, 550k of whom are under 25 and almost half a million who have been unemployed for over a year.
Treating our unskilled people as fungible commodities is one of the drivers behind the Brexit vote. We have to start paying attention to our own, and helping them, in preference to you know, just substituting them.
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
I have done that too whilst playing Turkey, Sometimes in Diplomacy it is better to put a fleet under another nation's command than see it eliminated.
Hi HurstLlama, hope you and the family are well. I have now really annoyed our old collie dog by taking on a third rescue cat from the Cat Protection League. A very independent two year old maine coon X boy who we have quickly discovered prefers the company of Fitaloon and the lads to females!
Interesting news about those Turkish ships, IIRC, didn't the Turkish PM claim that the Navy had refused to join the attempted Military coup?
Wotcha Mrs. Lass. You got a Maine Coon? Oh, gosh! I so want one of those when Thomas, our surviving rescue cat goes through the great cat flap (he is 19 now and we love him dearly).
Do you want to send me pictures? Hurstllama at gmail dot com
People go on and on about getting rid of "unskilled" immigration. I still don't understand where businesses are going to find the people to fill the thousands and thousands of jobs current filled by unskilled (but often extremely able) immigrants. Even if they pay a bit more.
Brits? Businesses could even (shock! horror!) put some effort into training Brits who don't immediately have the skills required, like they used to.
He mentions "unskilled" job specifically. I work for a logistics firm, we a lot of warehouse workers are from central Europe and that isn't because they have the right skills, it is because they actually turn up for work. The turnover rate for Uk workers is huge, the gap is filled by migrants.
What a brave, principled, selfless woman Angela Eagle has proved herself to be. I actually feel a little bit emotional about it. Unlike some, she has put the Labour party first. She has gone up massively in my estimation.
No doubt, though, that Owen Smith is better placed to beat Corbyn. He has a tiny chance, but it does exist. If by some miracle it happens, Angela Eagle will earn the undying gratitude of millions of Labour voters.
Yeah, yeah: I don't doubt your sincerity. But it looks as if the woman was used to do what no-one else had the guts to do and then was discarded
It stinks.
Better for Corbyn to stay, be roundly defeated and from the ashes maybe decent Labour party members like you can create a left of centre party which actually acts on the liberal principles it claims to believe in and which the rest of us could even consider voting for.
+1
Btw my earlier reply to you top of PT
I saw. Thank you. A small world.
I go to Italy for a fortnight and when I come back I find that a Gail's Artisan Bakery (for heaven's sake) has now opened in West Hampstead. The place is going to the dogs. I'd impose a Stupidity Tax on anyone daft enough to pay the sort of prices they charge.
Gail's must be a chain, for I am sure I have seen it somewhere else.
Coming back to London from Italy was always rather grim (although not with today's weather), even when I lived in West Hampstead.
It is a chain. An overpriced chain for people with more money than sense.
It seems somewhat rude to suggest that West Hampstead nowadays might not be such a bad target market. Sorry.
No need to apologise. I'm sure they've done their research. It's just a bit depressing for me to see overpriced useless shops replace useful ones. Gentrification usually means that in order to buy a nail you have to drive miles but within walking distance there are 35 estate agents and 42 coffee shops, none of which make a decent coffee.
Well we can only hope that Brexit will see off at least half of the estate agents!
House prices in London are ludicrous. They've just put the flat my Mum grew up in (sadly she didn't own it, but it was her Dad's grace & favour) for £150m. £150m. FOR A FUCKING FLAT.
I'm really intrigued why Theresa May gave Boris the post of FS. I don't believe she set him up to fail because it would make her and the country a laughing stock and she would absolutely hate having her judgement called into question. She could, after all, just have let him stew on the backbenches.
I watched the press conference today and thought he just about got through it but he has to be a bit more authoritative and not stand there like a punch bag absorbing blows. I believe that it was the British hacks that put their American counterparts up to asking those sarky questions but then Boris knows how the game works.
With most of the Foreign Office's most pressing roles now being hived off to other departments, it was a clever move by Mrs May, gives him a high profile role, and keeps him inside the tent.
And very compassionate to give him this last chance to grow up.
The media certainly got this completely wrong having speculated prior to Mrs. May's coronation that Philip Hammond and George Osborne were likely to swap jobs, since the then Chancellor had long coveted the Foreign Office. Some swap!
One of the reasons it's going to be difficult for the commentariat is that May doesn't socialise, doesn't gossip. A riddle wrapped in an enigma etc.
Not really, May is proving far more Brownite in her behaviour than the Lobby's favourite Brown Markll model George Osborne. Anyone within the Conservative party who isn't concerned at May's brutal reshuffle, and the way many form Ministers were treated including Osborne, really needs to tweak their political antennae.
It a) wasn't that brutal although quite clinical and b) wasn't a reshuffle as much as the formation of a government.
Journalists are getting too caught up in the momentous events of prior weeks.
We will have to disagree on this one. But personally, I now have growing concerns about May's Leadership style after the way she has behaved towards Osborne and other former Ministers in this reshuffle. And I wonder if the first major resignation from her Cabinet will down to a failure of competence or a failure to be able to work under her Leadership.
There is definitely a whiff of miscalculated arrogance coming through from her and her team which may well rebound on her later in the Parliament, especially if Labour failed to get their act together. May appears to be acting more like a party Leader who has won back to back GE's instead of simple being the last woman standing in a leadership contest that saw her coronation.
Currently reading a history of Venice, which occasionally has to detour to encompass the pre-Reformation Papacy. John XXII (strictly speaking an anti-Pope) was a good example of the high Medieval breed. He was eventually charged with piracy, rape, sodomy, murder and incest. Apart from that, he was a really good bloke.
Still took over a hundred years before people decided that enough was enough.
What Mrs Free is hoping for is, I think. the same level of wish as for unicorns and every little girl to have a pony.
Islamic theology is very diverse. I recall you spent some time in Oman, where the Ibadi sect predominate and are quite content with other religions being practiced openly. They believe in reasoned argument, and predate the Sunni/Shia split.
There are also the interesting Ismaili and Alawite sects as well as religions like the Bahai with Islamic roots. Even within the much larger Sunni community there are strong traditions of mystical Sufism that are very compatible with Western societies.
The Wahabi schools are a very different matter, but their presence in Saudi has spread their ideas in a very aggressive way.
There is potential for Islam to evolve into a much more tolerable and tolerant form.
Fair Go, Doc. So what is the UK and the West in general doing to dump on Wahabi (sponsored to the tune of hundreds of millions by the Saudis) and encourage these other forms?
Oh, by the way the Bahai sect is hated in Iran to the extent that its members have been executed for being apostates. The Alawites of course are the ruling clique in Syria who have been fighting for their survival, and not very nicely, for some years.
The idea that mainstream Islam is likely to be compatible with Western civilisation I find laughable.
The fight against Wahabbism certainly needs to be stronger. We should not let Saudi fund mosques and provide books.
Until the late 1980's, predominantly Muslim countries throughout MENA, and Asia were politically quite secular, and often had ellections that were pretty fair for developing countries. It is only since the eighties that Islamism has become such a dominant force.
Ataturk, Nasser and even Arafat were all of a political culture compatable with secular western institutions. It is not easy to go back to those days, but not inconceivable.
Even Saddam Hussein. Assad is secular too. That is a statement of fact, not a statement of support as some PB Tories might interpret.
A lot of unskilled jobs are also not necessarily a good fit with providing jobs for the "UK underclass". Young immigrants will fill them (and work very hard at them) but not as a long term thing. It gets them a foot in the door - a couple of years work before they move on to better things. And frankly nobody would do a lot of these jobs for the long term.
A lot of unskilled jobs are also not necessarily a good fit with providing jobs for the "UK underclass". Young immigrants will fill them (and work very hard at them) but not as a long term thing. It gets them a foot in the door - a couple of years work before they move on to better things. And frankly nobody would do a lot of these jobs for the long term.
I find your cheerful callousness towards your countrymen incredibly depressing.
Comments
Quite. As much as PBTories are trying to write it out of history, Harriet Harman won an election with the Labour selectorate not so long ago - but the difference was that she actually based her campaign on things of substance for women - i.e. the gender pay gap, childcare, etc. Whether you agree with her stances on those issues or not, she was still trying to fight for proper causes, and for material change. That's a world away from the Eagles, Coopers and Kendalls of the world, who think "I'm a woman" is an argument in and of itself, that can substitute policies of substance (whether those policies are motivated by feminism or not).
(Incidentally, I've always thought Harman might well have beaten the Milibands in the 2010 leadership contest, if she'd gone for it.)
I remember Hampstead when piano teachers could afford to live there. Our neighbours were piano teachers and we rented next door. When they sold their Edwardian house for £100,000 to retire to Suffolk we all fainted in shock. Now the place is full of bloody bankers and they probably spend that amount on a kitchen in which no actual cooking gets done!
Very reassuring.
People will riot against their government in the streets if they go on like that.
I know that in the present climate talking about military coups is not fashionable, but those in the french military who where thinking about one in 2013 must be kicking themselves they didn't remove Hollande before all this carnage occurred.
What else can happen in the last 10 months of Hollande as french president, I dare not to think.
I think it was SO who made the point. When Labour talk about love, it's for their party. For Tories, it's the country. Cameron, Osborne et al will do what's right for the country.
Who, to get specific, are these liberals within Islam? Pretty damn difficult to be a liberal in a religion that claims to be your whole way of life, to be the perfect word of God and to require you to live a by a set of rules that may have made sense in the dark ages in the Middle East but are largely barking in Northern Europe in the 21st century.
If we can encourage a few more people to move away from this insane religion, fair enough, but don't think it will be easy or pain free. There will I think be more wars.
India is the most common non-UK country of birth in 2014. An estimated 793,000 usual residents of the UK were born in India (9.6% of the total non-UK born population resident in the UK)
Polish is the most common non-British nationality in 2014. An estimated 853,000 usual residents of the UK have Polish nationality (16.0% of the total number of non-British nationals resident in the UK)
i.e. many Indians by birth now hold British nationality.
Hampstead, ultimately, is awesome.
It's beautiful, historic, it has the Heath, it has great schools. It's safe. It's got some lovely pubs (don't forget The Flask).
It could do with better restaurants.
But all-in-all, I can't think of a place I'd rather be.
I think part of it is that Republican Senators and Congressmen want nothing to do with Trump in case he blows up...
Mystery of 14 Turkish navy ships 'still missing' after failed coup and a commander who has not been seen in four days. Fourteen navy ships are reportedly missing following the Turkey coup
They have failed to return to their ports and could be headed to Greece . Commander of the navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3696986/Mystery-14-Turkish-navy-ships-missing-failed-coup-commander-not-seen-four-days.html#ixzz4EtHm8QAk
Whilst you might not agree or like George Osborne, I admired his loyalty to the party and Cameron, everything he did was for what he perceived in the best interests of Dave.
No one can ever come up with any examples of George on the record/off the record criticising Dave.
Given the history of spats between No 10 and No 11 in the past, that's quite an achievement,
--------------------------------------------
God you're easily pleased, aren't you?
Excusing the Americanism, it is surely not four days' sailing to Greece.
Mr Juncker still soldiering on is he, btw?
I watched the press conference today and thought he just about got through it but he has to be a bit more authoritative and not stand there like a punch bag absorbing blows. I believe that it was the British hacks that put their American counterparts up to asking those sarky questions but then Boris knows how the game works.
See also Fleur Pellerin - http://s2.lemde.fr/image/2012/05/17/534x0/1703365_5_880d_fleur-pellerin-ministre-deleguee-aux_54460bb0dea3e097ab4b69ed73ba44d6.jpg
And of course Segolene - http://loi-royal.fr/images/loi-royal.jpg
Thought as much, you and facts are strangers.
There are also the interesting Ismaili and Alawite sects as well as religions like the Bahai with Islamic roots. Even within the much larger Sunni community there are strong traditions of mystical Sufism that are very compatible with Western societies.
The Wahabi schools are a very different matter, but their presence in Saudi has spread their ideas in a very aggressive way.
There is potential for Islam to evolve into a much more tolerable and tolerant form.
Satellites would have found those ships ages ago.
If they genuinely escaped they could be en route to Egypt, which is the only country in the region who came out in support of the coup, Al-Sisi would provide them with refuge and welcome an audition to the egyptian fleet.
Iain Martin bang on the money with this article!
Reaction blog - The shameful treatment of George Osborne heralded a troubling reshuffle
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/755511786913292289
The dominant overseas nation in Germany always used to be Turks.
My first kiss was with a Polish-born German, on a German exchange. She was called Tanja. I wonder what became of her.
Hampstead is awesome as you say. I love it too. But I preferred it when you did not need to be a millionaire to live there. West Hampstead reminded me a bit of how Hampstead used to be when it was a bit more ordinary and not quite the bubble of wealth it has become.
Nothing about more or less than the UK.
I'm pretty sure if they escaped (a big if) they would be heading to Egypt.
Afterall the greek government is spineless enough to surrender them back to Erdogan, so Greece or any EU country would be not an option for them, and I doubt they would be heading to Russia if they are on the other side of the straits.
"People from my sort of background needed Grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn.
- M. H. Thatcher, speech to the Conservative Party Conference, 14 October, 1977).
So IS has released a video of said perpetrator, he is definitely on the payroll. Unfortunately the fear is that more attacks will happen fairly thick and fast. A few weeks ago a senior US intelligence official put it this way 'our long summer of discontent has begun'.
He isn't understating it.
The story around the truck driving murderer in France seems to be mysteriously lacking in detail. Agencies outside France are thrown up this guy's name (or its an unfortunate same name co-incidence) but the French remain quiet on that. .
(I'll get me coat...)
Journalists are getting too caught up in the momentous events of prior weeks.
Based on feedback here, our twin goals should be as little unskilled immigration as we can get away with and highly targeted Muslim immigration.
Oh, by the way the Bahai sect is hated in Iran to the extent that its members have been executed for being apostates. The Alawites of course are the ruling clique in Syria who have been fighting for their survival, and not very nicely, for some years.
The idea that mainstream Islam is likely to be compatible with Western civilisation I find laughable.
Interesting news about those Turkish ships, IIRC, didn't the Turkish PM claim that the Navy had refused to join the attempted Military coup?
a) they voted against Iraq
b) they voted against benefit cuts
And in a few years both a and b will have changed to two other issues, which each time knocks out half of the potential field each time for the leadership. This will lead to MP's voting against their own party when it suits their own agenda....in fact it turns their party in a group of Corbyn's.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36833733
"...the purges are undoubtedly necessary in light of the acute threat posed by the conspirators..."
Until the late 1980's, predominantly Muslim countries throughout MENA, and Asia were politically quite secular, and often had ellections that were pretty fair for developing countries. It is only since the eighties that Islamism has become such a dominant force.
Ataturk, Nasser and even Arafat were all of a political culture compatable with secular western institutions. It is not easy to go back to those days, but not inconceivable.
1) Is it better to vote against the party all the time
2) or just occasionally assuming you can successfully guess what the bug bears will be in 2-5 years time...
I know Smith lost last night as he voted with the party on Trident so what is the next elephant trap May has lined up for Labour...
Treating our unskilled people as fungible commodities is one of the drivers behind the Brexit vote. We have to start paying attention to our own, and helping them, in preference to you know, just substituting them.
Do you want to send me pictures? Hurstllama at gmail dot com
There is definitely a whiff of miscalculated arrogance coming through from her and her team which may well rebound on her later in the Parliament, especially if Labour failed to get their act together. May appears to be acting more like a party Leader who has won back to back GE's instead of simple being the last woman standing in a leadership contest that saw her coronation.