The growing NHS waiting list is arguably the Tories’ biggest challenge – politicalbetting.com

Leon said:

Benpointer said:

pigeon said:

Foxy said:

On topic.

I expect waiting lists to continue ballooning. There are still a lot of referrals to be made when GPS eventually catch up with them.

For the purpose of electoral betting though it is worth noting that these will be very patchy. Some areas have been much more disrupted than others. Birmingham is a mess again for example, while some areas are getting off lightly, so have kept elective services going, and hence waiting lists short. Headline numbers are one thing, but personal experience is a much tougher

Is it bad up in Leicester? I'm imagining that there may be a broad correlation between areas that already had comparatively poor health outcomes pre-Plague, those that were shellacked by the Plague, and those with horrendous waiting lists - but I've no idea to what extent this is true.

Husband is a semi-regular visitor to Addenbrooke's due to various issues, and has barely suffered any disruption at all.

Out of interest, why do you refer to the Covid pandemic as 'the Plague'? Is it some attempt at light-heartedness to raise the mood a little?

The Plague is surely the infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, and otherwise known as the Black Death. Or am I being too pedantic here?

You are being too pedantic. I call it The Plague as well

Because it is

I was disappointed to learn that "plague" comes from Latin and Greek.
There's gotta be a good alternative that doesn't, from Anglo-Saxon.

DougSeal said:

@PaulMainwood

Good luck everyone.

Going to have some nice super spreader events tomorrow in France....

Deepti Gurdasani
@dgurdasani1
·
2h
The discrepancies between cases reported, positivity, symptom tracking (Zoe), and prevalence estimated through the ONS is worrying - this suggests that a lot of people aren't getting tested recently & that cases are not a reliable indicator currently.

pigeon said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Benpointer said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Benpointer said:

pigeon said:

Daveyboy1961 said:

I don't often agree with Leon, but last night I watched the 7:30pm episode of the BBC olympics with Kathy Grainger as guest. I remember her in 2012 being distraught at only winning a silver in her double sculls, only Gold is worth it she said then, and she duely achieved it in 2016. That was the attitude which won the day. Not just in rowing, but cycling as well. The first 20mins of the show was about Helen Glover and partner missing out on a bronze. I swear it was the worst rubbish I ever heard, excuses, weepy backstory and the rest. I really think the BBC has turned into a version of X Factor! Absolute rubbish, and worst of all, Grainger was part of this rubbish. We have turned into a country of British Plucky losers again.

I think that's overdramatizing the situation. They made a particular fuss of Helen Glover because she came back after having kiddies, gave it a good go, and nearly came away with something. More generally, the reviews of the performance of the rowing squad have not been gushing, and questions have been asked.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the contingents from some other disciplines are doing quite well. It's not exactly an unremitting tale of woe, or of vast numbers of 'if only there were a tin medal for fourth' regrets.

At the end of this Games I anticipate that the British team will be some way short of its performance in Rio, and that there will be some tutting (especially if the track cyclists also win a lot less than in recent times,) but that's not the end of the world. If things improve again in Paris then all will be well; if they don't then people will start to grumble about why we're not spending some of that lottery money on children's hospitals or something instead.

Team GB are still slightly ahead of where they were at the same stage last time:



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/57836709

Though, Team GB isn't going to win many in athletics....I think they only have 2-3 realistic chances in individual events, which none are gold medal favourites. Could quite easily end up with just 1 individual medal and perhaps 1 relay.

It was seven medals last time, with just two golds (thanks Mo Farah); I doubt we'll be far short of that this time.

Where are the 7 coming from? Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher Smith are the only two I can think of. Lots of events, no Team GB even got the qualifying time. And KJT has been injured and Dina Asher Smith is nowhere near her best.

Quite. Athletics looks very weak indeed this time around (and yes, I see your line of thinking: Asher-Smith comes away with something and one of the sprint relay teams bags a medal, and that's probably it.)

Elsewhere, rowing has done substantially worse. Diving has actually done worse too. Gymnastics looks like it will do worse. Swimming has done better, and boxing and sailing both look promising. Taekwondo and triathlon are there or thereabouts. The horsey events are as unpredictable as ever, and I've not a clue about whether or not the open water canoeing contingent have any realistic hopes. The remaining sports, e.g. judo, only contribute one or two medals each - though FWIW the British team will get nothing from tennis this time, nothing from badminton, and quite likely nothing from the lottery that is golf, either. None of which helps.

The biggie is track cycling. A strong, weak or indifferent performance in the velodrome is likely to be the difference between the British team performing towards the bottom of its target range or somewhere above the midpoint.

We've got chances in the men's 800m tonight. Oliver Dustin and Elliot Giles have run competitive times this year (Giles breaking former Conservative MP Sebastian Coe's indoor world record, which really just shows indoor athletics is not a thing). Not great chances but not impossible.

rottenborough said:

Deepti Gurdasani
@dgurdasani1
·
2h
The discrepancies between cases reported, positivity, symptom tracking (Zoe), and prevalence estimated through the ONS is worrying - this suggests that a lot of people aren't getting tested recently & that cases are not a reliable indicator currently.

I'm not so sure it's a big deal. One is delayed, and the other is biased towards health nuts who don't mind telling others about their medical info

RobD said:

rottenborough said:

Deepti Gurdasani
@dgurdasani1
·
2h
The discrepancies between cases reported, positivity, symptom tracking (Zoe), and prevalence estimated through the ONS is worrying - this suggests that a lot of people aren't getting tested recently & that cases are not a reliable indicator currently.

I'm not so sure it's a big deal. One is delayed, and the other is biased towards health nuts who don't mind telling others about their medical info

And I suspect Zoe may have over corrected recently.

turbotubbs said:

RobD said:

rottenborough said:

Deepti Gurdasani
@dgurdasani1
·
2h
The discrepancies between cases reported, positivity, symptom tracking (Zoe), and prevalence estimated through the ONS is worrying - this suggests that a lot of people aren't getting tested recently & that cases are not a reliable indicator currently.

I'm not so sure it's a big deal. One is delayed, and the other is biased towards health nuts who don't mind telling others about their medical info

And I suspect Zoe may have over corrected recently.

I'm so old that I remember iSAGE arguing that it was outrageous that the government were focusing on hospitalisations and not case numbers.

turbotubbs said:

rottenborough said:

Deepti Gurdasani
@dgurdasani1
·
2h
The discrepancies between cases reported, positivity, symptom tracking (Zoe), and prevalence estimated through the ONS is worrying - this suggests that a lot of people aren't getting tested recently & that cases are not a reliable indicator currently.

Either too thick to appreciate that the ons is heavily lagged or deliberately misleading. I know which I believe.

ISAGE other cheek of the lockdown don't work bridage....data doesn't go the way of your prediction, say the data doesn't include x or overstates y...false positives, overcounting hospitalisations, redefine a term to your own definition, find one outlier study to prove your point, testing is unrepresentative....

FrancisUrquhart said:

DougSeal said:

@PaulMainwood

Good luck everyone.

Going to have some nice super spreader events tomorrow in France....

what happened in Germany?

IshmaelZ said:

pigeon said:

Benpointer said:

Leon said:

Benpointer said:

pigeon said:

Foxy said:

On topic.

I expect waiting lists to continue ballooning. There are still a lot of referrals to be made when GPS eventually catch up with them.

For the purpose of electoral betting though it is worth noting that these will be very patchy. Some areas have been much more disrupted than others. Birmingham is a mess again for example, while some areas are getting off lightly, so have kept elective services going, and hence waiting lists short. Headline numbers are one thing, but personal experience is a much tougher

Is it bad up in Leicester? I'm imagining that there may be a broad correlation between areas that already had comparatively poor health outcomes pre-Plague, those that were shellacked by the Plague, and those with horrendous waiting lists - but I've no idea to what extent this is true.

Husband is a semi-regular visitor to Addenbrooke's due to various issues, and has barely suffered any disruption at all.

Out of interest, why do you refer to the Covid pandemic as 'the Plague'? Is it some attempt at light-heartedness to raise the mood a little?

The Plague is surely the infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, and otherwise known as the Black Death. Or am I being too pedantic here?

You are being too pedantic. I call it The Plague as well

Because it is

I beg to differ. It may be a plague, it is not the Plague.

It's a colloquialism. Anyway, if I ever needed specifically to refer to the mid-14th Century horror, I'd probably call it the Black Death instead.

"The Plague" usually refers to the mid 17th century horror.

The Great Plague, surely?

YoungTurk said:

Leon said:

Benpointer said:

pigeon said:

Foxy said:

On topic.

I expect waiting lists to continue ballooning. There are still a lot of referrals to be made when GPS eventually catch up with them.

For the purpose of electoral betting though it is worth noting that these will be very patchy. Some areas have been much more disrupted than others. Birmingham is a mess again for example, while some areas are getting off lightly, so have kept elective services going, and hence waiting lists short. Headline numbers are one thing, but personal experience is a much tougher

Is it bad up in Leicester? I'm imagining that there may be a broad correlation between areas that already had comparatively poor health outcomes pre-Plague, those that were shellacked by the Plague, and those with horrendous waiting lists - but I've no idea to what extent this is true.

Husband is a semi-regular visitor to Addenbrooke's due to various issues, and has barely suffered any disruption at all.

Out of interest, why do you refer to the Covid pandemic as 'the Plague'? Is it some attempt at light-heartedness to raise the mood a little?

The Plague is surely the infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, and otherwise known as the Black Death. Or am I being too pedantic here?

You are being too pedantic. I call it The Plague as well

Because it is

I was disappointed to learn that "plague" comes from Latin and Greek.
There's gotta be a good alternative that doesn't, from Anglo-Saxon.

"Cwealm"

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00681288.1944.11894687?journalCode=yjba19#:~:text=Epidemics (Anglo-Saxon cwealm,,signifies both pestilence and murrain).

Unbeievable - what feckinclowns

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/07/30/modellers-warned-1m-cases-week-even-third-wave-subsiding/

pigeon said:

Foxy said:

pigeon said:

Foxy said:

On topic.

I expect waiting lists to continue ballooning. There are still a lot of referrals to be made when GPS eventually catch up with them.

For the purpose of electoral betting though it is worth noting that these will be very patchy. Some areas have been much more disrupted than others. Birmingham is a mess again for example, while some areas are getting off lightly, so have kept elective services going, and hence waiting lists short. Headline numbers are one thing, but personal experience is a much tougher

Is it bad up in Leicester? I'm imagining that there may be a broad correlation between areas that already had comparatively poor health outcomes pre-Plague, those that were shellacked by the Plague, and those with horrendous waiting lists - but I've no idea to what extent this is true.

Husband is a semi-regular visitor to Addenbrooke's due to various issues, and has barely suffered any disruption at all.

No, this time around we are down the batting order. The reason we are going to surge ICU capacity (converting theatre recovery to ICU for example) is because of the expected need for mutual aid. West of here looks bad.

I'm surprised. I've been using the Covid dashboard to look at what's been going on with the outbreak up in Lancashire at regular intervals, and noticed that the Covid inpatient numbers there have been stabilising at a modest fraction of the horrendous peaks that went before (Bolton about a third, Blackburn more like a sixth.) Between your location and mine, down in Bedfordshire, it's more like a tenth. Actually, on the general theme of 'places beginning with B', Birmingham doesn't look too bad either.

But then again, I'm not a medic and don't work in healthcare, so there must be things going on that I'm not seeing just by scrolling through a few numbers!

Leicester is at about 20% of the Feb admissions peak. The pressure is mostly on ICU and ED this time.

Eric Topol
@EricTopol
·
53m
One thing Delta and the hullabaloo has brought us: more US vaccinations. Biggest day all month with 560,000 newbies; 860,000 total.
Finally about to reach the July 4th goal of 70% adults with ≥1 dose

BBC - Manchester City have made a club-record £100m bid for Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish.

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Philip Noel-Baker. Not just an Olympic medalist but a nobel prize winner.

Tres said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Philip Noel-Baker. Not just an Olympic medalist but a nobel prize winner.

First loser actually.

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else managed it?

Mixed triathlon starts at 11.30pm....if the BBC decide to show it, good medal hope for Team GB.

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

Leon said:

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

Aren't you forgetting your near namesake (painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect)?

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

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Leon said:

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

Bah! He only ruled Fiume for 15 months, chased out of there by his fellow Italians!

Yes, but only after he single-handedly created the rituals and symbolisms of Fascism (later shamelessly plagiarised by Mussolini), encouraged free love amongst his troops - so that gay troops were seen to copulate openly in graveyards (often on cocaine) and he perfected the greatest war cry ever: Eia! Eia! Eia! ALALA! (from the ancient Greek)

I once sang it while swimming across a Corsican mountain lake following an amazing picnic with my 30 years junior girlfriend after hearing that I was unexpectedly €20,000 richer in an afternoon

For just that one afternoon, I was d'Annunzio

Eia, Eia, Eia, ALALA

dixiedean said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

I also found this. Only 6 MPs have been medallists.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/cabinetroom.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/mps-olympic-games/amp/

As indeed did lostpassword.
Find it that is.

Of course Colin Moynihan. But I fear your list is not as comprehensive as Parliament's own. More than six.
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/archives/parliamentary-olympians/the-olympians/

Leon said:

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

I give you Carlton Magee.
A campaigning journalist who helped expose the Teapot Dome scandal.
He killed a bystander when he tried to shoot a corrupt judge who attacked him. Was acquitted of manslaughter.
And invented the parking meter.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Magee

Benpointer said:

Leon said:

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

Aren't you forgetting your near namesake (painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect)?

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

Obviously quite an impressive individual, but for me he failed a few too many times

That said I recommend a visit, for any PB-er, to his final bedroom in Amboise in the Loire Valley in France. An exquisite place, and wildly poetic. It is said Leonardo died there, weeping, because he had not fulfilled the many talents given him by God.

https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/leonardo-da-vincis-bedroom/view/google/


I fear he had a point

TimS said:

Leon said:

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

More recently:

Kim Wilde: pop star and horticulturalist

Parry Gripp: pop star and horticulturalist

Alan Titchmarsh: romantic author and horticulturalist

Monty Don: fashion jeweller and horticulturalist

Bill Oddie: comedian and birdwatcher...

dixiedean said:

Leon said:

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

I give you Carlton Magee.
A campaigning journalist who helped expose the Teapot Dome scandal.
He killed a bystander when he tried to shoot a corrupt judge who attacked him. Was acquitted of manslaughter.
And invented the parking meter.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Magee

Well he certainly trashed his reputation with that last one.

I suppose everyone could name the only 2 people to have won an Oscar and a Nobel Prize without googling?

IshmaelZ said:

Leon said:

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

Borodin (chemist and composer).

Or, from last weekend’s PB, Anthony Trollope, novelist and inventor of the pillar box and responsible for the uneven compass points of London’s postcode districts.

Foxy said:

TimS said:

Leon said:

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

More recently:

Kim Wilde: pop star and horticulturalist

Parry Gripp: pop star and horticulturalist

Alan Titchmarsh: romantic author and horticulturalist

Monty Don: fashion jeweller and horticulturalist

Bill Oddie: comedian and birdwatcher...

Bruce Dickinson: Rock star, pilot, Olympic fencer, brewer, DJ and entrepreneur. Some overlap, but not lots.

Got expelled from school.for pissing in his headmaster's dinner.

MattW said:

NickPalmer said:

JosiasJessop said:

I disagree with both of you. If you're going more than a few miles an hour, you could hurt yourself badly. I was doing just fifteen (according to my GPS log) when I came off last year, and I was lucky that I landed on grass and rolled. It was all my own fault.

Also: a few years back I slipped on a slipway near Cape Wrath and bashed my head and arm. It turned out I had fractured my elbow. Six months later, I got viral meningitis. I don't think the bash on the noggin and the virus getting into my brain were unconnected.

Protect your brain.

Also: would you say the same for working on building sites? No-one should have to wear helmets because it should be safe?

We had all this with safety belts, which I think nearly everyone accepts nowadays, at least in the front seats. Some people argued it gave a false sense of security, as though wearing a belt would impel you to suddenly drive at 100 mph. Cycling and driving are both liable to risk outside your control, so it's reasonable to protect yourself.

The evidence on cycle helmets seems to be quite equivocal, unlike seatbelts.

AIUI (and I'm not rabbitholing tonight) one problem is that people in motor vehicles tend to pass closer to those wearing a Helmet. A blonde wig seems to be more effective as they seem to assume that you may be a woman.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/cycle-helmet-with-in-built-blonde-hair-wig-is-the-safest-study-says-34857.html

The argument gets very theological, to the extent that the cyclinguk forum has a special subforum for helmet-fights.

Leon said:

Should I have a gin?

I find it very difficult to pass groups of middleaged men in luminous lycra in less than 1 metre distance, especially when they are taking up both sides of the road in order to stop you overtaking them.

Jeffrey Archer: politician, author and sprinter.

Cookie said:

Jeffrey Archer: politician, author and sprinter.

I think the second one is hotly debated ...

Fairliered said:

MattW said:

NickPalmer said:

JosiasJessop said:

I disagree with both of you. If you're going more than a few miles an hour, you could hurt yourself badly. I was doing just fifteen (according to my GPS log) when I came off last year, and I was lucky that I landed on grass and rolled. It was all my own fault.

Also: a few years back I slipped on a slipway near Cape Wrath and bashed my head and arm. It turned out I had fractured my elbow. Six months later, I got viral meningitis. I don't think the bash on the noggin and the virus getting into my brain were unconnected.

Protect your brain.

Also: would you say the same for working on building sites? No-one should have to wear helmets because it should be safe?

We had all this with safety belts, which I think nearly everyone accepts nowadays, at least in the front seats. Some people argued it gave a false sense of security, as though wearing a belt would impel you to suddenly drive at 100 mph. Cycling and driving are both liable to risk outside your control, so it's reasonable to protect yourself.

The evidence on cycle helmets seems to be quite equivocal, unlike seatbelts.

AIUI (and I'm not rabbitholing tonight) one problem is that people in motor vehicles tend to pass closer to those wearing a Helmet. A blonde wig seems to be more effective as they seem to assume that you may be a woman.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/cycle-helmet-with-in-built-blonde-hair-wig-is-the-safest-study-says-34857.html

The argument gets very theological, to the extent that the cyclinguk forum has a special subforum for helmet-fights.

Leon said:

Should I have a gin?

I find it very difficult to pass groups of middleaged men in luminous lycra in less than 1 metre distance, especially when they are taking up both sides of the road in order to stop you overtaking them.

Sorry, wrong thread. Of course you should have a gin! I recommend Nostalgin, Caorunn and Badachro.

dixiedean said:

I suppose everyone could name the only 2 people to have won an Oscar and a Nobel Prize without googling?

Bob Dylan and Al Gore?

dixiedean said:

I suppose everyone could name the only 2 people to have won an Oscar and a Nobel Prize without googling?

Somebody won a Nobel Prize without googling? I find that hard to believe.

Leon said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT I'm starving. A week of all-nighters watching the Olympics caught up with me today and I dozed off earlier, sleeping through Glorious Goodwood. My body now thinks it is lunchtime, despite having had lunch at midday as usual.

Resist

Fasting is great for the brain, the body, the mood

But not the stomach?

Jesus. Political activist and magician.

Right, the GB triathlon medley team are going to have to win gold without me - I just can't manage another late one. Night all.

DecrepiterJohnL said:

dixiedean said:

I suppose everyone could name the only 2 people to have won an Oscar and a Nobel Prize without googling?

Bob Dylan and Al Gore?

DecrepiterJohnL said:

dixiedean said:

I suppose everyone could name the only 2 people to have won an Oscar and a Nobel Prize without googling?

Bob Dylan and Al Gore?

Technically Al Gore shared the Nobel.

SandyRentool said:

Jesus. Political activist and magician.

When the Pixies split up, David Lovering, the band's drummer, became a professional magician.

The other David Lovering story I like is that when the band reformed - to massive crowds of Pixies fans, everywhere - he got into the habit of going for a drink in the bar of the venue where the band were playing as the audience arrived to sample the atmosphere. Not once was he recognised.
To be fair to the audiences, he had lost a lot of hair since the band's first incarnation.

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

dixiedean said:

I suppose everyone could name the only 2 people to have won an Oscar and a Nobel Prize without googling?

Bob Dylan and Al Gore?

DecrepiterJohnL said:

dixiedean said:

I suppose everyone could name the only 2 people to have won an Oscar and a Nobel Prize without googling?

Bob Dylan and Al Gore?

Technically Al Gore shared the Nobel.

Most Nobel Prizes are shared between two or three people. It is rare to win one outright. Still counts.

There’s a serious historical point in the recounting of Renaissance people of the past. 2 points in fact.

Firstly, that late 20th century capitalism with its emphasis on specialism to the angels and pinheads level and the apparent efficiency it brought squeezed the air out of the idea of the multitalented individual, evoking as it does the sin of amateurism. In doing so it has created an industrial society that is successful when times are predictable, but flounders when they change bigly. The Silicon Valley bros may think they are Renaissance men because they can run websites, make electric cars and send people to space but they are still playing in one narrow field: VC-funded tech. In the mid 21st century we are now entering, where all the straightforward challenges can be managed by robots so only the impossible challenges remain, we are going to need more proper Renaissance people.

Second, the examples we can all think of are men. Why? Because women have had to be multitalented by default for millennia. And the late capitalist love of singular specialism is perhaps one of the reasons women still to this day face scepticism at the idea they could possibly hold down a powerful job AND raise children. It’s the same engineering mindset that says you can’t be both a composer and a chemist. Or a pop star and horticulturalist, like my friend Richard.

FrancisUrquhart said:

rottenborough said:

turbotubbs said:

rottenborough said:

Deepti Gurdasani
@dgurdasani1
·
2h
The discrepancies between cases reported, positivity, symptom tracking (Zoe), and prevalence estimated through the ONS is worrying - this suggests that a lot of people aren't getting tested recently & that cases are not a reliable indicator currently.

Either too thick to appreciate that the ons is heavily lagged or deliberately misleading. I know which I believe.

Somebody must have messaged her as she has added a tweet an hour later about ONS being lagged.

I notice Peston still hasn't corrected his latest conspiracy theory.

Peston’s never wrong (in his imagination).

TimS said:

There’s a serious historical point in the recounting of Renaissance people of the past. 2 points in fact.

Firstly, that late 20th century capitalism with its emphasis on specialism to the angels and pinheads level and the apparent efficiency it brought squeezed the air out of the idea of the multitalented individual, evoking as it does the sin of amateurism. In doing so it has created an industrial society that is successful when times are predictable, but flounders when they change bigly. The Silicon Valley bros may think they are Renaissance men because they can run websites, make electric cars and send people to space but they are still playing in one narrow field: VC-funded tech. In the mid 21st century we are now entering, where all the straightforward challenges can be managed by robots so only the impossible challenges remain, we are going to need more proper Renaissance people.

Second, the examples we can all think of are men. Why? Because women have had to be multitalented by default for millennia. And the late capitalist love of singular specialism is perhaps one of the reasons women still to this day face scepticism at the idea they could possibly hold down a powerful job AND raise children. It’s the same engineering mindset that says you can’t be both a composer and a chemist. Or a pop star and horticulturalist, like my friend Richard.

A LOT of truth in that

Goodnight PB, goodnight

Is it me or is the BMX a bit weird how they run it?

Best of 3 races in the heats, best of 3 races in the semi-finals....1 race in the finals...

Why not best of 3 in the final?

TimS said:

Leon said:

Foxy said:

dixiedean said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

OT Conservatives had Seb Coe and Chris Chataway; LibDems Sir Ming Campbell; has Labour ever had an Olympian MP?

Not only an Olympian, but a medallIst and a Nobel Prize winner too. Quite the double.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

That's a pretty impressive double. Has anyone else manages it?

He is quite The Dude

I am fascinated by people who excel outrageously in entirely diverse human endeavours

Samuel Beckett, famously a Nobel Prize for Literature AND he's in Wisden

Sir John Vanbrugh, a great architect AND a fine playwright? How?

Churchill: journalist, cavalryman, painter, bricklayer, historian, orator, and won World War 2 (with a bit of help)

Michelangelo was just obscenely talented. A world class, top 10 painter. But also a world class top 10 sculptor?! But wait, also a world class top 10 architect???

And - many don't realise - also a notable poet

But my favourite is possibly Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Excellent poet. Sometimes brilliant journalist. Deeply clever and quite successful politician. Fine and brave airman. Military innovator. Pioneering bomber. Genius womanizer. Radical autocrat of anarchist city state. WTAF

Hard to beat

More recently:

Kim Wilde: pop star and horticulturalist

Parry Gripp: pop star and horticulturalist

Alan Titchmarsh: romantic author and horticulturalist

Monty Don: fashion jeweller and horticulturalist

Mrs Fairliered. Long suffering and horticulturalist.

TimS said:

There’s a serious historical point in the recounting of Renaissance people of the past. 2 points in fact.

Firstly, that late 20th century capitalism with its emphasis on specialism to the angels and pinheads level and the apparent efficiency it brought squeezed the air out of the idea of the multitalented individual, evoking as it does the sin of amateurism. In doing so it has created an industrial society that is successful when times are predictable, but flounders when they change bigly. The Silicon Valley bros may think they are Renaissance men because they can run websites, make electric cars and send people to space but they are still playing in one narrow field: VC-funded tech. In the mid 21st century we are now entering, where all the straightforward challenges can be managed by robots so only the impossible challenges remain, we are going to need more proper Renaissance people.

Second, the examples we can all think of are men. Why? Because women have had to be multitalented by default for millennia. And the late capitalist love of singular specialism is perhaps one of the reasons women still to this day face scepticism at the idea they could possibly hold down a powerful job AND raise children. It’s the same engineering mindset that says you can’t be both a composer and a chemist. Or a pop star and horticulturalist, like my friend Richard.

OK - so I'm bloody well going to nominate myself.

Cyclefree: Top investigator, mother and PB header writer (+ amateur horticulturalist).

So there!!