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Good news for Gavin Williamson – politicalbetting.com

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  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 39,748

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited August 2021
    I thought Starmer called for teacher assessed A-levels as exams were unfair, now he says teacher assessments were unfair. as private school kids have done too well.
  • Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,742
    pigeon said:

    ydoethur said:

    eek said:

    ydoethur said:

    Which is better, slow slicing or being boiled alive?

    The truth is, both were grossly mishandled but this year was far worse because it was entirely foreseeable and no contingency plans were put in place to deal with it. Indeed, no plans were finalised until two months before they were put into operation. That is a statement of fact, not really conducive therefore to opinion polling.

    But equally, there is no point in firing Gavin Williamson and keeping Nick Gibb. Or indeed, the entire DfE.

    Last years was badly mishandled in real time and in public as everyone's results were upgraded.

    This year it's been completely mishandled ( because there was time to create a viable plan) but because the results were presented without issues it doesn't look as bad.

    The biggest issue is what do you do in the future now GCSE and A levels have been destroyed
    To be honest, these reformed qualifications have been one shambles after another. I think Covid has brought forward their demise by two years but no more, as they were never going to work satisfactorily.
    This is not a subject of which I claim extensive knowledge, but one has to wonder what the point of GCSEs is in an age of compulsory full-time education to 18? Some sort of basic skills certificate (a formality for academic kids; proof of the ability to read, write, add up, and maybe handle a few other basic skills for the less bookish ones) would surely be quite sufficient for employers filling non-degree level vacancies?

    Once exams are reinstituted, I assume that we'll see A-levels and the Scottish equivalents simply return to roughly the attainment levels seen pre-Covid - or is there any sign of a replacement for them on the horizon...?
    Difficult to say, because what they were doing is changing the boundaries more or less at random to try and ensure the numbers getting the grades were more or less equivalent to those who got them the year before. Even though the idea of the new exams was to have consistency between year groups as to what constituted a grade 8/A* (9 at GCSE being a bit different).

    Well, that in itself has now caused problems, of course, because we’ve only got the fiddled boundaries to work with.

    So I honestly don’t know what they will do.

    The tragedy is, nor do they.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,061

    I thought Starmer called for teacher assessed A-levels as exams were unfair, now he says teacher assessments were unfair. as private school kids have done too well.

    Both are true, just unfair to different people.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 3,853
    edited August 2021
    Leon said:

    Sandpit said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Err, did they leave the thermometer out in the sun? I’ve only seen 42°C today, and I’m in Dubai in August!
    Yes, they did. It is an non-aspirated gauge in full sun.
    https://www.facebook.com/sias.regione.sicilia.it/photos/pcb.4206530166068161/4206528819401629

    The official site at the airport was "only" 40C.

    Definitely no record, so ignore.
    And yet there are multiple reports around Syracuse of temps around 40-45C. Are they all erroneous?

    I can believe this one stat is an exaggeration. But it’s clear there was an extreme hot weather event
    No, I think at least some of those are real. 44C seems possible. It isn't massively out of the ordinary, but it is indeed HOT. Dewpoints of 30C in places too. Ugh.

    You do have to be careful in these situations because there's a lot of dodgy stations out there and a definite agenda with regard to climate change (which is real, don't get me wrong, but there's always a search for big headlines).

    Having said that, it is entirely possible that the official record will go over the next few days, possibly in Spain over the weekend.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 39,748

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
    https://tinyurl.com/2vybeenr
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,742
    Foxy said:

    I thought Starmer called for teacher assessed A-levels as exams were unfair, now he says teacher assessments were unfair. as private school kids have done too well.

    Both are true, just unfair to different people.
    Which is why a sensible system has a mixture of a wide range of types of assessment.

    Unfortunately, the current system was devised by people who when they saw sense, shot it and buried it.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited August 2021
    Foxy said:

    I thought Starmer called for teacher assessed A-levels as exams were unfair, now he says teacher assessments were unfair. as private school kids have done too well.

    Both are true, just unfair to different people.
    The point is again he was onboard with the government approach, now he wants Williamson sacked for it.

    He also seems to have misread the public opinion (according to this poll), who think this year is much better approach.
  • Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
    https://tinyurl.com/2vybeenr
    My word.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603

    MaxPB said:

    Definitely time to say that, thankfully, the fears about the timing of step four were unfounded.

    https://twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1425473677047500801?s=19

    The likes of Prof Peston of course will never say such a thing.

    Nor iSage who seem to have gone very quiet since their 100,000 prediction was not anywhere near reached
    Sajid Javid is a part of iSage?

    UK Covid cases may soar to 100,000 a day, Sajid Javid warns.

    https://www.ft.com/content/08577e07-faeb-4cd2-96ed-567151b539f6
    He did say "may" go up to 100k. Indy Sage and the rest of them were saying it *definitely would* go up over 100k with step 4. I'm still not sure what's going to happen, especially in 3 and a bit weeks when the schools open up and we have failed to vaccinate 12-17 year olds to any significant degree.

    What's interesting is that the 18-24 demographic just overtook the 25-29 year olds for first dose uptake and the curve hasn't completely levelled off yet. They look to be trending towards where 30-39 year olds finished up. I think the don't get left behind advertising should be ramped up for all under 40s. Especially international travel, that could be a huge way of getting people to get vaccinated. No vaccine no flights, an advert showing a group of pretty young twenty somethings checking in at an airport, posting it all to Instagram while the loser who chose not to get the vaccine sits at home alone.
    I've started tentatively looking at a foreign holiday next year and I reckon that will be a huge nudge factor in getting vaccinated.

    We might rail about vaxports but other countries aren't taking any chances, is a case of you cannot come here without evidence of being jabbed.
    Yeah absolutely, I don't understand why adverts aren't being plastered all over the TV, social media and billboards. If I was the government I'd introduce a new temporary law that forced YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ to show 5s spots to all users under 40 before every 3rd video they stream with these "don't get left behind" themes.

    Just badger them into doing it.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,061

    Foxy said:

    I thought Starmer called for teacher assessed A-levels as exams were unfair, now he says teacher assessments were unfair. as private school kids have done too well.

    Both are true, just unfair to different people.
    The point is again he was onboard with the government approach, now he wants Williamson sacked for it.
    It is possible to praise the plan and damn the implementation.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
  • MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Definitely time to say that, thankfully, the fears about the timing of step four were unfounded.

    https://twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1425473677047500801?s=19

    The likes of Prof Peston of course will never say such a thing.

    Nor iSage who seem to have gone very quiet since their 100,000 prediction was not anywhere near reached
    Sajid Javid is a part of iSage?

    UK Covid cases may soar to 100,000 a day, Sajid Javid warns.

    https://www.ft.com/content/08577e07-faeb-4cd2-96ed-567151b539f6
    He did say "may" go up to 100k. Indy Sage and the rest of them were saying it *definitely would* go up over 100k with step 4. I'm still not sure what's going to happen, especially in 3 and a bit weeks when the schools open up and we have failed to vaccinate 12-17 year olds to any significant degree.

    What's interesting is that the 18-24 demographic just overtook the 25-29 year olds for first dose uptake and the curve hasn't completely levelled off yet. They look to be trending towards where 30-39 year olds finished up. I think the don't get left behind advertising should be ramped up for all under 40s. Especially international travel, that could be a huge way of getting people to get vaccinated. No vaccine no flights, an advert showing a group of pretty young twenty somethings checking in at an airport, posting it all to Instagram while the loser who chose not to get the vaccine sits at home alone.
    I've started tentatively looking at a foreign holiday next year and I reckon that will be a huge nudge factor in getting vaccinated.

    We might rail about vaxports but other countries aren't taking any chances, is a case of you cannot come here without evidence of being jabbed.
    Yeah absolutely, I don't understand why adverts aren't being plastered all over the TV, social media and billboards. If I was the government I'd introduce a new temporary law that forced YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ to show 5s spots to all users under 40 before every 3rd video they stream with these "don't get left behind" themes.

    Just badger them into doing it.
    I keep getting adverts to visit NZ.....I think that may be wasted advertising $.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    This is another threader where Labour and the Lib Dems are prominent with their absence.

    This is not a good indication for their prospects IMO.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,140
    edited August 2021

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
    https://tinyurl.com/2vybeenr
    My word.
    He's not a SNP supporter at all: quite the opposite.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited August 2021
    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    I thought Starmer called for teacher assessed A-levels as exams were unfair, now he says teacher assessments were unfair. as private school kids have done too well.

    Both are true, just unfair to different people.
    The point is again he was onboard with the government approach, now he wants Williamson sacked for it.
    It is possible to praise the plan and damn the implementation.
    Starmer hasn't proposed anything different. The same result would have occurred.

    That's the problem with Starmer, he never has any real concrete suggestions on anything that are either different or stand up to casual inspection e.g. not vaccine passports or invest in special government bonds that would be a lower rate than market returns available elsewhere.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,674
    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Disturbing. I am starting to wonder when the southern Med will actually become too hot to inhabit. Anything over 40C is far too hot. 48.8C is insane. Dangerously hot. Actively lethal
    I think 45c is the survivable threshold (and unable to cool down). I'm toast at 35c. I've always thought very highly of posters in Northern climes..) Especially those with spare rooms.
    The two places I experienced a heat like that was at Alice Springs (Aus) and Capernaum on the Sea of Galileo ( Israel) and it was unbearable
    Galilee
    Highest temperature I have ever experience was 47c, in the Dead Sea.

    Which was perfectly OK when I was swimming in it but truly horrible once I had even a pair of shorts and a thin shirt on again.

    Strangely, that felt even hotter than walking down from Masada after the cable car broke. And three of our party got heat exhaustion doing that.
    Death Valley for me, also had a month in Dallas where it never got below 100 degrees, luckily lots of air conditioning but not so nice outside for any length.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,140
    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    Keir Starmer has a good chance at being PM of a minority Government, higher than most think

    Yes but only with the support of Scottish and Welsh MPs, England alone will almost certainly have a Tory majority again next time
    Does that mean it doesn't count?
    That is the obvious inference.

    FUDHY has moved from “SNP don’t count” to “Scots don’t count”. That’s a big leap for a Unionist. But there’s the rub, he’s not really a Unionist, he’s an English Nationalist.

    His latest line of attack is that a Starmer win in the UK is insufficient. Unless Starmer wins in England, his mandate will not be respected.
    Rubbish.

    I perfectly accept we elect a UK government and that Starmer does not need to win a majority in England to become PM.

    I just want an English Parliament within the UK with the same powers the other Home Nations parliaments have.

    If I was an English Nationalist I would be advocating for English independence
    You did say that yesterday. I was surprised therew wasn't more reaction.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 3,853
    edited August 2021
    malcolmg said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Disturbing. I am starting to wonder when the southern Med will actually become too hot to inhabit. Anything over 40C is far too hot. 48.8C is insane. Dangerously hot. Actively lethal
    I think 45c is the survivable threshold (and unable to cool down). I'm toast at 35c. I've always thought very highly of posters in Northern climes..) Especially those with spare rooms.
    The two places I experienced a heat like that was at Alice Springs (Aus) and Capernaum on the Sea of Galileo ( Israel) and it was unbearable
    Galilee
    Highest temperature I have ever experience was 47c, in the Dead Sea.

    Which was perfectly OK when I was swimming in it but truly horrible once I had even a pair of shorts and a thin shirt on again.

    Strangely, that felt even hotter than walking down from Masada after the cable car broke. And three of our party got heat exhaustion doing that.
    Death Valley for me, also had a month in Dallas where it never got below 100 degrees, luckily lots of air conditioning but not so nice outside for any length.
    The only time I've ever been near to heat stroke was in....er....Fort William
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,674

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
    https://tinyurl.com/2vybeenr
    BBC's favourite Covid spokesperson, no surprise.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,787
    Carnyx said:

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
    https://tinyurl.com/2vybeenr
    My word.
    He's not a SNP supporter at all: quite the opposite.
    To be fair, he backed Better Together to protect “the free flow of ideas”. He was obviously worried about the effect of people like him having too much influence.

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/science-academics-back-better-together-campaign-1554324
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,061
    edited August 2021

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    In my job, people are just interested in what you did in the last couple of years. No one is interested in what went before that, short of being a criminal. After I qualified, I went off to NZ, then backpacked around South East Asia. It took me a couple of months to get proper work when I got back to the UK, but after a year no one has ever asked me again about it at interview etc.

    It's not where you started that matters, it's where you are going.
  • isamisam Posts: 40,730

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and of course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    :D
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,140
    edited August 2021

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Sandpit said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Err, did they leave the thermometer out in the sun? I’ve only seen 42°C today, and I’m in Dubai in August!
    There’s actually a forecast of 50C in Sicily in the next few days. The highest temps ever recorded on earth are around 56-58C

    Is it me, or has there been a cascade of weird weather events, these last weeks and months, which have changed the global conversation?

    Canada hitting near-50C was another psychological inflection point - just a couple of weeks back

    Suddenly it feels like it is happening - and accelerating
    No, Noddy, it's not just you!

    (Pay attention, really!)

    It's very interesting.
    So, if one were, say - just to pluck a random example - looking for a nice sunny place to retire in the next 5-10 years, where does one go?

    Greece was always at the top of my list. Or southern Portugal. Or Australia. Now?!
    Why chase the sun? If I as to retire, I might choose the east coast of Scotland. A beautiful area, few midges, and less rain that the west coast. And great people as well.
    Far too cold and dark for me, as it stands. And even if it warms up, it will still be infernally dark in the winter

    I can barely tolerate southern England, and that is much warmer and brighter than Perth

    What I seek is the Med climate as it was about 20 years ago, in, say, Provence. Long warm dry sunny summers, but also definite seasons. A short cold winter, early spring, colourful autumn

    What will provide that in ten years time?

    Cornwall? :smiley:
    Leon was actually born in Teignmouth. He is more gently Devon cream tea than rock-hard Cornish tin miner ... ;)
    Talkling about Leon and Cornwall - did he not say express an opinion about Cornish tin mining and a post of mine some time back which I missed till it was too late?

    For the record I've been down the Camborne School of Mines demo mine and also visited Geevor when it was working (not subsurface alas): Mrs C still has my Viva Geevor activist campaign T-shirt from that trip, appropriated from my wardrobe.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517

    malcolmg said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Disturbing. I am starting to wonder when the southern Med will actually become too hot to inhabit. Anything over 40C is far too hot. 48.8C is insane. Dangerously hot. Actively lethal
    I think 45c is the survivable threshold (and unable to cool down). I'm toast at 35c. I've always thought very highly of posters in Northern climes..) Especially those with spare rooms.
    The two places I experienced a heat like that was at Alice Springs (Aus) and Capernaum on the Sea of Galileo ( Israel) and it was unbearable
    Galilee
    Highest temperature I have ever experience was 47c, in the Dead Sea.

    Which was perfectly OK when I was swimming in it but truly horrible once I had even a pair of shorts and a thin shirt on again.

    Strangely, that felt even hotter than walking down from Masada after the cable car broke. And three of our party got heat exhaustion doing that.
    Death Valley for me, also had a month in Dallas where it never got below 100 degrees, luckily lots of air conditioning but not so nice outside for any length.
    The only time I've ever been near to heat stroke was in....er....Fort William
    A relative had the worst sunburn he's ever had on Skye. And he's spent some time working in the Aussie outback.

    (The difference probably being you expect it in the outback, so avoid the sun where possible. It's so rare on Skye that it catches you out. "Oh, it's a pleasant, sunny day. I'll take my shirt off..." is not something you hear much in those parts of Oz.)
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,140

    Carnyx said:

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
    https://tinyurl.com/2vybeenr
    My word.
    He's not a SNP supporter at all: quite the opposite.
    To be fair, he backed Better Together to protect “the free flow of ideas”. He was obviously worried about the effect of people like him having too much influence.

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/science-academics-back-better-together-campaign-1554324
    How very odd. Did he back Brexit, too, do you know?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,243
    9.30 pm and a sticky 30C here in central Athens.

    Am sitting on my hotel balcony in my pants, drinking wine, if anyone needs an unnecessary image
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Sandpit said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Err, did they leave the thermometer out in the sun? I’ve only seen 42°C today, and I’m in Dubai in August!
    There’s actually a forecast of 50C in Sicily in the next few days. The highest temps ever recorded on earth are around 56-58C

    Is it me, or has there been a cascade of weird weather events, these last weeks and months, which have changed the global conversation?

    Canada hitting near-50C was another psychological inflection point - just a couple of weeks back

    Suddenly it feels like it is happening - and accelerating
    No, Noddy, it's not just you!

    (Pay attention, really!)

    It's very interesting.
    So, if one were, say - just to pluck a random example - looking for a nice sunny place to retire in the next 5-10 years, where does one go?

    Greece was always at the top of my list. Or southern Portugal. Or Australia. Now?!
    Leeds
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081

    There seems to be ton of speculation about Williamson, but I read earlier today that Johnson has put back the reshuffle to the end of year.

    Which these days is an eon in political time.

    He has been putting that reshuffle off for over a year already....he will be witnessing the birth of his 27th kid before he actually goes through with it.
    It’s a clear sign of his impotence and lack of leadership. The reality is that many of the cabinet effectively own him, rather than vice versa.
  • pm215pm215 Posts: 926


    We might rail about vaxports but other countries aren't taking any chances, is a case of you cannot come here without evidence of being jabbed.

    Well, it's politically much easier to tell your voters "we aren't letting in random unvaxxed foreigners" than "we're not letting *you* do stuff without a jab"...
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    I see DeSantis had latched onto the "It's RSV" meme.

    Might we smell a u-turn coming up on masks.
  • Alistair said:

    I see DeSantis had latched onto the "It's RSV" meme.

    Might we smell a u-turn coming up on masks.

    RSV?
  • isamisam Posts: 40,730
    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I got a C and an E, and that was better than the rest of my mates put together!
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081
    Leon said:

    Sandpit said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Err, did they leave the thermometer out in the sun? I’ve only seen 42°C today, and I’m in Dubai in August!
    There’s actually a forecast of 50C in Sicily in the next few days. The highest temps ever recorded on earth are around 56-58C

    Is it me, or has there been a cascade of weird weather events, these last weeks and months, which have changed the global conversation?

    Canada hitting near-50C was another psychological inflection point - just a couple of weeks back

    Suddenly it feels like it is happening - and accelerating
    You’re right that, even if the recent run of freak events (notably those in the pacific US, western Germany, and Australia) is a random coincidence, they have pushed climate change right up the agenda.

    Death Valley holds the highest temperature record, and I guess it has its name for a reason.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,061

    Alistair said:

    I see DeSantis had latched onto the "It's RSV" meme.

    Might we smell a u-turn coming up on masks.

    RSV?
    Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

    We have had some very poorly cases of it in my Trust.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709
    edited August 2021
    59% of Labour 2010 voters voted Remain in 2016 and 41% voted Leave.

    By 2019 77% of Labour voters voted Remain and just 23% voted Leave.
    https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1425512711677427717?s=20
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 3,853
    edited August 2021

    malcolmg said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Disturbing. I am starting to wonder when the southern Med will actually become too hot to inhabit. Anything over 40C is far too hot. 48.8C is insane. Dangerously hot. Actively lethal
    I think 45c is the survivable threshold (and unable to cool down). I'm toast at 35c. I've always thought very highly of posters in Northern climes..) Especially those with spare rooms.
    The two places I experienced a heat like that was at Alice Springs (Aus) and Capernaum on the Sea of Galileo ( Israel) and it was unbearable
    Galilee
    Highest temperature I have ever experience was 47c, in the Dead Sea.

    Which was perfectly OK when I was swimming in it but truly horrible once I had even a pair of shorts and a thin shirt on again.

    Strangely, that felt even hotter than walking down from Masada after the cable car broke. And three of our party got heat exhaustion doing that.
    Death Valley for me, also had a month in Dallas where it never got below 100 degrees, luckily lots of air conditioning but not so nice outside for any length.
    The only time I've ever been near to heat stroke was in....er....Fort William
    A relative had the worst sunburn he's ever had on Skye. And he's spent some time working in the Aussie outback.

    (The difference probably being you expect it in the outback, so avoid the sun where possible. It's so rare on Skye that it catches you out. "Oh, it's a pleasant, sunny day. I'll take my shirt off..." is not something you hear much in those parts of Oz.)
    Indeed. Some friends got seriously scorched in April in Scotland walking in the snow.

    In my case it was pretty hot (29C max) so we set off to do the Ring of Steall from Glen Nevis at about 5am to avoid being out at midday. Wasn't early enough. Absolutely no water to be had anywhere, and not enough carried.

    I can't imagine what competing in a long distance event in Tokyo must have been like.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081
    edited August 2021
    Leon said:

    9.30 pm and a sticky 30C here in central Athens.

    Am sitting on my hotel balcony in my pants, drinking wine, if anyone needs an unnecessary image

    At least you’ve moved up from girly acidic fizz.

    When in Greece, drink Retsina.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    Justice for Geronimo :)
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,243

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279
    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    How's Greece?
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,195
    Pulpstar said:

    Justice for Geronimo :)

    Alpaca it in ....

  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,243
    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    9.30 pm and a sticky 30C here in central Athens.

    Am sitting on my hotel balcony in my pants, drinking wine, if anyone needs an unnecessary image

    At least you’ve moved up from girly acidic fizz.

    When in Greece, drink Retsina.
    No no no. We’ve had this debate before

    Greek wine is now world class, red or white. I am this moment drinking a superb red from Santorini

    Retsina was a long time ago
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279
    edited August 2021

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
    https://tinyurl.com/2vybeenr
    My word.
    That photo looks like it's been selected to make him look like Dracula.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Foxy said:

    Alistair said:

    I see DeSantis had latched onto the "It's RSV" meme.

    Might we smell a u-turn coming up on masks.

    RSV?
    Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

    We have had some very poorly cases of it in my Trust.
    The genius numb nutter of this is DeSantis is now saying there is not one but two deadly airborne viruses around and he still won't rescind his anti-mask legislation.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081
    edited August 2021
    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    9.30 pm and a sticky 30C here in central Athens.

    Am sitting on my hotel balcony in my pants, drinking wine, if anyone needs an unnecessary image

    At least you’ve moved up from girly acidic fizz.

    When in Greece, drink Retsina.
    No no no. We’ve had this debate before

    Greek wine is now world class, red or white. I am this moment drinking a superb red from Santorini

    Retsina was a long time ago
    I agree, there is some great Greek wine about nowadays, mostly white but also a few reds. Oddbins did the country a service in trailblazing for modern Greek winemaking.

    Nevertheless you can pick up Kourtaki Retsina from Sainsbury’s for £5.75 and on a sunny evening I can’t think of anything more satisfying that you could enjoy for less than £6.

    That said, we finally have a sunny evening here in the UK and I am enjoying some real Lambrusco imported by a wine retailer I found in Cambridge.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,243
    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    How's Greece?
    Excellent, right now. Good hotel, great wine, I’m in a rather pleasant neighbourhood with fine bars and restaurants, yet not many tourists - but just enough tourists to make it feel a tiny bit vibrant

    Also I can see the floodlit Parthenon from my hotel’s rooftop bar. Which is something
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,787
    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
    https://tinyurl.com/2vybeenr
    My word.
    He's not a SNP supporter at all: quite the opposite.
    To be fair, he backed Better Together to protect “the free flow of ideas”. He was obviously worried about the effect of people like him having too much influence.

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/science-academics-back-better-together-campaign-1554324
    How very odd. Did he back Brexit, too, do you know?
    No, he was against Brexit.

    https://www.labourhame.com/brexit-bad-for-science/
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    It's serendipitous for the long term health of our education system that private schools have inflated by more than the state sector. Without that happening there'd probably have been far less needed pushback by Labour
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081

    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    Thanks. I don't mind my diminutive role in life - I know I've influenced people a little (e.g. on walking the coast, of all things), but happiness matters to me. I'm taking great joy in raising my son, when other friends talk only of their jobs.

    And I enjoy life. Between the ages of 13 and 26, I was either in pain, or fear of pain, and got told I would never walk properly again. Since them I have backpacked nearly 20,000 miles, and am running daily. It won't matter to you or anyone else, but the victory over that personal struggle matters to me. I will get no Olympic records, but I am beating myself (fnarr, fnarr).

    But I'm generally an 'up' person. Whilst the black dog has sniffed at me, it has never stalked me. I find it easy to be happy, and that has probably reduced my drive a little.

    Oh, and my dad taught me many lessons. One was this: no-one ever says "I wish I had worked more" on their deathbed ...
    No-one ever dies wishing that they’d spent more time at the office. A lesson for many, including most of America.
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,195

    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    Thanks. I don't mind my diminutive role in life - I know I've influenced people a little (e.g. on walking the coast, of all things), but happiness matters to me. I'm taking great joy in raising my son, when other friends talk only of their jobs.

    And I enjoy life. Between the ages of 13 and 26, I was either in pain, or fear of pain, and got told I would never walk properly again. Since them I have backpacked nearly 20,000 miles, and am running daily. It won't matter to you or anyone else, but the victory over that personal struggle matters to me. I will get no Olympic records, but I am beating myself (fnarr, fnarr).

    But I'm generally an 'up' person. Whilst the black dog has sniffed at me, it has never stalked me. I find it easy to be happy, and that has probably reduced my drive a little.

    Oh, and my dad taught me many lessons. One was this: no-one ever says "I wish I had worked more" on their deathbed ...
    I was just going to use the same quote - it is for sure very true

    Another one I like from an old work colleague

    "enjoy life, this ain't no dress rehearsal, this is it"
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,243

    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    Thanks. I don't mind my diminutive role in life - I know I've influenced people a little (e.g. on walking the coast, of all things), but happiness matters to me. I'm taking great joy in raising my son, when other friends talk only of their jobs.

    And I enjoy life. Between the ages of 13 and 26, I was either in pain, or fear of pain, and got told I would never walk properly again. Since them I have backpacked nearly 20,000 miles, and am running daily. It won't matter to you or anyone else, but the victory over that personal struggle matters to me. I will get no Olympic records, but I am beating myself (fnarr, fnarr).

    But I'm generally an 'up' person. Whilst the black dog has sniffed at me, it has never stalked me. I find it easy to be happy, and that has probably reduced my drive a little.

    Oh, and my dad taught me many lessons. One was this: no-one ever says "I wish I had worked more" on their deathbed ...
    A sound philosophy. Respect to you and your dad

    I entirely agree on the deathbed thing. Whoever said, as they died, “dammit I should have bought a bigger TV”

    What we regret is missed experience. The places unvisited, the women unkissed, the times we hesitated and backed away.

    Seize it all! And now I am going to watch some Anthony Bourdain. Fittingly

    Kalispera
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    Thanks. I don't mind my diminutive role in life - I know I've influenced people a little (e.g. on walking the coast, of all things), but happiness matters to me. I'm taking great joy in raising my son, when other friends talk only of their jobs.

    And I enjoy life. Between the ages of 13 and 26, I was either in pain, or fear of pain, and got told I would never walk properly again. Since them I have backpacked nearly 20,000 miles, and am running daily. It won't matter to you or anyone else, but the victory over that personal struggle matters to me. I will get no Olympic records, but I am beating myself (fnarr, fnarr).

    But I'm generally an 'up' person. Whilst the black dog has sniffed at me, it has never stalked me. I find it easy to be happy, and that has probably reduced my drive a little.

    Oh, and my dad taught me many lessons. One was this: no-one ever says "I wish I had worked more" on their deathbed ...
    That last one annoys me, because there must be people sleeping rough in shop doorways saying exactly that.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,742
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    Thanks. I don't mind my diminutive role in life - I know I've influenced people a little (e.g. on walking the coast, of all things), but happiness matters to me. I'm taking great joy in raising my son, when other friends talk only of their jobs.

    And I enjoy life. Between the ages of 13 and 26, I was either in pain, or fear of pain, and got told I would never walk properly again. Since them I have backpacked nearly 20,000 miles, and am running daily. It won't matter to you or anyone else, but the victory over that personal struggle matters to me. I will get no Olympic records, but I am beating myself (fnarr, fnarr).

    But I'm generally an 'up' person. Whilst the black dog has sniffed at me, it has never stalked me. I find it easy to be happy, and that has probably reduced my drive a little.

    Oh, and my dad taught me many lessons. One was this: no-one ever says "I wish I had worked more" on their deathbed ...
    A sound philosophy. Respect to you and your dad

    I entirely agree on the deathbed thing. Whoever said, as they died, “dammit I should have bought a bigger TV”

    What we regret is missed experience. The places unvisited, the women unkissed, the times we hesitated and backed away.

    Seize it all! And now I am going to watch some Anthony Bourdain. Fittingly

    Kalispera
    When you said ‘seize it all,’ I thought for a moment we were back to the barmaid...
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,140
    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    9.30 pm and a sticky 30C here in central Athens.

    Am sitting on my hotel balcony in my pants, drinking wine, if anyone needs an unnecessary image

    At least you’ve moved up from girly acidic fizz.

    When in Greece, drink Retsina.
    No no no. We’ve had this debate before

    Greek wine is now world class, red or white. I am this moment drinking a superb red from Santorini

    Retsina was a long time ago
    I used to bring it to stident BYOB parties. Nobody else would drink it.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517

    malcolmg said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Disturbing. I am starting to wonder when the southern Med will actually become too hot to inhabit. Anything over 40C is far too hot. 48.8C is insane. Dangerously hot. Actively lethal
    I think 45c is the survivable threshold (and unable to cool down). I'm toast at 35c. I've always thought very highly of posters in Northern climes..) Especially those with spare rooms.
    The two places I experienced a heat like that was at Alice Springs (Aus) and Capernaum on the Sea of Galileo ( Israel) and it was unbearable
    Galilee
    Highest temperature I have ever experience was 47c, in the Dead Sea.

    Which was perfectly OK when I was swimming in it but truly horrible once I had even a pair of shorts and a thin shirt on again.

    Strangely, that felt even hotter than walking down from Masada after the cable car broke. And three of our party got heat exhaustion doing that.
    Death Valley for me, also had a month in Dallas where it never got below 100 degrees, luckily lots of air conditioning but not so nice outside for any length.
    The only time I've ever been near to heat stroke was in....er....Fort William
    A relative had the worst sunburn he's ever had on Skye. And he's spent some time working in the Aussie outback.

    (The difference probably being you expect it in the outback, so avoid the sun where possible. It's so rare on Skye that it catches you out. "Oh, it's a pleasant, sunny day. I'll take my shirt off..." is not something you hear much in those parts of Oz.)
    Indeed. Some friends got seriously scorched in April in Scotland walking in the snow.

    In my case it was pretty hot (29C max) so we set off to do the Ring of Steall from Glen Nevis at about 5am to avoid being out at midday. Wasn't early enough. Absolutely no water to be had anywhere, and not enough carried.

    I can't imagine what competing in a long distance event in Tokyo must have been like.
    The heat would melt me.

    I'm currently running every day, and am getting up at 4.30 to drive to the run. I hate running in heat, and there is something magical about watching a red sun rise above glowing cornfields. Switching off my headtorch as the ground ahead slowly emerges from the fading gloom. Watching muntjac deer flee from the approaching ghoul. Encountering a man with rifle shooting at rabbits ...
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081
    Carnyx said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    9.30 pm and a sticky 30C here in central Athens.

    Am sitting on my hotel balcony in my pants, drinking wine, if anyone needs an unnecessary image

    At least you’ve moved up from girly acidic fizz.

    When in Greece, drink Retsina.
    No no no. We’ve had this debate before

    Greek wine is now world class, red or white. I am this moment drinking a superb red from Santorini

    Retsina was a long time ago
    I used to bring it to stident BYOB parties. Nobody else would drink it.
    In the ordinary course of events, you wouldn’t.

    If you’re in a Greek taverna, enjoying some grilled fish as the sun goes down, looking out at the sea, there’s nothing better. Similarly for sitting out in the sunshine in the UK imagining you’re on a Greek island. Indoors at a party, it won’t work, at all.

    Remarkable that the story is that Retsina arose from an accident in ancient times when some pine resin used to seal some barrels leaked into the wine, and, thinking it was spoiled, thought it might be a taste that could catch on.

    So many of the flavours we enjoy as adults tasted revolting at first exposure, so kudos to those ancients who were so quick to spot Retsina’s potential.
  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    Carnyx said:

    Remember also The Saj said may go up to 100k, but because of effectiveness of vaccines, this would be ok. That's quite different from iSAGE who were saying we were going to hell in a hand cart.

    There's been so pretty shit predictions throughout this pandemic.

    My favourites were the false positives mob, Alistair Hames and his trend lines which mesmerised the gullible, and off course that chap who said we had reached herd immunity by May 2020.
    My favourite was the silly old f...ellow who said Scotland could manage without vaccination.
    Who was that bellend?
    https://tinyurl.com/2vybeenr
    My word.
    He's not a SNP supporter at all: quite the opposite.
    Professor Hugh Pennington is a Unionist, of the increasingly sparse Labourite sect.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,014
    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Disturbing. I am starting to wonder when the southern Med will actually become too hot to inhabit. Anything over 40C is far too hot. 48.8C is insane. Dangerously hot. Actively lethal
    Yes, it pissed me off when lots of councils and other organisations declared a "climate emergency" in 2018 and 2019, and I saw it as irritating self-absorbed virtue-signalling. And it was.

    But there's no doubt in my mind we do face an emergency of sorts, in that we all have to commit to as rapid a path to Net Zero as we can *this year* and, crucially, we must have China, India, Brazil and the US all part of it too.

    Fingers crossed.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Carnyx said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    9.30 pm and a sticky 30C here in central Athens.

    Am sitting on my hotel balcony in my pants, drinking wine, if anyone needs an unnecessary image

    At least you’ve moved up from girly acidic fizz.

    When in Greece, drink Retsina.
    No no no. We’ve had this debate before

    Greek wine is now world class, red or white. I am this moment drinking a superb red from Santorini

    Retsina was a long time ago
    I used to bring it to stident BYOB parties. Nobody else would drink it.
    Would be a real Proust's madeleine moment for me to drink some now - part of the staple student diet in 1970s Greece.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    The only people who have ever asked me are my friends kids when they are thinking about their GCSE / A-levels choices, because they know I and Mrs U then went on to spend many years in academia and sort of intrigued how that comes about.
    Nobody asks me either. Nonetheless I tell them.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 7,459
    edited August 2021
    On topic, catching up, being boring.

    It's hardly surprising that this year's A-level (and BTEC) results have gone better than last year's. Everybody's got at least what they want, and many have got better. So nobody is moaning much - I'm yet to read a complaint of unfairness, or threats of appeals against grades. It's not just grade inflation - it's hyperinflation. Everybody involved knows that it's utterly ludicrous to give 45% A*/A grades. And it's been a short-term fix that will give a long-term headache.

    Interesting that grade inflation is lowest in state sixth form colleges: many of which are huge A-level factories with real expertise, where teachers' integrity won't allow them to overrate their students, and where parental pressure carries little weight. By contrast, private schools......
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851
    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    Well you can only beat what's in front of you.
    In all honesty I wish I had only done four and, more importantly, done different subjects.

    Sadly, my secondary with no sixth form gave me no help when it came to picking A levels.
    5 As is great without caveat. 🙂
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,014

    Leon said:

    Sandpit said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Err, did they leave the thermometer out in the sun? I’ve only seen 42°C today, and I’m in Dubai in August!
    Yes, they did. It is an non-aspirated gauge in full sun.
    https://www.facebook.com/sias.regione.sicilia.it/photos/pcb.4206530166068161/4206528819401629

    The official site at the airport was "only" 40C.

    Definitely no record, so ignore.
    And yet there are multiple reports around Syracuse of temps around 40-45C. Are they all erroneous?

    I can believe this one stat is an exaggeration. But it’s clear there was an extreme hot weather event
    No, I think at least some of those are real. 44C seems possible. It isn't massively out of the ordinary, but it is indeed HOT. Dewpoints of 30C in places too. Ugh.

    You do have to be careful in these situations because there's a lot of dodgy stations out there and a definite agenda with regard to climate change (which is real, don't get me wrong, but there's always a search for big headlines).

    Having said that, it is entirely possible that the official record will go over the next few days, possibly in Spain over the weekend.
    The really scary thing is that this year is probably going to be one of the coolest ones this century.

    We won't start to see "benefits" of determined action we take today until 2070-2080, by which time I'll probably be dead.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851
    isam said:

    MaxPB said:

    Definitely time to say that, thankfully, the fears about the timing of step four were unfounded.

    https://twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1425473677047500801?s=19

    The likes of Prof Peston of course will never say such a thing.

    Nor iSage who seem to have gone very quiet since their 100,000 prediction was not anywhere near reached
    Sajid Javid is a part of iSage?

    UK Covid cases may soar to 100,000 a day, Sajid Javid warns.

    https://www.ft.com/content/08577e07-faeb-4cd2-96ed-567151b539f6
    He did say "may" go up to 100k. Indy Sage and the rest of them were saying it *definitely would* go up over 100k with step 4. I'm still not sure what's going to happen, especially in 3 and a bit weeks when the schools open up and we have failed to vaccinate 12-17 year olds to any significant degree.

    What's interesting is that the 18-24 demographic just overtook the 25-29 year olds for first dose uptake and the curve hasn't completely levelled off yet. They look to be trending towards where 30-39 year olds finished up. I think the don't get left behind advertising should be ramped up for all under 40s. Especially international travel, that could be a huge way of getting people to get vaccinated. No vaccine no flights, an advert showing a group of pretty young twenty somethings checking in at an airport, posting it all to Instagram while the loser who chose not to get the vaccine sits at home alone.
    "Lifting all restrictions in one go is reckless, and doing so when the Johnson Variant is clearly out of control risks a summer of chaos.

    We're heading now for an NHS summer crisis"

    said Sir Keir
    Starmer Derangement Syndrome. Get a jab.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    Leon said:


    Greek wine is now world class, red or white.

    Richard Nabavi endorses this statement.
  • AlistairMAlistairM Posts: 2,004

    malcolmg said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Disturbing. I am starting to wonder when the southern Med will actually become too hot to inhabit. Anything over 40C is far too hot. 48.8C is insane. Dangerously hot. Actively lethal
    I think 45c is the survivable threshold (and unable to cool down). I'm toast at 35c. I've always thought very highly of posters in Northern climes..) Especially those with spare rooms.
    The two places I experienced a heat like that was at Alice Springs (Aus) and Capernaum on the Sea of Galileo ( Israel) and it was unbearable
    Galilee
    Highest temperature I have ever experience was 47c, in the Dead Sea.

    Which was perfectly OK when I was swimming in it but truly horrible once I had even a pair of shorts and a thin shirt on again.

    Strangely, that felt even hotter than walking down from Masada after the cable car broke. And three of our party got heat exhaustion doing that.
    Death Valley for me, also had a month in Dallas where it never got below 100 degrees, luckily lots of air conditioning but not so nice outside for any length.
    The only time I've ever been near to heat stroke was in....er....Fort William
    A relative had the worst sunburn he's ever had on Skye. And he's spent some time working in the Aussie outback.

    (The difference probably being you expect it in the outback, so avoid the sun where possible. It's so rare on Skye that it catches you out. "Oh, it's a pleasant, sunny day. I'll take my shirt off..." is not something you hear much in those parts of Oz.)
    Indeed. Some friends got seriously scorched in April in Scotland walking in the snow.

    In my case it was pretty hot (29C max) so we set off to do the Ring of Steall from Glen Nevis at about 5am to avoid being out at midday. Wasn't early enough. Absolutely no water to be had anywhere, and not enough carried.

    I can't imagine what competing in a long distance event in Tokyo must have been like.
    The heat would melt me.

    I'm currently running every day, and am getting up at 4.30 to drive to the run. I hate running in heat, and there is something magical about watching a red sun rise above glowing cornfields. Switching off my headtorch as the ground ahead slowly emerges from the fading gloom. Watching muntjac deer flee from the approaching ghoul. Encountering a man with rifle shooting at rabbits ...
    Glad I'm not the only pre-dawn running nutter. Not always appreciated by the family so don't get to do it much!
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081
    edited August 2021

    Leon said:

    Sandpit said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Err, did they leave the thermometer out in the sun? I’ve only seen 42°C today, and I’m in Dubai in August!
    Yes, they did. It is an non-aspirated gauge in full sun.
    https://www.facebook.com/sias.regione.sicilia.it/photos/pcb.4206530166068161/4206528819401629

    The official site at the airport was "only" 40C.

    Definitely no record, so ignore.
    And yet there are multiple reports around Syracuse of temps around 40-45C. Are they all erroneous?

    I can believe this one stat is an exaggeration. But it’s clear there was an extreme hot weather event
    No, I think at least some of those are real. 44C seems possible. It isn't massively out of the ordinary, but it is indeed HOT. Dewpoints of 30C in places too. Ugh.

    You do have to be careful in these situations because there's a lot of dodgy stations out there and a definite agenda with regard to climate change (which is real, don't get me wrong, but there's always a search for big headlines).

    Having said that, it is entirely possible that the official record will go over the next few days, possibly in Spain over the weekend.
    The really scary thing is that this year is probably going to be one of the coolest ones this century.

    We won't start to see "benefits" of determined action we take today until 2070-2080, by which time I'll probably be dead.
    Climate change will be the vanguard issue that helps the young finally wrest politics from the toxic control of the boomer generation.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    Thanks. I don't mind my diminutive role in life - I know I've influenced people a little (e.g. on walking the coast, of all things), but happiness matters to me. I'm taking great joy in raising my son, when other friends talk only of their jobs.

    And I enjoy life. Between the ages of 13 and 26, I was either in pain, or fear of pain, and got told I would never walk properly again. Since them I have backpacked nearly 20,000 miles, and am running daily. It won't matter to you or anyone else, but the victory over that personal struggle matters to me. I will get no Olympic records, but I am beating myself (fnarr, fnarr).

    But I'm generally an 'up' person. Whilst the black dog has sniffed at me, it has never stalked me. I find it easy to be happy, and that has probably reduced my drive a little.

    Oh, and my dad taught me many lessons. One was this: no-one ever says "I wish I had worked more" on their deathbed ...
    That last one annoys me, because there must be people sleeping rough in shop doorways saying exactly that.
    I think you miss the point. Someone sleeping rough in shop doorways may regret not having worked harder (and that is a dangerous assumption, as homelessness can have many varied causes, e.g. addiction). Instead, they would have spent their time doing other things they presumably enjoyed.

    The saying is about people who work so hard they forget why they are working; those who live to work, rather than work to live. Those who miss simple enjoyments in life because their own addiction is work.

    In some ways they are opposite sides of the same coin.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,014
    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Sandpit said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Err, did they leave the thermometer out in the sun? I’ve only seen 42°C today, and I’m in Dubai in August!
    Yes, they did. It is an non-aspirated gauge in full sun.
    https://www.facebook.com/sias.regione.sicilia.it/photos/pcb.4206530166068161/4206528819401629

    The official site at the airport was "only" 40C.

    Definitely no record, so ignore.
    And yet there are multiple reports around Syracuse of temps around 40-45C. Are they all erroneous?

    I can believe this one stat is an exaggeration. But it’s clear there was an extreme hot weather event
    No, I think at least some of those are real. 44C seems possible. It isn't massively out of the ordinary, but it is indeed HOT. Dewpoints of 30C in places too. Ugh.

    You do have to be careful in these situations because there's a lot of dodgy stations out there and a definite agenda with regard to climate change (which is real, don't get me wrong, but there's always a search for big headlines).

    Having said that, it is entirely possible that the official record will go over the next few days, possibly in Spain over the weekend.
    The really scary thing is that this year is probably going to be one of the coolest ones this century.

    We won't start to see "benefits" of determined action we take today until 2070-2080, by which time I'll probably be dead.
    Climate change will be the vanguard issue that helps the young finally wrest politics from the toxic control of our own generation.
    Hmm. I think that's too simplistic and too dramatic.

    The reality is that there's majority opinion for action on this across all age groups now, and that's grown firmer over the last two years.

    The dividing line is between capitalist technologists and the socialist hair-shirt brigade.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    AlistairM said:

    malcolmg said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Disturbing. I am starting to wonder when the southern Med will actually become too hot to inhabit. Anything over 40C is far too hot. 48.8C is insane. Dangerously hot. Actively lethal
    I think 45c is the survivable threshold (and unable to cool down). I'm toast at 35c. I've always thought very highly of posters in Northern climes..) Especially those with spare rooms.
    The two places I experienced a heat like that was at Alice Springs (Aus) and Capernaum on the Sea of Galileo ( Israel) and it was unbearable
    Galilee
    Highest temperature I have ever experience was 47c, in the Dead Sea.

    Which was perfectly OK when I was swimming in it but truly horrible once I had even a pair of shorts and a thin shirt on again.

    Strangely, that felt even hotter than walking down from Masada after the cable car broke. And three of our party got heat exhaustion doing that.
    Death Valley for me, also had a month in Dallas where it never got below 100 degrees, luckily lots of air conditioning but not so nice outside for any length.
    The only time I've ever been near to heat stroke was in....er....Fort William
    A relative had the worst sunburn he's ever had on Skye. And he's spent some time working in the Aussie outback.

    (The difference probably being you expect it in the outback, so avoid the sun where possible. It's so rare on Skye that it catches you out. "Oh, it's a pleasant, sunny day. I'll take my shirt off..." is not something you hear much in those parts of Oz.)
    Indeed. Some friends got seriously scorched in April in Scotland walking in the snow.

    In my case it was pretty hot (29C max) so we set off to do the Ring of Steall from Glen Nevis at about 5am to avoid being out at midday. Wasn't early enough. Absolutely no water to be had anywhere, and not enough carried.

    I can't imagine what competing in a long distance event in Tokyo must have been like.
    The heat would melt me.

    I'm currently running every day, and am getting up at 4.30 to drive to the run. I hate running in heat, and there is something magical about watching a red sun rise above glowing cornfields. Switching off my headtorch as the ground ahead slowly emerges from the fading gloom. Watching muntjac deer flee from the approaching ghoul. Encountering a man with rifle shooting at rabbits ...
    Glad I'm not the only pre-dawn running nutter. Not always appreciated by the family so don't get to do it much!
    Running at or near dawn is wonderful. The day is renewed, and so am I. One day last winter I ran in the dark, my walking boots crunching through snow, as a Starlink train sped through the sky overhead.

    I first met Mrs J a couple of months after completing a year-long hike. She knew the sort of obsessive she was getting involved with ... ;)

    Besides, the idea is that I have some 'me-time' in the early morning, before I get to look after the little-un all day (during the holidays, at least).
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    edited August 2021
    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,087
    AlistairM said:

    malcolmg said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Disturbing. I am starting to wonder when the southern Med will actually become too hot to inhabit. Anything over 40C is far too hot. 48.8C is insane. Dangerously hot. Actively lethal
    I think 45c is the survivable threshold (and unable to cool down). I'm toast at 35c. I've always thought very highly of posters in Northern climes..) Especially those with spare rooms.
    The two places I experienced a heat like that was at Alice Springs (Aus) and Capernaum on the Sea of Galileo ( Israel) and it was unbearable
    Galilee
    Highest temperature I have ever experience was 47c, in the Dead Sea.

    Which was perfectly OK when I was swimming in it but truly horrible once I had even a pair of shorts and a thin shirt on again.

    Strangely, that felt even hotter than walking down from Masada after the cable car broke. And three of our party got heat exhaustion doing that.
    Death Valley for me, also had a month in Dallas where it never got below 100 degrees, luckily lots of air conditioning but not so nice outside for any length.
    The only time I've ever been near to heat stroke was in....er....Fort William
    A relative had the worst sunburn he's ever had on Skye. And he's spent some time working in the Aussie outback.

    (The difference probably being you expect it in the outback, so avoid the sun where possible. It's so rare on Skye that it catches you out. "Oh, it's a pleasant, sunny day. I'll take my shirt off..." is not something you hear much in those parts of Oz.)
    Indeed. Some friends got seriously scorched in April in Scotland walking in the snow.

    In my case it was pretty hot (29C max) so we set off to do the Ring of Steall from Glen Nevis at about 5am to avoid being out at midday. Wasn't early enough. Absolutely no water to be had anywhere, and not enough carried.

    I can't imagine what competing in a long distance event in Tokyo must have been like.
    The heat would melt me.

    I'm currently running every day, and am getting up at 4.30 to drive to the run. I hate running in heat, and there is something magical about watching a red sun rise above glowing cornfields. Switching off my headtorch as the ground ahead slowly emerges from the fading gloom. Watching muntjac deer flee from the approaching ghoul. Encountering a man with rifle shooting at rabbits ...
    Glad I'm not the only pre-dawn running nutter. Not always appreciated by the family so don't get to do it much!
    I used to prefer heading out, if not quite before dawn, then certainly early in the morning. An injury and a resultant cliff-edge drop in fitness seems to have done for that - I can manage a few k's before it starts to feel like I'm wading through treacle.

    At the moment I'm therefore running after work instead so I can get a meal down me beforehand, and I feel a little less like I've had my batteries ripped out before I get to the bottom of the road (an exaggeration, but only a slight one!) The resultant performances are marginally less rubbish, but it's definitely a bit too hot for my liking at this time of year.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    edited August 2021

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    Thanks. I don't mind my diminutive role in life - I know I've influenced people a little (e.g. on walking the coast, of all things), but happiness matters to me. I'm taking great joy in raising my son, when other friends talk only of their jobs.

    And I enjoy life. Between the ages of 13 and 26, I was either in pain, or fear of pain, and got told I would never walk properly again. Since them I have backpacked nearly 20,000 miles, and am running daily. It won't matter to you or anyone else, but the victory over that personal struggle matters to me. I will get no Olympic records, but I am beating myself (fnarr, fnarr).

    But I'm generally an 'up' person. Whilst the black dog has sniffed at me, it has never stalked me. I find it easy to be happy, and that has probably reduced my drive a little.

    Oh, and my dad taught me many lessons. One was this: no-one ever says "I wish I had worked more" on their deathbed ...
    That last one annoys me, because there must be people sleeping rough in shop doorways saying exactly that.
    I think you miss the point. Someone sleeping rough in shop doorways may regret not having worked harder (and that is a dangerous assumption, as homelessness can have many varied causes, e.g. addiction). Instead, they would have spent their time doing other things they presumably enjoyed.

    The saying is about people who work so hard they forget why they are working; those who live to work, rather than work to live. Those who miss simple enjoyments in life because their own addiction is work.

    In some ways they are opposite sides of the same coin.
    Yes, I do get the (thunderingly obvious) point of the saying. Equally, the people I know who get the most fun out of life are also the ones who work the hardest (not me, I'm lazy and depression-ridden). Hard work gets them money which, sadly, gets them happiness.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited August 2021

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    30-40 unvaxxed range for UK isn't good....that's far too high.
  • isamisam Posts: 40,730
    edited August 2021
    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    MaxPB said:

    Definitely time to say that, thankfully, the fears about the timing of step four were unfounded.

    https://twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1425473677047500801?s=19

    The likes of Prof Peston of course will never say such a thing.

    Nor iSage who seem to have gone very quiet since their 100,000 prediction was not anywhere near reached
    Sajid Javid is a part of iSage?

    UK Covid cases may soar to 100,000 a day, Sajid Javid warns.

    https://www.ft.com/content/08577e07-faeb-4cd2-96ed-567151b539f6
    He did say "may" go up to 100k. Indy Sage and the rest of them were saying it *definitely would* go up over 100k with step 4. I'm still not sure what's going to happen, especially in 3 and a bit weeks when the schools open up and we have failed to vaccinate 12-17 year olds to any significant degree.

    What's interesting is that the 18-24 demographic just overtook the 25-29 year olds for first dose uptake and the curve hasn't completely levelled off yet. They look to be trending towards where 30-39 year olds finished up. I think the don't get left behind advertising should be ramped up for all under 40s. Especially international travel, that could be a huge way of getting people to get vaccinated. No vaccine no flights, an advert showing a group of pretty young twenty somethings checking in at an airport, posting it all to Instagram while the loser who chose not to get the vaccine sits at home alone.
    "Lifting all restrictions in one go is reckless, and doing so when the Johnson Variant is clearly out of control risks a summer of chaos.

    We're heading now for an NHS summer crisis"

    said Sir Keir
    Starmer Derangement Syndrome. Get a jab.
    Had mine, but surely were allowed to notice when fear mongers cry wolf?

    Anyway, the BDS suffferers have been driven to the verge of madness because he keeps winning in spite of their logic saying it’s impossible. Sir Keir hasn’t done that yet, in fact having gone in quite early on him being crap, saying to lay him as next PM at 2/1, the market says I am right, so far. So the attempted counter doesn’t work
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    edited August 2021
    IshmaelZ said:

    Yes, I do get the (thunderingly obvious) point of the saying. Equally, the people I know who get the most fun out of life are also the ones who work the hardest (not me, I'm lazy and depression-ridden). Hard work gets them money which, sadly, gets them happiness.

    A question: how do you know they're happy? Is it that you see what they are doing with their money, like it, and think it would make you happy if you could do the same? Or are they the sort of people who go around proclaiming how happy they are (which probably means they are not)?

    Happiness is almost invisible from the outside. There are plenty of divorcees who will proclaim they thought their spouse was happy until they got asked for a divorce. Likewise, there are plenty of depressives who can smile at a good joke.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    30-40 unvaxxed range for UK isn't good....that's far too high.
    Agree (although its not as serious an illness for them as the 50+) - but the vaccine roll out does seem to have significantly "gone off the boil" - have't heard anything from Zahawi for a while.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    IshmaelZ said:

    Yes, I do get the (thunderingly obvious) point of the saying. Equally, the people I know who get the most fun out of life are also the ones who work the hardest (not me, I'm lazy and depression-ridden). Hard work gets them money which, sadly, gets them happiness.

    A question: how do you know they're happy? Is it that you see what they are doing with their money, like it, and think it would make you happy if you could do the same? Or are they the sort of people who go around proclaiming how happy they are (which probably means they are not)?

    Happiness is almost invisible from the outside. There are plenty of divorcees who will proclaim they thought their spouse was happy until they got asked for a divorce. Likewise, there are plenty of depressives who can smile at a good joke.
    These are people I know very well. I am not pressing my nose against a shop window saying Oooh, look a Ferrari driver, how idyllic every aspect of his life must be. You seem to think I am even more stupid than I actually am.
  • Andy_CookeAndy_Cooke Posts: 4,793
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Sandpit said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Err, did they leave the thermometer out in the sun? I’ve only seen 42°C today, and I’m in Dubai in August!
    There’s actually a forecast of 50C in Sicily in the next few days. The highest temps ever recorded on earth are around 56-58C

    Is it me, or has there been a cascade of weird weather events, these last weeks and months, which have changed the global conversation?

    Canada hitting near-50C was another psychological inflection point - just a couple of weeks back

    Suddenly it feels like it is happening - and accelerating
    No, Noddy, it's not just you!

    (Pay attention, really!)

    It's very interesting.
    So, if one were, say - just to pluck a random example - looking for a nice sunny place to retire in the next 5-10 years, where does one go?

    Greece was always at the top of my list. Or southern Portugal. Or Australia. Now?!
    Why chase the sun? If I as to retire, I might choose the east coast of Scotland. A beautiful area, few midges, and less rain that the west coast. And great people as well.
    Far too cold and dark for me, as it stands. And even if it warms up, it will still be infernally dark in the winter

    I can barely tolerate southern England, and that is much warmer and brighter than Perth

    What I seek is the Med climate as it was about 20 years ago, in, say, Provence. Long warm dry sunny summers, but also definite seasons. A short cold winter, early spring, colourful autumn

    What will provide that in ten years time?

    Cornwall? :smiley:
    Not a bad guess. Unless the Gulf Stream fails…
    Possibly Brittany?
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Sandpit said:

    IanB2 said:

    OT, suggestions that Sicily may have reached a record-breaking 48.8 C (120F) today.

    Err, did they leave the thermometer out in the sun? I’ve only seen 42°C today, and I’m in Dubai in August!
    There’s actually a forecast of 50C in Sicily in the next few days. The highest temps ever recorded on earth are around 56-58C

    Is it me, or has there been a cascade of weird weather events, these last weeks and months, which have changed the global conversation?

    Canada hitting near-50C was another psychological inflection point - just a couple of weeks back

    Suddenly it feels like it is happening - and accelerating
    No, Noddy, it's not just you!

    (Pay attention, really!)

    It's very interesting.
    So, if one were, say - just to pluck a random example - looking for a nice sunny place to retire in the next 5-10 years, where does one go?

    Greece was always at the top of my list. Or southern Portugal. Or Australia. Now?!
    Why chase the sun? If I as to retire, I might choose the east coast of Scotland. A beautiful area, few midges, and less rain that the west coast. And great people as well.
    Far too cold and dark for me, as it stands. And even if it warms up, it will still be infernally dark in the winter

    I can barely tolerate southern England, and that is much warmer and brighter than Perth

    What I seek is the Med climate as it was about 20 years ago, in, say, Provence. Long warm dry sunny summers, but also definite seasons. A short cold winter, early spring, colourful autumn

    What will provide that in ten years time?

    Cornwall? :smiley:
    Not a bad guess. Unless the Gulf Stream fails…
    Possibly Brittany?
    Same climate as Cornwall, fewer wankers.

    I have my eye on los Picos de Europa, now that the Pyrenees are getting overcrowded.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    30-40 unvaxxed range for UK isn't good....that's far too high.
    If you're a healthy 30-40 year old, why on earth bother to get the jab in the UK now ?
    The JCVI has made it very clear it's a finely balanced decision.....
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    IshmaelZ said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Yes, I do get the (thunderingly obvious) point of the saying. Equally, the people I know who get the most fun out of life are also the ones who work the hardest (not me, I'm lazy and depression-ridden). Hard work gets them money which, sadly, gets them happiness.

    A question: how do you know they're happy? Is it that you see what they are doing with their money, like it, and think it would make you happy if you could do the same? Or are they the sort of people who go around proclaiming how happy they are (which probably means they are not)?

    Happiness is almost invisible from the outside. There are plenty of divorcees who will proclaim they thought their spouse was happy until they got asked for a divorce. Likewise, there are plenty of depressives who can smile at a good joke.
    These are people I know very well. I am not pressing my nose against a shop window saying Oooh, look a Ferrari driver, how idyllic every aspect of his life must be. You seem to think I am even more stupid than I actually am.
    I do not mean to imply that. However, look at my comment on divorcees: it can be difficult enough to discern 'happiness' from inside a marital relationship, yet alone outside. It is not unknown for someone to commit suicide where people who knew them well say how 'happy' that person was.

    Happiness is beautiful, but can also be fleeting and ethereal. In fact, being constantly happy must be an awful emotional drain. How can you appreciate being happy if you don't have even minor lows to compare it to?
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 39,748
    IshmaelZ said:

    Carnyx said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    9.30 pm and a sticky 30C here in central Athens.

    Am sitting on my hotel balcony in my pants, drinking wine, if anyone needs an unnecessary image

    At least you’ve moved up from girly acidic fizz.

    When in Greece, drink Retsina.
    No no no. We’ve had this debate before

    Greek wine is now world class, red or white. I am this moment drinking a superb red from Santorini

    Retsina was a long time ago
    I used to bring it to stident BYOB parties. Nobody else would drink it.
    Would be a real Proust's madeleine moment for me to drink some now - part of the staple student diet in 1970s Greece.
    Accompanied by the clatter of scooters & stink of 2 stroke exhaust might make me dissolve with yearning (though for a slightly later period).
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,263

    Leon said:

    tlg86 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    I am shocked that the public, after their little genius got As all round, have a positive view of the exam results.

    Actually my granddaughter achieved excellent results but it was expected as she was the best student in her school last year

    However, I have concerns at the obvious grade inflation, but also that this cohort may find they are forever known as the covid students and may experience some employer resistance in the future ( I hope not)
    With so many people getting degrees, A-levels are really just the process by which you get a uni place. What is then important is you do well at that and this is what future employers will be more concerned about.
    I have had a successful career and no one has EVER asked me what degree I got. Indeed I’m not sure anyone ever asked me whether I even HAD a degree

    if you can knap a decent butt plug, you’re good to go
    Well for most, in the way A-level sort for uni places, degrees results sort for grad scheme places, and then again once you are on that, nobody cares what degree you got. Even if you stay in academia for a masters, PhD etc, again it all soon becomes irreverent, its what you did most recently that matters.
    No, I still tell people about my 4 As. And they're still impressed. Especially when I explain at length about grade inflation and how hard it was back then to get 4 As.
    I got 5 A grades at A level...

    (in 2005)
    I really mucked up my A-levels, and did not get a degree (*). I don't think I've done badly for myself, despite this. I tell people about it if the subject comes up, as it is part of me. I didn't achieve amazing things in my career, but I'd like to think I did well.

    I'm probably one of the 99.99% of people who don't make a dent on the universe.

    Career history matters o much more than exams. Most of my jobs were obtained via people I had worked with before.

    (*) To be fair, mostly for health reasons as I was in and out of hospital.
    Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one, literally no one, makes a “dent in the universe”. I know some really successful people - genuinely famous and admired - and as they age they all ruefully acknowledge this. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters

    Julian Barnes “Nothing to be Frightened of” is good on this subject. Eventually there will come a day when the last Shakespeare play is read or dramatized for the last time and then even Shakespeare is forgotten, and the book is put back on the shelf, never to be re-read

    The best you can aim for is to be as nice to as many people as possible, and maybe make or do something that you and others gain satisfaction from, in your own life. Leave posterity to the Gods, the Gods will assuredly forget you

    Also, have a laugh. ie If you make money, spend it. Life is tremulously fragile and truncated. Enjoy
    Thanks. I don't mind my diminutive role in life - I know I've influenced people a little (e.g. on walking the coast, of all things), but happiness matters to me. I'm taking great joy in raising my son, when other friends talk only of their jobs.

    And I enjoy life. Between the ages of 13 and 26, I was either in pain, or fear of pain, and got told I would never walk properly again. Since them I have backpacked nearly 20,000 miles, and am running daily. It won't matter to you or anyone else, but the victory over that personal struggle matters to me. I will get no Olympic records, but I am beating myself (fnarr, fnarr).

    But I'm generally an 'up' person. Whilst the black dog has sniffed at me, it has never stalked me. I find it easy to be happy, and that has probably reduced my drive a little.

    Oh, and my dad taught me many lessons. One was this: no-one ever says "I wish I had worked more" on their deathbed ...
    The Tired Old Dog of Forgiveness is a useful concept...

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/06/life-can-be-so-hard-and-every-day-a-grind-the-animals-are-here-to-help-if-we-let-them
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    Pulpstar said:

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    30-40 unvaxxed range for UK isn't good....that's far too high.
    If you're a healthy 30-40 year old, why on earth bother to get the jab in the UK now ?
    The JCVI has made it very clear it's a finely balanced decision.....
    adults aged 18 to 39 years with no underlying health conditions are offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, if available and if it does not cause delays in having the vaccine.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-advises-on-covid-19-vaccine-for-people-aged-under-40

    Nothing "finely balanced" there....
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392

    IshmaelZ said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Yes, I do get the (thunderingly obvious) point of the saying. Equally, the people I know who get the most fun out of life are also the ones who work the hardest (not me, I'm lazy and depression-ridden). Hard work gets them money which, sadly, gets them happiness.

    A question: how do you know they're happy? Is it that you see what they are doing with their money, like it, and think it would make you happy if you could do the same? Or are they the sort of people who go around proclaiming how happy they are (which probably means they are not)?

    Happiness is almost invisible from the outside. There are plenty of divorcees who will proclaim they thought their spouse was happy until they got asked for a divorce. Likewise, there are plenty of depressives who can smile at a good joke.
    These are people I know very well. I am not pressing my nose against a shop window saying Oooh, look a Ferrari driver, how idyllic every aspect of his life must be. You seem to think I am even more stupid than I actually am.
    I do not mean to imply that. However, look at my comment on divorcees: it can be difficult enough to discern 'happiness' from inside a marital relationship, yet alone outside. It is not unknown for someone to commit suicide where people who knew them well say how 'happy' that person was.

    Happiness is beautiful, but can also be fleeting and ethereal. In fact, being constantly happy must be an awful emotional drain. How can you appreciate being happy if you don't have even minor lows to compare it to?
    I sometimes think there is pressure to be happy, with a depressing effect if people consider is there something wrong with them if they are not boundingly happy, rather than perhaps content and satisfied.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,742
    Pulpstar said:

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    30-40 unvaxxed range for UK isn't good....that's far too high.
    If you're a healthy 30-40 year old, why on earth bother to get the jab in the UK now ?
    The JCVI has made it very clear it's a finely balanced decision.....
    Given almost 90% of the population aged over 18 have had at least one jab, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.

    We’re on course for 72% of the population vaccinated even before the government changes its mind on jabbing secondary school children.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    edited August 2021

    Pulpstar said:

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    30-40 unvaxxed range for UK isn't good....that's far too high.
    If you're a healthy 30-40 year old, why on earth bother to get the jab in the UK now ?
    The JCVI has made it very clear it's a finely balanced decision.....
    adults aged 18 to 39 years with no underlying health conditions are offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, if available and if it does not cause delays in having the vaccine.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-advises-on-covid-19-vaccine-for-people-aged-under-40

    Nothing "finely balanced" there....
    The hesitant don't listen to the official messaging. The unofficial messaging carries far more weight.

    Why are the Gov't so worried about it for teenagers ?
    In France they might well be banned from restaurants shortly !
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,742
    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    30-40 unvaxxed range for UK isn't good....that's far too high.
    If you're a healthy 30-40 year old, why on earth bother to get the jab in the UK now ?
    The JCVI has made it very clear it's a finely balanced decision.....
    adults aged 18 to 39 years with no underlying health conditions are offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, if available and if it does not cause delays in having the vaccine.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-advises-on-covid-19-vaccine-for-people-aged-under-40

    Nothing "finely balanced" there....
    The hesitant don't listen to the official messaging. The unofficial messaging carries far more weight.

    Why are the Gov't so worried about it for teenagers ?
    In France they might well be banned from restaurants shortly !
    That would have definite benefits with or without vaccines, TBF.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    ydoethur said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    30-40 unvaxxed range for UK isn't good....that's far too high.
    If you're a healthy 30-40 year old, why on earth bother to get the jab in the UK now ?
    The JCVI has made it very clear it's a finely balanced decision.....
    Given almost 90% of the population aged over 18 have had at least one jab, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.

    We’re on course for 72% of the population vaccinated even before the government changes its mind on jabbing secondary school children.
    We could be doing better, our national view on vaccines as a whole was one of the most favourable in the world. The whole thing has run out of steam with piss poor messaging for the under 50s in particular.
  • QuincelQuincel Posts: 3,949
    isam said:

    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    MaxPB said:

    Definitely time to say that, thankfully, the fears about the timing of step four were unfounded.

    https://twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1425473677047500801?s=19

    The likes of Prof Peston of course will never say such a thing.

    Nor iSage who seem to have gone very quiet since their 100,000 prediction was not anywhere near reached
    Sajid Javid is a part of iSage?

    UK Covid cases may soar to 100,000 a day, Sajid Javid warns.

    https://www.ft.com/content/08577e07-faeb-4cd2-96ed-567151b539f6
    He did say "may" go up to 100k. Indy Sage and the rest of them were saying it *definitely would* go up over 100k with step 4. I'm still not sure what's going to happen, especially in 3 and a bit weeks when the schools open up and we have failed to vaccinate 12-17 year olds to any significant degree.

    What's interesting is that the 18-24 demographic just overtook the 25-29 year olds for first dose uptake and the curve hasn't completely levelled off yet. They look to be trending towards where 30-39 year olds finished up. I think the don't get left behind advertising should be ramped up for all under 40s. Especially international travel, that could be a huge way of getting people to get vaccinated. No vaccine no flights, an advert showing a group of pretty young twenty somethings checking in at an airport, posting it all to Instagram while the loser who chose not to get the vaccine sits at home alone.
    "Lifting all restrictions in one go is reckless, and doing so when the Johnson Variant is clearly out of control risks a summer of chaos.

    We're heading now for an NHS summer crisis"

    said Sir Keir
    Starmer Derangement Syndrome. Get a jab.
    Had mine, but surely were allowed to notice when fear mongers cry wolf?

    Anyway, the BDS suffferers have been driven to the verge of madness because he keeps winning in spite of their logic saying it’s impossible. Sir Keir hasn’t done that yet, in fact having gone in quite early on him being crap, saying to lay him as next PM at 2/1, the market says I am right, so far. So the attempted counter doesn’t work
    Nice odds on that one! When did you place it? Takes a brave, but apparently smart, man to have laid him at those odds when the polls were basically tied.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,489

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    nice chart, but, looking at the UK numbers it looks like they have used the Ministry of health population estimates, which as discussed on here a few weeks ago included 5.3 million extra adults above the Office for National Statistics statistics. The ONS (mid year 2020) are the ones that are used to say we have 89.1% of adults vaccinated. and IMHO are likely to be much close to the truth than the MoH numbers, which frequently have the same person recorded twice if they have recently moved, and might include a lot of EU nationals that have lived in the UK in the last 10 years, registered with a GP, and then left without telling the GP surgery, that they are leaving.

    Its worth noting the bug bulge in the UK population for 25-40 year olds, do we have such a bulge? maybe but also possible that these age groups move the most, including backwards and forwards for the EU to the UK.

    I don't know about the French numbers they may be just as bad, I have no knowledge of that, but would be interesting to see a comparison made with the UK ONS numbers.

    Also worth noting the huge number of 18-30 Year olds still to have there second dose, based on the 8 week delay between first and second does, over the next 3 weeks second does % should go up form 22% and 24% to about 50% and 55% which I think will make a big difference to overall numbers of infections.
  • isamisam Posts: 40,730
    edited August 2021
    Quincel said:

    isam said:

    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    MaxPB said:

    Definitely time to say that, thankfully, the fears about the timing of step four were unfounded.

    https://twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1425473677047500801?s=19

    The likes of Prof Peston of course will never say such a thing.

    Nor iSage who seem to have gone very quiet since their 100,000 prediction was not anywhere near reached
    Sajid Javid is a part of iSage?

    UK Covid cases may soar to 100,000 a day, Sajid Javid warns.

    https://www.ft.com/content/08577e07-faeb-4cd2-96ed-567151b539f6
    He did say "may" go up to 100k. Indy Sage and the rest of them were saying it *definitely would* go up over 100k with step 4. I'm still not sure what's going to happen, especially in 3 and a bit weeks when the schools open up and we have failed to vaccinate 12-17 year olds to any significant degree.

    What's interesting is that the 18-24 demographic just overtook the 25-29 year olds for first dose uptake and the curve hasn't completely levelled off yet. They look to be trending towards where 30-39 year olds finished up. I think the don't get left behind advertising should be ramped up for all under 40s. Especially international travel, that could be a huge way of getting people to get vaccinated. No vaccine no flights, an advert showing a group of pretty young twenty somethings checking in at an airport, posting it all to Instagram while the loser who chose not to get the vaccine sits at home alone.
    "Lifting all restrictions in one go is reckless, and doing so when the Johnson Variant is clearly out of control risks a summer of chaos.

    We're heading now for an NHS summer crisis"

    said Sir Keir
    Starmer Derangement Syndrome. Get a jab.
    Had mine, but surely were allowed to notice when fear mongers cry wolf?

    Anyway, the BDS suffferers have been driven to the verge of madness because he keeps winning in spite of their logic saying it’s impossible. Sir Keir hasn’t done that yet, in fact having gone in quite early on him being crap, saying to lay him as next PM at 2/1, the market says I am right, so far. So the attempted counter doesn’t work
    Nice odds on that one! When did you place it? Takes a brave, but apparently smart, man to have laid him at those odds when the polls were basically tied.
    I laid him in May 2020 at 2.7, but I did back him back for some reason at 3.0 then again at 9.0 - these are all for pennies, I didn't really have the courage of my conviction, probably because everyone on here was telling me I was wrong.

    So I stand to win £30 if he is next PM, £900 if it's Jess Phillips, and lose a fiver on everyone else... woohoo!

    I tipped the lay at 2/1 and the back of Phillips next Lab leader here

    https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2020/06/06/the-case-for-making-personality-ratings-a-good-electoral-indicator/
  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,087
    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A couple of days ago I posted a graphic from Twitter comparing vaccination rates by age cohort in the US vs England. This idea has caught on - with Paul Mainwood observing that what matters is not, the total you have vaccinated, who you have vaccinated, but who you haven't.

    A French observer remarks:
    https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1425511056449941508?s=20



    Vaccinating lots of teens won't save anything like as many lives as vaccinating more 50+

    30-40 unvaxxed range for UK isn't good....that's far too high.
    If you're a healthy 30-40 year old, why on earth bother to get the jab in the UK now ?
    The JCVI has made it very clear it's a finely balanced decision.....
    Given almost 90% of the population aged over 18 have had at least one jab, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.

    We’re on course for 72% of the population vaccinated even before the government changes its mind on jabbing secondary school children.
    We could be doing better, our national view on vaccines as a whole was one of the most favourable in the world. The whole thing has run out of steam with piss poor messaging for the under 50s in particular.
    The argument about the 12-15 cohort will probably rumble in, but I think that the general performance has actually been very good. The programme was bound to butt up against the wall of the hesitant and the downright anti eventually. 90% of adults double jabbed, which I think is where we are roughly going to end up, is far better than was anticipated at the outset.
  • Oh dear.

    Herschel Walker’s wife voted in Georgia despite living in Texas: report

    The former athlete turned businessman previously called for prosecutions of voter fraud.

    The wife of ex-NFLer Herschel Walker is under fire for allegedly committing voter fraud during the presidential election last year.

    Julie Blanchard reportedly cast an absentee ballot in Georgia while living in Texas, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The illegal vote will no doubt impact Walker’s political ambitions should he enter the Georgia senate race in 2022.

    Walker, 59, was encouraged by his longtime friend Donald Trump to enter the race. The former athlete turned businessman previously called for prosecutions of voter fraud. Walker also promoted the unfounded claim that Trump lost the presidential election to Joe Biden due to election fraud.


    https://news.yahoo.com/herschel-walker-wife-voted-georgia-235900629.html
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 4,784
    We covered the loss of the Gulf Stream last week. I envisioned the far Eastern peninsula of Russia, a 180 degree switch of the prevailing winds, modest summers and winters of endless beasts from the East.

    Apparently not. We most likely remain a maritime climate, winds switch more northerly, the South remains pretty much as is but Scotland gets quite a bit colder - 3.5° on averaged (over every daytime max, every nighttime min, summer and winter). But the cold winds are dry and we desertify with the odd whiff of drizzle. Extremes are rare - the UK simply becalms.

    Cornwall with a little of the south westerly mildness and a lot of the rain removed sounds tolerable.
  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,087
    Pro_Rata said:

    We covered the loss of the Gulf Stream last week. I envisioned the far Eastern peninsula of Russia, a 180 degree switch of the prevailing winds, modest summers and winters of endless beasts from the East.

    Apparently not. We most likely remain a maritime climate, winds switch more northerly, the South remains pretty much as is but Scotland gets quite a bit colder - 3.5° on averaged (over every daytime max, every nighttime min, summer and winter). But the cold winds are dry and we desertify with the odd whiff of drizzle. Extremes are rare - the UK simply becalms.

    Cornwall with a little of the south westerly mildness and a lot of the rain removed sounds tolerable.

    I read a similar suggestion, i.e. that the main problem we'd have in Britain wouldn't be sudden extreme cold but a drop off in rainfall.

    Regardless, not something that any of us alive today is going to have to live with.
This discussion has been closed.