Shropshire North should be a certain CON hold but…. – politicalbetting.com

Malmesbury said:

RochdalePioneers said:

SouthamObserver said:

Freedom loving Tory MPs who value liberty above all else are disgusted about people having to take covid tests before going to big events, but have no problem in supporting the state's right to take away someone's UK citizenship without telling them and banning peaceful protest. It's almost as if they are hypocritical shysters who care about their freedom to do as they want but do not give a monkey's bollock for anyone else's.

You've met them then?

I had a strange one just yesterday - someone declared that my wanting Begum put on trial for war crimes was "nasty and disgusting".

The context was that I didn't think her citizenship should have been removed. But that she should be tried for the crimes she committed.

Cyclefree said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Scott_xP said:

Keir Starmer will make an address to the nation at 7pm, responding to the Prime Minister’s statement last night.
https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1470347875083341831

What's he going to say...get a jab? That he will vote for vaccine passports, but he doesn't want them, but only two months ago vaccine passports didn't go far enough and we needed vaccine passport+++, where everybody took a LFT before every pub visit?

If I were writing Starmer's statement, I'd make it statesmanlike and focused on dealing with the pandemic, almost as though he were PM. I'd slip in a few barbs making it clear that the fact that we are saddled with a mendacious clown in No 10, who doesn't follow his own rules, isn't a reason to ignore the advice or flout the regulations. Pretty much the message that Labour, and in particular Wes Streeting, has been putting out, with the framing that Boris is an irrelevance.

Very sensible advice. But why does Starmer get a broadcast at all? Are we going to get one from Ed Davey as well? What is the point?

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

Malmesbury said:

dixiedean said:

Malmesbury said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

dixiedean said:

Have we done this?
Just read there are now 30 million eligible for a jab.
Getting them done before New Year is going to be some task in 18 days. With many Bank Holidays.
Over promise again.

Just watching the BBC the queue at one London hospital drop in is enormous with over 2 hour wait but everyone promised they will receive their dose

It has also been reported that the 15 minute wait post the dose is to be tweaked to help the throughput of people

It isn't 30 million.

It's less than 20 million, as of today.

This is because, in order to have your booster, you have to have had a second vaccination. Even in you have your first shot now, you won't get your second till the New Year

Thanks for that. Three things. Firstly, that's still a lot with New Year as a target.
Secondly. You can't have a booster within four weeks of a positive test. So that's a fair few more out. Me for one.
Finally. Many thanks for all your stat collection and on the ball figures. It really is invaluable for the interested non-expert.

Indeed.

The above number are the reason why people are talking about 1 million plus per day...

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Philip_Thompson said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

No. He's a cyclist, not a couch potato.

I find the idea that he's 17.5 stone entirely plausible.

He’s not a cyclist. This is utterly hilarious

RochdalePioneers said:

Recently back from my PCR test which was significantly busier than last week's PCR test at the same site on the same day / time. Still personally feeling fine and enjoying personal lockdown with hope of a brief release before it goes national.

Someone mentioned above that Covid appears to be everywhere. My train travel on Saturday (Inverurie - York and back having had to can the London trip whilst en-route) was impacted by Covid. Lack of staff on trains causing issues. On work issues DHL are having a mare at the moment with Covid hitting multiple depots staff. And we have various football teams starting to fall.

Given that (a) we were all vaccinated against it and (b) haven't caught it despite 40k cases per day for months, my guess is that the strain that has hit my household is Omega. Mrs RP is vaxxed but its still absolutely clobbered her. Roasting hot alternating with freezing cold. Hacking cough alternating with "its like breathing glue". Raging headaches that no pills hit the sides of. Vivid nightmares alternated with no energy but can't sleep.

OK so she isn't in hospital (and lets hope it stays that way). But as with my 10 year-old daughter last week I have never seen her this ill.

BlancheLivermore said:

kinabalu said:

Philip_Thompson said:

kinabalu said:

BlancheLivermore said:

For @CorrectHorseBattery as I got it on the last thread too late -

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Philip_Thompson said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

I remember when @Philip_Thompson told us that Johnson wasn't fat but just really muscular.

I never said that.

I said I found it entirely believable he was 17.5 stone when @kinabalu was saying there was no way he was that heavy.

That's not what you meant and we both know it

What was actually said -

"@kinabalu said:
BoJo was NOT seventeen and a half stone (!) before the virus He's only 5 ft 8 inches tall. If he had weighed that much he would have looked like Mr Creosote.

Is he spinning yet another self-serving yarn?"

"@Philip_Thompson said:

17 and a half stone isn't anywhere near as much as that!

Besides he's quite athletic as well as being on the heavy side. Remember that muscle is heavier by volume than fat so two people of the same volume can weigh quite different amounts."
15 May 2020

https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/2856928/#Comment_2856928

This was followed by 18 months of @kinabalu claiming Phil had said Boris was "mainly muscle"

Great news you've unearthed the source material since it shows that - my horsing around aside - there is a solid basis to the scandal.

It started with me casting doubt on Johnson's claim to have been 17.5 stone pre Covid. The suspicion (of mine) was he'd exaggerated this in order to exaggerate his weight loss due to his illness. To in turn exaggerate how serious it'd been for him.

I still have this suspicion but this is not the point. The point is that Philip Thompson leapt in and opined that the MMM could easily have been that heavy despite being quite short and that the reason he wouldn't have looked like Danny DeVito is that he is of 'athletic build' with a 'high muscle to fat ratio'.

So there we are. I dropped it ages ago but I make no apology for running with it for a while. It merited that. It was peak PT BJ adoration. A real moment in time.

Sorry but you're talking absolute bollocks. I never said he has a 'high muscle to fat ratio', that's literally not in the quote. You're inventing your own words.

I said he is 'athletic' as well as 'on the heavy side' and he is.

17.5 stone is nothing that special for someone 5'8" its entirely believable and not remotely Mr Creosote.

"He's quite athletic as well as being on the heavy side. Remember that muscle is heavier by volume than fat so two people of the same volume can weigh quite different amounts."

That's the quote in its full and unadorned state.

Do I seriously misrepresent it with "of athletic build with a high muscle to fat ratio"?

I think not but I'm happy for the select band of those interested to make up their own mind.

Whole thing is ancient history anyway. We have a by-election this week and what I'm wondering is, how much have you lumped on the 'nailed on' LibDems?

You repeatedly lying by actually quoting PT as having said "mostly muscle" - and various other 'quotes' he never said - was what leapt out at me from from my brief vanilla searches.

MattW said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

Quite happy doing 14 miles on a bike iirc, apparently.

MattW said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

Quite happy doing 14 miles on a bike iirc, apparently.

rottenborough said:

Good news incoming:


Tom Calver
@tomhcalver
·
29m
South Africa's case fatality rate falls again to 0.5%. The theory that Omicron causes milder symptoms is becoming very hard to ignore...

noneoftheabove said:

MattW said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

Quite happy doing 14 miles on a bike iirc, apparently.

I have ridden a (non stationary) bike about five times in 20 years, two of those were for 15-20 miles without difficulty, not sure that makes me a cyclist or quite athletic, I am neither.

CorrectHorseBattery said:

PT said muscle weighs more than fat hence Johnson’s weight is believable. The implication there is that Johnson is highly/very muscular as opposed to fat.

I can totally see how @kinabalu got to his point.

The whole thing about Johnson being muscular at all and not just overweight is the laughable thing and makes @Philip_Thompson look ridiculous.

RochdalePioneers said:

Recently back from my PCR test which was significantly busier than last week's PCR test at the same site on the same day / time. Still personally feeling fine and enjoying personal lockdown with hope of a brief release before it goes national.

Someone mentioned above that Covid appears to be everywhere. My train travel on Saturday (Inverurie - York and back having had to can the London trip whilst en-route) was impacted by Covid. Lack of staff on trains causing issues. On work issues DHL are having a mare at the moment with Covid hitting multiple depots staff. And we have various football teams starting to fall.

Given that (a) we were all vaccinated against it and (b) haven't caught it despite 40k cases per day for months, my guess is that the strain that has hit my household is Omega. Mrs RP is vaxxed but its still absolutely clobbered her. Roasting hot alternating with freezing cold. Hacking cough alternating with "its like breathing glue". Raging headaches that no pills hit the sides of. Vivid nightmares alternated with no energy but can't sleep.

OK so she isn't in hospital (and lets hope it stays that way). But as with my 10 year-old daughter last week I have never seen her this ill.

JosiasJessop said:

noneoftheabove said:

MattW said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

Quite happy doing 14 miles on a bike iirc, apparently.

I have ridden a (non stationary) bike about five times in 20 years, two of those were for 15-20 miles without difficulty, not sure that makes me a cyclist or quite athletic, I am neither.

My little 'un only learnt to properly ride this year, and he can do ten miles, including a decent climb. In fact, we did one on Saturday. Great father-son bonding time.

Although he has absolutely no road sense at junctions; which makes it a little more fraught than I'd like. I try to plan the routes to have as few junctions as possible, and along quiet roads...

CorrectHorseBattery said:

PT said muscle weighs more than fat hence Johnson’s weight is believable. The implication there is that Johnson is highly/very muscular as opposed to fat.

I can totally see how @kinabalu got to his point.

The whole thing about Johnson being muscular at all and not just overweight is the laughable thing and makes @Philip_Thompson look ridiculous.

JosiasJessop said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Philip_Thompson said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

No. He's a cyclist, not a couch potato.

I find the idea that he's 17.5 stone entirely plausible.

He’s not a cyclist. This is utterly hilarious

This is one of PB's more ridiculous conversations. What makes someone a cyclist? Going out on your bike once a year? Once a month? Once a week? Doing a quarter-mile to the local shop or back, or doing 60 miles at a pace that sets off speed cameras? Someone who pootles around as I do on my heavy bike, or one of the Peparami in Lycra crowd on their multi-thousand quid carbon-fibre thief-magnets?

Since there was a minor scandal last year when BJ was seen cycling away from his home area (how could he!) I'd say he was a cyclist. Perhaps not a frequent one, but he does cycle.

CorrectHorseBattery said:

I didn't say Johnson doesn't cycle, I said he wasn't a cyclist. The context of this is clearly that he's athletic, when he evidently isn't.

(Snip)

Malmesbury said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Malmesbury said:

RochdalePioneers said:

SouthamObserver said:

Freedom loving Tory MPs who value liberty above all else are disgusted about people having to take covid tests before going to big events, but have no problem in supporting the state's right to take away someone's UK citizenship without telling them and banning peaceful protest. It's almost as if they are hypocritical shysters who care about their freedom to do as they want but do not give a monkey's bollock for anyone else's.

You've met them then?

I had a strange one just yesterday - someone declared that my wanting Begum put on trial for war crimes was "nasty and disgusting".

The context was that I didn't think her citizenship should have been removed. But that she should be tried for the crimes she committed.

I entirely agree. Begum is a British citizen accused of crimes. So lets try her, not wash our hands of her.

Try her and lock her up for life if that is the handed sentence. We’re a nation proud of criminal justice, we do not wash our hands of our criminals

It is interesting that I've had the same response from several people in the legal/human rights line - prosecuting non-state actors under war crimes law is apparently "immoral"

Despite the laws in question being quite specific about classifying non-state actors, the crimes they can be charged with, and how they should be treated.

Mention that the Hague conventions was drawn up with a large amount of participation by British officers who'd served in Afghanistan and was specifically concerned with issue regarding Francs-tireurs that came out of the 1870 war.... well that causes them to get really upset.

Why is this?

My point is that if you protect people such a Begum from the consequences of their actions, then bad ideas will be found as how to punish them.....

Mexicanpete said:

Philip_Thompson said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

No. He's a cyclist, not a couch potato.

I find the idea that he's 17.5 stone entirely plausible.

Indeed, muscle is heavier than fat.

(Snigger).

CorrectHorseBattery said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

The most incredible thing about Peleton, they lost money during the pandemic.....

Peloton has no appeal to me whatsoever, I'm afraid I simply don't get it

kinabalu said:

Philip_Thompson said:

kinabalu said:

BlancheLivermore said:

For @CorrectHorseBattery as I got it on the last thread too late -

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Philip_Thompson said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

I remember when @Philip_Thompson told us that Johnson wasn't fat but just really muscular.

I never said that.

I said I found it entirely believable he was 17.5 stone when @kinabalu was saying there was no way he was that heavy.

That's not what you meant and we both know it

What was actually said -

"@kinabalu said:
BoJo was NOT seventeen and a half stone (!) before the virus He's only 5 ft 8 inches tall. If he had weighed that much he would have looked like Mr Creosote.

Is he spinning yet another self-serving yarn?"

"@Philip_Thompson said:

17 and a half stone isn't anywhere near as much as that!

Besides he's quite athletic as well as being on the heavy side. Remember that muscle is heavier by volume than fat so two people of the same volume can weigh quite different amounts."
15 May 2020

https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/2856928/#Comment_2856928

This was followed by 18 months of @kinabalu claiming Phil had said Boris was "mainly muscle"

Great news you've unearthed the source material since it shows that - my horsing around aside - there is a solid basis to the scandal.

It started with me casting doubt on Johnson's claim to have been 17.5 stone pre Covid. The suspicion (of mine) was he'd exaggerated this in order to exaggerate his weight loss due to his illness. To in turn exaggerate how serious it'd been for him.

I still have this suspicion but this is not the point. The point is that Philip Thompson leapt in and opined that the MMM could easily have been that heavy despite being quite short and that the reason he wouldn't have looked like Danny DeVito is that he is of 'athletic build' with a 'high muscle to fat ratio'.

So there we are. I dropped it ages ago but I make no apology for running with it for a while. It merited that. It was peak PT BJ adoration. A real moment in time.

Sorry but you're talking absolute bollocks. I never said he has a 'high muscle to fat ratio', that's literally not in the quote. You're inventing your own words.

I said he is 'athletic' as well as 'on the heavy side' and he is.

17.5 stone is nothing that special for someone 5'8" its entirely believable and not remotely Mr Creosote.

"He's quite athletic as well as being on the heavy side. Remember that muscle is heavier by volume than fat so two people of the same volume can weigh quite different amounts."

That's your notorious quote in its full and unadorned state.

Do I seriously misrepresent it with "of athletic build with a high muscle to fat ratio"?

I think not but I'm happy for the select band of those interested to make up their own mind.

Whole thing is ancient history anyway. We have a by-election this week and what I'm wondering is, how much have you lumped on the 'nailed on' LibDems?

CorrectHorseBattery said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Boris post covid health kick didn't last long....like a lot of Peleton customers.

The most ridiculous thing for @Philip_Thompson is that BoJo himself - I think - even said he was trying to be more healthy and lose weight. Why would he do that if it were all muscle?

noneoftheabove said:

JosiasJessop said:

noneoftheabove said:

MattW said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

Quite happy doing 14 miles on a bike iirc, apparently.

I have ridden a (non stationary) bike about five times in 20 years, two of those were for 15-20 miles without difficulty, not sure that makes me a cyclist or quite athletic, I am neither.

My little 'un only learnt to properly ride this year, and he can do ten miles, including a decent climb. In fact, we did one on Saturday. Great father-son bonding time.

Although he has absolutely no road sense at junctions; which makes it a little more fraught than I'd like. I try to plan the routes to have as few junctions as possible, and along quiet roads...

The routes were pretty flat, I don't like climbing! Flat quiet roads, no rain, no cars and moderate temperature and I would be keen to cycle more. Not going to happen in London though!

NickPalmer said:

Malmesbury said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

dixiedean said:

Have we done this?
Just read there are now 30 million eligible for a jab.
Getting them done before New Year is going to be some task in 18 days. With many Bank Holidays.
Over promise again.

Just watching the BBC the queue at one London hospital drop in is enormous with over 2 hour wait but everyone promised they will receive their dose

It has also been reported that the 15 minute wait post the dose is to be tweaked to help the throughput of people

It isn't 30 million.

It's less than 20 million, as of today.

This is because, in order to have your booster, you have to have had a second vaccination. Even in you have your first shot now, you won't get your second till the New Year

I had a serious try yesterday at persuading my landlady that she and her elderly husband should finally get vaccinated. They absolutely won't, because they've heard of possible side-effects, and anyway they take vitamin D pills and echinacea so they'll be fine...

Nigel_Foremain said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

PT said muscle weighs more than fat hence Johnson’s weight is believable. The implication there is that Johnson is highly/very muscular as opposed to fat.

I can totally see how @kinabalu got to his point.

The whole thing about Johnson being muscular at all and not just overweight is the laughable thing and makes @Philip_Thompson look ridiculous.

Philip Thompson is ridiculous, or at least his posts on here generally are. He was the leading fanboy of Johnson on here for a very long time. He said this morning that Johnson is one of the *best* PMs in his lifetime (39 years old). Not his favourite, character, but *best*! Ridiculous is too kind.

Mexicanpete said:

SouthamObserver said:

Philip_Thompson said:

kinabalu said:

BlancheLivermore said:

For @CorrectHorseBattery as I got it on the last thread too late -

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Philip_Thompson said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

I remember when @Philip_Thompson told us that Johnson wasn't fat but just really muscular.

I never said that.

I said I found it entirely believable he was 17.5 stone when @kinabalu was saying there was no way he was that heavy.

That's not what you meant and we both know it

What was actually said -

"@kinabalu said:
BoJo was NOT seventeen and a half stone (!) before the virus He's only 5 ft 8 inches tall. If he had weighed that much he would have looked like Mr Creosote.

Is he spinning yet another self-serving yarn?"

"@Philip_Thompson said:

17 and a half stone isn't anywhere near as much as that!

Besides he's quite athletic as well as being on the heavy side. Remember that muscle is heavier by volume than fat so two people of the same volume can weigh quite different amounts."
15 May 2020

https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/2856928/#Comment_2856928

This was followed by 18 months of @kinabalu claiming Phil had said Boris was "mainly muscle"

Great news you've unearthed the source material since it shows that - my horsing around aside - there is a solid basis to the scandal.

It started with me casting doubt on Johnson's claim to have been 17.5 stone pre Covid. The suspicion (of mine) was he'd exaggerated this in order to exaggerate his weight loss due to his illness. To in turn exaggerate how serious it'd been for him.

I still have this suspicion but this is not the point. The point is that Philip Thompson leapt in and opined that the MMM could easily have been that heavy despite being quite short and that the reason he wouldn't have looked like Danny DeVito is that he is of 'athletic build' with a 'high muscle to fat ratio'.

So there we are. I dropped it ages ago but I make no apology for running with it for a while. It merited that. It was peak PT BJ adoration. A real moment in time.

Sorry but you're talking absolute bollocks. I never said he has a 'high muscle to fat ratio', that's literally not in the quote. You're inventing your own words.

I said he is 'athletic' as well as 'on the heavy side' and he is.

17.5 stone is nothing that special for someone 5'8" its entirely believable and not remotely Mr Creosote.

If you're 5' 8" and 17.5 stone, you are morbidly obese and running huge risks with your health - from diabetes, through cancer to heart failure. Johnson no doubt believes he is indestructible. Maybe he is, but he's six stones overweight - at least. And you can see from his pudgy face that he is carrying a lot of fat as opposed to being all muscled up.

Yes, I am the same height and age- a little older-as Johnson and around 13 stone. I look more like a backrow forward than an outside-half. If Johnson is 17.5 stones he is not the racing snake that Phil would have us believe.

As for the notion Johnson is a cyclist, I occasionally run for the train but that doesn't make me a sprinter.

FrancisUrquhart said:

The most incredible thing about Peleton, they lost money during the pandemic.....apparently they kept advertising to such a crazy extent, such their customer acquisition costs were so high they never making it back.

Cyclefree said:

noneoftheabove said:

JosiasJessop said:

noneoftheabove said:

MattW said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

Quite happy doing 14 miles on a bike iirc, apparently.

I have ridden a (non stationary) bike about five times in 20 years, two of those were for 15-20 miles without difficulty, not sure that makes me a cyclist or quite athletic, I am neither.

My little 'un only learnt to properly ride this year, and he can do ten miles, including a decent climb. In fact, we did one on Saturday. Great father-son bonding time.

Although he has absolutely no road sense at junctions; which makes it a little more fraught than I'd like. I try to plan the routes to have as few junctions as possible, and along quiet roads...

The routes were pretty flat, I don't like climbing! Flat quiet roads, no rain, no cars and moderate temperature and I would be keen to cycle more. Not going to happen in London though!

I cycled for decades round London. Have the scars and knee ops to prove it. Despite all this, the sporting injuries and the time spent with sports physios, my physique is not quite as sporting as I would like. This is most unfair I feel.

Farooq said:

StuartDickson said:

Farooq said:

StuartDickson said:

Really, really struggling to get excited about the umpteenth Lib Dem by election hype of my lifetime. Used to find these things scintillating, but bitter experience has taught me that they mean diddly squat in the great scheme of things.

The Lib Dems need a mission, not this idiotic “We’re not as bad as them!” positioning.

It's a little difficult for a smallish centrist party. They could decide to go all in on a particular policy platform and then find one of the two bigger parties steals their clothes, and in a few months' everyone's back saying "well what's the point of the Lib Dems, they're just saying the same thing as Con/Lab".
Ukip and its descendants show that you can get somewhere with a message that other parties don't want to touch. In other words, you need to be unhinged to break in.

But I don’t think the Lib Dems need a “message” (let alone an unhinged one). I think they need a mission. What do they want to do? I mean, really, really, really want to do? What is their passion? Their desire? Their lust? Their golden upland? Their Jerusalem?

(Please don’t say local income tax, dog-poo-free pavements or proportional representation. I want to retain some faith in humanity by the end of the day.)

Local income tax, dog-poo-free pavements and proportional representation.

It's better for you now to lose any misplaced faith

noneoftheabove said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

The most incredible thing about Peleton, they lost money during the pandemic.....apparently they kept advertising to such a crazy extent, such their customer acquisition costs were so high they never making it back.

Lost 16% market cap last week because they authorised Sex and the City to use their name but did not enquire about the plot. It was to kill off Mr Big with a heart attack.

JohnLilburne said:

Malmesbury said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Malmesbury said:

RochdalePioneers said:

SouthamObserver said:

Freedom loving Tory MPs who value liberty above all else are disgusted about people having to take covid tests before going to big events, but have no problem in supporting the state's right to take away someone's UK citizenship without telling them and banning peaceful protest. It's almost as if they are hypocritical shysters who care about their freedom to do as they want but do not give a monkey's bollock for anyone else's.

You've met them then?

I had a strange one just yesterday - someone declared that my wanting Begum put on trial for war crimes was "nasty and disgusting".

The context was that I didn't think her citizenship should have been removed. But that she should be tried for the crimes she committed.

I entirely agree. Begum is a British citizen accused of crimes. So lets try her, not wash our hands of her.

Try her and lock her up for life if that is the handed sentence. We’re a nation proud of criminal justice, we do not wash our hands of our criminals

It is interesting that I've had the same response from several people in the legal/human rights line - prosecuting non-state actors under war crimes law is apparently "immoral"

Despite the laws in question being quite specific about classifying non-state actors, the crimes they can be charged with, and how they should be treated.

Mention that the Hague conventions was drawn up with a large amount of participation by British officers who'd served in Afghanistan and was specifically concerned with issue regarding Francs-tireurs that came out of the 1870 war.... well that causes them to get really upset.

Why is this?

My point is that if you protect people such a Begum from the consequences of their actions, then bad ideas will be found as how to punish them.....

That sounds complicated. She is clearly a traitor.

Philip_Thompson said:

Nigel_Foremain said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

PT said muscle weighs more than fat hence Johnson’s weight is believable. The implication there is that Johnson is highly/very muscular as opposed to fat.

I can totally see how @kinabalu got to his point.

The whole thing about Johnson being muscular at all and not just overweight is the laughable thing and makes @Philip_Thompson look ridiculous.

Philip Thompson is ridiculous, or at least his posts on here generally are. He was the leading fanboy of Johnson on here for a very long time. He said this morning that Johnson is one of the *best* PMs in his lifetime (39 years old). Not his favourite, character, but *best*! Ridiculous is too kind.

Mainly because the others have been so shit.

Thatcher has been the only good PM of my lifetime.

Boris rates better than May, Brown, Blair and Major but more due to the latter's failures than his successes.

tlg86 said:

Looking at Twitter, most anger is about Cavendish not being nominated.

Carnyx said:

kinabalu said:

Philip_Thompson said:

kinabalu said:

BlancheLivermore said:

For @CorrectHorseBattery as I got it on the last thread too late -

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Philip_Thompson said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

I remember when @Philip_Thompson told us that Johnson wasn't fat but just really muscular.

I never said that.

I said I found it entirely believable he was 17.5 stone when @kinabalu was saying there was no way he was that heavy.

That's not what you meant and we both know it

What was actually said -

"@kinabalu said:
BoJo was NOT seventeen and a half stone (!) before the virus He's only 5 ft 8 inches tall. If he had weighed that much he would have looked like Mr Creosote.

Is he spinning yet another self-serving yarn?"

"@Philip_Thompson said:

17 and a half stone isn't anywhere near as much as that!

Besides he's quite athletic as well as being on the heavy side. Remember that muscle is heavier by volume than fat so two people of the same volume can weigh quite different amounts."
15 May 2020

https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/2856928/#Comment_2856928

This was followed by 18 months of @kinabalu claiming Phil had said Boris was "mainly muscle"

Great news you've unearthed the source material since it shows that - my horsing around aside - there is a solid basis to the scandal.

It started with me casting doubt on Johnson's claim to have been 17.5 stone pre Covid. The suspicion (of mine) was he'd exaggerated this in order to exaggerate his weight loss due to his illness. To in turn exaggerate how serious it'd been for him.

I still have this suspicion but this is not the point. The point is that Philip Thompson leapt in and opined that the MMM could easily have been that heavy despite being quite short and that the reason he wouldn't have looked like Danny DeVito is that he is of 'athletic build' with a 'high muscle to fat ratio'.

So there we are. I dropped it ages ago but I make no apology for running with it for a while. It merited that. It was peak PT BJ adoration. A real moment in time.

Sorry but you're talking absolute bollocks. I never said he has a 'high muscle to fat ratio', that's literally not in the quote. You're inventing your own words.

I said he is 'athletic' as well as 'on the heavy side' and he is.

17.5 stone is nothing that special for someone 5'8" its entirely believable and not remotely Mr Creosote.

"He's quite athletic as well as being on the heavy side. Remember that muscle is heavier by volume than fat so two people of the same volume can weigh quite different amounts."

That's the quote in its full and unadorned state.

Do I seriously misrepresent it with "of athletic build with a high muscle to fat ratio"?

I think not but I'm happy for the select band of those interested to make up their own mind.

Whole thing is ancient history anyway. We have a by-election this week and what I'm wondering is, how much have you lumped on the 'nailed on' LibDems?

Hmmmmm. Density of muscle tissue is about 1.1 tonne per cubic metre. Adipose tissue, 0.9. But for visual impact one wants the inverses, which are helpfully 0.9 and 1.1 cu m per tonne. The implication is that a Mr Johnson composed solely of muscle (except for, guessing, 50% for all the rest, skeleton, innards, blood, skin etc.) is going to have about a tenth of the volume of one composed solely of blubber. But that is volume so one wants the 2/3 root of that to get the area ie visual impact. And then knock half off as it only applies to half of him. Is something like a 3% smaller BJ going to make enough difference to resolve the argument either way?

Cyclefree said:

noneoftheabove said:

JosiasJessop said:

noneoftheabove said:

MattW said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

@Philip_Thompson said BoJo was quite athletic. Are you having a laugh

Quite happy doing 14 miles on a bike iirc, apparently.

I have ridden a (non stationary) bike about five times in 20 years, two of those were for 15-20 miles without difficulty, not sure that makes me a cyclist or quite athletic, I am neither.

My little 'un only learnt to properly ride this year, and he can do ten miles, including a decent climb. In fact, we did one on Saturday. Great father-son bonding time.

Although he has absolutely no road sense at junctions; which makes it a little more fraught than I'd like. I try to plan the routes to have as few junctions as possible, and along quiet roads...

The routes were pretty flat, I don't like climbing! Flat quiet roads, no rain, no cars and moderate temperature and I would be keen to cycle more. Not going to happen in London though!

I cycled for decades round London. Have the scars and knee ops to prove it. Despite all this, the sporting injuries and the time spent with sports physios, my physique is not quite as sporting as I would like. This is most unfair I feel.

Cyclefree said:

NickPalmer said:

Cyclefree said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Scott_xP said:

Keir Starmer will make an address to the nation at 7pm, responding to the Prime Minister’s statement last night.
https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1470347875083341831

What's he going to say...get a jab? That he will vote for vaccine passports, but he doesn't want them, but only two months ago vaccine passports didn't go far enough and we needed vaccine passport+++, where everybody took a LFT before every pub visit?

If I were writing Starmer's statement, I'd make it statesmanlike and focused on dealing with the pandemic, almost as though he were PM. I'd slip in a few barbs making it clear that the fact that we are saddled with a mendacious clown in No 10, who doesn't follow his own rules, isn't a reason to ignore the advice or flout the regulations. Pretty much the message that Labour, and in particular Wes Streeting, has been putting out, with the framing that Boris is an irrelevance.

Very sensible advice. But why does Starmer get a broadcast at all? Are we going to get one from Ed Davey as well? What is the point?

It's a tradition since forever that the PM has the right to commandeer time on the BBC for a statement, but if he does then the LOTO gets an equal slot the next day. The alternative for the PM is to make a statement for journalists and take his chances at getting on the news (as he always will), but that has much more potential to go wrong if the journalist asks an awkward question and the PM stutters in reply.

Ah, thanks. Had no idea. Have never seen any of the replies. Didn't see Boris's one yesterday and will give Keir a miss too.

I'm sure you'll all fill me in.

stodge said:

MoonRabbit said:

On topic. Totally agree with Mike Smithson - the current price for Libdems in Salop North is not value. 😞

But the 3-1 I got on last month certainly is! 😃

There’s two subsets I am now considering. Firstly, every Conservative voter in Salop North must surely now be pinging around their brain cells, both of them, if they themselves can actually give their party a better leader and put their party in a better place by killing off Boris. To quote directory from Shakespeare, Salop North is the dagger Boris sees before him. Second subset is PBers who live in the constituency very much considering voting for the conservatives knowing they won’t hear the last of it if I win my bet having been told by them it’s a loser 😝

Paddy Power is 4/9 LDs 11/8 Conservatives.

I've not been there and don't know anyone in any of the campaigns so playing in such a market is silly.

That said, 11/8 and 7/4 a party which won 63% of the vote last time and has a majority of 23,000 over the second place party and 30,000 over the third place party which is now 4/9 looks incredible value.

That said, although the LDs need a 26.5% swing to take the seat, that's not exceptional. It ranks between Orpington (1962) and Hodge Hill (2004). The latter saw Liam Byrne scrape home by 460 votes and saw the LDs reduce the gap over them from 56 points to just two.