The markets edge back to Johnson but 2022 exit still odds on – politicalbetting.com
Comments
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I think the official Tory position is that Johnson is not at all to be held accountable for any of his actions and especially not for his staff, and that it is entirely water under the bridge. Starmer however is entirely responsible for every decision that any of his staff have ever made, even decades ago.Stark_Dawning said:With Boris's Jimmy Savile comments, I wonder if he and Lynton have plans to foment a British QAnon movement - implanting the idea of a sinister and shadowy establishment cabal that includes liberal lawyers in league with paedophiles. It makes sense.
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{loads fake yorkshire accent}FrancisUrquhart said:
Monitor singular.....deary me.....dual 38" ultra-wides stacked horizontally and dual 27" (one either side) in portrait, if you are asking....Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Rigggggght. All I have is 3 IMAX cinemas....
{/loads fake yorkshire accent}0 -
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html
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Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?0 -
There is a difference between open and available data and the daily dashboard. I think there is still value in the data being available, it is more I think we need to start to move the public away from obsessing over the daily dashboard numbers. One way of nudging people to stop worrying is to stop blasting it every day on a dashboard which the media then just cut and paste.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.0 -
No it won't, it is safe Labour, not even Tory in 1983 or 2019.bondegezou said:
True, and Johnson apologists will dismiss them whatever happens. But the Birmingham vote was 50:40 Lab:Con last time. It’s not that safe. The Tories would win it on less than the swing they got in Hartlepool. If they do very badly, I think that will be meaningful, even if Johnson’s fanbase deny it.eek said:
But they are Southend West - Labour / Lib Dems not standing so Tory win on a tiny voteMISTY said:
Two by-elections before May, too.Beibheirli_C said:
I think Boris is safe until May's elections. Perhaps he will find an excuse to cancel themIshmaelZ said:Alastair Meeks
@AlastairMeeks
Doesn't look as if Jim has fixed it for Boris Johnson.
https://twitter.com/AlastairMeeks/status/1488861824384651267
Birmingham Erdington - safe Labour even before Bozo blew any chance of the Tories winning up.
Unless the LDs beat the Tories into 3rd place it is irrelevant for Boris0 -
Smarkets
Boris Johnson to be fined by the Police
Will Boris Johnson be issued with a fixed penalty notice fine by the Metropolitan Police in relation to Covid regulations before the end of March?
Yes 5.2
https://smarkets.com/event/42590051/politics/uk/borisjohnson/boris-johnson-to-be-fined-by-the-police0 -
@AlastairMeeks has updated his table of the positions of Tory MPs:
Hostile 41
Icy 50
Cool 39
Neutral 56
Unknown 75
Friendly 98
https://alastair-meeks.medium.com/every-conservative-mps-position-on-boris-johnson-and-the-parties-in-number-10-bc4f5f77032f
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As soon as I went Ultra-wide, never going back.....easily the best investment if you are somebody who spends a long time in front of a computer.Malmesbury said:
{loads fake yorkshire accent}FrancisUrquhart said:
Monitor singular.....deary me.....dual 38" ultra-wides stacked horizontally and dual 27" (one either side) in portrait, if you are asking....Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Rigggggght. All I have is 3 IMAX cinemas....
{/loads fake yorkshire accent}0 -
I find the full East Coast Mainline to be at least as interesting as the Highland Mainline north of Perth. You do the Firth of Forth on 3 sides then from Dundee to Aberdeen run along the coast more often than not.Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
When I start commuting to London in March I'll be flying usually so nice doing the train instead. I also love travel by train.2 -
Image on the BBC news site of Patel quizzing a nervous looking Dick while Boris stares ahead looking like he could not give a tossOldKingCole said:
First time I met her Tony Newton, our ex-MP, was walking through a local fete and I thought 'what's he doing with that attractive Asian girl?'Leon said:Omnium said:
Mostly I agree with you RT. I really like Patel though. Easily, in my view, the best plausible PM after Boris. I don't often find myself so far out on the wings.Richard_Tyndall said:
Not sure hate but certainly dislike intensely and, to some extent, fear.Omnium said:
Why is she so hated? I think she's really very good. Obviously has faults too.TheScreamingEagles said:I wonder why this has leaked today. Priti on manoeuvres?
The BBC reporting that last year No.10 overruled the Home Secretary to keep the Met Commissioner in her job. One for historians of Johnson's fall to ponder.
https://twitter.com/arthistorynews/status/1488870878943354881
She is rabidly authoritarian yet pretends she is not. She appears to be, quite literally, an old fashioned hang-em and flog-em type of Home Secretary. Okay to be fair I have never heard her mention flogging but she has in the past being strongly in favour of the death penalty and I think her fundamental view is still in favour even if she cannot admit that publicly. There is no subtlety about her and the only language she seems to understand in terms of her job is that of threat and force.
I will be very glad when she is away from the Home Office.
You’re not alone. I like her and admire her. I also - God help me - slightly fancy her
Quite a few years ago now, of course.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-602294730 -
You mean you have a telly? Or do you mean 43" one from Dell or LG?Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html0 -
Thank you for proving my point.HYUFD said:
No it won't, it is safe Labour, not even Tory in 1983 or 2019.bondegezou said:
True, and Johnson apologists will dismiss them whatever happens. But the Birmingham vote was 50:40 Lab:Con last time. It’s not that safe. The Tories would win it on less than the swing they got in Hartlepool. If they do very badly, I think that will be meaningful, even if Johnson’s fanbase deny it.eek said:
But they are Southend West - Labour / Lib Dems not standing so Tory win on a tiny voteMISTY said:
Two by-elections before May, too.Beibheirli_C said:
I think Boris is safe until May's elections. Perhaps he will find an excuse to cancel themIshmaelZ said:Alastair Meeks
@AlastairMeeks
Doesn't look as if Jim has fixed it for Boris Johnson.
https://twitter.com/AlastairMeeks/status/1488861824384651267
Birmingham Erdington - safe Labour even before Bozo blew any chance of the Tories winning up.
Unless the LDs beat the Tories into 3rd place it is irrelevant for Boris0 -
There is perhaps a broad parallels with Black Wednesday and today in that a lot of people, mainly natural Conservative voters, had made immense sacrifices and in some cases even lost their homes as interest rates were driven up in order to support government policy which then, on one day, at one moment, as we left the ERM, was shown to be for nothing. Like now. On top of that we had sleaze with corrupt MPs showing it was one rule for them, another for the rest of us. Like now.SirNorfolkPassmore said:
Whilst Black Wednesday was very damaging indeed for the Conservatives' reputation for economic competence, and probably contributed to the scale of the 1997 defeat, it's a bit of a stretch to say it "brought him [Major] down in the end", isn't it?Richard_Tyndall said:
The point about Major, almost as an aside to your main point, is that Black Wednesday was entirely of his own doing. He was the one who, as Chancellor had campaigned so hard for and had convinced Thatcher that the UK should join the ERM. So there is something wonderfully poetic about the fact it was this that brought him down in the end.Heathener said:I was thinking about HY asking me to respond this morning and I just don't have the time or inclination to enter into a back and forth with someone who is like a JW.
However, for the wider community I think 1990 is an interesting comparison. After 3 stunning General Election victories, Margaret Thatcher had become toxic. The poll tax was the final straw. Labour were getting regular double-digit opinion poll leads.
So the Conservative MPs did (well sort of did) what they needed to in order to save the party. They ditched Maggie. This still sticks in the throat of some diehards who didn't get it, and couldn't see what was coming.
The result? John Major pulled off an unexpected victory in 1992.
We tend to judge Major by what happened next, but without the ERM fiasco of Black Wednesday it's possible he might have retrieved things.
Is 2022 like 1990? Yes and no. Boris Johnson is more toxic now than even Margaret Thatcher, for the reason that he has alienated everybody across all parts of his party and beyond. This isn't one clique. He has upset everyone. And he is no Margaret Thatcher. She had her faults, by heck, but she was a straight no nonsense person and a great PM.
By the same token Sir Keir Starmer is no Neil Kinnock. He's a bit dour and drab but let's just say that SKS would never do a Sheffield Rally.
My point is this. If the tories ditch Johnson now I think they stand a chance in 2024. If they don't, they're out for a generation.
It happened in September 1992 and he was in office (albeit, as Lamont famously put it, possibly not in power) until April 1997.
There were a range of other issues that probably made 1997 unwinnable even if Black Wednesday hadn't happened. The economic recovery from the recession was pretty anaemic for quite a while (necessitating tax rises, which were badly mishandled). There were huge sleaze problems. There were divisions on wider European issues in particular. Historic underinvestment in health and education was becoming very visible. And there was an exceptionally able young Labour leader setting himself against an extremely tired Tory Party and a leader whose "big idea" seemed to many to be the Cones Hotline.2 -
In all seriousness - max the size of your screen before going multiple monitors.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html
Big screens are getting cheaper. And better yet, a monitor arm to hold a single monitor are cheap as chips - the one to hold multiple monitors are quite expensive.
I drilled into my desk and bolted the monitor arm to that. The desk is then bolted to the wall (under the window it faces). So no shakes when I type etc - and the position is perfectly adjustable....0 -
The overnight sleeper from Paddington to Penzance is fantasticLeon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
In 1989 I did an overnight from Vienna to Split which was very interesting, especially at the Yugoslavian border.
0 -
Latest Brexit benefit. Have been told by our customs agent that sending samples no longer works - need a full value invoice. Which we then need to FOC off the books as they are samples.
So glad that we got rid of all that EU red tape.2 -
I don’t think he’s alleging anything (in that I don’t think he even cares) as all he is attempting is a very clumsy attempt at a set-up.IshmaelZ said:
I can't even tell if Johnson is alleging negligence or actual cover up. The thing about convicting people of stuff, even if it's bleeding obvious they done it, is bleeding difficult. Hence the DPP's job is deciding to prosecute people, but also deciding not to. Johnson is hoping that enough people do not understand this.tlg86 said:
The Guardian:kjh said:
Same here. As I said Nazir, I think, was clear on the matter, yet dates seem to contradict that and I trust Nazir so I suspect that there is more to this that we don't know in terms of events and dates.tlg86 said:
This is the reference:kjh said:
We do have a bit of a conflict there don't we? I don't want to slag off Wikipedia as, as far as I am concerned, it is God. I can only assume there is some other explanation relating to an earlier date.tlg86 said:
Wikipedia says:TheScreamingEagles said:
AIUI it was analogous to David Cameron apologising for Bloody Sunday.tlg86 said:
So Starmer's apology was for stuff that happened before he was DPP? I didn't realise that.kjh said:
This was covered by Nazir Afzal this morning. Let's hope I get this right, probably not fully, so please correct where I have it wrong.tlg86 said:
Not sure that's quite the same. Ministers make decisions and I doubt that got to the top of the department (terrible as it was).Carnyx said:
He was given a pass to a sensitive NHS site with the decision made at a very high level of the Dept of Health. The Tories were running the country at the time. What I am not sure is whether the relevant Minister knew, but there is such a thing as responsibility fo r one'sa department (though that is conspicously lacking in Mr Johnson). And if the Tories are complaining about SKS and his running of the DPP, they might like to consider how compliciot they were in actually facilitating the crimes.HYUFD said:
Savile also was invited to Chequers by BlairTheScreamingEagles said:
Actually I believe it.kle4 said:
Both of them. Obviously he wont retract as he's already double downed, and those who've not already put in a letter would be pushed over the edge in defence of Keir? Give me a break.eek said:Filing under things that ain't ever going to happen
The Times
@thetimes
Up-pointing red triangle JUST IN: Boris Johnson has been warned that more Tory MPs will put in letters of no confidence unless he retracts his claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions
In my call earlier, it'll be a race to the bottom, as it legitimises this.
I don't expect Starmer to rise to it, but some leftie outrider will.
Thatcher "responded by inviting the now-disgraced DJ to lunch at Chequers, spending 11 consecutive New Year’s Eves with him and overseeing his knighthood"
https://twitter.com/andrewspoooner/status/1488823436113854465
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity/scots-pop-guru-alan-mcgee-23546990
I'd be curious to know what sort of cases get reviewed by the DPP. Savile was quite high profile, so I'm slightly surprised that it didn't make its way to the top of the CPS.
The police incorrectly told victims and the CPS that there were no other incidents other than theirs and each case was not put together with the others. So on the basis of 1 complaint in each case the CPS decided there wasn't the evidence to prosecute that case. Nasir also covered something regarding the independence of the prosecution, which I didn't really follow, but meant that the Director of the CPS would not be aware of this. He also pointed out that Starmer wasn't at the CPS at this time (rather important) After Starmer was appointed he appointed Nasir to review the problem of child abuse cases not being prosecuted and the prosecution rate significantly improved. So in fact Starmer was not only not responsible for the Saville failures but actually was instrumental in resolving the issues. In addition Nasir made an astounding claim (bearing in mind liable) re Johnson making a previous statement (I assume an article) about child abuse cases and spaffing money up the wall.
Sadly my recollection is not as good as hearing it first hand but it was rather damning.
I don't know if records are kept regarding complaints. It's a shame that when others came forward, no one knew that it wasn't the first time an allegation had been made.
Didn't happen on his watch but as the incumbent it fell to him to apologise.
On 24 October 2012 the Crown Prosecution Service said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, would review the service's decisions not to prosecute Savile in 2009 in relation to four claims against him for sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s.
SKS was DPP in 2009.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9630550/Jimmy-Savile-What-George-Entwistle-told-MPs-about-Panorama-justthewomen-Newsnight-and-the-conversation-at-the-Hilton-Hotel.html
I don't have a Telegraph account, so can't read it.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/24/jimmy-savile-dpp-2009-evidence
Cameron told the house that the DPP had ordered a review of the evidence considered by the CPS in 2009 relating to indecent assault allegations against Savile from the 1970s. The evidence was submitted by Surrey police, which began an investigation in 2007.
Fairly conclusive that this was on SKS's watch, not that I hold it against him. Whether or not it should have been escalated to the DPP in the first place, I don't know.
I think he thinks that if he gets away without a personal punishment for Parties then he will be able to shut down any attack from SKS.
if SKS says that the institution reflects the leader etc and Boris is floating that in which case then the DPS failings are SKS’s failings then, followed by shouting “yah-boo sucks” and blowing a raspberry across the dispatch box…..
As I said, I don’t think he actually cares about whether SKS was at fault it’s just in his mind an extra ladle of goose fat for when he attempts his greased pig escape act.
Except it’s just not going to work as he thinks…1 -
When Inter-Railing decades ago as a scruffy student I once got on a really very fancy train in Germany called something like the Berliner Prinz.Leon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
Turned out it was the only train in Germany you could not use inter-rail on.
We were thrown off at the next stop.
Never laughed so much.0 -
No - I do, but I have a screen that lets me work too.FrancisUrquhart said:
You mean you have a telly.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html0 -
Agreed. And remember this phenomenal answer she gave in the Commons, re racismOmnium said:
Smart and wise though..Leon said:
She is genuinely attractive. Phenomenal cheekbonesOldKingCole said:
First time I met her Tony Newton, our ex-MP, was walking through a local fete and I thought 'what's he doing with that attractive Asian girl?'Leon said:Omnium said:
Mostly I agree with you RT. I really like Patel though. Easily, in my view, the best plausible PM after Boris. I don't often find myself so far out on the wings.Richard_Tyndall said:
Not sure hate but certainly dislike intensely and, to some extent, fear.Omnium said:
Why is she so hated? I think she's really very good. Obviously has faults too.TheScreamingEagles said:I wonder why this has leaked today. Priti on manoeuvres?
The BBC reporting that last year No.10 overruled the Home Secretary to keep the Met Commissioner in her job. One for historians of Johnson's fall to ponder.
https://twitter.com/arthistorynews/status/1488870878943354881
She is rabidly authoritarian yet pretends she is not. She appears to be, quite literally, an old fashioned hang-em and flog-em type of Home Secretary. Okay to be fair I have never heard her mention flogging but she has in the past being strongly in favour of the death penalty and I think her fundamental view is still in favour even if she cannot admit that publicly. There is no subtlety about her and the only language she seems to understand in terms of her job is that of threat and force.
I will be very glad when she is away from the Home Office.
You’re not alone. I like her and admire her. I also - God help me - slightly fancy her
Quite a few years ago now, of course.
Quite broad in the beam, but one can, er, overlook that
Whatever it is she doesn't deserve the unpopularity.
https://youtu.be/ohXxmD78ZCo
She is under-rated, and has the toughest job in the Cabinet0 -
Thats not a nonsense claim for the vaccinated and previously infected though, its the truth. @Foxy has had it for a few days, is mostly through it, and says it was bad, but not that bad.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.0 -
BTW have we discussed this? From 2019.
Boris Johnson has declared money spent on non-recent child abuse investigations as “spaffed up a wall”, prompting immediate criticism from Labour for making reckless and inappropriate comments.
The current favourite to succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader was arguing that police time and resources were being wasted on crimes committed years ago as he was questioned on an LBC radio phone-in on Wednesday morning.
He said: “And one comment I would make is I think an awful lot of money and an awful lot of police time now goes into these historic offences and all this malarkey.
“You know, £60m I saw was being spaffed up a wall on some investigation into historic child abuse and all this kind of thing. What on earth is that going to do to protect the public now?”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/13/boris-johnson-under-fire-over-remarks-about-child-abuse-inquiries?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other0 -
One fine or ......IshmaelZ said:Smarkets
Boris Johnson to be fined by the Police
Will Boris Johnson be issued with a fixed penalty notice fine by the Metropolitan Police in relation to Covid regulations before the end of March?
Yes 5.2
https://smarkets.com/event/42590051/politics/uk/borisjohnson/boris-johnson-to-be-fined-by-the-police1 -
Again, not the data’s fault. If you don’t want people obsessing, demonstrate that they don’t need to obsess. Maybe get a competent person installed as PM, so the public can have a modicum of trust that COVID policy is being driven by what the country needs rather than by the PM’s desperate attempts to divert media attention from his failings?FrancisUrquhart said:
There is a difference between open and available data and the daily dashboard. I think there is still value in the data being available, it is more I think we need to start to move the public away from obsessing over the daily dashboard numbers. One way of nudging people to stop worrying is to stop blasting it every day on a dashboard which the media then just cut and paste.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
And if you want better journalism… well, that’s a difficult one!0 -
There are people dying from it - being boosted etc reduces the risks massively, but not to zero.turbotubbs said:
Thats not a nonsense claim for the vaccinated and previously infected though, its the truth. @Foxy has had it for a few days, is mostly through it, and says it was bad, but not that bad.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.0 -
My current office.
2 -
Obviously not.0
-
Using a TV as a computer monitor....no no no no no (sounding like the Churchill dog).Omnium said:
No - I do, but I have a screen that lets me work too.FrancisUrquhart said:
You mean you have a telly.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html0 -
I believe you, about as much as I believe Boris over not attending any parties ;-)TheScreamingEagles said:My current office.
2 -
Hurrah.
Five activists from the Insulate Britain protest group have been jailed for blockading the M25 in protest over climate change.
The protesters brought motorway traffic to a standstill, deliberately flouted a High Court injunction which had been imposed to try to stop the demonstrations in October last year.
Imposing short terms on Diana Warner, 62, Ellie Litten, 35, Stephen Pritchard, 62, Theresa Norton, 63, and Ben Taylor, 27, Justice William Davis said: “This is in no sense a value judgement on the merits or demerits of government policy in relation to climate change.”
Stressing the importance of the High Court injunction, he said: “The Rule of Law will fall apart if people decide which orders and which laws they choose to abide by and which they don’t.
“If the Rule of Law didn’t apply, those benefitting the most from it would be those who have the most power.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/insulate-britain-activists-jailed-high-court-m25-blockades-b980276.html4 -
I took the train to the Copper Canyon some 30 years ago. Its as big as the grand canyon, but with a train too!.Leon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
A great trip for scenery, and fascinating local colour on the train. We got off in Divisidaro, to tour the canyon by horseback with a Mexican cowboy. The canyon only had 2 hotels at the time and a couple of dozen tourists. Perhaps it still does.
https://coppercanyon.com/index.php/train0 -
And if UKIP or one of the loons wins Southend W?bondegezou said:
Thank you for proving my point.HYUFD said:
No it won't, it is safe Labour, not even Tory in 1983 or 2019.bondegezou said:
True, and Johnson apologists will dismiss them whatever happens. But the Birmingham vote was 50:40 Lab:Con last time. It’s not that safe. The Tories would win it on less than the swing they got in Hartlepool. If they do very badly, I think that will be meaningful, even if Johnson’s fanbase deny it.eek said:
But they are Southend West - Labour / Lib Dems not standing so Tory win on a tiny voteMISTY said:
Two by-elections before May, too.Beibheirli_C said:
I think Boris is safe until May's elections. Perhaps he will find an excuse to cancel themIshmaelZ said:Alastair Meeks
@AlastairMeeks
Doesn't look as if Jim has fixed it for Boris Johnson.
https://twitter.com/AlastairMeeks/status/1488861824384651267
Birmingham Erdington - safe Labour even before Bozo blew any chance of the Tories winning up.
Unless the LDs beat the Tories into 3rd place it is irrelevant for Boris0 -
And the second point is the problem. I think a weekly update is fine, like the ONS do and where you can then download all the data.bondegezou said:
Again, not the data’s fault. If you don’t want people obsessing, demonstrate that they don’t need to obsess. Maybe get a competent person installed as PM, so the public can have a modicum of trust that COVID policy is being driven by what the country needs rather than by the PM’s desperate attempts to divert media attention from his failings?FrancisUrquhart said:
There is a difference between open and available data and the daily dashboard. I think there is still value in the data being available, it is more I think we need to start to move the public away from obsessing over the daily dashboard numbers. One way of nudging people to stop worrying is to stop blasting it every day on a dashboard which the media then just cut and paste.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
And if you want better journalism… well, that’s a difficult one!
People get a general sense of where we are at, without the BBC / Sky etc doing every bulletin, x cases, x deaths, etc etc etc, without any real context of what that is like compared to every other disease about.2 -
I have a 28" 4K monitor with my laptop to one side of it as a second screen. As my eyes are about 50cm from the screen I am not sure the screen could be much bigger without me having to move my head to look at things. I tend to have email and browser on my main screen each occupying a half and then other things I am referring to on my laptop.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html0 -
I don't.FrancisUrquhart said:
Using a TV as a computer monitor....no no no no no (sounding like the Churchill dog).Omnium said:
No - I do, but I have a screen that lets me work too.FrancisUrquhart said:
You mean you have a telly.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html0 -
Here's mineFrancisUrquhart said:
I believe you, about as much as I believe Boris over not attending any parties ;-)TheScreamingEagles said:My current office.
10 -
I am not aware of any 44" 4k monitors? 43" yes, but not 44". Linky?Omnium said:
I don't.FrancisUrquhart said:
Using a TV as a computer monitor....no no no no no (sounding like the Churchill dog).Omnium said:
No - I do, but I have a screen that lets me work too.FrancisUrquhart said:
You mean you have a telly.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html0 -
Yep. Nazir mentioned it this morning on BBC Breakfast News, although not the exact context and when I posted it earlier @IshmaelZ identified the original quote.TheScreamingEagles said:BTW have we discussed this? From 2019.
Boris Johnson has declared money spent on non-recent child abuse investigations as “spaffed up a wall”, prompting immediate criticism from Labour for making reckless and inappropriate comments.
The current favourite to succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader was arguing that police time and resources were being wasted on crimes committed years ago as he was questioned on an LBC radio phone-in on Wednesday morning.
He said: “And one comment I would make is I think an awful lot of money and an awful lot of police time now goes into these historic offences and all this malarkey.
“You know, £60m I saw was being spaffed up a wall on some investigation into historic child abuse and all this kind of thing. What on earth is that going to do to protect the public now?”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/13/boris-johnson-under-fire-over-remarks-about-child-abuse-inquiries?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other1 -
That extra 1" must make all the difference.FrancisUrquhart said:
I am not aware of any 44" 4k monitors? 43" yes, but not 44". Linky?Omnium said:
I don't.FrancisUrquhart said:
Using a TV as a computer monitor....no no no no no (sounding like the Churchill dog).Omnium said:
No - I do, but I have a screen that lets me work too.FrancisUrquhart said:
You mean you have a telly.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html1 -
If we go to weekly updates, then what do we do with all the biscuits for the panics? @Leon is already on a diet...FrancisUrquhart said:
And the second point is the problem. I think a weekly update is fine, like the ONS do and where you can then download all the data.bondegezou said:
Again, not the data’s fault. If you don’t want people obsessing, demonstrate that they don’t need to obsess. Maybe get a competent person installed as PM, so the public can have a modicum of trust that COVID policy is being driven by what the country needs rather than by the PM’s desperate attempts to divert media attention from his failings?FrancisUrquhart said:
There is a difference between open and available data and the daily dashboard. I think there is still value in the data being available, it is more I think we need to start to move the public away from obsessing over the daily dashboard numbers. One way of nudging people to stop worrying is to stop blasting it every day on a dashboard which the media then just cut and paste.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
And if you want better journalism… well, that’s a difficult one!
People get a general sense of where we are at, without the BBC / Sky etc doing every bulletin, x cases, x deaths, etc etc etc, without any real context of what that is like compared to every other disease about.1 -
You see, actual medical research involves collecting data from multiple people, not just stopping after one anecdote from someone, nice though they are, on a message board.turbotubbs said:
Thats not a nonsense claim for the vaccinated and previously infected though, its the truth. @Foxy has had it for a few days, is mostly through it, and says it was bad, but not that bad.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
Even before any vaccinations, even with earlier strains, there was always variation in people’s reactions to infection. Some people were completely asymptomatic. Some had mild symptoms. Some had worst symptoms. Some needed hospitalisation. Some died.
I’m glad Foxy came off lightly. With vaccinations and prior infections, with Omicron, we do expect more people to have fewer symptoms. However, it’s still not just like the flu or a bad cold. That’s grade A nonsense, bordering on conspiracy theory. It remains a more serious infection: more people have worse symptoms than flu or a bad cold.2 -
Is the light too dim in your mum’s basement?kjh said:
Ewww no, absolutely not.Leon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Only joking.
However it is quite an interesting exercise. It humanises people. I already feel a bit kinder towards Rochdale. Suddenly he is a real person who uses an old fashioned note pad, likes Zero coke AND tea. And so forth
Of course it is not for everyone, many will want to remain entirely anon, and fair enough0 -
It doesn't, just interested. I am a bit of a monitor nerd and not heard of any 44" inch ones. I know LG made a 43" one, which they sold the panel to Dell to make their own.AlistairM said:
That extra 1" must make all the difference.FrancisUrquhart said:
I am not aware of any 44" 4k monitors? 43" yes, but not 44". Linky?Omnium said:
I don't.FrancisUrquhart said:
Using a TV as a computer monitor....no no no no no (sounding like the Churchill dog).Omnium said:
No - I do, but I have a screen that lets me work too.FrancisUrquhart said:
You mean you have a telly.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html0 -
This is going to cause some panic:
Lots of backdating though due to this:
No change to the current trends.0 -
That is why larger monitors are curved, so you can look at them without constantly refocusing.AlistairM said:
I have a 28" 4K monitor with my laptop to one side of it as a second screen. As my eyes are about 50cm from the screen I am not sure the screen could be much bigger without me having to move my head to look at things. I tend to have email and browser on my main screen each occupying a half and then other things I am referring to on my laptop.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html0 -
Notice that existing laws were adequate to do this.TheScreamingEagles said:Hurrah.
Five activists from the Insulate Britain protest group have been jailed for blockading the M25 in protest over climate change.
The protesters brought motorway traffic to a standstill, deliberately flouted a High Court injunction which had been imposed to try to stop the demonstrations in October last year.
Imposing short terms on Diana Warner, 62, Ellie Litten, 35, Stephen Pritchard, 62, Theresa Norton, 63, and Ben Taylor, 27, Justice William Davis said: “This is in no sense a value judgement on the merits or demerits of government policy in relation to climate change.”
Stressing the importance of the High Court injunction, he said: “The Rule of Law will fall apart if people decide which orders and which laws they choose to abide by and which they don’t.
“If the Rule of Law didn’t apply, those benefitting the most from it would be those who have the most power.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/insulate-britain-activists-jailed-high-court-m25-blockades-b980276.html6 -
Ghan Adelaide to Alice Springs also Melbourne to Adelaide, plus Johannesburg to Cape Town but not Picton to ChristchurchLeon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?0 -
I don't go back quite that far, but in the early 1990s I was working on a project for Apple to assist with their migration from the original 680x0-based Mac to the PowerPC. One of the things which came up was that, in the original Mac toolbox, they were extremely short of space for the program, and used every trick they could think of to save bytes. They were still slightly over the limit when some guy noticed that there was a two-byte instruction followed by a branch to a location which was just after a four-byte instruction, and it so happened that the second two bytes (representing a constant) of this instruction were the same as the opcode just before the branch.Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html
Yep, in the shipping Macs, they had removed the instruction before the branch, and replaced the branch with a branch to half-way through the four-byte instruction.1 -
UK: West Highland line to Mallaig. Starting in London with the sleeper to Fort William for that extra bit of magic.Leon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
International: either the old wooden electric train between Palma and Soller in Mallorca, or the line through the hill country of Sri Lanka between Kandy and Badulla.0 -
And crossing the Tweed at Berwick?RochdalePioneers said:
I find the full East Coast Mainline to be at least as interesting as the Highland Mainline north of Perth. You do the Firth of Forth on 3 sides then from Dundee to Aberdeen run along the coast more often than not.Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
When I start commuting to London in March I'll be flying usually so nice doing the train instead. I also love travel by train.1 -
1. ECML KGX to EDI first class, especially through Berwick
2. Shanghai to Beijing early eighties hard sleeper zillions of hours could have been 70-odd.1 -
Its really interesting, curved tvs didn't work, but without curvature for instance my 38" monitors would be unusable.DecrepiterJohnL said:
That is why larger monitors are curved, so you can look at them without constantly refocusing.AlistairM said:
I have a 28" 4K monitor with my laptop to one side of it as a second screen. As my eyes are about 50cm from the screen I am not sure the screen could be much bigger without me having to move my head to look at things. I tend to have email and browser on my main screen each occupying a half and then other things I am referring to on my laptop.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html1 -
Yes, like the Mallorcan train.OnlyLivingBoy said:
UK: West Highland line to Mallaig. Starting in London with the sleeper to Fort William for that extra bit of magic.Leon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
International: either the old wooden electric train between Palma and Soller in Mallorca, or the line through the hill country of Sri Lanka between Kandy and Badulla.1 -
I agree. I haven't seen the work dashboard for a week, as stuck at home, but last Wednesday we had 250 inpatients with covid, 5 with flu or RSV. Even if fewer than half were for covid rather than with it, it does give an idea of the scale of the health issue.bondegezou said:
You see, actual medical research involves collecting data from multiple people, not just stopping after one anecdote from someone, nice though they are, on a message board.turbotubbs said:
Thats not a nonsense claim for the vaccinated and previously infected though, its the truth. @Foxy has had it for a few days, is mostly through it, and says it was bad, but not that bad.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
Even before any vaccinations, even with earlier strains, there was always variation in people’s reactions to infection. Some people were completely asymptomatic. Some had mild symptoms. Some had worst symptoms. Some needed hospitalisation. Some died.
I’m glad Foxy came off lightly. With vaccinations and prior infections, with Omicron, we do expect more people to have fewer symptoms. However, it’s still not just like the flu or a bad cold. That’s grade A nonsense, bordering on conspiracy theory. It remains a more serious infection: more people have worse symptoms than flu or a bad cold.0 -
I was talking to one broadcast journalist who took over the health desk shortly before COVID. He was worried it wouldn’t be a very important role and then bam! Hopefully, health journalism comes out of the pandemic in a better state, and the media and the public have a better understanding of the issues, including the important role of data.FrancisUrquhart said:
And the second point is the problem. I think a weekly update is fine, like the ONS do and where you can then download all the data.bondegezou said:
Again, not the data’s fault. If you don’t want people obsessing, demonstrate that they don’t need to obsess. Maybe get a competent person installed as PM, so the public can have a modicum of trust that COVID policy is being driven by what the country needs rather than by the PM’s desperate attempts to divert media attention from his failings?FrancisUrquhart said:
There is a difference between open and available data and the daily dashboard. I think there is still value in the data being available, it is more I think we need to start to move the public away from obsessing over the daily dashboard numbers. One way of nudging people to stop worrying is to stop blasting it every day on a dashboard which the media then just cut and paste.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
And if you want better journalism… well, that’s a difficult one!
People get a general sense of where we are at, without the BBC / Sky etc doing every bulletin, x cases, x deaths, etc etc etc, without any real context of what that is like compared to every other disease about.
But that’s up against the systemic problems in journalism these days that leads to ‘churnalism’.
0 -
Yes, this is a real candidate for the most tedious PB threadettes of all time – and there is strong (weak) competition.AlistairM said:
That extra 1" must make all the difference.FrancisUrquhart said:
I am not aware of any 44" 4k monitors? 43" yes, but not 44". Linky?Omnium said:
I don't.FrancisUrquhart said:
Using a TV as a computer monitor....no no no no no (sounding like the Churchill dog).Omnium said:
No - I do, but I have a screen that lets me work too.FrancisUrquhart said:
You mean you have a telly.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html0 -
The problem we have is that we don't know how much evidence there was, whether the girls themselves (or their parents) wanted to testify, etc. The CPS has a limited budget, and their goal - always - is going to be to maximise the number of successful prosecutions. If something is seen as difficult - perhaps because the primary witnesses would struggle on the stand - then one can see why it might get dropped.NerysHughes said:
You are correct , it was when SKS was DPP that 4 cases from Surrey and Sussex police against Jimmy Saville for the rape of learning disabled girls under the age of 16 were dropped by the CPS.tlg86 said:
The Guardian:kjh said:
Same here. As I said Nazir, I think, was clear on the matter, yet dates seem to contradict that and I trust Nazir so I suspect that there is more to this that we don't know in terms of events and dates.tlg86 said:
This is the reference:kjh said:
We do have a bit of a conflict there don't we? I don't want to slag off Wikipedia as, as far as I am concerned, it is God. I can only assume there is some other explanation relating to an earlier date.tlg86 said:
Wikipedia says:TheScreamingEagles said:
AIUI it was analogous to David Cameron apologising for Bloody Sunday.tlg86 said:
So Starmer's apology was for stuff that happened before he was DPP? I didn't realise that.kjh said:
This was covered by Nazir Afzal this morning. Let's hope I get this right, probably not fully, so please correct where I have it wrong.tlg86 said:
Not sure that's quite the same. Ministers make decisions and I doubt that got to the top of the department (terrible as it was).Carnyx said:
He was given a pass to a sensitive NHS site with the decision made at a very high level of the Dept of Health. The Tories were running the country at the time. What I am not sure is whether the relevant Minister knew, but there is such a thing as responsibility fo r one'sa department (though that is conspicously lacking in Mr Johnson). And if the Tories are complaining about SKS and his running of the DPP, they might like to consider how compliciot they were in actually facilitating the crimes.HYUFD said:
Savile also was invited to Chequers by BlairTheScreamingEagles said:
Actually I believe it.kle4 said:
Both of them. Obviously he wont retract as he's already double downed, and those who've not already put in a letter would be pushed over the edge in defence of Keir? Give me a break.eek said:Filing under things that ain't ever going to happen
The Times
@thetimes
Up-pointing red triangle JUST IN: Boris Johnson has been warned that more Tory MPs will put in letters of no confidence unless he retracts his claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions
In my call earlier, it'll be a race to the bottom, as it legitimises this.
I don't expect Starmer to rise to it, but some leftie outrider will.
Thatcher "responded by inviting the now-disgraced DJ to lunch at Chequers, spending 11 consecutive New Year’s Eves with him and overseeing his knighthood"
https://twitter.com/andrewspoooner/status/1488823436113854465
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity/scots-pop-guru-alan-mcgee-23546990
I'd be curious to know what sort of cases get reviewed by the DPP. Savile was quite high profile, so I'm slightly surprised that it didn't make its way to the top of the CPS.
The police incorrectly told victims and the CPS that there were no other incidents other than theirs and each case was not put together with the others. So on the basis of 1 complaint in each case the CPS decided there wasn't the evidence to prosecute that case. Nasir also covered something regarding the independence of the prosecution, which I didn't really follow, but meant that the Director of the CPS would not be aware of this. He also pointed out that Starmer wasn't at the CPS at this time (rather important) After Starmer was appointed he appointed Nasir to review the problem of child abuse cases not being prosecuted and the prosecution rate significantly improved. So in fact Starmer was not only not responsible for the Saville failures but actually was instrumental in resolving the issues. In addition Nasir made an astounding claim (bearing in mind liable) re Johnson making a previous statement (I assume an article) about child abuse cases and spaffing money up the wall.
Sadly my recollection is not as good as hearing it first hand but it was rather damning.
I don't know if records are kept regarding complaints. It's a shame that when others came forward, no one knew that it wasn't the first time an allegation had been made.
Didn't happen on his watch but as the incumbent it fell to him to apologise.
On 24 October 2012 the Crown Prosecution Service said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, would review the service's decisions not to prosecute Savile in 2009 in relation to four claims against him for sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s.
SKS was DPP in 2009.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9630550/Jimmy-Savile-What-George-Entwistle-told-MPs-about-Panorama-justthewomen-Newsnight-and-the-conversation-at-the-Hilton-Hotel.html
I don't have a Telegraph account, so can't read it.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/24/jimmy-savile-dpp-2009-evidence
Cameron told the house that the DPP had ordered a review of the evidence considered by the CPS in 2009 relating to indecent assault allegations against Savile from the 1970s. The evidence was submitted by Surrey police, which began an investigation in 2007.
Fairly conclusive that this was on SKS's watch, not that I hold it against him. Whether or not it should have been escalated to the DPP in the first place, I don't know.
I have absolutely no idea how the CPS works but I would imagine that for such a high profile case someone senior took the decision.
It's easy with the benefit of hindsight to say 'Savile was a wrong-un'. But did the CPS/DPP know that? Or did they just think that the chances of a conviction were not great, that the witnesses parents did not want them grilled on the stand, and see a better use of scarce resources elsewhere?2 -
Believe it or not I’ve done the very same train journey. Fantastic indeed. The tribal people in loin cloths with the Beatles haircuts. The way the railroad spirals in on itself. The mad village at the bottom. The Lost Cathedral of Satevo!Foxy said:
I took the train to the Copper Canyon some 30 years ago. Its as big as the grand canyon, but with a train too!.Leon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
A great trip for scenery, and fascinating local colour on the train. We got off in Divisidaro, to tour the canyon by horseback with a Mexican cowboy. The canyon only had 2 hotels at the time and a couple of dozen tourists. Perhaps it still does.
https://coppercanyon.com/index.php/train
https://www.alamy.com/the-lost-cathedral-at-satevo-in-batopilas-canyon-in-the-copper-canyon-region-of-chihuahua-mexico-along-the-batopilas-river-image331596102.html0 -
The biggest problem with journalism as exposed by the last two years is that when a health or science story becomes a political story, the political correspondents take over and turn everything into a "gotcha", sidelining the specialist correspondents who would be more useful.bondegezou said:
I was talking to one broadcast journalist who took over the health desk shortly before COVID. He was worried it wouldn’t be a very important role and then bam! Hopefully, health journalism comes out of the pandemic in a better state, and the media and the public have a better understanding of the issues, including the important role of data.FrancisUrquhart said:
And the second point is the problem. I think a weekly update is fine, like the ONS do and where you can then download all the data.bondegezou said:
Again, not the data’s fault. If you don’t want people obsessing, demonstrate that they don’t need to obsess. Maybe get a competent person installed as PM, so the public can have a modicum of trust that COVID policy is being driven by what the country needs rather than by the PM’s desperate attempts to divert media attention from his failings?FrancisUrquhart said:
There is a difference between open and available data and the daily dashboard. I think there is still value in the data being available, it is more I think we need to start to move the public away from obsessing over the daily dashboard numbers. One way of nudging people to stop worrying is to stop blasting it every day on a dashboard which the media then just cut and paste.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
And if you want better journalism… well, that’s a difficult one!
People get a general sense of where we are at, without the BBC / Sky etc doing every bulletin, x cases, x deaths, etc etc etc, without any real context of what that is like compared to every other disease about.
But that’s up against the systemic problems in journalism these days that leads to ‘churnalism’.1 -
ASUS ROG Strix XG438Q HDR Large Gaming Monitor 43-Inch, 4K.FrancisUrquhart said:
I am not aware of any 44" 4k monitors? 43" yes, but not 44". Linky?Omnium said:
I don't.FrancisUrquhart said:
Using a TV as a computer monitor....no no no no no (sounding like the Churchill dog).Omnium said:
No - I do, but I have a screen that lets me work too.FrancisUrquhart said:
You mean you have a telly.Omnium said:
44", 4k here. Not sure why you wouldn't,Malmesbury said:
Slacker.eek said:
2x 24 inch QHD - I can''t actually put anything bigger on the desk after I replaced it with a sit stand model.Malmesbury said:
"My monitor is bigger than yours" - etcLeon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Real Programmers (the heirs of Mel*) need at least a 34" - in 4K.
*https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html
Sorry yes you're quite right 43.0 -
The media have been on the whole absolutely and utter shit during this panic when it comes to understanding data (or misinterpreting academic papers), and they don't seem to ever learn.bondegezou said:
I was talking to one broadcast journalist who took over the health desk shortly before COVID. He was worried it wouldn’t be a very important role and then bam! Hopefully, health journalism comes out of the pandemic in a better state, and the media and the public have a better understanding of the issues, including the important role of data.FrancisUrquhart said:
And the second point is the problem. I think a weekly update is fine, like the ONS do and where you can then download all the data.bondegezou said:
Again, not the data’s fault. If you don’t want people obsessing, demonstrate that they don’t need to obsess. Maybe get a competent person installed as PM, so the public can have a modicum of trust that COVID policy is being driven by what the country needs rather than by the PM’s desperate attempts to divert media attention from his failings?FrancisUrquhart said:
There is a difference between open and available data and the daily dashboard. I think there is still value in the data being available, it is more I think we need to start to move the public away from obsessing over the daily dashboard numbers. One way of nudging people to stop worrying is to stop blasting it every day on a dashboard which the media then just cut and paste.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
And if you want better journalism… well, that’s a difficult one!
People get a general sense of where we are at, without the BBC / Sky etc doing every bulletin, x cases, x deaths, etc etc etc, without any real context of what that is like compared to every other disease about.
But that’s up against the systemic problems in journalism these days that leads to ‘churnalism’.1 -
An absolutely moronic decision to change the methodology and expect the innumerate media (and iSage) to explain it away. Especially as they are binning the whole shebang in circa 60 days anyway.AlistairM said:This is going to cause some panic:
Lots of backdating though due to this:
No change to the current trends.
What was the point of it?
Anyone?0 -
Sea to Sky Highway (Vancouver to Whistler) is via bus but what a journey. From grey drab Vancouver suburbs to the mountains.
Also, the boat trip on the Li River in Guilin with the mountains rising up out of the water is amazing.1 -
Am I odd for using a "proper notepad"? If it isn't written it didn't happen... I use notepads both for to do lists and longhand notes. Which then get filed as they get filled up. Being able to refer back to contemporaneous notes at the time they were made is the only real thing that stuck with my journalism degree.Leon said:
Is the light too dim in your mum’s basement?kjh said:
Ewww no, absolutely not.Leon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Only joking.
However it is quite an interesting exercise. It humanises people. I already feel a bit kinder towards Rochdale. Suddenly he is a real person who uses an old fashioned note pad, likes Zero coke AND tea. And so forth
Of course it is not for everyone, many will want to remain entirely anon, and fair enough2 -
Right, now that I'm no longer tied into BA, wondering whether it's worth starting a new loyalty scheme. The new BA CEO seems better than Cruz but not by enough to get me to commit long term. What other choices have I got PB frequent fliers?0
-
Where do you fly to, what class (if cash), where would you like to fly on points in first/business on a redemption ?MaxPB said:Right, now that I'm no longer tied into BA, wondering whether it's worth starting a new loyalty scheme. The new BA CEO seems better than Cruz but not by enough to get me to commit long term. What other choices have I got PB frequent fliers?
0 -
Yes. Class 156 lolloping along. Hopper windows all open.OnlyLivingBoy said:
UK: West Highland line to Mallaig. Starting in London with the sleeper to Fort William for that extra bit of magic.Leon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
CLICKETY CLACK CLICKETY CLACK CLICKETY CLACK CLICKETY CLACK CLICKETY CLACK
Mmmmmmmm1 -
It only needs a handful of shy and furtive correspondents and we are over the line.Richard_Nabavi said:@AlastairMeeks has updated his table of the positions of Tory MPs:
Hostile 41
Icy 50
Cool 39
Neutral 56
Unknown 75
Friendly 98
https://alastair-meeks.medium.com/every-conservative-mps-position-on-boris-johnson-and-the-parties-in-number-10-bc4f5f77032f0 -
Yes, its fair enough that it is a bit more severe than a bad cold for some. I think you need to ask who is dying at the moment though. It is mostly the unvaccinated and the frail. Thats not me being callous, its the truth. For the vaccinated person who is not generally frail or ill with other issues, omicron in particular is not a terrifying disease. Its really not a conspiracy theory to say this.bondegezou said:
You see, actual medical research involves collecting data from multiple people, not just stopping after one anecdote from someone, nice though they are, on a message board.turbotubbs said:
Thats not a nonsense claim for the vaccinated and previously infected though, its the truth. @Foxy has had it for a few days, is mostly through it, and says it was bad, but not that bad.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
Even before any vaccinations, even with earlier strains, there was always variation in people’s reactions to infection. Some people were completely asymptomatic. Some had mild symptoms. Some had worst symptoms. Some needed hospitalisation. Some died.
I’m glad Foxy came off lightly. With vaccinations and prior infections, with Omicron, we do expect more people to have fewer symptoms. However, it’s still not just like the flu or a bad cold. That’s grade A nonsense, bordering on conspiracy theory. It remains a more serious infection: more people have worse symptoms than flu or a bad cold.0 -
"“The Rule of Law will fall apart if people decide which orders and which laws they choose to abide by and which they don’t."TheScreamingEagles said:Hurrah.
Five activists from the Insulate Britain protest group have been jailed for blockading the M25 in protest over climate change.
The protesters brought motorway traffic to a standstill, deliberately flouted a High Court injunction which had been imposed to try to stop the demonstrations in October last year.
Imposing short terms on Diana Warner, 62, Ellie Litten, 35, Stephen Pritchard, 62, Theresa Norton, 63, and Ben Taylor, 27, Justice William Davis said: “This is in no sense a value judgement on the merits or demerits of government policy in relation to climate change.”
Stressing the importance of the High Court injunction, he said: “The Rule of Law will fall apart if people decide which orders and which laws they choose to abide by and which they don’t.
“If the Rule of Law didn’t apply, those benefitting the most from it would be those who have the most power.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/insulate-britain-activists-jailed-high-court-m25-blockades-b980276.html
Anyone in mind, your Honour?5 -
That Mallaig line is not just the best in the UK, it is possible the most impressive in the world, in terms of spectacle-per-minuteOnlyLivingBoy said:
UK: West Highland line to Mallaig. Starting in London with the sleeper to Fort William for that extra bit of magic.Leon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
International: either the old wooden electric train between Palma and Soller in Mallorca, or the line through the hill country of Sri Lanka between Kandy and Badulla.
Foxy has already mentioned the Copper Canyon, Mexico, which is definitely up there
In which case I have to say the Trans Siberian as it passes moonlit Lake Baykal, at night. A very very very boring train journey, but with odd moments of world class magic. That is one
Dullest international train journey: Chicago to Toronto, on Amtrak. Freezing cold, no food, took about 18 hours coz it kept stopping for freight (deemed more important). And a relentlessly flat monotonous landscape all the way
1 -
Err, accuracy?Anabobazina said:
An absolutely moronic decision to change the methodology and expect the innumerate media (and iSage) to explain it away. Especially as they are binning the whole shebang in circa 60 days anyway.AlistairM said:This is going to cause some panic:
Lots of backdating though due to this:
No change to the current trends.
What was the point of it?
Anyone?
It was plainly absurd to ignore 28 day deaths from reinfection, by counting 28 days from the original infection.
I have no problem about people arguing against control measures for social, economic or ideological reasons, but denials that it is a serious health issue really gets my goat.1 -
UK cases by specimen date
0 -
I have had several friends have omicron (including one who was absolutely terrified of covid) – their descriptions varied from "a cold", "a bad cold", "a mild flu" and "like the flu".bondegezou said:
You see, actual medical research involves collecting data from multiple people, not just stopping after one anecdote from someone, nice though they are, on a message board.turbotubbs said:
Thats not a nonsense claim for the vaccinated and previously infected though, its the truth. @Foxy has had it for a few days, is mostly through it, and says it was bad, but not that bad.bondegezou said:
Data is useful - we use these data in research I’m involved in - and data should be open and available. If some people are too obsessed with checking these figures, that’s not the fault of the data! If you want people to stop worrying about COVID-19, convince them that they don’t need to worry.FrancisUrquhart said:
But what will we do at 4pm every afternoon....Andy_JS said:"Daily Covid stats to be ditched... but not until April: No10 'intends to scrap constant updates' under plan to live with virus like flu"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10468183/Daily-Covid-stats-ditched-not-APRIL.html
In all seriousness, it is very sensible move. I don't think it is really helping anybody now to keep seeing these figures, and then most people won't know a lot of the nuances behind them.
PS: Making nonsense claims - e.g. it’s just like a bad cold - is not going to be very persuasive.
Even before any vaccinations, even with earlier strains, there was always variation in people’s reactions to infection. Some people were completely asymptomatic. Some had mild symptoms. Some had worst symptoms. Some needed hospitalisation. Some died.
I’m glad Foxy came off lightly. With vaccinations and prior infections, with Omicron, we do expect more people to have fewer symptoms. However, it’s still not just like the flu or a bad cold. That’s grade A nonsense, bordering on conspiracy theory. It remains a more serious infection: more people have worse symptoms than flu or a bad cold.
Paradoxically, the chap who was terrified of covid seemed to get a milder bout, and was completely over it in two days.
So, probably not fair to describe these guys as conspiracy theorists – what an odd thing to say.0 -
UK cases by specimen date and scaled to 100K
0 -
UK R
0 -
New York, San Francisco and Tokyo for business in club class. With points I'd probably go to Asia. The company doesn't have a preferred airline for 2022 at least but will probably partner with ANA or JAL, last time out we had JAL but the Japanese execs weren't happy with them. Bonus points if they serve Haneda.occasionalranter said:
Where do you fly to, what class (if cash), where would you like to fly on points in first/business on a redemption ?MaxPB said:Right, now that I'm no longer tied into BA, wondering whether it's worth starting a new loyalty scheme. The new BA CEO seems better than Cruz but not by enough to get me to commit long term. What other choices have I got PB frequent fliers?
0 -
Case summary
0 -
Hospitals
0 -
Deaths
0 -
Any idea how many of the 250 or so are unvaccinated? And is that ICU or including general wards?Foxy said:
Err, accuracy?Anabobazina said:
An absolutely moronic decision to change the methodology and expect the innumerate media (and iSage) to explain it away. Especially as they are binning the whole shebang in circa 60 days anyway.AlistairM said:This is going to cause some panic:
Lots of backdating though due to this:
No change to the current trends.
What was the point of it?
Anyone?
It was plainly absurd to ignore 28 day deaths from reinfection, by counting 28 days from the original infection.
I have no problem about people arguing against control measures for social, economic or ideological reasons, but denials that it is a serious health issue really gets my goat.0 -
I seem to recall a TV programme about that. I don't think all the girls had disabilities; I think some were in 'care' partly at least for misbehaviour, and there wasn't any 'outside' corroboration of their story.Saville, again IIRC, made it clear that he'd fight the case as hard as he could, so the chance of a successful prosecution was held to be low.rcs1000 said:
The problem we have is that we don't know how much evidence there was, whether the girls themselves (or their parents) wanted to testify, etc. The CPS has a limited budget, and their goal - always - is going to be to maximise the number of successful prosecutions. If something is seen as difficult - perhaps because the primary witnesses would struggle on the stand - then one can see why it might get dropped.NerysHughes said:
You are correct , it was when SKS was DPP that 4 cases from Surrey and Sussex police against Jimmy Saville for the rape of learning disabled girls under the age of 16 were dropped by the CPS.tlg86 said:
The Guardian:kjh said:
Same here. As I said Nazir, I think, was clear on the matter, yet dates seem to contradict that and I trust Nazir so I suspect that there is more to this that we don't know in terms of events and dates.tlg86 said:
This is the reference:kjh said:
We do have a bit of a conflict there don't we? I don't want to slag off Wikipedia as, as far as I am concerned, it is God. I can only assume there is some other explanation relating to an earlier date.tlg86 said:
Wikipedia says:TheScreamingEagles said:
AIUI it was analogous to David Cameron apologising for Bloody Sunday.tlg86 said:
So Starmer's apology was for stuff that happened before he was DPP? I didn't realise that.kjh said:
This was covered by Nazir Afzal this morning. Let's hope I get this right, probably not fully, so please correct where I have it wrong.tlg86 said:
Not sure that's quite the same. Ministers make decisions and I doubt that got to the top of the department (terrible as it was).Carnyx said:
He was given a pass to a sensitive NHS site with the decision made at a very high level of the Dept of Health. The Tories were running the country at the time. What I am not sure is whether the relevant Minister knew, but there is such a thing as responsibility fo r one'sa department (though that is conspicously lacking in Mr Johnson). And if the Tories are complaining about SKS and his running of the DPP, they might like to consider how compliciot they were in actually facilitating the crimes.HYUFD said:
Savile also was invited to Chequers by BlairTheScreamingEagles said:
Actually I believe it.kle4 said:
Both of them. Obviously he wont retract as he's already double downed, and those who've not already put in a letter would be pushed over the edge in defence of Keir? Give me a break.eek said:Filing under things that ain't ever going to happen
The Times
@thetimes
Up-pointing red triangle JUST IN: Boris Johnson has been warned that more Tory MPs will put in letters of no confidence unless he retracts his claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions
In my call earlier, it'll be a race to the bottom, as it legitimises this.
I don't expect Starmer to rise to it, but some leftie outrider will.
Thatcher "responded by inviting the now-disgraced DJ to lunch at Chequers, spending 11 consecutive New Year’s Eves with him and overseeing his knighthood"
https://twitter.com/andrewspoooner/status/1488823436113854465
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity/scots-pop-guru-alan-mcgee-23546990
I'd be curious to know what sort of cases get reviewed by the DPP. Savile was quite high profile, so I'm slightly surprised that it didn't make its way to the top of the CPS.
The police incorrectly told victims and the CPS that there were no other incidents other than theirs and each case was not put together with the others. So on the basis of 1 complaint in each case the CPS decided there wasn't the evidence to prosecute that case. Nasir also covered something regarding the independence of the prosecution, which I didn't really follow, but meant that the Director of the CPS would not be aware of this. He also pointed out that Starmer wasn't at the CPS at this time (rather important) After Starmer was appointed he appointed Nasir to review the problem of child abuse cases not being prosecuted and the prosecution rate significantly improved. So in fact Starmer was not only not responsible for the Saville failures but actually was instrumental in resolving the issues. In addition Nasir made an astounding claim (bearing in mind liable) re Johnson making a previous statement (I assume an article) about child abuse cases and spaffing money up the wall.
Sadly my recollection is not as good as hearing it first hand but it was rather damning.
I don't know if records are kept regarding complaints. It's a shame that when others came forward, no one knew that it wasn't the first time an allegation had been made.
Didn't happen on his watch but as the incumbent it fell to him to apologise.
On 24 October 2012 the Crown Prosecution Service said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, would review the service's decisions not to prosecute Savile in 2009 in relation to four claims against him for sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s.
SKS was DPP in 2009.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9630550/Jimmy-Savile-What-George-Entwistle-told-MPs-about-Panorama-justthewomen-Newsnight-and-the-conversation-at-the-Hilton-Hotel.html
I don't have a Telegraph account, so can't read it.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/24/jimmy-savile-dpp-2009-evidence
Cameron told the house that the DPP had ordered a review of the evidence considered by the CPS in 2009 relating to indecent assault allegations against Savile from the 1970s. The evidence was submitted by Surrey police, which began an investigation in 2007.
Fairly conclusive that this was on SKS's watch, not that I hold it against him. Whether or not it should have been escalated to the DPP in the first place, I don't know.
I have absolutely no idea how the CPS works but I would imagine that for such a high profile case someone senior took the decision.
It's easy with the benefit of hindsight to say 'Savile was a wrong-un'. But did the CPS/DPP know that? Or did they just think that the chances of a conviction were not great, that the witnesses parents did not want them grilled on the stand, and see a better use of scarce resources elsewhere?
At the time, of course, he had powerful, and wealthy, friends.0 -
Age related data
0 -
No.Foxy said:
Err, accuracy?Anabobazina said:
An absolutely moronic decision to change the methodology and expect the innumerate media (and iSage) to explain it away. Especially as they are binning the whole shebang in circa 60 days anyway.AlistairM said:This is going to cause some panic:
Lots of backdating though due to this:
No change to the current trends.
What was the point of it?
Anyone?
It was plainly absurd to ignore 28 day deaths from reinfection, by counting 28 days from the original infection.
I have no problem about people arguing against control measures for social, economic or ideological reasons, but denials that it is a serious health issue really gets my goat.
They needed to separate infections and reinfections in two lines (as you yourself have said) not bundle them in together. That is stupid because you can no longer compare like with like.
It's now impossible to benchmark without doing maths, which the media are incapable of.
Who is denying it's a serious public health issue? Nobody on this forum that I can see.0 -
We flew Brisbane to Toyko with JAL and they were very goodMaxPB said:
New York, San Francisco and Tokyo for business in club class. With points I'd probably go to Asia. The company doesn't have a preferred airline for 2022 at least but will probably partner with ANA or JAL, last time out we had JAL but the Japanese execs weren't happy with them. Bonus points if they serve Haneda.occasionalranter said:
Where do you fly to, what class (if cash), where would you like to fly on points in first/business on a redemption ?MaxPB said:Right, now that I'm no longer tied into BA, wondering whether it's worth starting a new loyalty scheme. The new BA CEO seems better than Cruz but not by enough to get me to commit long term. What other choices have I got PB frequent fliers?
0 -
I've got a large LG flatscreen that gives me pictures from a strange sattellite that gives me less channels than freeview (but with CNN and CNBC available.)
I post using a HP chromebook with a Huawei 4G dongle style thing.
And I've normally listening to a CDs (Yes, really) on a crappy portable stereo.0 -
COVID summary
Cases: Flat. R around 1. But below 1 for the older groups and above 1 for the younger....
Admissions: Down
MV Beds: Down
In Hospital: Down
Deaths: Down1 -
If I was in my mum's basement it would be a bit of a Psycho moment - I'm 67.Leon said:
Is the light too dim in your mum’s basement?kjh said:
Ewww no, absolutely not.Leon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Only joking.
However it is quite an interesting exercise. It humanises people. I already feel a bit kinder towards Rochdale. Suddenly he is a real person who uses an old fashioned note pad, likes Zero coke AND tea. And so forth
Of course it is not for everyone, many will want to remain entirely anon, and fair enough2 -
I heard some truly disturbing gossip about “a very very well known 20th century rock star” which claimed that when his band entered town X, he and his one like-minded roadie would head for the nearest children’s home/orphanage, and select which pretty girl or boy they wanted, and pay handsomely for the privilege. They weren’t averse to retarded children, as they were even more malleableOldKingCole said:
I seem to recall a TV programme about that. I don't think all the girls had disabilities; I think some were in 'care' partly at least for misbehaviour, and there wasn't any 'outside' corroboration of their story.Saville, again IIRC, made it clear that he'd fight the case as hard as he could, so the chance of a successful prosecution was held to be low.rcs1000 said:
The problem we have is that we don't know how much evidence there was, whether the girls themselves (or their parents) wanted to testify, etc. The CPS has a limited budget, and their goal - always - is going to be to maximise the number of successful prosecutions. If something is seen as difficult - perhaps because the primary witnesses would struggle on the stand - then one can see why it might get dropped.NerysHughes said:
You are correct , it was when SKS was DPP that 4 cases from Surrey and Sussex police against Jimmy Saville for the rape of learning disabled girls under the age of 16 were dropped by the CPS.tlg86 said:
The Guardian:kjh said:
Same here. As I said Nazir, I think, was clear on the matter, yet dates seem to contradict that and I trust Nazir so I suspect that there is more to this that we don't know in terms of events and dates.tlg86 said:
This is the reference:kjh said:
We do have a bit of a conflict there don't we? I don't want to slag off Wikipedia as, as far as I am concerned, it is God. I can only assume there is some other explanation relating to an earlier date.tlg86 said:
Wikipedia says:TheScreamingEagles said:
AIUI it was analogous to David Cameron apologising for Bloody Sunday.tlg86 said:
So Starmer's apology was for stuff that happened before he was DPP? I didn't realise that.kjh said:
This was covered by Nazir Afzal this morning. Let's hope I get this right, probably not fully, so please correct where I have it wrong.tlg86 said:
Not sure that's quite the same. Ministers make decisions and I doubt that got to the top of the department (terrible as it was).Carnyx said:
He was given a pass to a sensitive NHS site with the decision made at a very high level of the Dept of Health. The Tories were running the country at the time. What I am not sure is whether the relevant Minister knew, but there is such a thing as responsibility fo r one'sa department (though that is conspicously lacking in Mr Johnson). And if the Tories are complaining about SKS and his running of the DPP, they might like to consider how compliciot they were in actually facilitating the crimes.HYUFD said:
Savile also was invited to Chequers by BlairTheScreamingEagles said:
Actually I believe it.kle4 said:
Both of them. Obviously he wont retract as he's already double downed, and those who've not already put in a letter would be pushed over the edge in defence of Keir? Give me a break.eek said:Filing under things that ain't ever going to happen
The Times
@thetimes
Up-pointing red triangle JUST IN: Boris Johnson has been warned that more Tory MPs will put in letters of no confidence unless he retracts his claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions
In my call earlier, it'll be a race to the bottom, as it legitimises this.
I don't expect Starmer to rise to it, but some leftie outrider will.
Thatcher "responded by inviting the now-disgraced DJ to lunch at Chequers, spending 11 consecutive New Year’s Eves with him and overseeing his knighthood"
https://twitter.com/andrewspoooner/status/1488823436113854465
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity/scots-pop-guru-alan-mcgee-23546990
I'd be curious to know what sort of cases get reviewed by the DPP. Savile was quite high profile, so I'm slightly surprised that it didn't make its way to the top of the CPS.
The police incorrectly told victims and the CPS that there were no other incidents other than theirs and each case was not put together with the others. So on the basis of 1 complaint in each case the CPS decided there wasn't the evidence to prosecute that case. Nasir also covered something regarding the independence of the prosecution, which I didn't really follow, but meant that the Director of the CPS would not be aware of this. He also pointed out that Starmer wasn't at the CPS at this time (rather important) After Starmer was appointed he appointed Nasir to review the problem of child abuse cases not being prosecuted and the prosecution rate significantly improved. So in fact Starmer was not only not responsible for the Saville failures but actually was instrumental in resolving the issues. In addition Nasir made an astounding claim (bearing in mind liable) re Johnson making a previous statement (I assume an article) about child abuse cases and spaffing money up the wall.
Sadly my recollection is not as good as hearing it first hand but it was rather damning.
I don't know if records are kept regarding complaints. It's a shame that when others came forward, no one knew that it wasn't the first time an allegation had been made.
Didn't happen on his watch but as the incumbent it fell to him to apologise.
On 24 October 2012 the Crown Prosecution Service said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, would review the service's decisions not to prosecute Savile in 2009 in relation to four claims against him for sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s.
SKS was DPP in 2009.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9630550/Jimmy-Savile-What-George-Entwistle-told-MPs-about-Panorama-justthewomen-Newsnight-and-the-conversation-at-the-Hilton-Hotel.html
I don't have a Telegraph account, so can't read it.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/24/jimmy-savile-dpp-2009-evidence
Cameron told the house that the DPP had ordered a review of the evidence considered by the CPS in 2009 relating to indecent assault allegations against Savile from the 1970s. The evidence was submitted by Surrey police, which began an investigation in 2007.
Fairly conclusive that this was on SKS's watch, not that I hold it against him. Whether or not it should have been escalated to the DPP in the first place, I don't know.
I have absolutely no idea how the CPS works but I would imagine that for such a high profile case someone senior took the decision.
It's easy with the benefit of hindsight to say 'Savile was a wrong-un'. But did the CPS/DPP know that? Or did they just think that the chances of a conviction were not great, that the witnesses parents did not want them grilled on the stand, and see a better use of scarce resources elsewhere?
At the time, of course, he had powerful, and wealthy, friends.
It came from a hugely well-informed music journalist, and I believe it to be probably true (but cannot know for sure, of course). It has made me quite conflicted, as I love the music of the band in question
1 -
I've got all the old data for deaths and infections saved from a few days backAnabobazina said:
No.Foxy said:
Err, accuracy?Anabobazina said:
An absolutely moronic decision to change the methodology and expect the innumerate media (and iSage) to explain it away. Especially as they are binning the whole shebang in circa 60 days anyway.AlistairM said:This is going to cause some panic:
Lots of backdating though due to this:
No change to the current trends.
What was the point of it?
Anyone?
It was plainly absurd to ignore 28 day deaths from reinfection, by counting 28 days from the original infection.
I have no problem about people arguing against control measures for social, economic or ideological reasons, but denials that it is a serious health issue really gets my goat.
They needed to separate infections and reinfections in two lines (as you yourself have said) not bundle them in together. That is stupid because you can no longer compare like with like.
It's now impossible to benchmark without doing maths, which the media are incapable of.
Who is denying it's a serious public health issue? Nobody on this forum that I can see.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fo1T6WiO1KhIAF5QHI9Telz_ATAhOICsUtyLMos7BM8/edit?usp=sharing
Annoyingly all the dates got hashed, but I did the exercise the morning of the case change definition.
First 5 tabs.0 -
Well, she annoys lefties because she's very authoritarian.Omnium said:
Smart and wise though..Leon said:
She is genuinely attractive. Phenomenal cheekbonesOldKingCole said:
First time I met her Tony Newton, our ex-MP, was walking through a local fete and I thought 'what's he doing with that attractive Asian girl?'Leon said:Omnium said:
Mostly I agree with you RT. I really like Patel though. Easily, in my view, the best plausible PM after Boris. I don't often find myself so far out on the wings.Richard_Tyndall said:
Not sure hate but certainly dislike intensely and, to some extent, fear.Omnium said:
Why is she so hated? I think she's really very good. Obviously has faults too.TheScreamingEagles said:I wonder why this has leaked today. Priti on manoeuvres?
The BBC reporting that last year No.10 overruled the Home Secretary to keep the Met Commissioner in her job. One for historians of Johnson's fall to ponder.
https://twitter.com/arthistorynews/status/1488870878943354881
She is rabidly authoritarian yet pretends she is not. She appears to be, quite literally, an old fashioned hang-em and flog-em type of Home Secretary. Okay to be fair I have never heard her mention flogging but she has in the past being strongly in favour of the death penalty and I think her fundamental view is still in favour even if she cannot admit that publicly. There is no subtlety about her and the only language she seems to understand in terms of her job is that of threat and force.
I will be very glad when she is away from the Home Office.
You’re not alone. I like her and admire her. I also - God help me - slightly fancy her
Quite a few years ago now, of course.
Quite broad in the beam, but one can, er, overlook that
Whatever it is she doesn't deserve the unpopularity.
And she annoys righties because she's done a very poor job with migrant border crossings.
While in her previous role, she travelled to Israel, had a bunch of work meetings. Then lied about it to the Prime Minister. Was forgiven. More revelations came out. She then lied again. And after being lied to a second time, the Prime Minister was less forgiving.
She has a great personal backstory, is attractive and articulate. She's clearly not stupid.
But I'm not convinced she would be a great PM.1 -
Kremlin, before Putin-Johnson call, says it is ready to talk with the 'utterly confused' http://reut.rs/3ASXv9Q https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1488913940826447877/photo/10
-
Zurich to Geneva is one of my favourites. As the train goes through the mountains and then starts it's decent and you can see Lake Geneva spread ahead of you with the Alps to the left and the vineyards to the right.Leon said:
That Mallaig line is not just the best in the UK, it is possible the most impressive in the world, in terms of spectacle-per-minuteOnlyLivingBoy said:
UK: West Highland line to Mallaig. Starting in London with the sleeper to Fort William for that extra bit of magic.Leon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
International: either the old wooden electric train between Palma and Soller in Mallorca, or the line through the hill country of Sri Lanka between Kandy and Badulla.
Foxy has already mentioned the Copper Canyon, Mexico, which is definitely up there
In which case I have to say the Trans Siberian as it passes moonlit Lake Baykal, at night. A very very very boring train journey, but with odd moments of world class magic. That is one
Dullest international train journey: Chicago to Toronto, on Amtrak. Freezing cold, no food, took about 18 hours coz it kept stopping for freight (deemed more important). And a relentlessly flat monotonous landscape all the way1 -
I know plenty of people that use old fash notepads. But what if you lose it?RochdalePioneers said:
Am I odd for using a "proper notepad"? If it isn't written it didn't happen... I use notepads both for to do lists and longhand notes. Which then get filed as they get filled up. Being able to refer back to contemporaneous notes at the time they were made is the only real thing that stuck with my journalism degree.Leon said:
Is the light too dim in your mum’s basement?kjh said:
Ewww no, absolutely not.Leon said:I think every PB-er should post a photo of exactly where they are now, and what is happening in front of them
Any identifying evidence can and should be removed, of course, but all else must stay
Larks!
Only joking.
However it is quite an interesting exercise. It humanises people. I already feel a bit kinder towards Rochdale. Suddenly he is a real person who uses an old fashioned note pad, likes Zero coke AND tea. And so forth
Of course it is not for everyone, many will want to remain entirely anon, and fair enough
I use Evernote. It is all stored in the ethersphere so you can’t lose anything, It syncs across all devices. I can search all my notes from when I began using it (in about 2012). It’s brilliant
I recently looked at my notes - more like diary entries - from Jan/Feb 2021. My God I was in the Pit of Winter Lockdown Despair. All I could see ahead of me was more darkness and cold. Awful
It makes this sojourn in Sri Lanka even more delightful, and it is already quite high on the delightfulness scale0 -
I was told that the line is freight only now, apart from occasional tourist specials. Part of the enjoyment of such public transport is the people watching.Leon said:
Believe it or not I’ve done the very same train journey. Fantastic indeed. The tribal people in loin cloths with the Beatles haircuts. The way the railroad spirals in on itself. The mad village at the bottom. The Lost Cathedral of Satevo!Foxy said:
I took the train to the Copper Canyon some 30 years ago. Its as big as the grand canyon, but with a train too!.Leon said:
Favourite train journey?Big_G_NorthWales said:
It is to meRochdalePioneers said:
It's not as exciting as your officeLeon said:
Photos. We need photos!RochdalePioneers said:
My office today is the 10am London to Aberdeen train, where two sets of train crew are keeping me plied with drinks and food. Have read loads of negatives about these new trains but they're a very comfy place to while away the hours in first class.Leon said:Look, there’s my weird bar snack on the left. Cheers
Stuff like this makes me appreciate the miracle of the internet. 200 years ago if I wanted to tell you all about the snack I was having I would have had to write you all individual letters with a goose quill, describing my snack with words, then put the sealed letters on a tea clipper bound for England and you’d only have learned about my snack maybe a year later as the letters slowly made their way across the island of Britain in carriages to your various hovels and mansions. Now I can just do this:
This is what the internet was FOR, all along
Lots of memories of first class trips to London and of course a lifetime love of all things trains
In the UK?
Then abroad?
A great trip for scenery, and fascinating local colour on the train. We got off in Divisidaro, to tour the canyon by horseback with a Mexican cowboy. The canyon only had 2 hotels at the time and a couple of dozen tourists. Perhaps it still does.
https://coppercanyon.com/index.php/train
https://www.alamy.com/the-lost-cathedral-at-satevo-in-batopilas-canyon-in-the-copper-canyon-region-of-chihuahua-mexico-along-the-batopilas-river-image331596102.html
Not sure how safe the trip Mrs Foxy and I did would be now. We drove from Phoenix AZ to Puerto Vallata in an old pick up truck, with the canyon as a side trip. That West Coast of Mexico is a long way, and we have many great memories, as well as some of the worst food poisoning of my life!.
0 -
🚨🚨 @AnthonyMangnal1 tweeted that he had submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister...
...And then walked down the steps of the Red Lion Pub to be interviewed by @Telegraph's @christopherhope.
Podcast out later today. Subscribe now 👇👇👇
http://playpodca.st/chopper https://twitter.com/ChoppersPodcast/status/1488906962003984384/photo/10 -
The Winston Smith blog http://winstonsmith33.blogspot.com/ is interesting reading in light of all this.OldKingCole said:
I seem to recall a TV programme about that. I don't think all the girls had disabilities; I think some were in 'care' partly at least for misbehaviour, and there wasn't any 'outside' corroboration of their story.Saville, again IIRC, made it clear that he'd fight the case as hard as he could, so the chance of a successful prosecution was held to be low.rcs1000 said:
The problem we have is that we don't know how much evidence there was, whether the girls themselves (or their parents) wanted to testify, etc. The CPS has a limited budget, and their goal - always - is going to be to maximise the number of successful prosecutions. If something is seen as difficult - perhaps because the primary witnesses would struggle on the stand - then one can see why it might get dropped.NerysHughes said:
You are correct , it was when SKS was DPP that 4 cases from Surrey and Sussex police against Jimmy Saville for the rape of learning disabled girls under the age of 16 were dropped by the CPS.tlg86 said:
The Guardian:kjh said:
Same here. As I said Nazir, I think, was clear on the matter, yet dates seem to contradict that and I trust Nazir so I suspect that there is more to this that we don't know in terms of events and dates.tlg86 said:
This is the reference:kjh said:
We do have a bit of a conflict there don't we? I don't want to slag off Wikipedia as, as far as I am concerned, it is God. I can only assume there is some other explanation relating to an earlier date.tlg86 said:
Wikipedia says:TheScreamingEagles said:
AIUI it was analogous to David Cameron apologising for Bloody Sunday.tlg86 said:
So Starmer's apology was for stuff that happened before he was DPP? I didn't realise that.kjh said:
This was covered by Nazir Afzal this morning. Let's hope I get this right, probably not fully, so please correct where I have it wrong.tlg86 said:
Not sure that's quite the same. Ministers make decisions and I doubt that got to the top of the department (terrible as it was).Carnyx said:
He was given a pass to a sensitive NHS site with the decision made at a very high level of the Dept of Health. The Tories were running the country at the time. What I am not sure is whether the relevant Minister knew, but there is such a thing as responsibility fo r one'sa department (though that is conspicously lacking in Mr Johnson). And if the Tories are complaining about SKS and his running of the DPP, they might like to consider how compliciot they were in actually facilitating the crimes.HYUFD said:
Savile also was invited to Chequers by BlairTheScreamingEagles said:
Actually I believe it.kle4 said:
Both of them. Obviously he wont retract as he's already double downed, and those who've not already put in a letter would be pushed over the edge in defence of Keir? Give me a break.eek said:Filing under things that ain't ever going to happen
The Times
@thetimes
Up-pointing red triangle JUST IN: Boris Johnson has been warned that more Tory MPs will put in letters of no confidence unless he retracts his claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions
In my call earlier, it'll be a race to the bottom, as it legitimises this.
I don't expect Starmer to rise to it, but some leftie outrider will.
Thatcher "responded by inviting the now-disgraced DJ to lunch at Chequers, spending 11 consecutive New Year’s Eves with him and overseeing his knighthood"
https://twitter.com/andrewspoooner/status/1488823436113854465
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity/scots-pop-guru-alan-mcgee-23546990
I'd be curious to know what sort of cases get reviewed by the DPP. Savile was quite high profile, so I'm slightly surprised that it didn't make its way to the top of the CPS.
The police incorrectly told victims and the CPS that there were no other incidents other than theirs and each case was not put together with the others. So on the basis of 1 complaint in each case the CPS decided there wasn't the evidence to prosecute that case. Nasir also covered something regarding the independence of the prosecution, which I didn't really follow, but meant that the Director of the CPS would not be aware of this. He also pointed out that Starmer wasn't at the CPS at this time (rather important) After Starmer was appointed he appointed Nasir to review the problem of child abuse cases not being prosecuted and the prosecution rate significantly improved. So in fact Starmer was not only not responsible for the Saville failures but actually was instrumental in resolving the issues. In addition Nasir made an astounding claim (bearing in mind liable) re Johnson making a previous statement (I assume an article) about child abuse cases and spaffing money up the wall.
Sadly my recollection is not as good as hearing it first hand but it was rather damning.
I don't know if records are kept regarding complaints. It's a shame that when others came forward, no one knew that it wasn't the first time an allegation had been made.
Didn't happen on his watch but as the incumbent it fell to him to apologise.
On 24 October 2012 the Crown Prosecution Service said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, would review the service's decisions not to prosecute Savile in 2009 in relation to four claims against him for sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s.
SKS was DPP in 2009.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9630550/Jimmy-Savile-What-George-Entwistle-told-MPs-about-Panorama-justthewomen-Newsnight-and-the-conversation-at-the-Hilton-Hotel.html
I don't have a Telegraph account, so can't read it.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/24/jimmy-savile-dpp-2009-evidence
Cameron told the house that the DPP had ordered a review of the evidence considered by the CPS in 2009 relating to indecent assault allegations against Savile from the 1970s. The evidence was submitted by Surrey police, which began an investigation in 2007.
Fairly conclusive that this was on SKS's watch, not that I hold it against him. Whether or not it should have been escalated to the DPP in the first place, I don't know.
I have absolutely no idea how the CPS works but I would imagine that for such a high profile case someone senior took the decision.
It's easy with the benefit of hindsight to say 'Savile was a wrong-un'. But did the CPS/DPP know that? Or did they just think that the chances of a conviction were not great, that the witnesses parents did not want them grilled on the stand, and see a better use of scarce resources elsewhere?
At the time, of course, he had powerful, and wealthy, friends.
What he makes clear is that the old, abusive, system of prison like control of children in care has been replaced with complete lack of control. One they are early teenagers, they use the care system as a dormitory.0 -
Someone else who has a problem with the truth may not be a good replacement. I don't like her, but she would still be an improvement, but then the bar is so low.rcs1000 said:
Well, she annoys lefties because she's very authoritarian.Omnium said:
Smart and wise though..Leon said:
She is genuinely attractive. Phenomenal cheekbonesOldKingCole said:
First time I met her Tony Newton, our ex-MP, was walking through a local fete and I thought 'what's he doing with that attractive Asian girl?'Leon said:Omnium said:
Mostly I agree with you RT. I really like Patel though. Easily, in my view, the best plausible PM after Boris. I don't often find myself so far out on the wings.Richard_Tyndall said:
Not sure hate but certainly dislike intensely and, to some extent, fear.Omnium said:
Why is she so hated? I think she's really very good. Obviously has faults too.TheScreamingEagles said:I wonder why this has leaked today. Priti on manoeuvres?
The BBC reporting that last year No.10 overruled the Home Secretary to keep the Met Commissioner in her job. One for historians of Johnson's fall to ponder.
https://twitter.com/arthistorynews/status/1488870878943354881
She is rabidly authoritarian yet pretends she is not. She appears to be, quite literally, an old fashioned hang-em and flog-em type of Home Secretary. Okay to be fair I have never heard her mention flogging but she has in the past being strongly in favour of the death penalty and I think her fundamental view is still in favour even if she cannot admit that publicly. There is no subtlety about her and the only language she seems to understand in terms of her job is that of threat and force.
I will be very glad when she is away from the Home Office.
You’re not alone. I like her and admire her. I also - God help me - slightly fancy her
Quite a few years ago now, of course.
Quite broad in the beam, but one can, er, overlook that
Whatever it is she doesn't deserve the unpopularity.
And she annoys righties because she's done a very poor job with migrant border crossings.
While in her previous role, she travelled to Israel, had a bunch of work meetings. Then lied about it to the Prime Minister. Was forgiven. More revelations came out. She then lied again. And after being lied to a second time, the Prime Minister was less forgiving.
She has a great personal backstory, is attractive and articulate. She's clearly not stupid.
But I'm not convinced she would be a great PM.1
