In England only in London does Starmer have a “Best PM” lead over Johnson – politicalbetting.com

mwadams said:

Mexicanpete said:

Malmesbury said:

IshmaelZ said:

MoonRabbit said:

Malmesbury said:

MoonRabbit said:

MoonRabbit said:

felix said:

Applicant said:

MISTY said:

darkage said:

(reposted FPT)
I think that Johnson will ride out the Lebedev issues. He will keep saying that the security services never issued any meaningful warnings about him. I still haven't seen any significant evidence that Lebedev is a malign influence, other than he had a line to Putin - not unexpected for someone in his position. How Lebedev got to be where he is, and where all his money came from, is an interesting question; but Boris Johnson cannot be blamed for that.

Johnson's luck is astounding.

Ukraine has enabled him to get beyond partygate, keep covid blunders out of the headlines, turn immigration around from a very unpromising place, bury tax rises and find an excuse to finesse energy policy beyond net zero.

And then there's inflation......Food prices? Petrol costs? Vlad's fault guvnor.

Its almost tailor made.

Is politics like sport, where good teams have skill and bad teams always complain that they don't have luck?

There's been a growing sense of alarm ⏰ and panic from some of our left-wing posters of a nervous disposition - the watch for the RW Monday poll must be agonising for them - 2 hours 30 minutes still to go! The soothing London poll earlier is already wearing off not helped by this latest header.

Firstly, not all politics is left right, Tory Labour, there’s those of us right of centre voting Lib Dem who are actually torn between getting the popcorn in for the inevitable castration of big dog on one hand and sympathy for sensible minded Tories on the other, unluckily lumbered with this albatross of a PM Much longer than natural because of this terrible crisis situation .

other pollsters are available for a more peer reviewed picture, rather than swigging just the medicine you like the sound of.

another way to look at it would be, here is the table when news dominated by an extra ordinary crisis, where even Doug Ross has withdrawn his letter to the 1922, what could this table look like in more normal times? So as a fun ending antidote to Mike’s fake tease of a header, I can actually show you the real state of play today, if it wasn’t for War Crisis rally round flag bounce.

To use a Malmesbury summing up of my own little data monolith (everyone gotta start somewhere), If it wasn’t for this crisis, Boris not winning anywhere actually behind in midlands the same pollster said, before the news narrative went extra ordinary in Feb.

so it’s either nuclear war or is this a party 😃

Hmmmm.....

I know just the thing! Atomic cocktails o’clock

45 ml of a Premium Vodka
45 ml Brandy or Cognac
15 ml Dry Sherry
Enough champagne to fill the glass to the top
Garnish: Twist of orange zest

Combine the first three ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake for 15 seconds. Carefully strain into a chilled martini glass. Top up with champagne and add a twist of orange zest.



Soundtrack? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_WLw_0DFQQ

I don't think you could top that lot up with enough champagne to notice in a standard martini glass. Sounds nice though.

Define "Standard"

Elizabeth Montgomery- my first crush! Gorgeous!

While we are on wartime cocktails, you can't go wrong with a French 75. Named after their WWI 75mm artillery piece.

10ml stock syrup
30ml gin
15ml lemon juice
Top up a coupe (or flute if you must) with champagne.

Bit of a kick from that one!

rcs1000 said:

On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.

In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.

Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:

One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.

What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.

Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?

I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?

Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.

Russian invaders killed a prominent Ukrainian experimental physicist Vasyl Kladko,–UA Academy of Sciences
Kladko significantly contributed to research on semiconductor nanostructures; had big plans for the restoration of the electronics industry in Ukraine
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1503399098900230150

boulay said:

…

williamglenn said:

Emmanuel Macron is now trying to imitate Zelensky by turning up at the Elysée in jeans and a hoodie.

That’s fucking tragic - even going for the unshaven “spent the last two weeks with people trying to assassinate me so no time to shave “ look.

Yes going to lose. Not a shock result to me.

Westminster Voting Intention (13 Mar):

Labour 39% (-1)
Conservative 36% (-1)
Liberal Democrat 10% (–)
Green 6% (+1)
Scottish National Party 4% (–)
Reform UK 4% (+2)
Other 3% (+2)

Changes +/- 7 March

Boris Johnson (39%, no change) has maintained his lead over Keir Starmer (36%, up 1%) in terms of who Britons think would be the better Prime Minister for the UK at this moment.

New Nature paper for @Leon.

"We argue the lower severity of Omicron is a coincidence and that ongoing rapid antigenic evolution is likely to produce new variants that may escape immunity and be more severe"
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503383079963926533

Nigelb said:

New Nature paper for @Leon.

"We argue the lower severity of Omicron is a coincidence and that ongoing rapid antigenic evolution is likely to produce new variants that may escape immunity and be more severe"
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503383079963926533

Time for omicron parties to boost immunity?

kyf_100 said:

rcs1000 said:

On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.

In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.

Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:

One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.

What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.

Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?

I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?

Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.

Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB.
Not buying it tbh.

Luckyguy1983 said:

MoonRabbit said:

biggles said:

Malmesbury said:

biggles said:

mwadams said:

Mexicanpete said:

Malmesbury said:

IshmaelZ said:

MoonRabbit said:

Malmesbury said:

MoonRabbit said:

MoonRabbit said:

felix said:

Applicant said:

MISTY said:

darkage said:

(reposted FPT)
I think that Johnson will ride out the Lebedev issues. He will keep saying that the security services never issued any meaningful warnings about him. I still haven't seen any significant evidence that Lebedev is a malign influence, other than he had a line to Putin - not unexpected for someone in his position. How Lebedev got to be where he is, and where all his money came from, is an interesting question; but Boris Johnson cannot be blamed for that.

Johnson's luck is astounding.

Ukraine has enabled him to get beyond partygate, keep covid blunders out of the headlines, turn immigration around from a very unpromising place, bury tax rises and find an excuse to finesse energy policy beyond net zero.

And then there's inflation......Food prices? Petrol costs? Vlad's fault guvnor.

Its almost tailor made.

Is politics like sport, where good teams have skill and bad teams always complain that they don't have luck?

There's been a growing sense of alarm ⏰ and panic from some of our left-wing posters of a nervous disposition - the watch for the RW Monday poll must be agonising for them - 2 hours 30 minutes still to go! The soothing London poll earlier is already wearing off not helped by this latest header.

Firstly, not all politics is left right, Tory Labour, there’s those of us right of centre voting Lib Dem who are actually torn between getting the popcorn in for the inevitable castration of big dog on one hand and sympathy for sensible minded Tories on the other, unluckily lumbered with this albatross of a PM Much longer than natural because of this terrible crisis situation .

other pollsters are available for a more peer reviewed picture, rather than swigging just the medicine you like the sound of.

another way to look at it would be, here is the table when news dominated by an extra ordinary crisis, where even Doug Ross has withdrawn his letter to the 1922, what could this table look like in more normal times? So as a fun ending antidote to Mike’s fake tease of a header, I can actually show you the real state of play today, if it wasn’t for War Crisis rally round flag bounce.

To use a Malmesbury summing up of my own little data monolith (everyone gotta start somewhere), If it wasn’t for this crisis, Boris not winning anywhere actually behind in midlands the same pollster said, before the news narrative went extra ordinary in Feb.

so it’s either nuclear war or is this a party 😃

Hmmmm.....

I know just the thing! Atomic cocktails o’clock

45 ml of a Premium Vodka
45 ml Brandy or Cognac
15 ml Dry Sherry
Enough champagne to fill the glass to the top
Garnish: Twist of orange zest

Combine the first three ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake for 15 seconds. Carefully strain into a chilled martini glass. Top up with champagne and add a twist of orange zest.



Soundtrack? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_WLw_0DFQQ

I don't think you could top that lot up with enough champagne to notice in a standard martini glass. Sounds nice though.

Define "Standard"

Elizabeth Montgomery- my first crush! Gorgeous!

While we are on wartime cocktails, you can't go wrong with a French 75. Named after their WWI 75mm artillery piece.

10ml stock syrup
30ml gin
15ml lemon juice
Top up a coupe (or flute if you must) with champagne.

That does sound nice, but I always regret losing the fizz and creaminess of having it by itself when putting champagne in cocktails.

I advocate The Stinger

1 measure White Creme De Menthe
2 measures Cognac

I've seen it sink more ships than Arnauld de la Perière

I’m partial to the NLAW. It’s a martini in which you first smash and destroy a bottle of vodka before pouring yourself a large measure of gin.

God Save The Queen!

Rather a futile gesture given that gin is made out of vodka.

Don't bet on that!

noneoftheabove said:

Nigelb said:

New Nature paper for @Leon.

"We argue the lower severity of Omicron is a coincidence and that ongoing rapid antigenic evolution is likely to produce new variants that may escape immunity and be more severe"
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503383079963926533

Time for omicron parties to boost immunity?

well i am off to cheltenham tomorrow

state_go_away said:

noneoftheabove said:

Nigelb said:

New Nature paper for @Leon.

"We argue the lower severity of Omicron is a coincidence and that ongoing rapid antigenic evolution is likely to produce new variants that may escape immunity and be more severe"
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503383079963926533

Time for omicron parties to boost immunity?

well i am off to cheltenham tomorrow

That in 2019 was such a mistake.

Big_G_NorthWales said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Leon said:

felix said:

Leon said:

City A.M.
@CityAM
·
2m
Police called to John Bercow’s Battersea home over domestic disturbance following assault claim by wife Sally http://dlvr.it/SLgcgT

He apparently left the home following plod's arrival with a face like thunder. Sound like Sally had the upper hand .. or even the uppercut maybe.

Yes. I see now that it has been widely reported, today


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10609257/Police-called-home-Commons-bully-John-Bercow-bust-wife-Sally.html


Odd time for it to emerge....

Perhaps the expected pile-on after his defenestering by the Commons authorities didn't shore up the Tories "he was always a bad'un, bloody remoaners can't accept they lost" position enough. So they wheel out him and Sally Libel having a barney.

Not one of your better contributions

Despite that being quite literally what a swathe of Tory MPs and their press poodles have said about the man for years and years.

Luckyguy1983 said:

noneoftheabove said:

Nigelb said:

Leon said:

"I can confirm Saudi Media Group have made a £2.7bn ($3.5bn) offer to buy Chelsea. Mohamed Alkhereiji is a Chelsea fan and leading a private consortium. No direct government links."

https://twitter.com/JacobsBen/status/1503378247148621829?s=20&t=_HA-1kalR9LJCgO23Ho-4g

lol

Looking forward to the Premier League becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of their sovereign wealth fund ?

We will end up with match fixing for royal family deferential reasons!

Rum old world when we boot out the hateful Russians in favour of the world's most prolific head choppers.

It will be interesting how Tracey Crouch views this as she is reviewing football club ownership and supporters shares

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fan-led-review-of-football-governance-securing-the-games-future/fan-led-review-of-football-governance-securing-the-games-future

Big_G_NorthWales said:

Westminster Voting Intention (13 Mar):

Labour 39% (-1)
Conservative 36% (-1)
Liberal Democrat 10% (–)
Green 6% (+1)
Scottish National Party 4% (–)
Reform UK 4% (+2)
Other 3% (+2)

Changes +/- 7 March

Boris Johnson (39%, no change) has maintained his lead over Keir Starmer (36%, up 1%) in terms of who Britons think would be the better Prime Minister for the UK at this moment.

Electoral Calculus gives a hung parliament on those numbers and Labour 11 seats ahead after the boundary changes. It would be the closest general election since February 1974.

Labour 288, Conservatives 277
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/usercode.py?scotcontrol=Y&CON=36&LAB=39&LIB=10&Reform=4&Green=6&UKIP=&TVCON=&TVLAB=&TVLIB=&TVReform=&TVGreen=&TVUKIP=&SCOTCON=18.3&SCOTLAB=20.2&SCOTLIB=6.6&SCOTReform=0.9&SCOTGreen=3&SCOTUKIP=&SCOTNAT=48&display=AllChanged&regorseat=(none)&boundary=2019nbbase

SandyRentool said:

TimT said:

LostPassword said:

ping said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60738120

Hmm.

The problem with double barrel surnames is - well - it creates a dilemma for the kid, doesn’t it? What do they do when they get married (to another double barrel surnamed spouse!?) Are we heading into a world of exponentially increasing surnames? Will no one think of the registrars?

And why does Hamilton stop at adding just his mother’s surname? What about his grandmothers’ on both sides. And so on…..

There are all sorts of practical - and logical - difficulties with dismantling the patriarchy.

I took the approach of choosing to take my wife's surname. It keeps things nice and simple, and breaks with the patriarchy.

My wife took mine, against my expectations and without consulting me. Apparently she was fed up with spelling out her 12-letter family name, so preferred my 6-letter one. Perhaps we should have gone with my mother's (Beck) as, although mine is just 6-letters, as it's Cornish, I have collected well over 30 misspellings of it over the years.

Changing names just seems odd to me. And isn't it a bit of a faff?

I was very surprised that our niece changed hers when she got married. So she now has a Punjabi first name and a Lancashire surname.

Mind, if I adopted my mother's maiden name, I might be eligible for an Irish passport...

I'm quite traditional about this.
Getting married isn't just having a girlfriend/boyfriend. It's forming a unit for life. If you're not prepared to subsume your identity into a joint identity you're going about it wrong.
My wife took my name, so all five of us have the same surname - which to me feels like how it should be.
You might think 'well you're a man you would say that' - but I have three daughters and I still think like that: I hope they all take their husband's name when they marry. No-one will take the name forward (I have no brothers, my father's brother had no children, my grandfather's brother had no sons...) - but I don't care, it's only a name and not a particularly interesting one - the point is for all of us in the family unit to share the same one.

And again, this is a personal view but not changing your name feels like starting out with one foot already out of the door.

Once upon a time, I didn't think this way, or at least not particularly strongly. But once upon a time I didn't see how I would view life from the perspective of 'us' rather than 'me'.

For those who find the whole thing hopelessly male-dominated, how about a portmanteau name? I recently came across an Allen and a Winterbottom who both changed their names to Allwinter.

kinabalu said:

dixiedean said:

kyf_100 said:

rcs1000 said:

On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.

In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.

Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:

One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.

What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.

Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?

I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?

Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.

Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB.
Not buying it tbh.

It's just Mystic Rose back with a new name, isn't it?

Good shout, both early morning, quite long posters that came across as trying that bit too hard to be contrarian (as in the word, not the poster).

Nigelb said:

New Nature paper for @Leon.

"We argue the lower severity of Omicron is a coincidence and that ongoing rapid antigenic evolution is likely to produce new variants that may escape immunity and be more severe"
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503383079963926533

Why am I the go-to person for doom-mongering? lol


However I have been saying for some time that the idea all viruses naturally evolve to a more benign state is questionable, at best. And here, in that paper:


"The notion that viruses will evolve to be less virulent to spare their hosts is one of the most persistent myths surrounding pathogen evolution."


https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00722-z

state_go_away said:

Omnium said:

state_go_away said:

noneoftheabove said:

Nigelb said:

New Nature paper for @Leon.

"We argue the lower severity of Omicron is a coincidence and that ongoing rapid antigenic evolution is likely to produce new variants that may escape immunity and be more severe"
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503383079963926533

Time for omicron parties to boost immunity?

well i am off to cheltenham tomorrow

That in 2019 was such a mistake.

do you mean 2020 ? If so ,I went then as well and still here !

I do, yes, sorry. I doubt that it in itself killed many people, but the spread from it was huge. People from every part of the UK after all.

kinabalu said:

dixiedean said:

kyf_100 said:

rcs1000 said:

On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.

In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.

Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:

One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.

What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.

Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?

I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?

Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.

Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB.
Not buying it tbh.

It's just Mystic Rose back with a new name, isn't it?

No, I saw your hint about this the other day but don't buy this one despite your legendary powers .....

Mystic Rose used to irritate me at times but this other poster is genuinely unpleasant in my view and Mystic Rose was never that. She used to go on about her literary prowess and trips to the Far East and stuff. Libdem activism too.

NEW: Number 10 don't deny that Boris Johnson offered constituency funding and jobs directly to MPs in return for personal support during partygate.

On Johnson's very particular use of prime ministerial patronage, with @GaryJMarshall90 in @tortoise.

https://www.tortoisemedia.com/audio/shadow-whipping-the-men-who-saved-boris/

Leon said:

Nigelb said:

New Nature paper for @Leon.

"We argue the lower severity of Omicron is a coincidence and that ongoing rapid antigenic evolution is likely to produce new variants that may escape immunity and be more severe"
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503383079963926533

Why am I the go-to person for doom-mongering? lol


However I have been saying for some time that the idea all viruses naturally evolve to a more benign state is questionable, at best. And here, in that paper:


"The notion that viruses will evolve to be less virulent to spare their hosts is one of the most persistent myths surrounding pathogen evolution."


https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00722-z

It has to be the case though that all larger things than viruses have successfully beaten them off or integrated them. For millions of years. I don't think that changes now. We're all fantastically organised 24x7 defense networks.

Luckyguy1983 said:

noneoftheabove said:

Nigelb said:

Leon said:

"I can confirm Saudi Media Group have made a £2.7bn ($3.5bn) offer to buy Chelsea. Mohamed Alkhereiji is a Chelsea fan and leading a private consortium. No direct government links."

https://twitter.com/JacobsBen/status/1503378247148621829?s=20&t=_HA-1kalR9LJCgO23Ho-4g

lol

Looking forward to the Premier League becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of their sovereign wealth fund ?

We will end up with match fixing for royal family deferential reasons!

Rum old world when we boot out the hateful Russians in favour of the world's most prolific head choppers.

The Saudis have the decency (ha) to usually direct their awfulness in places further from the major capitals of Europe. Makes it easier to ignore.

Stocky said:

MoonRabbit said:

darkage said:

Eabhal said:

Unpopular said:

Malmesbury said:

Andy_JS said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TimT said:

moonshine said:

And there was me thinking all this time that @Heathener was just annoying, a wet blanket and a bit dim… must admit that they were a more skilled operative than the other two and they lasted a hell of a lot longer. Experiences that will all being going back to hq in the report to fine tune the training manual no doubt.

What's the issue with @heathener

Based in Mother Russia....

Why am I not shocked?

Not quite that - IP on a blacklist.

That could well be an IP from a troll farm, but not conclusive.

What if Heathener was initially employed by a troll farm in Russia to spread misinformation on the site, but instead found joy in engaging in the free and full debate of PB, a small act of defiance slowly being awoken by our acerbic wit and cutting insight.

Also, I wish someone would pay me to post here, my offerings would be a lot more frequent if someone was paying for my time.

If Heathener really does have a former career in intelligence then he/she/they might be concealing their identity for that reason alone.

I'm not sure how VPNs react with the blacklist thing OGH is using.

Only a personal view but I would say that Heathener's posts are almost certainly the work of a human. They display a lot of emotion. I cannot see any obvious agenda in them. I would guess that the time spent writing them far exceeds the influence they are having in the real world, so I cannot imagine there is any malign intent, but who knows.

My view is certainly out of step with all the pro Heathener posts. I feel now like maybe I was becoming groomed by Heathener, I have been liking awful lot of her posts, and I have not posted any nude, sexy German actresses here since she told me off for posting the last one 😼

Given that you and I are very close ideologically, I'm surprised to hear you have found a need to like any posts from that particular poster.

I think the wars created strange bed fellows. I think someone remarked after the Great War and peace thread one evening last week, half the site pro intervention the other half couldn’t believe how anyone stupid enough to risk world war three, and it very much kicked off but not the usual split. Someone remarked in the midst of PB WWIII thst the most calm, measured post of all came from Leon. Yes. That shows how crazy war is.

When the war kicked off a few weeks ago I realised very early on truth would be the first casualty, one side claiming they’ve just killed 180 they other side claiming it was only 35. I don’t instinctly believe any claims from anyone now, wether it the 180 or just one, it’s all sad because it’s all so unnecessary and shouldn’t be happening. 😕 Apart from Heathener there’s not many PB posters saying the same as that at times, even though some claim to be religious so should stand up for a different type of world than one with this in it. Luckyboy is another one I have never liked a single post of, thinking some all a bit obscure, until Luckyboys war posts seem measured to me so I have liked some of them. In particular, I think he said, the reason the hospital bombing with all the talk of children amongst the rubble is important, is half PB wanted to go to war right away, so we have to be sure what the real story is behind it.

I think, like yesterday when Russians killed women and children on the safe route out the city, Ukraine said it wasn’t the safe route they were doing their own thing, at times they seem too honest and not sticking to the propaganda enough?

I guess it’s just me, but all news from the war seems brutal and inhumane, makes me depressed. I pray for it to end. Anyone post anything saying that, I’m supporting it.

Sky reporting Abramovich private jet seen flying towards Turkey

boulay said:

…,

Cookie said:

SandyRentool said:

TimT said:

LostPassword said:

ping said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60738120

Hmm.

The problem with double barrel surnames is - well - it creates a dilemma for the kid, doesn’t it? What do they do when they get married (to another double barrel surnamed spouse!?) Are we heading into a world of exponentially increasing surnames? Will no one think of the registrars?

And why does Hamilton stop at adding just his mother’s surname? What about his grandmothers’ on both sides. And so on…..

There are all sorts of practical - and logical - difficulties with dismantling the patriarchy.

I took the approach of choosing to take my wife's surname. It keeps things nice and simple, and breaks with the patriarchy.

My wife took mine, against my expectations and without consulting me. Apparently she was fed up with spelling out her 12-letter family name, so preferred my 6-letter one. Perhaps we should have gone with my mother's (Beck) as, although mine is just 6-letters, as it's Cornish, I have collected well over 30 misspellings of it over the years.

Changing names just seems odd to me. And isn't it a bit of a faff?

I was very surprised that our niece changed hers when she got married. So she now has a Punjabi first name and a Lancashire surname.

Mind, if I adopted my mother's maiden name, I might be eligible for an Irish passport...

I'm quite traditional about this.
Getting married isn't just having a girlfriend/boyfriend. It's forming a unit for life. If you're not prepared to subsume your identity into a joint identity you're going about it wrong.
My wife took my name, so all five of us have the same surname - which to me feels like how it should be.
You might think 'well you're a man you would say that' - but I have three daughters and I still think like that: I hope they all take their husband's name when they marry. No-one will take the name forward (I have no brothers, my father's brother had no children, my grandfather's brother had no sons...) - but I don't care, it's only a name and not a particularly interesting one - the point is for all of us in the family unit to share the same one.

And again, this is a personal view but not changing your name feels like starting out with one foot already out of the door.

Once upon a time, I didn't think this way, or at least not particularly strongly. But once upon a time I didn't see how I would view life from the perspective of 'us' rather than 'me'.

For those who find the whole thing hopelessly male-dominated, how about a portmanteau name? I recently came across an Allen and a Winterbottom who both changed their names to Allwinter.

It gets a bit complicated with changing names when marrying a divorcee- my ex was married before and when we discussed us getting married in the future we talked about the name thing.

She said she would keep her ex-husband’s name, not because she was still pining for him, but because she didn’t want to have a different surname to her daughter. Especially an issue when travelling with her.

I totally understand why, especially whilst the daughter is younger but it would have been a bit of an odd feeling introducing your wife with her ex-husband’s surname!! And double barrelling it or even triple barrelling to include her maiden name as well would have been nuts.

given if double barrelled named people marry other double married named people then it will only take few hundred generations before the marriage certificate would need to be bigger than the known universe.

Malmesbury said:

Cookie said:

moonshine said:

And there was me thinking all this time that @Heathener was just annoying, a wet blanket and a bit dim… must admit that they were a more skilled operative than the other two and they lasted a hell of a lot longer. Experiences that will all being going back to hq in the report to fine tune the training manual no doubt.

What do the sockpuppets get out of coming here? I mean, I like it here - but I think Robert commented earlier that there has been, what, 200 commenters in the past 30 days? It hardly seems worth the bother. We're quite capable of falling out with each other without outside help.

PB is read by a surprising range of people - a quietly influential site.

I do try to spread the word

state_go_away said:

Omnium said:

state_go_away said:

Omnium said:

state_go_away said:

noneoftheabove said:

Nigelb said:

New Nature paper for @Leon.

"We argue the lower severity of Omicron is a coincidence and that ongoing rapid antigenic evolution is likely to produce new variants that may escape immunity and be more severe"
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503383079963926533

Time for omicron parties to boost immunity?

well i am off to cheltenham tomorrow

That in 2019 was such a mistake.

do you mean 2020 ? If so ,I went then as well and still here !

I do, yes, sorry. I doubt that it in itself killed many people, but the spread from it was huge. People from every part of the UK after all.

i tend to take the argument that everyone got it eventually whatever restrictions at certian times but you can hardly blame Cheltenham for the spread given the Tube was still crammed them and operating

I didn't blame anyone - in hindsight though that 2020 meet was unwise. Even at the height of the lockdown you could see daft crowding on the tube. The central line from the east was insane.

state_go_away said:

noneoftheabove said:

Nigelb said:

New Nature paper for @Leon.

"We argue the lower severity of Omicron is a coincidence and that ongoing rapid antigenic evolution is likely to produce new variants that may escape immunity and be more severe"
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503383079963926533

Time for omicron parties to boost immunity?

well i am off to cheltenham tomorrow

Lucky man

HYUFD said:

Electoral Calculus gives a hung parliament on those numbers and Labour 11 seats ahead after the boundary changes. It would be the closest general election since February 1974.

Labour 288, Conservatives 277
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/usercode.py?scotcontrol=Y&CON=36&LAB=39&LIB=10&Reform=4&Green=6&UKIP=&TVCON=&TVLAB=&TVLIB=&TVReform=&TVGreen=&TVUKIP=&SCOTCON=18.3&SCOTLAB=20.2&SCOTLIB=6.6&SCOTReform=0.9&SCOTGreen=3&SCOTUKIP=&SCOTNAT=48&display=AllChanged&regorseat=(none)&boundary=2019nbbase

The SNP holding the balance and as, presumably, the Conservatives will still refuse any kind of independence referendum, it seems probable Labour would form a minority Government as Con plus DUP (assuming said DUP win 9 seats) would still be fewer than Labour.

This is also quite sobering. From the excellent John Burns-Murdoch on the FT


"NEW: I’m not sure people appreciate quite how bad the Covid situation is in Hong Kong, nor what might be around the corner.

First, an astonishing chart.

After keeping Covid at bay for two years, Omicron has hit HK and New Zealand, but the outcomes could not be more different."

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1503420660869214213?s=20&t=_HA-1kalR9LJCgO23Ho-4g


TL;DR: Hong Kong is in a horrorshow, South Korea is pretty grim, and if Omicron really gets into China - as seems likely - then it could kill millions

The CFR of Covid-19 in Hong Kong at the moment is 5%. Yes. It is killing 1 in 20

Hoping that there is a Lviv left to visit this time next year.

https://twitter.com/BBCYaldaHakim/status/1503085313262039044
A wonderful note about Lviv from someone born here - "You can be born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, educated in Poland, married under the Third Reich, work and retire in the USSR and draw your pension in Ukraine and never have left the town.. LVIV"

dixiedean said:

kinabalu said:

dixiedean said:

kyf_100 said:

rcs1000 said:

On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.

In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.

Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:

One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.

What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.

Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?

I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?

Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.

Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB.
Not buying it tbh.

It's just Mystic Rose back with a new name, isn't it?

Is it?
Tbh. Until reading this thread I hadn't clocked Heathener as a she.

Mystic Rose was one of Leon's I think. Doesn't mean Heathener isn't too.

MoonRabbit said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

MoonRabbit said:

biggles said:

Malmesbury said:

biggles said:

mwadams said:

Mexicanpete said:

Malmesbury said:

IshmaelZ said:

MoonRabbit said:

Malmesbury said:

MoonRabbit said:

MoonRabbit said:

felix said:

Applicant said:

MISTY said:

darkage said:

(reposted FPT)
I think that Johnson will ride out the Lebedev issues. He will keep saying that the security services never issued any meaningful warnings about him. I still haven't seen any significant evidence that Lebedev is a malign influence, other than he had a line to Putin - not unexpected for someone in his position. How Lebedev got to be where he is, and where all his money came from, is an interesting question; but Boris Johnson cannot be blamed for that.

Johnson's luck is astounding.

Ukraine has enabled him to get beyond partygate, keep covid blunders out of the headlines, turn immigration around from a very unpromising place, bury tax rises and find an excuse to finesse energy policy beyond net zero.

And then there's inflation......Food prices? Petrol costs? Vlad's fault guvnor.

Its almost tailor made.

Is politics like sport, where good teams have skill and bad teams always complain that they don't have luck?

There's been a growing sense of alarm ⏰ and panic from some of our left-wing posters of a nervous disposition - the watch for the RW Monday poll must be agonising for them - 2 hours 30 minutes still to go! The soothing London poll earlier is already wearing off not helped by this latest header.

Firstly, not all politics is left right, Tory Labour, there’s those of us right of centre voting Lib Dem who are actually torn between getting the popcorn in for the inevitable castration of big dog on one hand and sympathy for sensible minded Tories on the other, unluckily lumbered with this albatross of a PM Much longer than natural because of this terrible crisis situation .

other pollsters are available for a more peer reviewed picture, rather than swigging just the medicine you like the sound of.

another way to look at it would be, here is the table when news dominated by an extra ordinary crisis, where even Doug Ross has withdrawn his letter to the 1922, what could this table look like in more normal times? So as a fun ending antidote to Mike’s fake tease of a header, I can actually show you the real state of play today, if it wasn’t for War Crisis rally round flag bounce.

To use a Malmesbury summing up of my own little data monolith (everyone gotta start somewhere), If it wasn’t for this crisis, Boris not winning anywhere actually behind in midlands the same pollster said, before the news narrative went extra ordinary in Feb.

so it’s either nuclear war or is this a party 😃

Hmmmm.....

I know just the thing! Atomic cocktails o’clock

45 ml of a Premium Vodka
45 ml Brandy or Cognac
15 ml Dry Sherry
Enough champagne to fill the glass to the top
Garnish: Twist of orange zest

Combine the first three ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake for 15 seconds. Carefully strain into a chilled martini glass. Top up with champagne and add a twist of orange zest.



Soundtrack? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_WLw_0DFQQ

I don't think you could top that lot up with enough champagne to notice in a standard martini glass. Sounds nice though.

Define "Standard"

Elizabeth Montgomery- my first crush! Gorgeous!

While we are on wartime cocktails, you can't go wrong with a French 75. Named after their WWI 75mm artillery piece.

10ml stock syrup
30ml gin
15ml lemon juice
Top up a coupe (or flute if you must) with champagne.

That does sound nice, but I always regret losing the fizz and creaminess of having it by itself when putting champagne in cocktails.

I advocate The Stinger

1 measure White Creme De Menthe
2 measures Cognac

I've seen it sink more ships than Arnauld de la Perière

I’m partial to the NLAW. It’s a martini in which you first smash and destroy a bottle of vodka before pouring yourself a large measure of gin.

God Save The Queen!

Rather a futile gesture given that gin is made out of vodka.

It’s what the Ukraines shout when one of the things we lent them wipes out a Russian tank!

I’ve just liked another of your posts! Not this one obviously.

Thanks!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60743322

TL;DR Julian Assange denied permission to challenge extradition.

Assuming he does get extradited this time it will be peak-irony.

kle4 said:

boulay said:

…,

Cookie said:

SandyRentool said:

TimT said:

LostPassword said:

ping said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60738120

Hmm.

The problem with double barrel surnames is - well - it creates a dilemma for the kid, doesn’t it? What do they do when they get married (to another double barrel surnamed spouse!?) Are we heading into a world of exponentially increasing surnames? Will no one think of the registrars?

And why does Hamilton stop at adding just his mother’s surname? What about his grandmothers’ on both sides. And so on…..

There are all sorts of practical - and logical - difficulties with dismantling the patriarchy.

I took the approach of choosing to take my wife's surname. It keeps things nice and simple, and breaks with the patriarchy.

My wife took mine, against my expectations and without consulting me. Apparently she was fed up with spelling out her 12-letter family name, so preferred my 6-letter one. Perhaps we should have gone with my mother's (Beck) as, although mine is just 6-letters, as it's Cornish, I have collected well over 30 misspellings of it over the years.

Changing names just seems odd to me. And isn't it a bit of a faff?

I was very surprised that our niece changed hers when she got married. So she now has a Punjabi first name and a Lancashire surname.

Mind, if I adopted my mother's maiden name, I might be eligible for an Irish passport...

I'm quite traditional about this.
Getting married isn't just having a girlfriend/boyfriend. It's forming a unit for life. If you're not prepared to subsume your identity into a joint identity you're going about it wrong.
My wife took my name, so all five of us have the same surname - which to me feels like how it should be.
You might think 'well you're a man you would say that' - but I have three daughters and I still think like that: I hope they all take their husband's name when they marry. No-one will take the name forward (I have no brothers, my father's brother had no children, my grandfather's brother had no sons...) - but I don't care, it's only a name and not a particularly interesting one - the point is for all of us in the family unit to share the same one.

And again, this is a personal view but not changing your name feels like starting out with one foot already out of the door.

Once upon a time, I didn't think this way, or at least not particularly strongly. But once upon a time I didn't see how I would view life from the perspective of 'us' rather than 'me'.

For those who find the whole thing hopelessly male-dominated, how about a portmanteau name? I recently came across an Allen and a Winterbottom who both changed their names to Allwinter.

It gets a bit complicated with changing names when marrying a divorcee- my ex was married before and when we discussed us getting married in the future we talked about the name thing.

She said she would keep her ex-husband’s name, not because she was still pining for him, but because she didn’t want to have a different surname to her daughter. Especially an issue when travelling with her.

I totally understand why, especially whilst the daughter is younger but it would have been a bit of an odd feeling introducing your wife with her ex-husband’s surname!! And double barrelling it or even triple barrelling to include her maiden name as well would have been nuts.

I know people who get around those issues by just changing the legal name to one thing, but just going by other names at work for instance.

Do you have a "legal" name? Not sure it is a concept in English law. You can call yourself what you like.

Fysics_Teacher said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60743322

TL;DR Julian Assange denied permission to challenge extradition.

Assuming he does get extradited this time it will be peak-irony.

A court spokesman said Mr Assange's application did not raise "an arguable point of law".

Not an uncommon theme with a lot of commentary on the man's situation.

JohnLilburne said:

kle4 said:

boulay said:

…,

Cookie said:

SandyRentool said:

TimT said:

LostPassword said:

ping said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60738120

Hmm.

The problem with double barrel surnames is - well - it creates a dilemma for the kid, doesn’t it? What do they do when they get married (to another double barrel surnamed spouse!?) Are we heading into a world of exponentially increasing surnames? Will no one think of the registrars?

And why does Hamilton stop at adding just his mother’s surname? What about his grandmothers’ on both sides. And so on…..

There are all sorts of practical - and logical - difficulties with dismantling the patriarchy.

I took the approach of choosing to take my wife's surname. It keeps things nice and simple, and breaks with the patriarchy.

My wife took mine, against my expectations and without consulting me. Apparently she was fed up with spelling out her 12-letter family name, so preferred my 6-letter one. Perhaps we should have gone with my mother's (Beck) as, although mine is just 6-letters, as it's Cornish, I have collected well over 30 misspellings of it over the years.

Changing names just seems odd to me. And isn't it a bit of a faff?

I was very surprised that our niece changed hers when she got married. So she now has a Punjabi first name and a Lancashire surname.

Mind, if I adopted my mother's maiden name, I might be eligible for an Irish passport...

I'm quite traditional about this.
Getting married isn't just having a girlfriend/boyfriend. It's forming a unit for life. If you're not prepared to subsume your identity into a joint identity you're going about it wrong.
My wife took my name, so all five of us have the same surname - which to me feels like how it should be.
You might think 'well you're a man you would say that' - but I have three daughters and I still think like that: I hope they all take their husband's name when they marry. No-one will take the name forward (I have no brothers, my father's brother had no children, my grandfather's brother had no sons...) - but I don't care, it's only a name and not a particularly interesting one - the point is for all of us in the family unit to share the same one.

And again, this is a personal view but not changing your name feels like starting out with one foot already out of the door.

Once upon a time, I didn't think this way, or at least not particularly strongly. But once upon a time I didn't see how I would view life from the perspective of 'us' rather than 'me'.

For those who find the whole thing hopelessly male-dominated, how about a portmanteau name? I recently came across an Allen and a Winterbottom who both changed their names to Allwinter.

It gets a bit complicated with changing names when marrying a divorcee- my ex was married before and when we discussed us getting married in the future we talked about the name thing.

She said she would keep her ex-husband’s name, not because she was still pining for him, but because she didn’t want to have a different surname to her daughter. Especially an issue when travelling with her.

I totally understand why, especially whilst the daughter is younger but it would have been a bit of an odd feeling introducing your wife with her ex-husband’s surname!! And double barrelling it or even triple barrelling to include her maiden name as well would have been nuts.

I know people who get around those issues by just changing the legal name to one thing, but just going by other names at work for instance.

Do you have a "legal" name? Not sure it is a concept in English law. You can call yourself what you like.

I honestly have no idea now you put it so baldly.

Nigelb said:

Hoping that there is a Lviv left to visit this time next year.

https://twitter.com/BBCYaldaHakim/status/1503085313262039044
A wonderful note about Lviv from someone born here - "You can be born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, educated in Poland, married under the Third Reich, work and retire in the USSR and draw your pension in Ukraine and never have left the town.. LVIV"

I do too. It's a lovely place, with the same Austro-Hungarian charm as Krakow and Prague

kle4 said:

boulay said:

…,

Cookie said:

SandyRentool said:

TimT said:

LostPassword said:

ping said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60738120

Hmm.

The problem with double barrel surnames is - well - it creates a dilemma for the kid, doesn’t it? What do they do when they get married (to another double barrel surnamed spouse!?) Are we heading into a world of exponentially increasing surnames? Will no one think of the registrars?

And why does Hamilton stop at adding just his mother’s surname? What about his grandmothers’ on both sides. And so on…..

There are all sorts of practical - and logical - difficulties with dismantling the patriarchy.

I took the approach of choosing to take my wife's surname. It keeps things nice and simple, and breaks with the patriarchy.

My wife took mine, against my expectations and without consulting me. Apparently she was fed up with spelling out her 12-letter family name, so preferred my 6-letter one. Perhaps we should have gone with my mother's (Beck) as, although mine is just 6-letters, as it's Cornish, I have collected well over 30 misspellings of it over the years.

Changing names just seems odd to me. And isn't it a bit of a faff?

I was very surprised that our niece changed hers when she got married. So she now has a Punjabi first name and a Lancashire surname.

Mind, if I adopted my mother's maiden name, I might be eligible for an Irish passport...

I'm quite traditional about this.
Getting married isn't just having a girlfriend/boyfriend. It's forming a unit for life. If you're not prepared to subsume your identity into a joint identity you're going about it wrong.
My wife took my name, so all five of us have the same surname - which to me feels like how it should be.
You might think 'well you're a man you would say that' - but I have three daughters and I still think like that: I hope they all take their husband's name when they marry. No-one will take the name forward (I have no brothers, my father's brother had no children, my grandfather's brother had no sons...) - but I don't care, it's only a name and not a particularly interesting one - the point is for all of us in the family unit to share the same one.

And again, this is a personal view but not changing your name feels like starting out with one foot already out of the door.

Once upon a time, I didn't think this way, or at least not particularly strongly. But once upon a time I didn't see how I would view life from the perspective of 'us' rather than 'me'.

For those who find the whole thing hopelessly male-dominated, how about a portmanteau name? I recently came across an Allen and a Winterbottom who both changed their names to Allwinter.

It gets a bit complicated with changing names when marrying a divorcee- my ex was married before and when we discussed us getting married in the future we talked about the name thing.

She said she would keep her ex-husband’s name, not because she was still pining for him, but because she didn’t want to have a different surname to her daughter. Especially an issue when travelling with her.

I totally understand why, especially whilst the daughter is younger but it would have been a bit of an odd feeling introducing your wife with her ex-husband’s surname!! And double barrelling it or even triple barrelling to include her maiden name as well would have been nuts.

I know people who get around those issues by just changing the legal name to one thing, but just going by other names at work for instance.

It is quite common for female doctors to work under their maiden name professionally, with all their paperwork in that name, and a different name socially. It helps with anonymity from stalkers too.

Sky just announced that BP's move away from Russia will cost them many billions and is their defence against any windfall tax

Having read what the Russians did to Ukraine in the 1930s I can believe it:
Russia's army is deliberately destroying agricultural machinery in Ukraine, undermining food security in UA and the world, incl exports to EU,China
Systematic cases have been recorded in Kyiv, Zaporizhia, Chernihiv, Kherson,Kharkiv Oblasts.–UA Intelligence
https://facebook.com/DefenceIntelligenceofUkraine/posts/270576275253800

TimT said:

kle4 said:

JohnLilburne said:

kle4 said:

boulay said:

…,

Cookie said:

SandyRentool said:

TimT said:

LostPassword said:

ping said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60738120

Hmm.

The problem with double barrel surnames is - well - it creates a dilemma for the kid, doesn’t it? What do they do when they get married (to another double barrel surnamed spouse!?) Are we heading into a world of exponentially increasing surnames? Will no one think of the registrars?

And why does Hamilton stop at adding just his mother’s surname? What about his grandmothers’ on both sides. And so on…..

There are all sorts of practical - and logical - difficulties with dismantling the patriarchy.

I took the approach of choosing to take my wife's surname. It keeps things nice and simple, and breaks with the patriarchy.

My wife took mine, against my expectations and without consulting me. Apparently she was fed up with spelling out her 12-letter family name, so preferred my 6-letter one. Perhaps we should have gone with my mother's (Beck) as, although mine is just 6-letters, as it's Cornish, I have collected well over 30 misspellings of it over the years.

Changing names just seems odd to me. And isn't it a bit of a faff?

I was very surprised that our niece changed hers when she got married. So she now has a Punjabi first name and a Lancashire surname.

Mind, if I adopted my mother's maiden name, I might be eligible for an Irish passport...

I'm quite traditional about this.
Getting married isn't just having a girlfriend/boyfriend. It's forming a unit for life. If you're not prepared to subsume your identity into a joint identity you're going about it wrong.
My wife took my name, so all five of us have the same surname - which to me feels like how it should be.
You might think 'well you're a man you would say that' - but I have three daughters and I still think like that: I hope they all take their husband's name when they marry. No-one will take the name forward (I have no brothers, my father's brother had no children, my grandfather's brother had no sons...) - but I don't care, it's only a name and not a particularly interesting one - the point is for all of us in the family unit to share the same one.

And again, this is a personal view but not changing your name feels like starting out with one foot already out of the door.

Once upon a time, I didn't think this way, or at least not particularly strongly. But once upon a time I didn't see how I would view life from the perspective of 'us' rather than 'me'.

For those who find the whole thing hopelessly male-dominated, how about a portmanteau name? I recently came across an Allen and a Winterbottom who both changed their names to Allwinter.

It gets a bit complicated with changing names when marrying a divorcee- my ex was married before and when we discussed us getting married in the future we talked about the name thing.

She said she would keep her ex-husband’s name, not because she was still pining for him, but because she didn’t want to have a different surname to her daughter. Especially an issue when travelling with her.

I totally understand why, especially whilst the daughter is younger but it would have been a bit of an odd feeling introducing your wife with her ex-husband’s surname!! And double barrelling it or even triple barrelling to include her maiden name as well would have been nuts.

I know people who get around those issues by just changing the legal name to one thing, but just going by other names at work for instance.

Do you have a "legal" name? Not sure it is a concept in English law. You can call yourself what you like.

I honestly have no idea now you put it so baldly.

There may be no such thing as a legal name in the UK, but there certainly is a correct form of your name as contained in legal documents. If I get an airline ticket and boarding pass as Tim, and the security officials check it against my passport, I am not getting onto the flight until my ticket/pass are changed to reflect the full name in my passport

I recall a possibly embellish tale from Bill Bryson about trying to convince airport officials the William Bryson of his passport was him, including brandishing one of his own books as evidence.

HYUFD said:

Leon said:

This is also quite sobering. From the excellent John Burns-Murdoch on the FT


"NEW: I’m not sure people appreciate quite how bad the Covid situation is in Hong Kong, nor what might be around the corner.

First, an astonishing chart.

After keeping Covid at bay for two years, Omicron has hit HK and New Zealand, but the outcomes could not be more different."

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1503420660869214213?s=20&t=_HA-1kalR9LJCgO23Ho-4g


TL;DR: Hong Kong is in a horrorshow, South Korea is pretty grim, and if Omicron really gets into China - as seems likely - then it could kill millions

The CFR of Covid-19 in Hong Kong at the moment is 5%. Yes. It is killing 1 in 20

New Zealand CFR however just 0.1%.

66% of Hong Kongers over 80 were unvaccinated when Omicron cases surged is the real problem

Because NZ ensured elderly people were vaccinated.

NickPalmer said:

Leon said:

state_go_away said:

Heathener is no Russian troll or a troll of any kind . She is sincere but just has a different and direct view of things to most on here - That just happens on forums! PB can get a bit "groupthink" and incredulous of certain more leftfield views but does not mean the poster of them are any less entitled to say them without getting banned or even talked about as some kind of troll/weirdo

I interacted a lot with @Heathener and never got the sense she was a bot or a troll. Quite eccentric, yes, but then that applies to 99% of PB-ers

Was she ever truly nasty? I must have missed it if so. She could get het up and personal, but I don't remember tirades of abuse or offensive comments

I agree. She was a hardline mask-wearer (which I wouldn't have thought a bot would care about) and shifted from prewar dove to hawk once war was unleashed, but she's not alone in that. She had to put up with quite a bit of abuse and some pearl-clutching (probably a lesbian! said someone derisively) and I think was more sinned against than sinning. Certainly didn't seem to be a troll, and usually interesting; if she's still around I hope she'll come back. I don't really care if she's actually Russian, so long as she's an interesting Russian.

Same applies to a lesbian, surely.
The only person I've ever disliked on account of their sexuality was someone in a discussion group who prefaced every remark with 'speaking as a gay man'. Even when there was no conceivable association between anyone's sexuality and the subject of discussion.

Big_G_NorthWales said:

Sky reporting Abramovich private jet seen flying towards Turkey

What's the significance?

SandyRentool said:

TimT said:

LostPassword said:

ping said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60738120

Hmm.

The problem with double barrel surnames is - well - it creates a dilemma for the kid, doesn’t it? What do they do when they get married (to another double barrel surnamed spouse!?) Are we heading into a world of exponentially increasing surnames? Will no one think of the registrars?

And why does Hamilton stop at adding just his mother’s surname? What about his grandmothers’ on both sides. And so on…..

There are all sorts of practical - and logical - difficulties with dismantling the patriarchy.

I took the approach of choosing to take my wife's surname. It keeps things nice and simple, and breaks with the patriarchy.

My wife took mine, against my expectations and without consulting me. Apparently she was fed up with spelling out her 12-letter family name, so preferred my 6-letter one. Perhaps we should have gone with my mother's (Beck) as, although mine is just 6-letters, as it's Cornish, I have collected well over 30 misspellings of it over the years.

Changing names just seems odd to me. And isn't it a bit of a faff?

I was very surprised that our niece changed hers when she got married. So she now has a Punjabi first name and a Lancashire surname.

Mind, if I adopted my mother's maiden name, I might be eligible for an Irish passport...

I guess it depends what you think a surname is for. For most people it's not enough to uniquely identify them, so not much good for that purpose. I see it as a family name, so logically everyone in the same family should share the same name. Which means that when you start a new family, someone has to change their name, so that everyone has the same one.

NickPalmer said:

Leon said:

state_go_away said:

Heathener is no Russian troll or a troll of any kind . She is sincere but just has a different and direct view of things to most on here - That just happens on forums! PB can get a bit "groupthink" and incredulous of certain more leftfield views but does not mean the poster of them are any less entitled to say them without getting banned or even talked about as some kind of troll/weirdo

I interacted a lot with @Heathener and never got the sense she was a bot or a troll. Quite eccentric, yes, but then that applies to 99% of PB-ers

Was she ever truly nasty? I must have missed it if so. She could get het up and personal, but I don't remember tirades of abuse or offensive comments

I agree. She was a hardline mask-wearer (which I wouldn't have thought a bot would care about) and shifted from prewar dove to hawk once war was unleashed, but she's not alone in that. She had to put up with quite a bit of abuse and some pearl-clutching (probably a lesbian! said someone derisively) and I think was more sinned against than sinning. Certainly didn't seem to be a troll, and usually interesting; if she's still around I hope she'll come back. I don't really care if she's actually Russian, so long as she's an interesting Russian.

Hmm. She was extremely unpleasant at times and favoured violence against those who chose to decline masks – when masks were entirely voluntary. I won't miss her much.