Punters think there will be a Johnson VONC but he’ll win it – politicalbetting.com

Leon said:

wooliedyed said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

wooliedyed said:

kinabalu said:

wooliedyed said:

kinabalu said:

IshmaelZ said:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/05/31/sussexes-popularity-hits-rock-bottom-britons-have-choice-words/

"Only the Duke of York proved more unpopular than the Sussexes in both polls, with a five per cent approval rating, according to JL Partners. Asked what word first sprang to mind about the beleaguered Duke, most people said “paedophile”. Other words included “disgrace”, “pervert” and “liar”. The YouGov survey gave him an approval rating of -80."

YouGov

It's a long road back for Andrew, isn't it. It's high risk but if I were him I might try a "bare all" on something like Lorraine or Loose Women.

He will be shut out completely after the bridge event

Looks like we're at that point now really. Amazing to think he was once the most popular royal, flying helicopters and bestriding the high-end nightclubs of London like a colossus.

Then he went and partied with Jeffrey and the dozens of as yet unnamed nonces

Was Prince Andrew ever that popular? iirc he used to be derided as Air Miles Andy, and his marriage to Fergie was always a bit messy (although I gather they are on good terms now).

I think Epstein had an open door policy for the numerous nonces amongst the rich and famous. They all spent time with him

Prince Andrew can argue that he was unlucky. How the feck Clinton, Gates, and many others have escaped disgrace is a mystery. Clinton in particular. I remember gossip about him and underage girls and Epstein from 10-15 years ago. I dismissed it as QAnon stufff. Clearly in retrospect it was REDACTED FOR OGH

They protect their own aside from the occasional sacrifice to the mob like Spacey or Weinstein. Hence the mysterious suicide of Epstein with the cameras tragically malfunctioning.

MISTY said:

Taz said:

The UNHCR destroys Priti Patels claims about migrants crossing the channel

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/02/clear-majority-of-people-crossing-channel-are-refugees-says-unhcr

But 100% are fleeing from.....er......France.

Who can blame them? They might surrender to the Russians at any moment.

Big_G_NorthWales said:

England collapsing but then that is not news

Damn. I meant to bet on that but dozed off. My only rule of cricket betting is that if one side collapses, so will the other because it's the conditions rather than the bowlers wot dunnit.

IshmaelZ said:

Leon said:

wooliedyed said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

wooliedyed said:

kinabalu said:

wooliedyed said:

kinabalu said:

IshmaelZ said:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/05/31/sussexes-popularity-hits-rock-bottom-britons-have-choice-words/

"Only the Duke of York proved more unpopular than the Sussexes in both polls, with a five per cent approval rating, according to JL Partners. Asked what word first sprang to mind about the beleaguered Duke, most people said “paedophile”. Other words included “disgrace”, “pervert” and “liar”. The YouGov survey gave him an approval rating of -80."

YouGov

It's a long road back for Andrew, isn't it. It's high risk but if I were him I might try a "bare all" on something like Lorraine or Loose Women.

He will be shut out completely after the bridge event

Looks like we're at that point now really. Amazing to think he was once the most popular royal, flying helicopters and bestriding the high-end nightclubs of London like a colossus.

Then he went and partied with Jeffrey and the dozens of as yet unnamed nonces

Was Prince Andrew ever that popular? iirc he used to be derided as Air Miles Andy, and his marriage to Fergie was always a bit messy (although I gather they are on good terms now).

I think Epstein had an open door policy for the numerous nonces amongst the rich and famous. They all spent time with him

Prince Andrew can argue that he was unlucky. How the feck Clinton, Gates, and many others have escaped disgrace is a mystery. Clinton in particular. I remember gossip about him and underage girls and Epstein from 10-15 years ago. I dismissed it as QAnon stufff. Clearly in retrospect it was REDACTED FOR OGH

They weren't thick enough to pose for a photo, wtf was he thinking? That one photo sunk him.

Yes the photo. Hard to believe there aren’t any photos of Clinton with at least one?

Perhaps Epstein owned a couple. Sadly he committed suicide by successfully choking himself to death with a small tissue during the one and only 24 hour period when all his 19 guards were in a weird simultaneous coma and the CCTV cameras exploded due to an attack by a divorced seagull, so we will never know

CorrectHorseBattery said:

If there's no political story PB reverts to cricinfo.com

Very bad taste, and worse, as memorably enunciated by Douglas Adams.

Georgian people are really…. Unusual looking. I can’t work out why

rcs1000 said:

malcolmg said:

MaxPB said:

Gardenwalker said:

MaxPB said:

Gardenwalker said:

MaxPB said:

Leon said:

MrEd said:

MaxPB said:

MrEd said:

On the good old Johnny Depp trial, the conclusion drawn from the article is essentially juries, especially US juries, are think enough to fall for lawyers’ tactics while U.K. judges are wise enough to recognise legal tricks:


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61673676

There is, of course, another argument that says that decisions by a one person judge risk being overly influenced by the personal views of the judge.

i’m sure if the judgements were reversed (Depp won in the U.K., lost in the US), the BBC would be implying a jury decisions is the best possible course….

The trial result proves that jury trials are absolutely essential for a functioning country. Allowing old white male judges to rule on these cases is simply wrong. All she had to do was flutter her eyelashes at the judge and "she couldn't possibly be what they're suggesting".

The Depp legal team have earned their fee, though. The way they destroyed Heard on the stand was quite excruciating to watch, she admitted multiple times to lying in the British court case. One hopes the CPS make an example out of her and pursue perjury charges, she's openly admitted that she didn't pay the charity money but testified under oath that she did in the UK.

In a way, I feel sorry for Heard but she has brought the misery on her own head. The CPS won’t do anything of the sort, not least because it would show how the Judge was completely hoodwinked by her “I’m a poor defenceless woman” as you said. The fact the BBC article didn’t even mention the fact she committed perjury in the U.K. trial shows how they want to present this ie it’s another example of how juries don’t “get” domestic violence. Expect the womens’ pressure groups to start arguing that the Depp verdict shows domestic violence trials shouldn’t be decided by juries but by judges.

Read the Guardian's vomit-inducing take on this story. Spends about 3 nanoseconds admitting that Heard is "not entirely perfect, but who is" then spends 607 paragraphs saying Men are Evil and this is the end of Feminism and MeToo is being destroyed, and all this in the paper which hounds out any female journalists - Suzanne Moore, Hadley Freeman -who dare to question the Trans Orthodoxy

What's been particularly telling is the lack of sympathy from the sisterhood. My wife and all of her friends were happy to see Depp win. Tim, of PB fame, once said that women are very good at spotting a phony which is why Dave struggled to win them over. That still rings true today. Even going by the Instagram Index™ it's the women I'm friends with who are liking posts about Depp winning, it cuts across politics too, not just the ones I know to be secretly right wing.

My wife's perspective is that Heard lying about being abused is going to set real victims of abuse back a lot because they will find it more difficult to be believed now. She's pretty angry about it all.

But Ms Heard did not actually defame Mr Depp.

The jury has said otherwise.

Yes, but they appear to be wrong on a factual basis, whatever one thinks about Ms Heard’s unreliability.

A judge has also said otherwise, they case didn't get thrown out, after all. She implicated him as physically abusive towards her. Whether she said directly "Johnny Depp beat me" or not is irrelevant, the implication was defamation. You're getting caught up in a technicality that doesn't exist. She lied in the editorial, she lied under oath in the UK court case and now she's been caught out in that lie and is $8m in a hole.

$13M

I thought it was $15m in damages (which, by the way, does not sound unreasonable given he basically hasn't worked since the article), plus she will have had to pay her lawyers millions.

He had to pay her $2M for defaming her, so net $13M

TimT said:

Leon said:

Georgian people are really…. Unusual looking. I can’t work out why

Probably the amount of Georgian red wine you've drunk

I’m on just my 2nd gin and tonic of the day

They are the most unexpectedly weird looking people I’ve seen, since the Argentinians

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

Georgian people are really…. Unusual looking. I can’t work out why

Probably the amount of Georgian red wine you've drunk

I’m on just my 2nd gin and tonic of the day

They are the most unexpectedly weird looking people I’ve seen, since the Argentinians

Hoping my 5-week gig in AZ will bring me some more work in the Transcaucus, including in Georgia. Your posts and photos have made me even more determined to get there by whatever hook or crook necessary.

Root, Bairstowe and Stokes are meant to be the grown ups. WTFH?

Pulpstar said:

Today is a good summary of English cricket over the last few years
We can bowl, but can't bat.

That’s what happens when you concentrate on 20 over thrashes.

Yet Lord’s were wondering why they still had 9k Day 4 tickets unsold at the start of the week…

TimT said:

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

Georgian people are really…. Unusual looking. I can’t work out why

Probably the amount of Georgian red wine you've drunk

I’m on just my 2nd gin and tonic of the day

They are the most unexpectedly weird looking people I’ve seen, since the Argentinians

Hoping my 5-week gig in AZ will bring me some more work in the Transcaucus, including in Georgia. Your posts and photos have made me even more determined to get there by whatever hook or crook necessary.

It’s a fabulous part of the world and Georgia is outstanding even within that context. Just prepare for… weird-looking people

Quite friendly tho. And magnificent food and wine of course

One of the people I worked with in AZ flew to Tbilisi as soon as it became clear that lockdown was headed to the USofA. Rented an apartment and rode out lockdown there.

Sometimes it pays to be single with no farm animals or pets.

Tho I think covid was pretty bad here in Georgia? And they had a tough lockdown

Anyway it’s over now, huzzah.

if I was 22 and looking for a real travel adventure i would totally come to the Caucasus. It reminds me oddly of SEAsia about 30 years ago. Great food, amazing cultures, a hint of danger to keep things salty, entire regions virtually unexplored, and a certain drink-all-night lawlessness

Tbilisi feels quite anarchic at night. And hedonistic - like Bangkok in the 1990s

Farooq said:

NickPalmer said:

Watched Borgen instalment 1. Some thoughts:

* It's much tauter and fast-moving than the first series, and the politicians are more aggressive to each other. Not sure this reflects Danish politics as much - more for the international audience? - but it's pretty exciting.
* Several strong characters in minor parts - the Alastair Campbell figure who the PM tries to install as her adviser is especially good
* Absolutely up to date - the main plot is about an oil company findin ga huge deposit which turns out to be partly owned by a friend of Putin, and the Ministers refer to the Ukraine invasion as a reason not to accept that
-* The subtitles generally good but persist (as with previous Danish series) in throwing in random "fucks" to juice it up. Someone says "I really don't think it was OK how you were treated", and the subtitle is "It was fucking unfair how you were treated."

What was the Danish phrasing for "I really don't think it was OK how you were treated"? A "sgu" can hide quite well in rapid speech and makes the meaning a lot more brusque.

Agreed, but as I recall it was simply "Jeg synes ikke det var OK, hvordan man har behandlet dig". I ran it back to check, and the fuck was definitely the subtitler's embellishment. I remember the subtitling company being challenged on it before during The Killing, and they said that British audiences are so used to seeing characters swear that they had to juice it up to be credible.

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

Georgian people are really…. Unusual looking. I can’t work out why

Probably the amount of Georgian red wine you've drunk

I’m on just my 2nd gin and tonic of the day

They are the most unexpectedly weird looking people I’ve seen, since the Argentinians

Hoping my 5-week gig in AZ will bring me some more work in the Transcaucus, including in Georgia. Your posts and photos have made me even more determined to get there by whatever hook or crook necessary.

It’s a fabulous part of the world and Georgia is outstanding even within that context. Just prepare for… weird-looking people

Quite friendly tho. And magnificent food and wine of course

One of the people I worked with in AZ flew to Tbilisi as soon as it became clear that lockdown was headed to the USofA. Rented an apartment and rode out lockdown there.

Sometimes it pays to be single with no farm animals or pets.

Tho I think covid was pretty bad here in Georgia? And they had a tough lockdown

Anyway it’s over now, huzzah.

if I was 22 and looking for a real travel adventure i would totally come to the Caucasus. It reminds me oddly of SEAsia about 30 years ago. Great food, amazing cultures, a hint of danger to keep things salty, entire regions virtually unexplored, and a certain drink-all-night lawlessness

Tbilisi feels quite anarchic at night. And hedonistic - like Bangkok in the 1990s

I was amazed at the alcohol culture in AZ.

One night, in the deep provinces, a physician was looking forward to dining with me. Or, rather, he was hoping I'd get completely blotto with him drinking his home made 'fruit vodka'. He openly admitted that he was an alcoholic and was not intending to eat. I clearly disappointed him.

I hear the singing in Georgia is extraordinary. Have you experienced that yet?

wooliedyed said:

Jimmy will be thrilled he bothered coming back to see his career out with these spineless cocks

No one wants a spiney cock tbf.

Gardenwalker said:

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

Georgian people are really…. Unusual looking. I can’t work out why

Probably the amount of Georgian red wine you've drunk

I’m on just my 2nd gin and tonic of the day

They are the most unexpectedly weird looking people I’ve seen, since the Argentinians

Aren’t the Argies a pleasing blend of German and Italian?

To go by the description of a former Brazilian Ambassador to the UN, the Argies are Italian immigrants, who think they speak Spanish, think they live in Paris, would like to be English, but dress like Arabs.

Theuniondivvie said:

wooliedyed said:

Jimmy will be thrilled he bothered coming back to see his career out with these spineless cocks

No one wants a spiney cock tbf.

I believe there are certain examples from the animal kingdom of spiny cocks, but I was a liberal arts major, so I’m not 100% sure.

Theuniondivvie said:

wooliedyed said:

Jimmy will be thrilled he bothered coming back to see his career out with these spineless cocks

No one wants a spiney cock tbf.

Cats. Cats do.
And with that im off oot for a while

TimT said:

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

Georgian people are really…. Unusual looking. I can’t work out why

Probably the amount of Georgian red wine you've drunk

I’m on just my 2nd gin and tonic of the day

They are the most unexpectedly weird looking people I’ve seen, since the Argentinians

Hoping my 5-week gig in AZ will bring me some more work in the Transcaucus, including in Georgia. Your posts and photos have made me even more determined to get there by whatever hook or crook necessary.

It’s a fabulous part of the world and Georgia is outstanding even within that context. Just prepare for… weird-looking people

Quite friendly tho. And magnificent food and wine of course

One of the people I worked with in AZ flew to Tbilisi as soon as it became clear that lockdown was headed to the USofA. Rented an apartment and rode out lockdown there.

Sometimes it pays to be single with no farm animals or pets.

Tho I think covid was pretty bad here in Georgia? And they had a tough lockdown

Anyway it’s over now, huzzah.

if I was 22 and looking for a real travel adventure i would totally come to the Caucasus. It reminds me oddly of SEAsia about 30 years ago. Great food, amazing cultures, a hint of danger to keep things salty, entire regions virtually unexplored, and a certain drink-all-night lawlessness

Tbilisi feels quite anarchic at night. And hedonistic - like Bangkok in the 1990s

I was amazed at the alcohol culture in AZ.

One night, in the deep provinces, a physician was looking forward to dining with me. Or, rather, he was hoping I'd get completely blotto with him drinking his home made 'fruit vodka'. He openly admitted that he was an alcoholic and was not intending to eat. I clearly disappointed him.

I hear the singing in Georgia is extraordinary. Have you experienced that yet?

It’s definitely a musical place. I am living in this jammed but charming old wooden tenement in the old town and every day the housewife next door sings some Georgian songs as she works. It’s engaging


And in taxis you hear really dreamy, moody folk music


And yes wow the drinking. Obviously a Russian influence there. Chacha is the Georgian poteen. Can be lethal - literally

Carnyx said:

Gardenwalker said:

tlg86 said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

If there's no political story PB reverts to cricinfo.com

If Labour promise to put test cricket back on free to air tv and scrap the hundred, I’d vote for them.

Putting aside the hundred scrapping, the funny thing is that a pledge to reinstate test cricket on free-to-air is actually the sort of culture war thing that would smooth Keir to power.

Catnip for Torygraphers, who may not be decisive electorally, but help influence the narrative.

“Oh well, if he wants test cricket back, then he can probably be trusted with the Treasury”.

Add: this is an extension of the point made in the FT article today that Waitrose Woman actually wants conservatives to, y’know, *conserve* things like the BBC and National Trust instead of trying to destroy them.

And RNLI, for that matter.

Yes!
I mean, it’s really not hard.
Fuck knows what drugs the current
government are on that they can’t see this.

I think Nadine’s face-filler may be causing brain damage, as well as slowly morphing her into Heather Mills McCartney after a heavy night.

IshmaelZ said:

Carnyx said:

Leon said:

Gardenwalker said:

Leon said:

TimT said:

Leon said:

Georgian people are really…. Unusual looking. I can’t work out why

Probably the amount of Georgian red wine you've drunk

I’m on just my 2nd gin and tonic of the day

They are the most unexpectedly weird looking people I’ve seen, since the Argentinians

Aren’t the Argies a pleasing blend of German and Italian?

That’s exactly what I expected. But absolutely not

Is it the Welsh bit? No, seriously, lots of Welsh emigrated there.

Welsh still spoken in Patagonia I believe. There's a travel book by an overrated bloke called Bruce who died of AIDS in the 90s.

In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin? Bought it at the time but had clean forgotten almost all the content ...

Carnyx said:

Theuniondivvie said:

wooliedyed said:

Jimmy will be thrilled he bothered coming back to see his career out with these spineless cocks

No one wants a spiney cock tbf.

Remember the discussion of cats' mating habits on PB that arose from a (nominatively determined) Leon encounter with two pussies under his bar table in, I think, the Pelopponese.

Zagoria. Otherwise yes

NickPalmer said:

Farooq said:

NickPalmer said:

Watched Borgen instalment 1. Some thoughts:

* It's much tauter and fast-moving than the first series, and the politicians are more aggressive to each other. Not sure this reflects Danish politics as much - more for the international audience? - but it's pretty exciting.
* Several strong characters in minor parts - the Alastair Campbell figure who the PM tries to install as her adviser is especially good
* Absolutely up to date - the main plot is about an oil company findin ga huge deposit which turns out to be partly owned by a friend of Putin, and the Ministers refer to the Ukraine invasion as a reason not to accept that
-* The subtitles generally good but persist (as with previous Danish series) in throwing in random "fucks" to juice it up. Someone says "I really don't think it was OK how you were treated", and the subtitle is "It was fucking unfair how you were treated."

What was the Danish phrasing for "I really don't think it was OK how you were treated"? A "sgu" can hide quite well in rapid speech and makes the meaning a lot more brusque.

Agreed, but as I recall it was simply "Jeg synes ikke det var OK, hvordan man har behandlet dig". I ran it back to check, and the fuck was definitely the subtitler's embellishment. I remember the subtitling company being challenged on it before during The Killing, and they said that British audiences are so used to seeing characters swear that they had to juice it up to be credible.

The BBC defended that by saying that the translators' task is "not just a straight translation - it's a rewrite. Often a direct translation would be awkward and stilted and would not read well on screen."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15781133

Controversial opinion of the day: what country has the most beautiful women?

I’m going out on an unexpected limb and I’m going to say…

…. Drum roll……

…. Nepal

YES. NEPAL

Theuniondivvie said:

Carnyx said:

Theuniondivvie said:

wooliedyed said:

Jimmy will be thrilled he bothered coming back to see his career out with these spineless cocks

No one wants a spiney cock tbf.

Remember the discussion of cats' mating habits on PB that arose from a (nominatively determined) Leon encounter with two pussies under his bar table in, I think, the Pelopponese.

I wonder if the female cat remembers spines are involved or if it comes a shock every time?

It'd be a tricky matter of experimental design, not least getting it past the ethics committee.

*realises it's almost 7 and there is some NZ white in the fridge and goes off to investigate*

Farooq said:

Leon said:

Controversial opinion of the day: what country has the most beautiful women?

I’m going out on an unexpected limb and I’m going to say…

…. Drum roll……

…. Nepal

YES. NEPAL

What about the most beautiful men?
(It's Sweden)

Thought it was Finland? Tom of Finland and all that. OK, quite a bit of overlap.

williamglenn said:

Farooq said:

Leon said:

Controversial opinion of the day: what country has the most beautiful women?

I’m going out on an unexpected limb and I’m going to say…

…. Drum roll……

…. Nepal

YES. NEPAL

What about the most beautiful men?
(It's Sweden)

What about the country with the biggest discrepancy between male and female attractiveness?

India imho

state_go_away said:

Leon said:

Controversial opinion of the day: what country has the most beautiful women?

I’m going out on an unexpected limb and I’m going to say…

…. Drum roll……

…. Nepal

YES. NEPAL

Cape Verde has a large proportion of strikingly beautiful people of both sexes (is there still two?) .I think nearly everyone is mixed race which contributes to beauty in general

Just say "all" sexes, as that covers you.

williamglenn said:

NickPalmer said:

Farooq said:

NickPalmer said:

Watched Borgen instalment 1. Some thoughts:

* It's much tauter and fast-moving than the first series, and the politicians are more aggressive to each other. Not sure this reflects Danish politics as much - more for the international audience? - but it's pretty exciting.
* Several strong characters in minor parts - the Alastair Campbell figure who the PM tries to install as her adviser is especially good
* Absolutely up to date - the main plot is about an oil company findin ga huge deposit which turns out to be partly owned by a friend of Putin, and the Ministers refer to the Ukraine invasion as a reason not to accept that
-* The subtitles generally good but persist (as with previous Danish series) in throwing in random "fucks" to juice it up. Someone says "I really don't think it was OK how you were treated", and the subtitle is "It was fucking unfair how you were treated."

What was the Danish phrasing for "I really don't think it was OK how you were treated"? A "sgu" can hide quite well in rapid speech and makes the meaning a lot more brusque.

Agreed, but as I recall it was simply "Jeg synes ikke det var OK, hvordan man har behandlet dig". I ran it back to check, and the fuck was definitely the subtitler's embellishment. I remember the subtitling company being challenged on it before during The Killing, and they said that British audiences are so used to seeing characters swear that they had to juice it up to be credible.

The BBC defended that by saying that the translators' task is "not just a straight translation - it's a rewrite. Often a direct translation would be awkward and stilted and would not read well on screen."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15781133

That's an interesting link, thanks. I'm a professional translator and my cousin is too, specialising in subtitles, so I've got some insight into it. The BBC explanation is somewhat evasive (or, as the subtitler would put it, fucking bullshit), as the specific cases that I've noticed generally have a straightforward translation that reads quite naturally, as above. The real issue is that we swear much more in English, and we use sexual terms to swear, which the Danes generally don't (that's an interesting issue in itself), to the point that they borrow English swearwords if they really want to.

So the BBC has the dilemma of whether to show a film reflecting the culture of the original country of one that will seem natural to the viewer. Personally I prefer the former (otherwise the whole world gets "translated" into British culture, which loses some of the interest), but I do see the commercial reason to adapt.

wooliedyed said:

The island answer by the way is Sark

Is that Carl Hester the horse jumper?

state_go_away said:

williamglenn said:

Farooq said:

Leon said:

Controversial opinion of the day: what country has the most beautiful women?

I’m going out on an unexpected limb and I’m going to say…

…. Drum roll……

…. Nepal

YES. NEPAL

What about the most beautiful men?
(It's Sweden)

What about the country with the biggest discrepancy between male and female attractiveness?

India imho

Holland

state_go_away said:

Leon said:

Controversial opinion of the day: what country has the most beautiful women?

I’m going out on an unexpected limb and I’m going to say…

…. Drum roll……

…. Nepal

YES. NEPAL

Cape Verde has a large proportion of strikingly beautiful people of both sexes (is there still two?) .I think nearly everyone is mixed race which contributes to beauty in general

Ugliest are Tristan da Cunha.

Cookie said:

Leon said:

kinabalu said:

Leon said:

IshmaelZ said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

https://twitter.com/marinapurkiss/status/1532312890451144704

Johnson has clearly never put his son to bed in his life

And it is the easiest, most rewarding thing in the whole of parenthood.

You know the worst bit? Realising that you are never again going to pick them up off the sofa and carry them up to bed *without waking them.*

No, not for me. Tho that is a sweet moment: putting them to bed

For me, the terrible moment comes somewhere around 10-12 - and is in fact a sequence of moments - when they lose that perfect innocent childish unselfawareness, and the adult begins to emerge. They look at a toy, or a doll, or their favourite book - and they thrust it away. They do not need help to get to sleep. The door is shut. You hear the first troubled sigh of teenagerdom, which lies just ahead

I found it piercing, and quite saddening, but unavoidable of course, and something comes along to replace it. Sort of

What about the moment when they realize you're not superman you're just a bloke and quite a dodgy one too?

Or hasn't that happened yet?

For me it was the other way around. I’m serious. A deep period of mistrust gave way to “actually dad’s quite fun, if a bit unreliable”

That was a GOOD moment

I am at that moment that you refer to upthread - the start of teenagerdom - with my eldest. It is painful, and repeatedly saddening. The world's weight is on her shoulders. She is no longer carefree, nor does she want to be.
And then, as today, I look at her in a moment of joy, and cry actual tears of pride and awe. Quite apart from all of her more important qualities, she is just so astonishingly beautiful.
If only she would realise it, at least a bit.

Yes, it’s an unspoken sadness of parenting

You fall in love with this person. Your child. And then they change. Profoundly. More than any spouse might change

The experience is not unlike grief, to my mind. And it seems near universal if you dig deep enough

And then they often move away…and seem to forget all about you. This is of course what you want to a certain extent

But it’s hard for the parent

I’m not at the moving away stage yet but I can see the sadness in friends to whom it has already happened

Leon said:

Aslan said:

state_go_away said:

williamglenn said:

Farooq said:

Leon said:

Controversial opinion of the day: what country has the most beautiful women?

I’m going out on an unexpected limb and I’m going to say…

…. Drum roll……

…. Nepal

YES. NEPAL

What about the most beautiful men?
(It's Sweden)

What about the country with the biggest discrepancy between male and female attractiveness?

India imho

It's clearly Russia. The women are stunning, lean beauties, while the men tend to be scrawny teenagers that graduate to be flabby, dumpy types that age very quickly.

Belarus is incredible for this. The woman are possibly even more beautiful than Russians (what is it with Eastern European genes and cheekbones?) and yet the men are apathetic drunks who die at 56

Honestly. Check out the life expectancy stats for Belarus. The men die about 15 years younger or something mad

Yes, 79 and 68 respectively. Interesting article discusses it here:

https://borgenproject.org/10-facts-about-life-expectancy-in-belarus/#:~:text=There is a Stark Gender Gap: The first,the country live until only 67.8 on average.

- essentially it's booze and fags that kill the men, despite a good healthcare system.

Been busy all day but two things made me grin today.
1. The Boris / Carrie awkward-a-thon
2. Prince Andrew has Covid and can't attend. Yeah.

Gardenwalker said:

Theuniondivvie said:

wooliedyed said:

Jimmy will be thrilled he bothered coming back to see his career out with these spineless cocks

No one wants a spiney cock tbf.

I believe there are certain examples from the animal kingdom of spiny cocks, but I was a liberal arts major, so I’m not 100% sure.

Ducks have corkscrew ones.

Link not for the faint hearted...

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18316-ducks-fight-the-battle-of-the-sexes-in-their-genitals/

Interesting panic among some of the Tory rebels:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/02/boris-johnson-tory-rebel-mps-no-confidence-letters-gray-report

Waiting for the electorate in the by-elections to do the job for them strikes me as a bit spineless. What if the results are closer than expected, do they just give up?

Today I was reminded of something Simon Barnes once said in The Times: the worst thing that happens to the English cricket team is when Plan A goes wrong; the second worst thing that happens is when Plan A goes right.