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Starmer moves to a 30% approval lead over Johnson – politicalbetting.com

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  • Options
    HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,258
    I think this might be the end of Boris Johnson
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,056

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    If you give DALLE-2 an image, then ask it to produce a variant, it will give you six. If you choose one of the six, then ask it to vary THAT, it will do so in the same way. If you repeat the process hundreds or thousands of times, then string the images together, you get this

    https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfCDYJyFS_T/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

    Is this the vague beginnings of a new art form? Or an uncanny simulacrum of a DMT trip? Can’t decide

    Incidentally the initiating image is the first photo ever taken. Which is neat

    Choosing the images to feed back in makes it less interesting.
    What would it look like had DALLE-2 made its own choices ?
    Yes, I had the same thought

    Even better, get GPT3 to choose. Two AIs bouncing off each other. Leave them to it for a day. Imagine

    That video you linked to starts with a real photo of a building and it got turned into a graphic of a ball on top of a cone.

    That's the one my dog would have chosen.
    The initial image is actually the first photo ever taken - by a human




    I appreciate most of this is totally lost on PB-ers, but I’m happy to educate
    Why are you so unable to accept that people can look at evidence and come to different conclusions?
    Er, what?

    What conclusions am I dismissing?

    I’m just pointing PB to some fascinating developments in AI and ML. Maybe repetitively, but I aver it is still more interesting than the 178th debate about Tory sleaze

    But both have their place in the diverse garden of PB. Each to their own
    Your disdain for those who don't accept that this is sentient AI, which you've been banging the drum for ages. probably this stuff today is not the best example of your work on that front. You routinely suggest that anyone not agreeing with your view is too limited to accept reality.
    Read the thread. Any rancour initially comes from others. Sometimes I respond, a little

    Tho I do believe that anyone not fascinated by this lacks imagination, at the very least

    But it is the nature of PB that it attracts more technically minded, less imaginative types? That is not an insult. I could never build a car - or code a computer: skills I would like to have
    I think its a false dichotomy - technical people can be incredibly creative too. I work in academia and see amazing creativity coupled with technical excellence all the time.
    Agreed

    But it is interesting and notable that the people on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok who are using DALLE-2 or just looking at it - and saying FUuuuuKkkkkkKK - are nearly all artists: creative people with imagination

    In part this might be because they are the ones whose lives and careers are challenged, but might it also be because they have the imagination to extrapolate, and also the gifts to see what is being revealed?

  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,196
    Scott_xP said:

    Cabinet now out - we’ve seen Dorries, Truss, Kwarteng, Wallace, Zahawi, Raab and some others leave from the front door

    No sign of others - Sunak, Heaton-Harris, Hart (who did Friday’s tricky media round), Coffey (who did Sunday’s tricky media round) haven’t left thru No10 so far

    https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1544259585376194561

    FFS will one of them finally do the decent thing?

    Has anyone left in public life got a shred of honour and decent left?

  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,952
    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,565
    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Yes is the answer.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,056

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,541
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    If you give DALLE-2 an image, then ask it to produce a variant, it will give you six. If you choose one of the six, then ask it to vary THAT, it will do so in the same way. If you repeat the process hundreds or thousands of times, then string the images together, you get this

    https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfCDYJyFS_T/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

    Is this the vague beginnings of a new art form? Or an uncanny simulacrum of a DMT trip? Can’t decide

    Incidentally the initiating image is the first photo ever taken. Which is neat

    Choosing the images to feed back in makes it less interesting.
    What would it look like had DALLE-2 made its own choices ?
    Yes, I had the same thought

    Even better, get GPT3 to choose. Two AIs bouncing off each other. Leave them to it for a day. Imagine

    That video you linked to starts with a real photo of a building and it got turned into a graphic of a ball on top of a cone.

    That's the one my dog would have chosen.
    The initial image is actually the first photo ever taken - by a human




    I appreciate most of this is totally lost on PB-ers, but I’m happy to educate
    Why are you so unable to accept that people can look at evidence and come to different conclusions?
    Er, what?

    What conclusions am I dismissing?

    I’m just pointing PB to some fascinating developments in AI and ML. Maybe repetitively, but I aver it is still more interesting than the 178th debate about Tory sleaze

    But both have their place in the diverse garden of PB. Each to their own
    Your disdain for those who don't accept that this is sentient AI, which you've been banging the drum for ages. probably this stuff today is not the best example of your work on that front. You routinely suggest that anyone not agreeing with your view is too limited to accept reality.
    Read the thread. Any rancour initially comes from others. Sometimes I respond, a little

    Tho I do believe that anyone not fascinated by this lacks imagination, at the very least

    But it is the nature of PB that it attracts more technically minded, less imaginative types? That is not an insult. I could never build a car - or code a computer: skills I would like to have
    I think its a false dichotomy - technical people can be incredibly creative too. I work in academia and see amazing creativity coupled with technical excellence all the time.
    Agreed

    But it is interesting and notable that the people on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok who are using DALLE-2 or just looking at it - and saying FUuuuuKkkkkkKK - are nearly all artists: creative people with imagination

    In part this might be because they are the ones whose lives and careers are challenged, but might it also be because they have the imagination to extrapolate, and also the gifts to see what is being revealed?

    Sure, but thus far just another tool.
    The recent iterations of Photoshop (which look like magic to anyone who used it a decade back) created similar, though slightly less hyperbolic responses.
  • Options
    Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 12,994
    Nigelb said:



    Enrico Fermi, for example, was definitely both.

    Rod Stewart has one of the best model train layouts in California.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,202

    Scott_xP said:

    The cabinet absolutely loathe the guy. And it is wonderful to see

    Not enough to quit though
    There must be some game theory applicable to this. "The Cabinet Ministers Dilemma." They are rivals, the first to resign fears the legend of Heseletine will apply. Can they act collectively? Can they trust one another?

    This is an opportunity for Gove and others who know they are not in the running to be PM.
    But Dowden has already resigned, which could have been the first drip in the torrent.

    Nobody followed him.

    Wallace and Zahawi might be competent eggs, but they are putting up with all of this, which means they are terrible people.
    Has Dowden been replaced? Boris's ethics advisor hasn't, obviously. But since that is an entirely pointless appointment, it's no surprise.

    But someone needs to pretend to chair the Tory party. Or is that too pointless?
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,952
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    Thanks.

    How do you get around location services? Or does ExpressVPN do that for you too?
  • Options
    SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,431
    Nigelb said:

    Carnyx said:

    Nigelb said:

    Selebian said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Maryna Viazovska, a Ukrainian number theorist, has been awarded the Fields Medal, math’s highest honor. She is the second woman to receive the medal in its 86-year history.
    https://twitter.com/QuantaMagazine/status/1544219453382074368

    https://www.quantamagazine.org/ukrainian-mathematician-maryna-viazovska-wins-fields-medal-20220705/
    ...At the ceremony today, the IMU cited Viazovska’s many mathematical accomplishments, in particular her proof that an arrangement called the E8 lattice is the densest packing of spheres in eight dimensions...

    ...Viazovska and her collaborators emerged from the sphere-packing work with a higher ambition. Mathematicians had long suspected that E8 and the Leech lattice are much more than just the best way to pack spheres. These two lattices, mathematicians hypothesized, are “universally optimal,” meaning that they are the best arrangements according to a host of criteria — for example, the lowest-energy way to position mutually repelling electrons in space or twisty polymers in a solution....
    ...The resulting paper, said Sylvia Serfaty of New York University, is on a par with the great breakthroughs of the 19th century, when mathematicians solved many of the problems that had confounded their predecessors for centuries. “This paper is really a great advancement of science,” she told Quanta at the time. “To know that the human brain is able to produce a proof of something like that, to me it’s a really remarkable fact.”
    The story of another of this year's Field's Medallists is rather more remarkable.

    Though the maths means little or nothing to me, it's a very interesting account of how a mind works.
    https://www.quantamagazine.org/june-huh-high-school-dropout-wins-the-fields-medal-20220705/
    As a slogger on the coalface of academia, I do hate these geniuses who work three hours a day and make prof in their 30s :wink:
    He sounds pretty unusual, though.
    Just wait till he's landed with preparing for the next Research Excellence Framework for his school (or whatever the major subdivision is called in his uni).
    Somehow I don't think he's going to be beating a path to the UK.
    Though I note one of this year's four is an Oxford mathematician.
    Yep. The 8th Amendment protects him from preparing REF returns while in the States. He'd be a fool to come here!
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,362

    Addressing @Dura_Ace 's point from earlier:

    His contention was that: "This time next year, the Russian armed forces will be be equipped with simpler and less variety of equipment with a lot of Chinese/Indian/Israeli electronics but there is no doubt there will be a lot of it."

    That might happen, and quantity does have a quality all of its own. But whilst India and China are quite happy to take cheap hydrocarbons from Russia, giving Russia lots of high-tech stuff carries other concerns.

    Then there's the track record. in the 1950s to early 1980s, Russia could crank out tens of thousands of pieces of military equipment a year. A prodigious amount of tanks, AFVs, planes, missiles and everything else. But their recent track record is less impressive. Their recently-updated tanks have proved to be Ronsons, and their clean-sheet design, the T-14, did not perform well in Syria and is available in tiny numbers.

    Does Russia actually have the manufacturing capability of making even (say) the T-80U in vast enough numbers to make a difference? Thousands of AFVs? Thousands of missiles that actually hit a target? They're not exactly making a lot of the T-14s recently. And many of their 'new' tanks are actually renewed older tanks.

    According to Oryx, Russia has lost 830 tanks in the first four months of this war. That's a heck of a lot to re-equip.

    Note: I'm not saying it's not possible. I'm casting doubt on whether the corruption-ridden Russian system will actually be able to do it.

    It was stated, a while back, that production at the main tank plant in Russia had stopped due to lack of supplies and equipment. A lot of modern manufacturing requires specialist materials and parts.

    Back in the day, the USSR was very careful to keep itself as self sufficient in such things.

    After Things Changed, a massive amount of Western technology flooded into Russia. This raised productivity enormously. CNC multi axis lathes/mills are staggeringly good compared to manual working, for example.

    Putin tried to get back to autonomy - but the problem is that it is much cheaper and easier to buy the technology from abroad than build the complete tech stack at home. So, if you are corrupt, fake the autonomy thing.

    So there was a much trumpeted plan to build a Russian made tractor - which turned out to be screwdriver assembly of bits from the Czech Republic, IIRC.
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    Cyclefree said:

    Has Dowden been replaced? Boris's ethics advisor hasn't, obviously. But since that is an entirely pointless appointment, it's no surprise.

    But someone needs to pretend to chair the Tory party. Or is that too pointless?

    He has not been replaced
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,881
    Why do an online ‘sale’ of free tickets, rather than get everyone queuing up in the morning like we used to? The ground isn’t half full yet.

    Wimbledon has the same problem.
  • Options
    DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 24,341
    edited July 2022

    Scott_xP said:

    Huge mistake to let cameras into cabinet meeting today. Look at the grim faces around that table. Compare to previous occasions. Look at Javid, Coffey - one of the ministers sent out with a misleading briefing. Look at Gove! Even Dorries knows the gig is up. NOT a happy ship. ~AA https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1544245691215757312/video/1

    Or - Ministers realize the nation is in very very tricky times, and adopt the appropriate serious tone.
    No, this is the televised preamble aka free party political broadcast for Boris. If you turn the sound up, this thing they are reacting to with "appropriate serious tone" is Boris boasting of a record tax cut (the NIC threshold rise which comes into effect now). It is supposed to be good news.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,056

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    Thanks.

    How do you get around location services? Or does ExpressVPN do that for you too?
    It does that automatically - at least, you choose your (UK or otherwise) location and that sorts everything

    I’d happily pay to watch this legally. It’s bonkers you can’t do that
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,202

    Scott_xP said:

    Cabinet now out - we’ve seen Dorries, Truss, Kwarteng, Wallace, Zahawi, Raab and some others leave from the front door

    No sign of others - Sunak, Heaton-Harris, Hart (who did Friday’s tricky media round), Coffey (who did Sunday’s tricky media round) haven’t left thru No10 so far

    https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1544259585376194561

    FFS will one of them finally do the decent thing?

    Has anyone left in public life got a shred of honour and decent left?

    No.
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,952
    Nigelb said:
    I blame JRM.
  • Options
    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited July 2022
    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    If you give DALLE-2 an image, then ask it to produce a variant, it will give you six. If you choose one of the six, then ask it to vary THAT, it will do so in the same way. If you repeat the process hundreds or thousands of times, then string the images together, you get this

    https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfCDYJyFS_T/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

    Is this the vague beginnings of a new art form? Or an uncanny simulacrum of a DMT trip? Can’t decide

    Incidentally the initiating image is the first photo ever taken. Which is neat

    Choosing the images to feed back in makes it less interesting.
    What would it look like had DALLE-2 made its own choices ?
    Yes, I had the same thought

    Even better, get GPT3 to choose. Two AIs bouncing off each other. Leave them to it for a day. Imagine

    That video you linked to starts with a real photo of a building and it got turned into a graphic of a ball on top of a cone.

    That's the one my dog would have chosen.
    The initial image is actually the first photo ever taken - by a human




    I appreciate most of this is totally lost on PB-ers, but I’m happy to educate
    Though I'm not in any way interested in these randomly generated computer images which has existed for years and has nothing whatever in common with 'art' the first photograph ever taken IS interesting and was taken in the 1830's by Daguerre. It's thought to be the first photograph ever taken of a human being

    http://webstudycentre.blogspot.com/2013/03/worlds-first-photograph-with-human.html
  • Options
    eekeek Posts: 24,964
    Cyclefree said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Cabinet now out - we’ve seen Dorries, Truss, Kwarteng, Wallace, Zahawi, Raab and some others leave from the front door

    No sign of others - Sunak, Heaton-Harris, Hart (who did Friday’s tricky media round), Coffey (who did Sunday’s tricky media round) haven’t left thru No10 so far

    https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1544259585376194561

    FFS will one of them finally do the decent thing?

    Has anyone left in public life got a shred of honour and decent left?

    No.
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    The cricket only fills a few hours of the day. He still has the rest of the day to explore places.
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    A Tory MP gets in touch:

    “We are eeking out the final hours and days of this Government. We aren’t talking about weeks or months”

    Don’t see how that happens without quite a few Cabinet resignations in the coming hours, but even still 👀👀👀👀

    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1544258122721665026
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,952

    dixiedean said:

    Bit worried that an England win is being taken as read.

    I'd like a thrilling denouement. England collapse. Nine wickets down, ten to win. Jimmy Anderson to get the winning runs with an edge through the slips. Let's have some drama - more fun than England cruising to victory.
    Nope. Want England to crush them with Bazball.
    Can't understand why there aren't four slips in?
    Might as well if every other ball goes for four anyways.
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    NEW: Explosive call now on @mrjamesob a serving senior civil servant rings in to say our democracy is in danger due to lies coming from No.10 Press operation. Says he was felt a duty to ring in after watching Dominic Raab call into question Simon McDonald’s account in his letter

    “Stewart” went on to say: Do not underestimate how dangerous this is. Our democracy is under threat. Calls on Simon Case to resign. Says to have the most senior spokesperson to continually lie on behalf of the PM is the sign of a “failed and corrupt state”

    He also called on all the civil servants sitting in the Number 10 press office to get up and leave their desks in protest. “I should be at work serving the country!”

    @mrjamesob “You are”


    https://twitter.com/hattmarris84/status/1544260557297127427
  • Options
    Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,276
    200 partnership
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,056
    edited July 2022
    Cyclefree said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Cabinet now out - we’ve seen Dorries, Truss, Kwarteng, Wallace, Zahawi, Raab and some others leave from the front door

    No sign of others - Sunak, Heaton-Harris, Hart (who did Friday’s tricky media round), Coffey (who did Sunday’s tricky media round) haven’t left thru No10 so far

    https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1544259585376194561

    FFS will one of them finally do the decent thing?

    Has anyone left in public life got a shred of honour and decent left?

    No.
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    Because it is exquisitely pleasurable to sit in the sun drenched town square of Royal Cetinje and nibble strudels with fine coffee as I watch a superb England team chase an absolutely historic victory against India

    Next
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,951
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    If you give DALLE-2 an image, then ask it to produce a variant, it will give you six. If you choose one of the six, then ask it to vary THAT, it will do so in the same way. If you repeat the process hundreds or thousands of times, then string the images together, you get this

    https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfCDYJyFS_T/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

    Is this the vague beginnings of a new art form? Or an uncanny simulacrum of a DMT trip? Can’t decide

    Incidentally the initiating image is the first photo ever taken. Which is neat

    Choosing the images to feed back in makes it less interesting.
    What would it look like had DALLE-2 made its own choices ?
    Yes, I had the same thought

    Even better, get GPT3 to choose. Two AIs bouncing off each other. Leave them to it for a day. Imagine

    That video you linked to starts with a real photo of a building and it got turned into a graphic of a ball on top of a cone.

    That's the one my dog would have chosen.
    The initial image is actually the first photo ever taken - by a human




    I appreciate most of this is totally lost on PB-ers, but I’m happy to educate
    Why are you so unable to accept that people can look at evidence and come to different conclusions?
    Er, what?

    What conclusions am I dismissing?

    I’m just pointing PB to some fascinating developments in AI and ML. Maybe repetitively, but I aver it is still more interesting than the 178th debate about Tory sleaze

    But both have their place in the diverse garden of PB. Each to their own
    Your disdain for those who don't accept that this is sentient AI, which you've been banging the drum for ages. probably this stuff today is not the best example of your work on that front. You routinely suggest that anyone not agreeing with your view is too limited to accept reality.
    Read the thread. Any rancour initially comes from others. Sometimes I respond, a little

    Tho I do believe that anyone not fascinated by this lacks imagination, at the very least

    But it is the nature of PB that it attracts more technically minded, less imaginative types? That is not an insult. I could never build a car - or code a computer: skills I would like to have
    I'd argue you absolutely could 'code a computer' - at a simple level. I'm not talking about writing machine code or a device drivers, but you certainly could 'code' some Javascript to (say) perform a search from a plain-text file on a website. I bet you could even learn to access databases. Or even create them.

    But you would need to want to. And to get to a professional level would take a long time.
  • Options
    Cyclefree said:


    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    Why miss the cricket just because he's abroad?
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,952
    Sandpit said:

    Why do an online ‘sale’ of free tickets, rather than get everyone queuing up in the morning like we used to? The ground isn’t half full yet.

    Wimbledon has the same problem.

    Cos it's all about collection of data for marketing.
  • Options
    eekeek Posts: 24,964

    Addressing @Dura_Ace 's point from earlier:

    His contention was that: "This time next year, the Russian armed forces will be be equipped with simpler and less variety of equipment with a lot of Chinese/Indian/Israeli electronics but there is no doubt there will be a lot of it."

    That might happen, and quantity does have a quality all of its own. But whilst India and China are quite happy to take cheap hydrocarbons from Russia, giving Russia lots of high-tech stuff carries other concerns.

    Then there's the track record. in the 1950s to early 1980s, Russia could crank out tens of thousands of pieces of military equipment a year. A prodigious amount of tanks, AFVs, planes, missiles and everything else. But their recent track record is less impressive. Their recently-updated tanks have proved to be Ronsons, and their clean-sheet design, the T-14, did not perform well in Syria and is available in tiny numbers.

    Does Russia actually have the manufacturing capability of making even (say) the T-80U in vast enough numbers to make a difference? Thousands of AFVs? Thousands of missiles that actually hit a target? They're not exactly making a lot of the T-14s recently. And many of their 'new' tanks are actually renewed older tanks.

    According to Oryx, Russia has lost 830 tanks in the first four months of this war. That's a heck of a lot to re-equip.

    Note: I'm not saying it's not possible. I'm casting doubt on whether the corruption-ridden Russian system will actually be able to do it.

    It was stated, a while back, that production at the main tank plant in Russia had stopped due to lack of supplies and equipment. A lot of modern manufacturing requires specialist materials and parts.

    Back in the day, the USSR was very careful to keep itself as self sufficient in such things.

    After Things Changed, a massive amount of Western technology flooded into Russia. This raised productivity enormously. CNC multi axis lathes/mills are staggeringly good compared to manual working, for example.

    Putin tried to get back to autonomy - but the problem is that it is much cheaper and easier to buy the technology from abroad than build the complete tech stack at home. So, if you are corrupt, fake the autonomy thing.

    So there was a much trumpeted plan to build a Russian made tractor - which turned out to be screwdriver assembly of bits from the Czech Republic, IIRC.
    Oh yes this twitter thread https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1501360272442896388?lang=en

    which brings me to this tweet https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1501374092980768769 that reminds me of our Government - simply replace Russia with Bozo...

    That's how social mobility works in Russia. Bullshiters are actively promoted. Just pretend to work on import substitution, share stolen cash with influential people, and go up. Now *you* check financial transparency and prevent corruption. Your henchmen go to jail but who cares
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    - “Starmer Moves to a 30% Approval Lead”

    Not north of the border.

    Net favourability ratings:



    Sturgeon +15

    Sarwar +3
    Starmer 0

    Cole-Hamilton -11

    Harvie -11

    Slater -11

    Ross -26
    Sunak -28
    UK govt -51

    Salmond -61

    Johnson -62

    Savanta ComRes; 23-28 June
  • Options

    200 partnership

    In just 249 deliveries, nearly five per over. Its Test cricket, but not as we know it.

    Century for Root!
  • Options
    Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,276
    Root century
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,541
    dixiedean said:

    Nigelb said:
    I blame JRM.
    COTD.
  • Options

    Cyclefree said:


    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    Why miss the cricket just because he's abroad?
    Ah. I get it. You're practising the nagging for once you've hooked up
  • Options
    glwglw Posts: 9,549
    edited July 2022
    Roger said:

    Though I'm not in any way interested in these randomly generated computer images which has existed for years and has nothing whatever in common with 'art'

    Existed for years? DALL-E came out in 2021, Imagen in 2022.

    Randomly generated? No these are natural language transformers.

    You have completely missed the point of what these models represent.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,541
    Scott_xP said:

    A Tory MP gets in touch:

    “We are eeking out the final hours and days of this Government. We aren’t talking about weeks or months”

    Don’t see how that happens without quite a few Cabinet resignations in the coming hours, but even still 👀👀👀👀

    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1544258122721665026

    Stop bloody eeking, and kick the liar out.
  • Options
    eekeek Posts: 24,964
    Nigelb said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A Tory MP gets in touch:

    “We are eeking out the final hours and days of this Government. We aren’t talking about weeks or months”

    Don’t see how that happens without quite a few Cabinet resignations in the coming hours, but even still 👀👀👀👀

    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1544258122721665026

    Stop bloody eeking, and kick the liar out.
    People have been saying that Boris has little time left since January and yet he's still there..
  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,565
    Root = 100.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,541
    Cyclefree said:


    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    The desire is not new.
    Didn't you ever watch "The Lady Vanishes" ?
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    eek said:

    People have been saying that Boris has little time left since January and yet he's still there..

    And planning his 3rd term...
  • Options
    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,607
    Interesting news out of France, Macron has demoted the current Europe minister who was very, very Anglophobic and promoted someone who has previously said the UK and France need a much closer economic relationship into the job. Feels like Macron is attempting to reset the confrontational stance of the last few years, hopefully the next PM will do the same if this is the case.
  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,565
    I put £10 on England at the start of this innings, but the odds weren't that great — just 4.5.
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    MaxPB said:

    Interesting news out of France, Macron has demoted the current Europe minister who was very, very Anglophobic and promoted someone who has previously said the UK and France need a much closer economic relationship into the job. Feels like Macron is attempting to reset the confrontational stance of the last few years, hopefully the next PM will do the same if this is the case.

    Planning for a post BoZo future...
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    BREAKING: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Finland and Sweden will make the alliance 'stronger' after 30 allies signed an accession protocol to allow the countries to join.

    Ratification of the bids could take up to a year.

    https://trib.al/QTC8as2 https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1544266013298016258/video/1
  • Options
    Root has averaged 100.42 in this series
  • Options
    OmniumOmnium Posts: 9,770
    Nigelb said:
    Didn't Sunak start that the other week?
  • Options
    Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,276
    Scott_xP said:

    MaxPB said:

    Interesting news out of France, Macron has demoted the current Europe minister who was very, very Anglophobic and promoted someone who has previously said the UK and France need a much closer economic relationship into the job. Feels like Macron is attempting to reset the confrontational stance of the last few years, hopefully the next PM will do the same if this is the case.

    Planning for a post BoZo future...
    Outside the EU but wiith a better relationship
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,054
    Scott_xP said:

    MaxPB said:

    Interesting news out of France, Macron has demoted the current Europe minister who was very, very Anglophobic and promoted someone who has previously said the UK and France need a much closer economic relationship into the job. Feels like Macron is attempting to reset the confrontational stance of the last few years, hopefully the next PM will do the same if this is the case.

    Planning for a post BoZo future...
    I doubt he's as obsessed with BoZo as you are.
  • Options
    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    Nigelb said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A Tory MP gets in touch:

    “We are eeking out the final hours and days of this Government. We aren’t talking about weeks or months”

    Don’t see how that happens without quite a few Cabinet resignations in the coming hours, but even still 👀👀👀👀

    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1544258122721665026

    Stop bloody eeking, and kick the liar out.
    glw said:

    Roger said:

    Though I'm not in any way interested in these randomly generated computer images which has existed for years and has nothing whatever in common with 'art'

    Existed for years? DALL-E came out in 2021, Imagen in 2022.

    Randomly generated? No these are natural language transformers.
    You can go into any one of twenty video houses in Soho and at the press of a button they will happily generate any number of images depending on your needs. This function has existed for years. If the imput is now words what difference does it make? I can sit next to the operator and say give me a spaceship. Elongate it change colours change shape give it metal wheels painted blue add a few spikes etc etc. I'm struggling to see anything new that might be useful.
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    Tuesday’s #BorisJohnson #chrispincher @EveningStandard #strikes #cartoon https://twitter.com/Adamstoon1/status/1544266545135816709/photo/1


  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,196
    Scott_xP said:

    eek said:

    People have been saying that Boris has little time left since January and yet he's still there..

    And planning his 3rd term...
    And what a belter that term is going to be.

    Bridge to Mars as flagship policy?

  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,541
    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:


    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    The desire is not new.
    Didn't you ever watch "The Lady Vanishes" ?
    A cracking film, which my daughter, who finds watching cricket every bit as incomprehensible as does @Cyclefree, thoroughly enjoyed recently.

    Come to think of it, Cyclefree does have just a hint of Miss Foy.
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,952
    That top edge could have gone anywhere.
    Fine margins as Barty said before.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,202
    Leon said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Cabinet now out - we’ve seen Dorries, Truss, Kwarteng, Wallace, Zahawi, Raab and some others leave from the front door

    No sign of others - Sunak, Heaton-Harris, Hart (who did Friday’s tricky media round), Coffey (who did Sunday’s tricky media round) haven’t left thru No10 so far

    https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1544259585376194561

    FFS will one of them finally do the decent thing?

    Has anyone left in public life got a shred of honour and decent left?

    No.
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    Because it is exquisitely pleasurable to sit in the sun drenched town square of Royal Cetinje and nibble strudels with fine coffee as I watch a superb England team chase an absolutely historic victory against India

    Next
    Fair enough.

    Seems odd to me - and not just because cricket is to me unbelievably boring.

    You could be watching what is happening around you in the square, the people, imagining their lives, the stories behind them, why those buildings are the way they are etc, how ordinary life abroad can seem both so similar and so very different in unexpected and small ways etc.

    But no - cricket. Sigh....
  • Options
    wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,930
    edited July 2022
    Good morning.
    Been trying to work out the process by which dog dies. Im thinking Gove is the most likely first mover. Hes a snake and a player and also knows he will get a gig in most cabinets. Rishi would then jump on board as hes been a total teasing tart throughout and will want the 'kill cred'. That should do it but for a confirmed extermibation lets throw in Raab. Hes stupid enough that Gove could convince him throwing the dog out the window is love and wont have a scooby how ridiculous he looks after this mornings sycophnancy.
    Its Gove, Sunak, (Raab!!), GOALLLLLLLLLLLL
    You heard it here last.
  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,565
    edited July 2022
    Cyclefree said:

    Leon said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Cabinet now out - we’ve seen Dorries, Truss, Kwarteng, Wallace, Zahawi, Raab and some others leave from the front door

    No sign of others - Sunak, Heaton-Harris, Hart (who did Friday’s tricky media round), Coffey (who did Sunday’s tricky media round) haven’t left thru No10 so far

    https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1544259585376194561

    FFS will one of them finally do the decent thing?

    Has anyone left in public life got a shred of honour and decent left?

    No.
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    Because it is exquisitely pleasurable to sit in the sun drenched town square of Royal Cetinje and nibble strudels with fine coffee as I watch a superb England team chase an absolutely historic victory against India

    Next
    Fair enough.

    Seems odd to me - and not just because cricket is to me unbelievably boring.

    You could be watching what is happening around you in the square, the people, imagining their lives, the stories behind them, why those buildings are the way they are etc, how ordinary life abroad can seem both so similar and so very different in unexpected and small ways etc.

    But no - cricket. Sigh....
    Cricket is pretty much the only game I don't find boring, with the exception of Wimbledon tennis.

    Cricket is 3D chess in my opinion.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,202

    Cyclefree said:


    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    Why miss the cricket just because he's abroad?
    Ah. I get it. You're practising the nagging for once you've hooked up
    No. I'd just get on with doing what I want.

    I'm not a believer in couples doing everything together. People need space, even from their partners. Well I do, anyway
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,196
    Is this the one? Finally?

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    ·
    24m
    Just to repeat. We’ve been told Pincher was vetted at the time of his appointment. That vetting will have uncovered the 2019 incident, which was officially recorded. And that will then have been reported back to the Prime Minister. There is no way round this for Boris or No.10.
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,976
    Hmm. Trying to remember if it was just as he invaded Asia Minor that Demetrius Poliorcetes' impressive army just faded away to nothing...
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,196
    Scott_xP said:

    NEW: Explosive call now on @mrjamesob a serving senior civil servant rings in to say our democracy is in danger due to lies coming from No.10 Press operation. Says he was felt a duty to ring in after watching Dominic Raab call into question Simon McDonald’s account in his letter

    “Stewart” went on to say: Do not underestimate how dangerous this is. Our democracy is under threat. Calls on Simon Case to resign. Says to have the most senior spokesperson to continually lie on behalf of the PM is the sign of a “failed and corrupt state”

    He also called on all the civil servants sitting in the Number 10 press office to get up and leave their desks in protest. “I should be at work serving the country!”

    @mrjamesob “You are”


    https://twitter.com/hattmarris84/status/1544260557297127427

    One has to wonder why Case was employed as the top civil servant in the first place? iirc he had zero civil service experience and was employed at the Palace. Before that wasn't it some management consultant job?

  • Options
    HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,258
    edited July 2022

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Not sure if he replied @Anabobazina but it's easy if you use a ... VPN ;)

    Google Chrome with something like Windscribe or FreeVPN and you are away. Just search for cricket stream, football stream and you will find any and every match you ever wanted to watch. Google may not give you all the right links so something like yandex will do the job. Indian websites constantly stream every cricket game in the world.

    I won't put the actual streaming links here as I don't want to encourage illicit downloading.

    Another great thing about those VPN's is that you can change your virtual location to anywhere in the world.

    Which also means that were you so to desire it you could also watch BBC iplayer. They try to stop you so, again, I'm not condoning it. Ahem.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,056
    Cyclefree said:

    Leon said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Cabinet now out - we’ve seen Dorries, Truss, Kwarteng, Wallace, Zahawi, Raab and some others leave from the front door

    No sign of others - Sunak, Heaton-Harris, Hart (who did Friday’s tricky media round), Coffey (who did Sunday’s tricky media round) haven’t left thru No10 so far

    https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1544259585376194561

    FFS will one of them finally do the decent thing?

    Has anyone left in public life got a shred of honour and decent left?

    No.
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    Because it is exquisitely pleasurable to sit in the sun drenched town square of Royal Cetinje and nibble strudels with fine coffee as I watch a superb England team chase an absolutely historic victory against India

    Next
    Fair enough.

    Seems odd to me - and not just because cricket is to me unbelievably boring.

    You could be watching what is happening around you in the square, the people, imagining their lives, the stories behind them, why those buildings are the way they are etc, how ordinary life abroad can seem both so similar and so very different in unexpected and small ways etc.

    But no - cricket. Sigh....
    You forget I have been travelling for 3 months solid, near enough. I do that other stuff all the time

    I like cricket anyway, and this isn’t just any old cricket. This is a world class England run chase that — if they do it - will stay in the record books. PLUS It will be over in an hour and the Lovcen National Park will still be there

    If we’re going to be wed you need to understand this, otherwise, quite frankly, the whole thing’s off

  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    Cyclefree said:

    You could be watching what is happening around you in the square, the people, imagining their lives, the stories behind them, why those buildings are the way they are etc, how ordinary life abroad can seem both so similar and so very different in unexpected and small ways etc.

    Have you ever been to Snowshill Manor?

    https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/snowshill-manor-and-garden

    This guy collected random objects from around the World and put them on display in a house he bought expressly for that purpose, and then donated it to the National trust to ensure the collection was not dispersed.

    He expressed the view that looking at those objects could transport you to other places and peoples.

    Now, having seen the collection, much of it is junk. Very few pieces inspired me at all. Queen Mary is said to have remarked that the most interesting thing in the house was the man himself, but I share the idea. Immersing yourself in the unfamiliar is good for the soul.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,674
    Dura_Ace said:

    Nigelb said:



    Enrico Fermi, for example, was definitely both.

    Rod Stewart has one of the best model train layouts in California.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-50403561

    Interestingly, to US prototype, 1940s, complete with a Liberty ship or similar wartime class.
  • Options
    glwglw Posts: 9,549
    Roger said:

    You can go into any one of twenty video houses in Soho and at the press of a button they will happily generate any number of images depending on your needs. This function has existed for years. If the imput is now words what difference does it make? I can sit next to the operator and say give me a spaceship. Elongate it change colours change shape give it metal wheels painted blue add a few spikes etc etc. I'm struggling to see anything new that might be useful.

    There is a vast difference between a domain specific tool like a 3d modelling programme, no matter how sophisticated it is in order to reduce the effort of the operator, and a natural language to image transformer. There's no operator for starters, there's no tool at least nothing you need to operate directly, you put in text and spits out images. There's no human expertise required at all.

    In the future as these models get faster you could litterally talk to them and have the images refined on-the-fly. Eventually you could have them generate an entire narrative sequence as fast as you can speak. And there's no reason in principle why you can't have them go the opposite way. Turning images to text or audio, and back and forth.
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,952

    Is this the one? Finally?

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    ·
    24m
    Just to repeat. We’ve been told Pincher was vetted at the time of his appointment. That vetting will have uncovered the 2019 incident, which was officially recorded. And that will then have been reported back to the Prime Minister. There is no way round this for Boris or No.10.

    Probably not.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,056
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Scott_xP said:

    A Tory MP gets in touch:

    “We are eeking out the final hours and days of this Government. We aren’t talking about weeks or months”

    Don’t see how that happens without quite a few Cabinet resignations in the coming hours, but even still 👀👀👀👀

    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1544258122721665026

    Stop bloody eeking, and kick the liar out.
    glw said:

    Roger said:

    Though I'm not in any way interested in these randomly generated computer images which has existed for years and has nothing whatever in common with 'art'

    Existed for years? DALL-E came out in 2021, Imagen in 2022.

    Randomly generated? No these are natural language transformers.
    You can go into any one of twenty video houses in Soho and at the press of a button they will happily generate any number of images depending on your needs. This function has existed for years. If the imput is now words what difference does it make? I can sit next to the operator and say give me a spaceship. Elongate it change colours change shape give it metal wheels painted blue add a few spikes etc etc. I'm struggling to see anything new that might be useful.
    Christ

    I know you’re not the brightest, but still. Make an effort
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,202
    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:


    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    The desire is not new.
    Didn't you ever watch "The Lady Vanishes" ?
    Yes. I do hope your suggestion that I am Miss Foy-like is a reference to my mystery, spy-like qualities & ability to get involved in adventures rather than anything else.

    I rather fancy the romance on a train angle since that is how I hooked up with my husband.

    In Russia. And Ukraine. Under Communism. But.... ssshhhh ..... don't tell anyone.

    ** wanders off humming **
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    the longer this PM drags on, the less the chances of anyone now in Cabinet succeeding him (they'll all be too steeped in The Awfulness). Anyone wanting to jump ship really doesn't have long.
    https://twitter.com/gabyhinsliff/status/1544268089537216513
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,952
    Sandpit said:

    Why do an online ‘sale’ of free tickets, rather than get everyone queuing up in the morning like we used to? The ground isn’t half full yet.

    Wimbledon has the same problem.

    Yes, it's silly. Shame to see another half-empty ground when it's a notional 'sell-out'.
  • Options
    DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 24,341

    Scott_xP said:

    NEW: Explosive call now on @mrjamesob a serving senior civil servant rings in to say our democracy is in danger due to lies coming from No.10 Press operation. Says he was felt a duty to ring in after watching Dominic Raab call into question Simon McDonald’s account in his letter

    “Stewart” went on to say: Do not underestimate how dangerous this is. Our democracy is under threat. Calls on Simon Case to resign. Says to have the most senior spokesperson to continually lie on behalf of the PM is the sign of a “failed and corrupt state”

    He also called on all the civil servants sitting in the Number 10 press office to get up and leave their desks in protest. “I should be at work serving the country!”

    @mrjamesob “You are”


    https://twitter.com/hattmarris84/status/1544260557297127427

    One has to wonder why Case was employed as the top civil servant in the first place? iirc he had zero civil service experience and was employed at the Palace. Before that wasn't it some management consultant job?

    It is because both parties have convinced themselves that the Civil Service has been captured by the other lot, and is inefficient and obstructive. Thus both parties' enthusiasm for outsiders, management consultants and chums.
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,196

    David Aaronovitch
    @DAaronovitch
    ·
    20m
    Years and years in this trade. Never seen anything like this [the Simon McDonald letter]

  • Options
    wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,930
    dixiedean said:

    Is this the one? Finally?

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    ·
    24m
    Just to repeat. We’ve been told Pincher was vetted at the time of his appointment. That vetting will have uncovered the 2019 incident, which was officially recorded. And that will then have been reported back to the Prime Minister. There is no way round this for Boris or No.10.

    Probably not.
    The song debaser is going through my head.
    What a PoS this fat scumbag dog is
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,196
    We must be due Dom's final depth charge any hour now surely, to finish the job?
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    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,952
    Heathener said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Not sure if he replied @Anabobazina but it's easy if you use a ... VPN ;)

    Google Chrome with something like Windscribe or FreeVPN and you are away. Just search for cricket stream, football stream and you will find any and every match you ever wanted to watch. Google may not give you all the right links so something like yandex will do the job. Indian websites constantly stream every cricket game in the world.

    I won't put the actual streaming links here as I don't want to encourage illicit downloading.

    Another great thing about those VPN's is that you can change your virtual location to anywhere in the world.

    Which also means that were you so to desire it you could also watch BBC iplayer. They try to stop you so, again, I'm not condoning it. Ahem.
    The quality on most of those 'streaming sites' is awful.

    I am a bone fide Sky subscriber and want to watch it abroad, that's all.
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    StockyStocky Posts: 9,718

    Good morning.
    Been trying to work out the process by which dog dies. Im thinking Gove is the most likely first mover. Hes a snake and a player and also knows he will get a gig in most cabinets. Rishi would then jump on board as hes been a total teasing tart throughout and will want the 'kill cred'. That should do it but for a confirmed extermibation lets throw in Raab. Hes stupid enough that Gove could convince him throwing the dog out the window is love and wont have a scooby how ridiculous he looks after this mornings sycophnancy.
    Its Gove, Sunak, (Raab!!), GOALLLLLLLLLLLL
    You heard it here last.

    If Gove, Sunak and Raab resigned why wouldn't Johnson just re-appoint others to those positions?

    It would only be fatal to Johnson in the unlikely scenario that there are no new cabinet aspirees.
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    If Root isn't careful he won't leave enough runs left for Bairstow to get his own century.
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    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,541
    edited July 2022
    Leon said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Leon said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Cabinet now out - we’ve seen Dorries, Truss, Kwarteng, Wallace, Zahawi, Raab and some others leave from the front door

    No sign of others - Sunak, Heaton-Harris, Hart (who did Friday’s tricky media round), Coffey (who did Sunday’s tricky media round) haven’t left thru No10 so far

    https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1544259585376194561

    FFS will one of them finally do the decent thing?

    Has anyone left in public life got a shred of honour and decent left?

    No.
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    Because it is exquisitely pleasurable to sit in the sun drenched town square of Royal Cetinje and nibble strudels with fine coffee as I watch a superb England team chase an absolutely historic victory against India

    Next
    Fair enough.

    Seems odd to me - and not just because cricket is to me unbelievably boring.

    You could be watching what is happening around you in the square, the people, imagining their lives, the stories behind them, why those buildings are the way they are etc, how ordinary life abroad can seem both so similar and so very different in unexpected and small ways etc.

    But no - cricket. Sigh....
    You forget I have been travelling for 3 months solid, near enough. I do that other stuff all the time

    I like cricket anyway, and this isn’t just any old cricket. This is a world class England run chase that — if they do it - will stay in the record books. PLUS It will be over in an hour and the Lovcen National Park will still be there

    If we’re going to be wed you need to understand this, otherwise, quite frankly, the whole thing’s off

    Blimey, Root is going to leave Bairstow becalmed on 97 at this rate.
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    wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,930
    Scott_xP said:

    the longer this PM drags on, the less the chances of anyone now in Cabinet succeeding him (they'll all be too steeped in The Awfulness). Anyone wanting to jump ship really doesn't have long.
    https://twitter.com/gabyhinsliff/status/1544268089537216513

    Gove. Gove knows.
    Watch the speccy assassin
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    LeonLeon Posts: 47,056
    England aren’t just winning they are MASTERFUL

    And this is against India not Ireland. Incroyable given where they were a few months ago
  • Options
    wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,930
    Stocky said:

    Good morning.
    Been trying to work out the process by which dog dies. Im thinking Gove is the most likely first mover. Hes a snake and a player and also knows he will get a gig in most cabinets. Rishi would then jump on board as hes been a total teasing tart throughout and will want the 'kill cred'. That should do it but for a confirmed extermibation lets throw in Raab. Hes stupid enough that Gove could convince him throwing the dog out the window is love and wont have a scooby how ridiculous he looks after this mornings sycophnancy.
    Its Gove, Sunak, (Raab!!), GOALLLLLLLLLLLL
    You heard it here last.

    If Gove, Sunak and Raab resigned why wouldn't Johnson just re-appoint others to those positions?

    It would only be fatal to Johnson in the unlikely scenario that there are no new cabinet aspirees.
    Kerplunk effect
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,196
    Stocky said:

    Good morning.
    Been trying to work out the process by which dog dies. Im thinking Gove is the most likely first mover. Hes a snake and a player and also knows he will get a gig in most cabinets. Rishi would then jump on board as hes been a total teasing tart throughout and will want the 'kill cred'. That should do it but for a confirmed extermibation lets throw in Raab. Hes stupid enough that Gove could convince him throwing the dog out the window is love and wont have a scooby how ridiculous he looks after this mornings sycophnancy.
    Its Gove, Sunak, (Raab!!), GOALLLLLLLLLLLL
    You heard it here last.

    If Gove, Sunak and Raab resigned why wouldn't Johnson just re-appoint others to those positions?

    It would only be fatal to Johnson in the unlikely scenario that there are no new cabinet aspirees.
    I think that is a scenario where we really will see the fabled men in grey suits arrive to end the matter.

  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,952
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    Thanks.

    How do you get around location services? Or does ExpressVPN do that for you too?
    It does that automatically - at least, you choose your (UK or otherwise) location and that sorts everything

    I’d happily pay to watch this legally. It’s bonkers you can’t do that
    Thanks, and yes – it's absolutely absurd that you can't just pay extra and have worldwide access.
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    HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,258

    Heathener said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Not sure if he replied @Anabobazina but it's easy if you use a ... VPN ;)

    Google Chrome with something like Windscribe or FreeVPN and you are away. Just search for cricket stream, football stream and you will find any and every match you ever wanted to watch. Google may not give you all the right links so something like yandex will do the job. Indian websites constantly stream every cricket game in the world.

    I won't put the actual streaming links here as I don't want to encourage illicit downloading.

    Another great thing about those VPN's is that you can change your virtual location to anywhere in the world.

    Which also means that were you so to desire it you could also watch BBC iplayer. They try to stop you so, again, I'm not condoning it. Ahem.
    The quality on most of those 'streaming sites' is awful.

    I am a bone fide Sky subscriber and want to watch it abroad, that's all.
    The quality is fantastic. HD. Just need to hunt around a bit then bookmark.

    Once you've found great streaming sites it's brilliant.
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    StockyStocky Posts: 9,718

    Stocky said:

    Good morning.
    Been trying to work out the process by which dog dies. Im thinking Gove is the most likely first mover. Hes a snake and a player and also knows he will get a gig in most cabinets. Rishi would then jump on board as hes been a total teasing tart throughout and will want the 'kill cred'. That should do it but for a confirmed extermibation lets throw in Raab. Hes stupid enough that Gove could convince him throwing the dog out the window is love and wont have a scooby how ridiculous he looks after this mornings sycophnancy.
    Its Gove, Sunak, (Raab!!), GOALLLLLLLLLLLL
    You heard it here last.

    If Gove, Sunak and Raab resigned why wouldn't Johnson just re-appoint others to those positions?

    It would only be fatal to Johnson in the unlikely scenario that there are no new cabinet aspirees.
    I think that is a scenario where we really will see the fabled men in grey suits arrive to end the matter.

    But there is no such thing as the men in grey suits. This just means the 1922 committee doesn't it?
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,976
    As I've said multiple times before: I'll believe he's gone when he's gone.
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,196
    Scott_xP said:

    the longer this PM drags on, the less the chances of anyone now in Cabinet succeeding him (they'll all be too steeped in The Awfulness). Anyone wanting to jump ship really doesn't have long.
    https://twitter.com/gabyhinsliff/status/1544268089537216513

    Can Wallace manage to extract himself from all this shite without members caring he was one of those propping it up all?

    Otherwise it may be those outside cabinet who end up with the crown.
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    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,362
    eek said:

    Addressing @Dura_Ace 's point from earlier:

    His contention was that: "This time next year, the Russian armed forces will be be equipped with simpler and less variety of equipment with a lot of Chinese/Indian/Israeli electronics but there is no doubt there will be a lot of it."

    That might happen, and quantity does have a quality all of its own. But whilst India and China are quite happy to take cheap hydrocarbons from Russia, giving Russia lots of high-tech stuff carries other concerns.

    Then there's the track record. in the 1950s to early 1980s, Russia could crank out tens of thousands of pieces of military equipment a year. A prodigious amount of tanks, AFVs, planes, missiles and everything else. But their recent track record is less impressive. Their recently-updated tanks have proved to be Ronsons, and their clean-sheet design, the T-14, did not perform well in Syria and is available in tiny numbers.

    Does Russia actually have the manufacturing capability of making even (say) the T-80U in vast enough numbers to make a difference? Thousands of AFVs? Thousands of missiles that actually hit a target? They're not exactly making a lot of the T-14s recently. And many of their 'new' tanks are actually renewed older tanks.

    According to Oryx, Russia has lost 830 tanks in the first four months of this war. That's a heck of a lot to re-equip.

    Note: I'm not saying it's not possible. I'm casting doubt on whether the corruption-ridden Russian system will actually be able to do it.

    It was stated, a while back, that production at the main tank plant in Russia had stopped due to lack of supplies and equipment. A lot of modern manufacturing requires specialist materials and parts.

    Back in the day, the USSR was very careful to keep itself as self sufficient in such things.

    After Things Changed, a massive amount of Western technology flooded into Russia. This raised productivity enormously. CNC multi axis lathes/mills are staggeringly good compared to manual working, for example.

    Putin tried to get back to autonomy - but the problem is that it is much cheaper and easier to buy the technology from abroad than build the complete tech stack at home. So, if you are corrupt, fake the autonomy thing.

    So there was a much trumpeted plan to build a Russian made tractor - which turned out to be screwdriver assembly of bits from the Czech Republic, IIRC.
    Oh yes this twitter thread https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1501360272442896388?lang=en

    which brings me to this tweet https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1501374092980768769 that reminds me of our Government - simply replace Russia with Bozo...

    That's how social mobility works in Russia. Bullshiters are actively promoted. Just pretend to work on import substitution, share stolen cash with influential people, and go up. Now *you* check financial transparency and prevent corruption. Your henchmen go to jail but who cares
    The final bit that most people miss is that doing the actual import substitution with local equivalents is actually bad for you. If you invest all that money in actually doing the job, there is less money for the the bribes to push "up" the pyramid.

    See Chavez firing people in the state oil company in Venezuela for investing too much money.... in oil production.
  • Options
    StockyStocky Posts: 9,718
    edited July 2022

    As I've said multiple times before: I'll believe he's gone when he's gone.

    Same here. He'll cling on. Fingernails' job.
  • Options
    Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,276
    Stocky said:

    Stocky said:

    Good morning.
    Been trying to work out the process by which dog dies. Im thinking Gove is the most likely first mover. Hes a snake and a player and also knows he will get a gig in most cabinets. Rishi would then jump on board as hes been a total teasing tart throughout and will want the 'kill cred'. That should do it but for a confirmed extermibation lets throw in Raab. Hes stupid enough that Gove could convince him throwing the dog out the window is love and wont have a scooby how ridiculous he looks after this mornings sycophnancy.
    Its Gove, Sunak, (Raab!!), GOALLLLLLLLLLLL
    You heard it here last.

    If Gove, Sunak and Raab resigned why wouldn't Johnson just re-appoint others to those positions?

    It would only be fatal to Johnson in the unlikely scenario that there are no new cabinet aspirees.
    I think that is a scenario where we really will see the fabled men in grey suits arrive to end the matter.

    But there is no such thing as the men in grey suits. This just means the 1922 committee doesn't it?
    Yes
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,196
    dixiedean said:

    Is this the one? Finally?

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    ·
    24m
    Just to repeat. We’ve been told Pincher was vetted at the time of his appointment. That vetting will have uncovered the 2019 incident, which was officially recorded. And that will then have been reported back to the Prime Minister. There is no way round this for Boris or No.10.

    Probably not.
    True.

    But I think this morning'e events have absolutely guaranteed Johnson will not be leader for next GE.

  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,202
    Scott_xP said:

    Cyclefree said:

    You could be watching what is happening around you in the square, the people, imagining their lives, the stories behind them, why those buildings are the way they are etc, how ordinary life abroad can seem both so similar and so very different in unexpected and small ways etc.

    Have you ever been to Snowshill Manor?

    https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/snowshill-manor-and-garden

    This guy collected random objects from around the World and put them on display in a house he bought expressly for that purpose, and then donated it to the National trust to ensure the collection was not dispersed.

    He expressed the view that looking at those objects could transport you to other places and peoples.

    Now, having seen the collection, much of it is junk. Very few pieces inspired me at all. Queen Mary is said to have remarked that the most interesting thing in the house was the man himself, but I share the idea. Immersing yourself in the unfamiliar is good for the soul.
    I have been there.

    I'm not really interested in objects - though the stories they tell about how they are made and acquired and why can be interesting. But people watching is endlessly fascinating. I often sit in cafes here and watch. And definitely abroad.

    I would do it with my children when small. Get them to watch someone and make up a story about them: who are they, why are they there, what they will do next etc.

    Hard to get bored just sitting and observing and letting your imagination run away with you.

  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,887
    “I’m supporting the Prime Minister”

    Attorney General Suella Braverman declines to answer whether she thinks Boris Johnson told the truth about what he knew of allegations to Chris Pincher

    #Newsnight https://bbc.in/3anaBmK https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1544271674719313920/video/1
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    The contrast between Bazball and Bozballs is striking.
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    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,054
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-05/euro-falls-to-lowest-since-2002-against-the-us-dollar

    Euro Tumbles to 20-Year Low, Putting Parity With Dollar in Sight

    The common currency fell as much as 1.4% to $1.0281.
  • Options
    turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 15,171
    Leon said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Cabinet now out - we’ve seen Dorries, Truss, Kwarteng, Wallace, Zahawi, Raab and some others leave from the front door

    No sign of others - Sunak, Heaton-Harris, Hart (who did Friday’s tricky media round), Coffey (who did Sunday’s tricky media round) haven’t left thru No10 so far

    https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1544259585376194561

    FFS will one of them finally do the decent thing?

    Has anyone left in public life got a shred of honour and decent left?

    No.
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I wonder if I am the first person to watch English Test Cricket in the town square of the Montenegrin royal capital


    Nice!

    I keep meaning to ask you for the details of your set-up so you can watch Sky abroad. I had a ropey set up in France that I could not get to work at all, so I'd be keen to know for future trips.
    Pretty simple - SkyGo plus ExpressVPN plus a decent wifi or 4G signal. Try and avoid places with large crowds of people all using their phones

    This is not meant to be rude. But why travel if you're just going to watch a game you can watch from your own home?
    Because it is exquisitely pleasurable to sit in the sun drenched town square of Royal Cetinje and nibble strudels with fine coffee as I watch a superb England team chase an absolutely historic victory against India

    Next
    Is it any different to me listening to TMS on my Devon hols every year? Actually forms part of the holiday for me. Cricket and TMS is an essential part of my soul.
  • Options
    wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,930

    Scott_xP said:

    the longer this PM drags on, the less the chances of anyone now in Cabinet succeeding him (they'll all be too steeped in The Awfulness). Anyone wanting to jump ship really doesn't have long.
    https://twitter.com/gabyhinsliff/status/1544268089537216513

    Can Wallace manage to extract himself from all this shite without members caring he was one of those propping it up all?

    Otherwise it may be those outside cabinet who end up with the crown.
    When he goes id expect lots of press stories from cabinet about how they onky stayed from duty and to restrain his idiocy. How irresponsible it would have been to leave it all to Johnson loyalists etc
    Fat Dog and my part in his downfall
This discussion has been closed.