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Why I am now betting on LAB not getting a majority – politicalbetting.com

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  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Snooker protestor - 25-year-old PPE student (!), who’s been arrested six times in the past year, and was one of those who glued himself to a painting in a Manchester gallery in 2022.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11983075/Just-Stop-Oil-protester-demonstrating-snooker-student-glued-Manchester-painting.html

    At what point do judges actually start locking these people up - or should they just be left in the middle of the theatre, with 1,000 people who have paid £50 for an evening’s entertainment and saw it ruined?
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,273

    Not just that, but bits of output from twenty years ago. Since then, we've had circles, groups of people staring at the screen, lockdown life and the current "same place at different times" films.

    And the worst you can say about the current indents is that it's a women's football team in one of them.
    The title is BBC One - 2002-2006 - 'Rhythm & Movement' Idents: Compilation.

    Rhythm and Movement is going to include lots of young dancers. People from the provinces and those who live in the countryside dance, go to concerts and watch and play rugby. And us urban metropolitian elite don't spend our whole time breakdancing or performing swan lake either.

    What on earth are people getting upset about?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,309
    kjh said:

    Really? Name one here? Yet we get bombarded by the small anti woke brigade here endlessly.
    Yesterday we had the stupidity of the Woke renaming the Brecon Beacons to virture-signal about climate change, because beacons burn and emit carbon or something.

    They are quite batshit.
  • GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,860

    R4 had a piece on the bloke who won a Sony Creative prize for photography with an AI generated image. I did a search on twitter and initially it came with a load of unfeasibly large breasted women with the faces of 12 year olds but I eventually found the actual pic.
    Impossible to tell with hindsight but is there a touch of tell tale exaggeration and caricature in the image?


    I smell a bit of a rat with this tbh. As others have said, the hands really don't look legit real (nor the facial bone structure on either woman), plus the photo itself doesn't look like a prize-winner to me, with the c. 2013 Instagram vignette filter applied to it.

    Either Sony and the bloke are in cahoots to make a point, or the judges on this prize should never be allowed near an award (or indeed a camera) ever again.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,338

    Yesterday we had the stupidity of the Woke renaming the Brecon Beacons to virture-signal about climate change, because beacons burn and emit carbon or something.

    They are quite batshit.
    Not really countering the wound up anti woke brigade point.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,527

    Yesterday we had the stupidity of the Woke renaming the Brecon Beacons to virture-signal about climate change, because beacons burn and emit carbon or something.

    They are quite batshit.
    But my point stands. There is no one here promoting woke.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,309

    Indeed, the ONLY people who ever mention woke are the sad old f*cks who see the world moving on and don't like it.
    We are smarter, more perceptive, and more succesful than you - you being nothing more than a dumb nodding sheep wanting to pick what you think must be a winning side due to your own deep-rooted inadequacies and insecurities - and we will win because your batshit relies solely on fear to advance and doesn't survive even 30 seconds of contact with reality.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    SpaceX targeting Thursday for world’s biggest ever accidental explosion test launch of Starship prototype.

    https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1648092752893313024
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 22,100
    The reactionary right banging on about twenty year old TV idents. Bless them, it keeps them out of mischief. Meanwhile here are some morris dancing robotic twos from the same era.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52CJ-HnPa7U
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,552
    Sandpit said:

    Snooker protestor - 25-year-old PPE student (!), who’s been arrested six times in the past year, and was one of those who glued himself to a painting in a Manchester gallery in 2022.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11983075/Just-Stop-Oil-protester-demonstrating-snooker-student-glued-Manchester-painting.html

    At what point do judges actually start locking these people up - or should they just be left in the middle of the theatre, with 1,000 people who have paid £50 for an evening’s entertainment and saw it ruined?

    At some point one of these protesters is going to get the crap beaten out of them. And Plod won't be able to respond to the scene of crime because, er, protesters had blocked their way....

    There's no way either to respond in kind because they are so intense about protest, there isn't anything they enjoy to disrupt.

  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 22,100

    We are smarter, more perceptive, and more succesful than you - you being nothing more than a dumb nodding sheep wanting to pick what you think must be a winning side due to your own deep-rooted inadequacies and insecurities - and we will win because your batshit relies solely on fear to advance and doesn't survive even 30 seconds of contact with reality.
    The reactionary right raging against the world are a bunch of useless Cnuts.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,180

    If the audit is er…. Not in the favour of the SNP, this will make the auditing firm a target for a lot of ill will. Both personal and political.
    The fee for the audit in the last year more than doubled to £57k but I suspect that this was still not particularly profitable for the company. When things get complicated you end up committing far more expensive time to the process. And boy did this get complicated. Auditors make money by having junior staff ticking numerous boxes, not by senior staff trying to work out what the hell has been going on.
    The other thing that happens is that there are discussions with the client about various issues and concerns with the opportunity to provide more information and resolve the issue before the audit report comes to be written. Not so sure that would apply to auditors appointed by the Electoral Commission.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,552
    MaxPB said:

    Employment up another 160k, private sector pay up 6.9%, what recession?

    That's a lot more tax revenue....
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,059
    Sandpit said:

    Snooker protestor - 25-year-old PPE student (!), who’s been arrested six times in the past year, and was one of those who glued himself to a painting in a Manchester gallery in 2022.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11983075/Just-Stop-Oil-protester-demonstrating-snooker-student-glued-Manchester-painting.html

    At what point do judges actually start locking these people up - or should they just be left in the middle of the theatre, with 1,000 people who have paid £50 for an evening’s entertainment and saw it ruined?

    The article says he was previously jailed for a week
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,527
    @felix I don't want to fall out over our exchange. No offence was intended. Just robust discussion. If I offended my apologies. Wasn't intended.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 31,317
    edited April 2023

    We are smarter, more perceptive, and more succesful than you - you being nothing more than a dumb nodding sheep wanting to pick what you think must be a winning side due to your own deep-rooted inadequacies and insecurities - and we will win because your batshit relies solely on fear to advance and doesn't survive even 30 seconds of contact with reality.
    More successful eh? You can't even spell successful!
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,059
    MaxPB said:

    Employment up another 160k, private sector pay up 6.9%, what recession?

    Albeit inflation up 10%, so still average pay rising below cost of living. It is inflation the government is rightly focused on getting under control
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,101

    Labour's possible rise in Scotland could actually help produce a majority even though the polls tighten, I am finding it hard to read the fall out from the SNP's woes. On the subject of female voters, IIRC they were also undecided on the BREXIT vote until the last moment (I thought they would swing it to REMAIN...how wrong I was on that).. is there a small chance of a better than expected May Locals leading to a sudden snap election?

    LOL, "Possible", they are fecking useless in Scotland. Their only forlorn hope is the independence vote splits between parties and gives them a chance.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,338
    Ghedebrav said:

    I smell a bit of a rat with this tbh. As others have said, the hands really don't look legit real (nor the facial bone structure on either woman), plus the photo itself doesn't look like a prize-winner to me, with the c. 2013 Instagram vignette filter applied to it.

    Either Sony and the bloke are in cahoots to make a point, or the judges on this prize should never be allowed near an award (or indeed a camera) ever again.
    I think the retro feel would be a bit whiffy even if it was an authentic photo. If taken in 1933 it would be pregnant with all sorts of foreboding, in 2023 it just seems an ersatz reproduction of that mood (which in fact it literally is).
    Eldagsen himself was quite interesting about what is obviously a very live debate. Promptography is apparently a suggested term for this new art(?) form.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,569
    mwadams said:

    Archaeology, along with geography, is one of the few superpower degrees. If I have an opportunity to hire a grad in those subjects, I jump at it. Most are maths literate, critical thinkers with an ability to solve both practical & theoretical problems, work in teams, and string a sentence together.
    mwadams said:

    Archaeology, along with geography, is one of the few superpower degrees. If I have an opportunity to hire a grad in those subjects, I jump at it. Most are maths literate, critical thinkers with an ability to solve both practical & theoretical problems, work in teams, and string a sentence together.
    Good morning.
    Interesting post; thanks. Granddaughter Two is considering her options for uni and archaeology is high on the list. She’s 18 next year, so a decision about uni will have to be made shortly.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,309
    I can only assume that the dragon will be deleted from the Welsh flag next, as fire breathing animals churning out carbon should not be promoted in the spirit of Net Zero.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,012
    Re the loon who interrupted the Snooker. They should sue him for consequential loss. That would feck him for decades.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    At some point one of these protesters is going to get the crap beaten out of them. And Plod won't be able to respond to the scene of crime because, er, protesters had blocked their way....

    There's no way either to respond in kind because they are so intense about protest, there isn't anything they enjoy to disrupt.
    After the Silverstone protestors got suspended sentences last year, despite being sent to the Crown Court for trial, I can well imagine how the marshals there will react if the Grand Prix gets disrupted again this year.
  • SandraMcSandraMc Posts: 727

    At some point one of these protesters is going to get the crap beaten out of them. And Plod won't be able to respond to the scene of crime because, er, protesters had blocked their way....

    There's no way either to respond in kind because they are so intense about protest, there isn't anything they enjoy to disrupt.

    As people have pointed out on twitter, if Alex Higgins had still been alive and playing when the protests had taken place the results could have been interesting.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,218
    DavidL said:

    The fee for the audit in the last year more than doubled to £57k but I suspect that this was still not particularly profitable for the company. When things get complicated you end up committing far more expensive time to the process. And boy did this get complicated. Auditors make money by having junior staff ticking numerous boxes, not by senior staff trying to work out what the hell has been going on.
    The other thing that happens is that there are discussions with the client about various issues and concerns with the opportunity to provide more information and resolve the issue before the audit report comes to be written. Not so sure that would apply to auditors appointed by the Electoral Commission.
    You could easily spend more than £57K - politics, novel process to your company.Let alone zillions of angry SNPers ready to blame you.

    Why not accept the job of auditing the nice, quiet shipyard instead? No, wait....
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,309
    I presume Burnley, Burntisland, Stoke and Coalbrookdale will be renamed next as their disgusting promotion of the use of fossil fuels demands.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,180

    Biden has accepted the analysis that the disruption caused by moving to the EVs offers an opportunity for the US car industry to take back a large portion of its own market.

    Tesla showed the way.

    There was some interesting pleading from Big Auto in Congress. They wanted the definitions extended to “The American Continent”, so they could do much of the work in Mexico. It is of interest that they didn’t get that.

    EDIT: the battery out sourcing to China is the classic business move for the kind of business leaders who feel uncomfortable with business or leadership. Much easier to buy the batteries in, rather than managed a large, complex operation.
    The economic activities of the US are increasingly mercantilist. This really started with Trump, Obama was a more traditional free trader, but it is if anything accelerating under Biden.

    It is a response to China, of course, but Europe is going to be caught in the backwash. Our best hope is that the US joins the CTTP and we get favoured access through that.
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,397

    I can only assume that the dragon will be deleted from the Welsh flag next, as fire breathing animals churning out carbon should not be promoted in the spirit of Net Zero.

    Surely that depends on how the fuel is produced? If it’s alcohol from sugars drawn from eaten plants and animals then it might actually be carbon neutral.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,481
    Good morning, everyone.

    Wondering about whether to buy Age of Wonders 4... looks interesting.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 14,320
    Sandpit said:

    Snooker protestor - 25-year-old PPE student (!), who’s been arrested six times in the past year, and was one of those who glued himself to a painting in a Manchester gallery in 2022.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11983075/Just-Stop-Oil-protester-demonstrating-snooker-student-glued-Manchester-painting.html

    At what point do judges actually start locking these people up - or should they just be left in the middle of the theatre, with 1,000 people who have paid £50 for an evening’s entertainment and saw it ruined?

    Why? Do you think the mob are going to kill him live on the Red Button?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 31,317
    ...

    I presume Burnley, Burntisland, Stoke and Coalbrookdale will be renamed next as their disgusting promotion of the use of fossil fuels demands.

    Burntwood is the one that really riles me up. Although I could live with Burntkilndriedwood.
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,771
    Sandpit said:

    SpaceX targeting Thursday for world’s biggest ever accidental explosion test launch of Starship prototype.

    https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1648092752893313024

    I'm guessing Chernobyl and maybe the Silvertown explosion would be on the upside of this (should it come to pass).
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,180

    The title is BBC One - 2002-2006 - 'Rhythm & Movement' Idents: Compilation.

    Rhythm and Movement is going to include lots of young dancers. People from the provinces and those who live in the countryside dance, go to concerts and watch and play rugby. And us urban metropolitian elite don't spend our whole time breakdancing or performing swan lake either.

    What on earth are people getting upset about?
    Really don’t know. Putting an entirely misleading negative spin on the latest economic data, on the other hand…
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,397
    mwadams said:

    I'm guessing Chernobyl and maybe the Silvertown explosion would be on the upside of this (should it come to pass).
    There's also RAF Fauld.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,731

    Biden has accepted the analysis that the disruption caused by moving to the EVs offers an opportunity for the US car industry to take back a large portion of its own market.

    Tesla showed the way.

    There was some interesting pleading from Big Auto in Congress. They wanted the definitions extended to “The American Continent”, so they could do much of the work in Mexico. It is of interest that they didn’t get that.

    EDIT: the battery out sourcing to China is the classic business move for the kind of business leaders who feel uncomfortable with business or leadership. Much easier to buy the batteries in, rather than managed a large, complex operation.
    It's not just about cars, of course. It's a re-engineering of the energy industry as well. (See similar efforts regarding solar manufacturing.)

    The UK has failed miserably on all of this, with the partial exception of wind power; the EU has done slightly better.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,180
    Foss said:

    Surely that depends on how the fuel is produced? If it’s alcohol from sugars drawn from eaten plants and animals then it might actually be carbon neutral.
    I thought that they lived in coal fired engines like Ivor. Not easy to be carbon neutral from there.
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,771
    Ghedebrav said:

    Suspect Glasgow's archaeology dept may well have been a glorified ancient history faculty, as a few of the red brick depts are. You'll learn a lot more actual archaeology at Bradford, Lampeter, and (oddly) Cambridge than e.g. Manchester, Birmingham and others. Sheffield did a proper job though.
    And there are always outliers!
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,731

    R4 had a piece on the bloke who won a Sony Creative prize for photography with an AI generated image. I did a search on twitter and initially it came with a load of unfeasibly large breasted women with the faces of 12 year olds but I eventually found the actual pic.
    Impossible to tell with hindsight but is there a touch of tell tale exaggeration and caricature in the image?


    We did this a couple of days ago.
    Leon notes the hands, too; pretty obvious when you look at it.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,884

    Yesterday we had the stupidity of the Woke renaming the Brecon Beacons to virture-signal about climate change, because beacons burn and emit carbon or something.

    They are quite batshit.
    Strictly speaking they are reverting back to an ancient name, which seems rather unwoke. Also the fire symbol was a bit silly as they weren't that kind of beacons.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,218
    Sky just saying the SNP treasurer has ben arrested.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,359

    Sky just saying the SNP treasurer has ben arrested.

    More popcorn, sir?
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,012
    edited April 2023
    Hands look like root vegetables
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,218
    RobD said:

    More popcorn, sir?
    No thank you. A kind thought, but I have to watch my waistline. Am trying to ratio myself.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,731
    edited April 2023
    Jonathan said:

    An excerpt from PB in 1923...

    "I say lock up the suffragettes with their woke nonsense. The country is going to the dogs. The rot started twenty years ago when the front page of the London Illustrated News had a lithograph depicting the Welsh countryside rather than the Chilterns."

    God knows what they'd have had to say about Picasso.
    Who, mildly ironically, is now in danger of being cancelled, too.

    (Leon would have complained about the inaccurate hands.)
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,527
    edited April 2023
    I must admit I interpreted the Brecon renaming as a marketing exercise. Certainly got it on the news and talked about and people were talking about walks over it here quite a bit so seemed to work. Link it in with climate change and you target another group.

    Suspect it won't encourage Casino to visit.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,481
    Picasso should be cancelled. Because his art is terrible.

    Interesting how AI can handle eyes and the face much better than hands.
  • BurgessianBurgessian Posts: 2,979
    FF43 said:

    Strictly speaking they are reverting back to an ancient name, which seems rather unwoke. Also the fire symbol was a bit silly as they weren't that kind of beacons.
    Not an expert but I very much doubt the area has ever been called that, not even in Welsh. Quangos making changes like that, with little or no public demand for it, is not a very good idea. Obviously been sold to them by some media agency embedded in the Taffia.
    It's a shame, because the ambition to rehabilitate the landscape, restore biodiversity etc. is very laudable.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,218
    FF43 said:

    Strictly speaking they are reverting back to an ancient name, which seems rather unwoke. Also the fire symbol was a bit silly as they weren't that kind of beacons.
    It seems to me that the renaming effort has all the use of trying to stop people calling vacuum cleaners “hoovers”.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,689

    I can only assume that the dragon will be deleted from the Welsh flag next, as fire breathing animals churning out carbon should not be promoted in the spirit of Net Zero.

    Carbon? In the form of graphite or diamonds?

  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,338
    Nigelb said:

    We did this a couple of days ago.
    Leon notes the hands, too; pretty obvious when you look at it.
    Ah, possibly I went off and did something useful when I saw the beginning of a Leonine bellow on AI. On the hands thing, AI should manage a convincing portrait of our soon to be crowned king.

    There’s a long tradition of experts persuading each other that an image is authentic and in fact great art.



  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    It seems to me that the renaming effort has all the use of trying to stop people calling vacuum cleaners “hoovers”.
    And, indeed, trying to change the pronunciation of IKEA.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,821
    Jonathan said:

    An excerpt from PB in 1923...

    "I say lock up the suffragettes with their woke nonsense. The country is going to the dogs. The rot started twenty years ago when the front page of the London Illustrated News had a lithograph depicting the Welsh countryside rather than the Chilterns."

    The suffragettes are nowadays portrayed as heroines by popular culture, but arguably put back the cause of women's representation by years. It was a battle which was being won anyway by less militant organisations; the actions of the suffragettes didn't really help and arguably set back the cause. The parallels with the the likes of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion and the others are obvious.

    Also, what is their problem with snooker? It must be one of the least polluting activities in popular culture.

    Sometimes my inner Dura Ace comes out. Bypass the courts and just take them outside and give them a proper kicking.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    mwadams said:

    I'm guessing Chernobyl and maybe the Silvertown explosion would be on the upside of this (should it come to pass).
    Silvertown was 50t of TNT, this will be roughly 5,000t of liquid methane and oxygen. Not sure which is bigger tbh.

    I did think of the Buncefield refinery that went up a few years ago, that might have been bigger. The Chernobyl explosion itself wasn’t that big.

    Okay, so I looked it up.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions

    There were a load of huge ammunition explosions in WWI and WWII, one of which was at RAF Fauld in Staffordshire in 1944. In peacetime the largest recent one was the Port of Beirut explosion from three years ago, and the Soviet N1 rocket in 1969, as they tried to race the Americans to the moon.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,218
    edited April 2023

    Picasso should be cancelled. Because his art is terrible.

    Interesting how AI can handle eyes and the face much better than hands.

    I always like the story of when the Gestapo raided Picasso's home in Paris, and came across a print of Guernica. One of the Germans asked Picasso if it was his work.

    "No", he replied, "it is yours."

    EDIT: I'm surprised that Dali wasn't first on the list. Just as nasty a piece of work and a Fascist sympathiser as well.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,731

    Picasso should be cancelled. Because his art is terrible.

    Interesting how AI can handle eyes and the face much better than hands.

    Also tends to be true of human artists.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,689
    HYUFD said:

    Albeit inflation up 10%, so still average pay rising below cost of living. It is inflation the government is rightly focused on getting under control
    Shutting down the NHS is perhaps not the best way to deal with inflation.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 38,132

    Sky just saying the SNP treasurer has ben arrested.

    Well, I do hope that doesn't overshadow Humza's big speech today...

    That's why Nippy isn't at Holyrood, right?
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 14,320
    Cookie said:

    The suffragettes are nowadays portrayed as heroines by popular culture, but arguably put back the cause of women's representation by years. It was a battle which was being won anyway by less militant organisations; the actions of the suffragettes didn't really help and arguably set back the cause. The parallels with the the likes of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion and the others are obvious.

    Also, what is their problem with snooker? It must be one of the least polluting activities in popular culture.

    Sometimes my inner Dura Ace comes out. Bypass the courts and just take them outside and give them a proper kicking.
    As I know to my great personal cost you can't just beat the fuck out of people because they annoy you. If it were legal I'd be getting up an hour earlier every day.

    JSO and XR need to ratchet up the violence. It all feels too genteel. A bit Great British Protest Off when it should feel Red Army Faction.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,731
    Police arrest SNP treasurer in finance probe
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65309791
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,527

    Hands look like root vegetables

    😮 I thought you were talking about the politician for a moment then and thought it a random unnecessary insult. Then it dawned.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    Sky just saying the SNP treasurer has ben arrested.

    Colin Beattie MSP
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/04/18/snp-latest-colin-beattie-arrested-sturgeon-news-live/

    Polis statement:
    A 71-year-old man has today, Tuesday, 18 April 2023, been arrested as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party.

    “The man is in custody and is being questioned by Police Scotland detectives. A report will be sent to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

    “The matter is active for the purposes of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and the public are therefore advised to exercise caution if discussing it on social media.

    “As the investigation is ongoing we are unable to comment further.”
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,218
    Sandpit said:

    Silvertown was 50t of TNT, this will be roughly 5,000t of liquid methane and oxygen. Not sure which is bigger tbh.

    I did think of the Buncefield refinery that went up a few years ago, that might have been bigger. The Chernobyl explosion itself wasn’t that big.

    Okay, so I looked it up.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions

    There were a load of huge ammunition explosions in WWI and WWII, one of which was at RAF Fauld in Staffordshire in 1944. In peacetime the largest recent one was the Port of Beirut explosion from three years ago, and the Soviet N1 rocket in 1969, as they tried to race the Americans to the moon.
    In theory, LNG (which methane is, pretty much) can yield in the range of ton-for-ton. So X tons of LNG equals X tons of TNT.

    The issue is the mixing with the atmosphere, the LNG, the temperature rise in the cloud of dispersed materials, the droplet sizes from material dispersed with shock....

    You could get a deflagration - that is how the Hydrogen/LOX from the Challenger accident went - a slower burn than a detonation. In the case of Challenger the crew survived the deflagration and breakup.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560
    Cookie said:

    The suffragettes are nowadays portrayed as heroines by popular culture, but arguably put back the cause of women's representation by years. It was a battle which was being won anyway by less militant organisations; the actions of the suffragettes didn't really help and arguably set back the cause. The parallels with the the likes of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion and the others are obvious.

    Also, what is their problem with snooker? It must be one of the least polluting activities in popular culture.
    BBC coverage, it's amongst the biggest sporting events the BBC still has live rights to.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,738
    Cookie said:

    The suffragettes are nowadays portrayed as heroines by popular culture, but arguably put back the cause of women's representation by years. It was a battle which was being won anyway by less militant organisations; the actions of the suffragettes didn't really help and arguably set back the cause. The parallels with the the likes of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion and the others are obvious.

    Also, what is their problem with snooker? It must be one of the least polluting activities in popular culture.

    Sometimes my inner Dura Ace comes out. Bypass the courts and just take them outside and give them a proper kicking.
    I think the issue was with cazoo.

    A company that sells (recycles) second hand cars so doesn't really add anything to the carbon footprint (given that it's the initial purchase of the car that generates the carbon footprint).
  • NerysHughesNerysHughes Posts: 3,375
    Nigelb said:

    Police arrest SNP treasurer in finance probe
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65309791

    Has the current treasurer of a major political and govering party ever been arrested before or is this a first for the SNP?
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,821
    Dura_Ace said:

    As I know to my great personal cost you can't just beat the fuck out of people because they annoy you. If it were legal I'd be getting up an hour earlier every day.

    JSO and XR need to ratchet up the violence. It all feels too genteel. A bit Great British Protest Off when it should feel Red Army Faction.
    Can I draw your attention to the contrast between the first sentence of your first paragraph and the first sentence of your second paragraph?
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,771
    Sandpit said:

    Silvertown was 50t of TNT, this will be roughly 5,000t of liquid methane and oxygen. Not sure which is bigger tbh.

    I did think of the Buncefield refinery that went up a few years ago, that might have been bigger. The Chernobyl explosion itself wasn’t that big.

    Okay, so I looked it up.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions

    There were a load of huge ammunition explosions in WWI and WWII, one of which was at RAF Fauld in Staffordshire in 1944. In peacetime the largest recent one was the Port of Beirut explosion from three years ago, and the Soviet N1 rocket in 1969, as they tried to race the Americans to the moon.
    I did wonder about Buncefield. That's the only one I actually experienced - on the way down the A1 heading to Heathrow.
  • NerysHughesNerysHughes Posts: 3,375
    Im a great believer in Karma and I remember thinking she should have been more classy.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-sDE4KrSt8
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,012
    Hands loom.like root vegetables

    No thank you. A kind thought, but I have to watch my waistline. Am trying to ratio myself.
    Schadenfreude level up another two ticks.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,731

    In theory, LNG (which methane is, pretty much) can yield in the range of ton-for-ton. So X tons of LNG equals X tons of TNT.

    The issue is the mixing with the atmosphere, the LNG, the temperature rise in the cloud of dispersed materials, the droplet sizes from material dispersed with shock....

    You could get a deflagration - that is how the Hydrogen/LOX from the Challenger accident went - a slower burn than a detonation. In the case of Challenger the crew survived the deflagration and breakup.
    Yes, it's not about the energy content - a pound of sugar contains around four times the potential combustion energy of a pound of TNT - but the speed of energy release.
  • WestieWestie Posts: 426
    Cookie said:

    The suffragettes are nowadays portrayed as heroines by popular culture, but arguably put back the cause of women's representation by years. It was a battle which was being won anyway by less militant organisations; the actions of the suffragettes didn't really help and arguably set back the cause. The parallels with the the likes of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion and the others are obvious.

    Also, what is their problem with snooker? It must be one of the least polluting activities in popular culture.

    Sometimes my inner Dura Ace comes out. Bypass the courts and just take them outside and give them a proper kicking.
    There are no serious "obvious parallels" between the pseudo-gangs that you mention (and who do indeed deserve a good kicking) and the suffragettes (which incidentally was a word of contempt spread by the Daily Mail).

    Anyone who thinks ER may not be a pseudo-gang should ask themselves whether striking miners would have been allowed to "occupy" London bridges in the 1980s.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    In theory, LNG (which methane is, pretty much) can yield in the range of ton-for-ton. So X tons of LNG equals X tons of TNT.

    The issue is the mixing with the atmosphere, the LNG, the temperature rise in the cloud of dispersed materials, the droplet sizes from material dispersed with shock....

    You could get a deflagration - that is how the Hydrogen/LOX from the Challenger accident went - a slower burn than a detonation. In the case of Challenger the crew survived the deflagration and breakup.
    Ah yes, good point. My guess would be that a static explosion on the pad, as with the N1, would be massive, but an explosion of a high-speed vehicle, as with Challenger, would be more of a deflagration. Sadly for the Challenger crew, they were likely alive, but unconscious from hypoxia, as they hit the ocean some minutes after their craft disintegrated.
  • WestieWestie Posts: 426
    Mystic Dom reckons Trump practically has the 2024 USPE in the bag.
    He's done the maths. Silly sod.
    He's begging journalists to talk about him. Pathetic silly sod.

    https://dominiccummings.substack.com/p/6-regime-change-new-data-shows-trump
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,101
    Nigelb said:

    We did this a couple of days ago.
    Leon notes the hands, too; pretty obvious when you look at it.
    Also a shit picture , WTF was the competition like if this won it.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,731

    Im a great believer in Karma and I remember thinking she should have been more classy.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-sDE4KrSt8

    That would doom about half of PB, too.
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 9,012
    Sandpit said:

    Silvertown was 50t of TNT, this will be roughly 5,000t of liquid methane and oxygen. Not sure which is bigger tbh.

    I did think of the Buncefield refinery that went up a few years ago, that might have been bigger. The Chernobyl explosion itself wasn’t that big.

    Okay, so I looked it up.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions

    There were a load of huge ammunition explosions in WWI and WWII, one of which was at RAF Fauld in Staffordshire in 1944. In peacetime the largest recent one was the Port of Beirut explosion from three years ago, and the Soviet N1 rocket in 1969, as they tried to race the Americans to the moon.
    Halifax N.S. 1917

  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560
    malcolmg said:

    Also a shit picture , WTF was the competition like if this won it.
    Maybe they knew it was AI and made it win for the publicity.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,218
    Sandpit said:

    Ah yes, good point. My guess would be that a static explosion on the pad, as with the N1, would be massive, but an explosion of a high-speed vehicle, as with Challenger, would be more of a deflagration. Sadly for the Challenger crew, they were likely alive, but unconscious from hypoxia, as they hit the ocean some minutes after their craft disintegrated.
    Some of them were not only alive, but were conscious and moving switches. They died on impact.

    The only question is whether they lost consciousness due to cabin pressure at altitude and stayed unconscious or woke up on the way down.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,731
    UK @DefenceHQ reports heavy fighting and a potential reduction of Russian troop numbers around Donetsk City, with creeping advances by Russian MoD and Wagner Group forces continuing in Bakhmut
    https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1648242463289802752
  • Yesterday we had the stupidity of the Woke renaming the Brecon Beacons to virture-signal about climate change, because beacons burn and emit carbon or something.

    They are quite batshit.
    The *Welsh* didn't rename anything - that name already existed. They have just declared they will exclusively use the Welsh name and not the English name.

    Is Wales now "woke" because it wants to promote its own language? Naming things in Wales in Welsh is "woke"? Really?
  • I was joking yesterday when I said I was expecting Sturgeon to be arrested this week during this stint as guest editor.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,101

    Has the current treasurer of a major political and govering party ever been arrested before or is this a first for the SNP?
    Sure to be more to follow, especially the great leader one hopes.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,218
    Scott_xP said:

    Well, I do hope that doesn't overshadow Humza's big speech today...

    That's why Nippy isn't at Holyrood, right?
    Nicola Sturgeon has no connection with or recollection of

    - The finances
    - Her leadership
    - The SNP
    - Scotland
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,821

    The *Welsh* didn't rename anything - that name already existed. They have just declared they will exclusively use the Welsh name and not the English name.

    Is Wales now "woke" because it wants to promote its own language? Naming things in Wales in Welsh is "woke"? Really?
    The reason given for the name change is that 'Beacons' isn't a good look because it implies burning things which implies climate change. Which strikes me as pretty woke.

    I'd also suggest the number of Welsh speakers in the Brecon Beacons is pretty low.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,527
    edited April 2023
    @squareroot2 Nice of you to have liked my apology to @felix in particular as I have given you a real hard time in the past for being abrasive.

    Very decent of you in the circumstances.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,821
    Westie said:

    There are no serious "obvious parallels" between the pseudo-gangs that you mention (and who do indeed deserve a good kicking) and the suffragettes (which incidentally was a word of contempt spread by the Daily Mail).

    Anyone who thinks ER may not be a pseudo-gang should ask themselves whether striking miners would have been allowed to "occupy" London bridges in the 1980s.
    Well, the parallels are that both, through direct action, alienated potential supporters from a battle which was being won anyway.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 14,320
    Nigelb said:

    UK @DefenceHQ reports heavy fighting and a potential reduction of Russian troop numbers around Donetsk City, with creeping advances by Russian MoD and Wagner Group forces continuing in Bakhmut
    https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1648242463289802752

    Baldy Ben looks he won a competition in the Sunday Express to meet Lloyd Austin.


  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    The *Welsh* didn't rename anything - that name already existed. They have just declared they will exclusively use the Welsh name and not the English name.

    Is Wales now "woke" because it wants to promote its own language? Naming things in Wales in Welsh is "woke"? Really?
    It's about naming things in English, not in Welsh.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,012
    Cookie said:

    The reason given for the name change is that 'Beacons' isn't a good look because it implies burning things which implies climate change. Which strikes me as pretty woke.

    I'd also suggest the number of Welsh speakers in the Brecon Beacons is pretty low.
    Isn't it full of Squaddies training?
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,884

    Not an expert but I very much doubt the area has ever been called that, not even in Welsh. Quangos making changes like that, with little or no public demand for it, is not a very good idea. Obviously been sold to them by some media agency embedded in the Taffia.
    It's a shame, because the ambition to rehabilitate the landscape, restore biodiversity etc. is very laudable.
    Apparently according to Wikipedia, which is at least as reliable as ChatGPT, variations on the Brecon Beacons name go back to the 18thC. All those names are English corruptions of the original Welsh name as now being asserted by the National Park.
  • It seems to me that the renaming effort has all the use of trying to stop people calling vacuum cleaners “hoovers”.
    Exactly - Snowdon and the Brecon Beacons will continue to be widely used
  • Dura_Ace said:

    As I know to my great personal cost you can't just beat the fuck out of people because they annoy you. If it were legal I'd be getting up an hour earlier every day.

    JSO and XR need to ratchet up the violence. It all feels too genteel. A bit Great British Protest Off when it should feel Red Army Faction.
    The problem that ER have is that they were explicitly set up to be non-violent, but their name sounds like violence. So they're somewhat marooned in a spot between sounding too abrasive for more genteel environmentalists, and sounding as if they don't live up to their more aggressive-sounding name.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,821

    Isn't it full of Squaddies training?
    As with most National Parks, very few people actually live there at all - the boundaries tend to exclude the towns. But even if you include the 'just outside' towns like Brecon and Abergavenny, this is one of the less Welsh-speaking areas of Wales. I can see the argument for renaming Snowdonia, but this just seems daft.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,012

    I'm one of those prior Tory don't knows, but after getting my local elections materials I've decided for the first time ever I'm going to vote Lib Dem in the upcoming local elections.

    The Tories don't deserve my vote. And the Lib Dems have always put me off with their NIMBYism, but the material I received had not a single hint of NIMBYism on it, so I'm going to give them a chance this time.

    Though I do wonder whether the election leaflets that they send out are adjusted depending upon the demographics of where they're sending it. I live on a new build estate, so anyone on this estate probably isn't a NIMBY - I wonder whether more NIMBYish material is being sent to other addresses instead, or whether the local candidate genuinely isn't playing on NIMBYism which I respect if so?

    Ditto. A continual majority for the Tories on Horsham District Council is a bad thing. They need a kick up the arse and I hope the electorate give them one.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,527
    Cookie said:

    As with most National Parks, very few people actually live there at all - the boundaries tend to exclude the towns. But even if you include the 'just outside' towns like Brecon and Abergavenny, this is one of the less Welsh-speaking areas of Wales. I can see the argument for renaming Snowdonia, but this just seems daft.
    Marketing. It is working.
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 9,938
    edited April 2023

    "The *Welsh* didn't rename anything - that name already existed. They have just declared they will exclusively use the Welsh name and not the English name."

    Indeed. Welch just means foreigner in anglo-saxon, as I recall.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,264

    The *Welsh* didn't rename anything - that name already existed. They have just declared they will exclusively use the Welsh name and not the English name.

    Is Wales now "woke" because it wants to promote its own language? Naming things in Wales in Welsh is "woke"? Really?
    'deffro' perhaps?

    (I await to be corrected by someone with actual knowledge of Welsh, rather than me who only lived in a largely English-speaking part of Wales for some years)
This discussion has been closed.