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

It may become Bannau Brycheiniog to the park management, and no-one else

squareroot2 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

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.

Unfortunately I live in a place where since the last local elections we've had both a Tory minority and a Lib/Lab/Green/Residents mob coalition. And neither was notably better than the other - in particular, all the parties I can vote for support the policy which makes many residents' life worse on a daily basis.

Cookie said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Casino_Royale said:

kjh said:

TheKitchenCabinet said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

noneoftheabove said:

Jonathan said:

Casino_Royale said:

Andy_JS said:

O/T

I've just been watching the BBC idents that were used between 2002 and 2006, and the interesting thing about them is that they celebrate just about everything except anything that might be described as "provincial/rural England".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydqN-yo_2B4

That's the BBC for you.

Utterly Met in every way.

A highly niche whinge there not actually true if you view the clip. Cornwall is pretty provincial. If you like green stuff, look at the previous idents.

https://youtu.be/KwNBDbMqOA8

Any mention of the BBC will have the snowflakes racing each other to find the most faux offence.

You have to admire the determination to be outraged. It must be exhausting to live life on kind of hair trigger.

Rather ironic given the endless amount of stuff that wokesters seem to get wound up about...

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.

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.

That's the whole point. The number of Welsh speakers is low in many parts of Wales due to the 19th Century policy of eradicating it by, for example, punishing school children who were heard to use it. The suppression of 'inappropriate' language was the woke campaign of its day and it very nearly succeeded.

BartholomewRoberts said:

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?

The phenomenon of aggressive NIMBYism by people who have moved into new homes, about ten minutes before, is not unknown.

As is the phenomenon of local logicians who don't initially campaign on NIMBYism, but adopt it to secure reelection.

I have no clue what the Cymru is for Snowdonia and I won't remember what Brecon Beacons is either.

Do I need to? Locals get to declare the name of something in their own language. Colonists get to add their own name in the language of Jesus. Call it what you want in whatever language you want.

RochdalePioneers said:

I have no clue what the Cymru is for Snowdonia and I won't remember what Brecon Beacons is either.

Do I need to? Locals get to declare the name of something in their own language.

Yes, they do - but these people are trying to change the name of it in English.

But I suppose at least all the letters they think we should use do actually exist in English.

bondegezou said:

Is Beattie the current Treasurer or just the former Treasurer? Or both?

Both.

The Grover Cleveland of SNP treasurers.

Driver said:

squareroot2 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

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.

Unfortunately I live in a place where since the last local elections we've had both a Tory minority and a Lib/Lab/Green/Residents mob coalition. And neither was notably better than the other - in particular, all the parties I can vote for support the policy which makes many residents' life worse on a daily basis.

Which policy is that, and where? You may be suffering from parties having Floating Voter Obsession, which features all parties congregating around a supposed centre ground, when actually (in local politics at least) the real floating vote may be quite different.

Nigelb said:

Malmesbury said:

Nigelb said:

Currently a source of great irritation for US allies.

VW, Rivian, Nissan, BMW, Hyundai lose access to US EV tax credits
https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=349255
The U.S. Treasury said on Monday that Volkswagen, BMW, Nissan, Rivian, Hyundai and Volvo Cars electric vehicles will lose access to a $7,500 tax credit under new rules for battery sourcing.

The Treasury said the new requirements effective on Tuesday will also cut by half credits for the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Rear Wheel Drive to $3,750 but that other Tesla models will retain the full $7,500 credit.

Vehicles losing credits on Tuesday are the BMW 330e, BMW X5 xDrive45e, Genesis Electrified GV70, Nissan Leaf, Rivian R1S and R1T, Volkswagen ID.4 as well as the plug-in hybrid electric Audi Q5 TFSI e Quattro and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) Volvo S60. The Swedish carmaker is 82 percent-owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

The rules are aimed at weaning the United States off dependence on China for EV battery supply chains and are part of President Joe Biden's effort to make 50 percent of U.S. new vehicle sales by 2030 EVs or PHEVs...

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.

[Citation Needed]

The UK has transitioned as well as the EU has, if not better than many nations, not that its a competition. Our transformation away from coal in recent years has been an incredible success not a miserable failure - and many EU nations have also been very successful too.

Some Scandinavian countries have always had a very high renewable sector and France is sui generis with their nuclear sector, but other than that the UK is up there with any other nation for having a major renewables proportion and elimination of coal in recent years.

Which EU nations do you think have not failed miserably if we have, and why?

RochdalePioneers said:

I have no clue what the Cymru is for Snowdonia and I won't remember what Brecon Beacons is either.

Do I need to? Locals get to declare the name of something in their own language. Colonists get to add their own name in the language of Jesus. Call it what you want in whatever language you want.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/snowdonia-national-park-called-yr-25536121

Driver said:

RochdalePioneers said:

I have no clue what the Cymru is for Snowdonia and I won't remember what Brecon Beacons is either.

Do I need to? Locals get to declare the name of something in their own language.

Yes, they do - but these people are trying to change the name of it in English.

But I suppose at least all the letters they think we should use do actually exist in English.

How are they changing the name of it in English? The Cymru name has been around for centuries. The national park in English for decades. So the national park now wants to use the Welsh name from the 16th century as opposed to the modern English version.

So what? There really is a lot of snowflakery here - call it what you like. Do you refer to Brecon as Aberhonddu? Or Brecon?

kinabalu said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

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?

Isn't Nigel Farage your usual choice of protest vote? Still, ok, Lib Dems, yes why not. Much better actually. They're a decent bunch. And it's nothing sinister to finetune your election material to who's receiving it. They all do this.

Yes they do, but I don't think Bart need worry about that in this instance. If I was a party finetuner looking only to cynically maximise my vote share, I'd be headlining on 'no further development' on his estate - my view is that those on the edges of town - which tends to be the new build estates - tend to feel strongest about opposing the edge of town moving further out. So if the LDs aren't saying it to Bart, they probably aren't saying it to anyone in his town.

RochdalePioneers said:

Driver said:

RochdalePioneers said:

I have no clue what the Cymru is for Snowdonia and I won't remember what Brecon Beacons is either.

Do I need to? Locals get to declare the name of something in their own language.

Yes, they do - but these people are trying to change the name of it in English.

But I suppose at least all the letters they think we should use do actually exist in English.

How are they changing the name of it in English?

Oh dear.

kinabalu said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

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?

Isn't Nigel Farage your usual choice of protest vote? Still, ok, Lib Dems, yes why not. Much better actually. They're a decent bunch. And it's nothing sinister to finetune your election material to who's receiving it. They all do this.

No, I quite openly despise Farage, and I have never ever cast a vote for him or a member of his party to be elected to serve time in office. Never would. I've previously voted to kick him out of a Parliament, hopefully he never gets in one again.

So I don't know why you feel the need to get nasty with me with this comment, seems rather desperate.

Cookie said:

kjh said:

Cookie said:

squareroot2 said:

Cookie said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Casino_Royale said:

kjh said:

TheKitchenCabinet said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

noneoftheabove said:

Jonathan said:

Casino_Royale said:

Andy_JS said:

O/T

I've just been watching the BBC idents that were used between 2002 and 2006, and the interesting thing about them is that they celebrate just about everything except anything that might be described as "provincial/rural England".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydqN-yo_2B4

That's the BBC for you.

Utterly Met in every way.

A highly niche whinge there not actually true if you view the clip. Cornwall is pretty provincial. If you like green stuff, look at the previous idents.

https://youtu.be/KwNBDbMqOA8

Any mention of the BBC will have the snowflakes racing each other to find the most faux offence.

You have to admire the determination to be outraged. It must be exhausting to live life on kind of hair trigger.

Rather ironic given the endless amount of stuff that wokesters seem to get wound up about...

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.

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.

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.

Marketing. It is working.

Is it? Personally, I'd quite fancy a trip to the Brecon Beacons. Sounds delightful. Even before you get into the political reasons for the name change, Bannau Brycheiniog is much less appealing to my eyes.
Maybe it's all the first part of a big ruse like when the Post Office changed its name to something terrible in order to then get the positive PR when it changed it back?

I think it comes into the 'No publicity is bad publicity category'. Everyone is talking about it. The Brecon Beacon wouldn't have crossed most people's minds. Now people who are thinking of taking a short break have that as an option on their list. Except Casino of course.

Theuniondivvie said:

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?

Leon posted the story days ago. Look at the hands. AI can't draw hands for who knows what reason. A lot of human artists too, so maybe that is the reason.

Mr. G, Wales isn't another country, and it is at least bilingual.

Not sure it's clever for the Welsh to try and reduce employment possibilities, though. The headteacher of my primary school retired to Wales, got a bit bored and thought of re-entering teaching but Welsh was so difficult to learn he had to abandon the idea.

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Theuniondivvie said:

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?

Leon posted the story days ago. Look at the hands. AI can't draw hands for who knows what reason. A lot of human artists too, so maybe that is the reason.

I posted it; Leon commented.

I supppse for an English-speaker "Beacons" sounds quite positive and welcoming. Beacons lit from hill to hill in wartime, that sort of thing, plus "Brecon" souunds vaguely Western English somehow, rather than Welsh.

On the other hand if you're Welsh it wasn't very welcoming that you had your country occupied and most of your names changed. Pembrokeshire ? What's going on there ?

Selebian said:

Selebian said:

RochdalePioneers said:

I have no clue what the Cymru is for Snowdonia and I won't remember what Brecon Beacons is either.

Do I need to? Locals get to declare the name of something in their own language. Colonists get to add their own name in the language of Jesus. Call it what you want in whatever language you want.

I do really like Eryri as a name (as it is so, for Snowdonia).

Less immediately drawn to 'Bannau Brycheiniog', but I don't really think my view, from Yorkshire, is particularly important.

There is a romance to 'local' names. Even when it turns out that, in the local language, the map maker was simply told, when asking what a mountain was called, 'the mountain' or 'the big pile of rocks'

Shocking that Glasgow continues to call itself a name entirely derived from Gaelic.
No doubt the numpty Rangers supporter I saw calling us the First City of the Union could provide suitable alternatives.

WhisperingOracle said:

I supppse for an English-speaker "Beacons" sounds quite positive and welcoming. Beacons lit from hill to hill in wartime, that sort of thing, plus "Brecon" souunds vaguely Western English somehow, rather than Welsh.

On the other hand if you're Welsh it wasn't very welcoming that you had your country invaded and most of your names changed. Pembrokeshire ? What's going on there ?

Brecon sounds rather like Breton / Briton / Brittonic.

Morris_Dancer said:

Mr. G, Wales isn't another country, and it is at least bilingual.

Not sure it's clever for the Welsh to try and reduce employment possibilities, though. The headteacher of my primary school retired to Wales, got a bit bored and thought of re-entering teaching but Welsh was so difficult to learn he had to abandon the idea.

It is Wales though and NOT England, no compulsion to have names that suit England.

Time for India to revert to Bombay and Calcutta, as they were much easier for us to say and spell.

Meanwhile, I gather that John Redwood is seeking to get his constituency name changed. Wokingham is apparently beyond the pale.

DavidL said:

Malmesbury said:

Nigelb said:

Currently a source of great irritation for US allies.

VW, Rivian, Nissan, BMW, Hyundai lose access to US EV tax credits
https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=349255
The U.S. Treasury said on Monday that Volkswagen, BMW, Nissan, Rivian, Hyundai and Volvo Cars electric vehicles will lose access to a $7,500 tax credit under new rules for battery sourcing.

The Treasury said the new requirements effective on Tuesday will also cut by half credits for the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Rear Wheel Drive to $3,750 but that other Tesla models will retain the full $7,500 credit.

Vehicles losing credits on Tuesday are the BMW 330e, BMW X5 xDrive45e, Genesis Electrified GV70, Nissan Leaf, Rivian R1S and R1T, Volkswagen ID.4 as well as the plug-in hybrid electric Audi Q5 TFSI e Quattro and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) Volvo S60. The Swedish carmaker is 82 percent-owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

The rules are aimed at weaning the United States off dependence on China for EV battery supply chains and are part of President Joe Biden's effort to make 50 percent of U.S. new vehicle sales by 2030 EVs or PHEVs...

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.

It started before Trump and has probably always been there. The real point is that the British Establishment does not understand the rules of the game as played by the United States and most of the rest of the world, and is giving away the crown jewels because the one introductory unit of economics they took on their PPE course combined with adulation of Mrs Thatcher results in a cartoon view of free markets while other countries stack the deck. Look at police cars, public transport or cloud computing to take three current examples.

malcolmg said:

Morris_Dancer said:

Mr. G, Wales isn't another country, and it is at least bilingual.

Not sure it's clever for the Welsh to try and reduce employment possibilities, though. The headteacher of my primary school retired to Wales, got a bit bored and thought of re-entering teaching but Welsh was so difficult to learn he had to abandon the idea.

It is Wales though and NOT England, no compulsion to have names that suit England.

The vast majority of us in Wales are Welsh and only speak English, nothing to do with England. If the Welsh speakers want to speak Welsh good luck to them, we just want the same respect.

SNP MSP and treasurer arrested:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65309791

malcolmg said:

Morris_Dancer said:

Mr. G, Wales isn't another country, and it is at least bilingual.

Not sure it's clever for the Welsh to try and reduce employment possibilities, though. The headteacher of my primary school retired to Wales, got a bit bored and thought of re-entering teaching but Welsh was so difficult to learn he had to abandon the idea.

It is Wales though and NOT England, no compulsion to have names that suit England.

No compulsion to have names that suit England whatsoever.

On the other hand a very large proportion of people living in Wales speak English as their first language. Is there a reason to be xenophobic against them?

What's wrong with the tradition of bilingual names?

Even without entering Wales, driving near Chester there's plenty of road signs that name places in both languages, because that's what people speak. If Wales wants to transition to having a single language, then that's up to them, but its a bilingual not monolingual nation at present.

OldKingCole said:

mwadams said:

Ghedebrav said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

felix said:

Scott_xP said:

No matter that the current incumbent had a maths geek past; that just makes him the sort of guy whose political bedfellows, probably while wearing tailcoats, would have thrown in a pond. Never have the sniggeringly innumerate been more powerful than they have been for the past decade. And never have those in power been more inclined to ignore or disparage anyone who told them the numbers just didn’t add up.

I don’t want to bang on about Brexit. We’re over Brexit. Recall, though, that every credible economist in the world told us how much it would hurt, and the winning side got away with telling them to bog off back to their spreadsheets. And it didn’t end there. Would a party that valued the ability to count have elected a bumbling Balliol Classicist who had to text his chief science adviser, as Johnson did mid-pandemic, to learn the difference between a ratio and a percentage? Would it have replaced him with Liz Truss?

Does the maths of small boats — 45,756 arrivals in 2022 — offer any justification for putting 500 people on a barge, or one day sending a couple of hundred more to Rwanda?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/its-ministers-who-have-the-anti-maths-mindset-7ldr5ht3s

"I don't want to bang on about Brexit ' but.,,....................,.
.........bang.......bang......bang......

Getting lectured in numeracy bu someone who thinks that 4% and 0.08% are the same is kind of galling.

I do understand a bit of the impetus behind 'maths to 18', but (setting aside the chronic shortage of maths teachers), it's things like ratios, logic, statistics etc. that seem most relevant and helpful in everyday life (that and working our darts finishes). Strikes me maybe as an curriculum issue in the KS2/3/4 rather than 'do two more years of trig'.

In passing, I've no doubt that I learned more useful maths in my archaeology degree - a module on applied use of statistics - than I did in my GCSE maths.

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:

Ghedebrav said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

felix said:

Scott_xP said:

No matter that the current incumbent had a maths geek past; that just makes him the sort of guy whose political bedfellows, probably while wearing tailcoats, would have thrown in a pond. Never have the sniggeringly innumerate been more powerful than they have been for the past decade. And never have those in power been more inclined to ignore or disparage anyone who told them the numbers just didn’t add up.

I don’t want to bang on about Brexit. We’re over Brexit. Recall, though, that every credible economist in the world told us how much it would hurt, and the winning side got away with telling them to bog off back to their spreadsheets. And it didn’t end there. Would a party that valued the ability to count have elected a bumbling Balliol Classicist who had to text his chief science adviser, as Johnson did mid-pandemic, to learn the difference between a ratio and a percentage? Would it have replaced him with Liz Truss?

Does the maths of small boats — 45,756 arrivals in 2022 — offer any justification for putting 500 people on a barge, or one day sending a couple of hundred more to Rwanda?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/its-ministers-who-have-the-anti-maths-mindset-7ldr5ht3s

"I don't want to bang on about Brexit ' but.,,....................,.
.........bang.......bang......bang......

Getting lectured in numeracy bu someone who thinks that 4% and 0.08% are the same is kind of galling.

I do understand a bit of the impetus behind 'maths to 18', but (setting aside the chronic shortage of maths teachers), it's things like ratios, logic, statistics etc. that seem most relevant and helpful in everyday life (that and working our darts finishes). Strikes me maybe as an curriculum issue in the KS2/3/4 rather than 'do two more years of trig'.

In passing, I've no doubt that I learned more useful maths in my archaeology degree - a module on applied use of statistics - than I did in my GCSE maths.

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.

For what it's worth, I would look to see how practically-focused the departments are (the more so, the better). A BSc rather than BA is a good sign, but plenty of BAs will also offer extensive field and lab work. I'd be wary of too much expositionary teaching 'e.g. Roman Britain 100-300 AD' and similarly too much focus on theory. Both have their place (and indeed you need a context for your practical work), but archaeology is a VAST subject and it's the undergrad ought to be more about the fundamentals before specialising at postgrad.

malcolmg said:

RochdalePioneers said:

I have no clue what the Cymru is for Snowdonia and I won't remember what Brecon Beacons is either.

Do I need to? Locals get to declare the name of something in their own language. Colonists get to add their own name in the language of Jesus. Call it what you want in whatever language you want.

The Little Englander vibe is strong today, how dare another country name a place in their own language.

It's a ludicrous idea. It's been the Brecon Beacons for since whenever and every same person bar the few locals will still call it the Brecon Beacons. Its like watching Rugby on S4c. Only the few listen to the commentary in Welsh. Unless you know the language it's pointless and I have no intention of bothering to learn it either.

Malmesbury said:

The price of a Russian Colonel

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1648236339257638912?cxt=HHwWgIC8tfiN298tAAAA

He should have held out for a Miele at least....

Given that washing machines are way cheaper than HIMARS and NLAW, let alone tanks and air defences, should we be collecting enough of our old ones to bribe every single Russian officer?

malcolmg said:

Morris_Dancer said:

Mr. G, Wales isn't another country, and it is at least bilingual.

Not sure it's clever for the Welsh to try and reduce employment possibilities, though. The headteacher of my primary school retired to Wales, got a bit bored and thought of re-entering teaching but Welsh was so difficult to learn he had to abandon the idea.

It is Wales though and NOT England, no compulsion to have names that suit England.

Wales is predominately bilingual in its signs and government/local government literature and the sensible answer would be to continue with both signage

It should be noted only 29.7% in Wales are able to speak Welsh

Sandpit said:

Selebian said:

Selebian said:

RochdalePioneers said:

I have no clue what the Cymru is for Snowdonia and I won't remember what Brecon Beacons is either.

Do I need to? Locals get to declare the name of something in their own language. Colonists get to add their own name in the language of Jesus. Call it what you want in whatever language you want.

I do really like Eryri as a name (as it is so, for Snowdonia).

Less immediately drawn to 'Bannau Brycheiniog', but I don't really think my view, from Yorkshire, is particularly important.

There is a romance to 'local' names. Even when it turns out that, in the local language, the map maker was simply told, when asking what a mountain was called, 'the mountain' or 'the big pile of rocks'

Torpenhow Hill, or “Hill Hill Hill Hill”

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/hill-hill-hill-hill

Several examples around here of at least twice named places and also two word places known by the generic, such as Thorpe.

Sandpit said:

Malmesbury said:

The price of a Russian Colonel

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1648236339257638912?cxt=HHwWgIC8tfiN298tAAAA

He should have held out for a Miele at least....

Given that washing machines are way cheaper than HIMARS and NLAW, should we be collecting enough of our old ones to bribe every single Russian officer?

If the price of a Colonel is a £400 washing machine...

During the initial phase of the Afghan thing, the Americans parachuted advisors in, armed with duffel bags full of US 100 dollar bills....

Ghedebrav said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

malcolmg said:

Morris_Dancer said:

Mr. G, Wales isn't another country, and it is at least bilingual.

Not sure it's clever for the Welsh to try and reduce employment possibilities, though. The headteacher of my primary school retired to Wales, got a bit bored and thought of re-entering teaching but Welsh was so difficult to learn he had to abandon the idea.

It is Wales though and NOT England, no compulsion to have names that suit England.

Wales is predominately bilingual in its signs and government/local government literature and the sensible answer would be to continue with both signage

It should be noted only 29.7% in Wales are able to speak Welsh

Is it not growing though? We visited friends in Cardiff last weekend and their little one will be learning Welsh when he starts school, even though neither parent speaks Welsh.

No it's not growing: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiVseDNj7P-AhXClFwKHQdMDrsQFnoECBkQAQ&url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/number-welsh-speakers-fell-over-25683515&usg=AOvVaw1mj4DPnnA-6oekI5J6ZR6j

squareroot2 said:

Its like watching Rugby on S4c. Only the few listen to the commentary in Welsh. Unless you know the language it's pointless and I have no intention of bothering to learn it either.

I watched a couple of Scotland matches on BBC Alba. The commentary switches from Gaelic to English and back again during the game

Cookie said:

kinabalu said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

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?

Isn't Nigel Farage your usual choice of protest vote? Still, ok, Lib Dems, yes why not. Much better actually. They're a decent bunch. And it's nothing sinister to finetune your election material to who's receiving it. They all do this.

Yes they do, but I don't think Bart need worry about that in this instance. If I was a party finetuner looking only to cynically maximise my vote share, I'd be headlining on 'no further development' on his estate - my view is that those on the edges of town - which tends to be the new build estates - tend to feel strongest about opposing the edge of town moving further out. So if the LDs aren't saying it to Bart, they probably aren't saying it to anyone in his town.

I think that's right. I've been visiting a friend in a village in rural Oxfordshire and I'm struck by the number of euphemisms used by all candidates to appeal to NIMBYs without saying they're against more housing - "We need the right kind of development, not the kind they've proposed", "We want to keep our area rural", "I opposed the local plan because of its indiscriminate housing". My friend is normally LibDem but annoyed by the LibDem leaflet barchart, which as usual shows all parties wildly disproportionate to their actual votes - she's irritated that her preferred candidate is trying to deceive her. I've urged her to vote for someone else and tell the LibDems why - it's only if they actually lose votes by deception that they'll stop doing it.

Scott_xP said:

squareroot2 said:

Its like watching Rugby on S4c. Only the few listen to the commentary in Welsh. Unless you know the language it's pointless and I have no intention of bothering to learn it either.

I watched a couple of Scotland matches on BBC Alba. The commentary switches from Gaelic to English and back again during the game

Out here, there’s in Indian radio station that does commentary on the cricket matches, switching between English and Hindi every minute or two. I understand half of it, and the taxi driver usually understands the other half!

Burgessian said:

KA - BOOM!

SNP treasurer arrested in party funding investigation
Colin Beattie is in custody and being questioned by detectives, says Police Scotland

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/18/man-71-arrested-in-connection-with-snp-funding-investigation-say-police

He's not just the Treasurer. He's an SNP constituency MSP.

Scott_xP said:

squareroot2 said:

Its like watching Rugby on S4c. Only the few listen to the commentary in Welsh. Unless you know the language it's pointless and I have no intention of bothering to learn it either.

I watched a couple of Scotland matches on BBC Alba. The commentary switches from Gaelic to English and back again during the game

Afaicr it switches to English when there isn't an equivalent word in Welsh. Its a bit like lisstening to Pakistanis or Indians taking in their in language during a cricket match and suddenly googly or run out appear in the conversation...

malcolmg said:

another_richard said:

RochdalePioneers said:

TheKitchenCabinet said:

Stuartinromford said:

eek said:

Jonathan said:

MaxPB said:

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

Private sector driving inflation?

Not driving inflation because that’s 13% but easily putting a limit on the level it can fall to because of the cost impacts 7% increases will be having.

Remember the only way to kill inflation is to destroy the reason why costs are rising (via high unemployment that allows wages to remain stagnant and fall in real terms) and the conditions for that clearly don’t exist at the moment.
\it’s weird though as IT investment spending seems to have fallen off a cliff..

Meanwhile,

Food inflation increased to 17.2 per cent on average in the year to March, up from 16.5 per cent in the year to February, the consumer group Which? said.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d51dc7ac-dd62-11ed-9cc2-0f7e26ed83eb?shareToken=72aab801645b0097cdf730526c8d65b3

There's something curious going on where prices are rising faster than wages, are still accelerating in some cases, and yet some commentators are saying "this is fine".

Two nations and all that, but how is this compatible with rising living standards? Experienced GDP vs. statistical GDP, if you like.

Food inflation will have somewhat of a lag effect because of items like fertiliser - 2022 food was produced using fertiliser bought in 2021, 2023 food is being used with fertiliser bought in 2022 and the price of the latter surged because of the effects of the Russian-Ukraine conflict. How much of the current price rises is down to the fertiliser effect, I'm not sure but I would imagine it is significant.

Meat prices are sky high and getting ever higher.

Yet you can buy 95g sausages for 30p at the Morrisons butchers counter.

Or 3x300g Denver Steaks for £10.

Have the sausages seen a pig though and WTF is a Denver steak

I'd trust Morrisons on meat more than the other supermarkets.

Denver Steak:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDp6Dtss2Hw

Tender, great taste and great value.

Selebian said:

Selebian said:

RochdalePioneers said:

I have no clue what the Cymru is for Snowdonia and I won't remember what Brecon Beacons is either.

Do I need to? Locals get to declare the name of something in their own language. Colonists get to add their own name in the language of Jesus. Call it what you want in whatever language you want.

I do really like Eryri as a name (as it is so, for Snowdonia).

Less immediately drawn to 'Bannau Brycheiniog', but I don't really think my view, from Yorkshire, is particularly important.

There is a romance to 'local' names. Even when it turns out that, in the local language, the map maker was simply told, when asking what a mountain was called, 'the mountain' or 'the big pile of rocks'

I thought the classic example was “kangaroo “. Which, apparently, in the local language means, “I don’t know what you’re pointing at”.

Burgessian said:

KA - BOOM!

SNP treasurer arrested in party funding investigation
Colin Beattie is in custody and being questioned by detectives, says Police Scotland

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/18/man-71-arrested-in-connection-with-snp-funding-investigation-say-police

Lol, the law of diminishing kabooms.

Malmesbury said:

Sky just saying the SNP treasurer has ben arrested.

Nigelb said:

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

carnforth said:

SNP MSP and treasurer arrested:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65309791

BartholomewRoberts said:

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?

If the local party is any good, they will tweak their messaging a bit, even at the crude "do different emphases in the council estate and owner occupied bits of the ward" level.

The microtargeting via social media is only new in degree, not in concept.

Nigelb said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Theuniondivvie said:

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?

Leon posted the story days ago. Look at the hands. AI can't draw hands for who knows what reason. A lot of human artists too, so maybe that is the reason.

I posted it; Leon commented.

I suspect the whole thing is just a publicity stunt. The judges knew it was AI, and knew if they gave it a prize people would be talking about these awards that otherwise don't get any attention.

felix said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

carnforth said:

another_richard said:

RochdalePioneers said:

TheKitchenCabinet said:

Stuartinromford said:

eek said:

Jonathan said:

MaxPB said:

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

Private sector driving inflation?

Not driving inflation because that’s 13% but easily putting a limit on the level it can fall to because of the cost impacts 7% increases will be having.

Remember the only way to kill inflation is to destroy the reason why costs are rising (via high unemployment that allows wages to remain stagnant and fall in real terms) and the conditions for that clearly don’t exist at the moment.
\it’s weird though as IT investment spending seems to have fallen off a cliff..

Meanwhile,

Food inflation increased to 17.2 per cent on average in the year to March, up from 16.5 per cent in the year to February, the consumer group Which? said.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d51dc7ac-dd62-11ed-9cc2-0f7e26ed83eb?shareToken=72aab801645b0097cdf730526c8d65b3

There's something curious going on where prices are rising faster than wages, are still accelerating in some cases, and yet some commentators are saying "this is fine".

Two nations and all that, but how is this compatible with rising living standards? Experienced GDP vs. statistical GDP, if you like.

Food inflation will have somewhat of a lag effect because of items like fertiliser - 2022 food was produced using fertiliser bought in 2021, 2023 food is being used with fertiliser bought in 2022 and the price of the latter surged because of the effects of the Russian-Ukraine conflict. How much of the current price rises is down to the fertiliser effect, I'm not sure but I would imagine it is significant.

Meat prices are sky high and getting ever higher.

Yet you can buy 95g sausages for 30p at the Morrisons butchers counter.

Or 3x300g Denver Steaks for £10.

Fresh chicken drunsticks are £1.85 a kilo at Aldi. Now, the gas required to heat up the oven and cook them on the other hand...

Buy an air fryer

In fact we have two and have upgraded our microwave to a microwave oven and simply have stopped using the cooker

The savings are extraordinary, but you do need to adjust to the lower temperature and cooking times in air fryers but I always test the temperature of the food with a prick thermometer or in the case of a chicken an oven proof thermometer inserted into the leg

Interesting that food retailers are introducing air fryer cooking instructions on their labels and indeed M & S had such an instructions on a packet of Aberdeen Angus beef burgers

I expect Air Fryer instructions to become as common as microwave instructions on food labels

Air fryers cost around 120 +. A halogen oven does a better or equal job for around 40. The power of marketing and the gullibility of consumers. I've had mine for around 15 years.

Air Fryers start at £60 and probably less.

Ghedebrav said:

OldKingCole said:

mwadams said:

Ghedebrav said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

felix said:

Scott_xP said:

No matter that the current incumbent had a maths geek past; that just makes him the sort of guy whose political bedfellows, probably while wearing tailcoats, would have thrown in a pond. Never have the sniggeringly innumerate been more powerful than they have been for the past decade. And never have those in power been more inclined to ignore or disparage anyone who told them the numbers just didn’t add up.

I don’t want to bang on about Brexit. We’re over Brexit. Recall, though, that every credible economist in the world told us how much it would hurt, and the winning side got away with telling them to bog off back to their spreadsheets. And it didn’t end there. Would a party that valued the ability to count have elected a bumbling Balliol Classicist who had to text his chief science adviser, as Johnson did mid-pandemic, to learn the difference between a ratio and a percentage? Would it have replaced him with Liz Truss?

Does the maths of small boats — 45,756 arrivals in 2022 — offer any justification for putting 500 people on a barge, or one day sending a couple of hundred more to Rwanda?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/its-ministers-who-have-the-anti-maths-mindset-7ldr5ht3s

"I don't want to bang on about Brexit ' but.,,....................,.
.........bang.......bang......bang......

Getting lectured in numeracy bu someone who thinks that 4% and 0.08% are the same is kind of galling.

I do understand a bit of the impetus behind 'maths to 18', but (setting aside the chronic shortage of maths teachers), it's things like ratios, logic, statistics etc. that seem most relevant and helpful in everyday life (that and working our darts finishes). Strikes me maybe as an curriculum issue in the KS2/3/4 rather than 'do two more years of trig'.

In passing, I've no doubt that I learned more useful maths in my archaeology degree - a module on applied use of statistics - than I did in my GCSE maths.

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:

Ghedebrav said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

felix said:

Scott_xP said:

No matter that the current incumbent had a maths geek past; that just makes him the sort of guy whose political bedfellows, probably while wearing tailcoats, would have thrown in a pond. Never have the sniggeringly innumerate been more powerful than they have been for the past decade. And never have those in power been more inclined to ignore or disparage anyone who told them the numbers just didn’t add up.

I don’t want to bang on about Brexit. We’re over Brexit. Recall, though, that every credible economist in the world told us how much it would hurt, and the winning side got away with telling them to bog off back to their spreadsheets. And it didn’t end there. Would a party that valued the ability to count have elected a bumbling Balliol Classicist who had to text his chief science adviser, as Johnson did mid-pandemic, to learn the difference between a ratio and a percentage? Would it have replaced him with Liz Truss?

Does the maths of small boats — 45,756 arrivals in 2022 — offer any justification for putting 500 people on a barge, or one day sending a couple of hundred more to Rwanda?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/its-ministers-who-have-the-anti-maths-mindset-7ldr5ht3s

"I don't want to bang on about Brexit ' but.,,....................,.
.........bang.......bang......bang......

Getting lectured in numeracy bu someone who thinks that 4% and 0.08% are the same is kind of galling.

I do understand a bit of the impetus behind 'maths to 18', but (setting aside the chronic shortage of maths teachers), it's things like ratios, logic, statistics etc. that seem most relevant and helpful in everyday life (that and working our darts finishes). Strikes me maybe as an curriculum issue in the KS2/3/4 rather than 'do two more years of trig'.

In passing, I've no doubt that I learned more useful maths in my archaeology degree - a module on applied use of statistics - than I did in my GCSE maths.

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.

For what it's worth, I would look to see how practically-focused the departments are (the more so, the better). A BSc rather than BA is a good sign, but plenty of BAs will also offer extensive field and lab work. I'd be wary of too much expositionary teaching 'e.g. Roman Britain 100-300 AD' and similarly too much focus on theory. Both have their place (and indeed you need a context for your practical work), but archaeology is a VAST subject and it's the undergrad ought to be more about the fundamentals before specialising at postgrad.

Granddaughter Two is in Thailand, so she’s not restricted to British universities. Take the point about a BSC though. Originally wanted to specialise in marine archaeology, but her father says she’s going off that now a bit.

Scott_xP said:

squareroot2 said:

Its like watching Rugby on S4c. Only the few listen to the commentary in Welsh. Unless you know the language it's pointless and I have no intention of bothering to learn it either.

I watched a couple of Scotland matches on BBC Alba. The commentary switches from Gaelic to English and back again during the game

The BBC Alba rerun of Ken Burns' Country Music is great, Gaelic commentary interspersed with sub titles and the original music and interviews.

MarqueeMark said:

Would the arrest of Nicola Sturgeon warrant a KA-BOOOOM!!!!! with five exclamation marks?

What if there turn out to be no charges? Is the SNP less screwed, or is this an electoral sea-change either way?