A lawyer at Travers Smith has been fired after he had kittens over some kittens, RollOnFriday understands.
The associate, whom ROF is not naming, was on secondment at Inflexion, an important private equity client of the firm.
An Inflexion employee posted on the company's internal messaging app that she had a number of kittens for sale and asked if anyone wanted to buy them.
The Travers Smith secondee said he would take two, but one week later he told the seller he wanted to return them because they had fleas, sources said.
She refused, but over the next couple of weeks the Travers associate repeatedly messaged her to say that she needed to take the kittens back and refund him because their fleas meant they were not sold as described, sources told ROF.
His requests culminated in an eight page letter which set out "all his legal and statutory rights" and demanded that the seller take the cats back and refund him or he would initiate court proceedings against her, said sources.
At that point it’s understood that the Inflexion employee reported the Travers lawyer to HR, which contacted Inflexion's head of legal, who called Travers' head of private equity.
Inflexion told her what had happened and informed her that the company no longer wanted the secondee, and that Travers had to take him back. Unlike the associate with the flea-ridden kitties, Inflexion's request was granted.
ROF understands that on his return to Travers, the associate was hauled in for a meeting and instructed to apologise to the seller and told that, if he didn’t want the kittens, he should donate them to a charity shelter. He was also told to attend a meeting at the firm the next day.
At the second meeting, sources said, the associate dug in his heels and refused to give the cats away for free, insisting that he would only do so if Travers Smith refunded him the purchase price. Instead, he was dismissed.
“The kicker is that apparently after all of this he still has the kittens”, said a source. Which would make them a pair of the priciest moggies in London.
I've only a rough idea of where you live, but how about something alliterate with a local flavour. Doric Dictator? Fyvie Firebrand? Inverurie Intellectual?
I don't have the ability to change my username. Its fine. Will make do with a new avatar.
I think people are missing the point that if you go completely cashless you are well and truly fucked if you want to pop in for Char Siu Rice at Wong Kei in Wardour St.
Lol. A cross one has to bear
I do the lunch shift on the till at a cafe. There's always 1 or 2 people whose cards (or smartphones) don't work. It happens several times a day that someone tries to pay with a smartphone/watch and the machine says 'please insert card' - usually they then produce the card. Luckily most people around here still carry cash. Then there are the rarer occasions when the machine stops working and we can only take cash...
Weird. I only hear these anecdotes on PB. Never in real life. And I should know, because I use ApplePay exclusively. Don’t even carry a card.
In Cumberland we live on another planet, and I can take you to a Chinese takeaway with a massive turnover that is absolutely cash only, as are a number of remote lake district car parks with large numbers of bemused looking tourists wondering how to pay.
I don't know a single retailer etc that doesn't take cash.
My most recent experiences of 'cash only, systems have broken down' were at a shop in Euston station, and, on the same occasion, the buffet on the train back to God's own country.
Within the UK I always carry enough cash to get home, and I suspect there will be the need for cash for a few decades yet, and as long as there are old people with jam jars for rent, gas, etc, and proper drinking pubs in the north of England, on course betting, and income tax/VAT and small scale drug dealing.
BTW preservation of cash is one of the many policies of Galloway's political party. (Along with leaving NATO, and infinite free stuff for the workers).
Adnams pubs won't take cash, on the other hand my barber and our dog groomer only take cash and remembering to take cash out for both is a pain I must admit. I avoid using cash, but I will admit to being caught out.
I am pondering why your barber and dog groomer only accept cash. Help me out here.
Is it taxing your brain ?
It is.
P.S. 4G on the Central Line. OMG.
Yes we Khan!!!
DELAYS DUE TO A SHORTAGE OF TRAINS!
No, we Khan't!!!
How much of the blame for that can realistically be laid at Khan's feet?
He was responsible for getting the current Central Line Improvement Programme funded after Boris dithered for years. The impending problems with the motors have been known about for a couple of decades, but the current rise in the failure rate seems to be down to random chance more than anything else. Certainly, no-one seems to have predicted that there was a serious chance that it would exceed the rate at which the refurbed trains are coming into service.
I mean, maybe you can criticise him for not getting the CLIP underway a year earlier so that there'd have been a greater safety margin - but the financial environment was always against that. Indeed, at the time that CLIP was announced, there were huge complaints about not replacing the (much older) Bakerloo trains first!
There is literally no one there watching. When the player holes a nice putt they normally tap their cap to thank the crowd for their applause, there is no applause as there is no crowd. They are playing for tens of millions of dollars in front of nobody.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
A lawyer at Travers Smith has been fired after he had kittens over some kittens, RollOnFriday understands.
The associate, whom ROF is not naming, was on secondment at Inflexion, an important private equity client of the firm.
An Inflexion employee posted on the company's internal messaging app that she had a number of kittens for sale and asked if anyone wanted to buy them.
The Travers Smith secondee said he would take two, but one week later he told the seller he wanted to return them because they had fleas, sources said.
She refused, but over the next couple of weeks the Travers associate repeatedly messaged her to say that she needed to take the kittens back and refund him because their fleas meant they were not sold as described, sources told ROF.
His requests culminated in an eight page letter which set out "all his legal and statutory rights" and demanded that the seller take the cats back and refund him or he would initiate court proceedings against her, said sources.
At that point it’s understood that the Inflexion employee reported the Travers lawyer to HR, which contacted Inflexion's head of legal, who called Travers' head of private equity.
Inflexion told her what had happened and informed her that the company no longer wanted the secondee, and that Travers had to take him back. Unlike the associate with the flea-ridden kitties, Inflexion's request was granted.
ROF understands that on his return to Travers, the associate was hauled in for a meeting and instructed to apologise to the seller and told that, if he didn’t want the kittens, he should donate them to a charity shelter. He was also told to attend a meeting at the firm the next day.
At the second meeting, sources said, the associate dug in his heels and refused to give the cats away for free, insisting that he would only do so if Travers Smith refunded him the purchase price. Instead, he was dismissed.
“The kicker is that apparently after all of this he still has the kittens”, said a source. Which would make them a pair of the priciest moggies in London.
A truly terrible day for any democrat who believes parliamentary democracy is about healing divisions, not stoking division and exploiting division for self greed and personal delectations.
And I called it utterly wrong, I misled you and I apologise for it.
I was wrong to such an extent, i now analyse from the collapse of Ali’s support, if long time Labour moderate and fighter of anti semitism in Muslim communities Ali, had not pushed his horrid conspiracy theory about Netanyahu’s government at that crazy meeting with quitting councillors, and remained Labour candidate, I suspect he still would have lost to Galloway anyway.
I agree with TSE. If Tories, with splendid record of learning wrong thing from by elections, seek a May election to exploit Labours heat over the Gaza Duck shoot - how exactly does Netanyahu and his supporters kill the ideas and ideology of Hamas simply by slaughtering people? The very fundamental thing wrong in the Hamas attack on Israel is now showing up in Israel’s response is it not - this is not the thing to try and exploit for a General Election win. There are many good reasons for a May election, looking at expert modelling and media narrative for summer and Autumn, not least the explosion in boat crossings from July blowing the Conservative Party into lots of little pieces. But exploiting Labours - like Jo Biden’s - real electoral difficulties over horror in the Middle East is not one of them.
Looking for positives, Labour do now have a clear hare in Rochdale to chase down and rip to shreds on GE night. The General Election will be different psychology - much like Tories are courting Reform with “a vote for reform let’s in Starmer” Labour will squeeze minor parties and supporters of independents with “you will let in 5 more years of Sunak.”
I was very wrong too! If the Tories are looking at this result and thinking it’s good for them… well, with no proper Labour or Green candidate, they managed to drop 19pp and come a poor third to a local businessman espousing views that wouldn’t be out of place in a One Nation Conservative Party. They (and Reform UK) had a poor night, and I agree with you that anger over Gaza isn’t going to save the day for the Tories when the general election comes.
There is literally no one there watching. When the player holes a nice putt they normally tap their cap to thank the crowd for their applause, there is no applause as there is no crowd. They are playing for tens of millions of dollars in front of nobody.
The future for many sports. Cash talks.
Some but not others. Football, rugby, cricket, tennis, darts just don't work without a big crowd. Golf, motor racing, rowing, sailing, many winter sports can work fine.
The one thing that saves the corrupting and power laden sport of football from absolute desolation is that it has to have large numbers of actual real people present in order to create the essential atmosphere of the game for the billions of people in armchairs. They should be paid for turning up.
In cricket the difference between a test match somewhere with no-one there and no-one cares about (this happens) and an England v Australia at Lords is amazing.
I think people are missing the point that if you go completely cashless you are well and truly fucked if you want to pop in for Char Siu Rice at Wong Kei in Wardour St.
Lol. A cross one has to bear
I do the lunch shift on the till at a cafe. There's always 1 or 2 people whose cards (or smartphones) don't work. It happens several times a day that someone tries to pay with a smartphone/watch and the machine says 'please insert card' - usually they then produce the card. Luckily most people around here still carry cash. Then there are the rarer occasions when the machine stops working and we can only take cash...
Weird. I only hear these anecdotes on PB. Never in real life. And I should know, because I use ApplePay exclusively. Don’t even carry a card.
In Cumberland we live on another planet, and I can take you to a Chinese takeaway with a massive turnover that is absolutely cash only, as are a number of remote lake district car parks with large numbers of bemused looking tourists wondering how to pay.
I don't know a single retailer etc that doesn't take cash.
My most recent experiences of 'cash only, systems have broken down' were at a shop in Euston station, and, on the same occasion, the buffet on the train back to God's own country.
Within the UK I always carry enough cash to get home, and I suspect there will be the need for cash for a few decades yet, and as long as there are old people with jam jars for rent, gas, etc, and proper drinking pubs in the north of England, on course betting, and income tax/VAT and small scale drug dealing.
BTW preservation of cash is one of the many policies of Galloway's political party. (Along with leaving NATO, and infinite free stuff for the workers).
Adnams pubs won't take cash, on the other hand my barber and our dog groomer only take cash and remembering to take cash out for both is a pain I must admit. I avoid using cash, but I will admit to being caught out.
I am pondering why your barber and dog groomer only accept cash. Help me out here.
Is there a separate barber and dog groomer, or does one person do both jobs?
A truly terrible day for any democrat who believes parliamentary democracy is about healing divisions, not stoking division and exploiting division for self greed and personal delectations.
And I called it utterly wrong, I misled you and I apologise for it.
I was wrong to such an extent, i now analyse from the collapse of Ali’s support, if long time Labour moderate and fighter of anti semitism in Muslim communities Ali, had not pushed his horrid conspiracy theory about Netanyahu’s government at that crazy meeting with quitting councillors, and remained Labour candidate, I suspect he still would have lost to Galloway anyway.
I agree with TSE. If Tories, with splendid record of learning wrong thing from by elections, seek a May election to exploit Labours heat over the Gaza Duck shoot - how exactly does Netanyahu and his supporters kill the ideas and ideology of Hamas simply by slaughtering people? The very fundamental thing wrong in the Hamas attack on Israel is now showing up in Israel’s response is it not - this is not the thing to try and exploit for a General Election win. There are many good reasons for a May election, looking at expert modelling and media narrative for summer and Autumn, not least the explosion in boat crossings from July blowing the Conservative Party into lots of little pieces. But exploiting Labours - like Jo Biden’s - real electoral difficulties over horror in the Middle East is not one of them.
Looking for positives, Labour do now have a clear hare in Rochdale to chase down and rip to shreds on GE night. The General Election will be different psychology - much like Tories are courting Reform with “a vote for reform let’s in Starmer” Labour will squeeze minor parties and supporters of independents with “you will let in 5 more years of Sunak.”
I was very wrong too! If the Tories are looking at this result and thinking it’s good for them… well, with no proper Labour or Green candidate, they managed to drop 19pp and come a poor third to a local businessman espousing views that wouldn’t be out of place in a One Nation Conservative Party. They (and Reform UK) had a poor night, and I agree with you that anger over Gaza isn’t going to save the day for the Tories when the general election comes.
Which is why Starmer should not overreact. Come a GE how many places will face such a confluence of issues as this by-election?
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
I think people are missing the point that if you go completely cashless you are well and truly fucked if you want to pop in for Char Siu Rice at Wong Kei in Wardour St.
Lol. A cross one has to bear
I do the lunch shift on the till at a cafe. There's always 1 or 2 people whose cards (or smartphones) don't work. It happens several times a day that someone tries to pay with a smartphone/watch and the machine says 'please insert card' - usually they then produce the card. Luckily most people around here still carry cash. Then there are the rarer occasions when the machine stops working and we can only take cash...
Weird. I only hear these anecdotes on PB. Never in real life. And I should know, because I use ApplePay exclusively. Don’t even carry a card.
Once in a while I get asked by the little scanner tap-to-pay machine to physically put my card in and type my pin in. Always assumed it was a semi-random security thing. Or I'm being skimmed by the local shops. One of the two...
Some cards/issuers only allow x number of tap-to-pay before asking for the pin. Using the pin resets the count.
Some do it as a semi random security check.
Another reason why everyone should dump the card and switch to ApplePay.
Some card issuers still do this, for Apple Pay as well.
A truly terrible day for any democrat who believes parliamentary democracy is about healing divisions, not stoking division and exploiting division for self greed and personal delectations.
And I called it utterly wrong, I misled you and I apologise for it.
I was wrong to such an extent, i now analyse from the collapse of Ali’s support, if long time Labour moderate and fighter of anti semitism in Muslim communities Ali, had not pushed his horrid conspiracy theory about Netanyahu’s government at that crazy meeting with quitting councillors, and remained Labour candidate, I suspect he still would have lost to Galloway anyway.
I agree with TSE. If Tories, with splendid record of learning wrong thing from by elections, seek a May election to exploit Labours heat over the Gaza Duck shoot - how exactly does Netanyahu and his supporters kill the ideas and ideology of Hamas simply by slaughtering people? The very fundamental thing wrong in the Hamas attack on Israel is now showing up in Israel’s response is it not - this is not the thing to try and exploit for a General Election win. There are many good reasons for a May election, looking at expert modelling and media narrative for summer and Autumn, not least the explosion in boat crossings from July blowing the Conservative Party into lots of little pieces. But exploiting Labours - like Jo Biden’s - real electoral difficulties over horror in the Middle East is not one of them.
Looking for positives, Labour do now have a clear hare in Rochdale to chase down and rip to shreds on GE night. The General Election will be different psychology - much like Tories are courting Reform with “a vote for reform let’s in Starmer” Labour will squeeze minor parties and supporters of independents with “you will let in 5 more years of Sunak.”
I was very wrong too! If the Tories are looking at this result and thinking it’s good for them… well, with no proper Labour or Green candidate, they managed to drop 19pp and come a poor third to a local businessman espousing views that wouldn’t be out of place in a One Nation Conservative Party. They (and Reform UK) had a poor night, and I agree with you that anger over Gaza isn’t going to save the day for the Tories when the general election comes.
Which is why Starmer should not overreact. Come a GE how many places will face such a confluence of issues as this by-election?
The 14% for Reform in the YouGov poll is another high for them this Parliament. Why do we think they did so poorly in Rochdale?
Candidate choice?
That does seem to be the consensus. Can any of the parties win the independent, David Tully, to join them? Would seem like he'd have a good chance then.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
I think people are missing the point that if you go completely cashless you are well and truly fucked if you want to pop in for Char Siu Rice at Wong Kei in Wardour St.
Lol. A cross one has to bear
I do the lunch shift on the till at a cafe. There's always 1 or 2 people whose cards (or smartphones) don't work. It happens several times a day that someone tries to pay with a smartphone/watch and the machine says 'please insert card' - usually they then produce the card. Luckily most people around here still carry cash. Then there are the rarer occasions when the machine stops working and we can only take cash...
Weird. I only hear these anecdotes on PB. Never in real life. And I should know, because I use ApplePay exclusively. Don’t even carry a card.
In Cumberland we live on another planet, and I can take you to a Chinese takeaway with a massive turnover that is absolutely cash only, as are a number of remote lake district car parks with large numbers of bemused looking tourists wondering how to pay.
I don't know a single retailer etc that doesn't take cash.
My most recent experiences of 'cash only, systems have broken down' were at a shop in Euston station, and, on the same occasion, the buffet on the train back to God's own country.
Within the UK I always carry enough cash to get home, and I suspect there will be the need for cash for a few decades yet, and as long as there are old people with jam jars for rent, gas, etc, and proper drinking pubs in the north of England, on course betting, and income tax/VAT and small scale drug dealing.
BTW preservation of cash is one of the many policies of Galloway's political party. (Along with leaving NATO, and infinite free stuff for the workers).
Adnams pubs won't take cash, on the other hand my barber and our dog groomer only take cash and remembering to take cash out for both is a pain I must admit. I avoid using cash, but I will admit to being caught out.
I am pondering why your barber and dog groomer only accept cash. Help me out here.
Don't know. Asked the lady cutting my hair and she said the owner was old fashioned. Otherwise not a clue. Is annoying and only reason to take out cash.
Re Adnams if you are in Southwold and want a drink you are stuffed if you insist on cash cos they own every pub.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
Technically, French doors with multipoint locks or lift-and-slide are better.
The 14% for Reform in the YouGov poll is another high for them this Parliament. Why do we think they did so poorly in Rochdale?
Candidate choice?
That does seem to be the consensus. Can any of the parties win the independent, David Tully, to join them? Would seem like he'd have a good chance then.
He comes across as a bit Lib Dem to me, or maybe Andy Street style Tory (i.e. the sort of Tory that doesn't seem to exist much these days).
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
This is what we have in our kitchen extension. We got the proper German engineered ones and they were certainly expensive, but seven years on look exactly as when we bought them. They are brilliant in the summer when you open them wide and have access to the garden. Our builder advised we should have a small step down to the patio, having it on exactly the same level as internally was unwise in a country with a lot of rain, I suspect he was right.
I think people are missing the point that if you go completely cashless you are well and truly fucked if you want to pop in for Char Siu Rice at Wong Kei in Wardour St.
Lol. A cross one has to bear
I do the lunch shift on the till at a cafe. There's always 1 or 2 people whose cards (or smartphones) don't work. It happens several times a day that someone tries to pay with a smartphone/watch and the machine says 'please insert card' - usually they then produce the card. Luckily most people around here still carry cash. Then there are the rarer occasions when the machine stops working and we can only take cash...
Weird. I only hear these anecdotes on PB. Never in real life. And I should know, because I use ApplePay exclusively. Don’t even carry a card.
Once in a while I get asked by the little scanner tap-to-pay machine to physically put my card in and type my pin in. Always assumed it was a semi-random security thing. Or I'm being skimmed by the local shops. One of the two...
Some cards/issuers only allow x number of tap-to-pay before asking for the pin. Using the pin resets the count.
Some do it as a semi random security check.
Another reason why everyone should dump the card and switch to ApplePay.
"I work in retail....it's ALWAYS the people with iphones that bitch and complain that we don't have stupid apple pay. Like, literally nobody with an android or samsung has ever bitched about not being able to use google pay or samsung pay. Like..........the world isn't going to spend the money to get a stupid terminal for contactless payment..........GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCKING stupid iphone users!! Take your apple pay and your NFC chip and shove it up your ass"
If you reserve a rail ticket on many corporate expense systems, it demands you insert your card if collecting tickets from a machine (travelcards are not issued as etickets yet for example). You can just tap and collect from a human being at the ticket office however (for now!).
Are there any rail companies that aren't set up to allow e-tickets these days?
I know it was a bit hit and miss a few years ago - not all gatelines had scanners, so you sometimes had to queue to show someone your phone before being let through. But I've not experienced that for ages...
Nope. All QR codes nowadays so yet another Landfill Nostalgic Red Herring. I used a QR code phone ticket on the Settle to Carlisle recently.
You need a paper ticket if your journey crosses London on the underground, as their barriers won't accept any sort of phone waggling malarkey.
Needless to say, my paper tickets were rejected by the Thameslink and Elizabeth Line barriers!
Nope. Another Landfill Nostalgic Red Herring. Just show your e-ticket at the barrier. It’s all good.
Here’s a troubling anecdote to brighten up a dismal day
My eldest daughter has got offers from all the universities she wanted. Including some very very good ones
Normally that’s a Yay, right?
Except she is now convinced the career she wanted to do will be automated by AI within 5-10 years so her degree will be useless
This is not my doing btw. She’s been a total AI skeptic until very recently, indeed she’s scoffed at some of my predictions
I don’t know what to advise her. I’ve told her to do the degree that will make her happy - engage her intellectually - maybe no one will have a job in 10 years, we just don’t know
So AI is now seriously impacting human lives and crucial decisions and it hasn’t even really arrived yet
Brace
I'd remind her of a rather unwise fellow who, over a decade ago, said that there would be no lorry drivers in a decade because of autonomous vehicles.
Some posters have a rather poor history of predictions, however much they hype themselves (and their predictions) up.
See also:
• China will be the world’s biggest economy in five years (predicted five years ago, over and over again on here)
• Liz Truss will surprise on the upside
In a purchasing power parity comparison, China exceeded US GDP a couple of years ago
Does this mean the average Chinese person is in real terms better off than the average American?
No. Firstly, China has four times America's population. Secondly, Chinese economic statistics aren't worth anything.
Set against that, China's statistics way overstate their true population...
A truly terrible day for any democrat who believes parliamentary democracy is about healing divisions, not stoking division and exploiting division for self greed and personal delectations.
And I called it utterly wrong, I misled you and I apologise for it.
I was wrong to such an extent, i now analyse from the collapse of Ali’s support, if long time Labour moderate and fighter of anti semitism in Muslim communities Ali, had not pushed his horrid conspiracy theory about Netanyahu’s government at that crazy meeting with quitting councillors, and remained Labour candidate, I suspect he still would have lost to Galloway anyway.
I agree with TSE. If Tories, with splendid record of learning wrong thing from by elections, seek a May election to exploit Labours heat over the Gaza Duck shoot - how exactly does Netanyahu and his supporters kill the ideas and ideology of Hamas simply by slaughtering people? The very fundamental thing wrong in the Hamas attack on Israel is now showing up in Israel’s response is it not - this is not the thing to try and exploit for a General Election win. There are many good reasons for a May election, looking at expert modelling and media narrative for summer and Autumn, not least the explosion in boat crossings from July blowing the Conservative Party into lots of little pieces. But exploiting Labours - like Jo Biden’s - real electoral difficulties over horror in the Middle East is not one of them.
Looking for positives, Labour do now have a clear hare in Rochdale to chase down and rip to shreds on GE night. The General Election will be different psychology - much like Tories are courting Reform with “a vote for reform let’s in Starmer” Labour will squeeze minor parties and supporters of independents with “you will let in 5 more years of Sunak.”
I was very wrong too! If the Tories are looking at this result and thinking it’s good for them… well, with no proper Labour or Green candidate, they managed to drop 19pp and come a poor third to a local businessman espousing views that wouldn’t be out of place in a One Nation Conservative Party. They (and Reform UK) had a poor night, and I agree with you that anger over Gaza isn’t going to save the day for the Tories when the general election comes.
I agree it won’t, though it might give another (cynical) reason to call a GE in May.
I very much hope our GE campaign isn’t taken over by the politics of the Middle East, but it is starting to worry me it is going that way.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
This is what we have in our kitchen extension. We got the proper German engineered ones and they were certainly expensive, but seven years on look exactly as when we bought them. They are brilliant in the summer when you open them wide and have access to the garden. Our builder advised we should have a small step down to the patio, having it on exactly the same level as internally was unwise in a country with a lot of rain, I suspect he was right.
I have bought big sliding doors. The days you want bifolds open all the way are probably less than a dozen a year, and the sliders give you 2/3 of the access, plus look much better when all closed. Just my opinion, a matter of taste for sure
"GEORGE GALLOWAY IS NO LONGER THE FAVOURITE TO WIN ROCHDALE" - TSE
Didn't age well
From that same piece.
This morning Galloway was the favourite this morning to win the by election but as we can see now Azhar Ali, the official but disowned Labour candidate, has become the favourite but the betting markets can often be wrong.
I remember the 2006 Dunfermline and West Fife by-election where when the candidates walked on to the stage Labour were the overwhelming favourites at close to 1.01 on Betfair and yet when the results were announced the Lib Dems won by nearly 2,000 votes.
I forgive you! I only hope my neurologist will feel the same.
Here’s a troubling anecdote to brighten up a dismal day
My eldest daughter has got offers from all the universities she wanted. Including some very very good ones
Normally that’s a Yay, right?
Except she is now convinced the career she wanted to do will be automated by AI within 5-10 years so her degree will be useless
This is not my doing btw. She’s been a total AI skeptic until very recently, indeed she’s scoffed at some of my predictions
I don’t know what to advise her. I’ve told her to do the degree that will make her happy - engage her intellectually - maybe no one will have a job in 10 years, we just don’t know
So AI is now seriously impacting human lives and crucial decisions and it hasn’t even really arrived yet
Brace
I'd remind her of a rather unwise fellow who, over a decade ago, said that there would be no lorry drivers in a decade because of autonomous vehicles.
Some posters have a rather poor history of predictions, however much they hype themselves (and their predictions) up.
See also:
• China will be the world’s biggest economy in five years (predicted five years ago, over and over again on here)
• Liz Truss will surprise on the upside
In a purchasing power parity comparison, China exceeded US GDP a couple of years ago
Does this mean the average Chinese person is in real terms better off than the average American?
Probably about 25% of US GDP per head. China's economy is now slowing sharply, and the population is falling. The US's population is increasing quite fast, so at some point, total US GDP is likely to move back ahead of Chinese.
25% having adjusted for PPP, you mean? Real terms?
Income in China varies tremendously by region (much more than the USA)
A middle class Chinese person in a rich coastal city enjoys a lifestyle comparable to a middle class American (and there are maybe 100m or 200m Chinese people like this)
The further west you go, the further inland, the poorer it gets, much poorer than anywhere in the USA, even Mississippi
Yes I'd have thought the poorest Chinese were still poorer than the poorest Americans.
So perhaps (PP not nominal) GDP per capita gives the best measure of the overall material standard of living of a country's population.
I wonder who's globally top amongst non-small countries? Eg where are we? And how does China vs USA look on that metric?
I don't think Leon is right:
China's richest region per capita:
Beijing GDP US$28,294 PPP US$47,154
China's poorest Gansu US$6,686 / PPP US$11,142
UK (2018) GDP per cap: Highest: Inner London – West US $244,789 2nd: Inner London - East US $67,300 Lowest: Southern Scotland $25,500
USA
Highest State / DC DC $259,938
4 States all above $100k (NY, MA, CA, WA) Lowest Mississippi $49,911
Per head there's a fair gap between China and the UK and ourselves and the USA.
China's strength stems from the fact they've got 1.4 billion people more than anything (Yes it'll go down, but it'll take a while).
Don't foget Hong Kong is now part of China: $56k
Also, my point was not the numbers, which is why I specifically avoided saying that, my point was "A middle class Chinese person in a rich coastal city enjoys a lifestyle comparable to a middle class American"
And they do
And this is where PPP comes in. In nomimal terms Yanks are apparently way richer than even the rich Chinese, but when you visit both countries you see this isn't really true in terms of lifestyle/ Yes Americans are still richer but middle class Chinese own cars, houses, have nice jobs in big gleaming cities, they aren't SO far apart - because everything is so much cheaper in China
I'll have to go back to China at some point if possible, journeyed through it by train back in 2003. Perhaps Yunnan.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Lots of HK Chinese around here too (Sale). HK kids who have arrived in the past couple of years make up about 15%-20% of the kids at my youngest's primary school - that's a big change since my eldest went there - and about the same proportion of my middle daughter's football team*. In general, they are exactly how you would want immigrants to be. They integrate well (naturally the adults often form their own bubbles, as I'm sure I would with other English speakers if I went somewhere non-English speaking, but they're friendly and keen to interact with the natives), they don't demand that the host society suddenly conform to new values for their sake, they don't demand special treatment or quotas; they don't commit crime or even any minor disorder, or live twelve to a house; they quickly get good jobs. They don't even dress particularly differently once they have got used to the need to wrap up rather more warmly. Even the most immigration-sceptic find it hard to object to HK Chinese immigration, or even really notice it. I have heard complaints on only two themes about so much HK Chinese immigration; one is that their impact on the housing market means that buying housing remains very challenging in Sale even as house prices fall elsewhere in the country; and the sotto voce and not-terribly-serious complaint that their kids are all so well-educated and driven that it is even harder to be one of the top 20% or so who get grammar school places. But that seems a very minor price to pay.
*I am particularly charmed by the HK Chinese girls on the football team, who never really touched a ball until 18 months ago, and two of whom are now quite brilliant in their own ways (one is an unbeatable Beckenbauer-type figure; always in the right place at the right time, unflappably extending a lazy leg to take the ball away from an unsuspecting attacker as she bears down on goal; another is a tiny Brazilian-style inside right who will receive the ball as four defenders bear down on her, unfussily take the ball away from all of them and play a neat little pass on to the centre forward - I am captivated watching her because every instinct in me is silently yelling at her to get it away as quickly and forcibly as possible, but then my footballing instincts are English).
The Hong Kongers are going to be the 21st Century Huguenots. A group of immigrants that have high intelligence, skills and work ethic. The Ukrainians will be the next wave of Poles - pro-British and hard working. It was reasonable to allow both groups to come as an exception to the general rules.
But now we need to put in limits elsewhere. Sunak's income thresholds are a great way of doing this. Come April/May, we will finally have a legal immigration system fit for purpose. The problem is Starmer will start blowing holes in it so that his favoured constituencies can get through it.
Here’s a troubling anecdote to brighten up a dismal day
My eldest daughter has got offers from all the universities she wanted. Including some very very good ones
Normally that’s a Yay, right?
Except she is now convinced the career she wanted to do will be automated by AI within 5-10 years so her degree will be useless
This is not my doing btw. She’s been a total AI skeptic until very recently, indeed she’s scoffed at some of my predictions
I don’t know what to advise her. I’ve told her to do the degree that will make her happy - engage her intellectually - maybe no one will have a job in 10 years, we just don’t know
So AI is now seriously impacting human lives and crucial decisions and it hasn’t even really arrived yet
Brace
I'd remind her of a rather unwise fellow who, over a decade ago, said that there would be no lorry drivers in a decade because of autonomous vehicles.
Some posters have a rather poor history of predictions, however much they hype themselves (and their predictions) up.
See also:
• China will be the world’s biggest economy in five years (predicted five years ago, over and over again on here)
• Liz Truss will surprise on the upside
In a purchasing power parity comparison, China exceeded US GDP a couple of years ago
Does this mean the average Chinese person is in real terms better off than the average American?
No. Firstly, China has four times America's population. Secondly, Chinese economic statistics aren't worth anything.
Set against that, China's statistics way overstate their true population...
And understate their Covid casualties?
PPP is a good way to compare standards of living. It is a stupid way to compare sizes of the overal economy.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
This is what we have in our kitchen extension. We got the proper German engineered ones and they were certainly expensive, but seven years on look exactly as when we bought them. They are brilliant in the summer when you open them wide and have access to the garden. Our builder advised we should have a small step down to the patio, having it on exactly the same level as internally was unwise in a country with a lot of rain, I suspect he was right.
Further over-crowding regs are defined around ~10sqm for 2 kids of the same sex sharing, which means that 3-child families of any mix are possible plus a spare bedroom or home office without a need to move house a second time.
Or double bedroom for live-in grown up boomerang child couples.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
This is what we have in our kitchen extension. We got the proper German engineered ones and they were certainly expensive, but seven years on look exactly as when we bought them. They are brilliant in the summer when you open them wide and have access to the garden. Our builder advised we should have a small step down to the patio, having it on exactly the same level as internally was unwise in a country with a lot of rain, I suspect he was right.
The 3D virtual tour of the property is pretty funky - first time I've seen this on rightmove
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
We have those. They're great except I have the unfortunate tic of calling them 'bipolars'. It isn't done as a joke, I just seem to have it hardcoded as that.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The one downstairs is mandated by law/planning regs. It's to assist disabled people and to enable you to die downstairs in the living room bed your relatives have frantically put there when they got your diagnosis.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
This is what we have in our kitchen extension. We got the proper German engineered ones and they were certainly expensive, but seven years on look exactly as when we bought them. They are brilliant in the summer when you open them wide and have access to the garden. Our builder advised we should have a small step down to the patio, having it on exactly the same level as internally was unwise in a country with a lot of rain, I suspect he was right.
I have bought big sliding doors. The days you want bifolds open all the way are probably less than a dozen a year, and the sliders give you 2/3 of the access, plus look much better when all closed. Just my opinion, a matter of taste for sure
I don't know, down here in sunny south London we probably have them open most days from June to September. Sliding doors are certainly more the fashion these days. But we don't have the doors right across the back, just three panels, so for us it's better to be able to open them fully.
I think people are missing the point that if you go completely cashless you are well and truly fucked if you want to pop in for Char Siu Rice at Wong Kei in Wardour St.
Lol. A cross one has to bear
I do the lunch shift on the till at a cafe. There's always 1 or 2 people whose cards (or smartphones) don't work. It happens several times a day that someone tries to pay with a smartphone/watch and the machine says 'please insert card' - usually they then produce the card. Luckily most people around here still carry cash. Then there are the rarer occasions when the machine stops working and we can only take cash...
Weird. I only hear these anecdotes on PB. Never in real life. And I should know, because I use ApplePay exclusively. Don’t even carry a card.
Once in a while I get asked by the little scanner tap-to-pay machine to physically put my card in and type my pin in. Always assumed it was a semi-random security thing. Or I'm being skimmed by the local shops. One of the two...
Some cards/issuers only allow x number of tap-to-pay before asking for the pin. Using the pin resets the count.
Some do it as a semi random security check.
Another reason why everyone should dump the card and switch to ApplePay.
"I work in retail....it's ALWAYS the people with iphones that bitch and complain that we don't have stupid apple pay. Like, literally nobody with an android or samsung has ever bitched about not being able to use google pay or samsung pay. Like..........the world isn't going to spend the money to get a stupid terminal for contactless payment..........GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCKING stupid iphone users!! Take your apple pay and your NFC chip and shove it up your ass"
If you reserve a rail ticket on many corporate expense systems, it demands you insert your card if collecting tickets from a machine (travelcards are not issued as etickets yet for example). You can just tap and collect from a human being at the ticket office however (for now!).
Are there any rail companies that aren't set up to allow e-tickets these days?
I know it was a bit hit and miss a few years ago - not all gatelines had scanners, so you sometimes had to queue to show someone your phone before being let through. But I've not experienced that for ages...
Nope. All QR codes nowadays so yet another Landfill Nostalgic Red Herring. I used a QR code phone ticket on the Settle to Carlisle recently.
You need a paper ticket if your journey crosses London on the underground, as their barriers won't accept any sort of phone waggling malarkey.
Needless to say, my paper tickets were rejected by the Thameslink and Elizabeth Line barriers!
Nope. Another Landfill Nostalgic Red Herring. Just show your e-ticket at the barrier. It’s all good.
You repudiate cash but advocate ticket collectors??
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The one downstairs is mandated by law/planning regs. It's to assist disabled people and to enable you to die downstairs in the living room bed your relatives have frantically put there when they got your diagnosis.
We have a downstairs one, it's great. It's the two upstairs I'm questioning - I'd rather have a larger master tbh.
Just noting that Galloway received fewer votes than did the second placed Tory candidate at the last general election.
Massive popular mandate it is not.
That kind of analysis didn’t go down well after the two by elections Labour won recently
Did anyone claim Labour had won some sort of massive mandate at them ?
As Galloway just did.
I can’t remember what Labour supporters said, they must have made some claim or other. But when I noted that they had received 5,000 votes less than at the GE in one of them, and added 100 in the other, whereas Blair’s party in 1996 was piling on thousands of new votes in by elections, it didn’t go down well
Didn't bother me. But they were likely of slightly more predictive value than is Rochdale.
Let's see what happens to Galloway at the next election, shall we ?
The result is not necessarily bad news for Labour. What it should have done though is set off a fire alarm in Labour HQ. Much better to have a working fire alarm than a faulty one, if you react in time to the warning.
The damage from the result itself is limited. As someone commented down thread Starmer has in some ways already dodged a bullet, because it looks likely that GG would have won even if Labour had run a decent campaign with a decent candidate. As it is, GG winning a seat in which Labour had urged its supporters to stay at home is far less embarrassing.
How things play out now depends on what lessons Starmer takes in response to the warning, that is whether or not Labour belatedly adopts a line that is unequivocably critical of the actions of the current Israeli government going forward. Whether Starmer has the political nous to appreciate the need for that is questionable though, because his approach to Gaza to date has been remarkably cloth-eared.
Have I got your premise right - Lab's (only?) chance at the next UK General Election depends upon making the correct call about what is happening in Gaza. 2,226 miles away.
Here’s a troubling anecdote to brighten up a dismal day
My eldest daughter has got offers from all the universities she wanted. Including some very very good ones
Normally that’s a Yay, right?
Except she is now convinced the career she wanted to do will be automated by AI within 5-10 years so her degree will be useless
This is not my doing btw. She’s been a total AI skeptic until very recently, indeed she’s scoffed at some of my predictions
I don’t know what to advise her. I’ve told her to do the degree that will make her happy - engage her intellectually - maybe no one will have a job in 10 years, we just don’t know
So AI is now seriously impacting human lives and crucial decisions and it hasn’t even really arrived yet
Brace
I'd remind her of a rather unwise fellow who, over a decade ago, said that there would be no lorry drivers in a decade because of autonomous vehicles.
Some posters have a rather poor history of predictions, however much they hype themselves (and their predictions) up.
See also:
• China will be the world’s biggest economy in five years (predicted five years ago, over and over again on here)
• Liz Truss will surprise on the upside
In a purchasing power parity comparison, China exceeded US GDP a couple of years ago
Does this mean the average Chinese person is in real terms better off than the average American?
Probably about 25% of US GDP per head. China's economy is now slowing sharply, and the population is falling. The US's population is increasing quite fast, so at some point, total US GDP is likely to move back ahead of Chinese.
25% having adjusted for PPP, you mean? Real terms?
Income in China varies tremendously by region (much more than the USA)
A middle class Chinese person in a rich coastal city enjoys a lifestyle comparable to a middle class American (and there are maybe 100m or 200m Chinese people like this)
The further west you go, the further inland, the poorer it gets, much poorer than anywhere in the USA, even Mississippi
Yes I'd have thought the poorest Chinese were still poorer than the poorest Americans.
So perhaps (PP not nominal) GDP per capita gives the best measure of the overall material standard of living of a country's population.
I wonder who's globally top amongst non-small countries? Eg where are we? And how does China vs USA look on that metric?
I don't think Leon is right:
China's richest region per capita:
Beijing GDP US$28,294 PPP US$47,154
China's poorest Gansu US$6,686 / PPP US$11,142
UK (2018) GDP per cap: Highest: Inner London – West US $244,789 2nd: Inner London - East US $67,300 Lowest: Southern Scotland $25,500
USA
Highest State / DC DC $259,938
4 States all above $100k (NY, MA, CA, WA) Lowest Mississippi $49,911
Per head there's a fair gap between China and the UK and ourselves and the USA.
China's strength stems from the fact they've got 1.4 billion people more than anything (Yes it'll go down, but it'll take a while).
Don't foget Hong Kong is now part of China: $56k
Also, my point was not the numbers, which is why I specifically avoided saying that, my point was "A middle class Chinese person in a rich coastal city enjoys a lifestyle comparable to a middle class American"
And they do
And this is where PPP comes in. In nomimal terms Yanks are apparently way richer than even the rich Chinese, but when you visit both countries you see this isn't really true in terms of lifestyle/ Yes Americans are still richer but middle class Chinese own cars, houses, have nice jobs in big gleaming cities, they aren't SO far apart - because everything is so much cheaper in China
I'll have to go back to China at some point if possible, journeyed through it by train back in 2003. Perhaps Yunnan.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Lots of HK Chinese around here too (Sale). HK kids who have arrived in the past couple of years make up about 15%-20% of the kids at my youngest's primary school - that's a big change since my eldest went there - and about the same proportion of my middle daughter's football team*. In general, they are exactly how you would want immigrants to be. They integrate well (naturally the adults often form their own bubbles, as I'm sure I would with other English speakers if I went somewhere non-English speaking, but they're friendly and keen to interact with the natives), they don't demand that the host society suddenly conform to new values for their sake, they don't demand special treatment or quotas; they don't commit crime or even any minor disorder, or live twelve to a house; they quickly get good jobs. They don't even dress particularly differently once they have got used to the need to wrap up rather more warmly. Even the most immigration-sceptic find it hard to object to HK Chinese immigration, or even really notice it. I have heard complaints on only two themes about so much HK Chinese immigration; one is that their impact on the housing market means that buying housing remains very challenging in Sale even as house prices fall elsewhere in the country; and the sotto voce and not-terribly-serious complaint that their kids are all so well-educated and driven that it is even harder to be one of the top 20% or so who get grammar school places. But that seems a very minor price to pay.
*I am particularly charmed by the HK Chinese girls on the football team, who never really touched a ball until 18 months ago, and two of whom are now quite brilliant in their own ways (one is an unbeatable Beckenbauer-type figure; always in the right place at the right time, unflappably extending a lazy leg to take the ball away from an unsuspecting attacker as she bears down on goal; another is a tiny Brazilian-style inside right who will receive the ball as four defenders bear down on her, unfussily take the ball away from all of them and play a neat little pass on to the centre forward - I am captivated watching her because every instinct in me is silently yelling at her to get it away as quickly and forcibly as possible, but then my footballing instincts are English).
The Hong Kongers are going to be the 21st Century Huguenots. A group of immigrants that have high intelligence, skills and work ethic. The Ukrainians will be the next wave of Poles - pro-British and hard working. It was reasonable to allow both groups to come as an exception to the general rules.
But now we need to put in limits elsewhere. Sunak's income thresholds are a great way of doing this. Come April/May, we will finally have a legal immigration system fit for purpose. The problem is Starmer will start blowing holes in it so that his favoured constituencies can get through it.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
This is what we have in our kitchen extension. We got the proper German engineered ones and they were certainly expensive, but seven years on look exactly as when we bought them. They are brilliant in the summer when you open them wide and have access to the garden. Our builder advised we should have a small step down to the patio, having it on exactly the same level as internally was unwise in a country with a lot of rain, I suspect he was right.
I have bought big sliding doors. The days you want bifolds open all the way are probably less than a dozen a year, and the sliders give you 2/3 of the access, plus look much better when all closed. Just my opinion, a matter of taste for sure
I don't know, down here in sunny south London we probably have them open most days from June to September. Sliding doors are certainly more the fashion these days. But we don't have the doors right across the back, just three panels, so for us it's better to be able to open them fully.
Oh right, yes sliding doors wouldn’t really work then. We have them right across the back, and the bifolds in the showroom made it look like you’re behind bars.
I wonder who will act as George Galloway's two sponsoring MPs when he enters the House of Commons next week. He may find it difficult for him to find anyone to do the job, although I suppose Jeremy Corbyn and Lee Anderson are options
I think people are missing the point that if you go completely cashless you are well and truly fucked if you want to pop in for Char Siu Rice at Wong Kei in Wardour St.
Lol. A cross one has to bear
I do the lunch shift on the till at a cafe. There's always 1 or 2 people whose cards (or smartphones) don't work. It happens several times a day that someone tries to pay with a smartphone/watch and the machine says 'please insert card' - usually they then produce the card. Luckily most people around here still carry cash. Then there are the rarer occasions when the machine stops working and we can only take cash...
Weird. I only hear these anecdotes on PB. Never in real life. And I should know, because I use ApplePay exclusively. Don’t even carry a card.
Once in a while I get asked by the little scanner tap-to-pay machine to physically put my card in and type my pin in. Always assumed it was a semi-random security thing. Or I'm being skimmed by the local shops. One of the two...
Some cards/issuers only allow x number of tap-to-pay before asking for the pin. Using the pin resets the count.
Some do it as a semi random security check.
Another reason why everyone should dump the card and switch to ApplePay.
"I work in retail....it's ALWAYS the people with iphones that bitch and complain that we don't have stupid apple pay. Like, literally nobody with an android or samsung has ever bitched about not being able to use google pay or samsung pay. Like..........the world isn't going to spend the money to get a stupid terminal for contactless payment..........GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCKING stupid iphone users!! Take your apple pay and your NFC chip and shove it up your ass"
If you reserve a rail ticket on many corporate expense systems, it demands you insert your card if collecting tickets from a machine (travelcards are not issued as etickets yet for example). You can just tap and collect from a human being at the ticket office however (for now!).
Are there any rail companies that aren't set up to allow e-tickets these days?
I know it was a bit hit and miss a few years ago - not all gatelines had scanners, so you sometimes had to queue to show someone your phone before being let through. But I've not experienced that for ages...
Nope. All QR codes nowadays so yet another Landfill Nostalgic Red Herring. I used a QR code phone ticket on the Settle to Carlisle recently.
You need a paper ticket if your journey crosses London on the underground, as their barriers won't accept any sort of phone waggling malarkey.
Needless to say, my paper tickets were rejected by the Thameslink and Elizabeth Line barriers!
Nope. Another Landfill Nostalgic Red Herring. Just show your e-ticket at the barrier. It’s all good.
You repudiate cash but advocate ticket collectors??
*stunned*
Nope, just nice staff in the stations. Which we have.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
This is what we have in our kitchen extension. We got the proper German engineered ones and they were certainly expensive, but seven years on look exactly as when we bought them. They are brilliant in the summer when you open them wide and have access to the garden. Our builder advised we should have a small step down to the patio, having it on exactly the same level as internally was unwise in a country with a lot of rain, I suspect he was right.
That can be dealt with, with a linear drain in front of the doors - with stiletto proof covers!
Plus the patio should be set to drain away from the house
I wonder who will act as George Galloway's two sponsoring MPs when he enters the House of Commons next week. He may find it difficult for him to find anyone to do the job, although I suppose Jeremy Corbyn and Lee Anderson are options
Any two of the ex Labour MPs here would be my guess:
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
Nikki Haley on Trump’s cases: “We need to know what's going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don't think any of it's going to get heard.” https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
Nikki Haley on Trump’s cases: “We need to know what's going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don't think any of it's going to get heard.” https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
Just noting that Galloway received fewer votes than did the second placed Tory candidate at the last general election.
Massive popular mandate it is not.
That kind of analysis didn’t go down well after the two by elections Labour won recently
Did anyone claim Labour had won some sort of massive mandate at them ?
As Galloway just did.
I can’t remember what Labour supporters said, they must have made some claim or other. But when I noted that they had received 5,000 votes less than at the GE in one of them, and added 100 in the other, whereas Blair’s party in 1996 was piling on thousands of new votes in by elections, it didn’t go down well
Didn't bother me. But they were likely of slightly more predictive value than is Rochdale.
Let's see what happens to Galloway at the next election, shall we ?
The result is not necessarily bad news for Labour. What it should have done though is set off a fire alarm in Labour HQ. Much better to have a working fire alarm than a faulty one, if you react in time to the warning.
The damage from the result itself is limited. As someone commented down thread Starmer has in some ways already dodged a bullet, because it looks likely that GG would have won even if Labour had run a decent campaign with a decent candidate. As it is, GG winning a seat in which Labour had urged its supporters to stay at home is far less embarrassing.
How things play out now depends on what lessons Starmer takes in response to the warning, that is whether or not Labour belatedly adopts a line that is unequivocably critical of the actions of the current Israeli government going forward. Whether Starmer has the political nous to appreciate the need for that is questionable though, because his approach to Gaza to date has been remarkably cloth-eared.
Have I got your premise right - Lab's (only?) chance at the next UK General Election depends upon making the correct call about what is happening in Gaza. 2,226 miles away.
No.
There seems to be a lot of discussion around what Lab's strategy should be towards the conflict. I mean it isn't our war Lab should say can the UN and the neighbouring countries please sort it out. Or alternatively let them continue to fight as both sides seem to want to do.
What does Galloway want which would be so different from this. To send troops?
Nikki Haley on Trump’s cases: “We need to know what's going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don't think any of it's going to get heard.” https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
Odds on her endorsing him before November?
If his court cases get stalled, odds on.
Though it's not certain.
Were she to get her wish, he wouldn't be the nominee come November.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
One of the toilets should probably be storage. Lord knows why developers these days seem to think a small 4 bed needs 3 bogs.
The downstairs one is an accessibility requirement - literally requires room to swing a wheelchair.
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas. - Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate. - Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts). - Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office. - Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
Why are bifold doors so popular? They look like a nightmare.
The stylistic dream is to have a huge chunk of the back of the house open to the patio in summer. With maybe the same kind of flooring material inside and out, on the same level.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
This is what we have in our kitchen extension. We got the proper German engineered ones and they were certainly expensive, but seven years on look exactly as when we bought them. They are brilliant in the summer when you open them wide and have access to the garden. Our builder advised we should have a small step down to the patio, having it on exactly the same level as internally was unwise in a country with a lot of rain, I suspect he was right.
That can be dealt with, with a linear drain in front of the doors - with stiletto proof covers!
Plus the patio should be set to drain away from the house
We have both those things, still better safe than sorry, the drain has got blocked with leaves before, the rain can come down faster than it will drain into the lawn... I think the builder made the right call from a risk management POV.
Here’s a troubling anecdote to brighten up a dismal day
My eldest daughter has got offers from all the universities she wanted. Including some very very good ones
Normally that’s a Yay, right?
Except she is now convinced the career she wanted to do will be automated by AI within 5-10 years so her degree will be useless
This is not my doing btw. She’s been a total AI skeptic until very recently, indeed she’s scoffed at some of my predictions
I don’t know what to advise her. I’ve told her to do the degree that will make her happy - engage her intellectually - maybe no one will have a job in 10 years, we just don’t know
So AI is now seriously impacting human lives and crucial decisions and it hasn’t even really arrived yet
Brace
I'd remind her of a rather unwise fellow who, over a decade ago, said that there would be no lorry drivers in a decade because of autonomous vehicles.
Some posters have a rather poor history of predictions, however much they hype themselves (and their predictions) up.
See also:
• China will be the world’s biggest economy in five years (predicted five years ago, over and over again on here)
• Liz Truss will surprise on the upside
In a purchasing power parity comparison, China exceeded US GDP a couple of years ago
Does this mean the average Chinese person is in real terms better off than the average American?
Probably about 25% of US GDP per head. China's economy is now slowing sharply, and the population is falling. The US's population is increasing quite fast, so at some point, total US GDP is likely to move back ahead of Chinese.
25% having adjusted for PPP, you mean? Real terms?
Income in China varies tremendously by region (much more than the USA)
A middle class Chinese person in a rich coastal city enjoys a lifestyle comparable to a middle class American (and there are maybe 100m or 200m Chinese people like this)
The further west you go, the further inland, the poorer it gets, much poorer than anywhere in the USA, even Mississippi
Yes I'd have thought the poorest Chinese were still poorer than the poorest Americans.
So perhaps (PP not nominal) GDP per capita gives the best measure of the overall material standard of living of a country's population.
I wonder who's globally top amongst non-small countries? Eg where are we? And how does China vs USA look on that metric?
I don't think Leon is right:
China's richest region per capita:
Beijing GDP US$28,294 PPP US$47,154
China's poorest Gansu US$6,686 / PPP US$11,142
UK (2018) GDP per cap: Highest: Inner London – West US $244,789 2nd: Inner London - East US $67,300 Lowest: Southern Scotland $25,500
USA
Highest State / DC DC $259,938
4 States all above $100k (NY, MA, CA, WA) Lowest Mississippi $49,911
Per head there's a fair gap between China and the UK and ourselves and the USA.
China's strength stems from the fact they've got 1.4 billion people more than anything (Yes it'll go down, but it'll take a while).
Don't foget Hong Kong is now part of China: $56k
Also, my point was not the numbers, which is why I specifically avoided saying that, my point was "A middle class Chinese person in a rich coastal city enjoys a lifestyle comparable to a middle class American"
And they do
And this is where PPP comes in. In nomimal terms Yanks are apparently way richer than even the rich Chinese, but when you visit both countries you see this isn't really true in terms of lifestyle/ Yes Americans are still richer but middle class Chinese own cars, houses, have nice jobs in big gleaming cities, they aren't SO far apart - because everything is so much cheaper in China
I'll have to go back to China at some point if possible, journeyed through it by train back in 2003. Perhaps Yunnan.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Lots of HK Chinese around here too (Sale). HK kids who have arrived in the past couple of years make up about 15%-20% of the kids at my youngest's primary school - that's a big change since my eldest went there - and about the same proportion of my middle daughter's football team*. In general, they are exactly how you would want immigrants to be. They integrate well (naturally the adults often form their own bubbles, as I'm sure I would with other English speakers if I went somewhere non-English speaking, but they're friendly and keen to interact with the natives), they don't demand that the host society suddenly conform to new values for their sake, they don't demand special treatment or quotas; they don't commit crime or even any minor disorder, or live twelve to a house; they quickly get good jobs. They don't even dress particularly differently once they have got used to the need to wrap up rather more warmly. Even the most immigration-sceptic find it hard to object to HK Chinese immigration, or even really notice it. I have heard complaints on only two themes about so much HK Chinese immigration; one is that their impact on the housing market means that buying housing remains very challenging in Sale even as house prices fall elsewhere in the country; and the sotto voce and not-terribly-serious complaint that their kids are all so well-educated and driven that it is even harder to be one of the top 20% or so who get grammar school places. But that seems a very minor price to pay.
*I am particularly charmed by the HK Chinese girls on the football team, who never really touched a ball until 18 months ago, and two of whom are now quite brilliant in their own ways (one is an unbeatable Beckenbauer-type figure; always in the right place at the right time, unflappably extending a lazy leg to take the ball away from an unsuspecting attacker as she bears down on goal; another is a tiny Brazilian-style inside right who will receive the ball as four defenders bear down on her, unfussily take the ball away from all of them and play a neat little pass on to the centre forward - I am captivated watching her because every instinct in me is silently yelling at her to get it away as quickly and forcibly as possible, but then my footballing instincts are English).
East Asian migrants are the perfect migrants. Resourceful, law abiding, high IQ, appreciative of freedom, enterprising. Other migrants, less so
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
Our local media is currently gripped by the murder of a dog walker in Aberfeldy, a place where murders are not exactly commonplace. He died on 17th February but the murder inquiry only began a week later when they got around to doing the autopsy and found the bullet.
I mean, how the f*** does that happen?
Police in Scotland are woeful , disaster after disaster with them nowadays.
Americans are obsessed with bathrooms. You get pitying looks unless you have at least three.
Pah. Wusses. You haven't lived until you've been in an outside bog with one leg wedged against the door, shouting "I'm in the toilet" when people walk past, and entertaining yourself with imagining moonscapes out of the damp peeling plaster that a bloke your dad knew slapped on for a few quid, then trying to wipe your bum with damp toilet paper.
FPT. This was a vote against Netanyahu. Yesterday revulsion at the treatment of Gazans reached fever pitch (anyone seeing the footage would understand why) and Gorgous was the person most powerfully articulating the anger and impotence most people felt.
This would have gone well beyond just Muslims. It was one of the most distressing sights I've seen. The Israelis action has now moved way beyond security into outright barbarism.
And how does the MP for Rochdale influence Netanyahu in any shape or form?
They have elected a hugely compromised individual with a track record of cozying up to dictators and mass murderers. Even two years ago he was poo-pooing the very idea that Putin might invade Ukraine.
The government and Labour both articulate a desire for a ceasefire and long term settlement. What will the ludicrous cat imitator bring to the argument?
People weren't voting for a cat imitator. They were voting for the strongest symbol of support for Gazans and Palestinians that was on show. The way it makes a difference is by news outlets TV newspapers and the hullabaloo surrounding the result making waves throughout the country and possibly beyond. It has been pretty wall to wall so far
It changes nothing though , apart from putting a raving lunatic into the Westminster asylum. He will have many compatriots to sup with in the subsidised bars. Lose Lose for Palestine and UK
I think people are missing the point that if you go completely cashless you are well and truly fucked if you want to pop in for Char Siu Rice at Wong Kei in Wardour St.
Lol. A cross one has to bear
I do the lunch shift on the till at a cafe. There's always 1 or 2 people whose cards (or smartphones) don't work. It happens several times a day that someone tries to pay with a smartphone/watch and the machine says 'please insert card' - usually they then produce the card. Luckily most people around here still carry cash. Then there are the rarer occasions when the machine stops working and we can only take cash...
Weird. I only hear these anecdotes on PB. Never in real life. And I should know, because I use ApplePay exclusively. Don’t even carry a card.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
Nikki Haley on Trump’s cases: “We need to know what's going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don't think any of it's going to get heard.” https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
She's a Republican. She'll kneel. In the end, they all kneel. Cruz, Christie, everybody who thought they were hard, they all bowed the head.
Americans are obsessed with bathrooms. You get pitying looks unless you have at least three.
Pah. Wusses. You haven't lived until you've been in an outside bog with one leg wedged against the door, shouting "I'm in the toilet" when people walk past, and entertaining yourself with imagining moonscapes out of the damp peeling plaster that a bloke your dad knew slapped on for a few quid, then trying to wipe your bum with damp toilet paper.
{pryers open a double case of Chateau de Chassilier}
You had an outside bog? LUUUUUUUUUUXXXXXXURRRRRYYYY!
Nikki Haley on Trump’s cases: “We need to know what's going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don't think any of it's going to get heard.” https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
She's a Republican. She'll kneel. In the end, they all kneel. Cruz, Christie, everybody who thought they were hard, they all bowed the head.
Nikki Haley on Trump’s cases: “We need to know what's going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don't think any of it's going to get heard.” https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
She's a Republican. She'll kneel. In the end, they all kneel. Cruz, Christie, everybody who thought they were hard, they all bowed the head.
I can see my action items for today are not going to get done. I'm watching deer in my garden. This is the first time in a while. We used to get a regular visitor but one day he turned up with a head wound full of green bottles and maggots and he was so docile he let me catch him. I sat with him for a couple of hours waiting for a deer charity to turn up, but on inspection of the wound they shot him.
Sorry that went from joyous to sad.
LOL very funny. I have had, on various facebook groups, people asking where they should take a wounded pigeon that they have found in their garden.
Funny? A pigeon I would dispatch with a blow to the head and leave for the foxes, but a deer? You would leave it to suffer for days rather than getting it treated or destroyed humanely. It has no predators here to dispatch it quickly. I can't believe you would be that cruel when there is something you can do about it.
Bloody hell, calm down sugartits. I thought your story was funny and then I segued into my own story which I thought was also funny.
Or to help you with comprehension:
I thought your story was funny. I have a story which I think is funny.
Isn't comprehension useful when contributing to and reading posts on PB.
Sorry if I completely misinterpreted @TOPPING although I don't understand what was funny in my post. It wasn't meant to be.
I think it was a heart of stone not to laugh moment.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
Americans are obsessed with bathrooms. You get pitying looks unless you have at least three.
Pah. Wusses. You haven't lived until you've been in an outside bog with one leg wedged against the door, shouting "I'm in the toilet" when people walk past, and entertaining yourself with imagining moonscapes out of the damp peeling plaster that a bloke your dad knew slapped on for a few quid, then trying to wipe your bum with damp toilet paper.
{pryers open a double case of Chateau de Chassilier}
You had an outside bog? LUUUUUUUUUUXXXXXXURRRRRYYYY!
Nikki Haley on Trump’s cases: “We need to know what's going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don't think any of it's going to get heard.” https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
She's a Republican. She'll kneel. In the end, they all kneel. Cruz, Christie, everybody who thought they were hard, they all bowed the head.
Cheney?
Romney? the Bushes?
The Bushes left, Romney's leaving, Cheney was thrown out...
Our local media is currently gripped by the murder of a dog walker in Aberfeldy, a place where murders are not exactly commonplace. He died on 17th February but the murder inquiry only began a week later when they got around to doing the autopsy and found the bullet.
I mean, how the f*** does that happen?
There have been similar cases, here in the UK and in the US.
Small calibre gunshot. entrance wound, no exit. Wound hidden by folding of the skin or under head hair. Little or no blood and/or rain washed most away.
Nikki Haley on Trump’s cases: “We need to know what's going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don't think any of it's going to get heard.” https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
She's a Republican. She'll kneel. In the end, they all kneel. Cruz, Christie, everybody who thought they were hard, they all bowed the head.
Cheney?
Romney? the Bushes?
The Bushes left, Romney's leaving, Cheney was thrown out...
Americans are obsessed with bathrooms. You get pitying looks unless you have at least three.
Pah. Wusses. You haven't lived until you've been in an outside bog with one leg wedged against the door, shouting "I'm in the toilet" when people walk past, and entertaining yourself with imagining moonscapes out of the damp peeling plaster that a bloke your dad knew slapped on for a few quid, then trying to wipe your bum with damp toilet paper.
You used toilet paper? Not strips of old newspaper?
Americans are obsessed with bathrooms. You get pitying looks unless you have at least three.
Pah. Wusses. You haven't lived until you've been in an outside bog with one leg wedged against the door, shouting "I'm in the toilet" when people walk past, and entertaining yourself with imagining moonscapes out of the damp peeling plaster that a bloke your dad knew slapped on for a few quid, then trying to wipe your bum with damp toilet paper.
You used toilet paper? Not strips of old newspaper?
Americans are obsessed with bathrooms. You get pitying looks unless you have at least three.
Pah. Wusses. You haven't lived until you've been in an outside bog with one leg wedged against the door, shouting "I'm in the toilet" when people walk past, and entertaining yourself with imagining moonscapes out of the damp peeling plaster that a bloke your dad knew slapped on for a few quid, then trying to wipe your bum with damp toilet paper.
You used toilet paper? Not strips of old newspaper?
Americans are obsessed with bathrooms. You get pitying looks unless you have at least three.
Pah. Wusses. You haven't lived until you've been in an outside bog with one leg wedged against the door, shouting "I'm in the toilet" when people walk past, and entertaining yourself with imagining moonscapes out of the damp peeling plaster that a bloke your dad knew slapped on for a few quid, then trying to wipe your bum with damp toilet paper.
You used toilet paper? Not strips of old newspaper?
Strips iof old newspaper? Luxury!!! We had to settle for grasping a passing hedgehog
Just noting that Galloway received fewer votes than did the second placed Tory candidate at the last general election.
Massive popular mandate it is not.
That kind of analysis didn’t go down well after the two by elections Labour won recently
Did anyone claim Labour had won some sort of massive mandate at them ?
As Galloway just did.
I can’t remember what Labour supporters said, they must have made some claim or other. But when I noted that they had received 5,000 votes less than at the GE in one of them, and added 100 in the other, whereas Blair’s party in 1996 was piling on thousands of new votes in by elections, it didn’t go down well
Didn't bother me. But they were likely of slightly more predictive value than is Rochdale.
Let's see what happens to Galloway at the next election, shall we ?
The result is not necessarily bad news for Labour. What it should have done though is set off a fire alarm in Labour HQ. Much better to have a working fire alarm than a faulty one, if you react in time to the warning.
The damage from the result itself is limited. As someone commented down thread Starmer has in some ways already dodged a bullet, because it looks likely that GG would have won even if Labour had run a decent campaign with a decent candidate. As it is, GG winning a seat in which Labour had urged its supporters to stay at home is far less embarrassing.
How things play out now depends on what lessons Starmer takes in response to the warning, that is whether or not Labour belatedly adopts a line that is unequivocably critical of the actions of the current Israeli government going forward. Whether Starmer has the political nous to appreciate the need for that is questionable though, because his approach to Gaza to date has been remarkably cloth-eared.
If Labour are not getting all of their current candidates the events yesterday could be the tip of a very tasty iceberg that they'll hit in government.
Nikki Haley on Trump’s cases: “We need to know what's going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don't think any of it's going to get heard.” https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
She's a Republican. She'll kneel. In the end, they all kneel. Cruz, Christie, everybody who thought they were hard, they all bowed the head.
Just come around here - there're loads of Chinese moving into Cambourne West. Most from Hong Kong, I believe. I've chatted to a fair few of them, and they're all lovely. Although some seem a little shellshocked at life over here...
Snipped as the convo was getting a bit unwieldy.
Are you near all the new housebuilding going on ex Cambridge environs ? Anecdotally it seems like a staggering amount of building going on, more than anywhere else in England probably.
Yep. I can hear some of the diggers going crunch-crunch-crunch now, from my study. They're building not far off. Cambourne currently has 4,250 houses.
We have at least three major developments being built: *) Cambourne West (2,350 houses) *) Waterbeach New Town (6,500 houses) *) Northstowe (11,000 houses)
As well as this, it is expected that the old Bourn airfield site, immediately to the east of Cambourne, will be built upon - perhaps 3,500 homes. And there is talk of houses (perhaps 10,000) on the area immediately to the north, over the dual carriageway. And the (Lib Dem) council wants to squeeze 250 extra homes on land that was zoned to be used by business. That's the only scheme I'm against.
There's also the new developments at St Neots: *) Wintrigham (2,800 houses) *) Monksfield - just being started (1,020 houses)
The latter is hilariously named - it is eight miles away from us, and we already have a 'Monkfield' school, a 'Monkfield' doctor's surgery, a 'Monkfield' pub, etc, etc. Calling the new development 'Monksfield' is going to cause all sorts of hilarity...
I note what looks like a roughly 100 m2 currently cgi 4 bed detached is going for £570k... will people be able to afford that sort of price ?
I agree with Sajid Javid on Rochdale except where he says it was a very low turn-out. For a by-election in that sort of seat and especially in the circumstances that was far from a bad turnout. People were speculating on it being below 20%
It is now inarguable that there is a constituency out there in certain seats in a byelection for Galloway's views on Gaza. How much more we can say is more difficult to ascertain. He is the big winner here. Also do not assume that all his support came from the 30% Muslim community even if the majority of it did. Sticking two fingers up to the establishment has a very real appeal from outside of any single community.
So who were the losers. Lab of course but that was priced in. I couldn't understand money going on Ali yesterday. Who did anyone think was voting for him? Other big losers are Reform UK. A spectacularly poor result, lower than for Brexit in 2019. Picking a candidate with that history in a seat with that history suggests they may not be ready for the big leagues. This should have been their best opportunity since Peterborough. Then the Cons. Had they thrown everything at this poll could they have whipped up a stop Galloway sentiment among the 70% of voters who are non-Muslim. May have been a long shot but had it come off it could have given their client press the ammunition to change the narrative. Instead their candidate went on his hols, their party did nothing and they lost almost two-thirds of their vote share. Pathetic.
The one good thing to happen was David Tully. By all reports a decent man from the local business and Rugby League communities who actually campaigned and tried to give people something to vote for. 21% percent was a very fine effort even if not enough to stop George. The good thing is that people chose to vote for him and not for Danczuk or the far-right independent.
Will this be seen as a turning point or is it just another Bradford West? We shall see but I have my suspicions
On the need some have for cash: Years ago, I learned that, during the Zimbabwe hyperinflation, American bills replaced all the Zimbabwe money for many transactions. (Informally, first, as one would expect.)
But this caused a problem for small purchases. The small shops had bills, but not coins. So, a woman who went to buy something small, for example, needles and thread, would have to pay two dollars for a purchase costing $1.37. Naturally, the woman might try to add small items she might need eventually to get up to $2, but it was still a problem for the poor -- who were the great majority of the population.
On reading about this, it occurred to me that someone -- Bill Gates, for example -- could do a lot to help them out by selling them millions in American coins.
I think people are missing the point that if you go completely cashless you are well and truly fucked if you want to pop in for Char Siu Rice at Wong Kei in Wardour St.
Lol. A cross one has to bear
I do the lunch shift on the till at a cafe. There's always 1 or 2 people whose cards (or smartphones) don't work. It happens several times a day that someone tries to pay with a smartphone/watch and the machine says 'please insert card' - usually they then produce the card. Luckily most people around here still carry cash. Then there are the rarer occasions when the machine stops working and we can only take cash...
Weird. I only hear these anecdotes on PB. Never in real life. And I should know, because I use ApplePay exclusively. Don’t even carry a card.
Once in a while I get asked by the little scanner tap-to-pay machine to physically put my card in and type my pin in. Always assumed it was a semi-random security thing. Or I'm being skimmed by the local shops. One of the two...
Some cards/issuers only allow x number of tap-to-pay before asking for the pin. Using the pin resets the count.
Some do it as a semi random security check.
Another reason why everyone should dump the card and switch to ApplePay.
"I work in retail....it's ALWAYS the people with iphones that bitch and complain that we don't have stupid apple pay. Like, literally nobody with an android or samsung has ever bitched about not being able to use google pay or samsung pay. Like..........the world isn't going to spend the money to get a stupid terminal for contactless payment..........GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCKING stupid iphone users!! Take your apple pay and your NFC chip and shove it up your ass"
But contactless terminals have been the default for fifteen years, and are generally provided free of charge by the payments processors. Are these people using manual card imprinters from the 1980s?
The USA were very late to the game. I remember not too long ago listening to a podcast with a guy from a fairly tech bit of California who had visited friends in Canada and been absolutely amazed at how any type of tap-to-pay was just the default. Seems to be quite rapidly improving, but very dependent on the chain/store.
Ah, yes, I hadn't clocked that it was American.
The fascination with retro tech for anything to do with finance in the US is definitely a thing, and leads to all sorts of shonky workarounds like CashApp.
I have half a theory that some of the blame for this can be laid on IBM for not collapsing when the rest of the world's mainframe computer companies died off...
They have outlasted all pretenders and still flourishing despite some massive faux pas. There has only really ever been on emainframe company , rest were pale imitations.
Comments
A rather more refined piece of kit:
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1763537116326203437
De-fleaing pets used to be a simple thing.
He was responsible for getting the current Central Line Improvement Programme funded after Boris dithered for years. The impending problems with the motors have been known about for a couple of decades, but the current rise in the failure rate seems to be down to random chance more than anything else. Certainly, no-one seems to have predicted that there was a serious chance that it would exceed the rate at which the refurbed trains are coming into service.
I mean, maybe you can criticise him for not getting the CLIP underway a year earlier so that there'd have been a greater safety margin - but the financial environment was always against that. Indeed, at the time that CLIP was announced, there were huge complaints about not replacing the (much older) Bakerloo trains first!
The master-ensuite is an on-the-sleeve badge of aspiration like the AT LEAST ONE bifold door.
The house plan is interesting, as they always are in new developments.
- Very little wasted - obtangular rather than square reception rooms, so each has two activity areas.
- Circulation space less than 10% at a quick guesstimate.
- Corner stoop not porch or recessed stoop (saves a door and 2 windows, reduces insulated wall length and keeps space internal which counts).
- Four possible double bedrooms even though is it 2 double + 2 single by the 11.5sqm space standard, and the smallest is just under 9sqm, the others are >10sqm. One could be a fairly generous home-office.
- Very different from eg 1930s suburb houses or urban villas, or 1980/1990s newbuild, where the receptions would be squarer and the single beds may be tighter.
Very little on the cost-side I suspect on stuff that can't be seen.
I suspect a weak point may be bifold-door leaks and droop in a few years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FL-boat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_tracked_mine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletank
etc...
The one thing that saves the corrupting and power laden sport of football from absolute desolation is that it has to have large numbers of actual real people present in order to create the essential atmosphere of the game for the billions of people in armchairs. They should be paid for turning up.
In cricket the difference between a test match somewhere with no-one there and no-one cares about (this happens) and an England v Australia at Lords is amazing.
https://mcb.org.uk/features/elections/archive/muslim-vote-2019/
I suspect one constraint is that there are not that many cynical and effective sectarians of the Galloway style.
So you are having that great party and people are circulating in and out of the garden space.
Bifold doors can work just fine - but the proper ones are expensive.
Re Adnams if you are in Southwold and want a drink you are stuffed if you insist on cash cos they own every pub.
barrier. It’s all good.
I very much hope our GE campaign isn’t taken over by the politics of the Middle East, but it is starting to worry me it is going that way.
Would it actually suit Starmer if Sunak hangs onto until late this year or even Jan 25?
Gives more time for a ceasefire brokered by Biden and this might take some pressure off over Gaza.
But now we need to put in limits elsewhere. Sunak's income thresholds are a great way of doing this. Come April/May, we will finally have a legal immigration system fit for purpose. The problem is Starmer will start blowing holes in it so that his favoured constituencies can get through it.
Or double bedroom for live-in grown up boomerang child couples.
https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=ECQUn5KuTKS
*stunned*
Have a good a good day all.
You get pitying looks unless you have at least three.
Plus the patio should be set to drain away from the house
https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons?partyid=8
https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1763550498882269585
What does Galloway want which would be so different from this. To send troops?
Though it's not certain.
Were she to get her wish, he wouldn't be the nominee come November.
But under Biden, manufacturing investment has grown faster than any time in recent history. And it's not even close.
During Trump's presidency, manufacturing spending grew by 5%. Under Biden it has grown by 279%.
https://twitter.com/curious_founder/status/1763246258762719289
https://tinyurl.com/2j628ub8
(you know it's a nearly-sixty-year-old-book that's already been filmed once, yes?)
1 bathroom for the other three
That doesn't sound very generous to me.
You had an outside bog? LUUUUUUUUUUXXXXXXURRRRRYYYY!
Small calibre gunshot. entrance wound, no exit. Wound hidden by folding of the skin or under head hair. Little or no blood and/or rain washed most away.
https://enormo-haddock.blogspot.com/2024/03/bahrain-pre-qualifying-2024.html
Or Brad Raffensperger (re-elected 2022).
NEW THREAD
It is now inarguable that there is a constituency out there in certain seats in a byelection for Galloway's views on Gaza. How much more we can say is more difficult to ascertain. He is the big winner here. Also do not assume that all his support came from the 30% Muslim community even if the majority of it did. Sticking two fingers up to the establishment has a very real appeal from outside of any single community.
So who were the losers. Lab of course but that was priced in. I couldn't understand money going on Ali yesterday. Who did anyone think was voting for him? Other big losers are Reform UK. A spectacularly poor result, lower than for Brexit in 2019. Picking a candidate with that history in a seat with that history suggests they may not be ready for the big leagues. This should have been their best opportunity since Peterborough. Then the Cons. Had they thrown everything at this poll could they have whipped up a stop Galloway sentiment among the 70% of voters who are non-Muslim. May have been a long shot but had it come off it could have given their client press the ammunition to change the narrative. Instead their candidate went on his hols, their party did nothing and they lost almost two-thirds of their vote share. Pathetic.
The one good thing to happen was David Tully. By all reports a decent man from the local business and Rugby League communities who actually campaigned and tried to give people something to vote for. 21% percent was a very fine effort even if not enough to stop George. The good thing is that people chose to vote for him and not for Danczuk or the far-right independent.
Will this be seen as a turning point or is it just another Bradford West? We shall see but I have my suspicions
But this caused a problem for small purchases. The small shops had bills, but not coins. So, a woman who went to buy something small, for example, needles and thread, would have to pay two dollars for a purchase costing $1.37. Naturally, the woman might try to add small items she might need eventually to get up to $2, but it was still a problem for the poor -- who were the great majority of the population.
On reading about this, it occurred to me that someone -- Bill Gates, for example -- could do a lot to help them out by selling them millions in American coins.