Has he done any constituency surgery or work in the last 6 weeks? Rumour is no.
Compare with Leicester's Shockhat Adam who has got stuck into it.
I am surprised it is only a rumour. So many political types online seem utterly obsessed with the man I am surprised they are not tracking his every movement.
It’s August, everyone’s on holiday.
It’s going to be fun tracking all the new independent and unexpectedly-elected MPs when Parliament returns though. With a large majority there’s rarely going to be a close vote on anything, and it’s not going to be a surprise if we have another Jared O’Mara or two among the 2024 intake.
We already know about Farage. Who else did you have in mind?
It was the Conservatives who had the mad scramble to find candidates, wasn't it? (Oh how we all laughed. But how the heckythump did they not have candidates in place before calling the election.) Though presumably the lack of Conservatives elected saves them from the consequences of that.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
And where exactly does "The North" start?
Perth for me.
Why is why many Scots feel closer to Norway than London.
I thought it was Sweden for the great Stuart Dickson?
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
I am closer to Bridgend than Penarth, but I am not going to start claiming I don't live in the Vale of Glamorgan. The value of my house would depreciate by £250,000!
HY, have you posted the latest Rasmussen yet? Oh wait, as you were, it's a Harris lead.
Some of the most serious defects of our higher education regime derive from the decision in 1992 to merge the former polytechnics with the university sector. Many of the old polytechnics did a very good job, concentrating on practical subjects and practical skills.
If Farage earns so much money, why can't he dress properly? He wears pin striped suits where the stripes disappear into the seams rather than line up properly. Those coats with velvet collars just scream spiv.
Obviously Tim Vine and Jimmy Carr are not at Edinburgh this year.
There is less reason for new comics to play Edinburgh since, according to The Rest is Entertainment, the pathway from Edinburgh to television has been broken with the demise of comedy panel shows.
Since you mention Jimmy Carr, his latest YouTube videos confirm something else TRiE said which I'd not till then noticed, which is that new and established comedians, including Carr, have stopped putting their actual jokes on YouTube and publish their banter with the audience instead: no loss of material as it is different every night.
Eight Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown, hosted by Carr, which does offer a platform to new comics, apparently still has unshown episodes recorded in 2022, and will not be making any this year. Like most broadcasters, Channel 4 is suffering from the collapse of advertising revenue.
Good point about television, the comics can get more exposure online now than they can on a panel show that few people watch, even if comedy panel shows are some of the cheapest TV to make for the networks.
I have noticed Carr himself posting old episodes of Cats and Cats Does Countdown, so he’s obviously done a deal with the production company to get more exposure for them.
Yes, most of what comedians themselves post online is either compilations of old material, or what they call ‘crowd work’ from recent shows, dealing with hecklers or roasting the town they’re in. They don’t want to post any of their current material, as they want people to buy tickets to watch that. When the tour finishes, they’ll usefully tape a ‘special’ recording hoping to sell it to Netflix or Amazon, and only posting it to Youtube if they can’t otherwise find a buyer for it.
After yesterday's reporting, I have so many questions to which still no relevant politician or spokesperson from a relevant ministry has provided an answer.
1) If Germany seriously wants to finance its aid only via the G-7 loan, what is stopping other countries from doing the same? Imagine just the US doing this... It wouldn't work.
2) Therefore → Why do the Ministry of Finance and the Chancellery think that Germany has a special right compared to other G7 members?
3) Wouldn't Ukraine actually finance the German bilateral assistance to Ukraine, since the loan is being paid out to Ukraine and only after that they spend the money?
4) Why should we end up with no expenditure from the annual budget, while other countries have to pay billions upon billions of euros out of their own pockets to Ukraine?
5) If Germany is not even willing to pay a few billion euros out of its own pocket, why should much smaller and economically weaker countries do so?
It's only whoever this is who is saying Germany will "finance its aid only via the G-7 loan", everybody else is talking about an apparent plan to cut German military aid from 8 billion to 4 billion, so I'm not sure I'd bother waiting for this person's 'updates'.
That's not the point being made. The German government is claiming it will finance its aid out of the seized Russian financial assets. As the guy I quoted pointed out, those aren't Germany's assets to allocate. You and he aren't at issue in this.
Most people assumed the allies had in actuality been briefed ahead of time before their tanks and artillery systems rolled into the Russian countryside. Germany’s actions in the days since suggest not. Nordstream arrest warrant and now going cold on military aid.
Meanwhile Zelensky publicly calling out Starmer’s lack of leadership. And then there’s the US, where we might conclude that neither candidate gives two figs about Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination.
Might be we’re seeing the final crescendo before the guns go silent, hell for leather land grabs by both sides before complicated negotiations in 2025.
"Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination." ???
That's a very odd take. Also, a very pro-Russian take.
You are utterly bananas. How is it pro Russian to think that Crimea and Donbas deserve the right to have prior expressions of wanting to be part of Ukraine respected, without having Russian artillery shells and torture squads interfering?
The political direction in the West in all this depresses me because I know a stitch up when I see one. It seems very clear to me that the US has deliberately held back Ukraine’s attempts to reclaim territory, since autumn 2022. For example the wise counsel to do combined arms manoeuvre warfare last year over minefields with 4-5 mines per sq metre, and no air cover to stop clearing activities safe from Russian attack helicopters.
But even earlier than, insufficient armoured vehicles to capitalise on the Kharkiv counter offensive. A lack of support to fully press the advantage in Kherson before the mass evacuation. Refusal to allow ATACMS to take out Russian planes on the runway. Even now, blocking British autonomy to approve use of stormshadow in Russia.
The realpolitik of it is that the US has been happy to sacrifice non NATO Slavic lives in exchange for gradually degrading Russia’s Soviet stockpile. But not at the expense of doing anything that might see Putin’s domestic authority undermined. And certainly not allow anything that might meaningfully prohibit the flow of energy to the world market and heighten supply driven inflation in North America.
The fix is in. The Soviet stockpiles have taken a hammering and enough’s enough. I suspect that regardless of who wins on 5th Nov, Ukraine will be forced to the table. I hope I’m wrong.
Some of the most serious defects of our higher education regime derive from the decision in 1992 to merge the former polytechnics with the university sector. Many of the old polytechnics did a very good job, concentrating on practical subjects and practical skills.
- "Unless you complete your titanium welding module, you can't get your degree in Poetry"
- "Unless you complete your Poetry module, you can't get your degree in welding"
It would be a better world all round.
Forsooth, what bright light is this from the east, that shines on the that base metal that time doth corrode?
'Tis my new arc welder dropshipped by amazon...
Note that many (most?) private schools teach "shop work"
So at Eton, you learn to run a lathe....
There's a somewhat well-known Cambridge engineer whose large garage is/was a woodworking shop. His idea of relaxation was to go into the garage and work on a project, usually something small and intricate. Someone joked that his am was to make a circuit board out of wood...
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Obviously Tim Vine and Jimmy Carr are not at Edinburgh this year.
There is less reason for new comics to play Edinburgh since, according to The Rest is Entertainment, the pathway from Edinburgh to television has been broken with the demise of comedy panel shows.
Since you mention Jimmy Carr, his latest YouTube videos confirm something else TRiE said which I'd not till then noticed, which is that new and established comedians, including Carr, have stopped putting their actual jokes on YouTube and publish their banter with the audience instead: no loss of material as it is different every night.
Eight Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown, hosted by Carr, which does offer a platform to new comics, apparently still has unshown episodes recorded in 2022, and will not be making any this year. Like most broadcasters, Channel 4 is suffering from the collapse of advertising revenue.
Aren't panel shows the most cost-effective way of filling the screen with comedy? I think that's why there hasn't really been any sketch shows since Armstrong and Miller and Mitchell and Webb.
If they're now in the "too expensive" category, TV really is in trouble.
Labour exploitation (alleged trafficking, insufficient evidence for a Court finding - certainly horrible treatment and neglect) by a scallop dredging company TN Trawlers based in Annan, Solway, in the period 2011-2013.
A good example imo of fines treated as an overhead.
I presume this is an example of a job that the lazy, feckless UKers refuse to do, preferring to luxuriate in their vast handouts from the state. If they took time from being fed peeled grapes, while lying on a bed made of 50 pounds notes etc....
This one is much more serious than that, and I'd recommend a read or a listen. It's exploitation of the type that gave rise to gang masters legislation. There is one account of deckhands literally jumping off the ship and swimming across the harbour to get away.
A years long police investigation which did not bring the needed results at the end.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
I am closer to Bridgend than Penarth, but I am not going to start claiming I don't live in the Vale of Glamorgan. The value of my house would depreciate by £250,000!
HY, have you posted the latest Rasmussen yet? Oh wait, as you were, it's a Harris lead.
Morning all!
Some years go.... in the 70's if memory serves ..... there was a proposal to move, administratedly, obvs., NE Essex, including Colchester, into Suffolk. There was absolutely zero support for the idea, outside the head of whoever suggested it and the matter was rapidly dropped, never to be heard of again.
Essex cricket has recruited some very good players from the Clacton region over the years, Foakes, subsequently poached by Surrey, being the latest.
Not sure I’ve seen anything that would indicate a tightening at this point? Polls still pretty Harris-favourable…
Maybe punters believe they slightly overreacted to the Harris surge over the last couple of weeks and the state polling is still pretty close, (regardless of the national vote share opinion polls).
A very confused and pompous Douglas Murray. The Spectator has now become the Telegraph's storm trooper. Old Etonian speaks for the white working class!
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
And where exactly does "The North" start?
Watford Gap, as it always has.
I thought it was Watford, as opposed to motorway services just South of Rugby.
Not sure I’ve seen anything that would indicate a tightening at this point? Polls still pretty Harris-favourable…
Polymarket moved back to evens over the weekend for no apparent reason, now it's back at 51-47 again, also for no apparent reason. (Michelle Obama still at 1%, those guys aren't giving up.)
Obviously Tim Vine and Jimmy Carr are not at Edinburgh this year.
There is less reason for new comics to play Edinburgh since, according to The Rest is Entertainment, the pathway from Edinburgh to television has been broken with the demise of comedy panel shows.
Since you mention Jimmy Carr, his latest YouTube videos confirm something else TRiE said which I'd not till then noticed, which is that new and established comedians, including Carr, have stopped putting their actual jokes on YouTube and publish their banter with the audience instead: no loss of material as it is different every night.
Eight Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown, hosted by Carr, which does offer a platform to new comics, apparently still has unshown episodes recorded in 2022, and will not be making any this year. Like most broadcasters, Channel 4 is suffering from the collapse of advertising revenue.
Aren't panel shows the most cost-effective way of filling the screen with comedy? I think that's why there hasn't really been any sketch shows since Armstrong and Miller and Mitchell and Webb.
If they're now in the "too expensive" category, TV really is in trouble.
Comedy panel shows and quiz shows are some of the cheapest TV to produce, way cheaper than sketch shows or sitcoms, which is why we see so much of them on daytime TV, or on the smaller channels at night for the comedies.
If they’re stuggling with these, then the networks must be buying up cheap repeats of old shows to fill space.
Obviously Tim Vine and Jimmy Carr are not at Edinburgh this year.
There is less reason for new comics to play Edinburgh since, according to The Rest is Entertainment, the pathway from Edinburgh to television has been broken with the demise of comedy panel shows.
Since you mention Jimmy Carr, his latest YouTube videos confirm something else TRiE said which I'd not till then noticed, which is that new and established comedians, including Carr, have stopped putting their actual jokes on YouTube and publish their banter with the audience instead: no loss of material as it is different every night.
Eight Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown, hosted by Carr, which does offer a platform to new comics, apparently still has unshown episodes recorded in 2022, and will not be making any this year. Like most broadcasters, Channel 4 is suffering from the collapse of advertising revenue.
Aren't panel shows the most cost-effective way of filling the screen with comedy? I think that's why there hasn't really been any sketch shows since Armstrong and Miller and Mitchell and Webb.
If they're now in the "too expensive" category, TV really is in trouble.
iirc the trouble with comedy panel shows is they got panned for creating toxic environments that disadvantaged lady comics, or some such.
Labour exploitation (alleged trafficking, insufficient evidence for a Court finding - certainly horrible treatment and neglect) by a scallop dredging company TN Trawlers based in Annan, Solway, in the period 2011-2013.
A good example imo of fines treated as an overhead.
I presume this is an example of a job that the lazy, feckless UKers refuse to do, preferring to luxuriate in their vast handouts from the state. If they took time from being fed peeled grapes, while lying on a bed made of 50 pounds notes etc....
This one is much more serious than that, and I'd recommend a read or a listen. It's exploitation of the type that gave rise to gang masters legislation. There is one account of deckhands literally jumping off the ship and swimming across the harbour to get away.
A years long police investigation which did not bring the needed results at the end.
Oh, absolutely - just being sarcastic about a certain type of PBer who thinks that ultra cheap labour is a human right for employers.
After yesterday's reporting, I have so many questions to which still no relevant politician or spokesperson from a relevant ministry has provided an answer.
1) If Germany seriously wants to finance its aid only via the G-7 loan, what is stopping other countries from doing the same? Imagine just the US doing this... It wouldn't work.
2) Therefore → Why do the Ministry of Finance and the Chancellery think that Germany has a special right compared to other G7 members?
3) Wouldn't Ukraine actually finance the German bilateral assistance to Ukraine, since the loan is being paid out to Ukraine and only after that they spend the money?
4) Why should we end up with no expenditure from the annual budget, while other countries have to pay billions upon billions of euros out of their own pockets to Ukraine?
5) If Germany is not even willing to pay a few billion euros out of its own pocket, why should much smaller and economically weaker countries do so?
It's only whoever this is who is saying Germany will "finance its aid only via the G-7 loan", everybody else is talking about an apparent plan to cut German military aid from 8 billion to 4 billion, so I'm not sure I'd bother waiting for this person's 'updates'.
That's not the point being made. The German government is claiming it will finance its aid out of the seized Russian financial assets. As the guy I quoted pointed out, those aren't Germany's assets to allocate. You and he aren't at issue in this.
Most people assumed the allies had in actuality been briefed ahead of time before their tanks and artillery systems rolled into the Russian countryside. Germany’s actions in the days since suggest not. Nordstream arrest warrant and now going cold on military aid.
Meanwhile Zelensky publicly calling out Starmer’s lack of leadership. And then there’s the US, where we might conclude that neither candidate gives two figs about Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination.
Might be we’re seeing the final crescendo before the guns go silent, hell for leather land grabs by both sides before complicated negotiations in 2025.
"Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination." ???
That's a very odd take. Also, a very pro-Russian take.
You are utterly bananas. How is it pro Russian to think that Crimea and Donbas deserve the right to have prior expressions of wanting to be part of Ukraine respected, without having Russian artillery shells and torture squads interfering?
The political direction in the West in all this depresses me because I know a stitch up when I see one. It seems very clear to me that the US has deliberately held back Ukraine’s attempts to reclaim territory, since autumn 2022. For example the wise counsel to do combined arms manoeuvre warfare last year over minefields with 4-5 mines per sq metre, and no air cover to stop clearing activities safe from Russian attack helicopters.
But even earlier than, insufficient armoured vehicles to capitalise on the Kharkiv counter offensive. A lack of support to fully press the advantage in Kherson before the mass evacuation. Refusal to allow ATACMS to take out Russian planes on the runway. Even now, blocking British autonomy to approve use of stormshadow in Russia.
The realpolitik of it is that the US has been happy to sacrifice non NATO Slavic lives in exchange for gradually degrading Russia’s Soviet stockpile. But not at the expense of doing anything that might see Putin’s domestic authority undermined. And certainly not allow anything that might meaningfully prohibit the flow of energy to the world market and heighten supply driven inflation in North America.
The fix is in. The Soviet stockpiles have taken a hammering and enough’s enough. I suspect that regardless of who wins on 5th Nov, Ukraine will be forced to the table. I hope I’m wrong.
I do accept the point you make about self determination. Although eastern Ukraine is identifying increasingly with Ukraine for obvious reasons, it doesn't apply to everyone. We need to be aware that there are people in Ukraine who see themselves as Russian and these are the majority in some places.
There is another principle you miss however, which is the sanctity of internationally recognised borders. You never mess with these if you want to avoid the kind of war that we're seeing in Ukraine. It does mean there may be populations trapped within a state that don't want to be there. Unless they can persuade the "host" state to let them go, the borders will remain.
Labour exploitation (alleged trafficking, insufficient evidence for a Court finding - certainly horrible treatment and neglect) by a scallop dredging company TN Trawlers based in Annan, Solway, in the period 2011-2013.
A good example imo of fines treated as an overhead.
I presume this is an example of a job that the lazy, feckless UKers refuse to do, preferring to luxuriate in their vast handouts from the state. If they took time from being fed peeled grapes, while lying on a bed made of 50 pounds notes etc....
This one is much more serious than that, and I'd recommend a read or a listen. It's exploitation of the type that gave rise to gang masters legislation. There is one account of deckhands literally jumping off the ship and swimming across the harbour to get away.
A years long police investigation which did not bring the needed results at the end.
Oh, absolutely - just being sarcastic about a certain type of PBer who thinks that ultra cheap labour is a human right for employers.
Apologies - I took that seriously, In my defence, I just listened to the programme - serious sclerosis in the prosecution system.
After yesterday's reporting, I have so many questions to which still no relevant politician or spokesperson from a relevant ministry has provided an answer.
1) If Germany seriously wants to finance its aid only via the G-7 loan, what is stopping other countries from doing the same? Imagine just the US doing this... It wouldn't work.
2) Therefore → Why do the Ministry of Finance and the Chancellery think that Germany has a special right compared to other G7 members?
3) Wouldn't Ukraine actually finance the German bilateral assistance to Ukraine, since the loan is being paid out to Ukraine and only after that they spend the money?
4) Why should we end up with no expenditure from the annual budget, while other countries have to pay billions upon billions of euros out of their own pockets to Ukraine?
5) If Germany is not even willing to pay a few billion euros out of its own pocket, why should much smaller and economically weaker countries do so?
It's only whoever this is who is saying Germany will "finance its aid only via the G-7 loan", everybody else is talking about an apparent plan to cut German military aid from 8 billion to 4 billion, so I'm not sure I'd bother waiting for this person's 'updates'.
That's not the point being made. The German government is claiming it will finance its aid out of the seized Russian financial assets. As the guy I quoted pointed out, those aren't Germany's assets to allocate. You and he aren't at issue in this.
Most people assumed the allies had in actuality been briefed ahead of time before their tanks and artillery systems rolled into the Russian countryside. Germany’s actions in the days since suggest not. Nordstream arrest warrant and now going cold on military aid.
Meanwhile Zelensky publicly calling out Starmer’s lack of leadership. And then there’s the US, where we might conclude that neither candidate gives two figs about Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination.
Might be we’re seeing the final crescendo before the guns go silent, hell for leather land grabs by both sides before complicated negotiations in 2025.
"Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination." ???
That's a very odd take. Also, a very pro-Russian take.
You are utterly bananas. How is it pro Russian to think that Crimea and Donbas deserve the right to have prior expressions of wanting to be part of Ukraine respected, without having Russian artillery shells and torture squads interfering?
The political direction in the West in all this depresses me because I know a stitch up when I see one. It seems very clear to me that the US has deliberately held back Ukraine’s attempts to reclaim territory, since autumn 2022. For example the wise counsel to do combined arms manoeuvre warfare last year over minefields with 4-5 mines per sq metre, and no air cover to stop clearing activities safe from Russian attack helicopters.
But even earlier than, insufficient armoured vehicles to capitalise on the Kharkiv counter offensive. A lack of support to fully press the advantage in Kherson before the mass evacuation. Refusal to allow ATACMS to take out Russian planes on the runway. Even now, blocking British autonomy to approve use of stormshadow in Russia.
The realpolitik of it is that the US has been happy to sacrifice non NATO Slavic lives in exchange for gradually degrading Russia’s Soviet stockpile. But not at the expense of doing anything that might see Putin’s domestic authority undermined. And certainly not allow anything that might meaningfully prohibit the flow of energy to the world market and heighten supply driven inflation in North America.
The fix is in. The Soviet stockpiles have taken a hammering and enough’s enough. I suspect that regardless of who wins on 5th Nov, Ukraine will be forced to the table. I hope I’m wrong.
I do accept the point you make about self determination. Although eastern Ukraine is identifying increasingly with Ukraine for obvious reasons, it doesn't apply to everyone. We need to be aware that there are people in Ukraine who see themselves as Russian and these are the majority in some places.
There is another principle you miss however, which is the sanctity of internationally recognised borders. You never mess with these if you want to avoid the kind of war that we're seeing in Ukraine. It does mean there may be populations trapped within a state that don't want to be there. Unless they can persuade the "host" state to let them go, the borders will remain.
Indeed; just as there are evidently those in the Kursk region who still see themselves as Ukrainian. There are very few eastern European countries whose boundaries were set after WWII where linguistic boundaries match the political ones. That's just a fact of life.
You're right to say that there's no good way to deal with that other than insisting that international borders do not get changed by force.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
If Farage earns so much money, why can't he dress properly? He wears pin striped suits where the stripes disappear into the seams rather than line up properly. Those coats with velvet collars just scream spiv.
They must be insane. They are already discovering that paying Danegeld doesn't get rid of Danes for very long, so why on earth would they make it easier for them to be held to ransom?
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
Epping is closer to London than it is to Colchester.
Labour exploitation (alleged trafficking, insufficient evidence for a Court finding - certainly horrible treatment and neglect) by a scallop dredging company TN Trawlers based in Annan, Solway, in the period 2011-2013.
A good example imo of fines treated as an overhead.
I presume this is an example of a job that the lazy, feckless UKers refuse to do, preferring to luxuriate in their vast handouts from the state. If they took time from being fed peeled grapes, while lying on a bed made of 50 pounds notes etc....
This one is much more serious than that, and I'd recommend a read or a listen. It's exploitation of the type that gave rise to gang masters legislation. There is one account of deckhands literally jumping off the ship and swimming across the harbour to get away.
A years long police investigation which did not bring the needed results at the end.
Oh, absolutely - just being sarcastic about a certain type of PBer who thinks that ultra cheap labour is a human right for employers.
Apologies - I took that seriously, In my defence, I just listened to the programme - serious sclerosis in the prosecution system.
We've come a long way from the days that the Royal Navy said that slavery = piracy = hanging
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
Epping is closer to London than it is to Colchester.
And sounds like it too, unless you're talking to someone who has only recently moved to Colchester. Sadly, Estuary English is rapidly spreading into North Essex.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
The car can cross a solid white line in certain circumstances and that includes overtaking a bike, although the bike must not be exceeding 10mph which he probably was, but I doubt anyone would care or check that or be able to check that. So yes he can go over the solid white line when overtaking the bike.
Reform’s next move, if they really want to hit the big time, is to professionalise their operation and start putting down roots in local government.
As a step towards doing that they need to be putting formal party structures in place.
Maybe I will be surprised, but nothing in Farage’s MO suggests to me he’s able to put the hard work in to really do that.
He is good at generating headlines but if he is really serious about turning Reform into the second party in the country it will take a lot more than name recognition and media attention.
A very confused and pompous Douglas Murray. The Spectator has now become the Telegraph's storm trooper. Old Etonian speaks for the white working class!
From the YouTube blurb Douglas Murray joins the Spectator's Freddy Gray to discuss free speech in Britain following the sentences handed down after the riots...and how Douglas himself became a victim of online hate.
"Free speech" - speech that the person likes "Online hate" - speech that the person dislikes
After yesterday's reporting, I have so many questions to which still no relevant politician or spokesperson from a relevant ministry has provided an answer.
1) If Germany seriously wants to finance its aid only via the G-7 loan, what is stopping other countries from doing the same? Imagine just the US doing this... It wouldn't work.
2) Therefore → Why do the Ministry of Finance and the Chancellery think that Germany has a special right compared to other G7 members?
3) Wouldn't Ukraine actually finance the German bilateral assistance to Ukraine, since the loan is being paid out to Ukraine and only after that they spend the money?
4) Why should we end up with no expenditure from the annual budget, while other countries have to pay billions upon billions of euros out of their own pockets to Ukraine?
5) If Germany is not even willing to pay a few billion euros out of its own pocket, why should much smaller and economically weaker countries do so?
It's only whoever this is who is saying Germany will "finance its aid only via the G-7 loan", everybody else is talking about an apparent plan to cut German military aid from 8 billion to 4 billion, so I'm not sure I'd bother waiting for this person's 'updates'.
That's not the point being made. The German government is claiming it will finance its aid out of the seized Russian financial assets. As the guy I quoted pointed out, those aren't Germany's assets to allocate. You and he aren't at issue in this.
Most people assumed the allies had in actuality been briefed ahead of time before their tanks and artillery systems rolled into the Russian countryside. Germany’s actions in the days since suggest not. Nordstream arrest warrant and now going cold on military aid.
Meanwhile Zelensky publicly calling out Starmer’s lack of leadership. And then there’s the US, where we might conclude that neither candidate gives two figs about Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination.
Might be we’re seeing the final crescendo before the guns go silent, hell for leather land grabs by both sides before complicated negotiations in 2025.
"Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination." ???
That's a very odd take. Also, a very pro-Russian take.
You are utterly bananas. How is it pro Russian to think that Crimea and Donbas deserve the right to have prior expressions of wanting to be part of Ukraine respected, without having Russian artillery shells and torture squads interfering?
(Snip)
You said: "And then there’s the US, where we might conclude that neither candidate gives two figs about Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination. "
We have little idea of the true feelings of eastern Ukrainian inhabitants pre-2014, and cannot discern it now; Russia well and truly took over. But the fact that Russia, despite their massive advantages, did not manage to take over all of the areas they wanted in that year - precisely because of many inhabitants in those areas fighting back - shows it was far from the pro-Russian mass the Putinists would have us believe.
But the main point is that self-determination is impossible once an armed force has taken over especially given Russia's habit of deporting Ukrainians into Russia and replacing them with Russians. Any attempt at self-determination in those areas would be for Russia, because of these policies and the laughable idea of 'democracy' Russia has.
Self-determination is an interesting and complex topic. In the case of Ukraine, Russia spent all the time since 1990 interfering in Ukraine's internal politics, and part of this involved Russian-language media to appeal directly to those in the east. When Russia's interference failed with the Maiden in 2014, Russia sent is 'little green men' in.
Just like they did in Georgia in 2008.
We cannot have self-determination in the Donbass and Crimea now, because of Russia's actions. It has to go back to Ukraine.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
After yesterday's reporting, I have so many questions to which still no relevant politician or spokesperson from a relevant ministry has provided an answer.
1) If Germany seriously wants to finance its aid only via the G-7 loan, what is stopping other countries from doing the same? Imagine just the US doing this... It wouldn't work.
2) Therefore → Why do the Ministry of Finance and the Chancellery think that Germany has a special right compared to other G7 members?
3) Wouldn't Ukraine actually finance the German bilateral assistance to Ukraine, since the loan is being paid out to Ukraine and only after that they spend the money?
4) Why should we end up with no expenditure from the annual budget, while other countries have to pay billions upon billions of euros out of their own pockets to Ukraine?
5) If Germany is not even willing to pay a few billion euros out of its own pocket, why should much smaller and economically weaker countries do so?
It's only whoever this is who is saying Germany will "finance its aid only via the G-7 loan", everybody else is talking about an apparent plan to cut German military aid from 8 billion to 4 billion, so I'm not sure I'd bother waiting for this person's 'updates'.
That's not the point being made. The German government is claiming it will finance its aid out of the seized Russian financial assets. As the guy I quoted pointed out, those aren't Germany's assets to allocate. You and he aren't at issue in this.
Most people assumed the allies had in actuality been briefed ahead of time before their tanks and artillery systems rolled into the Russian countryside. Germany’s actions in the days since suggest not. Nordstream arrest warrant and now going cold on military aid.
Meanwhile Zelensky publicly calling out Starmer’s lack of leadership. And then there’s the US, where we might conclude that neither candidate gives two figs about Crimea and the Donbass’s right of self determination.
Might be we’re seeing the final crescendo before the guns go silent, hell for leather land grabs by both sides before complicated negotiations in 2025.
Crimea and the Donbass both voted for Ukrainian independence. Their right of self determination was respected and they self determined an independent Ukraine.
Labour exploitation (alleged trafficking, insufficient evidence for a Court finding - certainly horrible treatment and neglect) by a scallop dredging company TN Trawlers based in Annan, Solway, in the period 2011-2013.
A good example imo of fines treated as an overhead.
I presume this is an example of a job that the lazy, feckless UKers refuse to do, preferring to luxuriate in their vast handouts from the state. If they took time from being fed peeled grapes, while lying on a bed made of 50 pounds notes etc....
Pretty hard even for minimum wage to compete with actual slavery. I hope they throw the book at the "employer".
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
Epping is closer to London than it is to Colchester.
We now live in Rural East ward of EFDC not Epping so are officially now Mid Essex not South Essex and as close to Cambridge as London
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
The car can cross a solid white line in certain circumstances and that includes overtaking a bike, although the bike must not be exceeding 10mph which he probably was, but I doubt anyone would care or check that or be able to check that. So yes he can go over the solid white line when overtaking the bike.
Thanks for the like @DecrepiterJohnL . I would also add he should wait until it was clear (which I admit looks like a long wait) and leave as wide a berth as possible. When I overtake bikes (and horses) I go fully across to the other side of the road, because I know how scary it is for the bike rider. I note many cars don't even when they have the space to do so. They might wait until it is clear and leave a wide berth but don't take advantage of all the road available to them. I never understand why. You have it, so use it and make life easy for the biker. Similarly when passing puddles and there are pedestrians around. If I have space I avoid them. Seems courteous.
Labour exploitation (alleged trafficking, insufficient evidence for a Court finding - certainly horrible treatment and neglect) by a scallop dredging company TN Trawlers based in Annan, Solway, in the period 2011-2013.
A good example imo of fines treated as an overhead.
I presume this is an example of a job that the lazy, feckless UKers refuse to do, preferring to luxuriate in their vast handouts from the state. If they took time from being fed peeled grapes, while lying on a bed made of 50 pounds notes etc....
Pretty hard even for minimum wage to compete with actual slavery. I hope they throw the book at the "employer".
Reform’s next move, if they really want to hit the big time, is to professionalise their operation and start putting down roots in local government.
As a step towards doing that they need to be putting formal party structures in place.
Maybe I will be surprised, but nothing in Farage’s MO suggests to me he’s able to put the hard work in to really do that.
He is good at generating headlines but if he is really serious about turning Reform into the second party in the country it will take a lot more than name recognition and media attention.
And he'll be in America for the rest of this year sucking up to his chum Trump.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
The car can cross a solid white line in certain circumstances and that includes overtaking a bike, although the bike must not be exceeding 10mph which he probably was, but I doubt anyone would care or check that or be able to check that. So yes he can go over the solid white line when overtaking the bike.
Thanks for the like @DecrepiterJohnL . I would also add he should wait until it was clear (which I admit looks like a long wait) and leave as wide a berth as possible. When I overtake bikes (and horses) I go fully across to the other side of the road, because I know how scary it is for the bike rider. I note many cars don't even when they have the space to do so. They might wait until it is clear and leave a wide berth but don't take advantage of all the road available to them. I never understand why. You have it, so use it and make life easy for the biker. Similarly when passing puddles and there are pedestrians around. If I have space I avoid them. Seems courteous.
You should give a cyclist 6’ of space, at least that was the Highway Code last time I read it.
Horses, you should leave them about half a mile and pass at walking pace. A spooked equine is scary as Hell for anyone nearby.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
I try to be cautious on commenting, as it's in Ireland, so I don't know the current road laws in detail eg around crossing white lines to overtake. Having read their "Rules of the Road" (=Highway Code) several times, as a general rule they have inherited or roughly copied much of our system with some divergence; and they seem to update less rapidly than we do. It's easy to get caught on social media or the road.cc website who cover the UK and Ireland, who report most on these - this is "Near Miss Number 915" in the series.
There are also underlying assumptions reflecting a Common Law based system. Interestingly afaik only Common Law based countries have done "cammer as a witness" type reporting of crime so far.
In the UK it is "yes, you can, as long as the person on the cycle is doing 10mph or less", which is not quite right imo. Ireland does not have the 1.5m or more guideline.
The guy stopped and claimed "I gave you plenty of room", and assaulted the cammer. If it was that close I might well have tapped the wing, just so he knew how close it was - if it was a low speed differential. OTOH I don't have that many muscles.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
I am closer to Bridgend than Penarth, but I am not going to start claiming I don't live in the Vale of Glamorgan. The value of my house would depreciate by £250,000!
HY, have you posted the latest Rasmussen yet? Oh wait, as you were, it's a Harris lead.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
And where exactly does "The North" start?
Perth for me.
South of the Highland Boundary Fault. Surely has to be Dunkeld (or Luss if on the A82).
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
I try to be cautious on commenting, as it's in Ireland, so I don't know the current road laws in detail eg around crossing white lines to overtake. Having read their "Rules of the Road" (=Highway Code) several times, as a general rule they have inherited or roughly copied much of our system with some divergence; and they seem to update less rapidly than we do. It's easy to get caught on social media or the road.cc website who cover the UK and Ireland, who report most on these - this is "Near Miss Number 915" in the series.
There are also underlying assumptions reflecting a Common Law based system. Interestingly afaik only Common Law based countries have done "cammer as a witness" type reporting of crime so far.
In the UK it is "yes, you can, as long as the person on the cycle is doing 10mph or less", which is not quite right imo. Ireland does not have the 1.5m or more guideline.
The guy stopped and claimed "I gave you plenty of room", and assaulted the cammer. If it was that close I might well have tapped the wing, just so he knew how close it was - if it was a low speed differential. OTOH I don't have that many muscles.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
I try to be cautious on commenting, as it's in Ireland, so I don't know the current road laws in detail eg around crossing white lines to overtake. Having read their "Rules of the Road" (=Highway Code) several times, as a general rule they have inherited or roughly copied much of our system with some divergence; and they seem to update less rapidly than we do. It's easy to get caught on social media or the road.cc website who cover the UK and Ireland, who report most on these - this is "Near Miss Number 915" in the series.
There are also underlying assumptions reflecting a Common Law based system. Interestingly afaik only Common Law based countries have done "cammer as a witness" type reporting of crime so far.
In the UK it is "yes, you can, as long as the person on the cycle is doing 10mph or less", which is not quite right imo. Ireland does not have the 1.5m or more guideline.
The guy stopped and claimed "I gave you plenty of room", and assaulted the cammer. If it was that close I might well have tapped the wing, just so he knew how close it was - if it was a low speed differential. OTOH I don't have that many muscles.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
The car can cross a solid white line in certain circumstances and that includes overtaking a bike, although the bike must not be exceeding 10mph which he probably was, but I doubt anyone would care or check that or be able to check that. So yes he can go over the solid white line when overtaking the bike.
Thanks for the like @DecrepiterJohnL . I would also add he should wait until it was clear (which I admit looks like a long wait) and leave as wide a berth as possible. When I overtake bikes (and horses) I go fully across to the other side of the road, because I know how scary it is for the bike rider. I note many cars don't even when they have the space to do so. They might wait until it is clear and leave a wide berth but don't take advantage of all the road available to them. I never understand why. You have it, so use it and make life easy for the biker. Similarly when passing puddles and there are pedestrians around. If I have space I avoid them. Seems courteous.
You should give a cyclist 6’ of space, at least that was the Highway Code last time I read it.
Horses, you should leave them about half a mile and pass at walking pace. A spooked equine is scary as Hell for anyone nearby.
Some horses absolutely hate bicycles too. The worst pass I ever experienced was in East Lothian, went across to the right side of the oncoming lane to pass 3 horses and a car driver passed through the gap in the middle.
Neither me or the horse riders got the plate we were so shocked.
Labour exploitation (alleged trafficking, insufficient evidence for a Court finding - certainly horrible treatment and neglect) by a scallop dredging company TN Trawlers based in Annan, Solway, in the period 2011-2013.
A good example imo of fines treated as an overhead.
I presume this is an example of a job that the lazy, feckless UKers refuse to do, preferring to luxuriate in their vast handouts from the state. If they took time from being fed peeled grapes, while lying on a bed made of 50 pounds notes etc....
Pretty hard even for minimum wage to compete with actual slavery. I hope they throw the book at the "employer".
That's in both the article, and the podcast.
It's a company with previous for various offences, including illegal fishing etc back in 2006-7 (half million plus fines under Proceedings of Crime). Events reported were in 2011-2013, and HSE offences have been prosecuted to a small degree. The trafficking cases have not been prosecuted, witnesses stayed in UK for years, and then they did not proceed.
So much about ineffective process.
Since the company ran a fleet of dredgers turning over several million per annum, it's a business overhead.
The company deny offences, for a fuller summary.
I assume the programme would have been difficult to make whilst the case was still Sub Judice.
Labour exploitation (alleged trafficking, insufficient evidence for a Court finding - certainly horrible treatment and neglect) by a scallop dredging company TN Trawlers based in Annan, Solway, in the period 2011-2013.
A good example imo of fines treated as an overhead.
I presume this is an example of a job that the lazy, feckless UKers refuse to do, preferring to luxuriate in their vast handouts from the state. If they took time from being fed peeled grapes, while lying on a bed made of 50 pounds notes etc....
This one is much more serious than that, and I'd recommend a read or a listen. It's exploitation of the type that gave rise to gang masters legislation. There is one account of deckhands literally jumping off the ship and swimming across the harbour to get away.
A years long police investigation which did not bring the needed results at the end.
Oh, absolutely - just being sarcastic about a certain type of PBer who thinks that ultra cheap labour is a human right for employers.
Apologies - I took that seriously, In my defence, I just listened to the programme - serious sclerosis in the prosecution system.
We've come a long way from the days that the Royal Navy said that slavery = piracy = hanging
So civilised now.
Pedantically it was the Crown in Parliament which said that, and it only said that about trading slaves by sea, and the penalty was reduced to life imprisonment in 1837.
Labour exploitation (alleged trafficking, insufficient evidence for a Court finding - certainly horrible treatment and neglect) by a scallop dredging company TN Trawlers based in Annan, Solway, in the period 2011-2013.
A good example imo of fines treated as an overhead.
I presume this is an example of a job that the lazy, feckless UKers refuse to do, preferring to luxuriate in their vast handouts from the state. If they took time from being fed peeled grapes, while lying on a bed made of 50 pounds notes etc....
This one is much more serious than that, and I'd recommend a read or a listen. It's exploitation of the type that gave rise to gang masters legislation. There is one account of deckhands literally jumping off the ship and swimming across the harbour to get away.
A years long police investigation which did not bring the needed results at the end.
Oh, absolutely - just being sarcastic about a certain type of PBer who thinks that ultra cheap labour is a human right for employers.
Apologies - I took that seriously, In my defence, I just listened to the programme - serious sclerosis in the prosecution system.
We've come a long way from the days that the Royal Navy said that slavery = piracy = hanging
So civilised now.
Pedantically it was the Crown in Parliament which said that, and it only said that about trading slaves by sea, and the penalty was reduced to life imprisonment in 1837.
True. Life meant life back then. In a 19th cent prison. I think I'd take the short drop and sudden stop over that.
Give these fuckers life-means-life. If nothing else, it'll show down their ability to run a slave based trawling operation.
Oh, and haul their trawlers up on a slip and cut them in half, in the old style.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
The car can cross a solid white line in certain circumstances and that includes overtaking a bike, although the bike must not be exceeding 10mph which he probably was, but I doubt anyone would care or check that or be able to check that. So yes he can go over the solid white line when overtaking the bike.
Thanks for the like @DecrepiterJohnL . I would also add he should wait until it was clear (which I admit looks like a long wait) and leave as wide a berth as possible. When I overtake bikes (and horses) I go fully across to the other side of the road, because I know how scary it is for the bike rider. I note many cars don't even when they have the space to do so. They might wait until it is clear and leave a wide berth but don't take advantage of all the road available to them. I never understand why. You have it, so use it and make life easy for the biker. Similarly when passing puddles and there are pedestrians around. If I have space I avoid them. Seems courteous.
You should give a cyclist 6’ of space, at least that was the Highway Code last time I read it.
Horses, you should leave them about half a mile and pass at walking pace. A spooked equine is scary as Hell for anyone nearby.
Some horses absolutely hate bicycles too. The worst pass I ever experienced was in East Lothian, went across to the right side of the oncoming lane to pass 3 horses and a car driver passed through the gap in the middle.
Neither me or the horse riders got the plate we were so shocked.
When I was backpacking, I used to strap my walking poles to the side of my rucksack, where they would protrude slightly over the top. Horses hated them for some reason. They were fine if the poles were extended and in my hands; but it was a different matter when they were shortened and strapped to my rucksack.
On car drivers; the worst one for me, as a walker, is when I am walking facing the oncoming traffic, and someone comes overtaking from behind. The first thing I know about it is when the overtaking car's wing mirror flashes seemingly inches away from me.
Rather like Trump, I don't "get" Farage - I simply don't see his appeal. Yes, he says what a lot of people are, in his view, "thinking" though the actual evidence for that isn't strong.
He's also keen on diagnosis but not so keen on treatment. Yes, there's a problem with immigration but I can't figure out if he sees the problem with the levels of legal immigration, illegal immigration or the cultural assimilation of those already here or all three at the same time.
The illegal immigration problem is largely symbolic - the numbers aren't huge but the sight of dinghies of people arriving at beaches on the south coast has a psychological impact. Countries with primarily land borders have a different cultural view than islands - I know we have a land border in Ulster but strangely I've not heard of large numbers of migrants crossing that. I also don't hear of migrants trying to get to Alderney which is only 10 miles from France.
That in turn forms a view of who the migrants are and why there are coming.
Legal immigration is a political and economic issue and covers a lot of areas. I suspect there's a general concensus we want and would indeed welcome migrants in some economic sectors - high skilled professionals for example and those with skills to work in the NHS. There's probably a grudging recognition we need lower skilled labour to do the jobs which many British can't or won't do at the rates businesses want to pay and within that an acknowledgement continuing economic growth relies (as it always has) on the availability of that cheap labour (and cheap resources).
Cultural assimilation is a societal issue and, as I've said here before, it's more often a problem within communities than across communities. Those newly arrived are often most resented by those who've been here a while or who are second or third generation and have made the cultural journey. People like people like themselves and it's easier to stay in a group that speaks your language and eats your food and thinks like you do and, oddly enough, modern technology helps that.
There is a distinct British identity evolving from those who have arrived as migrants or refugees (from wherever) which isn't English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh or even Cornish. Idealistically, you could say it takes the best from where they came and the best of what they've found since getting here but I'm not wholly convinced and even within that there are any number of sub cultures. Education and the children are the best hope of creating greater integration (as they always have been).
As we know, many political speakers trade on people's insecurities and misconceptions and language is often used to accentuate or exaggerate half truths. The first task is to challenge those speakers head on.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
I am closer to Bridgend than Penarth, but I am not going to start claiming I don't live in the Vale of Glamorgan. The value of my house would depreciate by £250,000!
HY, have you posted the latest Rasmussen yet? Oh wait, as you were, it's a Harris lead.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Every now and again, I think I should really get a cam - any recommendations from the board? For idiot drivers rather than for videoing my bits in lycra (I'm actually more of a middle aged man in not-too-close-fitting non-lycra). I don't seem to get a lot of close passes, certainly nothing like that, but I've had people simply drive out of side roads/side of road parking into my path etc
ETA: The link, for me at least, goes to just the pic, not a vid. It looks terrible as a pic and I don't see any prospect for the video to look any better.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Every now and again, I think I should really get a cam - any recommendations from the board? For idiot drivers rather than for videoing my bits in lycra (I'm actually more of a middle aged man in not-too-close-fitting non-lycra). I don't seem to get a lot of close passes, certainly nothing like that, but I've had people simply drive out of side roads/side of road parking into my path etc
ETA: The link, for me at least, goes to just the pic, not a vid. It looks terrible as a pic and I don't see any prospect for the video to look any better.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
The car can cross a solid white line in certain circumstances and that includes overtaking a bike, although the bike must not be exceeding 10mph which he probably was, but I doubt anyone would care or check that or be able to check that. So yes he can go over the solid white line when overtaking the bike.
Thanks for the like @DecrepiterJohnL . I would also add he should wait until it was clear (which I admit looks like a long wait) and leave as wide a berth as possible. When I overtake bikes (and horses) I go fully across to the other side of the road, because I know how scary it is for the bike rider. I note many cars don't even when they have the space to do so. They might wait until it is clear and leave a wide berth but don't take advantage of all the road available to them. I never understand why. You have it, so use it and make life easy for the biker. Similarly when passing puddles and there are pedestrians around. If I have space I avoid them. Seems courteous.
You should give a cyclist 6’ of space, at least that was the Highway Code last time I read it.
Horses, you should leave them about half a mile and pass at walking pace. A spooked equine is scary as Hell for anyone nearby.
Yep I always pass horses as far away as possible and at a crawl. On my bike I ring my bell about 100 metres from behind so they know I am there, but far enough away so as not to spook them, and again cycle past slowly and as far away as possible as I can get. Horse riders tend to be very polite to you when you do this. They seem to appreciate the bell ring from a long way back.
Our dog however has a problem with horses. Well not horses as such. He is happy with them, but riders not so much. He doesn't like things high up. He managed to round up 3 horses and their riders successfully one day. We were very apologetic, but the riders were fine with it as nobody was spooked. They seemed to think it funny that he could do it so successfully, but we should have had him under control, but he sometimes spot things before we do. You can't be on the ball 100% of the time.
He barks at umbrellas, head torches and the occasional ceiling lampshade. He also thinks he is successfully chasing away airliners passing overhead. We decided not to tell him they were leaving anyway. Didn't want to disillusion him.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Unless there are passing places on that road, it is not obvious what the road planners intended to happen. There's a solid white line the red car must not cross, and the bike is in the middle of the lane, so either there will soon be a massive tailback or dangerous overtaking. Hopefully there are passing places and the red car is driven by an idiot. Perhaps inspired by at least one other well-known cyclist cammer, our hero might have made things worse by touching the car as it passed.
The car can cross a solid white line in certain circumstances and that includes overtaking a bike, although the bike must not be exceeding 10mph which he probably was, but I doubt anyone would care or check that or be able to check that. So yes he can go over the solid white line when overtaking the bike.
Thanks for the like @DecrepiterJohnL . I would also add he should wait until it was clear (which I admit looks like a long wait) and leave as wide a berth as possible. When I overtake bikes (and horses) I go fully across to the other side of the road, because I know how scary it is for the bike rider. I note many cars don't even when they have the space to do so. They might wait until it is clear and leave a wide berth but don't take advantage of all the road available to them. I never understand why. You have it, so use it and make life easy for the biker. Similarly when passing puddles and there are pedestrians around. If I have space I avoid them. Seems courteous.
You should give a cyclist 6’ of space, at least that was the Highway Code last time I read it.
Horses, you should leave them about half a mile and pass at walking pace. A spooked equine is scary as Hell for anyone nearby.
Yep I always pass horses as far away as possible and at a crawl. On my bike I ring my bell about 100 metres from behind so they know I am there, but far enough away so as not to spook them, and again cycle past slowly and as far away as possible as I can get. Horse riders tend to be very polite to you when you do this. They seem to appreciate the bell ring from a long way back.
Our dog however has a problem with horses. Well not horses as such. He is happy with them, but riders not so much. He doesn't like things high up. He managed to round up 3 horses and their riders successfully one day. We were very apologetic, but the riders were fine with it as nobody was spooked. They seemed to think it funny that he could do it so successfully, but we should have had him under control, but he sometimes spot things before we do. You can't be on the ball 100% of the time.
He barks at umbrellas, head torches and the occasional ceiling lampshade. He also thinks he is successfully chasing away airliners passing overhead. We decided not to tell him they were leaving anyway. Didn't want to disillusion him.
I'm always cautious about dogs when riding my electric scooter. Try give them a wide berth, although it's not always possible. Nearly ran over one animal's tail yesterday!
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Every now and again, I think I should really get a cam - any recommendations from the board? For idiot drivers rather than for videoing my bits in lycra (I'm actually more of a middle aged man in not-too-close-fitting non-lycra). I don't seem to get a lot of close passes, certainly nothing like that, but I've had people simply drive out of side roads/side of road parking into my path etc
ETA: The link, for me at least, goes to just the pic, not a vid. It looks terrible as a pic and I don't see any prospect for the video to look any better.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
I am closer to Bridgend than Penarth, but I am not going to start claiming I don't live in the Vale of Glamorgan. The value of my house would depreciate by £250,000!
HY, have you posted the latest Rasmussen yet? Oh wait, as you were, it's a Harris lead.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Every now and again, I think I should really get a cam - any recommendations from the board? For idiot drivers rather than for videoing my bits in lycra (I'm actually more of a middle aged man in not-too-close-fitting non-lycra). I don't seem to get a lot of close passes, certainly nothing like that, but I've had people simply drive out of side roads/side of road parking into my path etc
ETA: The link, for me at least, goes to just the pic, not a vid. It looks terrible as a pic and I don't see any prospect for the video to look any better.
Depending on where you are, even if you capture in 4k 120fps, by the time it's got through the police/CPS/PFO IT system the footage could be potato quality.
The other problem is reference points - the fish eye lens causes issues with measurement, so the police are a bit cautious about using them. Prepare to be disappointed.
+ Remember that the biggest cause of serious injury for cyclists is actually dooring, and it's by the far the easiest thing to mitigate.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
And where exactly does "The North" start?
Somewhere just a bit North of London.
So you refer to your Southwold* house as your retreat in The North?
*apologies if that's not you, but I think you've mentioned it before
"Once again, only about one in five people in Britain are passionately supportive of current immigration policy, while most of those —ensconced as they are in professional jobs in universities, corporations, the BBC, charities, museums and galleries— will never feel the negative effects of the policy they are advocating.
Why? Because they belong to the luxury belief class, advocating ideas and policies like mass immigration which bring them status and brownie points from other elites at little cost to themselves, which make them feel fashionable and morally righteous at middle-class dinner parties , but which simultaneously inflict higher costs on the working-class and all those who simply want to protect the things they love by slowing the pace of immigration, like their identity, culture, values, and ways of life."
Does he honestly believe people at middle class dinner parties sit around discussing how wonderful mass migration is?
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Every now and again, I think I should really get a cam - any recommendations from the board?
GoPro Hero 11 Black. Other answers are wrong. It has the best stabilisation (really important on a road bike), image quality and the most mounting options.
The GoPro "bite mount" is also really good for filming yourself driving at insane speeds because you can spit it in to the passenger footwell if the OB materialises. All bases covered.
"Once again, only about one in five people in Britain are passionately supportive of current immigration policy, while most of those —ensconced as they are in professional jobs in universities, corporations, the BBC, charities, museums and galleries— will never feel the negative effects of the policy they are advocating.
Why? Because they belong to the luxury belief class, advocating ideas and policies like mass immigration which bring them status and brownie points from other elites at little cost to themselves, which make them feel fashionable and morally righteous at middle-class dinner parties , but which simultaneously inflict higher costs on the working-class and all those who simply want to protect the things they love by slowing the pace of immigration, like their identity, culture, values, and ways of life."
Does he honestly believe people at middle class dinner parties sit around discussing how wonderful mass migration is?
Bonkers.
I'm not middle-class (I know - restrain your shock) but am I correct in thinking that middle-class people don't have dinner parties these days, and that's it's more a upper-middle-class/upper-class/citizen of nowhere thing?
"Once again, only about one in five people in Britain are passionately supportive of current immigration policy, while most of those —ensconced as they are in professional jobs in universities, corporations, the BBC, charities, museums and galleries— will never feel the negative effects of the policy they are advocating.
Why? Because they belong to the luxury belief class, advocating ideas and policies like mass immigration which bring them status and brownie points from other elites at little cost to themselves, which make them feel fashionable and morally righteous at middle-class dinner parties , but which simultaneously inflict higher costs on the working-class and all those who simply want to protect the things they love by slowing the pace of immigration, like their identity, culture, values, and ways of life."
Does he honestly believe people at middle class dinner parties sit around discussing how wonderful mass migration is?
Bonkers.
Who the flip still has dinner parties anyway?
Isn't that one of the indigenous ways of life that has been lost?
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Every now and again, I think I should really get a cam - any recommendations from the board? For idiot drivers rather than for videoing my bits in lycra (I'm actually more of a middle aged man in not-too-close-fitting non-lycra). I don't seem to get a lot of close passes, certainly nothing like that, but I've had people simply drive out of side roads/side of road parking into my path etc
ETA: The link, for me at least, goes to just the pic, not a vid. It looks terrible as a pic and I don't see any prospect for the video to look any better.
Reform’s next move, if they really want to hit the big time, is to professionalise their operation and start putting down roots in local government.
As a step towards doing that they need to be putting formal party structures in place.
Maybe I will be surprised, but nothing in Farage’s MO suggests to me he’s able to put the hard work in to really do that.
He is good at generating headlines but if he is really serious about turning Reform into the second party in the country it will take a lot more than name recognition and media attention.
He did a podcast interview recently somewhere like Triggernomitary, in which he was talking about this a bit - the gist of that bit was he could see how LDs had rebuilt from councillor level, and then leveraged this to make inroads at Westminster, and he wanted Reform to do the same, upping their ground game and local councillor base to act as a springboard at the next GE.
Obviously easier to talk the talk than walk the walk, but it shows he's certainly thinking down these lines.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
And where exactly does "The North" start?
Somewhere just a bit North of London.
So you refer to your Southwold* house as your retreat in The North?
*apologies if that's not you, but I think you've mentioned it before
Yep that is me. My wife is there at the moment. She is Scottish so Southwold might just qualify as the South. So goes there to escape from me.
Prominent followers... Michele Bachmann Lauren Boebert Rafael Cruz, pastor and father Ted Mike Johnson Tom Parker, Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Paula White, spiritual advisor to Donald Trump
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
And where exactly does "The North" start?
You go to Robert Dyas and get a grim-meter. Put it on the dashboard (you can get an app for it now) and drive north. When the level of grim-ness enters the red zone, you are in The Proper North.
"Once again, only about one in five people in Britain are passionately supportive of current immigration policy, while most of those —ensconced as they are in professional jobs in universities, corporations, the BBC, charities, museums and galleries— will never feel the negative effects of the policy they are advocating.
Why? Because they belong to the luxury belief class, advocating ideas and policies like mass immigration which bring them status and brownie points from other elites at little cost to themselves, which make them feel fashionable and morally righteous at middle-class dinner parties , but which simultaneously inflict higher costs on the working-class and all those who simply want to protect the things they love by slowing the pace of immigration, like their identity, culture, values, and ways of life."
Does he honestly believe people at middle class dinner parties sit around discussing how wonderful mass migration is?
Bonkers.
Who the flip still has dinner parties anyway?
Isn't that one of the indigenous ways of life that has been lost?
Good point.
He's so out of touch he thinks people have dinner parties.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Every now and again, I think I should really get a cam - any recommendations from the board? For idiot drivers rather than for videoing my bits in lycra (I'm actually more of a middle aged man in not-too-close-fitting non-lycra). I don't seem to get a lot of close passes, certainly nothing like that, but I've had people simply drive out of side roads/side of road parking into my path etc
ETA: The link, for me at least, goes to just the pic, not a vid. It looks terrible as a pic and I don't see any prospect for the video to look any better.
Depending on where you are, even if you capture in 4k 120fps, by the time it's got through the police/CPS/PFO IT system the footage could be potato quality.
The other problem is reference points - the fish eye lens causes issues with measurement, so the police are a bit cautious about using them. Prepare to be disappointed.
+ Remember that the biggest cause of serious injury for cyclists is actually dooring, and it's by the far the easiest thing to mitigate.
Yeah, I'm always well out of door range when passing parked/stationary cars etc. Once saw someone in front of me get doored and have always been careful since then. It's saved me a couple of times.
There's one time I really wish I'd had a camera - a parked car took off from the other side of the road, at speed, right cross my path (I actually had to use my hand on a parked car as I swerved away) and then ran a red light a few metres further on. I actually stopped and checked with a nearby shop but while their CCTV captured the car, the FOV missed the near collision and the traffic light.
With a camera, the light at least would have been captured, although I was much more upset about the near collision.
"Once again, only about one in five people in Britain are passionately supportive of current immigration policy, while most of those —ensconced as they are in professional jobs in universities, corporations, the BBC, charities, museums and galleries— will never feel the negative effects of the policy they are advocating.
Why? Because they belong to the luxury belief class, advocating ideas and policies like mass immigration which bring them status and brownie points from other elites at little cost to themselves, which make them feel fashionable and morally righteous at middle-class dinner parties , but which simultaneously inflict higher costs on the working-class and all those who simply want to protect the things they love by slowing the pace of immigration, like their identity, culture, values, and ways of life."
Does he honestly believe people at middle class dinner parties sit around discussing how wonderful mass migration is?
Bonkers.
I'm not middle-class (I know - restrain your shock) but am I correct in thinking that middle-class people don't have dinner parties these days, and that's it's more a upper-middle-class/upper-class/citizen of nowhere thing?
People still do have them and a certain type of Gen Z is actually keen on them but it’s more - in my experience - friends who go down the pub to drink, for Sunday lunch and / or post- a workout activity.
His point though - which a fair few either deliberately or not seem to be avoiding by focusing on the dinner party comment - is correct. I hang round with a social crowd that is overwhelmingly, professional middle class in a nice London enclave. If you point out the downsides of immigration, and his point that it’s the poorer segments who bear the costs, you do indeed get shouted down.
"Once again, only about one in five people in Britain are passionately supportive of current immigration policy, while most of those —ensconced as they are in professional jobs in universities, corporations, the BBC, charities, museums and galleries— will never feel the negative effects of the policy they are advocating.
Why? Because they belong to the luxury belief class, advocating ideas and policies like mass immigration which bring them status and brownie points from other elites at little cost to themselves, which make them feel fashionable and morally righteous at middle-class dinner parties , but which simultaneously inflict higher costs on the working-class and all those who simply want to protect the things they love by slowing the pace of immigration, like their identity, culture, values, and ways of life."
Does he honestly believe people at middle class dinner parties sit around discussing how wonderful mass migration is?
Bonkers.
What actually is a 'middle-class dinner party'? (I've never been to one and don't know anyone who has.) I've always assumed they involve sitting around a dining table all night (no lounging around on sofas or milling about in the kitchen) while a hired caterer does all the cooking. Is that the gist?
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Every now and again, I think I should really get a cam - any recommendations from the board? For idiot drivers rather than for videoing my bits in lycra (I'm actually more of a middle aged man in not-too-close-fitting non-lycra). I don't seem to get a lot of close passes, certainly nothing like that, but I've had people simply drive out of side roads/side of road parking into my path etc
ETA: The link, for me at least, goes to just the pic, not a vid. It looks terrible as a pic and I don't see any prospect for the video to look any better.
Depending on where you are, even if you capture in 4k 120fps, by the time it's got through the police/CPS/PFO IT system the footage could be potato quality.
The other problem is reference points - the fish eye lens causes issues with measurement, so the police are a bit cautious about using them. Prepare to be disappointed.
+ Remember that the biggest cause of serious injury for cyclists is actually dooring, and it's by the far the easiest thing to mitigate.
Yeah, I'm always well out of door range when passing parked/stationary cars etc. Once saw someone in front of me get doored and have always been careful since then. It's saved me a couple of times.
There's one time I really wish I'd had a camera - a parked car took off from the other side of the road, at speed, right cross my path (I actually had to use my hand on a parked car as I swerved away) and then ran a red light a few metres further on. I actually stopped and checked with a nearby shop but while their CCTV captured the car, the FOV missed the near collision and the traffic light.
With a camera, the light at least would have been captured, although I was much more upset about the near collision.
A certain irony in cyclists calling out other road users for jumping red lights.
Reform’s next move, if they really want to hit the big time, is to professionalise their operation and start putting down roots in local government.
As a step towards doing that they need to be putting formal party structures in place.
Maybe I will be surprised, but nothing in Farage’s MO suggests to me he’s able to put the hard work in to really do that.
He is good at generating headlines but if he is really serious about turning Reform into the second party in the country it will take a lot more than name recognition and media attention.
He did a podcast interview recently somewhere like Triggernomitary, in which he was talking about this a bit - the gist of that bit was he could see how LDs had rebuilt from councillor level, and then leveraged this to make inroads at Westminster, and he wanted Reform to do the same, upping their ground game and local councillor base to act as a springboard at the next GE.
Obviously easier to talk the talk than walk the walk, but it shows he's certainly thinking down these lines.
Good to know he's not flying off to the states every five minutes then, so he can spend his actual time doing this
"Once again, only about one in five people in Britain are passionately supportive of current immigration policy, while most of those —ensconced as they are in professional jobs in universities, corporations, the BBC, charities, museums and galleries— will never feel the negative effects of the policy they are advocating.
Why? Because they belong to the luxury belief class, advocating ideas and policies like mass immigration which bring them status and brownie points from other elites at little cost to themselves, which make them feel fashionable and morally righteous at middle-class dinner parties , but which simultaneously inflict higher costs on the working-class and all those who simply want to protect the things they love by slowing the pace of immigration, like their identity, culture, values, and ways of life."
Does he honestly believe people at middle class dinner parties sit around discussing how wonderful mass migration is?
Bonkers.
I've always been intensely disappointed by how few dinner parties I've been to. Despite being a fully signed up member of the tofu eating wokerati, I just can't seem to get an invitation to these legendary soirees, which loom so large in the imaginations of chippy rightwingers like Goodwin. I would like nothing better than to luxuriate in my luxury beliefs between the cheese course and the Ferrero Rochets, perhaps comparing notes with the other guests on our inexpensive foreign born cleaners, laughing as we knowingly undermine traditional British values, or having a good old sneer at the working classes and their Bovine attachment to the nation state, but I can only assume that my invitation is held up in the post.
Y'all should click on the Farage shorts link in the header, you won't regret it.
YOU WON'T MAKE US DO IT.
OK. You might. You might make us do it.
I can summarise. The 60 year British male answer to Daisy Dukes.
I was expecting the Black Shorts one.
We demand a mankini.
I could just post a piccie of me in my trisuit...
If you post *that* I will reply with the Top Gear Three in their wetsuits.
I have a picture of me in a wetsuit before a race that (ahem) doesn't hide much.
'Dignity' and 'triathlon' are two words that are rarely used together...
There's a very well endowed Irish cycle cammer from Ireland called @Righttobikeit on Twitter who has a 360 Camera on his handlebars.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
Every now and again, I think I should really get a cam - any recommendations from the board? For idiot drivers rather than for videoing my bits in lycra (I'm actually more of a middle aged man in not-too-close-fitting non-lycra). I don't seem to get a lot of close passes, certainly nothing like that, but I've had people simply drive out of side roads/side of road parking into my path etc
ETA: The link, for me at least, goes to just the pic, not a vid. It looks terrible as a pic and I don't see any prospect for the video to look any better.
Depending on where you are, even if you capture in 4k 120fps, by the time it's got through the police/CPS/PFO IT system the footage could be potato quality.
The other problem is reference points - the fish eye lens causes issues with measurement, so the police are a bit cautious about using them. Prepare to be disappointed.
+ Remember that the biggest cause of serious injury for cyclists is actually dooring, and it's by the far the easiest thing to mitigate.
Yeah, I'm always well out of door range when passing parked/stationary cars etc. Once saw someone in front of me get doored and have always been careful since then. It's saved me a couple of times.
There's one time I really wish I'd had a camera - a parked car took off from the other side of the road, at speed, right cross my path (I actually had to use my hand on a parked car as I swerved away) and then ran a red light a few metres further on. I actually stopped and checked with a nearby shop but while their CCTV captured the car, the FOV missed the near collision and the traffic light.
With a camera, the light at least would have been captured, although I was much more upset about the near collision.
A certain irony in cyclists calling out other road users for jumping red lights.
Clacton is the poorest part of Essex and Jaywick is one of the most deprived parts of the UK which makes even Harlow and Basildon look posh by comparison. So not sure if Farage's all expenses paid trips to the US will go down well there, especially as I am not even sure if he has bought a house in the constituency yet.
On the other hand like Trump being wealthy doesn't stop them holding their white working class support as long as they continue to fight immigration and globalisation
The entire constituency is not a s***house, the good burghers of Frinton and Little Clacton have left the board mortally insulted.
Frinton is alright and has some good sailing but the residents there see themselves more part of greater Suffolk than Clacton and Jaywick
When Alun Cairns first became MP for the Vale of Glamorgan he had a home just over the Western Vale border but it was still just inside Bridgend Borough. Local legend has it, and I can't categorically say it is true or otherwise, he allegedly made enquiries to have the Vale border extended into Bridgend so his house would be in the correct county ( I assume the constituency might have been mentioned too). I believe he was allegedly given short shrift.
Frinton is Greater Suffolk? You Tories operate on a reverse notion of “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain".
Frinton is closer to Aldeburgh than Chigwell and closer to Ipswich than Basildon
And London is closer to Calais than it is to Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle... so presumably that means that it is part of 'Greater France'?
I suspect most Londoners in central London would feel closer to France than the North and visit France more often than the North unless they come from the North originally. Inner London voted strongly to Remain in the EU too, the North voted clearly to Leave
That is a rather good observation. Hate to admit it but it is certainly true for me. I travel far more often to France than I do to the North.
And where exactly does "The North" start?
Somewhere just a bit North of London.
So you refer to your Southwold* house as your retreat in The North?
*apologies if that's not you, but I think you've mentioned it before
Yep that is me. My wife is there at the moment. She is Scottish so Southwold might just qualify as the South. So goes there to escape from me.
Don't suggest in Southwold that you're in the South. It's East Anglia.
Comments
HY, have you posted the latest Rasmussen yet? Oh wait, as you were, it's a Harris lead.
So at Eton, you learn to run a lathe....
I have noticed Carr himself posting old episodes of Cats and Cats Does Countdown, so he’s obviously done a deal with the production company to get more exposure for them.
Yes, most of what comedians themselves post online is either compilations of old material, or what they call ‘crowd work’ from recent shows, dealing with hecklers or roasting the town they’re in. They don’t want to post any of their current material, as they want people to buy tickets to watch that. When the tour finishes, they’ll usefully tape a ‘special’ recording hoping to sell it to Netflix or Amazon, and only posting it to Youtube if they can’t otherwise find a buyer for it.
The political direction in the West in all this depresses me because I know a stitch up when I see one. It seems very clear to me that the US has deliberately held back Ukraine’s attempts to reclaim territory, since autumn 2022. For example the wise counsel to do combined arms manoeuvre warfare last year over minefields with 4-5 mines per sq metre, and no air cover to stop clearing activities safe from Russian attack helicopters.
But even earlier than, insufficient armoured vehicles to capitalise on the Kharkiv counter offensive. A lack of support to fully press the advantage in Kherson before the mass evacuation. Refusal to allow ATACMS to take out Russian planes on the runway. Even now, blocking British autonomy to approve use of stormshadow in Russia.
The realpolitik of it is that the US has been happy to sacrifice non NATO Slavic lives in exchange for gradually degrading Russia’s Soviet stockpile. But not at the expense of doing anything that might see Putin’s domestic authority undermined. And certainly not allow anything that might meaningfully prohibit the flow of energy to the world market and heighten supply driven inflation in North America.
The fix is in. The Soviet stockpiles have taken a hammering and enough’s enough. I suspect that regardless of who wins on 5th Nov, Ukraine will be forced to the table. I hope I’m wrong.
I'll use my photo quota for the dangerous close pass he posted recently:
It's the sort of road I'd probably not cycle - narrow A-road with a 50mph limit and no space to escape from dangerous drivers hooning it likely up to 60 or 65 on a 50mph limit in the UK. Here's the corresponding video:
https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823437582354800795
The comments thread is a bit of cesspit. We'll have people here on all three sides of the argument I think.
Here these theads may temporarily improve, as much of it comes from flag 'n' football 'n' "patriotic" accounts and some are perhaps visiting HMK- but the drive-by Usonians who think the entire world has their laws are still out there.
If they're now in the "too expensive" category, TV really is in trouble.
Harris 2
Trump 2.12
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.176878927
A years long police investigation which did not bring the needed results at the end.
Some years go.... in the 70's if memory serves ..... there was a proposal to move, administratedly, obvs., NE Essex, including Colchester, into Suffolk. There was absolutely zero support for the idea, outside the head of whoever suggested it and the matter was rapidly dropped, never to be heard of again.
Essex cricket has recruited some very good players from the Clacton region over the years, Foakes, subsequently poached by Surrey, being the latest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfVTtrf0XPk
https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1825273477651210638
If they’re stuggling with these, then the networks must be buying up cheap repeats of old shows to fill space.
https://x.com/osinttechnical/status/1825454566692839684
There is another principle you miss however, which is the sanctity of internationally recognised borders. You never mess with these if you want to avoid the kind of war that we're seeing in Ukraine. It does mean there may be populations trapped within a state that don't want to be there. Unless they can persuade the "host" state to let them go, the borders will remain.
There are very few eastern European countries whose boundaries were set after WWII where linguistic boundaries match the political ones. That's just a fact of life.
You're right to say that there's no good way to deal with that other than insisting that international borders do not get changed by force.
Biden: 1961
Trump: 1964
Obama: 1979
Harris: 1981
Walz: 1982
Vance: 2003
https://x.com/dieworkwear/status/1824540079479722288#m
So civilised now.
Sadly, Estuary English is rapidly spreading into North Essex.
As a step towards doing that they need to be putting formal party structures in place.
Maybe I will be surprised, but nothing in Farage’s MO suggests to me he’s able to put the hard work in to really do that.
He is good at generating headlines but if he is really serious about turning Reform into the second party in the country it will take a lot more than name recognition and media attention.
Douglas Murray joins the Spectator's Freddy Gray to discuss free speech in Britain following the sentences handed down after the riots...and how Douglas himself became a victim of online hate.
"Free speech" - speech that the person likes
"Online hate" - speech that the person dislikes
We have little idea of the true feelings of eastern Ukrainian inhabitants pre-2014, and cannot discern it now; Russia well and truly took over. But the fact that Russia, despite their massive advantages, did not manage to take over all of the areas they wanted in that year - precisely because of many inhabitants in those areas fighting back - shows it was far from the pro-Russian mass the Putinists would have us believe.
But the main point is that self-determination is impossible once an armed force has taken over especially given Russia's habit of deporting Ukrainians into Russia and replacing them with Russians. Any attempt at self-determination in those areas would be for Russia, because of these policies and the laughable idea of 'democracy' Russia has.
Self-determination is an interesting and complex topic. In the case of Ukraine, Russia spent all the time since 1990 interfering in Ukraine's internal politics, and part of this involved Russian-language media to appeal directly to those in the east. When Russia's interference failed with the Maiden in 2014, Russia sent is 'little green men' in.
Just like they did in Georgia in 2008.
We cannot have self-determination in the Donbass and Crimea now, because of Russia's actions. It has to go back to Ukraine.
Horses, you should leave them about half a mile and pass at walking pace. A spooked equine is scary as Hell for anyone nearby.
There are also underlying assumptions reflecting a Common Law based system. Interestingly afaik only Common Law based countries have done "cammer as a witness" type reporting of crime so far.
In the UK it is "yes, you can, as long as the person on the cycle is doing 10mph or less", which is not quite right imo. Ireland does not have the 1.5m or more guideline.
The guy stopped and claimed "I gave you plenty of room", and assaulted the cammer. If it was that close I might well have tapped the wing, just so he knew how close it was - if it was a low speed differential. OTOH I don't have that many muscles.
https://www.realclearpolling.com/stories/analysis/no-frontrunner-in-swing-states-before-democratic-convention
https://irishcycle.com/2021/11/23/explainer-what-is-the-law-on-overtaking-cyclists-in-ireland/
OK, solid line, lots of traffic going the other way. So wait, fucker.
It's not like you're an ambulance. Wait, even if it slows your journey down by a whole 5 minutes.
Neither me or the horse riders got the plate we were so shocked.
https://www.uup.org/a_statement_from_doug_beattie_mc_mla
It's a company with previous for various offences, including illegal fishing etc back in 2006-7 (half million plus fines under Proceedings of Crime). Events reported were in 2011-2013, and HSE offences have been prosecuted to a small degree. The trafficking cases have not been prosecuted, witnesses stayed in UK for years, and then they did not proceed.
So much about ineffective process.
Since the company ran a fleet of dredgers turning over several million per annum, it's a business overhead.
The company deny offences, for a fuller summary.
I assume the programme would have been difficult to make whilst the case was still Sub Judice.
‘Gays for Palestine’ march in Chicago yesterday, ahead of the DNC.
https://x.com/timcastnews/status/1825316613698330943
Do any of these protesters understand what happens to gays in Palestine, or to anyone walking around waving ‘Pride’ flags?
Give these fuckers life-means-life. If nothing else, it'll show down their ability to run a slave based trawling operation.
Oh, and haul their trawlers up on a slip and cut them in half, in the old style.
On car drivers; the worst one for me, as a walker, is when I am walking facing the oncoming traffic, and someone comes overtaking from behind. The first thing I know about it is when the overtaking car's wing mirror flashes seemingly inches away from me.
Rather like Trump, I don't "get" Farage - I simply don't see his appeal. Yes, he says what a lot of people are, in his view, "thinking" though the actual evidence for that isn't strong.
He's also keen on diagnosis but not so keen on treatment. Yes, there's a problem with immigration but I can't figure out if he sees the problem with the levels of legal immigration, illegal immigration or the cultural assimilation of those already here or all three at the same time.
The illegal immigration problem is largely symbolic - the numbers aren't huge but the sight of dinghies of people arriving at beaches on the south coast has a psychological impact. Countries with primarily land borders have a different cultural view than islands - I know we have a land border in Ulster but strangely I've not heard of large numbers of migrants crossing that. I also don't hear of migrants trying to get to Alderney which is only 10 miles from France.
That in turn forms a view of who the migrants are and why there are coming.
Legal immigration is a political and economic issue and covers a lot of areas. I suspect there's a general concensus we want and would indeed welcome migrants in some economic sectors - high skilled professionals for example and those with skills to work in the NHS. There's probably a grudging recognition we need lower skilled labour to do the jobs which many British can't or won't do at the rates businesses want to pay and within that an acknowledgement continuing economic growth relies (as it always has) on the availability of that cheap labour (and cheap resources).
Cultural assimilation is a societal issue and, as I've said here before, it's more often a problem within communities than across communities. Those newly arrived are often most resented by those who've been here a while or who are second or third generation and have made the cultural journey. People like people like themselves and it's easier to stay in a group that speaks your language and eats your food and thinks like you do and, oddly enough, modern technology helps that.
There is a distinct British identity evolving from those who have arrived as migrants or refugees (from wherever) which isn't English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh or even Cornish. Idealistically, you could say it takes the best from where they came and the best of what they've found since getting here but I'm not wholly convinced and even within that there are any number of sub cultures. Education and the children are the best hope of creating greater integration (as they always have been).
As we know, many political speakers trade on people's insecurities and misconceptions and language is often used to accentuate or exaggerate half truths. The first task is to challenge those speakers head on.
https://x.com/cspan/status/1824141849084239892
Hurrah for the IDF, treating the gays the same as all the other Palestinians.
ETA: The link, for me at least, goes to just the pic, not a vid. It looks terrible as a pic and I don't see any prospect for the video to look any better.
https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823435976292884879
Our dog however has a problem with horses. Well not horses as such. He is happy with them, but riders not so much. He doesn't like things high up. He managed to round up 3 horses and their riders successfully one day. We were very apologetic, but the riders were fine with it as nobody was spooked. They seemed to think it funny that he could do it so successfully, but we should have had him under control, but he sometimes spot things before we do. You can't be on the ball 100% of the time.
He barks at umbrellas, head torches and the occasional ceiling lampshade. He also thinks he is successfully chasing away airliners passing overhead. We decided not to tell him they were leaving anyway. Didn't want to disillusion him.
The other problem is reference points - the fish eye lens causes issues with measurement, so the police are a bit cautious about using them. Prepare to be disappointed.
+ Remember that the biggest cause of serious injury for cyclists is actually dooring, and it's by the far the easiest thing to mitigate.
*apologies if that's not you, but I think you've mentioned it before
"Once again, only about one in five people in Britain are passionately supportive of current immigration policy, while most of those —ensconced as they are in professional jobs in universities, corporations, the BBC, charities, museums and galleries— will never feel the negative effects of the policy they are advocating.
Why? Because they belong to the luxury belief class, advocating ideas and policies like mass immigration which bring them status and brownie points from other elites at little cost to themselves, which make them feel fashionable and morally righteous at middle-class dinner parties , but which simultaneously inflict higher costs on the working-class and all those who simply want to protect the things they love by slowing the pace of immigration, like their identity, culture, values, and ways of life."
Does he honestly believe people at middle class dinner parties sit around discussing how wonderful mass migration is?
Bonkers.
The GoPro "bite mount" is also really good for filming yourself driving at insane speeds because you can spit it in to the passenger footwell if the OB materialises. All bases covered.
Isn't that one of the indigenous ways of life that has been lost?
Direct link: https://x.com/righttobikeit/status/1823435976292884879
(Cameras separate reply)
Obviously easier to talk the talk than walk the walk, but it shows he's certainly thinking down these lines.
Seven Mountain Mandate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mountain_Mandate
Prominent followers...
Michele Bachmann
Lauren Boebert
Rafael Cruz, pastor and father Ted
Mike Johnson
Tom Parker, Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court
Paula White, spiritual advisor to Donald Trump
(edit)
He's still got it, btw.
See from about a minute in, where he abandons the script.
https://x.com/JBFletcher88/status/1824975295603970211
He's so out of touch he thinks people have dinner parties.
He'll be posting about prawn cocktails next.
There's one time I really wish I'd had a camera - a parked car took off from the other side of the road, at speed, right cross my path (I actually had to use my hand on a parked car as I swerved away) and then ran a red light a few metres further on. I actually stopped and checked with a nearby shop but while their CCTV captured the car, the FOV missed the near collision and the traffic light.
With a camera, the light at least would have been captured, although I was much more upset about the near collision.
His point though - which a fair few either deliberately or not seem to be avoiding by focusing on the dinner party comment - is correct. I hang round with a social crowd that is overwhelmingly, professional middle class in a nice London enclave. If you point out the downsides of immigration, and his point that it’s the poorer segments who bear the costs, you do indeed get shouted down.