Acyn @Acyn Trump: I tell the story about a woman who… went to a grocery store, had three apples and she put them down on the counter and she looked and saw the price and she said will you excuse me? And she walked one of the apples back to the refrigerator...
The comments are full of - 'why, that can't happen - apples aren't in the fridge', 'Trump made this up', 'No one would buy three apples and nothing else' etc etc.
The Dems just don't get it. You gotta tell the voters a story. A narrative. Trump's story may often be actually made up but they are close enough to truth that Joe Public says 'yeh, huh, I saw that last week'.
It's amazing how many people are saying that you can't even buy apples individually. You certainly could the last time I was in a grocery store in the USA, but anything Trump says has to be wrong by definition.
Of course you can buy single Apples in the US. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy more than one iPhone at a time.
Kemi's a dud. As was bleeding obvious to anyone who followed her dismal absenteeism as a business secretary. I quite like her on a quasi-personal level but, she is hopeless, as many of us said from the start.
And this Nigeria stuff is beyond ridiculous. She could pick a fight in an empty room.
I fear she is not up to snuff. But let’s give her a few more months. She may yet learn
She's a thinker/bit of a wonk, slightly lazy, and has a very clear comfort zone.
Not enough for LOTO. She's getting outgunned by Farage.
Any opposition leader who, six months into a five year parliament, doesn't think they have time for lunch, is out to lunch. Or terminally thick.
On the sandwich score, dining on random stuff from the fridge, discovered the cheese and basil sandwich. Toasted sourdough, buttered, plus cheese, and a whole pack of basil. Yum.
Cheese, basil AND tomato ...
I'm with Kemi on this. Tomato doesn't belong in sandwiches. They make the bread soggy and also do not allow a clean bite, so pull out of the filling. A BLT is just about acceptable as you can put the T between layers and seperate it from the bread. Otherwise it is like pineapple on pizza.
Tomato belongs in the hand, exploding over the white shirts of all your pretentious colleagues.
Don't get me wrong, I love tomatoes, Insalata Caprese is one of my favourite starters, though does require good beefy tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella.
Uncooked tomatoes should be kept away from bread though.
You can preserve the bread by applying more butter than an NHS consultant is probably allowed to eat. That is what butter is for - you put fat in a sandwich to stop the ingredients making it soggy. And to make it a balanced meal
The more I think about this, the more it becomes an important point. We only use spread such as butter on certain sandwich fillings. We wouldn't normally use butter on a hamburger roll, or when making a Prego, but rather apply the meat directly to the bread, but we do use spread with other fillings. I think there is a second role as well as the function of providing a barrier to liquid in that spread also has adhesive qualities that are essential to keeping the structure of a sandwich together.
The key perhaps is not that the bread should be completely dry, after all part of the pleasure of a hot sandwich filling like a burger or a prego is the juices soaking into the bread, perhaps facilitated by burger relish, sauce or ketchup. The issue arises more with a cold filling, where spread is more essential to keep the bread dry, and raw tomatoes do not have a place. They are simply too wet for any spread to provide an adequate barrier.
Panzanella is a salad, not a sandwich, so does not contradict the important principle of keeping bread from getting soggy, and cooking alters the properties so toasting bread makes brusschetta possible with fresh tomatoes, as toasted bread retains its structure rather than going soggy.
Acyn @Acyn Trump: I tell the story about a woman who… went to a grocery store, had three apples and she put them down on the counter and she looked and saw the price and she said will you excuse me? And she walked one of the apples back to the refrigerator...
The comments are full of - 'why, that can't happen - apples aren't in the fridge', 'Trump made this up', 'No one would buy three apples and nothing else' etc etc.
The Dems just don't get it. You gotta tell the voters a story. A narrative. Trump's story may often be actually made up but they are close enough to truth that Joe Public says 'yeh, huh, I saw that last week'.
Meanwhile, everyone who’s not a Democrat activist is saying “Yeah, groceries have gone way up recently”, which is very much true in the US.
Acyn @Acyn Trump: I tell the story about a woman who… went to a grocery store, had three apples and she put them down on the counter and she looked and saw the price and she said will you excuse me? And she walked one of the apples back to the refrigerator...
The comments are full of - 'why, that can't happen - apples aren't in the fridge', 'Trump made this up', 'No one would buy three apples and nothing else' etc etc.
The Dems just don't get it. You gotta tell the voters a story. A narrative. Trump's story may often be actually made up but they are close enough to truth that Joe Public says 'yeh, huh, I saw that last week'.
They absolutely do put fruit like apples in the fridge in places like Bodegas i.e. NY corner shops, because it gets so warm / humid in the summer and those places are like little heat boxes.
Also, its quite common in supermarkets (normally higher ends ones) to have all the produce in open refrigerated shelving that also sprays mists of water.
It's a habit that I have retained from living in America of keeping fruit in the fridge. Apples, pears, oranges etc simply keep better in fridges, and apples retain their crunch better.
In the days before central heating fruit kept well in a bowl in the British climate as room temperature was generally significantly colder. An important point too when serving both beer and red wine, that the optimum serving temperature is cellar temperature not dining room temperature.
We should be grateful for Donald and Kemi raising these important culinary points, though it isn't clear to me how applying tarifs to imported apples makes them cheaper for American consumers.
This is all just ridiculous. We've very likely got years to go till anything happens GE-wise and Kier can win it too.
If anyone or anything becomes too short in any UK political market - and that includes Nige atm - just lay it. But bear in mind if you're doing the next PM you may be waiting a decade or more for collection in worst case, so ensure you're happy to keep on playing the market that long to build up a healthy book!
It is pretty ridiculous. Not least because various technological advancements are about to upend the entire world. Britain might be barely recognisable by 2029
Maybe. We just launched one although the first client essentially neutered it. I am worried about lawyers destroying potential in general.
This is all just ridiculous. We've very likely got years to go till anything happens GE-wise and Kier can win it too.
If anyone or anything becomes too short in any UK political market - and that includes Nige atm - just lay it. But bear in mind if you're doing the next PM you may be waiting a decade or more for collection in worst case, so ensure you're happy to keep on playing the market that long to build up a healthy book!
Keir. K-E-I-R.
Another PB Dumbo who cannot spell the name of even the most high-profile of politicians.
Spell Kemi's name in full if you wanna impress me
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch
Points for me?
I do hope no one's nobbled her Wikipedia profile or I'm going to look silly!
Well it's what I'd check your answer against Wikipedia so we rise and fall together. Unlike Anabobazina.
She goes by Kemi, ergo it’s perfectly valid to say Kemi is her name. Unlike Kier, which is not Keir’s name, but your dumbo misspelling.
I think Starmer has got the message that very high levels of migration have got to be brought under control. It'll be interesting if he actually do anything about it though,
He will probably do what all PMs from Blair onwards have done. Moan about it, complain it’s too high, say he’ll take action and do nothing because he’s quite in favour of it.
Acyn @Acyn Trump: I tell the story about a woman who… went to a grocery store, had three apples and she put them down on the counter and she looked and saw the price and she said will you excuse me? And she walked one of the apples back to the refrigerator...
The comments are full of - 'why, that can't happen - apples aren't in the fridge', 'Trump made this up', 'No one would buy three apples and nothing else' etc etc.
The Dems just don't get it. You gotta tell the voters a story. A narrative. Trump's story may often be actually made up but they are close enough to truth that Joe Public says 'yeh, huh, I saw that last week'.
Not after he's been in government again for a couple of years they won't.
Acyn @Acyn Trump: I tell the story about a woman who… went to a grocery store, had three apples and she put them down on the counter and she looked and saw the price and she said will you excuse me? And she walked one of the apples back to the refrigerator...
The comments are full of - 'why, that can't happen - apples aren't in the fridge', 'Trump made this up', 'No one would buy three apples and nothing else' etc etc.
The Dems just don't get it. You gotta tell the voters a story. A narrative. Trump's story may often be actually made up but they are close enough to truth that Joe Public says 'yeh, huh, I saw that last week'.
It's amazing how many people are saying that you can't even buy apples individually. You certainly could the last time I was in a grocery store in the USA, but anything Trump says has to be wrong by definition.
Of course you can buy single Apples in the US. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy more than one iPhone at a time.
Nit usually kept in the supermarket fridge, though.
Acyn @Acyn Trump: I tell the story about a woman who… went to a grocery store, had three apples and she put them down on the counter and she looked and saw the price and she said will you excuse me? And she walked one of the apples back to the refrigerator...
The comments are full of - 'why, that can't happen - apples aren't in the fridge', 'Trump made this up', 'No one would buy three apples and nothing else' etc etc.
The Dems just don't get it. You gotta tell the voters a story. A narrative. Trump's story may often be actually made up but they are close enough to truth that Joe Public says 'yeh, huh, I saw that last week'.
Meanwhile, everyone who’s not a Democrat activist is saying “Yeah, groceries have gone way up recently”, which is very much true in the US.
This is how Trump won the election.
Really? I hadn't noticed.
Everyone who's not in the Trump tank has realised that inflation is now his problem.
I think Starmer has got the message that very high levels of migration have got to be brought under control. It'll be interesting if he actually do anything about it though,
He will probably do what all PMs from Blair onwards have done. Moan about it, complain it’s too high, say he’ll take action and do nothing because he’s quite in favour of it.
I don't think that's true.
I think he will bring immigration sharply down from the all time peak that was 2023 under the Tories, probably to the recent norm of around a quarter million per year. Ironically this will increase the percentage of asylum seekers, as the rate of visa arrivals in the denominator goes down.
I don't expect that this will soften the hearts of our Fash-friendly posters to him. Nothing short of mass deportations of long resident minorities would do that, and perhaps not even that
This is all just ridiculous. We've very likely got years to go till anything happens GE-wise and Kier can win it too.
If anyone or anything becomes too short in any UK political market - and that includes Nige atm - just lay it. But bear in mind if you're doing the next PM you may be waiting a decade or more for collection in worst case, so ensure you're happy to keep on playing the market that long to build up a healthy book!
It is pretty ridiculous. Not least because various technological advancements are about to upend the entire world. Britain might be barely recognisable by 2029
Maybe. We just launched one although the first client essentially neutered it. I am worried about lawyers destroying potential in general.
This is all just ridiculous. We've very likely got years to go till anything happens GE-wise and Kier can win it too.
If anyone or anything becomes too short in any UK political market - and that includes Nige atm - just lay it. But bear in mind if you're doing the next PM you may be waiting a decade or more for collection in worst case, so ensure you're happy to keep on playing the market that long to build up a healthy book!
Keir. K-E-I-R.
Another PB Dumbo who cannot spell the name of even the most high-profile of politicians.
Acyn @Acyn Trump: I tell the story about a woman who… went to a grocery store, had three apples and she put them down on the counter and she looked and saw the price and she said will you excuse me? And she walked one of the apples back to the refrigerator...
The comments are full of - 'why, that can't happen - apples aren't in the fridge', 'Trump made this up', 'No one would buy three apples and nothing else' etc etc.
The Dems just don't get it. You gotta tell the voters a story. A narrative. Trump's story may often be actually made up but they are close enough to truth that Joe Public says 'yeh, huh, I saw that last week'.
Meanwhile, everyone who’s not a Democrat activist is saying “Yeah, groceries have gone way up recently”, which is very much true in the US.
This is how Trump won the election.
Really? I hadn't noticed.
Everyone who's not in the Trump tank has realised that inflation is now his problem.
Inflation is now mostly under control across the West, the problem is the legacy price rises of the past few years.
Trump announced yesterday a plan to increase energy production, which should help bring dows costs for businesses, and a sharp reduction in public spending will also reduce aggregate demand - but against that import tarrifs could raise the retail price of goods from overseas. Probably a wash overall so far, but four years is a long time and anything could happen in either direction.
I think Starmer has got the message that very high levels of migration have got to be brought under control. It'll be interesting if he actually do anything about it though,
He will probably do what all PMs from Blair onwards have done. Moan about it, complain it’s too high, say he’ll take action and do nothing because he’s quite in favour of it.
I don't think that's true.
I think he will bring immigration sharply down from the all time peak that was 2023 under the Tories, probably to the recent norm of around a quarter million per year. Ironically this will increase the percentage of asylum seekers, as the rate of visa arrivals in the denominator goes down.
I don't expect that this will soften the hearts of our Fash-friendly posters to him. Nothing short of mass deportations of long resident minorities would do that, and perhaps not even that
It will fall anyway due to previous govt changes but if people are expecting tens of thousands a year that won’t happen. We will be around 250-300K a year.
Acyn @Acyn Trump: I tell the story about a woman who… went to a grocery store, had three apples and she put them down on the counter and she looked and saw the price and she said will you excuse me? And she walked one of the apples back to the refrigerator...
The comments are full of - 'why, that can't happen - apples aren't in the fridge', 'Trump made this up', 'No one would buy three apples and nothing else' etc etc.
The Dems just don't get it. You gotta tell the voters a story. A narrative. Trump's story may often be actually made up but they are close enough to truth that Joe Public says 'yeh, huh, I saw that last week'.
Meanwhile, everyone who’s not a Democrat activist is saying “Yeah, groceries have gone way up recently”, which is very much true in the US.
This is how Trump won the election.
Really? I hadn't noticed.
Everyone who's not in the Trump tank has realised that inflation is now his problem.
Inflation in the US is already inching back up now.
It will be his problem soon enough and plenty of risks there.
His last set of tariffs was targeted so as not to be inflationary. Remains to be seen what happens with this set.
An hybrid electric solution for VTOL would be safer than helicopters, and aircraft like the V-22, and potentially match the speed and range if the latter. Quite possibly cheaper than either, as well, in the long run.
This is all just ridiculous. We've very likely got years to go till anything happens GE-wise and Kier can win it too.
If anyone or anything becomes too short in any UK political market - and that includes Nige atm - just lay it. But bear in mind if you're doing the next PM you may be waiting a decade or more for collection in worst case, so ensure you're happy to keep on playing the market that long to build up a healthy book!
It is pretty ridiculous. Not least because various technological advancements are about to upend the entire world. Britain might be barely recognisable by 2029
Maybe. We just launched one although the first client essentially neutered it. I am worried about lawyers destroying potential in general.
This is all just ridiculous. We've very likely got years to go till anything happens GE-wise and Kier can win it too.
If anyone or anything becomes too short in any UK political market - and that includes Nige atm - just lay it. But bear in mind if you're doing the next PM you may be waiting a decade or more for collection in worst case, so ensure you're happy to keep on playing the market that long to build up a healthy book!
Keir. K-E-I-R.
Another PB Dumbo who cannot spell the name of even the most high-profile of politicians.
Spell Kemi's name in full if you wanna impress me
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch
Points for me?
I do hope no one's nobbled her Wikipedia profile or I'm going to look silly!
Well it's what I'd check your answer against Wikipedia so we rise and fall together. Unlike Anabobazina.
She goes by Kemi, ergo it’s perfectly valid to say Kemi is her name. Unlike Kier, which is not Keir’s name, but your dumbo misspelling.
Spelling his name as Kier is utterly understandable, given it's the name of a firm that does stuff well. Compared to a man who isn't doing very well.
An hybrid electric solution for VTOL would be safer than helicopters, and aircraft like the V-22, and potentially match the speed and range if the latter. Quite possibly cheaper than either, as well, in the long run.
Takes of vertically using four electric propellers, then transitions to forward flight using an engine and prop at the back. Used for survey work, has a flight duration of eight hours at 90km/h carrying 8kg, and costs from about $15k. Wingspan is 4.5m.
An hybrid electric solution for VTOL would be safer than helicopters, and aircraft like the V-22, and potentially match the speed and range if the latter. Quite possibly cheaper than either, as well, in the long run.
Takes of vertically using four electric propellers, then transitions to forward flight using an engine and prop at the back. Used for survey work, has a flight duration of eight hours at 90km/h carrying 8kg, and costs from about $15k. Wingspan is 4.5m.
This will be rather more sophisticated, but that's a nice demonstration of the potential.
An hybrid electric solution for VTOL would be safer than helicopters, and aircraft like the V-22, and potentially match the speed and range if the latter. Quite possibly cheaper than either, as well, in the long run.
Takes of vertically using four electric propellers, then transitions to forward flight using an engine and prop at the back. Used for survey work, has a flight duration of eight hours at 90km/h carrying 8kg, and costs from about $15k. Wingspan is 4.5m.
This will be rather more sophisticated, but that's a nice demonstration of the potential.
No reason it shouldn’t be able to scale, the difficult bit will be getting sufficient lift from the electric motors to haul the thing plus payload and fuel into the air with redundancy for a failure. Note that the small drone one looks more like a glider than an Osprey or helicopter.
Given the current wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, there’s definitely military applications for even the small drone model, although obviously NATO countries will be building them themselves rather than buying from China!*
It would be almost invisible from 1,000m up, and you wouldn’t want to be wasting $1m surface-to-air missiles shooting down $50k surveillance drones that could be replaced within minutes by another.
Oh, and I see the V-22 Osprey is grounded again, after the report into a crashed one showed metal fatigue.
*Once the NATO militaries have paid to develop the Western drone version, there will be a huge civillian market from police forces, rescue services, utility companies etc. who will also pay extra for the not-Chinese version.
Another Prince Andrew scandal, if anyone still cares.
Has Chaz turfed him pout of his digs yet ?
A Chinese businessman described as a "close confidant" of the Duke of York has lost an appeal against a decision to bar him from the UK on national security grounds.
The man, known only as H6, brought the case after being banned from entering the country in March 2023 by the then-Home Secretary, Suella Braverman.
Judges heard the businessman had formed a close working relationship with Prince Andrew, receiving an invite to his birthday party in 2020 and being told he could act on the duke's behalf when dealing with potential investors in China.
Both UK and US have expelled Chinese spies this year, who were working in the offices of politicians.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that people in sensitive positions shouldn’t be hiring citizens of unfriendly nations, even if there’s no explicit requirement for security clearances.
Oh, and I see the V-22 Osprey is grounded again, after the report into a crashed one showed metal fatigue.
V-22 has about the same mishap rate as any other military RW type - except CH-47 which is very safe unless you CFIT it into the Mull of Kintyre.
I've been in one and you can see why the USN/USMC/USAF persist with it. It's speed, endurance and altitude capabilities make it a compelling choice for a lot of missions.
Oh, and I see the V-22 Osprey is grounded again, after the report into a crashed one showed metal fatigue.
V-22 has about the same mishap rate as any other military RW type - except CH-47 which is very safe unless you CFIT it into the Mull of Kintyre.
I've been in one and you can see why the USN/USMC/USAF persist with it. It's speed, endurance and altitude capabilities make it a compelling choice for a lot of missions.
Genuine LOL at “safe unless you CFIT it into the Mull of Kintyre”.
Yes the Osprey can do a load of stuff that nothing else can, which is why they persist with it.
Here in the IOW the sunset time was identical for both Dec 11 and 12, and tonight will edge later by just a few seconds.
Remember that the changing sunset time is a combination of clock effect - the differing pace of the earth around the sun compared to steady clock time - and geometric effect - the changing angle of the sun’s track against the horizon, as the tilt of the earth turns a little more toward or away from the sun.
The clock effect is the same everywhere, but the geometric effect varies by latitude. Because the change in sunset time is the difference between (or sum of, depending on which way it’s going) the two effects, the actual day when the sun sets earliest or latest can be different by a day either way, in different locations - because the net daily change at the solstices is only a few seconds - or, in the islands case yesterday, remarkably evened out at zero seconds such that two days running had exactly the same sunset time.
Also while the Tories enjoy leads (however small) in some polls, Badenoch is safe right now. The same is true of Starmer. So talk of ditching leaders is exceptionally premature right now.
If we see significant changes in 2025 (eg the Tories slipping back to low 20s, Reform into low 30s), then we’ll see more pressure. But not now.
I think next year's locals will be very interesting: can Reform make inroads, grab some councils, and get some significant on the ground strength? (And can it follow that with decent management of said councils...)
The opportunity has never been greater for them, but at the same time there's risk here: a failure to establish a foothold, and the story of the night being big Conservative gains, and then it's that little bit harder for them.
I'm sure they will win quite a few seats, but I can't see them winning councils. Is there anywhere where they have a ground game across an authority to do that? If there is then ok its possible, but I am not aware of it.
Conservatives are defending good results on this round of elections, but Labour are doing so badly that possibly the Tories will do ok, but a lot of these are County elections and I suspect the Tories are going to lose quite a few seats to the LDs in these.
I expect the Tories to lose Surrey for only the 2nd time in the history of Surrey CC. I think there is a chance of the LDs taking control (although a much longer chance than the Tories losing it). If they do it will be the first time.
Reform are really not that interested in local government and rightly eschew the 'bandwagon effect', both because it's not a strategy they could deliver even if they were interested in it, but more importantly, it's a bad strategy anyway for a party which wants to be the opposition to mainstream politics.
To govern is to choose.
And to choose not to govern... well, it might work, because it avoids them being tarred with the the brush of when things don't work. But it also means they lack an army of on the ground volunteers. It also complicates their job of concentrating their support.
It took the LibDems/Alliance until the 1990s to take local government seriously. And it was only when they did, that they made their big breakthrough.
That said: Reform's vote ceiling is clearly higher. They could - I'm sure - get in the 30s. The danger is that they end up in the 30s everywhere, while the Lib/Lab/Con have less even support, and therefore much greater vote efficiency.
But this is where I think the comparison with the Lib Dems is misleading, or has the potential to. The Lib Dems as a part are well-suited to local government (mostly, NIMBYism apart), and so concentrating efforts there makes sense. But Reform is suited to campaigning not on the ground but online and in the media. Yes, that means they will lack dedicated ground-troops with knowledge of how to win individual seats but they're playing a bigger game than that.
Put it this way: the Lib Dems cannot win more than about 100 seats on their current strategy because there simply aren't that many more to aim at where they're remotely close and where there's the organisation to mount a campaign. By contrast, Reform could easily get 200+ if they get their online targeting sorted, using a national campaign and profile. And as both the Tories in 2019 and Labour in 2024 proved, you don't need a local council base, or even much of a local volunteer force, to take parliamentary seats.
A thing about Reform - because of this point you make here - is they could win a ton of seats with many of the individuals sent to parliament being wholly unfit to be MPs.
Indeed. You only need to look at how large a proportion of the five they sent this time are unfit for the job. Granted, that's a small sample but there were enough candidates who got into trouble to suggest there was probably plenty more lurking beneath the surface that might have come out with a bit more digging.
Also while the Tories enjoy leads (however small) in some polls, Badenoch is safe right now. The same is true of Starmer. So talk of ditching leaders is exceptionally premature right now.
If we see significant changes in 2025 (eg the Tories slipping back to low 20s, Reform into low 30s), then we’ll see more pressure. But not now.
I think next year's locals will be very interesting: can Reform make inroads, grab some councils, and get some significant on the ground strength? (And can it follow that with decent management of said councils...)
The opportunity has never been greater for them, but at the same time there's risk here: a failure to establish a foothold, and the story of the night being big Conservative gains, and then it's that little bit harder for them.
I'm sure they will win quite a few seats, but I can't see them winning councils. Is there anywhere where they have a ground game across an authority to do that? If there is then ok its possible, but I am not aware of it.
Conservatives are defending good results on this round of elections, but Labour are doing so badly that possibly the Tories will do ok, but a lot of these are County elections and I suspect the Tories are going to lose quite a few seats to the LDs in these.
I expect the Tories to lose Surrey for only the 2nd time in the history of Surrey CC. I think there is a chance of the LDs taking control (although a much longer chance than the Tories losing it). If they do it will be the first time.
Reform are really not that interested in local government and rightly eschew the 'bandwagon effect', both because it's not a strategy they could deliver even if they were interested in it, but more importantly, it's a bad strategy anyway for a party which wants to be the opposition to mainstream politics.
To govern is to choose.
And to choose not to govern... well, it might work, because it avoids them being tarred with the the brush of when things don't work. But it also means they lack an army of on the ground volunteers. It also complicates their job of concentrating their support.
It took the LibDems/Alliance until the 1990s to take local government seriously. And it was only when they did, that they made their big breakthrough.
That said: Reform's vote ceiling is clearly higher. They could - I'm sure - get in the 30s. The danger is that they end up in the 30s everywhere, while the Lib/Lab/Con have less even support, and therefore much greater vote efficiency.
But this is where I think the comparison with the Lib Dems is misleading, or has the potential to. The Lib Dems as a part are well-suited to local government (mostly, NIMBYism apart), and so concentrating efforts there makes sense. But Reform is suited to campaigning not on the ground but online and in the media. Yes, that means they will lack dedicated ground-troops with knowledge of how to win individual seats but they're playing a bigger game than that.
Put it this way: the Lib Dems cannot win more than about 100 seats on their current strategy because there simply aren't that many more to aim at where they're remotely close and where there's the organisation to mount a campaign. By contrast, Reform could easily get 200+ if they get their online targeting sorted, using a national campaign and profile. And as both the Tories in 2019 and Labour in 2024 proved, you don't need a local council base, or even much of a local volunteer force, to take parliamentary seats.
A thing about Reform - because of this point you make here - is they could win a ton of seats with many of the individuals sent to parliament being wholly unfit to be MPs.
Indeed. You only need to look at how large a proportion of the five they sent this time are unfit for the job. Granted, that's a small sample but there were enough candidates who got into trouble to suggest there was probably plenty more lurking beneath the surface that might have come out with a bit more digging.
Especially given that the seats that Reform won look like their best chances and presumably have their top-tier candidates.
Comments
The key perhaps is not that the bread should be completely dry, after all part of the pleasure of a hot sandwich filling like a burger or a prego is the juices soaking into the bread, perhaps facilitated by burger relish, sauce or ketchup. The issue arises more with a cold filling, where spread is more essential to keep the bread dry, and raw tomatoes do not have a place. They are simply too wet for any spread to provide an adequate barrier.
Panzanella is a salad, not a sandwich, so does not contradict the important principle of keeping bread from getting soggy, and cooking alters the properties so toasting bread makes brusschetta possible with fresh tomatoes, as toasted bread retains its structure rather than going soggy.
This is how Trump won the election.
This girl will need some serious counselling, one doesn’t need to wonder why suicide rates in her ‘industry’ are so high.
Perhaps this is the moment when the pushback starts to happen?
In the days before central heating fruit kept well in a bowl in the British climate as room temperature was generally significantly colder. An important point too when serving both beer and red wine, that the optimum serving temperature is cellar temperature not dining room temperature.
We should be grateful for Donald and Kemi raising these important culinary points, though it isn't clear to me how applying tarifs to imported apples makes them cheaper for American consumers.
Everyone who's not in the Trump tank has realised that inflation is now his problem.
I think he will bring immigration sharply down from the all time peak that was 2023 under the Tories, probably to the recent norm of around a quarter million per year. Ironically this will increase the percentage of asylum seekers, as the rate of visa arrivals in the denominator goes down.
I don't expect that this will soften the hearts of our Fash-friendly posters to him. Nothing short of mass deportations of long resident minorities would do that, and perhaps not even that
Pax Per Idies Dominum...
Trump announced yesterday a plan to increase energy production, which should help bring dows costs for businesses, and a sharp reduction in public spending will also reduce aggregate demand - but against that import tarrifs could raise the retail price of goods from overseas. Probably a wash overall so far, but four years is a long time and anything could happen in either direction.
It will be his problem soon enough and plenty of risks there.
His last set of tariffs was targeted so as not to be inflationary. Remains to be seen what happens with this set.
An hybrid electric solution for VTOL would be safer than helicopters, and aircraft like the V-22, and potentially match the speed and range if the latter.
Quite possibly cheaper than either, as well, in the long run.
December 12, 2024 | Archer Announces Strategic Partnership With Anduril To Develop Hybrid VTOL Military Aircraft; Raises An Additional $430M
https://news.archer.com/archer-announces-strategic-partnership-with-anduril-to-develop-hybrid-vtol-military-aircraft-raises-an-additional-430m
The companies’ first product from this partnership is planned to be a hybrid-propulsion, vertical-take-off-and landing (“VTOL”) aircraft that will target a potential program of record from the United States Department of Defense (“DOD”)..
https://www.jouav.com/products/cw-30e.html
Takes of vertically using four electric propellers, then transitions to forward flight using an engine and prop at the back. Used for survey work, has a flight duration of eight hours at 90km/h carrying 8kg, and costs from about $15k. Wingspan is 4.5m.
Given the current wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, there’s definitely military applications for even the small drone model, although obviously NATO countries will be building them themselves rather than buying from China!*
It would be almost invisible from 1,000m up, and you wouldn’t want to be wasting $1m surface-to-air missiles shooting down $50k surveillance drones that could be replaced within minutes by another.
Oh, and I see the V-22 Osprey is grounded again, after the report into a crashed one showed metal fatigue.
*Once the NATO militaries have paid to develop the Western drone version, there will be a huge civillian market from police forces, rescue services, utility companies etc. who will also pay extra for the not-Chinese version.
The man, known only as H6, brought the case after being banned from entering the country in March 2023 by the then-Home Secretary, Suella Braverman.
Judges heard the businessman had formed a close working relationship with Prince Andrew, receiving an invite to his birthday party in 2020 and being told he could act on the duke's behalf when dealing with potential investors in China.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd75vwdg3yvo
The Chinese must piss themselves at how stupid so many high ranking Westerners are.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that people in sensitive positions shouldn’t be hiring citizens of unfriendly nations, even if there’s no explicit requirement for security clearances.
I've been in one and you can see why the USN/USMC/USAF persist with it. It's speed, endurance and altitude capabilities make it a compelling choice for a lot of missions.
The Reeves effect in action.
On which note, I pass to TSE....
NEW THREAD
Yes the Osprey can do a load of stuff that nothing else can, which is why they persist with it.
Remember that the changing sunset time is a combination of clock effect - the differing pace of the earth around the sun compared to steady clock time - and geometric effect - the changing angle of the sun’s track against the horizon, as the tilt of the earth turns a little more toward or away from the sun.
The clock effect is the same everywhere, but the geometric effect varies by latitude. Because the change in sunset time is the difference between (or sum of, depending on which way it’s going) the two effects, the actual day when the sun sets earliest or latest can be different by a day either way, in different locations - because the net daily change at the solstices is only a few seconds - or, in the islands case yesterday, remarkably evened out at zero seconds such that two days running had exactly the same sunset time.