Is the UK prepared for the wave of visa applicants from US who will need to escape Trump 2.0 the way things are going?
Perhaps we should be offering top scientists and engineers a visa deal?
Good question. It really could happen. On a related matter, it seems to me that a lot of thoughtful people in the UK really don't want to talk about the subject of the internal politics of the USA. My sense is this reflects a real level of distress and sadness about this incomprehensible and wholly malign change that is coming upon the world and upon our children and grandchildren.
The BBC has not quite caught up with the magnitude of this have they? I think the Guardian is getting there.
I literally have a mate who when we met in the pub a couple of weeks ago for first time in a couple of months, sat down and said 'We discuss anything tonight but Trump, I can't handle it'.
Musk will remain a huge drag on Tesla. I don't think he will be capable of making a clean break to give the car company a chance to escape his orbit. He's the world's richest man at the centre of government of the world's most powerful nation. The Tesla Board will not stand up to him.
That leaves stranded assets in Europe and China as sales plunge. And a complete shift in its US target market from environmentally conscious liberals to MAGA-diehards. I know which I'd choose as my preferred audience as a marketing executive of an electric car company.
And then consider that its share price is trading at 122 P/E based on a set of earnings before these headwinds.
We're very much at the point in those old cartoons where the character has run off the cliff but not started to fall yet...
Adolescence. I watched Episode 1 on a (4 hours late) plane. Alternately tearing up and sitting with my mouth hanging open. Not just the content and the acting - which were both brutal - its the realisation about 17 minutes in that its a single shot. Episode 2 had been cued up by Clarkson asking "how did they shoot that, its impossible". And it is, and yet here we are Episode 3 will be studied in acting schools for decades Episode 4 had me practically weeping at the end
I know, I'm going on about it like Leon goes on about Covid. Sorry...
Given that our esteemed PM talked about this documentary in PMQs, it seems to me that Netflix should make it free to watch.
Adolescence. I watched Episode 1 on a (4 hours late) plane. Alternately tearing up and sitting with my mouth hanging open. Not just the content and the acting - which were both brutal - its the realisation about 17 minutes in that its a single shot. Episode 2 had been cued up by Clarkson asking "how did they shoot that, its impossible". And it is, and yet here we are Episode 3 will be studied in acting schools for decades Episode 4 had me practically weeping at the end
I know, I'm going on about it like Leon goes on about Covid. Sorry...
Single shot movies are defined as one shot or looking like one shot. It was really well done though.
Each episode really was one single continuous shot. Episode 3? 52 minutes. Of which Erin Doherty is the central character for all 52 minutes. Acting mostly across from a young actor who's acting is so intense that I'm not sure she was actually needing to act at the end.
Even if you set all of that aside and just look at the cinematography its a tour-de-force
There was an intriguing French TV show called 'The Collapse' that I watched during lockdown :
OT. This Starmer story has just appeared on my computer while looking at a football story. My question is are they allowed to put out such defamatory trash?
The first two or three minutes tell you the story. Even the cooked up 'film' quality is fake.......
Musing on Heathrow can we consider this a Black Swan event or was it something eminently foreseeable and preventable?
When we used to have snow in London and we went through the routine paralysis of transport, people would ask why the city didn't have a fleet of snowploughs like Oslo or Stockholm? Boris Johnson, I think, famously replied the cost of maintaining such a fleet set against the frequency of its use made it economically unjustifiable.
Was this fire so "unlikely" than to have spent money trying to prevent it been a waste? Possibly unlikely what we have been told is the "cost" of the disruption but I'm no expert.
It's also been a test of airline responsiveness and customer care - it seems American Airlines and Singapore Airlines, from what I read, have done very well and provided all the assistance a passenger could need, other airlines less so. Hopefully it will be well documented how the airlines have fared - as to whether they will seek redress from LHR, that will no doubt keep the legal profession going for a while.
Jose Ignacio is extremely charming in march (late summer). It’s probably very exciting in high summer. Full of rich hedonistic argentines and Brazilians
But my god it must be dull the rest of the year. It gets COLD here. And grey and windy
So wtf did Martin Amis do for the other 7-8 months of the year? I bet he was bored witless
It’s in Uruguay FFS. You can’t drive to Primrose Hill. Or Brooklyn
It's nice to think of him being bored witless rather than his readers.
lol
I have a soft spot for Mart. His plotting was generally terrible and his dialogue pretty poor but he conjured some of the sharpest observations in modern British fiction AND he was, at his best, genuinely lol funny
Very few writers can do that. I’ve had to put down more than one Martin Amis book because laughing too hard
He’s also extremely good on the perils and travails of masculinity. Perhaps because he knew it from both sides - he was a highly intelligent witty successful handsome man. Alpha plus. But given the tiny stature of a deltoid
I had a relative who had taught Martin Amis at primary school in Swansea when Kingsley was a lecturer at the University. Some thirty years later she bought and read his then current book, she was already and old lady by this point. Her analysis of Amis on reading the book was "the dirty boy". She considered the contents to be nothing more than smut.
Racheal Papers?
It would have been that era. I have read Kingsley ( I loved Lucky Jim) but never read any of Martin's work. He seemed very much on the lines of an early career Sean Thomas for my tastes.
They're screwed. Sales in Europe are cratering because few want to drive a car associated with Musk. Likewise Musk has alienated pretty much the entire Tesla customer base in the US, and the MAGA crowd hate EVs so there's not much to be gained from appealing to that market.
China is slipping away from them too simply because the domestic Chinese brands like BYD build better and cheaper cars.
The Cybertruck has become a running joke and will never be available in any market, like the UK and EU, that has actual automotive safety standards. It won't sell in the numbers required to pay for the development effort. It's a financial back hole and a well run company would ditch it.
I expect Tesla to have to pause production at certain Gigafactories fairly soon, they can't keep pumping out cars that are not selling.
Musing on Heathrow can we consider this a Black Swan event or was it something eminently foreseeable and preventable?
When we used to have snow in London and we went through the routine paralysis of transport, people would ask why the city didn't have a fleet of snowploughs like Oslo or Stockholm? Boris Johnson, I think, famously replied the cost of maintaining such a fleet set against the frequency of its use made it economically unjustifiable.
Was this fire so "unlikely" than to have spent money trying to prevent it been a waste? Possibly unlikely what we have been told is the "cost" of the disruption but I'm no expert.
It's also been a test of airline responsiveness and customer care - it seems American Airlines and Singapore Airlines, from what I read, have done very well and provided all the assistance a passenger could need, other airlines less so. Hopefully it will be well documented how the airlines have fared - as to whether they will seek redress from LHR, that will no doubt keep the legal profession going for a while.
Single point of failure is common in infrastructure.
Jose Ignacio is extremely charming in march (late summer). It’s probably very exciting in high summer. Full of rich hedonistic argentines and Brazilians
But my god it must be dull the rest of the year. It gets COLD here. And grey and windy
So wtf did Martin Amis do for the other 7-8 months of the year? I bet he was bored witless
It’s in Uruguay FFS. You can’t drive to Primrose Hill. Or Brooklyn
It's nice to think of him being bored witless rather than his readers.
Miaow!
I found both Amis and Mantel unreadable. I tried with both. Mantel even managed to make the French Revolution boring.
Jose Ignacio is extremely charming in march (late summer). It’s probably very exciting in high summer. Full of rich hedonistic argentines and Brazilians
But my god it must be dull the rest of the year. It gets COLD here. And grey and windy
So wtf did Martin Amis do for the other 7-8 months of the year? I bet he was bored witless
It’s in Uruguay FFS. You can’t drive to Primrose Hill. Or Brooklyn
It's nice to think of him being bored witless rather than his readers.
lol
I have a soft spot for Mart. His plotting was generally terrible and his dialogue pretty poor but he conjured some of the sharpest observations in modern British fiction AND he was, at his best, genuinely lol funny
Very few writers can do that. I’ve had to put down more than one Martin Amis book because laughing too hard
He’s also extremely good on the perils and travails of masculinity. Perhaps because he knew it from both sides - he was a highly intelligent witty successful handsome man. Alpha plus. But given the tiny stature of a deltoid
Thanks, Leon, but I wasn't being entirely serious. May I ask you a perfectly serious one though?
What do you think of Wolfe Hall, or more specifically Hilary Mantel?
I gave up after 140 pages. It wasn't the topic, which I love, or the contrarian view of More and Cromwell, which intrigued me. It was the strange affected 'literary' style that did for me.
Is that just me, or does she rub your fur up the wrong way too?
I too nearly gave up. The point of view is known as third person historical iirc. V unusual.
But I stuck with it.
Eventually you a swept along as in a dream. Just superb writing.
Oh, I'm perfectly familiar with that sort of narrative. Cockneys use it a lot. 'So I goes down the pub and I sees this geezer...'
In moderation it can be quite effective, but I whole book written in it? Do me a favour.
There are other stylistic contrivances which some may think of as Art but I just regarded as artifice for the sake of it. \i suspected her motives, but in the end just didn't care, and filed her under Crap.
I think I'm in the 29% - at least when it comes to bicycles. It's more of an emotional thing, particularly if you've spent the time and effort to replace parts (and eventually the frame) rather than stick it in the bin the moment it plays up.
Interesting - I have replaced almost everything except the frame on mine, but if I bought a new frame and transfered all the existing components I think I would consider it a new bike.
Perhaps - if more than 50% of the value/weight of the parts have been there for more than 50% of the life of the bike, then it's the same bike? In my head they have a kind of soul - I certainly developed a strong attachment to the car I climbed all my Munros with*, for example.
* Not literally, though Clarkson did bag Cnoc an Fhreiceadain with a Discovery.
I think most people would have a very strong prejudice against saying that they weren't the same person they used to be, because most of the cells in their body have been replaced by new ones.
How long does it take for all one's cells to be completely replaced? Some would like to argue that they weren't the person who ran up all that debt.
It varies. Some cells turnover very quickly, particularly epithelial, but others are with us for life. Hence they gradually accumulate errors and damage as part of senescence.
Within even those cells there will gradually be turnover though, as we enter the fractal edge of life. Yet we have continuity so are the same person, even if I wouldn't feel much in common with my forty year younger self. I have changed and the world has changed.
Is the UK prepared for the wave of visa applicants from US who will need to escape Trump 2.0 the way things are going?
Perhaps we should be offering top scientists and engineers a visa deal?
Good question. It really could happen. On a related matter, it seems to me that a lot of thoughtful people in the UK really don't want to talk about the subject of the internal politics of the USA. My sense is this reflects a real level of distress and sadness about this incomprehensible and wholly malign change that is coming upon the world and upon our children and grandchildren.
The BBC has not quite caught up with the magnitude of this have they? I think the Guardian is getting there.
I don't think it's fair to characterise the whole organisation - it is very variable across the organisations. It is all massively siloed.
Compare to the Telegraph where Ukraine the Latest are some of the most clued in of all because they have personal experience, a good knowledge of relevant history, go themselves and find out, and listen carefully to a very diverse range of interviewees.
Meanwhile the Daily T podcast have somewhat pivoted on Trump's attitude to Ukraine after the Oval Office confrontation, but are still desperately trying to find credible-to-themselves sounding excuses to climb up Trump's backside on things like DOGE and his random dismantling of the state regardless of consequences. And they still wet themselves over his rhetoric, without even engaging with the reality that much of it is outright fabrication.
Over in the USA the non-Federalist Society lawyer lobby know what is happening because they expected Trump to assault the rule of law based on last time round when they were involved in slowing him down, but many military commentators (for example Ward Carroll who I was listening to this morning) have not engaged with the implications of the politics, even something as obvious as the USA losing $100bn of military exports per year and it's industry being decimated. Plus it was all there out and proud in Trump's campaign.
Some have done so - which was why I linked to the Ben Hodges interview this morning, but in general it is to do with much of the USA never looking beyond the USA - which is just how that country lives it's existence.
Former MSM people with podcasts (eg News Agents) are only now catching up on a few implications. But they have missed for example the assault Trump launched on international law on day 1 when he went for sanctioned individuals at the ICC, following the pattern of his attacks on Court staff over the last several years. The Rest is Politics is far better on that because of the breadth and length of experience form the inside from the presenters.
One I think missed generally is how culturally tenacious Maga are going to be. Parts of the Trumpvangelical wing are cut from the same cloth as communities that survived throughout the entire history of the USSR. They may let the USA be laid waste economically before they back down.
Uruguay is brilliant. This opinion is unconnected to the fact they are now basically force feeding me superb Uruguayan wine by the litre, like a hunger striker in H block but my dirty protest consists of mildly scathing tweets about steaks
Was there really that little reaction to losing to Argentina, or are you studiously avoiding the subject?
At work one of my instruments is a veritable NMR version of Triggers broom. Basic components are a large magnet, a console and a sample changer. In my time at Bath there have been three consoles (one from Varian and two from Bruker), two magnets (one each Oxford Instrumnets and Bruker) and two sample changers. Through all those changes at least one part has remained from the previous version so it has always maintained that link.
Sadly in the autumn it will be completely replaced, and thus cease being Trigger’s 400 MHz NMR spectrometer…
You should honour its demise with a precession through the town.
Every time I think things can't possibly get worse in Trumpland, something comes along that confounds that hope.
Here is Steve Witkoff, Trump's mate and fellow property developer, who is now a key US international negotiator. Being interviewed by Tucker Carlson (who else?) on his impressions of Putin.
Apparently Putin presented Witkoff with a specially-commissioned portrait of Trump. And Putin prayed for Trump when he was shot. LOL.
Have you ever seen anyone so credulous and ignorant as this? Truly stupefying. Does he not realise that Putin is ex-KGB?
Adolescence. I watched Episode 1 on a (4 hours late) plane. Alternately tearing up and sitting with my mouth hanging open. Not just the content and the acting - which were both brutal - its the realisation about 17 minutes in that its a single shot. Episode 2 had been cued up by Clarkson asking "how did they shoot that, its impossible". And it is, and yet here we are Episode 3 will be studied in acting schools for decades Episode 4 had me practically weeping at the end
I know, I'm going on about it like Leon goes on about Covid. Sorry...
They're screwed. Sales in Europe are cratering because few want to drive a car associated with Musk. Likewise Musk has alienated pretty much the entire Tesla customer base in the US, and the MAGA crowd hate EVs so there's not much to be gained from appealing to that market.
China is slipping away from them too simply because the domestic Chinese brands like BYD build better and cheaper cars.
The Cybertruck has become a running joke and will never be available in any market, like the UK and EU, that has actual automotive safety standards. It won't sell in the numbers required to pay for the development effort. It's a financial back hole and a well run company would ditch it.
I expect Tesla to have to pause production at certain Gigafactories fairly soon, they can't keep pumping out cars that are not selling.
I read somewhere in the last day or two that he has promised to double production in the USA.
Reminds me of when my son at primary school asked his friend's dad, who was an astronomer, whether the Universe was finite or infinite, and was told "we only know it doesn't have an edge"
Although each incarnation of the Sugababes kept the name, they were not the same band.
Is Genesis without Gabriel the same as Genesis with Gabriel?
You can like both, but they are explicitly not the same.
Yes Genesis is the same band, as long as there's continuity.
Are we living in the same country we were living in when this thread opened?
Since this thread opened some people in the UK have died. Since this thread opened some people in the UK have been born. Since this thread opened some flights have departed the UK taking people who have emigrated out of the country. Since this thread opened some flights have arrived bringing people who are migrating into the country.
Does this change in population mean we are now another country?
Every time I think things can't possibly get worse in Trumpland, something comes along that confounds that hope.
Here is Steve Witkoff, Trump's mate and fellow property developer, who is now a key US international negotiator. Being interviewed by Tucker Carlson (who else?) on his impressions of Putin.
Apparently Putin presented Witkoff with a specially-commissioned portrait of Trump. And Putin prayed for Trump when he was shot. LOL.
Have you ever seen anyone so credulous and ignorant as this? Truly stupefying. Does he not realise that Putin is ex-KGB?
Jose Ignacio is extremely charming in march (late summer). It’s probably very exciting in high summer. Full of rich hedonistic argentines and Brazilians
But my god it must be dull the rest of the year. It gets COLD here. And grey and windy
So wtf did Martin Amis do for the other 7-8 months of the year? I bet he was bored witless
It’s in Uruguay FFS. You can’t drive to Primrose Hill. Or Brooklyn
It's nice to think of him being bored witless rather than his readers.
Miaow!
I found both Amis and Mantel unreadable. I tried with both. Mantel even managed to make the French Revolution boring.
I have attempted Salman Rushdie a number of times. I don't think that I have ever managed more than a chapter. Fabulous intellect as maybe, but impossibly turgid.
Although each incarnation of the Sugababes kept the name, they were not the same band.
Is Genesis without Gabriel the same as Genesis with Gabriel?
You can like both, but they are explicitly not the same.
Yes Genesis is the same band, as long as there's continuity.
Are we living in the same country we were living in when this thread opened?
Since this thread opened some people in the UK have died. Since this thread opened some people in the UK have been born. Since this thread opened some flights have departed the UK taking people who have emigrated out of the country. Since this thread opened some flights have arrived bringing people who are migrating into the country.
Does this change in population mean we are now another country?
This one-time geographer thinks the country is the land more than the people who inhabit it. So no.
Every time I think things can't possibly get worse in Trumpland, something comes along that confounds that hope.
Here is Steve Witkoff, Trump's mate and fellow property developer, who is now a key US international negotiator. Being interviewed by Tucker Carlson (who else?) on his impressions of Putin.
Apparently Putin presented Witkoff with a specially-commissioned portrait of Trump. And Putin prayed for Trump when he was shot. LOL.
Have you ever seen anyone so credulous and ignorant as this? Truly stupefying. Does he not realise that Putin is ex-KGB?
I think I'm in the 29% - at least when it comes to bicycles. It's more of an emotional thing, particularly if you've spent the time and effort to replace parts (and eventually the frame) rather than stick it in the bin the moment it plays up.
Interesting - I have replaced almost everything except the frame on mine, but if I bought a new frame and transfered all the existing components I think I would consider it a new bike.
Perhaps - if more than 50% of the value/weight of the parts have been there for more than 50% of the life of the bike, then it's the same bike? In my head they have a kind of soul - I certainly developed a strong attachment to the car I climbed all my Munros with*, for example.
* Not literally, though Clarkson did bag Cnoc an Fhreiceadain with a Discovery.
I think most people would have a very strong prejudice against saying that they weren't the same person they used to be, because most of the cells in their body have been replaced by new ones.
How long does it take for all one's cells to be completely replaced? Some would like to argue that they weren't the person who ran up all that debt.
It varies. Some cells turnover very quickly, particularly epithelial, but others are with us for life. Hence they gradually accumulate errors and damage as part of senescence.
Within even those cells there will gradually be turnover though, as we enter the fractal edge of life. Yet we have continuity so are the same person, even if I wouldn't feel much in common with my forty year younger self. I have changed and the world has changed.
Your corneal endothelium, for example. I discovered I have Fuchs’ dystrophy, which drove the lesson home somewhat.
Although each incarnation of the Sugababes kept the name, they were not the same band.
Is Genesis without Gabriel the same as Genesis with Gabriel?
You can like both, but they are explicitly not the same.
Yes Genesis is the same band, as long as there's continuity.
Are we living in the same country we were living in when this thread opened?
Since this thread opened some people in the UK have died. Since this thread opened some people in the UK have been born. Since this thread opened some flights have departed the UK taking people who have emigrated out of the country. Since this thread opened some flights have arrived bringing people who are migrating into the country.
Does this change in population mean we are now another country?
This one-time geographer thinks the country is the land more than the people who inhabit it. So no.
As a physical geographer, is social geography a work of the devil to be cast out?
Jose Ignacio is extremely charming in march (late summer). It’s probably very exciting in high summer. Full of rich hedonistic argentines and Brazilians
But my god it must be dull the rest of the year. It gets COLD here. And grey and windy
So wtf did Martin Amis do for the other 7-8 months of the year? I bet he was bored witless
It’s in Uruguay FFS. You can’t drive to Primrose Hill. Or Brooklyn
It's nice to think of him being bored witless rather than his readers.
Miaow!
I found both Amis and Mantel unreadable. I tried with both. Mantel even managed to make the French Revolution boring.
"Money" unreadable? "Wolf Hall" unreadable? Seriously? What do you find readable?
Fleas have smaller fleas, on their backs to bite them, They in turn have smaller fleas, and so on, ad finitum.
I hate myself for this but...
...ad infinitum.
"Ad finitum" is a Latin term that means "to the end" or "to have an end". It is the opposite of "ad infinitum," which means "to infinity" or "to go on forever".
Although each incarnation of the Sugababes kept the name, they were not the same band.
Is Genesis without Gabriel the same as Genesis with Gabriel?
You can like both, but they are explicitly not the same.
Yes Genesis is the same band, as long as there's continuity.
Are we living in the same country we were living in when this thread opened?
Since this thread opened some people in the UK have died. Since this thread opened some people in the UK have been born. Since this thread opened some flights have departed the UK taking people who have emigrated out of the country. Since this thread opened some flights have arrived bringing people who are migrating into the country.
Does this change in population mean we are now another country?
This one-time geographer thinks the country is the land more than the people who inhabit it. So no.
Coastal erosion means that land that used to be part of England is now part of the sea. Does that mean we are no longer the same country?
Every time I think things can't possibly get worse in Trumpland, something comes along that confounds that hope.
Here is Steve Witkoff, Trump's mate and fellow property developer, who is now a key US international negotiator. Being interviewed by Tucker Carlson (who else?) on his impressions of Putin.
Apparently Putin presented Witkoff with a specially-commissioned portrait of Trump. And Putin prayed for Trump when he was shot. LOL.
Have you ever seen anyone so credulous and ignorant as this? Truly stupefying. Does he not realise that Putin is ex-KGB?
Putin is playing a blinder. He knows exactly which keys to press with this neophytes.
It is not exactly difficult for anyone who is prepared to and has no sense of shame.
Hence Starmer and KCIII "historic" second state visit.
Starmer equally lacks a sense of shame, and KCIII is constitutionally incapable of being ashamed of acting that way.
No. Starmer has no choice but to try to play Trump and the only way you can do that is through flattery. Must be nauseating for him but he has my respect for trying. Likewise KCIII for doing his duty and going along with it.
Sadly, the truth is that the US really is the one indispensable country. The tragedy is that it is currently led by a grotesque malignant narcissist and a coterie of toad-eaters.
No significant change though some slight improvement in Badenoch's ratings as Starmer's fall back but again nothing too drastic.
Looking at voter shifts since last July, Labour has lost a third of those voting for them then with the ex-Labour voters going to all parties.
The Conservatives have lost 20% of their 2024 vote to Reform but have picked up voters from other parties.
The Liberal Democrats have retained 79% of their 2024 vote while Reform not only have 87% of their own 2024 vote but have picked up from both Conservative and Labour in equal numbers.
Labour being tied with REF must be a bit of a worry for LAB as Opinium have tended to be one of the more favourable pollsters for Labour since the election?
I think I'm in the 29% - at least when it comes to bicycles. It's more of an emotional thing, particularly if you've spent the time and effort to replace parts (and eventually the frame) rather than stick it in the bin the moment it plays up.
Interesting - I have replaced almost everything except the frame on mine, but if I bought a new frame and transfered all the existing components I think I would consider it a new bike.
Perhaps - if more than 50% of the value/weight of the parts have been there for more than 50% of the life of the bike, then it's the same bike? In my head they have a kind of soul - I certainly developed a strong attachment to the car I climbed all my Munros with*, for example.
* Not literally, though Clarkson did bag Cnoc an Fhreiceadain with a Discovery.
I think most people would have a very strong prejudice against saying that they weren't the same person they used to be, because most of the cells in their body have been replaced by new ones.
How long does it take for all one's cells to be completely replaced? Some would like to argue that they weren't the person who ran up all that debt.
It varies. Some cells turnover very quickly, particularly epithelial, but others are with us for life. Hence they gradually accumulate errors and damage as part of senescence.
Within even those cells there will gradually be turnover though, as we enter the fractal edge of life. Yet we have continuity so are the same person, even if I wouldn't feel much in common with my forty year younger self. I have changed and the world has changed.
Your corneal endothelium, for example. I discovered I have Fuchs’ dystrophy, which drove the lesson home somewhat.
It is possible to have corneal transplants, but do they become part of you, or do you become part of them?
The Adverts explored this philosophical point in their seminal work "Looking through Gary Gilmores Eyes".
I think I'm in the 29% - at least when it comes to bicycles. It's more of an emotional thing, particularly if you've spent the time and effort to replace parts (and eventually the frame) rather than stick it in the bin the moment it plays up.
Interesting - I have replaced almost everything except the frame on mine, but if I bought a new frame and transfered all the existing components I think I would consider it a new bike.
Perhaps - if more than 50% of the value/weight of the parts have been there for more than 50% of the life of the bike, then it's the same bike? In my head they have a kind of soul - I certainly developed a strong attachment to the car I climbed all my Munros with*, for example.
* Not literally, though Clarkson did bag Cnoc an Fhreiceadain with a Discovery.
I think most people would have a very strong prejudice against saying that they weren't the same person they used to be, because most of the cells in their body have been replaced by new ones.
How long does it take for all one's cells to be completely replaced? Some would like to argue that they weren't the person who ran up all that debt.
It varies. Some cells turnover very quickly, particularly epithelial, but others are with us for life. Hence they gradually accumulate errors and damage as part of senescence.
Within even those cells there will gradually be turnover though, as we enter the fractal edge of life. Yet we have continuity so are the same person, even if I wouldn't feel much in common with my forty year younger self. I have changed and the world has changed.
Your corneal endothelium, for example. I discovered I have Fuchs’ dystrophy, which drove the lesson home somewhat.
It is possible to have corneal transplants, but do they become part of you, or do you become part of them?
The Adverts explored this philosophical point in their seminal work "Looking through Gary Gilmores Eyes".
Although each incarnation of the Sugababes kept the name, they were not the same band.
Is Genesis without Gabriel the same as Genesis with Gabriel?
You can like both, but they are explicitly not the same.
Yes Genesis is the same band, as long as there's continuity.
Are we living in the same country we were living in when this thread opened?
Since this thread opened some people in the UK have died. Since this thread opened some people in the UK have been born. Since this thread opened some flights have departed the UK taking people who have emigrated out of the country. Since this thread opened some flights have arrived bringing people who are migrating into the country.
Does this change in population mean we are now another country?
This one-time geographer thinks the country is the land more than the people who inhabit it. So no.
As a physical geographer, is social geography a work of the devil to be cast out?
Tbh I found physical geography a bit dull so I'm not the one to ask! Social geography is only one part of human geography, how it all blends together to make up the whole was what always interested me.
Although each incarnation of the Sugababes kept the name, they were not the same band.
Is Genesis without Gabriel the same as Genesis with Gabriel?
You can like both, but they are explicitly not the same.
Yes Genesis is the same band, as long as there's continuity.
Are we living in the same country we were living in when this thread opened?
Since this thread opened some people in the UK have died. Since this thread opened some people in the UK have been born. Since this thread opened some flights have departed the UK taking people who have emigrated out of the country. Since this thread opened some flights have arrived bringing people who are migrating into the country.
Does this change in population mean we are now another country?
This one-time geographer thinks the country is the land more than the people who inhabit it. So no.
Coastal erosion means that land that used to be part of England is now part of the sea. Does that mean we are no longer the same country?
Haha, I saw that coming as soon as I pressed Post. And with deposition too in estuaries. Clearly the answer must be yes then after all :-)
Of course I just wanted to interject a different opinion lightheartedly on a Saturday evening.
No significant change though some slight improvement in Badenoch's ratings as Starmer's fall back but again nothing too drastic.
Looking at voter shifts since last July, Labour has lost a third of those voting for them then with the ex-Labour voters going to all parties.
The Conservatives have lost 20% of their 2024 vote to Reform but have picked up voters from other parties.
The Liberal Democrats have retained 79% of their 2024 vote while Reform not only have 87% of their own 2024 vote but have picked up from both Conservative and Labour in equal numbers.
Labour being tied with REF must be a bit of a worry for LAB as Opinium have tended to be one of the more favourable pollsters for Labour since the election?
Good evening
With Reeves statement on Wednesday and these price rises from 1st April the polling into that month will be interesting
No significant change though some slight improvement in Badenoch's ratings as Starmer's fall back but again nothing too drastic.
Looking at voter shifts since last July, Labour has lost a third of those voting for them then with the ex-Labour voters going to all parties.
The Conservatives have lost 20% of their 2024 vote to Reform but have picked up voters from other parties.
The Liberal Democrats have retained 79% of their 2024 vote while Reform not only have 87% of their own 2024 vote but have picked up from both Conservative and Labour in equal numbers.
Labour being tied with REF must be a bit of a worry for LAB as Opinium have tended to be one of the more favourable pollsters for Labour since the election?
Good evening
With Reeves statement on Wednesday and these price rises from 1st April the polling into that month will be interesting
No significant change though some slight improvement in Badenoch's ratings as Starmer's fall back but again nothing too drastic.
Looking at voter shifts since last July, Labour has lost a third of those voting for them then with the ex-Labour voters going to all parties.
The Conservatives have lost 20% of their 2024 vote to Reform but have picked up voters from other parties.
The Liberal Democrats have retained 79% of their 2024 vote while Reform not only have 87% of their own 2024 vote but have picked up from both Conservative and Labour in equal numbers.
Labour being tied with REF must be a bit of a worry for LAB as Opinium have tended to be one of the more favourable pollsters for Labour since the election?
Good evening
With Reeves statement on Wednesday and these price rises from 1st April the polling into that month will be interesting
Very clear wake up call to Labour - particularly the abattoir chic harem, smeared over the front bench around Starmer: if you want to know what a proper hair style is, look at Kate on front Sunday Mirror.
Very clear wake up call to Labour - particularly the abattoir chic harem, smeared over the front bench around Starmer: if you want to know what a proper hair style is, look at Kate on front Sunday Mirror.
"Well, Clarice. Have the lambs stopped screaming?"
No significant change though some slight improvement in Badenoch's ratings as Starmer's fall back but again nothing too drastic.
Looking at voter shifts since last July, Labour has lost a third of those voting for them then with the ex-Labour voters going to all parties.
The Conservatives have lost 20% of their 2024 vote to Reform but have picked up voters from other parties.
The Liberal Democrats have retained 79% of their 2024 vote while Reform not only have 87% of their own 2024 vote but have picked up from both Conservative and Labour in equal numbers.
Labour being tied with REF must be a bit of a worry for LAB as Opinium have tended to be one of the more favourable pollsters for Labour since the election?
Good evening
With Reeves statement on Wednesday and these price rises from 1st April the polling into that month will be interesting
Get the feeling if Reeves screws up another budget she may be toast?
She has nowhere to hide
Feels to me like she has been totally captured by Treasury Think and is not politically dominant enough to face them down.
Apparently a former BoE economist, Andy Hasland (sp?) thinks the only way to get growth is to split the growth function from the Treasury bean counters into a new dynamic department.
No significant change though some slight improvement in Badenoch's ratings as Starmer's fall back but again nothing too drastic.
Looking at voter shifts since last July, Labour has lost a third of those voting for them then with the ex-Labour voters going to all parties.
The Conservatives have lost 20% of their 2024 vote to Reform but have picked up voters from other parties.
The Liberal Democrats have retained 79% of their 2024 vote while Reform not only have 87% of their own 2024 vote but have picked up from both Conservative and Labour in equal numbers.
Labour being tied with REF must be a bit of a worry for LAB as Opinium have tended to be one of the more favourable pollsters for Labour since the election?
Good evening
With Reeves statement on Wednesday and these price rises from 1st April the polling into that month will be interesting
Get the feeling if Reeves screws up another budget she may be toast?
She has nowhere to hide
Feels to me like she has been totally captured by Treasury Think and is not politically dominant enough to face them down.
Apparently a former BoE economist, Andy Hasland (sp?) thinks the only way to get growth is to split the growth function from the Treasury bean counters into a new dynamic department.
Fleas have smaller fleas, on their backs to bite them, They in turn have smaller fleas, and so on, ad finitum.
I hate myself for this but...
...ad infinitum.
"Ad finitum" is a Latin term that means "to the end" or "to have an end". It is the opposite of "ad infinitum," which means "to infinity" or "to go on forever".
My hot take here is the real enemies of the state are the 8% of bland wishy-washies afraid to even venture to have an opinion on the question. GET OFF THE FENCE AND AT LEAST GIVE ANSWERING IT A PROPER GO.
Very clear wake up call to Labour - particularly the abattoir chic harem, smeared over the front bench around Starmer: if you want to know what a proper hair style is, look at Kate on front Sunday Mirror.
"Well, Clarice. Have the lambs stopped screaming?"
No. Still very busy my end. And it’s a meh sound commonly called bleat.
But if anyone wants to answer a political/historical/religious/royalty question - under Henry the 8th England ruled France, during those times did UK Monarchy try to do away with Catholic Mass in France, in favour of something much more simpler? If so, how did that go, as Monarch imposing CoE worship on Catholic France would surely have been a big bone of contention?
Uruguay is brilliant. This opinion is unconnected to the fact they are now basically force feeding me superb Uruguayan wine by the litre, like a hunger striker in H block but my dirty protest consists of mildly scathing tweets about steaks
Was there really that little reaction to losing to Argentina, or are you studiously avoiding the subject?
I watched the match in Uruguay. TBH it wasn’t as fun as I hoped as no one REALLY cared, because the World Cup qualifiers are structured so that almost every team of consequence is bound to go through, play offs against Tahiti etc
This was Uruguayans that told me this, btw, before they lost, not after
Surely Rubio is gonna be the first to walk from Trump 2.0?
Why would he walk?
The belief he's not fully on board seems to be based on pretty much nothing. He knew what he was getting into this time, and what he needed to do to get a job.
ON topic I am beginning to see why people fall in love with this stretch of coast. I thought it was gonna be a shit version of the Costa del Sol surrounding Marbella
It isn’t, it’s much more soulful, surfy and tastefully opulent, but with a remote South American pampas grass-and-pines feel, like the French Atlantic around Biarritz meets North California around Carmel, but after a weirdly forensic plague killed just the poor
@SpeakerJohnson The House is working overtime to limit the abuses of activist federal judges. Our @JudiciaryGOP will expose the worst offenders in a high profile hearing & we are preparing urgent legislative action, like the @repdarrellissa bill to stop unfounded nationwide injunctions.
The answer is no. Nowt is the same moment to moment. There is merely becoming. That includes you. All is impermanent. Thus. Change is possible.
The fact that change moment to moment is true does not entail the non endurance of identity in objects - which is the underlying issue in Trigger's broom. That the broom is the same broom enduring through change is generally true, second by second, as it sits quietly there in the corner undergoing constant tiny changes.
If this were not true than the word 'you' which you use would fail to to capable of making a distinct reference. Which would render language redundant both in your case and in general.
Trigger's broom raises other issues too of course, in particular because none of the original parts remain. But the fact of change alone does not answer the broom problem. (My answer, detail above somewhere is Yes).
At work one of my instruments is a veritable NMR version of Triggers broom. Basic components are a large magnet, a console and a sample changer. In my time at Bath there have been three consoles (one from Varian and two from Bruker), two magnets (one each Oxford Instrumnets and Bruker) and two sample changers. Through all those changes at least one part has remained from the previous version so it has always maintained that link.
Sadly in the autumn it will be completely replaced, and thus cease being Trigger’s 400 MHz NMR spectrometer…
You should honour its demise with a precession through the town.
Fleas have smaller fleas, on their backs to bite them, They in turn have smaller fleas, and so on, ad finitum.
I hate myself for this but...
...ad infinitum.
it’s also ”bite ’em” - not “them” - so the rhyme with ad infinitum is better and funnier
In toto:
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
Indeed, largely pinched from Swift too:
The Vermin only teaze and pinch Their Foes superior by an Inch. So, Nat'ralists observe, a Flea Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey, And these have smaller yet to bite 'em, And so proceed ad infinitum: Thus ev'ry Poet, in his Kind Is bit by him that comes behind.
After crushing the football titans of Fiji 7-0 in the semi final, the clash to shake the very soul of the Southwest Pacific is now imminent.
For a place in World Cup 2026 alongside Japan and God knows who else, New Zealand, the mighty All Whites, must overcome the legends that are New Caledonia in the Play Off Final on Monday morning (UK).
More exciting than a travelogue from Uruguay, of more significance than the latest Welsh political gossip, of greater relevance than the specification of an F-35, more urgent than a quote from Fawlty Towers, Blackadder or Python?
After crushing the football titans of Fiji 7-0 in the semi final, the clash to shake the very soul of the Southwest Pacific is now imminent.
For a place in World Cup 2026 alongside Japan and God knows who else, New Zealand, the mighty All Whites, must overcome the legends that are New Caledonia in the Play Off Final on Monday morning (UK).
More exciting than a travelogue from Uruguay, of more significance than the latest Welsh political gossip, of greater relevance than the specification of an F-35, more urgent than a quote from Fawlty Towers, Blackadder or Python?
Probably not…..
The World Cup is in the USA, so the All Whites should be nailed on.
The Kiwis are fortunate that it isn't a rugby tournament.
Very clear wake up call to Labour - particularly the abattoir chic harem, smeared over the front bench around Starmer: if you want to know what a proper hair style is, look at Kate on front Sunday Mirror.
"Well, Clarice. Have the lambs stopped screaming?"
No. Still very busy my end. And it’s a meh sound commonly called bleat.
But if anyone wants to answer a political/historical/religious/royalty question - under Henry the 8th England ruled France, during those times did UK Monarchy try to do away with Catholic Mass in France, in favour of something much more simpler? If so, how did that go, as Monarch imposing CoE worship on Catholic France would surely have been a big bone of contention?
I think that question needs some very sober clarifications before it is capable of being answered.
@SpeakerJohnson The House is working overtime to limit the abuses of activist federal judges. Our @JudiciaryGOP will expose the worst offenders in a high profile hearing & we are preparing urgent legislative action, like the @repdarrellissa bill to stop unfounded nationwide injunctions.
Adolescence. Gosh. Could only cope with the first episode tonight. It’s not exactly Ballykissangel is it?
First episode's the good one. Next episode we get experienced police officers pretending not to understand technology so the screenwriter has an opportunity to explain it to the audience...
@SpeakerJohnson The House is working overtime to limit the abuses of activist federal judges. Our @JudiciaryGOP will expose the worst offenders in a high profile hearing & we are preparing urgent legislative action, like the @repdarrellissa bill to stop unfounded nationwide injunctions.
Adolescence. Gosh. Could only cope with the first episode tonight. It’s not exactly Ballykissangel is it?
First episode's the good one. Next episode we get experienced police officers pretending not to understand technology so the screenwriter has an opportunity to explain it to the audience...
Sounds like there could be better ways to get that exposition out than that old cliche.
@SpeakerJohnson The House is working overtime to limit the abuses of activist federal judges. Our @JudiciaryGOP will expose the worst offenders in a high profile hearing & we are preparing urgent legislative action, like the @repdarrellissa bill to stop unfounded nationwide injunctions.
My periodic check: are we agreed the USA is becoming a dictatorship yet, or is the - um -jury still out?
It depends.
Are they going to finally lock Aileen Cannon and Clarence Thomas up for their crimes?
If not, I'll go with 'yes.'
The only surprise so far is Cannon has not yet been promoted, as far as I know.
Thomas is presumably too busy with the latest 'gift' from billionaire 'friends' he 'forgot' to declare to know what is going on without a clerk telling him.
I think I'm in the 29% - at least when it comes to bicycles. It's more of an emotional thing, particularly if you've spent the time and effort to replace parts (and eventually the frame) rather than stick it in the bin the moment it plays up.
Interesting - I have replaced almost everything except the frame on mine, but if I bought a new frame and transfered all the existing components I think I would consider it a new bike.
Perhaps - if more than 50% of the value/weight of the parts have been there for more than 50% of the life of the bike, then it's the same bike? In my head they have a kind of soul - I certainly developed a strong attachment to the car I climbed all my Munros with*, for example.
* Not literally, though Clarkson did bag Cnoc an Fhreiceadain with a Discovery.
I think most people would have a very strong prejudice against saying that they weren't the same person they used to be, because most of the cells in their body have been replaced by new ones.
How long does it take for all one's cells to be completely replaced? Some would like to argue that they weren't the person who ran up all that debt.
It varies. Some cells turnover very quickly, particularly epithelial, but others are with us for life. Hence they gradually accumulate errors and damage as part of senescence.
Within even those cells there will gradually be turnover though, as we enter the fractal edge of life. Yet we have continuity so are the same person, even if I wouldn't feel much in common with my forty year younger self. I have changed and the world has changed.
Your corneal endothelium, for example. I discovered I have Fuchs’ dystrophy, which drove the lesson home somewhat.
It is possible to have corneal transplants, but do they become part of you, or do you become part of them?
The Adverts explored this philosophical point in their seminal work "Looking through Gary Gilmores Eyes".
I think I'm in the 29% - at least when it comes to bicycles. It's more of an emotional thing, particularly if you've spent the time and effort to replace parts (and eventually the frame) rather than stick it in the bin the moment it plays up.
Interesting - I have replaced almost everything except the frame on mine, but if I bought a new frame and transfered all the existing components I think I would consider it a new bike.
Perhaps - if more than 50% of the value/weight of the parts have been there for more than 50% of the life of the bike, then it's the same bike? In my head they have a kind of soul - I certainly developed a strong attachment to the car I climbed all my Munros with*, for example.
* Not literally, though Clarkson did bag Cnoc an Fhreiceadain with a Discovery.
I think most people would have a very strong prejudice against saying that they weren't the same person they used to be, because most of the cells in their body have been replaced by new ones.
How long does it take for all one's cells to be completely replaced? Some would like to argue that they weren't the person who ran up all that debt.
It varies. Some cells turnover very quickly, particularly epithelial, but others are with us for life. Hence they gradually accumulate errors and damage as part of senescence.
Within even those cells there will gradually be turnover though, as we enter the fractal edge of life. Yet we have continuity so are the same person, even if I wouldn't feel much in common with my forty year younger self. I have changed and the world has changed.
Your corneal endothelium, for example. I discovered I have Fuchs’ dystrophy, which drove the lesson home somewhat.
It is possible to have corneal transplants, but do they become part of you, or do you become part of them?
The Adverts explored this philosophical point in their seminal work "Looking through Gary Gilmores Eyes".
@SpeakerJohnson The House is working overtime to limit the abuses of activist federal judges. Our @JudiciaryGOP will expose the worst offenders in a high profile hearing & we are preparing urgent legislative action, like the @repdarrellissa bill to stop unfounded nationwide injunctions.
Adolescence. Gosh. Could only cope with the first episode tonight. It’s not exactly Ballykissangel is it?
First episode's the good one. Next episode we get experienced police officers pretending not to understand technology so the screenwriter has an opportunity to explain it to the audience...
Not understanding the language of social media rather than the technology.
@SpeakerJohnson The House is working overtime to limit the abuses of activist federal judges. Our @JudiciaryGOP will expose the worst offenders in a high profile hearing & we are preparing urgent legislative action, like the @repdarrellissa bill to stop unfounded nationwide injunctions.
@SpeakerJohnson The House is working overtime to limit the abuses of activist federal judges. Our @JudiciaryGOP will expose the worst offenders in a high profile hearing & we are preparing urgent legislative action, like the @repdarrellissa bill to stop unfounded nationwide injunctions.
I love really chic, desirable places out of season
The last rays of sun on Menton or Monaco in early October, deckchairs folded, yet sill the douceur du vivre
Venice in mid December, or late January brrrr but oooooooh the lights on the wet cobbles and misty canals
Punta del Este in March, the pines sway in a cooling breeze in a slant of faded golden sun, the fisherman stand and scent autumn as the last pretty girl from that Malbec dynasty packs her beach towels, and trails sand to her boyfriend’s Tesla
Comments
Blockbuster Video
Tesla
That leaves stranded assets in Europe and China as sales plunge. And a complete shift in its US target market from environmentally conscious liberals to MAGA-diehards. I know which I'd choose as my preferred audience as a marketing executive of an electric car company.
And then consider that its share price is trading at 122 P/E based on a set of earnings before these headwinds.
We're very much at the point in those old cartoons where the character has run off the cliff but not started to fall yet...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdpW91w9yp0
"1964: DRUM FIGHT!"
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0675332/
Very middle-class, but speaks to a certain dread.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11248266/
Mostly single-shot per episode. And 'The Collapse' is never explained.
The first two or three minutes tell you the story. Even the cooked up 'film' quality is fake.......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw9k-eOQmww
When we used to have snow in London and we went through the routine paralysis of transport, people would ask why the city didn't have a fleet of snowploughs like Oslo or Stockholm? Boris Johnson, I think, famously replied the cost of maintaining such a fleet set against the frequency of its use made it economically unjustifiable.
Was this fire so "unlikely" than to have spent money trying to prevent it been a waste? Possibly unlikely what we have been told is the "cost" of the disruption but I'm no expert.
It's also been a test of airline responsiveness and customer care - it seems American Airlines and Singapore Airlines, from what I read, have done very well and provided all the assistance a passenger could need, other airlines less so. Hopefully it will be well documented how the airlines have fared - as to whether they will seek redress from LHR, that will no doubt keep the legal profession going for a while.
China is slipping away from them too simply because the domestic Chinese brands like BYD build better and cheaper cars.
The Cybertruck has become a running joke and will never be available in any market, like the UK and EU, that has actual automotive safety standards. It won't sell in the numbers required to pay for the development effort. It's a financial back hole and a well run company would ditch it.
I expect Tesla to have to pause production at certain Gigafactories fairly soon, they can't keep pumping out cars that are not selling.
Designing it out takes care.
I found both Amis and Mantel unreadable. I tried with both. Mantel even managed to make the French Revolution boring.
Since Trusk have designated attacks on Teslas "terrorism", they are no longer insured, as insurance policies don't cover acts of terror...
In moderation it can be quite effective, but I whole book written in it? Do me a favour.
There are other stylistic contrivances which some may think of as Art but I just regarded as artifice for the sake of it. \i suspected her motives, but in the end just didn't care, and filed her under Crap.
Meeks made the same mistake.
Although each incarnation of the Sugababes kept the name, they were not the same band.
Is Genesis without Gabriel the same as Genesis with Gabriel?
You can like both, but they are explicitly not the same.
Within even those cells there will gradually be turnover though, as we enter the fractal edge of life. Yet we have continuity so are the same person, even if I wouldn't feel much in common with my forty year younger self. I have changed and the world has changed.
Compare to the Telegraph where Ukraine the Latest are some of the most clued in of all because they have personal experience, a good knowledge of relevant history, go themselves and find out, and listen carefully to a very diverse range of interviewees.
Meanwhile the Daily T podcast have somewhat pivoted on Trump's attitude to Ukraine after the Oval Office confrontation, but are still desperately trying to find credible-to-themselves sounding excuses to climb up Trump's backside on things like DOGE and his random dismantling of the state regardless of consequences. And they still wet themselves over his rhetoric, without even engaging with the reality that much of it is outright fabrication.
Over in the USA the non-Federalist Society lawyer lobby know what is happening because they expected Trump to assault the rule of law based on last time round when they were involved in slowing him down, but many military commentators (for example Ward Carroll who I was listening to this morning) have not engaged with the implications of the politics, even something as obvious as the USA losing $100bn of military exports per year and it's industry being decimated. Plus it was all there out and proud in Trump's campaign.
Some have done so - which was why I linked to the Ben Hodges interview this morning, but in general it is to do with much of the USA never looking beyond the USA - which is just how that country lives it's existence.
Former MSM people with podcasts (eg News Agents) are only now catching up on a few implications. But they have missed for example the assault Trump launched on international law on day 1 when he went for sanctioned individuals at the ICC, following the pattern of his attacks on Court staff over the last several years. The Rest is Politics is far better on that because of the breadth and length of experience form the inside from the presenters.
One I think missed generally is how culturally tenacious Maga are going to be. Parts of the Trumpvangelical wing are cut from the same cloth as communities that survived throughout the entire history of the USSR. They may let the USA be laid waste economically before they back down.
Tell us more
Here is Steve Witkoff, Trump's mate and fellow property developer, who is now a key US international negotiator. Being interviewed by Tucker Carlson (who else?) on his impressions of Putin.
Apparently Putin presented Witkoff with a specially-commissioned portrait of Trump. And Putin prayed for Trump when he was shot. LOL.
Have you ever seen anyone so credulous and ignorant as this? Truly stupefying. Does he not realise that Putin is ex-KGB?
https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1903238535458721962
Utterly mendacious.
They in turn have smaller fleas, and so on, ad finitum.
Are we living in the same country we were living in when this thread opened?
Since this thread opened some people in the UK have died.
Since this thread opened some people in the UK have been born.
Since this thread opened some flights have departed the UK taking people who have emigrated out of the country.
Since this thread opened some flights have arrived bringing people who are migrating into the country.
Does this change in population mean we are now another country?
...ad infinitum.
Hence Starmer and KCIII "historic" second state visit.
Starmer equally lacks a sense of shame, and KCIII is constitutionally incapable of being ashamed of acting that way.
Must admit I don't think I could have resisted that one either.
I discovered I have Fuchs’ dystrophy, which drove the lesson home somewhat.
Sadly, the truth is that the US really is the one indispensable country. The tragedy is that it is currently led by a grotesque malignant narcissist and a coterie of toad-eaters.
The Adverts explored this philosophical point in their seminal work "Looking through Gary Gilmores Eyes".
https://youtu.be/AFSq_vOrbcM?feature=shared
Nowt is the same moment to moment. There is merely becoming.
That includes you.
All is impermanent.
Thus. Change is possible.
Of course I just wanted to interject a different opinion lightheartedly on a Saturday evening.
With Reeves statement on Wednesday and these price rises from 1st April the polling into that month will be interesting
https://news.sky.com/story/heres-every-household-bill-rising-in-april-and-how-you-can-beat-the-hikes-13040934
And this
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/22/all-uk-families-to-be-worse-off-by-2030-as-poor-bear-the-brunt-new-data-warns?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Get the feeling if Reeves screws up another budget she may be toast?
Trump tells us all the time he is against wars.
Hmm....
Apparently a former BoE economist, Andy Hasland (sp?) thinks the only way to get growth is to split the growth function from the Treasury bean counters into a new dynamic department.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siphonaptera_(poem)
But if anyone wants to answer a political/historical/religious/royalty question - under Henry the 8th England ruled France, during those times did UK Monarchy try to do away with Catholic Mass in France, in favour of something much more simpler? If so, how did that go, as Monarch imposing CoE worship on Catholic France would surely have been a big bone of contention?
This was Uruguayans that told me this, btw, before they lost, not after
Excellent Argie goal however
The Daily Show
@TheDailyShow
Welcome back, astronauts! A LOT has changed since you left...
https://x.com/TheDailyShow/status/1903507585363251685
It isn’t, it’s much more soulful, surfy and tastefully opulent, but with a remote South American pampas grass-and-pines feel, like the French Atlantic around Biarritz meets North California around Carmel, but after a weirdly forensic plague killed just the poor
(Makes me nostalgic for the good old days when being compromised by Russian agents was a resigning matter rather than a CV point).
@SpeakerJohnson
The House is working overtime to limit the abuses of activist federal judges. Our @JudiciaryGOP
will expose the worst offenders in a high profile hearing & we are preparing urgent legislative action, like the @repdarrellissa bill to stop unfounded nationwide injunctions.
https://x.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1903529228085109157
In toto:
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
If this were not true than the word 'you' which you use would fail to to capable of making a distinct reference. Which would render language redundant both in your case and in general.
Trigger's broom raises other issues too of course, in particular because none of the original parts remain. But the fact of change alone does not answer the broom problem. (My answer, detail above somewhere is Yes).
The Vermin only teaze and pinch
Their Foes superior by an Inch.
So, Nat'ralists observe, a Flea
Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller yet to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum:
Thus ev'ry Poet, in his Kind
Is bit by him that comes behind.
For a place in World Cup 2026 alongside Japan and God knows who else, New Zealand, the mighty All Whites, must overcome the legends that are New Caledonia in the Play Off Final on Monday morning (UK).
More exciting than a travelogue from Uruguay, of more significance than the latest Welsh political gossip, of greater relevance than the specification of an F-35, more urgent than a quote from Fawlty Towers, Blackadder or Python?
Probably not…..
It’s not exactly Ballykissangel is it?
The Kiwis are fortunate that it isn't a rugby tournament.
Are they going to finally lock Aileen Cannon and Clarence Thomas up for their crimes?
If not, I'll go with 'yes.'
Thomas is presumably too busy with the latest 'gift' from billionaire 'friends' he 'forgot' to declare to know what is going on without a clerk telling him.
Great acting, plotting not afraid of breaking new ground, with cunning camera work that maintains the feeling of claustrophobia.
Anything is possible under this administration, certainly.
Is the intention a continuing 'elected' dictatorship or a rigged/non elected one?
Will the SCOTUS intervene decisively, and if so will their judgment be enforced?
Will there be an enforced clamp down on the jurisdiction of the courts?
Will the, fairly wide, degree of free speech (under intimidation) and free media be allowed to continue?
Will there be a 'Reichstag Fire' event?
Will there be a counter-coup?
(So far this is all at the very worst end of my expectations).
Yes.
The last rays of sun on Menton or Monaco in early October, deckchairs folded, yet sill the douceur du vivre
Venice in mid December, or late January brrrr but oooooooh the lights on the wet cobbles and misty canals
Punta del Este in March, the pines sway in a cooling breeze in a slant of faded golden sun, the fisherman stand and scent autumn as the last pretty girl from that Malbec dynasty packs her beach towels, and trails sand to her boyfriend’s Tesla