Any suggestions for an electric car? Small but comfortable but not a Tesla. Someone said a BMW 3I but they dont make them anymore.
A bit of fun runabout?
Alpine A290/Renault 5.
All other answers are varying degrees of wrong.
The Renault 5 looks great - seems to have the perfect blend of nostalgia by keeping very close to the original but with enough modern touches.
I have decided I no longer have time or space to build my daily drivers from Copart wrecks or non-runners found in the large intestine of Facebook Marketplace. So I have bought my first ever brand new car - 150hp Renault 5 in Peroni/Jassaud yellow. The stock wheels are heavy cast junk so I'm putting OZ Racing Ultraleggeras on mine.
Mint. Mine? Absolute anchor-grade cast alus, probably weigh more than a pair of 4-pot Brembos and a seized H22 block. Swapping those for OZ Racing Ultraleggeras—15x7 ET35 wrapped in 195/50R15 Pilot Sport 5s, torqued to spec with a Snap-On digital. Already shed 6kg per corner and I haven’t even touched the unsprung weight up front—thinking coilover swap to Bilstein B14s and maybe a hybrid ARB from the Clio RS Cup parts bin.
Next step: EBC Yellowstuffs, braided HEL lines, DOT 5.1 flush, and possibly a cheeky remap via OBDLink MX+ and my guy who tunes with a laptop duct-taped to the passenger seat and a sixth sense for AFRs.
This thing’s gonna be a sleeper spec canyon scalpel before the warranty even knows what hit it.
Take it from somebody who actually is funny, you are not. So don't try.
Mate, these bite hard. Zero fade, even after a full blast down the Furka with a boot full of hubris and a nav unit screaming recalculations. Finish is obscene - like if the Bauhaus did CNC. You ever felt harmonic resonance through a cold-forged XJ19 end-to-end? Thought not. Triple-collared mounts, wet-bushed in moly, anodised in something they only use on satellite couplers. Full schwingenfreude at 8,000rpm, and that’s before the preload’s dialled in
Sure, the modern lads go for composite polymers - lightweight, thermally stable, blah blah. But me? NEED mass. Mine are hand-hewn from Sardinian basalt, face-balanced, interference-fit into a vintage ARX spec housing. Takes a while to warm up, sure, but once you're at temp - bro. You haven’t known true mechanical sympathy till you’ve taken a granite dildo to redline on a Tuscan long-weekender
Bro, completed the AXS-LD configuration last night. Full 2x12 EPS DiX2 w/ ARC-FDM and native DualBand-TE sync. No latency. No drift. Just pure indexed intention like even the MAGA fuckwits would recognise.
Crankset is a milled HMP-SL on a CTS spindle, threaded into a T47L-PRT—obviously cold-fitted with TiPhase bushings. Monocoque cockpit with PWR integration, routed entirely internal through a QRM-modified steerer. No ports, no clutter. RTD calipers on FFS pads with 162/140 spec rotors. Wheelset is 35/39 asym deep profile, Ti-Vector spoke laced, tensioned via micro preload. Hubs are NDCS gen.3.3—pre-approval batch, naturally. Tyres AXR 27.3 on 25.9IW. Inflated to VAPR-constant psi.
Whole rig makes me tremble like I'm watching One Foot In The Grave whilst fisking an Arabic dictionary after an all-night session on kale and butter beans after my Fukker-friendly Parish Council meeting.
Normally, have to wipe clean the Tamp FIN 28.45OR afterwards with my tee. But this time, fuck it: might just let the missus figure out the substance I've left behind by herself and hope she confuses it for WD40.
Yep, Dura was right the first time.
@Dura_Ace should be mildly flattered. If you have a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed it means that, at the very least, you have a style
Most people don’t write that interestingly
His post earlier today was one of the best I've ever seen from him: how very dare you, I'm the funny one!
It was the pathetic neediness and slight insecurity of it which made it so telling. Like his world would fall apart if we didn't recognise him to be the genius he thinks he is and mocked him instead. Because he likes bike and car parts and loves lacing his posts with acronyms he knows all of us will have to ask him to understand.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
Any suggestions for an electric car? Small but comfortable but not a Tesla. Someone said a BMW 3I but they dont make them anymore.
A bit of fun runabout?
Alpine A290/Renault 5.
All other answers are varying degrees of wrong.
The Renault 5 looks great - seems to have the perfect blend of nostalgia by keeping very close to the original but with enough modern touches.
I have decided I no longer have time or space to build my daily drivers from Copart wrecks or non-runners found in the large intestine of Facebook Marketplace. So I have bought my first ever brand new car - 150hp Renault 5 in Peroni/Jassaud yellow. The stock wheels are heavy cast junk so I'm putting OZ Racing Ultraleggeras on mine.
Mint. Mine? Absolute anchor-grade cast alus, probably weigh more than a pair of 4-pot Brembos and a seized H22 block. Swapping those for OZ Racing Ultraleggeras—15x7 ET35 wrapped in 195/50R15 Pilot Sport 5s, torqued to spec with a Snap-On digital. Already shed 6kg per corner and I haven’t even touched the unsprung weight up front—thinking coilover swap to Bilstein B14s and maybe a hybrid ARB from the Clio RS Cup parts bin.
Next step: EBC Yellowstuffs, braided HEL lines, DOT 5.1 flush, and possibly a cheeky remap via OBDLink MX+ and my guy who tunes with a laptop duct-taped to the passenger seat and a sixth sense for AFRs.
This thing’s gonna be a sleeper spec canyon scalpel before the warranty even knows what hit it.
Take it from somebody who actually is funny, you are not. So don't try.
Mate, these bite hard. Zero fade, even after a full blast down the Furka with a boot full of hubris and a nav unit screaming recalculations. Finish is obscene - like if the Bauhaus did CNC. You ever felt harmonic resonance through a cold-forged XJ19 end-to-end? Thought not. Triple-collared mounts, wet-bushed in moly, anodised in something they only use on satellite couplers. Full schwingenfreude at 8,000rpm, and that’s before the preload’s dialled in
Sure, the modern lads go for composite polymers - lightweight, thermally stable, blah blah. But me? NEED mass. Mine are hand-hewn from Sardinian basalt, face-balanced, interference-fit into a vintage ARX spec housing. Takes a while to warm up, sure, but once you're at temp - bro. You haven’t known true mechanical sympathy till you’ve taken a granite dildo to redline on a Tuscan long-weekender
Bro, completed the AXS-LD configuration last night. Full 2x12 EPS DiX2 w/ ARC-FDM and native DualBand-TE sync. No latency. No drift. Just pure indexed intention like even the MAGA fuckwits would recognise.
Crankset is a milled HMP-SL on a CTS spindle, threaded into a T47L-PRT—obviously cold-fitted with TiPhase bushings. Monocoque cockpit with PWR integration, routed entirely internal through a QRM-modified steerer. No ports, no clutter. RTD calipers on FFS pads with 162/140 spec rotors. Wheelset is 35/39 asym deep profile, Ti-Vector spoke laced, tensioned via micro preload. Hubs are NDCS gen.3.3—pre-approval batch, naturally. Tyres AXR 27.3 on 25.9IW. Inflated to VAPR-constant psi.
Whole rig makes me tremble like I'm watching One Foot In The Grave whilst fisking an Arabic dictionary after an all-night session on kale and butter beans after my Fukker-friendly Parish Council meeting.
Normally, have to wipe clean the Tamp FIN 28.45OR afterwards with my tee. But this time, fuck it: might just let the missus figure out the substance I've left behind by herself and hope she confuses it for WD40.
Yep, Dura was right the first time.
@Dura_Ace should be mildly flattered. If you have a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed it means that, at the very least, you have a style
Most people don’t write that interestingly
His post earlier today was one of the best I've ever seen from him: how very dare you, I'm the funny one!
It was the pathetic neediness and slight insecurity of it which made it so telling. Like his world would fall apart if we didn't recognise him to be the genius he thinks he is and mocked him instead. Because he likes bike and car parts and loves lacing his posts with acronyms he knows all of us will have to ask him to understand.
Chortle.
It was unexpectedly insecure, for sure
The post you just replied to seemed a little ... off, too.
I'm actually currently in the UK's best railway terminus.
Not to start a road vs rail debate, but is there any railway terminus that is a better place than Tebay Services?
certainly not with better pies.
It's a silly question; there are umpteen railway stations that are better in the round than Tebay services, either by location or architecture.
But I can't think of a railway station with brilliant Tebay-style food. Small ferry terminals typically have an excellent cafe nearby, but not stations.
The food is as much as part of the experience as the architecture is, so it's not that silly a question, though it was certainly light-hearted.
I need to try Le Train Bleu at Gare de Lyon someday. Each time I’ve been there I’ve been rushing to catch a connection so never had the chance to linger.
Sadly it is not what it was. Like much of Paris
I’m taking our son to Paris later in the summer after his A Levels. We realised we’ve not been there as a family. Usually go straight down to Burgundy. I shall see if it lives down to your recent disappointment.
It may be because I have some nostalgic view of beautiful Paris in my head that never existed. I don’t think so, tho. Paris has genuinely declined, just like London, just like most major Western European cities in the last 10+ years
@Leon. Something to think about, when you have some time to kill. If you were the producer of “Race Around the World”, where would you start and finish, and what checkpoints would you choose? Do other contributors have any suggestions?
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
It’s posh though. The poshest.
They also filmed the scenes where the Silurian plague was killing passengers in the timeless Dr Who classic, Dr Who and the Silurians. Shot in 1969, screened in early 1970.
Which, if memory serves, is the only Dr Who serial to have "Dr Who" in the title (ie it's not called "The Silurians")
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I'm actually currently in the UK's best railway terminus.
Not to start a road vs rail debate, but is there any railway terminus that is a better place than Tebay Services?
certainly not with better pies.
It's a silly question; there are umpteen railway stations that are better in the round than Tebay services, either by location or architecture.
But I can't think of a railway station with brilliant Tebay-style food. Small ferry terminals typically have an excellent cafe nearby, but not stations.
The food is as much as part of the experience as the architecture is, so it's not that silly a question, though it was certainly light-hearted.
I need to try Le Train Bleu at Gare de Lyon someday. Each time I’ve been there I’ve been rushing to catch a connection so never had the chance to linger.
If anyone needs a tv drama recommendation I recommend Apple TV’s Tehran - a gritty and gripping Israel v Iran spy thriller thingy
A real insight into Iran
Is it as good as Ted Lasso?
The trailer for that alone brings me out in hives.
But such a nice change from all this 'dark' drama that's all over the place.
It helps if you follow football, though, so you can clock all the cliches and absurdities they're sending up.
No thanks.
If anyone enjoyed the Kdrama Forest of Secrets, the spinoff Dongjae, the Good or the Bastard is very good indeed.
You'll need Paramount+, though.
I'm using up my last 6 weeks of free Apple. Did Slow Horses (brill) then tried Severance (no, didn't grab), now Lasso (halfway through), so should be able to squeeze a couple more things in. Might actually try Tehran even despite Leon's recommendation.
I'm actually currently in the UK's best railway terminus.
Not to start a road vs rail debate, but is there any railway terminus that is a better place than Tebay Services?
certainly not with better pies.
It's a silly question; there are umpteen railway stations that are better in the round than Tebay services, either by location or architecture.
But I can't think of a railway station with brilliant Tebay-style food. Small ferry terminals typically have an excellent cafe nearby, but not stations.
The food is as much as part of the experience as the architecture is, so it's not that silly a question, though it was certainly light-hearted.
I need to try Le Train Bleu at Gare de Lyon someday. Each time I’ve been there I’ve been rushing to catch a connection so never had the chance to linger.
Any suggestions for an electric car? Small but comfortable but not a Tesla. Someone said a BMW 3I but they dont make them anymore.
A bit of fun runabout?
Alpine A290/Renault 5.
All other answers are varying degrees of wrong.
The Renault 5 looks great - seems to have the perfect blend of nostalgia by keeping very close to the original but with enough modern touches.
I have decided I no longer have time or space to build my daily drivers from Copart wrecks or non-runners found in the large intestine of Facebook Marketplace. So I have bought my first ever brand new car - 150hp Renault 5 in Peroni/Jassaud yellow. The stock wheels are heavy cast junk so I'm putting OZ Racing Ultraleggeras on mine.
Mint. Mine? Absolute anchor-grade cast alus, probably weigh more than a pair of 4-pot Brembos and a seized H22 block. Swapping those for OZ Racing Ultraleggeras—15x7 ET35 wrapped in 195/50R15 Pilot Sport 5s, torqued to spec with a Snap-On digital. Already shed 6kg per corner and I haven’t even touched the unsprung weight up front—thinking coilover swap to Bilstein B14s and maybe a hybrid ARB from the Clio RS Cup parts bin.
Next step: EBC Yellowstuffs, braided HEL lines, DOT 5.1 flush, and possibly a cheeky remap via OBDLink MX+ and my guy who tunes with a laptop duct-taped to the passenger seat and a sixth sense for AFRs.
This thing’s gonna be a sleeper spec canyon scalpel before the warranty even knows what hit it.
Take it from somebody who actually is funny, you are not. So don't try.
Mate, these bite hard. Zero fade, even after a full blast down the Furka with a boot full of hubris and a nav unit screaming recalculations. Finish is obscene - like if the Bauhaus did CNC. You ever felt harmonic resonance through a cold-forged XJ19 end-to-end? Thought not. Triple-collared mounts, wet-bushed in moly, anodised in something they only use on satellite couplers. Full schwingenfreude at 8,000rpm, and that’s before the preload’s dialled in
Sure, the modern lads go for composite polymers - lightweight, thermally stable, blah blah. But me? NEED mass. Mine are hand-hewn from Sardinian basalt, face-balanced, interference-fit into a vintage ARX spec housing. Takes a while to warm up, sure, but once you're at temp - bro. You haven’t known true mechanical sympathy till you’ve taken a granite dildo to redline on a Tuscan long-weekender
Bro, completed the AXS-LD configuration last night. Full 2x12 EPS DiX2 w/ ARC-FDM and native DualBand-TE sync. No latency. No drift. Just pure indexed intention like even the MAGA fuckwits would recognise.
Crankset is a milled HMP-SL on a CTS spindle, threaded into a T47L-PRT—obviously cold-fitted with TiPhase bushings. Monocoque cockpit with PWR integration, routed entirely internal through a QRM-modified steerer. No ports, no clutter. RTD calipers on FFS pads with 162/140 spec rotors. Wheelset is 35/39 asym deep profile, Ti-Vector spoke laced, tensioned via micro preload. Hubs are NDCS gen.3.3—pre-approval batch, naturally. Tyres AXR 27.3 on 25.9IW. Inflated to VAPR-constant psi.
Whole rig makes me tremble like I'm watching One Foot In The Grave whilst fisking an Arabic dictionary after an all-night session on kale and butter beans after my Fukker-friendly Parish Council meeting.
Normally, have to wipe clean the Tamp FIN 28.45OR afterwards with my tee. But this time, fuck it: might just let the missus figure out the substance I've left behind by herself and hope she confuses it for WD40.
Yep, Dura was right the first time.
@Dura_Ace should be mildly flattered. If you have a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed it means that, at the very least, you have a style
Most people don’t write that interestingly
It also reads like a load of absolute bollox
To be fair @malcolmg certainly has "a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed". Chapeau, sir!
Bollox.
Other instantly recognisable writing styles on here include BigG (two clauses per sentence joined with an “and”, lots of the first person, and no commas), and HYUFD (every post begins with a deadpan factual statement). Both easily guessable.
There's several posters who I can 'pick' from just a couple of sentences. In fact of the high volume Regulars I'd say that applies to the large majority of them.
I find im pretty bad at it, i could only spot one or two. Id be terrible at identifying sockpuppets.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I would argue that the increased diversity makes European cities more interesting. It is increasing inequality and austerity that is making the UK in particular less attractive.
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
It’s posh though. The poshest.
Don't be ridiculous!
Ever been to St Pancras?
St Pancras has a Hamley's, a Carluccio's, a Searcy's, and a Fortnum & Mason.
St Pancras is way too big and garish to be posh. It’s a Westfield idea of posh. And it has that awful statue.
Marylebone has a Burger King, FFS!
And Sir John Betjeman's statue is NOT awful!
Not Betjeman, the giant snogging lovers under the pink Tracy Emin banner.
Yep, you've never been to St Pancras. The supposed lovers are not snogging, they're actually looking at their mobiles instead of each other.
I travel through the shithole regularly. The last time I had to go to the desultory domestic platform at the end that takes you to the glamour spots of the East Midlands.
See, you can catch the Eurostar to Paris, Amsterdam et al. from St Pancras, but you can't from Marylebone.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
If you like Central Asia so much why not just stay there and leave the rest of us to enjoy Britain and Western Europe in peace?
This is such a bizarre and telling attitude. That you’re not allowed to criticise your own country from a certain unwanted political perspective, and if you do you should go and live somewhere else
eg let’s switch it around. During Thatcher’s 1980s revolution she got a lot of stick from the Left (she still does). “She’s ruining Britain”, “she’s destroyed the north” etc etc
When I heard these remarks I thought: those people are wrong. They are understandably angry but they are in error. She’s making necessary changes
What I did NOT say is “well if you hate Thatcher so much why don’t you go and live in Moscow”
What this tells me is that you are insecure in your own argument. You don’t even want to hear what I’m saying because you’re worried I’m correct - and you can’t bear that thought
There is a massive disruption around the Reading area. My train was cancelled and I am now heading to another station in the hope of a detour. Wish me luck.
Any suggestions for an electric car? Small but comfortable but not a Tesla. Someone said a BMW 3I but they dont make them anymore.
A bit of fun runabout?
Alpine A290/Renault 5.
All other answers are varying degrees of wrong.
The Renault 5 looks great - seems to have the perfect blend of nostalgia by keeping very close to the original but with enough modern touches.
I have decided I no longer have time or space to build my daily drivers from Copart wrecks or non-runners found in the large intestine of Facebook Marketplace. So I have bought my first ever brand new car - 150hp Renault 5 in Peroni/Jassaud yellow. The stock wheels are heavy cast junk so I'm putting OZ Racing Ultraleggeras on mine.
Mint. Mine? Absolute anchor-grade cast alus, probably weigh more than a pair of 4-pot Brembos and a seized H22 block. Swapping those for OZ Racing Ultraleggeras—15x7 ET35 wrapped in 195/50R15 Pilot Sport 5s, torqued to spec with a Snap-On digital. Already shed 6kg per corner and I haven’t even touched the unsprung weight up front—thinking coilover swap to Bilstein B14s and maybe a hybrid ARB from the Clio RS Cup parts bin.
Next step: EBC Yellowstuffs, braided HEL lines, DOT 5.1 flush, and possibly a cheeky remap via OBDLink MX+ and my guy who tunes with a laptop duct-taped to the passenger seat and a sixth sense for AFRs.
This thing’s gonna be a sleeper spec canyon scalpel before the warranty even knows what hit it.
Take it from somebody who actually is funny, you are not. So don't try.
Mate, these bite hard. Zero fade, even after a full blast down the Furka with a boot full of hubris and a nav unit screaming recalculations. Finish is obscene - like if the Bauhaus did CNC. You ever felt harmonic resonance through a cold-forged XJ19 end-to-end? Thought not. Triple-collared mounts, wet-bushed in moly, anodised in something they only use on satellite couplers. Full schwingenfreude at 8,000rpm, and that’s before the preload’s dialled in
Sure, the modern lads go for composite polymers - lightweight, thermally stable, blah blah. But me? NEED mass. Mine are hand-hewn from Sardinian basalt, face-balanced, interference-fit into a vintage ARX spec housing. Takes a while to warm up, sure, but once you're at temp - bro. You haven’t known true mechanical sympathy till you’ve taken a granite dildo to redline on a Tuscan long-weekender
Bro, completed the AXS-LD configuration last night. Full 2x12 EPS DiX2 w/ ARC-FDM and native DualBand-TE sync. No latency. No drift. Just pure indexed intention like even the MAGA fuckwits would recognise.
Crankset is a milled HMP-SL on a CTS spindle, threaded into a T47L-PRT—obviously cold-fitted with TiPhase bushings. Monocoque cockpit with PWR integration, routed entirely internal through a QRM-modified steerer. No ports, no clutter. RTD calipers on FFS pads with 162/140 spec rotors. Wheelset is 35/39 asym deep profile, Ti-Vector spoke laced, tensioned via micro preload. Hubs are NDCS gen.3.3—pre-approval batch, naturally. Tyres AXR 27.3 on 25.9IW. Inflated to VAPR-constant psi.
Whole rig makes me tremble like I'm watching One Foot In The Grave whilst fisking an Arabic dictionary after an all-night session on kale and butter beans after my Fukker-friendly Parish Council meeting.
Normally, have to wipe clean the Tamp FIN 28.45OR afterwards with my tee. But this time, fuck it: might just let the missus figure out the substance I've left behind by herself and hope she confuses it for WD40.
Yep, Dura was right the first time.
@Dura_Ace should be mildly flattered. If you have a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed it means that, at the very least, you have a style
Most people don’t write that interestingly
It also reads like a load of absolute bollox
To be fair @malcolmg certainly has "a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed". Chapeau, sir!
Bollox.
Other instantly recognisable writing styles on here include BigG (two clauses per sentence joined with an “and”, lots of the first person, and no commas), and HYUFD (every post begins with a deadpan factual statement). Both easily guessable.
There's several posters who I can 'pick' from just a couple of sentences. In fact of the high volume Regulars I'd say that applies to the large majority of them.
That’s different tho. Being easily guessable from your comments is not QUITE a prose style. It’s a personality
I can often guess it’s you speaking from the first two sentences. But that’s not because you have a distinctive, pastiche-friendly prose style, it’s more your persona
Yes. "Prose style" is a way too grand way of describing what I recognise. It's more the specific vibe of the poster. It comes through (to me) in just a few words.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I would argue that the increased diversity makes European cities more interesting. It is increasing inequality and austerity that is making the UK in particular less attractive.
Yes, I hear that a lot from the good people of Malmo
“All this diversity means our lives are more interesting”
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
It’s posh though. The poshest.
Don't be ridiculous!
Ever been to St Pancras?
St Pancras has a Hamley's, a Carluccio's, a Searcy's, and a Fortnum & Mason.
St Pancras is way too big and garish to be posh. It’s a Westfield idea of posh. And it has that awful statue.
Marylebone has a Burger King, FFS!
And Sir John Betjeman's statue is NOT awful!
Not Betjeman, the giant snogging lovers under the pink Tracy Emin banner.
Yep, you've never been to St Pancras. The supposed lovers are not snogging, they're actually looking at their mobiles instead of each other.
I travel through the shithole regularly. The last time I had to go to the desultory domestic platform at the end that takes you to the glamour spots of the East Midlands.
See, you can catch the Eurostar to Paris, Amsterdam et al. from St Pancras, but you can't from Marylebone.
Though on Marylebone High St there is a brilliantly quirky bookshop with the books arranged by geography Daunts is one of my favourite places in London.
I also finished my stag night in Marylebone Police Station. What japes!
On the subject of railway terminals, is the one that I dropped Fox jr2 and partner off at today unique, and uniquely British?
Ryde Pier Head has a car park, ferry trrminal and railway station* at the end of a pier. Is there anywhere else in the world like it?
*currently the trains stop at Ryde Esplanade, as the pier line is being repaired.
I wanted to check if New Holland Pier station ever had a car park, as I thought I had seen pictures of cars on it.
The AI overview gave me: "New Holland Pier Station in Lincolnshire does not appear to have a designated car park. It's a small station, and parking options in the area are limited. Nearby options include parking on the street or using public transportation."
New Holland Pier station closed in 1981, when the Humber Bridge opened...
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I would argue that the increased diversity makes European cities more interesting. It is increasing inequality and austerity that is making the UK in particular less attractive.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I would argue that the increased diversity makes European cities more interesting. It is increasing inequality and austerity that is making the UK in particular less attractive.
Yes, I hear that a lot from the good people of Malmo
“All this diversity means our lives are more interesting”
I've spent the weekend with familywho have just moved from London to Cumberland - one of the biggest benefits to doing so is 'feeling of safety, especially for women'. Even for the pretty well-off, London is an increasingly unattractive place to bring up a family.
On the subject of railway terminals, is the one that I dropped Fox jr2 and partner off at today unique, and uniquely British?
Ryde Pier Head has a car park, ferry trrminal and railway station* at the end of a pier. Is there anywhere else in the world like it?
*currently the trains stop at Ryde Esplanade, as the pier line is being repaired.
Southend Pier and Hythe Pier both have narrow guage trains. (I've been on the former, lots, but never the latter).
Southport had a batter powered pier tram, but that closed in 2015, a year before I first visited.
I have caught the Hythe ferry to Southampton, though some time back.
Not yet been to Southend. It's important to save something to look forward to.
Sadly, the chance to take the Hythe ferry look to have gone, they need £250k for repairs to the pontoon and the service was close to bankruptcy already. You can still take the train to the end of the pier though.
On the subject of railway terminals, is the one that I dropped Fox jr2 and partner off at today unique, and uniquely British?
Ryde Pier Head has a car park, ferry trrminal and railway station* at the end of a pier. Is there anywhere else in the world like it?
*currently the trains stop at Ryde Esplanade, as the pier line is being repaired.
I wanted to check if New Holland Pier station ever had a car park, as I thought I had seen pictures of cars on it.
The AI overview gave me: "New Holland Pier Station in Lincolnshire does not appear to have a designated car park. It's a small station, and parking options in the area are limited. Nearby options include parking on the street or using public transportation."
New Holland Pier station closed in 1981, when the Humber Bridge opened...
I've been to the current terminus of Barton-upon-Humber, feels like it's in the middle of nowhere.
On the subject of railway terminals, is the one that I dropped Fox jr2 and partner off at today unique, and uniquely British?
Ryde Pier Head has a car park, ferry trrminal and railway station* at the end of a pier. Is there anywhere else in the world like it?
*currently the trains stop at Ryde Esplanade, as the pier line is being repaired.
Southend Pier and Hythe Pier both have narrow guage trains. (I've been on the former, lots, but never the latter).
Southport had a batter powered pier tram, but that closed in 2015, a year before I first visited.
I have caught the Hythe ferry to Southampton, though some time back.
Not yet been to Southend. It's important to save something to look forward to.
Sadly, the chance to take the Hythe ferry look to have gone, they need £250k for repairs to the pontoon and the service was close to bankruptcy already. You can still take the train to the end of the pier though.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I would argue that the increased diversity makes European cities more interesting. It is increasing inequality and austerity that is making the UK in particular less attractive.
Yes, I hear that a lot from the good people of Malmo
“All this diversity means our lives are more interesting”
I've spent the weekend with familywho have just moved from London to Cumberland - one of the biggest benefits to doing so is 'feeling of safety, especially for women'. Even for the pretty well-off, London is an increasingly unattractive place to bring up a family.
And yet women still vote left. They vote to make their cities less safe for women. It is mind boggling - tho beginning to change
Any suggestions for an electric car? Small but comfortable but not a Tesla. Someone said a BMW 3I but they dont make them anymore.
A bit of fun runabout?
Alpine A290/Renault 5.
All other answers are varying degrees of wrong.
The Renault 5 looks great - seems to have the perfect blend of nostalgia by keeping very close to the original but with enough modern touches.
I have decided I no longer have time or space to build my daily drivers from Copart wrecks or non-runners found in the large intestine of Facebook Marketplace. So I have bought my first ever brand new car - 150hp Renault 5 in Peroni/Jassaud yellow. The stock wheels are heavy cast junk so I'm putting OZ Racing Ultraleggeras on mine.
Mint. Mine? Absolute anchor-grade cast alus, probably weigh more than a pair of 4-pot Brembos and a seized H22 block. Swapping those for OZ Racing Ultraleggeras—15x7 ET35 wrapped in 195/50R15 Pilot Sport 5s, torqued to spec with a Snap-On digital. Already shed 6kg per corner and I haven’t even touched the unsprung weight up front—thinking coilover swap to Bilstein B14s and maybe a hybrid ARB from the Clio RS Cup parts bin.
Next step: EBC Yellowstuffs, braided HEL lines, DOT 5.1 flush, and possibly a cheeky remap via OBDLink MX+ and my guy who tunes with a laptop duct-taped to the passenger seat and a sixth sense for AFRs.
This thing’s gonna be a sleeper spec canyon scalpel before the warranty even knows what hit it.
Take it from somebody who actually is funny, you are not. So don't try.
Mate, these bite hard. Zero fade, even after a full blast down the Furka with a boot full of hubris and a nav unit screaming recalculations. Finish is obscene - like if the Bauhaus did CNC. You ever felt harmonic resonance through a cold-forged XJ19 end-to-end? Thought not. Triple-collared mounts, wet-bushed in moly, anodised in something they only use on satellite couplers. Full schwingenfreude at 8,000rpm, and that’s before the preload’s dialled in
Sure, the modern lads go for composite polymers - lightweight, thermally stable, blah blah. But me? NEED mass. Mine are hand-hewn from Sardinian basalt, face-balanced, interference-fit into a vintage ARX spec housing. Takes a while to warm up, sure, but once you're at temp - bro. You haven’t known true mechanical sympathy till you’ve taken a granite dildo to redline on a Tuscan long-weekender
Bro, completed the AXS-LD configuration last night. Full 2x12 EPS DiX2 w/ ARC-FDM and native DualBand-TE sync. No latency. No drift. Just pure indexed intention like even the MAGA fuckwits would recognise.
Crankset is a milled HMP-SL on a CTS spindle, threaded into a T47L-PRT—obviously cold-fitted with TiPhase bushings. Monocoque cockpit with PWR integration, routed entirely internal through a QRM-modified steerer. No ports, no clutter. RTD calipers on FFS pads with 162/140 spec rotors. Wheelset is 35/39 asym deep profile, Ti-Vector spoke laced, tensioned via micro preload. Hubs are NDCS gen.3.3—pre-approval batch, naturally. Tyres AXR 27.3 on 25.9IW. Inflated to VAPR-constant psi.
Whole rig makes me tremble like I'm watching One Foot In The Grave whilst fisking an Arabic dictionary after an all-night session on kale and butter beans after my Fukker-friendly Parish Council meeting.
Normally, have to wipe clean the Tamp FIN 28.45OR afterwards with my tee. But this time, fuck it: might just let the missus figure out the substance I've left behind by herself and hope she confuses it for WD40.
Yep, Dura was right the first time.
@Dura_Ace should be mildly flattered. If you have a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed it means that, at the very least, you have a style
Most people don’t write that interestingly
It also reads like a load of absolute bollox
To be fair @malcolmg certainly has "a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed". Chapeau, sir!
Bollox.
Other instantly recognisable writing styles on here include BigG (two clauses per sentence joined with an “and”, lots of the first person, and no commas), and HYUFD (every post begins with a deadpan factual statement). Both easily guessable.
There's several posters who I can 'pick' from just a couple of sentences. In fact of the high volume Regulars I'd say that applies to the large majority of them.
That’s different tho. Being easily guessable from your comments is not QUITE a prose style. It’s a personality
I can often guess it’s you speaking from the first two sentences. But that’s not because you have a distinctive, pastiche-friendly prose style, it’s more your persona
Yes. "Prose style" is a way too grand way of describing what I recognise. It's more the specific vibe of the poster. It comes through (to me) in just a few words.
You are quite easy to pick when scrolling backwards too (this isn't a criticism, btw). So, for me, are Big G, HYUFD, Dura, Malc, and Leon. I wonder if I am?
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
It’s posh though. The poshest.
They also filmed the scenes where the Silurian plague was killing passengers in the timeless Dr Who classic, Dr Who and the Silurians. Shot in 1969, screened in early 1970.
Which, if memory serves, is the only Dr Who serial to have "Dr Who" in the title (ie it's not called "The Silurians")
Yes, your memory serves correctly.
The Blu Ray DVD season boxset release is as good as it will get. Quality wise.
I went there with a couple of friends to re-enact the death scenes. Then to the Post Office tower as a tribute to War Machines.
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
It’s posh though. The poshest.
They also filmed the scenes where the Silurian plague was killing passengers in the timeless Dr Who classic, Dr Who and the Silurians. Shot in 1969, screened in early 1970.
Which, if memory serves, is the only Dr Who serial to have "Dr Who" in the title (ie it's not called "The Silurians")
Yes, your memory serves correctly.
The Blu Ray DVD season boxset release is as good as it will get. Quality wise.
I went there with a couple of friends to re-enact the death scenes. Then to the Post Office tower as a tribute to War Machines.
Marylebone's so popular with film crews because so few trains call there. Even today, with the enhanced Chiltern services, only SEVEN trains an hour depart during the weekday off-peak.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I would argue that the increased diversity makes European cities more interesting. It is increasing inequality and austerity that is making the UK in particular less attractive.
Yes, I hear that a lot from the good people of Malmo
“All this diversity means our lives are more interesting”
Is it their strength and did it make them great and build their city ?
Spencer Hakimian @SpencerHakimian · 35m The dumbest part of all of this is that most of the trade deals that Trump is currently tearing apart are the trade deals that he himself wrote and signed.
Japan. Canada. Mexico. China.
You name it.
I've always found that the weakest and least relevant criticism of Trump.
There is nothing wrong with renegotiating deals, even deals you negotiated in the past, if you think you can get a better deal.
There is nothing wrong with iteration in general.
Iteration tends to work better than revolution, so renegotiating your own deals can be easier than renegotiating those done by others, since you know well how it went last time and where to go next time.
There are far, far darker and more serious criticisms to make of Trump than that he is iterating his negotiations.
Spot on. You've understood the whole Trump approach. Pity the Dow Jones Index doesn't. Down 1200pts/3% today.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I would argue that the increased diversity makes European cities more interesting. It is increasing inequality and austerity that is making the UK in particular less attractive.
Yes, I hear that a lot from the good people of Malmo
“All this diversity means our lives are more interesting”
I've spent the weekend with familywho have just moved from London to Cumberland - one of the biggest benefits to doing so is 'feeling of safety, especially for women'. Even for the pretty well-off, London is an increasingly unattractive place to bring up a family.
And yet women still vote left. They vote to make their cities less safe for women. It is mind boggling - tho beginning to change
14 years of right wing government has seen huge cuts to police funding, numbers, physical resources.
Too many right wing politicians performatively pretend to care about crime while undermining the means to tackle it. As seen in their obsession with sentencing policy over actually catching the bloody criminals.
I'm actually currently in the UK's best railway terminus.
Not to start a road vs rail debate, but is there any railway terminus that is a better place than Tebay Services?
certainly not with better pies.
It's a silly question; there are umpteen railway stations that are better in the round than Tebay services, either by location or architecture.
But I can't think of a railway station with brilliant Tebay-style food. Small ferry terminals typically have an excellent cafe nearby, but not stations.
The food is as much as part of the experience as the architecture is, so it's not that silly a question, though it was certainly light-hearted.
I need to try Le Train Bleu at Gare de Lyon someday. Each time I’ve been there I’ve been rushing to catch a connection so never had the chance to linger.
Sadly it is not what it was. Like much of Paris
I’m taking our son to Paris later in the summer after his A Levels. We realised we’ve not been there as a family. Usually go straight down to Burgundy. I shall see if it lives down to your recent disappointment.
It may be because I have some nostalgic view of beautiful Paris in my head that never existed. I don’t think so, tho. Paris has genuinely declined, just like London, just like most major Western European cities in the last 10+ years
Haven't taken Eurostar for years, but last time the precipitous descent from first-world St Pancras to third-world Gare du Nord was ... err ... precipitous. Can I be bothered to do it this year for the Hockney blockbuster? Or maybe take the precipitous descent from first-world BHX to third-world CDG (where Mrs S. was robbed on the grotty transfer bus from the plane to the terminal). Or just order the catalogue from Amazon?
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
Western Europe is in relative decline, partly for the reasons you say. Fair point. But quite a few Western European cities are now in ABSOLUTE decline. For the reasons I say
On the subject of railway terminals, is the one that I dropped Fox jr2 and partner off at today unique, and uniquely British?
Ryde Pier Head has a car park, ferry trrminal and railway station* at the end of a pier. Is there anywhere else in the world like it?
*currently the trains stop at Ryde Esplanade, as the pier line is being repaired.
I wanted to check if New Holland Pier station ever had a car park, as I thought I had seen pictures of cars on it.
The AI overview gave me: "New Holland Pier Station in Lincolnshire does not appear to have a designated car park. It's a small station, and parking options in the area are limited. Nearby options include parking on the street or using public transportation."
New Holland Pier station closed in 1981, when the Humber Bridge opened...
The Humber ferries carried cars, so there must have been vehicle access to New Holland Pier.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I would argue that the increased diversity makes European cities more interesting. It is increasing inequality and austerity that is making the UK in particular less attractive.
Yes, I hear that a lot from the good people of Malmo
“All this diversity means our lives are more interesting”
I've spent the weekend with familywho have just moved from London to Cumberland - one of the biggest benefits to doing so is 'feeling of safety, especially for women'. Even for the pretty well-off, London is an increasingly unattractive place to bring up a family.
And yet women still vote left. They vote to make their cities less safe for women. It is mind boggling - tho beginning to change
14 years of right wing government has seen huge cuts to police funding, numbers, physical resources.
Too many right wing politicians performatively pretend to care about crime while undermining the means to tackle it. As seen in their obsession with sentencing policy over actually catching the bloody criminals.
If only we’d had 14 years of right wing government. If only!
Pfff to the lot of them. Here in surprisingly agreeable Bishkek I’m gonna read about the Russian Civil War and the hideously bloody fight for Bokhara. Biplanes bombing the Ark! Much more fun
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
If relative decline is healthy, and would have been faster if we had rejected immigration, multiculturalism and globalisation, then shouldn't you be in favour of rejecting them so that we get to a more equitable global distribution faster instead of cheating by stealing talented people from the rest of the world?
Any suggestions for an electric car? Small but comfortable but not a Tesla. Someone said a BMW 3I but they dont make them anymore.
A bit of fun runabout?
Alpine A290/Renault 5.
All other answers are varying degrees of wrong.
The Renault 5 looks great - seems to have the perfect blend of nostalgia by keeping very close to the original but with enough modern touches.
I have decided I no longer have time or space to build my daily drivers from Copart wrecks or non-runners found in the large intestine of Facebook Marketplace. So I have bought my first ever brand new car - 150hp Renault 5 in Peroni/Jassaud yellow. The stock wheels are heavy cast junk so I'm putting OZ Racing Ultraleggeras on mine.
Mint. Mine? Absolute anchor-grade cast alus, probably weigh more than a pair of 4-pot Brembos and a seized H22 block. Swapping those for OZ Racing Ultraleggeras—15x7 ET35 wrapped in 195/50R15 Pilot Sport 5s, torqued to spec with a Snap-On digital. Already shed 6kg per corner and I haven’t even touched the unsprung weight up front—thinking coilover swap to Bilstein B14s and maybe a hybrid ARB from the Clio RS Cup parts bin.
Next step: EBC Yellowstuffs, braided HEL lines, DOT 5.1 flush, and possibly a cheeky remap via OBDLink MX+ and my guy who tunes with a laptop duct-taped to the passenger seat and a sixth sense for AFRs.
This thing’s gonna be a sleeper spec canyon scalpel before the warranty even knows what hit it.
Take it from somebody who actually is funny, you are not. So don't try.
Mate, these bite hard. Zero fade, even after a full blast down the Furka with a boot full of hubris and a nav unit screaming recalculations. Finish is obscene - like if the Bauhaus did CNC. You ever felt harmonic resonance through a cold-forged XJ19 end-to-end? Thought not. Triple-collared mounts, wet-bushed in moly, anodised in something they only use on satellite couplers. Full schwingenfreude at 8,000rpm, and that’s before the preload’s dialled in
Sure, the modern lads go for composite polymers - lightweight, thermally stable, blah blah. But me? NEED mass. Mine are hand-hewn from Sardinian basalt, face-balanced, interference-fit into a vintage ARX spec housing. Takes a while to warm up, sure, but once you're at temp - bro. You haven’t known true mechanical sympathy till you’ve taken a granite dildo to redline on a Tuscan long-weekender
Bro, completed the AXS-LD configuration last night. Full 2x12 EPS DiX2 w/ ARC-FDM and native DualBand-TE sync. No latency. No drift. Just pure indexed intention like even the MAGA fuckwits would recognise.
Crankset is a milled HMP-SL on a CTS spindle, threaded into a T47L-PRT—obviously cold-fitted with TiPhase bushings. Monocoque cockpit with PWR integration, routed entirely internal through a QRM-modified steerer. No ports, no clutter. RTD calipers on FFS pads with 162/140 spec rotors. Wheelset is 35/39 asym deep profile, Ti-Vector spoke laced, tensioned via micro preload. Hubs are NDCS gen.3.3—pre-approval batch, naturally. Tyres AXR 27.3 on 25.9IW. Inflated to VAPR-constant psi.
Whole rig makes me tremble like I'm watching One Foot In The Grave whilst fisking an Arabic dictionary after an all-night session on kale and butter beans after my Fukker-friendly Parish Council meeting.
Normally, have to wipe clean the Tamp FIN 28.45OR afterwards with my tee. But this time, fuck it: might just let the missus figure out the substance I've left behind by herself and hope she confuses it for WD40.
Yep, Dura was right the first time.
@Dura_Ace should be mildly flattered. If you have a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed it means that, at the very least, you have a style
Most people don’t write that interestingly
It also reads like a load of absolute bollox
To be fair @malcolmg certainly has "a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed". Chapeau, sir!
Bollox.
Other instantly recognisable writing styles on here include BigG (two clauses per sentence joined with an “and”, lots of the first person, and no commas), and HYUFD (every post begins with a deadpan factual statement). Both easily guessable.
There's several posters who I can 'pick' from just a couple of sentences. In fact of the high volume Regulars I'd say that applies to the large majority of them.
That’s different tho. Being easily guessable from your comments is not QUITE a prose style. It’s a personality
I can often guess it’s you speaking from the first two sentences. But that’s not because you have a distinctive, pastiche-friendly prose style, it’s more your persona
Yes. "Prose style" is a way too grand way of describing what I recognise. It's more the specific vibe of the poster. It comes through (to me) in just a few words.
You are quite easy to pick when scrolling backwards too (this isn't a criticism, btw). So, for me, are Big G, HYUFD, Dura, Malc, and Leon. I wonder if I am?
You are to me, but I think (forgive me the self fluff here) I'm particularly good at this. It's a side product of my fascination with what imo defines life - people's struggle to express themselves.
Any suggestions for an electric car? Small but comfortable but not a Tesla. Someone said a BMW 3I but they dont make them anymore.
A bit of fun runabout?
Alpine A290/Renault 5.
All other answers are varying degrees of wrong.
The Renault 5 looks great - seems to have the perfect blend of nostalgia by keeping very close to the original but with enough modern touches.
I have decided I no longer have time or space to build my daily drivers from Copart wrecks or non-runners found in the large intestine of Facebook Marketplace. So I have bought my first ever brand new car - 150hp Renault 5 in Peroni/Jassaud yellow. The stock wheels are heavy cast junk so I'm putting OZ Racing Ultraleggeras on mine.
Mint. Mine? Absolute anchor-grade cast alus, probably weigh more than a pair of 4-pot Brembos and a seized H22 block. Swapping those for OZ Racing Ultraleggeras—15x7 ET35 wrapped in 195/50R15 Pilot Sport 5s, torqued to spec with a Snap-On digital. Already shed 6kg per corner and I haven’t even touched the unsprung weight up front—thinking coilover swap to Bilstein B14s and maybe a hybrid ARB from the Clio RS Cup parts bin.
Next step: EBC Yellowstuffs, braided HEL lines, DOT 5.1 flush, and possibly a cheeky remap via OBDLink MX+ and my guy who tunes with a laptop duct-taped to the passenger seat and a sixth sense for AFRs.
This thing’s gonna be a sleeper spec canyon scalpel before the warranty even knows what hit it.
Take it from somebody who actually is funny, you are not. So don't try.
Mate, these bite hard. Zero fade, even after a full blast down the Furka with a boot full of hubris and a nav unit screaming recalculations. Finish is obscene - like if the Bauhaus did CNC. You ever felt harmonic resonance through a cold-forged XJ19 end-to-end? Thought not. Triple-collared mounts, wet-bushed in moly, anodised in something they only use on satellite couplers. Full schwingenfreude at 8,000rpm, and that’s before the preload’s dialled in
Sure, the modern lads go for composite polymers - lightweight, thermally stable, blah blah. But me? NEED mass. Mine are hand-hewn from Sardinian basalt, face-balanced, interference-fit into a vintage ARX spec housing. Takes a while to warm up, sure, but once you're at temp - bro. You haven’t known true mechanical sympathy till you’ve taken a granite dildo to redline on a Tuscan long-weekender
Bro, completed the AXS-LD configuration last night. Full 2x12 EPS DiX2 w/ ARC-FDM and native DualBand-TE sync. No latency. No drift. Just pure indexed intention like even the MAGA fuckwits would recognise.
Crankset is a milled HMP-SL on a CTS spindle, threaded into a T47L-PRT—obviously cold-fitted with TiPhase bushings. Monocoque cockpit with PWR integration, routed entirely internal through a QRM-modified steerer. No ports, no clutter. RTD calipers on FFS pads with 162/140 spec rotors. Wheelset is 35/39 asym deep profile, Ti-Vector spoke laced, tensioned via micro preload. Hubs are NDCS gen.3.3—pre-approval batch, naturally. Tyres AXR 27.3 on 25.9IW. Inflated to VAPR-constant psi.
Whole rig makes me tremble like I'm watching One Foot In The Grave whilst fisking an Arabic dictionary after an all-night session on kale and butter beans after my Fukker-friendly Parish Council meeting.
Normally, have to wipe clean the Tamp FIN 28.45OR afterwards with my tee. But this time, fuck it: might just let the missus figure out the substance I've left behind by herself and hope she confuses it for WD40.
Yep, Dura was right the first time.
@Dura_Ace should be mildly flattered. If you have a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed it means that, at the very least, you have a style
Most people don’t write that interestingly
It also reads like a load of absolute bollox
To be fair @malcolmg certainly has "a writing style that can be easily parodied or spoofed". Chapeau, sir!
Bollox.
Other instantly recognisable writing styles on here include BigG (two clauses per sentence joined with an “and”, lots of the first person, and no commas), and HYUFD (every post begins with a deadpan factual statement). Both easily guessable.
There's several posters who I can 'pick' from just a couple of sentences. In fact of the high volume Regulars I'd say that applies to the large majority of them.
That’s different tho. Being easily guessable from your comments is not QUITE a prose style. It’s a personality
I can often guess it’s you speaking from the first two sentences. But that’s not because you have a distinctive, pastiche-friendly prose style, it’s more your persona
Yes. "Prose style" is a way too grand way of describing what I recognise. It's more the specific vibe of the poster. It comes through (to me) in just a few words.
You are quite easy to pick when scrolling backwards too (this isn't a criticism, btw). So, for me, are Big G, HYUFD, Dura, Malc, and Leon. I wonder if I am?
You are to me, but I think (forgive me the self fluff here) I'm particularly good at this. It's a side product of my fascination with what imo pretty much defines life - people's struggle to express themselves.
Heard my first cuckoo of the year yesterday (North York Moors). Told neighbour, who was visibly relieved. At least something's still working.
Wonder, in my darker moments, how long before it becomes a folk memory in rural England. Like the sound of children playing in the yard of the village school.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
If relative decline is healthy, and would have been faster if we had rejected immigration, multiculturalism and globalisation, then shouldn't you be in favour of rejecting them so that we get to a more equitable global distribution faster instead of cheating by stealing talented people from the rest of the world?
London, from my vantage point, hasn’t even been in relative decline let alone absolute decline. It’s thriving, rich, and a sought after destination for international capital. Compare that with its nadir in the 70s and 80s when outmigration took its population down by almost a third.
The absolute decline is in left behind post-industrial regions. We all know that. And those regions are predominantly white or at most bi-cultural, because they are not attractive to incomers. So the idea that multiculturalism is bringing down the West is somewhat belied by the stats.
Heard my first cuckoo of the year yesterday (North York Moors). Told neighbour, who was visibly relieved. At least something's still working.
Wonder, in my darker moments, how long before it becomes a folk memory in rural England. Like the sound of children playing in the yard of the village school.
On a brighter note...
Nowadays I only hear cuckoos when visiting Italy, and it always reminds me of hearing them in England when young.
I have however heard a lot more woodpeckers this year in England than is usual?
Any suggestions for an electric car? Small but comfortable but not a Tesla. Someone said a BMW 3I but they dont make them anymore.
A bit of fun runabout?
Alpine A290/Renault 5.
All other answers are varying degrees of wrong.
The Renault 5 looks great - seems to have the perfect blend of nostalgia by keeping very close to the original but with enough modern touches.
I have decided I no longer have time or space to build my daily drivers from Copart wrecks or non-runners found in the large intestine of Facebook Marketplace. So I have bought my first ever brand new car - 150hp Renault 5 in Peroni/Jassaud yellow. The stock wheels are heavy cast junk so I'm putting OZ Racing Ultraleggeras on mine.
Mint. Mine? Absolute anchor-grade cast alus, probably weigh more than a pair of 4-pot Brembos and a seized H22 block. Swapping those for OZ Racing Ultraleggeras—15x7 ET35 wrapped in 195/50R15 Pilot Sport 5s, torqued to spec with a Snap-On digital. Already shed 6kg per corner and I haven’t even touched the unsprung weight up front—thinking coilover swap to Bilstein B14s and maybe a hybrid ARB from the Clio RS Cup parts bin.
Next step: EBC Yellowstuffs, braided HEL lines, DOT 5.1 flush, and possibly a cheeky remap via OBDLink MX+ and my guy who tunes with a laptop duct-taped to the passenger seat and a sixth sense for AFRs.
This thing’s gonna be a sleeper spec canyon scalpel before the warranty even knows what hit it.
Take it from somebody who actually is funny, you are not. So don't try.
Mate, these bite hard. Zero fade, even after a full blast down the Furka with a boot full of hubris and a nav unit screaming recalculations. Finish is obscene - like if the Bauhaus did CNC. You ever felt harmonic resonance through a cold-forged XJ19 end-to-end? Thought not. Triple-collared mounts, wet-bushed in moly, anodised in something they only use on satellite couplers. Full schwingenfreude at 8,000rpm, and that’s before the preload’s dialled in
Sure, the modern lads go for composite polymers - lightweight, thermally stable, blah blah. But me? NEED mass. Mine are hand-hewn from Sardinian basalt, face-balanced, interference-fit into a vintage ARX spec housing. Takes a while to warm up, sure, but once you're at temp - bro. You haven’t known true mechanical sympathy till you’ve taken a granite dildo to redline on a Tuscan long-weekender
Bro, completed the AXS-LD configuration last night. Full 2x12 EPS DiX2 w/ ARC-FDM and native DualBand-TE sync. No latency. No drift. Just pure indexed intention like even the MAGA fuckwits would recognise.
Crankset is a milled HMP-SL on a CTS spindle, threaded into a T47L-PRT—obviously cold-fitted with TiPhase bushings. Monocoque cockpit with PWR integration, routed entirely internal through a QRM-modified steerer. No ports, no clutter. RTD calipers on FFS pads with 162/140 spec rotors. Wheelset is 35/39 asym deep profile, Ti-Vector spoke laced, tensioned via micro preload. Hubs are NDCS gen.3.3—pre-approval batch, naturally. Tyres AXR 27.3 on 25.9IW. Inflated to VAPR-constant psi.
Whole rig makes me tremble like I'm watching One Foot In The Grave whilst fisking an Arabic dictionary after an all-night session on kale and butter beans after my Fukker-friendly Parish Council meeting.
Normally, have to wipe clean the Tamp FIN 28.45OR afterwards with my tee. But this time, fuck it: might just let the missus figure out the substance I've left behind by herself and hope she confuses it for WD40.
Unfortunately, your use of the letters AXS completely give you away. AXS is a product from SRAM, while Dura Ace is the highest end Shimano groupset.
Basically, @Dura_Ace wouldn't be seen dead on a bike with SRAM components.
(I have SRAM on my bike, and am deliriously happy. And significantly less poor than I would be with Shimano Dura Ace.)
“How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalised, and migrants,” he said. “On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas. For all of us are children of God.”..
Your suggested means will have to be made rather less opaque, though, before we can declare a prima facie case against the VP.
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
The two minute walk to Baker Street is clearly excessive for you.
On colds: There are about 200 known colds. If, like me, you worked in a public school, and lived decades in metropolitan areas, you probably have caught many of them by the time you reach my age. So I haven't had a cold in years, and thought I had caught all of them.
But not quite all, it turns out. I had to travel to Oklahoma in March and, a day after I returned, a nasty cold hit. I now recognize that I had had -- at most -- 199 colds, before this latest one.
Heard my first cuckoo of the year yesterday (North York Moors). Told neighbour, who was visibly relieved. At least something's still working.
Wonder, in my darker moments, how long before it becomes a folk memory in rural England. Like the sound of children playing in the yard of the village school.
On a brighter note...
The wild garlic is in flower alongside the bluebells. The latter, sadly, are noticeably less profuse than a few years back. Still one of nature's most beautiful displays, though.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
If relative decline is healthy, and would have been faster if we had rejected immigration, multiculturalism and globalisation, then shouldn't you be in favour of rejecting them so that we get to a more equitable global distribution faster instead of cheating by stealing talented people from the rest of the world?
London, from my vantage point, hasn’t even been in relative decline let alone absolute decline. It’s thriving, rich, and a sought after destination for international capital. Compare that with its nadir in the 70s and 80s when outmigration took its population down by almost a third.
The absolute decline is in left behind post-industrial regions. We all know that. And those regions are predominantly white or at most bi-cultural, because they are not attractive to incomers. So the idea that multiculturalism is bringing down the West is somewhat belied by the stats.
Precisely. Immigration is a form of colonial plunder and @kinabalu should fight against it if he wants the world to be a fairer place.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
If relative decline is healthy, and would have been faster if we had rejected immigration, multiculturalism and globalisation, then shouldn't you be in favour of rejecting them so that we get to a more equitable global distribution faster instead of cheating by stealing talented people from the rest of the world?
Purely on economics, arguably yes. But I'm also a fan of breaking the correlation between nation states and specific ethnicities and religions etc. That's more important imo. That's the way to a big beautiful peaceful world. Utopian? Yes, but it should be the direction of travel. Elon Musk has his dreams of colonising space. I have this one. Neither of us will live to see it realised but that's not the point.
The mad Russian czar is unlikely to meet JD Vance, any time soon. Remember that picture of him at one end of a long table, and all his underlings far away at the other end?
As someone who actually lives and works in London proper (a different part for each) with a wife and young children to provide broader perspective, I can say I think London remains brilliant and there has been no increase in the fear of crime or other issues as compared to 10 or 20 years ago. If anything, the areas I would say it's got better.
Now I only spend 50 weeks of the year here and speak to friends and colleagues from across London daily, so my experience is nothing on travel journalists who spend five or ten weeks in Camden and the rest on twitter, but just to provide some alternative viewpoints.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
If relative decline is healthy, and would have been faster if we had rejected immigration, multiculturalism and globalisation, then shouldn't you be in favour of rejecting them so that we get to a more equitable global distribution faster instead of cheating by stealing talented people from the rest of the world?
London, from my vantage point, hasn’t even been in relative decline let alone absolute decline. It’s thriving, rich, and a sought after destination for international capital. Compare that with its nadir in the 70s and 80s when outmigration took its population down by almost a third.
The absolute decline is in left behind post-industrial regions. We all know that. And those regions are predominantly white or at most bi-cultural, because they are not attractive to incomers. So the idea that multiculturalism is bringing down the West is somewhat belied by the stats.
Precisely. Immigration is a form of colonial plunder and @kinabalu should fight against it if he wants the world to be a fairer place.
You're being too reductive, William. Raise your gaze.
The mad Russian czar is unlikely to meet JD Vance, any time soon. Remember that picture of him at one end of a long table, and all his underlings far away at the other end?
He has to meet him from time to time, surely, as he's his deputy. I mean you can't run a country without talking to your second in command from time to...oh, sorry, the 'mad Russian czar' in question is Putin? Apologies. Easy mistake to make.
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
The two minute walk to Baker Street is clearly excessive for you.
Got an idea for a challenge, two people go southbound on the Bakerloo. One gets off at Marylebone, one at Baker Street. Which one gets to the Baker Street entrance to Baker Street station first?
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
The two minute walk to Baker Street is clearly excessive for you.
So you're recommending he 'change at Baker Street'?
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Though apparently 8.5 million people each year will afford the new Universal theme park in Bedfordshire.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
If relative decline is healthy, and would have been faster if we had rejected immigration, multiculturalism and globalisation, then shouldn't you be in favour of rejecting them so that we get to a more equitable global distribution faster instead of cheating by stealing talented people from the rest of the world?
London, from my vantage point, hasn’t even been in relative decline let alone absolute decline. It’s thriving, rich, and a sought after destination for international capital. Compare that with its nadir in the 70s and 80s when outmigration took its population down by almost a third.
The absolute decline is in left behind post-industrial regions. We all know that. And those regions are predominantly white or at most bi-cultural, because they are not attractive to incomers. So the idea that multiculturalism is bringing down the West is somewhat belied by the stats.
It's an idea primarily fuelled by racism not economics.
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
The two minute walk to Baker Street is clearly excessive for you.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
I would argue that the increased diversity makes European cities more interesting. It is increasing inequality and austerity that is making the UK in particular less attractive.
Yes, I hear that a lot from the good people of Malmo
“All this diversity means our lives are more interesting”
I've spent the weekend with familywho have just moved from London to Cumberland - one of the biggest benefits to doing so is 'feeling of safety, especially for women'. Even for the pretty well-off, London is an increasingly unattractive place to bring up a family.
And yet women still vote left. They vote to make their cities less safe for women. It is mind boggling - tho beginning to change
14 years of right wing government has seen huge cuts to police funding, numbers, physical resources.
Too many right wing politicians performatively pretend to care about crime while undermining the means to tackle it. As seen in their obsession with sentencing policy over actually catching the bloody criminals.
If only we’d had 14 years of right wing government. If only!
Pfff to the lot of them. Here in surprisingly agreeable Bishkek I’m gonna read about the Russian Civil War and the hideously bloody fight for Bokhara. Biplanes bombing the Ark! Much more fun
Night night
I find the UK Conservatives lack of confidence in their own fundamental tenets absolutely fascinating.
Do any other Anglosphere centre-right parties share this ?
Heard my first cuckoo of the year yesterday (North York Moors). Told neighbour, who was visibly relieved. At least something's still working.
Wonder, in my darker moments, how long before it becomes a folk memory in rural England. Like the sound of children playing in the yard of the village school.
On a brighter note...
Nowadays I only hear cuckoos when visiting Italy, and it always reminds me of hearing them in England when young.
I have however heard a lot more woodpeckers this year in England than is usual?
I think the cuckoo's are in Central Asia this spring.
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
The two minute walk to Baker Street is clearly excessive for you.
Trying to out-sad me again, RCS? It's only DIRECTLY served by the Bakerloo.
Fun fact:
Out of 612 stations in Greater London, only Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, Sudbury & Harrow Road, Sudbury Hill Harrow, and Northolt Park are served exclusively by diesel trains, with no electrified platforms.
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
The two minute walk to Baker Street is clearly excessive for you.
Trying to out-sad me again, RCS? It's only DIRECTLY served by the Bakerloo.
Fun fact:
Out of 612 stations in Greater London, only Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, Sudbury & Harrow Road, Sudbury Hill Harrow, and Northolt Park are served exclusively by diesel trains, with no electrified platforms.
You have a very strange definition of the word 'fun'.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Though apparently 8.5 million people each year will afford the new Universal theme park in Bedfordshire.
It's odd. I was at Blackgang Chine today and, Christ, the average clientèle was entry level, if I can put it like that. I haven't seen that many real fags smoked in public in a long time. There was even a sign warning of childhood type 1 diabetes next to a shack selling nothing but doughnuts, muffins, chocolate and takeaway coffee - I shit you not.
There's clearly a mass market for it. How it's all afforded, hell knows.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
If relative decline is healthy, and would have been faster if we had rejected immigration, multiculturalism and globalisation, then shouldn't you be in favour of rejecting them so that we get to a more equitable global distribution faster instead of cheating by stealing talented people from the rest of the world?
London, from my vantage point, hasn’t even been in relative decline let alone absolute decline. It’s thriving, rich, and a sought after destination for international capital. Compare that with its nadir in the 70s and 80s when outmigration took its population down by almost a third.
The absolute decline is in left behind post-industrial regions. We all know that. And those regions are predominantly white or at most bi-cultural, because they are not attractive to incomers. So the idea that multiculturalism is bringing down the West is somewhat belied by the stats.
It's an idea primarily fuelled by racism not economics.
Neither is it based on real crime statistics. London was quite a dangerous place when I lived there in the Eighties.
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Though apparently 8.5 million people each year will afford the new Universal theme park in Bedfordshire.
It will be interesting to know what percentage will be displacement from the likes of Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures. I don't fancy Chessingtons chances of survival as it has always been focused more on IP / less about rides.
Heard my first cuckoo of the year yesterday (North York Moors). Told neighbour, who was visibly relieved. At least something's still working.
Wonder, in my darker moments, how long before it becomes a folk memory in rural England. Like the sound of children playing in the yard of the village school.
On a brighter note...
The wild garlic is in flower alongside the bluebells. The latter, sadly, are noticeably less profuse than a few years back. Still one of nature's most beautiful displays, though.
Before they broke up for Easter two weeks ago, the children playing in the yard of my village school could be heard from almost a mile away. If the ****ing birds weren't so noisy. BTW: the wild garlic's a great deal more profuse than a decade ago.
I’ve not had a classic head cold for at least 6 months, possibly longer, and very few people I know have either. Are we going through a common cold drought?
People always say when “there’s a lot of it going round at the moment” but they never comment when there’s “not a lot of it going round”.
I don't normally get them but have had 2 in the last six months. Got over one then a few weeks later got another.
OK, hypothesis for the day not looking particularly robust so far.
I’m currently at Britain’s poshest railway terminus. It’s a ridiculous place, as if built by a film studio for a costume drama (but with a Burger King and a Pret).
There is an entire hut, occupying what used to be the tourist info booth, decorated in olde English wallpaper and dedicated to suckering rich tourists into visiting Bicester village. And station announcements in Mandarin and Arabic.
St Pancras DOES NOT have a Burger King!
Presumably, the OP is talking about Marylebone. Where the ONLY announcements in Arabic and Mandarin are for departures to Oxford via Bicester Village: most Marylebone departures go elsewhere.
PS Who knows what the Mandarin is for Oxford and why?
Marylebone is rubbish.
Only 6 mainline platforms, none of which are electrified, and served by only one tube line.
The two minute walk to Baker Street is clearly excessive for you.
Trying to out-sad me again, RCS? It's only DIRECTLY served by the Bakerloo.
Fun fact:
Out of 612 stations in Greater London, only Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, Sudbury & Harrow Road, Sudbury Hill Harrow, and Northolt Park are served exclusively by diesel trains, with no electrified platforms.
I'm pointing out that while it may only be served directly by one line, you also have very easy access to all the tube lines at Baker Street!
The main thing I’ve noticed about Paris since I first visited 25 years ago is that ordinary people (and the kinds of services that support them), have been squeezed out of the inner arrondisements.
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
This is my takeaway: I don't think countries like France or the UK are broken, but they are becoming increasingly difficult for an ordinary person to live a pleasant live within.
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Western Europe is in steep relative decline. Of course it is declining from a very high place - surely the nicest place to live these last decades - nonetheless: declining
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
The relative decline of rich countries is inevitable and healthy. It's about other places catching up. About wealth and power (globally) being more fairly distributed. If Western Europe had pulled up the drawbridge, rejected immigration, multiculturalism, globalisation, all those things that make you shudder, the decline would likely have been steeper.
If relative decline is healthy, and would have been faster if we had rejected immigration, multiculturalism and globalisation, then shouldn't you be in favour of rejecting them so that we get to a more equitable global distribution faster instead of cheating by stealing talented people from the rest of the world?
Purely on economics, arguably yes. But I'm also a fan of breaking the correlation between nation states and specific ethnicities and religions etc. That's more important imo. That's the way to a big beautiful peaceful world. Utopian? Yes, but it should be the direction of travel. Elon Musk has his dreams of colonising space. I have this one. Neither of us will live to see it realised but that's not the point.
We have a case study of what such a world would look like in the Indian subcontinent. There, national boundaries have been eliminated, but at the cost of a stifling caste system.
There's no reason to think that pushing for the same at a global level wouldn't lead to a similar outcome, and plenty of evidence that it is already tending in that direction, with increasing talk of some jobs not being suitable for British people.
Heard my first cuckoo of the year yesterday (North York Moors). Told neighbour, who was visibly relieved. At least something's still working.
Wonder, in my darker moments, how long before it becomes a folk memory in rural England. Like the sound of children playing in the yard of the village school.
On a brighter note...
Nowadays I only hear cuckoos when visiting Italy, and it always reminds me of hearing them in England when young.
I have however heard a lot more woodpeckers this year in England than is usual?
I think the cuckoos are in Central Asia this spring.
Comments
Like most global cities, it has steadily become a pastiche of itself.
https://x.com/wallstengine/status/1914356180950171875?s=61
Ryde Pier Head has a car park, ferry trrminal and railway station* at the end of a pier. Is there anywhere else in the world like it?
*currently the trains stop at Ryde Esplanade, as the pier line is being repaired.
Wonder if that will make the morning copy for folks to read over their cornflakes? 😂
A family of four don't get much change out of £100 now for a trip to a destination for a day out. And a takeaway? Probably £50.
So many people can't begin to afford that.
Beautiful prose, profound themes, brilliantly drawn characters, a satisfying coherent story, all in 170 pages.
Gatsby eat your heart out.
Reshoring manufacturing (even assuming that happened with unlikely rapidity) wouldn't help them.
The combo of mass migration, Islamification, globalisation, multiculturalism, etc etc, has been catastrophic for so many cities, from Sweden to Britain to Germany, and on to France and Italy
The fact I feel far safer in the large cities of Central Asia than I do in similar cities in Western Europe is tragic. Also, less litter and graffiti, and so on
You're a stuck record.
If you like Central Asia so much why not just stay there and leave the rest of us to enjoy Britain and Western Europe in peace?
Southport had a battery powered pier tram, but that closed in 2015, a year before I first visited.
https://letrainbleualamaison.com/
Not yet been to Southend. It's important to save something to look forward to.
eg let’s switch it around. During Thatcher’s 1980s revolution she got a lot of stick from the Left (she still
does). “She’s ruining Britain”, “she’s destroyed the north” etc etc
When I heard these remarks I thought: those people are wrong. They are understandably angry but they are in error. She’s making necessary changes
What I did NOT say is “well if you hate Thatcher so much why don’t you go and live in Moscow”
What this tells me is that you are insecure in your own argument. You don’t even want to hear what I’m saying because you’re worried I’m correct - and you can’t bear that thought
“All this diversity means our lives are more interesting”
I also finished my stag night in Marylebone Police Station. What japes!
The AI overview gave me: "New Holland Pier Station in Lincolnshire does not appear to have a designated car park. It's a small station, and parking options in the area are limited. Nearby options include parking on the street or using public transportation."
New Holland Pier station closed in 1981, when the Humber Bridge opened...
The Blu Ray DVD season boxset release is as good as it will get. Quality wise.
I went there with a couple of friends to re-enact the death scenes. Then to the Post Office tower as a tribute to War Machines.
Best prices
Parolin 6/4
Tagle 13/5
Erdo 10/1
Turkson 12/1
Burke 18/1
Pizzaballa 20/1
Zuppi 20/1
I still think it'll be Parolin based on my friendly/stern alternating theory but 6/4 is prohibitive.
Too many right wing politicians performatively pretend to care about crime while undermining the means to tackle it. As seen in their obsession with sentencing policy over actually catching the bloody criminals.
Pfff to the lot of them. Here in surprisingly agreeable Bishkek I’m gonna read about the Russian Civil War and the hideously bloody fight for Bokhara. Biplanes bombing the Ark! Much more fun
Night night
defines life - people's struggle to express themselves.
Just logged on to see J.D Vance killed the Pope !!!
Heard my first cuckoo of the year yesterday (North York Moors). Told neighbour, who was visibly relieved. At least something's still working.
Wonder, in my darker moments, how long before it becomes a folk memory in rural England. Like the sound of children playing in the yard of the village school.
On a brighter note...
The absolute decline is in left behind post-industrial regions. We all know that. And those regions are predominantly white or at most bi-cultural, because they are not attractive to incomers. So the idea that multiculturalism is bringing down the West is somewhat belied by the stats.
I have however heard a lot more woodpeckers this year in England than is usual?
Basically, @Dura_Ace wouldn't be seen dead on a bike with SRAM components.
(I have SRAM on my bike, and am deliriously happy. And significantly less poor than I would be with Shimano Dura Ace.)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/21/jd-vance-among-last-visitors-to-pope-francis-after-series-of-public-fallouts
..The contents of Sunday morning’s meeting between the two men are unlikely ever to be divulged, but in Francis’s final Urbi et Orbi message, which was read out on his behalf at mass in St Peter’s Square on Sunday, the Jesuit pope issued a familiar and characteristic appeal for kindness and empathy.
“How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalised, and migrants,” he said. “On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas. For all of us are children of God.”..
Your suggested means will have to be made rather less opaque, though, before we can declare a prima facie case against the VP.
Pope declines to meet with JD Vance.
Pope doesn't die.
Pope in good health meets with JD Vance.
Pope dies.
But not quite all, it turns out. I had to travel to Oklahoma in March and, a day after I returned, a nasty cold hit. I now recognize that I had had -- at most -- 199 colds, before this latest one.
(I'm fully recovered, but it took eight days.)
The latter, sadly, are noticeably less profuse than a few years back. Still one of nature's most beautiful displays, though.
Now I only spend 50 weeks of the year here and speak to friends and colleagues from across London daily, so my experience is nothing on travel journalists who spend five or ten weeks in Camden and the rest on twitter, but just to provide some alternative viewpoints.
Do any other Anglosphere centre-right parties share this ?
In his comments from December Pope Francis said “ a world full of hope and kindness is a more beautiful world “ .
I’m not religious but the world is in desperate need of a bit more kindness and those words from the Pope I found so true .
Fun fact:
Out of 612 stations in Greater London, only Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, Sudbury & Harrow Road, Sudbury Hill Harrow, and Northolt Park are served exclusively by diesel trains, with no electrified platforms.
There's clearly a mass market for it. How it's all afforded, hell knows.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/crime-justice-commission-uk-rates-rise-police-38g7w5gw8
People gullible to believe Social Media are stoking the opposite perception.
There's no reason to think that pushing for the same at a global level wouldn't lead to a similar outcome, and plenty of evidence that it is already tending in that direction, with increasing talk of some jobs not being suitable for British people.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=2c9839946796c83c&hl=en-gb&q=papal+shoes&udm=2&fbs=ABzOT_CWdhQLP1FcmU5B0fn3xuWpA-dk4wpBWOGsoR7DG5zJBpcx8kZB4NRoUjdgt8WwoMt2eLfGlVE3GaT9s2o0rEuuPRs2VwKAwYSnvSzf8gkVMY0BE3KEd5gxLfgc0Wone3x9IS3OOND_wJT9dYWcobD2Qc8Vrv3cUqa0DRLbsQ2cZ460LeATHPyEHDxZWon72vv3rRiZLL2gQQPsb1W-VJJEs5HAOg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiokbCz2-mMAxWiVqQEHYsyCI44ChC0qAt6BAgREAE&biw=1112&bih=731&dpr=2
Evil is being defeated by the hand of God.
https://x.com/mtgreenee/status/1914329322376356347