Just realised that in the past month I crossed a time zone without realising - at least once. Maybe more
How did I not notice???
Been there, done that.
I have a little pet idea that the whole world just stays on the same time zone. I always despair at farmers or people complaining about kids walking to school in the dark so have arguments on when the clocks should change. It is bonkers. Adjust the time the school starts twice a year (or more if you want) or the time you get up to milk the cows. After all if we change the clock like we do now that is all you are really doing anyway. Why do you need someone to artificially make it the same time as it was before when it isn't. Cows don't care and schools can adapt to the light conditions applicable to them (eg Aberdeen compared to Portsmouth)
It would stop confusion (how many times have people missed cross continent conference calls because times changed on different days in different places).
I believe aircraft use GMT regardless of where they are, so why not the rest of us.
An acquaintance of mine, with whom I was involved in running an Internet forum for older people, used to opine that the world would soon be divided by time zone, rather than language. We haven't yet reached the stage of instant translation into any language, but we're not far away. The forum is based in UK and is in English, so those Americans..... and we have a few every so often ..... have to get up early, and the Australians ...... again a few ...... stay up late.
A simpler solution for the UK at least, would be to keep England on GMT and let the Scottish parliament change their clocks as they wish, or at least change their working day.
Neither the UK parliament nor the Scottish parliament need get involved in schools in Invernessshire starting their day a bit later in winter, or when farmers get up.
The confusion arises when school A runs on one time and school B, which second child attends, on a different time. And what time does the milk lorry arrive on a farm. Some sort of 'organisation' is necessary.
Why is that a problem?
My daughter is in Year 6 and starting secondary school next year. The secondary both starts earlier and finishes earlier than the primary, which seems to work OK for everyone concerned and seems to be quite common.
Once she goes to secondary she's going to be making her own way to and from school, but even if she wasn't, since you can't be in 2 places at once at the same time, staggered start times are a good thing not a bad one.
Unless you have wrap around care you can't be at school A and school B simultaneously.
Mark Allen just got a 147. I think that's the first time I've seen one all the way through. You know the phrase 'Never in doubt?' It was the opposite of that.
I'm fascinated by the psychology of making a 147. Many, many frames in snooker start with some reds and blacks, so the 147 is 'on'. At what point does a player make the switch from winning the frame being the most important thing (so take a pink or blue if its better for the break building) to going for the 147? Clearly being a prize associated with it helps.
I think in this case, it helped that he was 10-2 down and hadn't potted a ball for an hour. The match, really, is already lost. So quite early on (after about red #6) he went for a tricky black over the easy pink - he was clearly prioritising it from red #1. Whereas if it's 12-12, you'd almost definitely go for an easy pink rather than a tricky black.
You'd also definitely make that switch once you've decided the frame is already won - you're probably at that point after ten red-blacks: for the remaining five you'd probably prioritise the tricky black over the easy pink.
If the Republicans are unpopular, he'll be tainted. That includes if he has become President, which is fairly likely given Trump's age and state of decay. This means either he will be primaried out, or he will lose.
For me, the likelier Republican candidate is Ramaswamy. If they double down on whatever they're smoking, he's the obvious contender - younger, more plausible, more coherent and even more batshit than Trump and Musk.
But what it really shows is how broken the American political system is if they can elect somebody to carry out policies that will blow up their lives, and then be surprised or disapproving about it.
I still don't understand why we can't back the likely 2028 winner on Betfair. If people think he won't run or be allowed to stand they can just lay him bigly.
Are Betfair refusing to list Trump? They've listed numerous celebs, though, as far as I can tell, no one ineligible such as Musk or Schwarzenegger. Is that why Trump isn't listed, currently ineligible?
Don’t laugh… but presumably there are some ethical guidelines applied.
If one side of a bet *can’t* win according to the rules then a bookie shouldn’t take a bet on it
Indeed that will be their logic but it is completely out of touch with reality. He is selling his 2028 merch already, his aides say he has half a dozen ways to get on the ballot and some are fully confident he will run.
There’s this nutty MAGA politician in Nevada. She gets appointed as a judge despite not having a law degree, because that’s how the USA works. She raises $70k in donations to honour a police officer killed in the line of duty, but then spent that money on herself. She’s found guilty in court of fraud, but of course claims it’s all a conspiracy against her. While awaiting sentencing, Trump pardons her.
Workless youths who are “on the internet 24-hours a day” won’t get out of bed for less than £40,000, Lords have been told.
Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) in Blackpool, said a colleague this week told him there were “kids on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don’t want to work for anything less than 40 grand”.
Some on the Lords’ social mobility policy committee gasped in response, prompting Mr Crowley to say: “I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.”
They don't want to work for £40k they want to be employed for £40k.
No employer would be able to get them to put down their mobiles in the few weeks before they were sacked.
What mortgage can you get on £40,000 a year? What about the minimum wage of £20,000 a year? As one of Leon's mates pointed out some years back, in London, even quite ordinary homes originally built for single-income, working class households now fetch around £1 million. Even in the frozen north or a left-behind seaside town like Clacton, you'd be looking at £200,000 which brings us back to a mortgage of 5 times £40k.
Another run-down seaside resort. Are there many well-paid, non-seasonal jobs there?
There are trains to Manchester and Liverpool. And WFH.
Way, way back, the well-healed businessmen (and they were all men) commuting from Blackpool to Manchester had their own "club train" where the select few could travel in comfort and figure out the best way to exploit the proletariat.
One of the club carriages is preserved at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, and you can sometimes take a ride in it.
So one year on the horizon and no sign of 1.5 million new houses
You should see the rate they are going up on the South Coast. There's a lot going on - except where the local council has got into the building game (2-3 years late)
We build abour 200,000 houses in a normal year, but were not building 400,000 houses which is what we need.
We have quite major developments starting here in Ashfield, including a continuation of building more Council Houses that have been a thing for several years. They are trying to build on several areas of open land on older housing estates, where dogwalkers go etc, which is getting some blowback.
Looking at the numbers, they are massively lumpy, and come out 4 months behind - so 2024 Q4 is due out in the next week. Starts by quarter from 2022 Q1 look weirdly lumpy as Covid worked out - no conclusions are possible. But this is one, like NHS waiting lists, where the Govt have to deliver significant improvement towards their 1.5 million: target
I can only put it down to marketing shenanigans that the Cons indulged in before the Election to stroke Nimbies as they were circling the drain - eg the abolition of Housing Targets by Council, which they had never touched before.
Labour has no chance of hitting its target, theyre as useless as the Conservatives. LDs are not much better nationally they proclaim the need for housing and then locally oppose everything.
Supporting the 'right houses in the right place' which all parties say, is one of those things which is technically reasonable in isolation but in practice used as cover to say no to everything.
People object to building in the open countryside, on the edges of towns, and also in the centre of towns, they object to building on green belt, green fields, but also brownfield. They'll fight to preserve high quality agricultural land, useless scrubland, and derelict buildings and former car parks. They'll complain the infrastructure is not built first then object if infrastructure is built first. They'll bemoan they and their children cannot afford to live where they grew up but object to any affordable housing being built there.
It never ends and its infuriating. The system we have is at war with itself as it incentivises pandering to Nimbys whilst also having little teeth on developers. I do believe the government is now trying, but it may need more and look how they act in their own back yards.
You and I both know that's not how it really works.
There are local plans which define what kind of residential or industrial development can take place (in terms of density or height) and where it can take place.
Developers can see from these plans what they would be allowed to build and where but some (not all) try to challenge these pre-existing and locally agreed plans with over-dense or over-height developments or with flats where the local authority wants houses and they do this, let's be fair, to maximise their profit on the land.
More sensible developers engage with the local community in advance often using third party communications companies. They hold public meetings, engage with the locals and work to achieve a compromise application which is acceptable to all. That's submitted and often gets approved.
Yes, there are those who don't want any development on a site but they are usually a minority and only become a majority when an insensitive developer puts up an application without local engagement and reference to the local plan which is completely unsuitable for the site. That's when you get public galleries full of angry people at planning sub-committee meetings and that's when you get councillors refusing applications.
The developer can seek to get that overturned but that takes time and costs money and the thoughtful developer recognises for a little bit of pre-application consultation, a lot of that stress can be removed.
That's how the process works - consultation, engagement, offering a little something to the local community whether out of the Section 106 payment or as part of the plan itself and usually that oiling of the wheels gets the application removed and the development underway and makes the public consultation (a legal requirement currently) a tick box exercise.
The actual problem is or are the chokepoints in the development process - availability of materials, of specialist sub contractors and trades at key points in the process. There's also the question of pricing - there's what the developer would like for each property and what the local market will stand and that's before the issue of affordable housing rears its head. In East London, a lot of developments have either part ownership or, more often, a big proportion is for rental.
I don’t suppose this would work, but: The local authority decides where it wants a housing development. It decides the mix of housing, large houses, small houses, flats, etc.. It decides what infrastructure is needed to support the development. It arranges planning permission. It issues a tender document and asks the property developers to bid for the development. The successful bidder builds the development.
What worked, very successfully, in the past, was
1) Layout a plan for an area. 2) Build the roads, utilities, schools etc. 3) Sell a "roads" (or one side of a road) of plots to different developers, with rules about the style of housing.
The main issue with your idea is that the developer will try and control the rate of construction to get the highest possible prices. Competition is better.
Agreed. The local authority tender could also include timings.
You could also sell small numbers of plots, in penny packets, to local building firms or even individuals wanting to have a house built.
However I still don't see how you would stop firms land banking. Maybe there should be a clause that if the plot isn't developed within a certain period, it is forfeit back to the council.
Simple. Site Value Taxation. As soon as development permission is granted, you start taxing the land as if it had been developed. There is then no point is leaving the site undeveloped while its value increases.
Mark Allen just got a 147. I think that's the first time I've seen one all the way through. You know the phrase 'Never in doubt?' It was the opposite of that.
I'm fascinated by the psychology of making a 147. Many, many frames in snooker start with some reds and blacks, so the 147 is 'on'. At what point does a player make the switch from winning the frame being the most important thing (so take a pink or blue if its better for the break building) to going for the 147? Clearly being a prize associated with it helps.
I think in this case, it helped that he was 10-2 down and hadn't potted a ball for an hour. The match, really, is already lost. So quite early on (after about red #6) he went for a tricky black over the easy pink - he was clearly prioritising it from red #1. Whereas if it's 12-12, you'd almost definitely go for an easy pink rather than a tricky black.
You'd also definitely make that switch once you've decided the frame is already won - you're probably at that point after ten red-blacks: for the remaining five you'd probably prioritise the tricky black over the easy pink.
Individual temperament too - there's a reason O'Sullivan has the most 147s, beyond talent.
See we are doing it now. We are discussing what time systems we use to cater for different scenarios. Stop. Set all times to GMT (or whatever) and schools or Education Authorities can say what time the school starts or ends. Simple.
The milk lorry turns up at the time he says.
The farmer gets up when he needs to get up, not set by a fictitious clock
And when you organise a conference call between the US, UK and Australia you don't need to get your spreadsheet out and work out what time it will be in each place due to the time difference and worse still because the clocks are changing between now and when the meeting starts.
Why should the rest of the world changes for the convenience of those making international conference calls?
They are not. It makes life easier for everyone, albeit trivially for most, but definitely easier for all.
Girl or boy? Peppa Pig and her family prepare for a huge gender reveal party as they count down to the birth of new baby
Peppa Pig's parents Mummy and Daddy Pig will reveal the gender of their third piglet at London's Battersea Power Station on Friday night, with the landmark's chimneys lit up in pink and blue in anticipation.
Girl or boy? Peppa Pig and her family prepare for a huge gender reveal party as they count down to the birth of new baby
Peppa Pig's parents Mummy and Daddy Pig will reveal the gender of their third piglet at London's Battersea Power Station on Friday night, with the landmark's chimneys lit up in pink and blue in anticipation.
Oblivion remake looks pretty good and it seems they've improved the godawful levelling system, which was my only major gripe about the original (still got it).
Might pick up the new version when it's on sale. And I have a thousand hours.
F1: probably because I posted it earlier, last podcast slightly fell off a cliff so in case anyone missed it, here are the links:
Essentially, it could be winter for Ferrari and Red Bull next season. Prospects for Aston Martin and Williams seem set to improve, with McLaren/Mercedes staying at the sharp end in what is being widely dubbed an 'engine formula'. Questions over the electrical power being so high, though.
I own but have not played the original. Top purchasing choice obviously.
Oblivion remake looks pretty good and it seems they've improved the godawful levelling system, which was my only major gripe about the original (still got it).
Might pick up the new version when it's on sale. And I have a thousand hours.
F1: probably because I posted it earlier, last podcast slightly fell off a cliff so in case anyone missed it, here are the links:
Essentially, it could be winter for Ferrari and Red Bull next season. Prospects for Aston Martin and Williams seem set to improve, with McLaren/Mercedes staying at the sharp end in what is being widely dubbed an 'engine formula'. Questions over the electrical power being so high, though.
I own but have not played the original. Top purchasing choice obviously.
That's an unorthodox approach to gaming. It's actually very good, the godawful levelling system aside. In many ways, it's superior to Skyrim, so it'll be interesting to see how the sales do.
Would improve public transport immensely but what a dreadful reflection on society. There should be no need for a such a law, and it's quite mad that it's the Lib Dems proposing it.
I'd be really interested in a transport breakdown by voting intention. I reckon train commuters in the SE must be a key Tory/LD battleground.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Workless youths who are “on the internet 24-hours a day” won’t get out of bed for less than £40,000, Lords have been told.
Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) in Blackpool, said a colleague this week told him there were “kids on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don’t want to work for anything less than 40 grand”.
Some on the Lords’ social mobility policy committee gasped in response, prompting Mr Crowley to say: “I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.”
They don't want to work for £40k they want to be employed for £40k.
No employer would be able to get them to put down their mobiles in the few weeks before they were sacked.
What mortgage can you get on £40,000 a year? What about the minimum wage of £20,000 a year? As one of Leon's mates pointed out some years back, in London, even quite ordinary homes originally built for single-income, working class households now fetch around £1 million. Even in the frozen north or a left-behind seaside town like Clacton, you'd be looking at £200,000 which brings us back to a mortgage of 5 times £40k.
One of the awkward realities of now.
If your housing costs are zero, for whatever reason, life is really quite easy. The pressure to work to survive isn't really there, and not doing a minimum wage job is pretty rational from the point of view of homo economicus. You would have to be paid a blooming fortune to generate enough happiness.
If you are paying current market rents, life is a flipping nightmare. Hence the tales of young barristers in a flatshare in Watford.
One of the mysteries of the last decade has been the homeowners in depressed areas. They have been key to the success of Farage and Johnson. Objectively, they are comfortably off, but it's in a house price so it's not visible. And yet the areas around them are dismal. On one hand, that mismatch explains the appeal of national populism, but it doesn't make it a better idea.
Hence why so many on benefits, free house, free council tax and money in your pocket, alternative is work your butt off trying to survive paying all your own bills.
And high taxes because of the lazy arses who want to live off benefits. Time to cut the welfare state down to size and force them into taking any job.
You wouldn't get out of bed for a miserable £400k a year, let alone £40k.
Surprised they don't realise this is going to be seen a "black people tend to be loud" campaign.
I mean, wrongly. But it will be.
Preposterous levels of cynicism... but perhaps that's why they've gone for it? An obviously reasonable position - don't play music out loud in public places - that gets attacks by mad people on twitter Bluesky. Lib Dems look like a normal, centrist party in contrast.
Surprised they don't realise this is going to be seen a "black people tend to be loud" campaign.
I mean, wrongly. But it will be.
Preposterous levels of cynicism... but perhaps that's why they've gone for it? An obviously reasonable position - don't play music out loud in public places - that gets attacks by mad people on twitter Bluesky. Lib Dems look like a normal, centrist party in contrast.
I suspect the real problem is that the law probably already covers it. Not to mention the bus driver / train staff can already tackle it to some extent. We didn't have such devices on the bus to school in my day. But any misbehaviour and the driver would absolutely pull the (public) bus over and start shouting.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
There's not a lot of building going on in this part of East London. Lots of stalled plans, some of them a decade old. One massive plot was cleared for a Council-backed scheme including a lot of affordable houses, then because of Grenfell the plans have been put on hold. Presumably the developer doesn't fancy the additional cost of building homes with safe cladding.
Having said that, over the last couple of weeks I've been out around Chelmsford and Colchester for the first time for a couple of years and there is a lot of development going on on the edges of both towns. (Sorry, can't get used to the concept of both of them being Cities).
If you are in the same bit of East London as me (I think you might be?), then the sticking point is staircases. Pre-Grenfell, one staircase was allowed, now it ought to be two. The current plan is to put 18 prefabs on part of the site for about 5 years while the powers that be work out what to do.
The boundary between built-up and grimly undeveloped here is pretty arbitary; it's just where the builders of the 1930s had got to when Herr Hitler intervened. But thoughts and prayers to anyone who even thinks of adjusting that line, or even densifying the 1930s sprawl. (Would it really be bad if those two storey terraces became 3 or 4?). So you get mega high buildings on the few spots where you can, even though they are a pain to engineer.
And away from the railway line, there's quite a lot going up in central Romford, including a site that has been in limbo for at least fifteen years.
Around Lea, in Hackney, the Orthodox Jewish community got permission to add stories to their houses - arguing that big families are a religious thing etc.
The early attempts were pretty awful. The later ones - adding an extra story to Edwardian semis and terraced houses - are getting quite good.
Girl or boy? Peppa Pig and her family prepare for a huge gender reveal party as they count down to the birth of new baby
Peppa Pig's parents Mummy and Daddy Pig will reveal the gender of their third piglet at London's Battersea Power Station on Friday night, with the landmark's chimneys lit up in pink and blue in anticipation.
Given we first met them ~20 years ago, the parents should be long dead and Peppa herself considerably geriatric. I'm starting to wonder whether they're real pigs at all!
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Girl or boy? Peppa Pig and her family prepare for a huge gender reveal party as they count down to the birth of new baby
Peppa Pig's parents Mummy and Daddy Pig will reveal the gender of their third piglet at London's Battersea Power Station on Friday night, with the landmark's chimneys lit up in pink and blue in anticipation.
Given we first met them ~20 years ago, the parents should be long dead and Peppa herself considerably geriatric. I'm starting to wonder whether they're real pigs at all!
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Eubank Jnr fined £375,000 for being half an ounce overweight.....
Oh dear, that makes me several million in the red.
Thats impressive, its about £26m per kilo....so several million is close to ideal.
"Today, customs officers seized Donald Trump at the UK border, where he was attempting to enter with at least 10kg of excess weight, with a street value of £260m."
It's a bit of a turn-off for those of us who are actually liberals. I can see the targeting though.
So, we have:
A Labour Party that isn't particularly left
A Conservative Party that embraced 'fuck business' (and, related to that, Brexit) and still seems more interested in identity politics than economics
A Liberal Democrat Party that seems mostly interested in chasing old Tory votes rather than liberalism
A Green Party that is mostly focused on being economically left and also woke
You can kind of see why some people are looking at Reform, can't you?
Why £1,000 as well?
At that level it generally won't be enforced, a lot of the "criminals" wont be able to pay and clog up justice resources further. And train staff expected to enforce it will be in fear of violence if they try to do so.
If you are going to do it, I'd go for £25 if paid on the spot, £100 if paid later.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
You guys have repeatedly broken this limit which leads to images being shrunk as a result, please stick to the limit or the ability to post pictures might be removed.
Eubank Jnr fined £375,000 for being half an ounce overweight.....
Oh dear, that makes me several million in the red.
Thats impressive, its about £26m per kilo....so several million is close to ideal.
"Today, customs officers seized Donald Trump at the UK border, where he was attempting to enter with at least 10kg of excess weight, with a street value of £260m."
Careful, a MAGA poster might come along shortly to claim its all muscle.
You guys have repeatedly broken this limit which leads to images being shrunk as a result, please stick to the limit or the ability to post pictures might be removed.
Just as an fyi I couldn't attach an image the other day and I only post images once in a blue moon.
Would improve public transport immensely but what a dreadful reflection on society. There should be no need for a such a law, and it's quite mad that it's the Lib Dems proposing it.
I'd be really interested in a transport breakdown by voting intention. I reckon train commuters in the SE must be a key Tory/LD battleground.
I can't imagine choosing a party on the basis of their stance on people playing music on the train, though I agree it's a minor nuisance. But TBH that's true of an awful lot of local issues. One leaflet in my area (I'll be discreet about the source) focuses on access to a supermarket carpark - you might get delayed by a whole minute, shock horror. Another vaguely calls for "some investment" in local services when new housing is built. Is it odd that turnout at local elections is typically under 50%?
You guys have repeatedly broken this limit which leads to images being shrunk as a result, please stick to the limit or the ability to post pictures might be removed.
That must mean there is a capability, for an appropriate fee, to shrink @Leon 's dreary daily photo post to the size of a fullstop. We could have a whip round if you like.
Surprised they don't realise this is going to be seen a "black people tend to be loud" campaign.
I mean, wrongly. But it will be.
Preposterous levels of cynicism... but perhaps that's why they've gone for it? An obviously reasonable position - don't play music out loud in public places - that gets attacks by mad people on twitter Bluesky. Lib Dems look like a normal, centrist party in contrast.
Delicious spring evening in Bishkek. I am now pretending I am Lenin suffering a less-than-terrible internal exile under the Tsar
Just had excellent coffee and Creme Brûlée by the Kyrgyz Opera and Ballet House
Very nice. Beautiful Spring afternoon in Cheshire. I have just had a milkshake and a Danish on a bench in Lymm by the dinosaur footprint A pug has just sneezed at me as it passed.
Would improve public transport immensely but what a dreadful reflection on society. There should be no need for a such a law, and it's quite mad that it's the Lib Dems proposing it.
I'd be really interested in a transport breakdown by voting intention. I reckon train commuters in the SE must be a key Tory/LD battleground.
I can't imagine choosing a party on the basis of their stance on people playing music on the train, though I agree it's a minor nuisance. But TBH that's true of an awful lot of local issues. One leaflet in my area (I'll be discreet about the source) focuses on access to a supermarket carpark - you might get delayed by a whole minute, shock horror. Another vaguely calls for "some investment" in local services when new housing is built. Is it odd that turnout at local elections is typically under 50%?
It is a lot more than a minor nuisance. It is a total PITA. And in many cases it is a form of intimidation - some Chav just wanting people to ask them to turn it off so that they can escalate into a confrontation.
Far too many people are totally inconsiderate, or even thrive on upsetting others. This is just one manifestation. They think they can act with impunity - well it is time to sort the feckers out.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Would improve public transport immensely but what a dreadful reflection on society. There should be no need for a such a law, and it's quite mad that it's the Lib Dems proposing it.
I'd be really interested in a transport breakdown by voting intention. I reckon train commuters in the SE must be a key Tory/LD battleground.
I can't imagine choosing a party on the basis of their stance on people playing music on the train, though I agree it's a minor nuisance. But TBH that's true of an awful lot of local issues. One leaflet in my area (I'll be discreet about the source) focuses on access to a supermarket carpark - you might get delayed by a whole minute, shock horror. Another vaguely calls for "some investment" in local services when new housing is built. Is it odd that turnout at local elections is typically under 50%?
It is a lot more than a minor nuisance. It is a total PITA. And in many cases it is a form of intimidation - some Chav just wanting people to ask them to turn it off so that they can escalate into a confrontation.
Far too many people are totally inconsiderate, or even thrive on upsetting others. This is just one manifestation. They think they can act with impunity - well it is time to sort the feckers out.
Or we could invest in things like surestart and youth clubs to actually change the next generations behaviour rather than come up with more new laws that will be very rarely enforced.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Never previously heard of the term 'cuckooing' but it fits perfectly the crime I once heard as a juror. The accused had gone to work leaving his front door open deliberately, and according to him, in order to allow his dog access to the landing outside the flat. By chance, the premises were visited by the police who found a stash of counterfeit £20 notes secreted in some shoe boxes.
We the jury accepted it was probable he knew nothing of the money, but we agreed it was near certain that he knew the place was being used for illegal purposes. He was charged with 'handling', although it is unlikely he ever touched the stuff. We thought him guilty as f*ck anyway and weren't prepared to let him off on a technicality.
It would have been hepful if the term cuckooing had been mentioned during the trial, or even known by any of us at the time, because it describes perfectly what we thought was going on there.
Workless youths who are “on the internet 24-hours a day” won’t get out of bed for less than £40,000, Lords have been told.
Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) in Blackpool, said a colleague this week told him there were “kids on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don’t want to work for anything less than 40 grand”.
Some on the Lords’ social mobility policy committee gasped in response, prompting Mr Crowley to say: “I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.”
They don't want to work for £40k they want to be employed for £40k.
No employer would be able to get them to put down their mobiles in the few weeks before they were sacked.
What mortgage can you get on £40,000 a year? What about the minimum wage of £20,000 a year? As one of Leon's mates pointed out some years back, in London, even quite ordinary homes originally built for single-income, working class households now fetch around £1 million. Even in the frozen north or a left-behind seaside town like Clacton, you'd be looking at £200,000 which brings us back to a mortgage of 5 times £40k.
One of the awkward realities of now.
If your housing costs are zero, for whatever reason, life is really quite easy. The pressure to work to survive isn't really there, and not doing a minimum wage job is pretty rational from the point of view of homo economicus. You would have to be paid a blooming fortune to generate enough happiness.
If you are paying current market rents, life is a flipping nightmare. Hence the tales of young barristers in a flatshare in Watford.
One of the mysteries of the last decade has been the homeowners in depressed areas. They have been key to the success of Farage and Johnson. Objectively, they are comfortably off, but it's in a house price so it's not visible. And yet the areas around them are dismal. On one hand, that mismatch explains the appeal of national populism, but it doesn't make it a better idea.
Hence why so many on benefits, free house, free council tax and money in your pocket, alternative is work your butt off trying to survive paying all your own bills.
And high taxes because of the lazy arses who want to live off benefits. Time to cut the welfare state down to size and force them into taking any job.
You said it, a bloody scandal having to pay to keep a bunch of layabouts.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Workless youths who are “on the internet 24-hours a day” won’t get out of bed for less than £40,000, Lords have been told.
Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) in Blackpool, said a colleague this week told him there were “kids on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don’t want to work for anything less than 40 grand”.
Some on the Lords’ social mobility policy committee gasped in response, prompting Mr Crowley to say: “I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.”
They don't want to work for £40k they want to be employed for £40k.
No employer would be able to get them to put down their mobiles in the few weeks before they were sacked.
What mortgage can you get on £40,000 a year? What about the minimum wage of £20,000 a year? As one of Leon's mates pointed out some years back, in London, even quite ordinary homes originally built for single-income, working class households now fetch around £1 million. Even in the frozen north or a left-behind seaside town like Clacton, you'd be looking at £200,000 which brings us back to a mortgage of 5 times £40k.
One of the awkward realities of now.
If your housing costs are zero, for whatever reason, life is really quite easy. The pressure to work to survive isn't really there, and not doing a minimum wage job is pretty rational from the point of view of homo economicus. You would have to be paid a blooming fortune to generate enough happiness.
If you are paying current market rents, life is a flipping nightmare. Hence the tales of young barristers in a flatshare in Watford.
One of the mysteries of the last decade has been the homeowners in depressed areas. They have been key to the success of Farage and Johnson. Objectively, they are comfortably off, but it's in a house price so it's not visible. And yet the areas around them are dismal. On one hand, that mismatch explains the appeal of national populism, but it doesn't make it a better idea.
Hence why so many on benefits, free house, free council tax and money in your pocket, alternative is work your butt off trying to survive paying all your own bills.
And high taxes because of the lazy arses who want to live off benefits. Time to cut the welfare state down to size and force them into taking any job.
You said it, a bloody scandal having to pay to keep a bunch of layabouts.
Now that's no polite way to speak about pensioners.
Workless youths who are “on the internet 24-hours a day” won’t get out of bed for less than £40,000, Lords have been told.
Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) in Blackpool, said a colleague this week told him there were “kids on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don’t want to work for anything less than 40 grand”.
Some on the Lords’ social mobility policy committee gasped in response, prompting Mr Crowley to say: “I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.”
They don't want to work for £40k they want to be employed for £40k.
No employer would be able to get them to put down their mobiles in the few weeks before they were sacked.
What mortgage can you get on £40,000 a year? What about the minimum wage of £20,000 a year? As one of Leon's mates pointed out some years back, in London, even quite ordinary homes originally built for single-income, working class households now fetch around £1 million. Even in the frozen north or a left-behind seaside town like Clacton, you'd be looking at £200,000 which brings us back to a mortgage of 5 times £40k.
One of the awkward realities of now.
If your housing costs are zero, for whatever reason, life is really quite easy. The pressure to work to survive isn't really there, and not doing a minimum wage job is pretty rational from the point of view of homo economicus. You would have to be paid a blooming fortune to generate enough happiness.
If you are paying current market rents, life is a flipping nightmare. Hence the tales of young barristers in a flatshare in Watford.
One of the mysteries of the last decade has been the homeowners in depressed areas. They have been key to the success of Farage and Johnson. Objectively, they are comfortably off, but it's in a house price so it's not visible. And yet the areas around them are dismal. On one hand, that mismatch explains the appeal of national populism, but it doesn't make it a better idea.
Hence why so many on benefits, free house, free council tax and money in your pocket, alternative is work your butt off trying to survive paying all your own bills.
And high taxes because of the lazy arses who want to live off benefits. Time to cut the welfare state down to size and force them into taking any job.
You said it, a bloody scandal having to pay to keep a bunch of layabouts.
Those people that impress me most are those than can hold down a £750,000 per year salaried job plus bonuses and still get to post on PB all day. I am currently half way to achieving such a goal, unfortunately for the moment it's not the £750,000 side of the equation.
Would improve public transport immensely but what a dreadful reflection on society. There should be no need for a such a law, and it's quite mad that it's the Lib Dems proposing it.
I'd be really interested in a transport breakdown by voting intention. I reckon train commuters in the SE must be a key Tory/LD battleground.
I can't imagine choosing a party on the basis of their stance on people playing music on the train, though I agree it's a minor nuisance. But TBH that's true of an awful lot of local issues. One leaflet in my area (I'll be discreet about the source) focuses on access to a supermarket carpark - you might get delayed by a whole minute, shock horror. Another vaguely calls for "some investment" in local services when new housing is built. Is it odd that turnout at local elections is typically under 50%?
It is a lot more than a minor nuisance. It is a total PITA. And in many cases it is a form of intimidation - some Chav just wanting people to ask them to turn it off so that they can escalate into a confrontation.
Far too many people are totally inconsiderate, or even thrive on upsetting others. This is just one manifestation. They think they can act with impunity - well it is time to sort the feckers out.
Capital punishment is too good for the scum who play Radio Gaga on max volume in the gym. Any Party prepared to legislate on this has my vote.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Never previously heard of the term 'cuckooing' but it fits perfectly the crime I once heard as a juror. The accused had gone to work leaving his front door open deliberately, and according to him, in order to allow his dog access to the landing outside the flat. By chance, the premises were visited by the police who found a stash of counterfeit £20 notes secreted in some shoe boxes.
We the jury accepted it was probable he knew nothing of the money, but we agreed it was near certain that he knew the place was being used for illegal purposes. He was charged with 'handling', although it is unlikely he ever touched the stuff. We thought him guilty as f*ck anyway and weren't prepared to let him off on a technicality.
It would have been hepful if the term cuckooing had been mentioned during the trial, or even known by any of us at the time, because it describes perfectly what we thought was going on there.
That's not cuckooing, if you thought this individual had some agency. It's typically a highly vulnerable person who is taken advantage of to facilitate crime.
(And I think you've just admitted to finding someone guilty of a crime you thought they didn't commit... not a big fan of that, might be worth a clarification)
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Workless youths who are “on the internet 24-hours a day” won’t get out of bed for less than £40,000, Lords have been told.
Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) in Blackpool, said a colleague this week told him there were “kids on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don’t want to work for anything less than 40 grand”.
Some on the Lords’ social mobility policy committee gasped in response, prompting Mr Crowley to say: “I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.”
They don't want to work for £40k they want to be employed for £40k.
No employer would be able to get them to put down their mobiles in the few weeks before they were sacked.
What mortgage can you get on £40,000 a year? What about the minimum wage of £20,000 a year? As one of Leon's mates pointed out some years back, in London, even quite ordinary homes originally built for single-income, working class households now fetch around £1 million. Even in the frozen north or a left-behind seaside town like Clacton, you'd be looking at £200,000 which brings us back to a mortgage of 5 times £40k.
One of the awkward realities of now.
If your housing costs are zero, for whatever reason, life is really quite easy. The pressure to work to survive isn't really there, and not doing a minimum wage job is pretty rational from the point of view of homo economicus. You would have to be paid a blooming fortune to generate enough happiness.
If you are paying current market rents, life is a flipping nightmare. Hence the tales of young barristers in a flatshare in Watford.
One of the mysteries of the last decade has been the homeowners in depressed areas. They have been key to the success of Farage and Johnson. Objectively, they are comfortably off, but it's in a house price so it's not visible. And yet the areas around them are dismal. On one hand, that mismatch explains the appeal of national populism, but it doesn't make it a better idea.
Hence why so many on benefits, free house, free council tax and money in your pocket, alternative is work your butt off trying to survive paying all your own bills.
And high taxes because of the lazy arses who want to live off benefits. Time to cut the welfare state down to size and force them into taking any job.
You said it, a bloody scandal having to pay to keep a bunch of layabouts.
Now that's no polite way to speak about pensioners.
Lots and lots of pensioners work due to the meagre amount they get unlike the layabouts. I am one of them and fund a good scroungers. Happy to pay for real cases but getting robbed to fund the huge amount of idle barstewards is galling.
Workless youths who are “on the internet 24-hours a day” won’t get out of bed for less than £40,000, Lords have been told.
Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) in Blackpool, said a colleague this week told him there were “kids on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don’t want to work for anything less than 40 grand”.
Some on the Lords’ social mobility policy committee gasped in response, prompting Mr Crowley to say: “I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.”
They don't want to work for £40k they want to be employed for £40k.
No employer would be able to get them to put down their mobiles in the few weeks before they were sacked.
What mortgage can you get on £40,000 a year? What about the minimum wage of £20,000 a year? As one of Leon's mates pointed out some years back, in London, even quite ordinary homes originally built for single-income, working class households now fetch around £1 million. Even in the frozen north or a left-behind seaside town like Clacton, you'd be looking at £200,000 which brings us back to a mortgage of 5 times £40k.
One of the awkward realities of now.
If your housing costs are zero, for whatever reason, life is really quite easy. The pressure to work to survive isn't really there, and not doing a minimum wage job is pretty rational from the point of view of homo economicus. You would have to be paid a blooming fortune to generate enough happiness.
If you are paying current market rents, life is a flipping nightmare. Hence the tales of young barristers in a flatshare in Watford.
One of the mysteries of the last decade has been the homeowners in depressed areas. They have been key to the success of Farage and Johnson. Objectively, they are comfortably off, but it's in a house price so it's not visible. And yet the areas around them are dismal. On one hand, that mismatch explains the appeal of national populism, but it doesn't make it a better idea.
Hence why so many on benefits, free house, free council tax and money in your pocket, alternative is work your butt off trying to survive paying all your own bills.
And high taxes because of the lazy arses who want to live off benefits. Time to cut the welfare state down to size and force them into taking any job.
You said it, a bloody scandal having to pay to keep a bunch of layabouts.
Those people that impress me most are those than can hold down a £750,000 per year salaried job plus bonuses and still get to post on PB all day. I am currently half way to achieving such a goal, unfortunately for the moment it's not the £750,000 side of the equation.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Never previously heard of the term 'cuckooing' but it fits perfectly the crime I once heard as a juror. The accused had gone to work leaving his front door open deliberately, and according to him, in order to allow his dog access to the landing outside the flat. By chance, the premises were visited by the police who found a stash of counterfeit £20 notes secreted in some shoe boxes.
We the jury accepted it was probable he knew nothing of the money, but we agreed it was near certain that he knew the place was being used for illegal purposes. He was charged with 'handling', although it is unlikely he ever touched the stuff. We thought him guilty as f*ck anyway and weren't prepared to let him off on a technicality.
It would have been hepful if the term cuckooing had been mentioned during the trial, or even known by any of us at the time, because it describes perfectly what we thought was going on there.
That's not cuckooing, if you thought this individual had some agency. It's typically a highly vulnerable person who is taken advantage of to facilitate crime.
(And I think you've just admitted to finding someone guilty of a crime you thought they didn't commit... not a big fan of that, might be worth a clarification)
The term cuckooing certainly fits in that the counterfeiters were using someone else's premises for their own purposes. The extent to which the resident at the 'nest' was vulnerable is an open one. I should say that on the whole he was not. His complicity seemed fairly obvious, vulnerable or not.
The jury didn't convict him of a crime he didn't commit. It may have taken a broad view of what constituted 'handling'. It may also have favored substance over form. Either way I believe the jury acted well within its remit.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Don't encourage our travel correspondent! Otherwise he will be posting photos of the cat chowder he sampled on a remote Pacific island.
You’re really quite obsessed with me. Don’t you ever ask yourself why?
It's not some homo-erotic fantasy if that's what you are alluding to.
But you mention me constantly even when I’m not here. It’s borderline weird
I don’t come on here and go on about “mexicanpete”
I guess I should be flattered. Just don’t start stalking me. You’d find the air tickets too expensive anyway
For someone supposedly bright I don't know how you don't get this. If @Mexicanpete come on here posting as frequently as you and often hijacked the thread people would be talking about him. Just because someone talks about you doesn't mean you should be flattered, particularly if you are annoying people.
People talk about Trump all the time. 99% of the time it isn't good.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Don't encourage our travel correspondent! Otherwise he will be posting photos of the cat chowder he sampled on a remote Pacific island.
You’re really quite obsessed with me. Don’t you ever ask yourself why?
It's not some homo-erotic fantasy if that's what you are alluding to.
But you mention me constantly even when I’m not here. It’s borderline weird
I don’t come on here and go on about “mexicanpete”
I guess I should be flattered. Just don’t start stalking me. You’d find the air tickets too expensive anyway
For someone supposedly bright I don't know how you don't get this. If @Mexicanpete come on here posting as frequently as you and often hijacked the thread people would be talking about him. Just because someone talks about you doesn't mean you should be flattered, particularly if you are annoying people.
People talk about Trump all the time. 99% of the time it isn't good.
So he talks about me a lot coz I’m like…. Donald Trump. Er, ok
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Never previously heard of the term 'cuckooing' but it fits perfectly the crime I once heard as a juror. The accused had gone to work leaving his front door open deliberately, and according to him, in order to allow his dog access to the landing outside the flat. By chance, the premises were visited by the police who found a stash of counterfeit £20 notes secreted in some shoe boxes.
We the jury accepted it was probable he knew nothing of the money, but we agreed it was near certain that he knew the place was being used for illegal purposes. He was charged with 'handling', although it is unlikely he ever touched the stuff. We thought him guilty as f*ck anyway and weren't prepared to let him off on a technicality.
It would have been hepful if the term cuckooing had been mentioned during the trial, or even known by any of us at the time, because it describes perfectly what we thought was going on there.
That's not cuckooing, if you thought this individual had some agency. It's typically a highly vulnerable person who is taken advantage of to facilitate crime.
(And I think you've just admitted to finding someone guilty of a crime you thought they didn't commit... not a big fan of that, might be worth a clarification)
Yep, cuckooing is usually someone befriending a vulnerable person and then using their home for illegal purposes e.g. drug taking, dealing, storing or sex work https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001d54m "It's a fair cop" cuckooing definition from 24 minutes in.
Girl or boy? Peppa Pig and her family prepare for a huge gender reveal party as they count down to the birth of new baby
Peppa Pig's parents Mummy and Daddy Pig will reveal the gender of their third piglet at London's Battersea Power Station on Friday night, with the landmark's chimneys lit up in pink and blue in anticipation.
Given we first met them ~20 years ago, the parents should be long dead and Peppa herself considerably geriatric. I'm starting to wonder whether they're real pigs at all!
Given that there have been 785 episodes of the Simpsons, if each episode only represented one day, then two years must have passed by now, yet no-one has aged a day and there have been around 20 Christmas Days. Most odd.
Girl or boy? Peppa Pig and her family prepare for a huge gender reveal party as they count down to the birth of new baby
Peppa Pig's parents Mummy and Daddy Pig will reveal the gender of their third piglet at London's Battersea Power Station on Friday night, with the landmark's chimneys lit up in pink and blue in anticipation.
Given we first met them ~20 years ago, the parents should be long dead and Peppa herself considerably geriatric. I'm starting to wonder whether they're real pigs at all!
Given that there have been 785 episodes of the Simpsons, if each episode only represented one day, then two years must have passed by now, yet no-one has aged a day and there have been around 20 Christmas Days. Most odd.
Hardly odd compared to the rest of the content of the shows to be fair. In one episode they even had Donald J Trump as President of the USA. Just imagine!
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Never previously heard of the term 'cuckooing' but it fits perfectly the crime I once heard as a juror. The accused had gone to work leaving his front door open deliberately, and according to him, in order to allow his dog access to the landing outside the flat. By chance, the premises were visited by the police who found a stash of counterfeit £20 notes secreted in some shoe boxes.
We the jury accepted it was probable he knew nothing of the money, but we agreed it was near certain that he knew the place was being used for illegal purposes. He was charged with 'handling', although it is unlikely he ever touched the stuff. We thought him guilty as f*ck anyway and weren't prepared to let him off on a technicality.
It would have been hepful if the term cuckooing had been mentioned during the trial, or even known by any of us at the time, because it describes perfectly what we thought was going on there.
That's not cuckooing, if you thought this individual had some agency. It's typically a highly vulnerable person who is taken advantage of to facilitate crime.
(And I think you've just admitted to finding someone guilty of a crime you thought they didn't commit... not a big fan of that, might be worth a clarification)
The term cuckooing certainly fits in that the counterfeiters were using someone else's premises for their own purposes. The extent to which the resident at the 'nest' was vulnerable is an open one. I should say that on the whole he was not. His complicity seemed fairly obvious, vulnerable or not.
The jury didn't convict him of a crime he didn't commit. It may have taken a broad view of what constituted 'handling'. It may also have favored substance over form. Either way I believe the jury acted well within its remit.
Ok - just be aware that in police vocabulary, the taking of advantage of someone is the key component of "cuckooing". In drama, there are some good examples of it in Happy Valley.
I don't know enough about what "handling" means to know whether that was an appropriate decision. I hope you understand why I was a bit concerned!
For noise, most American guys prefer cars, for example, the Belltown Hellcat": "Miles Hudson, known infamously as the "Belltown Hellcat," appears to be back on the road, despite being recently spotted in a Seattle tow yard and multiple court orders barring him from driving the car and using social media.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Has anyone been watching the US version of Have I Got News For You? The second season is my early morning watch and it's brilliant. It is ferociously partisan and right on but it has so much bite and wit that it makes the tired UK version look even more embarrassing.
Nah, I've been watching this new interactive US political drama. It's a bit too far fetched but some great comedic actors, and they fall into the usual trap of cramming all the action into too short a space of time to make it believable. Best of all they have made it immersive so you can catch it on any of your favourite news channels or print media, 24 hrs a day.
*gravelly bass voice* Previously on Trumpland: Chaos Next time on Trumpland: Chaos
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Don't encourage our travel correspondent! Otherwise he will be posting photos of the cat chowder he sampled on a remote Pacific island.
You’re really quite obsessed with me. Don’t you ever ask yourself why?
It's not some homo-erotic fantasy if that's what you are alluding to.
But you mention me constantly even when I’m not here. It’s borderline weird
I don’t come on here and go on about “mexicanpete”
I guess I should be flattered. Just don’t start stalking me. You’d find the air tickets too expensive anyway
For someone supposedly bright I don't know how you don't get this. If @Mexicanpete come on here posting as frequently as you and often hijacked the thread people would be talking about him. Just because someone talks about you doesn't mean you should be flattered, particularly if you are annoying people.
People talk about Trump all the time. 99% of the time it isn't good.
So he talks about me a lot coz I’m like…. Donald Trump. Er, ok
You are both annoying twats, for sure. He does a lot more damage, because no-one in their right mind would ever put you in charge of anything. Then again, the same is true of him.
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
Don't encourage our travel correspondent! Otherwise he will be posting photos of the cat chowder he sampled on a remote Pacific island.
You’re really quite obsessed with me. Don’t you ever ask yourself why?
It's not some homo-erotic fantasy if that's what you are alluding to.
But you mention me constantly even when I’m not here. It’s borderline weird
I don’t come on here and go on about “mexicanpete”
I guess I should be flattered. Just don’t start stalking me. You’d find the air tickets too expensive anyway
For someone supposedly bright I don't know how you don't get this. If @Mexicanpete come on here posting as frequently as you and often hijacked the thread people would be talking about him. Just because someone talks about you doesn't mean you should be flattered, particularly if you are annoying people.
People talk about Trump all the time. 99% of the time it isn't good.
Comments
My daughter is in Year 6 and starting secondary school next year. The secondary both starts earlier and finishes earlier than the primary, which seems to work OK for everyone concerned and seems to be quite common.
Once she goes to secondary she's going to be making her own way to and from school, but even if she wasn't, since you can't be in 2 places at once at the same time, staggered start times are a good thing not a bad one.
Unless you have wrap around care you can't be at school A and school B simultaneously.
You'd also definitely make that switch once you've decided the frame is already won - you're probably at that point after ten red-blacks: for the remaining five you'd probably prioritise the tricky black over the easy pink.
There’s this nutty MAGA politician in Nevada. She gets appointed as a judge despite not having a law degree, because that’s how the USA works. She raises $70k in donations to honour a police officer killed in the line of duty, but then spent that money on herself. She’s found guilty in court of fraud, but of course claims it’s all a conspiracy against her. While awaiting sentencing, Trump pardons her.
I also every two years or so catch the train from Manchester to Blackpool for a 2 day stint there.
Plus I occasionally go to Blackpool to watch Strictly.
Water bosses could now face jail for cover-ups
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yrwl1wgdjo
He was the editor of the newspaper Militant, which became a ‘party within a party’ despite Labour’s eventual attempts to expel its leaders
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/04/24/peter-taaffe-militant-tendency-trotskyist-labour-party/ (£££)
Peppa Pig's parents Mummy and Daddy Pig will reveal the gender of their third piglet at London's Battersea Power Station on Friday night, with the landmark's chimneys lit up in pink and blue in anticipation.
Mummy Pig, whose job involves doing 'very important work' on her computer, and her husband Daddy Pig, who 'takes big numbers, transmutes them and calculates their load-bearing tangents', first announced their surprise pregnancy in February.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-14644173/Peppa-Pig-gender-reveal-party-baby.html
The Mail has accidentally doxxed @JosiasJessop.
https://x.com/libdems/status/1915453112770269600
I'd be really interested in a transport breakdown by voting intention. I reckon train commuters in the SE must be a key Tory/LD battleground.
https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/04/25/son-of-senior-cia-official-died-fighting-for-russian-forces-in-ukraine/
Just had excellent coffee and Creme Brûlée by the Kyrgyz Opera and Ballet House
A lawyer from Aberdeen has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine.
Amanda Lothian, a criminal defence lawyer who specialised in organised crime, had her house raided by police in August 2020, during the pandemic.
Officers, aided by a sniffer dog called Buster, searched the 65-year-old lawyer's house and Volvo and discovered around £72k worth of Ketamine in two bags - enough Cat Valium to sedate not just a clowder of cats, but a family of elephants as well.
Police also seized a further £15k worth of the drug from a man, James Hanlon, who said he had collected the Ketamine from Lothian. And officers also found cash totalling almost £4k around the lawyer's property.
Lothian, who represented herself at the trial, said that she had "absolutely no idea" about the drugs at her house. "I certainly wasn't selling Ketamine," she told the court.
She claimed she was a victim of cuckooing by Hanlon, suggesting that he had used her home as a base for drug dealing, without her knowledge, and that she was "furious" with him.
When the prosecutor told the court that Lothian's DNA was found on a shopping bag that contained some of the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved the bag, believing that it contained a muscle-building supplement.
The prosecutor said it must have been "incredibly poor luck" for Lothian's DNA to be on illegal drugs that she claimed to know nothing about.
The jury found Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict, according to a report. She will be sentenced next month.
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/scottish-criminal-lawyer-convicted-dealing-ketamine
I mean, wrongly. But it will be.
twitterBluesky. Lib Dems look like a normal, centrist party in contrast.Poor them.
The early attempts were pretty awful. The later ones - adding an extra story to Edwardian semis and terraced houses - are getting quite good.
So, we have:
- A Labour Party that isn't particularly left
- A Conservative Party that embraced 'fuck business' (and, related to that, Brexit) and still seems more interested in identity politics than economics
- A Liberal Democrat Party that seems mostly interested in chasing old Tory votes rather than liberalism
- A Green Party that is mostly focused on being economically left and also woke
You can kind of see why some people are looking at Reform, can't you?Feck, teeny, tiny! Who’s been abusing their image allowance?
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19576608.michael-gove-speaks-bonkers-dancing-aberdeen-first-time/
At that level it generally won't be enforced, a lot of the "criminals" wont be able to pay and clog up justice resources further. And train staff expected to enforce it will be in fear of violence if they try to do so.
If you are going to do it, I'd go for £25 if paid on the spot, £100 if paid later.
Every day is a school day on PB.
@MattW
@Malmesbury
There is a limit of one image per day.
You guys have repeatedly broken this limit which leads to images being shrunk as a result, please stick to the limit or the ability to post pictures might be removed.
https://youtu.be/Gr82dZpCr48?si=qneVndou9eeUO6cg
LAB: 25% (+1)
RFM: 25% (+1)
CON: 21% (-1)
LDM: 14% (-1)
GRN: 8% (=)
SNP: 2% (=)
Far too many people are totally inconsiderate, or even thrive on upsetting others. This is just one manifestation. They think they can act with impunity - well it is time to sort the feckers out.
We the jury accepted it was probable he knew nothing of the money, but we agreed it was near certain that he knew the place was being used for illegal purposes. He was charged with 'handling', although it is unlikely he ever touched the stuff. We thought him guilty as f*ck anyway and weren't prepared to let him off on a technicality.
It would have been hepful if the term cuckooing had been mentioned during the trial, or even known by any of us at the time, because it describes perfectly what we thought was going on there.
Any Party at all.
(And I think you've just admitted to finding someone guilty of a crime you thought they didn't commit... not a big fan of that, might be worth a clarification)
I don’t come on here and go on about “mexicanpete”
I guess I should be flattered. Just don’t start stalking me. You’d find the air tickets too expensive anyway
The jury didn't convict him of a crime he didn't commit. It may have taken a broad view of what constituted 'handling'. It may also have favored substance over form. Either way I believe the jury acted well within its remit.
People talk about Trump all the time. 99% of the time it isn't good.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001d54m "It's a fair cop" cuckooing definition from 24 minutes in.
It’s 25
25!!!! Probably less in the youthful capital
No wonder I feel like Gandalf in a world of unusually cute teenage hobbits
I don't know enough about what "handling" means to know whether that was an appropriate decision. I hope you understand why I was a bit concerned!
"that obituary though"
https://x.com/ffffuchs/status/1915719044126146884
Recent sightings of his unmistakable modified Dodge Charger Hellcat have been reported by Reddit users across the city, reigniting frustration from Seattle residents."
source: https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/belltown-hellcat-back-streets
No, I don't know how he is able to afford such a car, or to live in Belltown:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belltown,_Seattle
I have read that he owes tens of thousands in fines, and that he is in trouble for, allegedly, mistreating his mother.)
(For the truly curious, I believe there are videos available on social media.)
I can afford the train fare to Camden mind.