I'll be deciding where the wind is blowing in 2028 and betting accordingly. If that's towards Reform then I'll be betting on them.
But at the moment it's just too early to say. I don't underestimate Starmer simply because the people here saying he's done were the same people saying he was done in 2021 and laughing at me.
So I'll stick with my guns for now.
Who are these people?
I was basically the only person here at the peak of Johnson predicting he'd not last and Labour would win. I'm not sure if you were one of the people laughing but there were certainly a large number calling my predictions ridiculous.
Of course I also predicted a Corbyn win in 2019 so you can't win them all.
A stopped clock is right twice a day. If you just always say the party you vote for is going to win, and repeat it constantly, that doesn’t show any insight, it’s just noise
I've learned from the best.
Passive aggressive nonsense again
You obviously mean me, but I don’t always say the party I am voting for is going to win, so you’re passively aggressively bang wrong. And I understand betting.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
Comey said he was knowingly making a political statement, but won’t say what it was. Do you see Comey as a lone wolf, or part of interconnected network of many with the means and access to the necessary knowledge to ensure the assassination ? ...
Eh ?
FWIW, I see Comey as someone who, more than any other single person, was responsible for Trump's defeat of Clinton.
Saying you wish the current president be gone is protected political speech, which means no more than you wish him gone. Any attempt to criminalise that is pure authoritarianism.
If Trump is assassinated by what looks like an opportunist nobody, you’re going to tell me it’s an opportunist nobody, not the security establishment, aren’t you?
I’m referring solely to how close Trumps administration, advisors, confidants too, are to Putin (and by that the KGB or GRU whatever they now called, as its secret service run country) and what the Trump team are doing to the military and security leadership, systems and structures, in the US.
But am I wrong to say, if this was any other country in the world, even UK, the security establishment would act - so why are we not anticipating disquiet in US? If it was happening here in UK we would have disquiet.
No they wouldn't. Don't be ridiculous.
It's a term used numerous times by well known GOP and MAGA individuals about Biden when he was president.
Some of whom are the same ones now calling for Comey's arrest.
You are missing something here Nige. A military industrial complex that actually won’t tolerate its security apparatus being dismantled. No country in the world will. Use your Black Mirror, Can you imagine a leader in Moscow so in bed with US establishment they started dismantling Russian security opperatus , what do you think will happen?
It’s not a case of free speech in a democracy, every country in the world has a threshold, do they not?
Something is definitely afoot here. That was a clear Bat Signal sent.
That is, Moon, and I mean this is the nicest possible way, delusional.
I'll be deciding where the wind is blowing in 2028 and betting accordingly. If that's towards Reform then I'll be betting on them.
But at the moment it's just too early to say. I don't underestimate Starmer simply because the people here saying he's done were the same people saying he was done in 2021 and laughing at me.
So I'll stick with my guns for now.
Who are these people?
I was basically the only person here at the peak of Johnson predicting he'd not last and Labour would win. I'm not sure if you were one of the people laughing but there were certainly a large number calling my predictions ridiculous.
Of course I also predicted a Corbyn win in 2019 so you can't win them all.
My line at the time was "he will fall apart, and it will be sudden and spectuacular, I just don't know if it will be in ten years or ten days time." Does that get me half-marks?
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
As a matter of interest do you have a link to these countries?
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
You could also have misread the tea-leaves. Dismissive of Reform perhaps, but were they angry or scared of Reform? Being mildly disparaging about something among company that is strongly disparaging about it can be a sign that you're not fully on-board as an anti.
Possibly, but their view of Farage was as someone who sucks up to Trump (whom they hate with a vengeance) and Putin (Russia is still the enemy for this cohort). I think the Trump question in particular is a very clear line between conservative and Reform.
I'll be deciding where the wind is blowing in 2028 and betting accordingly. If that's towards Reform then I'll be betting on them.
But at the moment it's just too early to say. I don't underestimate Starmer simply because the people here saying he's done were the same people saying he was done in 2021 and laughing at me.
So I'll stick with my guns for now.
Who are these people?
I was basically the only person here at the peak of Johnson predicting he'd not last and Labour would win. I'm not sure if you were one of the people laughing but there were certainly a large number calling my predictions ridiculous.
Of course I also predicted a Corbyn win in 2019 so you can't win them all.
A stopped clock is right twice a day. If you just always say the party you vote for is going to win, and repeat it constantly, that doesn’t show any insight, it’s just noise
I've learned from the best.
Passive aggressive nonsense again
You obviously mean me, but I don’t always say the party I am voting for is going to win, so you’re passively aggressively bang wrong. And I understand betting.
Sam I was one of the people here most trying to get you to be unbanned as I thought it unfair. Be careful where you're throwing that fire.
I understand betting just as much as you. I will be betting on a Reform win if and when I feel that is likely. Right now I still feel much the same, Labour in government, not necessarily with a majority.
I do however think the value is betting on the PM after Sir Keir to be a Labour PM. As I do not believe Keir will make it to the next election.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
That's just your opinion bro. In all my travelling, the UK still stands out as one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Consider how we feel about those towns and cities blighted by rampant development in the 60s and 70s - let's not make the same mistake again.
Just because some spreadsheet wanker can't monetise something doesn't mean it has no value.
Apparently Starmer is keen to debate Farage before the next GE, and Farage is elated.
I am not surprised. Sir Keir will be parroting the lines fed to him about mass immigration being bad for low paid British workers, and Farage can say "Yes, I've been saying it for twenty years, while you were demanding open borders and a rerun of the referendum". An open goal for Farage
Seems like a desparation move to me.
Also how will it work with the other parties?
That's the attraction: make it a two-horse race for Downing Street. Labour are highly vulnerable to low turnout and lefty protests, kicking off a big fight with Farage is a way to prevent that.
It’s not much of a fight if he’s agreeing to what Farage was saying 15 years ago. Just looks like Farage is ahead of the game and Sir Keir is slow to catch up
There are issues other than immigration remember.
Eg Farage is vulnerable on the NHS and Trump/Putin support.
Let battle commence! Immigration is the number one topic and Farage is the King of it, whereas Sir Keir will be having to pretend to be concerned, despite a history of being very pro mass immigration round his neck.
Everyone complains about the NHS anyway, it's not a problem for Farage to say it needs reforming while still being free at the point of use.
Farage is on record of previously wanting a move to insurance based system. Even if he says he won't do that, there's going to be a suspicion he's about sincere as Corbyn was about NATO. He's weak on the economy as well (unfunded tax cuts, a likely trade war with the EU if he rips up our deal with them and the EU refuse to back down to him).
Why, when such a reform would be massively the path of MOST resistance, would it be a concern that a party will backslide toward it?
If average swing voter thinks it's something Farage believes they'll get queasy about it. People got worried about Corbyn's views on NATO, despite the fact that the 2019 manifesto committed Labour to it.
I'll be deciding where the wind is blowing in 2028 and betting accordingly. If that's towards Reform then I'll be betting on them.
But at the moment it's just too early to say. I don't underestimate Starmer simply because the people here saying he's done were the same people saying he was done in 2021 and laughing at me.
So I'll stick with my guns for now.
Who are these people?
I was basically the only person here at the peak of Johnson predicting he'd not last and Labour would win. I'm not sure if you were one of the people laughing but there were certainly a large number calling my predictions ridiculous.
Of course I also predicted a Corbyn win in 2019 so you can't win them all.
A stopped clock is right twice a day. If you just always say the party you vote for is going to win, and repeat it constantly, that doesn’t show any insight, it’s just noise
I've learned from the best.
Passive aggressive nonsense again
You obviously mean me, but I don’t always say the party I am voting for is going to win, so you’re passively aggressively bang wrong. And I understand betting.
Sam I was one of the people here most trying to get you to be unbanned as I thought it unfair. Be careful where you're throwing that fire.
I understand betting just as much as you.
I very much doubt both of those statements!
I haven't been banned for about three years anyway, what are you talking about?
I'll be deciding where the wind is blowing in 2028 and betting accordingly. If that's towards Reform then I'll be betting on them.
But at the moment it's just too early to say. I don't underestimate Starmer simply because the people here saying he's done were the same people saying he was done in 2021 and laughing at me.
So I'll stick with my guns for now.
Who are these people?
I was basically the only person here at the peak of Johnson predicting he'd not last and Labour would win. I'm not sure if you were one of the people laughing but there were certainly a large number calling my predictions ridiculous.
Of course I also predicted a Corbyn win in 2019 so you can't win them all.
A stopped clock is right twice a day. If you just always say the party you vote for is going to win, and repeat it constantly, that doesn’t show any insight, it’s just noise
I've learned from the best.
Passive aggressive nonsense again
You obviously mean me, but I don’t always say the party I am voting for is going to win, so you’re passively aggressively bang wrong. And I understand betting.
Sam I was one of the people here most trying to get you to be unbanned as I thought it unfair. Be careful where you're throwing that fire.
I understand betting just as much as you.
I very much doubt both of those statements!
I haven't been banned for about three years anyway, what are you talking about?
Well you can read my posts, I asked many times why you'd been banned and I asked for you to be allowed back. I don't agree with anything you've ever posted but I didn't think the grounds for your ban were reasonable.
The value is on betting on the next PM after Sir Keir to be a Labour PM as above. As he won't in my view make it to the next election.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
1. Not a dinner party, just dinner out at a very good restaurant in the Forest of Dean (https://www.simplywildrestaurant.co.uk/) - highly recommended 2. Not a claim that Tories are doing well. simply that I have found the Tory base. 16% is still a lot of people.
Bear in mind I’m a member of a party that’s languished as low as 5% in polls in recent memory. But even then, you would still find core Lib Dem voters.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
That's just your opinion bro. In all my travelling, the UK still stands out as one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Consider how we feel about those towns and cities blighted by rampant development in the 60s and 70s - let's not make the same mistake again.
Just because some spreadsheet wanker can't monetise something doesn't mean it has no value.
It's not about monetising, it's that the balance is so far to the view of "stop development" it's crazy.
If we want to grow the economy, we need to get building again. It is truly pathetic how long things take to get built here, they get completely bogged down in endless committees, appeals, other red tape, etc.
Clearly there is some balance to be found. But right now it's not anywhere near where it should be.
I've posted so many examples here of masts - as it's the industry I work in so I prefer to comment on things I know - that were blocked for nonsensical reasons.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
Well it suggests the Tories may at least win back Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham and Cities of London and Westminster at the next GE with Reform polling less well in the wealthiest parts of London and Labour now unpopular with their tax rises and VAT on private school fees amongst the top 5% of earners.
TSE might even be able to say he is a Tory and be seen as aspirational again and an acceptable member of the upper middle classes at his candlelit suppers with snobbish liberal professionals rather than assumed to be a Brexit and Boris voting near racist working class oik. Voting Tory is something an elite pool now do, none of these common voters in the provinces who decide elections who now vote for Farage and Reform!
I'll be deciding where the wind is blowing in 2028 and betting accordingly. If that's towards Reform then I'll be betting on them.
But at the moment it's just too early to say. I don't underestimate Starmer simply because the people here saying he's done were the same people saying he was done in 2021 and laughing at me.
So I'll stick with my guns for now.
Who are these people?
I was basically the only person here at the peak of Johnson predicting he'd not last and Labour would win. I'm not sure if you were one of the people laughing but there were certainly a large number calling my predictions ridiculous.
Of course I also predicted a Corbyn win in 2019 so you can't win them all.
A stopped clock is right twice a day. If you just always say the party you vote for is going to win, and repeat it constantly, that doesn’t show any insight, it’s just noise
I've learned from the best.
Passive aggressive nonsense again
You obviously mean me, but I don’t always say the party I am voting for is going to win, so you’re passively aggressively bang wrong. And I understand betting.
Sam I was one of the people here most trying to get you to be unbanned as I thought it unfair. Be careful where you're throwing that fire.
I understand betting just as much as you.
I very much doubt both of those statements!
I haven't been banned for about three years anyway, what are you talking about?
Well you can read my posts, I asked many times why you'd been banned and I asked for you to be allowed back. I don't agree with anything you've ever posted but I didn't think the grounds for your ban were reasonable.
The value is on betting on the next PM after Sir Keir to be a Labour PM as above. As he won't in my view make it to the next election.
Where is this "as above"? All i see you saying is "Don't underestimate him" and various bland statements about how Labour will recover, doesn't feel to me like a tip on him going, more like hedging your bets so you can say you were right whatever happens
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
That's just your opinion bro. In all my travelling, the UK still stands out as one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Consider how we feel about those towns and cities blighted by rampant development in the 60s and 70s - let's not make the same mistake again.
Just because some spreadsheet wanker can't monetise something doesn't mean it has no value.
It's not about monetising, it's that the balance is so far to the view of "stop development" it's crazy.
If we want to grow the economy, we need to get building again. It is truly pathetic how long things take to get built here, they get completely bogged down in endless committees, appeals, other red tape, etc.
Clearly there is some balance to be found. But right now it's not anywhere near where it should be.
I've posted so many examples here of masts - as it's the industry I work in so I prefer to comment on things I know - that were blocked for nonsensical reasons.
Seems homeowners worry about the effects on the price of their homes
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
1. Not a dinner party, just dinner out at a very good restaurant in the Forest of Dean (https://www.simplywildrestaurant.co.uk/) - highly recommended 2. Not a claim that Tories are doing well. simply that I have found the Tory base. 16% is still a lot of people.
Bear in mind I’m a member of a party that’s languished as low as 5% in polls in recent memory. But even then, you would still find core Lib Dem voters.
I had a great meal in the Forest of Dean a couple of years ago. It’s such a curious corner of the UK
Beautiful forest and river views - and then suddenly bleak tiny post industrial ex mining towns. Then down the road an exquisite village
Apparently Starmer is keen to debate Farage before the next GE, and Farage is elated.
I am not surprised. Sir Keir will be parroting the lines fed to him about mass immigration being bad for low paid British workers, and Farage can say "Yes, I've been saying it for twenty years, while you were demanding open borders and a rerun of the referendum". An open goal for Farage
Seems like a desparation move to me.
Also how will it work with the other parties?
That's the attraction: make it a two-horse race for Downing Street. Labour are highly vulnerable to low turnout and lefty protests, kicking off a big fight with Farage is a way to prevent that.
It’s not much of a fight if he’s agreeing to what Farage was saying 15 years ago. Just looks like Farage is ahead of the game and Sir Keir is slow to catch up
There are issues other than immigration remember.
Eg Farage is vulnerable on the NHS and Trump/Putin support.
The problem with NHS waiting times is they can go up no matter you are saying they are going down
But Farage wants to privatise it. It's all relative.
Labour will be looking at May's 42% in response to the threat of Corbynism.
Whether (or not) Labour can deliver improvements in the NHS, our fiscal situation, housing numbers etc - along with some sort of reduction in the immigration numbers - over the rest of their term, will determine how the election debate is conducted.
If they just carry on being a slightly less crap version of their Tory predecessor, it will be on Farage’s terms. And he will be able to get away with his bullshit, spin, and fiscally absurd policies (think Truss x5), just by plugging away on immigration.
If they deliver tangible improvements, then it will likely be very different.
As a not irrelevant aside, this is an interesting stat from a recent ONS report.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
As a radio nerd I lament the closure of the radio teleswitch service for electricity meters. With the BBC closing Radio 4LW it's another nail in the coffin for Long Wave. Same with the Trump administration getting rid of Voice of America on shortwave.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
That's just your opinion bro. In all my travelling, the UK still stands out as one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Consider how we feel about those towns and cities blighted by rampant development in the 60s and 70s - let's not make the same mistake again.
Just because some spreadsheet wanker can't monetise something doesn't mean it has no value.
It's not about monetising, it's that the balance is so far to the view of "stop development" it's crazy.
If we want to grow the economy, we need to get building again. It is truly pathetic how long things take to get built here, they get completely bogged down in endless committees, appeals, other red tape, etc.
Clearly there is some balance to be found. But right now it's not anywhere near where it should be.
I've posted so many examples here of masts - as it's the industry I work in so I prefer to comment on things I know - that were blocked for nonsensical reasons.
Seems homeowners worry about the effects on the price of their homes
Now that is slightly different. The difference between a public and private good.
I have less sympathy with the house value argument, though I do think compensation (eg free broadband/data/energy) should be provided to those in close proximity to new infrastructure, simply to alter the incentives. Temper NIMBYism.
The public good is distinct from that. I am not personally enjoying Devon or wherever TimS is, and I don't live there, but there is a chance I could share that gorgeous view one day on a walk, along with the 70 million people other people on these islands. There is some value there.
I went out for bread this morning, and found the market setting up. This isn’t a big town, but the market is huge; I think probably more than half a mile long. Most of it is food
I must have seen a few hundred chickens in rotisseries, and hundreds of chunks of harder to identify meat. There were four stalls selling just olives, a lady selling everything ginger, a herb stall, a spice stall, two selling nuts, five cheese stalls, at least ten selling fruit and veg, another ten cooking food in giant pans, wine stalls, beer stalls, fresh meat stalls, cured meat stalls, one selling just cured sausages but at least fifty varieties, fish stalls, oyster stalls, mussel stalls, and a couple of bakery stalls (but I went to the bakery that the lovely lady who ran the restaurant I went to last night told me she gets her bread from)
I had my bread and cheese breakfast, and then wandered out again. By that time the market was packed. I went to the Petit Pâté de Pézenas shop and waited in the queue, when I got a rather unexpected tap on the shoulder.. It was the lovely lady from the restaurant. She told me I’d found the best place to buy them
The beer shop was closed, but the beer stall on the market wasn’t. I bought a couple of bottles of local amber beer (7.5% abv!) and went back to the flat to enjoy my Petites Pâtés
They are delicious. Tiny, sweet, spiced meat pies that go great with strong beer
Thank you Clive of India
Great to learn of your travels, Blanche, and to hear how much you like that place. Nearly bought a house there once. Sorry I didn't now.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
1. Not a dinner party, just dinner out at a very good restaurant in the Forest of Dean (https://www.simplywildrestaurant.co.uk/) - highly recommended 2. Not a claim that Tories are doing well. simply that I have found the Tory base. 16% is still a lot of people.
Bear in mind I’m a member of a party that’s languished as low as 5% in polls in recent memory. But even then, you would still find core Lib Dem voters.
I had a great meal in the Forest of Dean a couple of years ago. It’s such a curious corner of the UK
Beautiful forest and river views - and then suddenly bleak tiny post industrial ex mining towns. Then down the road an exquisite village
Quite compelling
That's exactly what it's like.
Coleford and Chepstow sit awkwardly alongside Puzzlewood and Symonds Yat.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
1. Not a dinner party, just dinner out at a very good restaurant in the Forest of Dean (https://www.simplywildrestaurant.co.uk/) - highly recommended 2. Not a claim that Tories are doing well. simply that I have found the Tory base. 16% is still a lot of people.
Bear in mind I’m a member of a party that’s languished as low as 5% in polls in recent memory. But even then, you would still find core Lib Dem voters.
I had a great meal in the Forest of Dean a couple of years ago. It’s such a curious corner of the UK
Beautiful forest and river views - and then suddenly bleak tiny post industrial ex mining towns. Then down the road an exquisite village
Quite compelling
Even if you've finally come to understand Newent is exquisite, the inhabitants won't thank you for calling it a village.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I'll be deciding where the wind is blowing in 2028 and betting accordingly. If that's towards Reform then I'll be betting on them.
But at the moment it's just too early to say. I don't underestimate Starmer simply because the people here saying he's done were the same people saying he was done in 2021 and laughing at me.
So I'll stick with my guns for now.
Who are these people?
I was basically the only person here at the peak of Johnson predicting he'd not last and Labour would win. I'm not sure if you were one of the people laughing but there were certainly a large number calling my predictions ridiculous.
Of course I also predicted a Corbyn win in 2019 so you can't win them all.
A stopped clock is right twice a day. If you just always say the party you vote for is going to win, and repeat it constantly, that doesn’t show any insight, it’s just noise
If the clock shows a time between 01:00 and 02:00 then the stopped clock will be right 3 times a day on the last Sunday in October
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
1. Not a dinner party, just dinner out at a very good restaurant in the Forest of Dean (https://www.simplywildrestaurant.co.uk/) - highly recommended 2. Not a claim that Tories are doing well. simply that I have found the Tory base. 16% is still a lot of people.
Bear in mind I’m a member of a party that’s languished as low as 5% in polls in recent memory. But even then, you would still find core Lib Dem voters.
Leon casting doubt on a dinner anecdote ? Remarkable.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
1. Not a dinner party, just dinner out at a very good restaurant in the Forest of Dean (https://www.simplywildrestaurant.co.uk/) - highly recommended 2. Not a claim that Tories are doing well. simply that I have found the Tory base. 16% is still a lot of people.
Bear in mind I’m a member of a party that’s languished as low as 5% in polls in recent memory. But even then, you would still find core Lib Dem voters.
Looks a good menu, although why they haven't heard of the '£' sign and its uses escapes me.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
I'll be deciding where the wind is blowing in 2028 and betting accordingly. If that's towards Reform then I'll be betting on them.
But at the moment it's just too early to say. I don't underestimate Starmer simply because the people here saying he's done were the same people saying he was done in 2021 and laughing at me.
So I'll stick with my guns for now.
Who are these people?
I was basically the only person here at the peak of Johnson predicting he'd not last and Labour would win. I'm not sure if you were one of the people laughing but there were certainly a large number calling my predictions ridiculous.
Of course I also predicted a Corbyn win in 2019 so you can't win them all.
My line at the time was "he will fall apart, and it will be sudden and spectuacular, I just don't know if it will be in ten years or ten days time." Does that get me half-marks?
Apparently Starmer is keen to debate Farage before the next GE, and Farage is elated.
I am not surprised. Sir Keir will be parroting the lines fed to him about mass immigration being bad for low paid British workers, and Farage can say "Yes, I've been saying it for twenty years, while you were demanding open borders and a rerun of the referendum". An open goal for Farage
Seems like a desparation move to me.
Also how will it work with the other parties?
That's the attraction: make it a two-horse race for Downing Street. Labour are highly vulnerable to low turnout and lefty protests, kicking off a big fight with Farage is a way to prevent that.
It’s not much of a fight if he’s agreeing to what Farage was saying 15 years ago. Just looks like Farage is ahead of the game and Sir Keir is slow to catch up
There are issues other than immigration remember.
Eg Farage is vulnerable on the NHS and Trump/Putin support.
Let battle commence! Immigration is the number one topic and Farage is the King of it, whereas Sir Keir will be having to pretend to be concerned, despite a history of being very pro mass immigration round his neck.
Everyone complains about the NHS anyway, it's not a problem for Farage to say it needs reforming while still being free at the point of use.
Farage is on record of previously wanting a move to insurance based system. Even if he says he won't do that, there's going to be a suspicion he's about sincere as Corbyn was about NATO. He's weak on the economy as well (unfunded tax cuts, a likely trade war with the EU if he rips up our deal with them and the EU refuse to back down to him).
Why, when such a reform would be massively the path of MOST resistance, would it be a concern that a party will backslide toward it?
If average swing voter thinks it's something Farage believes they'll get queasy about it. People got worried about Corbyn's views on NATO, despite the fact that the 2019 manifesto committed Labour to it.
Oh, so it was just a lie you think will float - got you.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
They are essential to allow consumers and businesses to take advantage of cheap (or free) electricity during windy/sunny periods. They will save people a considerable sum each year by matching demand to supply.
Otherwise, we do stupid things like asking wind farms to disconnect from the grid, when we should be using that free electricity to charge batteries or run the bread machine.
To combine the thread of music and What we did last night, I spent last night in the offices of the Guardian - or at least the kings place concert venue alongside it. Watching a world music festival event with renowned Malian singer Rokia Kone
It was maybe the most Remainery thing I’ve done. And rather enjoyable
To get over the trauma my friend and I then smoked gascake by the Refurbed Regents canal surrounded by excitable and attractive Londoners 35 years younger than us
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
I did. It would have made it much harder for BRitish Gas to send those fraudulent bills to me.
Unfortunately, despite promising to fix the smart meters (Which they had installed) and having a legal duty to do so, they never did.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
1. Not a dinner party, just dinner out at a very good restaurant in the Forest of Dean (https://www.simplywildrestaurant.co.uk/) - highly recommended 2. Not a claim that Tories are doing well. simply that I have found the Tory base. 16% is still a lot of people.
Bear in mind I’m a member of a party that’s languished as low as 5% in polls in recent memory. But even then, you would still find core Lib Dem voters.
Looks a good menu, although why they haven't heard of the '£' sign and its uses escapes me.
They really want the halibut to be twenty nine guineas, but that's a step too far even for them, so it has to be twenty nine pounds.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
They are essential to allow consumers and businesses to take advantage of cheap (or free) electricity during windy/sunny periods. They will save people a considerable sum each year by matching demand to supply.
Otherwise, we do stupid things like asking wind farms to disconnect from the grid, when we should be using that free electricity to charge batteries or run the bread machine.
Over the last 3 weeks EDF have given us 2 Sundays with free electricity from 8.00am to midnight and one from 8.00am to 8.00pm
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
They are essential to allow consumers and businesses to take advantage of cheap (or free) electricity during windy/sunny periods. They will save people a considerable sum each year by matching demand to supply.
Otherwise, we do stupid things like asking wind farms to disconnect from the grid.
The two things are not a binary choice. If Wind Farms only got paid for the power they actually successfully supplied, they would find ways to meet consumer demand, rather than consumer demand having to find ways to meet their supply. That's how a well-operated market should work.
As @rcs1000 keeps saying about trade imbalances, there are more ways to prioritise domestic labour over foreign, than putting up a sign saying No Furriners.
Free, high quality training, benefits and tax structured to favour locals etc.
If we trained sufficient medical staff, for example, they would take the jobs. No need to block visas for medics.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
They are essential to allow consumers and businesses to take advantage of cheap (or free) electricity during windy/sunny periods. They will save people a considerable sum each year by matching demand to supply.
Otherwise, we do stupid things like asking wind farms to disconnect from the grid.
The two things are not a binary choice. If Wind Farms only got paid for the power they actually successfully supplied, they would find ways to meet consumer demand, rather than consumer demand having to find ways to meet their supply. That's how a well-operated market should work.
I have received 44 hours of free electricity over 3 Sundays due to my smart meter
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
Speak for yourself
I am speaking for myself, and for a majority of people - the level of uptake when taking into account the vast publicly-funded media campaign and all but coercion in some instances is paltry. If energy companies want their consumers to get these meters, they should fund the rollout.
I went out for bread this morning, and found the market setting up. This isn’t a big town, but the market is huge; I think probably more than half a mile long. Most of it is food
I must have seen a few hundred chickens in rotisseries, and hundreds of chunks of harder to identify meat. There were four stalls selling just olives, a lady selling everything ginger, a herb stall, a spice stall, two selling nuts, five cheese stalls, at least ten selling fruit and veg, another ten cooking food in giant pans, wine stalls, beer stalls, fresh meat stalls, cured meat stalls, one selling just cured sausages but at least fifty varieties, fish stalls, oyster stalls, mussel stalls, and a couple of bakery stalls (but I went to the bakery that the lovely lady who ran the restaurant I went to last night told me she gets her bread from)
I had my bread and cheese breakfast, and then wandered out again. By that time the market was packed. I went to the Petit Pâté de Pézenas shop and waited in the queue, when I got a rather unexpected tap on the shoulder.. It was the lovely lady from the restaurant. She told me I’d found the best place to buy them
The beer shop was closed, but the beer stall on the market wasn’t. I bought a couple of bottles of local amber beer (7.5% abv!) and went back to the flat to enjoy my Petites Pâtés
They are delicious. Tiny, sweet, spiced meat pies that go great with strong beer
Thank you Clive of India
Great to learn of your travels, Blanche, and to hear how much you like that place. Nearly bought a house there once. Sorry I didn't now.
Enjoy.
Which town is this ?
Pezenas, in the Languedoc
I was there last year, briefly, and it is indeed lush
I’m not sure that Saudi replacing Iran as the regional hegemon will be a huge improvement.
Mohammed bin Salman has been lionized in Syria for Trump's decision to lift sanctions during his Riyadh trip. This will add further to Saudi Arabia's clout and soft power in Syria https://x.com/SamRamani2/status/1923421216813072596
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
They are essential to allow consumers and businesses to take advantage of cheap (or free) electricity during windy/sunny periods. They will save people a considerable sum each year by matching demand to supply.
Otherwise, we do stupid things like asking wind farms to disconnect from the grid.
The two things are not a binary choice. If Wind Farms only got paid for the power they actually successfully supplied, they would find ways to meet consumer demand, rather than consumer demand having to find ways to meet their supply. That's how a well-operated market should work.
I have received 44 hours of free electricity over 3 Sundays due to my smart meter
Great, does that reduce your energy bills to where they were before the energy crisis?
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
They are essential to allow consumers and businesses to take advantage of cheap (or free) electricity during windy/sunny periods. They will save people a considerable sum each year by matching demand to supply.
Otherwise, we do stupid things like asking wind farms to disconnect from the grid.
The two things are not a binary choice. If Wind Farms only got paid for the power they actually successfully supplied, they would find ways to meet consumer demand, rather than consumer demand having to find ways to meet their supply. That's how a well-operated market should work.
It's not how, for example, Ryanair operates the market. They use pricing to increase or suppress demand at particularl times to match available capacity. This results in maximum seats sold at the lowest average prices. More importantly to Ryanair of course, it means a profitable airline.
Apparently Starmer is keen to debate Farage before the next GE, and Farage is elated.
I am not surprised. Sir Keir will be parroting the lines fed to him about mass immigration being bad for low paid British workers, and Farage can say "Yes, I've been saying it for twenty years, while you were demanding open borders and a rerun of the referendum". An open goal for Farage
Seems like a desparation move to me.
Also how will it work with the other parties?
That's the attraction: make it a two-horse race for Downing Street. Labour are highly vulnerable to low turnout and lefty protests, kicking off a big fight with Farage is a way to prevent that.
It’s not much of a fight if he’s agreeing to what Farage was saying 15 years ago. Just looks like Farage is ahead of the game and Sir Keir is slow to catch up
There are issues other than immigration remember.
Eg Farage is vulnerable on the NHS and Trump/Putin support.
Let battle commence! Immigration is the number one topic and Farage is the King of it, whereas Sir Keir will be having to pretend to be concerned, despite a history of being very pro mass immigration round his neck.
Everyone complains about the NHS anyway, it's not a problem for Farage to say it needs reforming while still being free at the point of use.
Farage is on record of previously wanting a move to insurance based system. Even if he says he won't do that, there's going to be a suspicion he's about sincere as Corbyn was about NATO. He's weak on the economy as well (unfunded tax cuts, a likely trade war with the EU if he rips up our deal with them and the EU refuse to back down to him).
Why, when such a reform would be massively the path of MOST resistance, would it be a concern that a party will backslide toward it?
If average swing voter thinks it's something Farage believes they'll get queasy about it. People got worried about Corbyn's views on NATO, despite the fact that the 2019 manifesto committed Labour to it.
Oh, so it was just a lie you think will float - got you.
Just like 'Turkey is about to join the EU' was a lie you Brexiteers thought would float. If I'm being honest, though, I really wouldn't trust a Reform government with the NHS at all.
I’m not sure that Saudi replacing Iran as the regional hegemon will be a huge improvement.
Mohammed bin Salman has been lionized in Syria for Trump's decision to lift sanctions during his Riyadh trip. This will add further to Saudi Arabia's clout and soft power in Syria https://x.com/SamRamani2/status/1923421216813072596
No indeed. Although lifting sanctions on Syria is an almost unheard of case of Trump doing something I was pleased to see.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
They are essential to allow consumers and businesses to take advantage of cheap (or free) electricity during windy/sunny periods. They will save people a considerable sum each year by matching demand to supply.
Otherwise, we do stupid things like asking wind farms to disconnect from the grid.
The two things are not a binary choice. If Wind Farms only got paid for the power they actually successfully supplied, they would find ways to meet consumer demand, rather than consumer demand having to find ways to meet their supply. That's how a well-operated market should work.
It's not how, for example, Ryanair operates the market. They use pricing to increase or suppress demand at particularl times to match available capacity. This results in maximum seats sold at the lowest average prices. More importantly to Ryanair of course, it means a profitable airline.
All very clever and good. But the public is not handed an infrastructure bill so that Ryanair can operate its business model.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
Speak for yourself
I am speaking for myself, and for a majority of people - the level of uptake when taking into account the vast publicly-funded media campaign and all but coercion in some instances is paltry. If energy companies want their consumers to get these meters, they should fund the rollout.
And using price to match demand to supply isn't new. It's what the good old Economy 7 tariff did. The point there was that it was a bugger to turn off coal power stations, even overnight.
To combine the thread of music and What we did last night, I spent last night in the offices of the Guardian - or at least the kings place concert venue alongside it. Watching a world music festival event with renowned Malian singer Rokia Kone
It was maybe the most Remainery thing I’ve done. And rather enjoyable
To get over the trauma my friend and I then smoked gascake by the Refurbed Regents canal surrounded by excitable and attractive Londoners 35 years younger than us
1. Rokia Kone has a truly remarkable voice; it's a privilege to hear it live, if you ever get the chance, go
2. Hearing Malian Bambara music (even electrified as this) is like listening to someone speaking Proto-Indo-European: because you are listening to the rootsource of rock, jazz and pop. Because it was this African music which - when mashed together in America with British/Irish folk tunes and traditions - became the popular music of the 20th century, which then took over the world
3. I wish all of London was always like King's Cross on a sunny evening in May
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
Speak for yourself
I am speaking for myself, and for a majority of people - the level of uptake when taking into account the vast publicly-funded media campaign and all but coercion in some instances is paltry. If energy companies want their consumers to get these meters, they should fund the rollout.
And using price to match demand to supply isn't new. It's what the good old Economy 7 tariff did. The point there was that it was a bugger to turn off coal power stations, even overnight.
It says in the link you posted that the cost is borne in the standing charge? That is everybody's standing charge, not the meter owners'.
As @rcs1000 keeps saying about trade imbalances, there are more ways to prioritise domestic labour over foreign, than putting up a sign saying No Furriners.
Free, high quality training, benefits and tax structured to favour locals etc.
If we trained sufficient medical staff, for example, they would take the jobs. No need to block visas for medics.
“Cheap overseas labour” was a dog whistle from Sir Keir I suppose, and I’m a dog in this instance
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
Speak for yourself
I am speaking for myself, and for a majority of people - the level of uptake when taking into account the vast publicly-funded media campaign and all but coercion in some instances is paltry. If energy companies want their consumers to get these meters, they should fund the rollout.
And using price to match demand to supply isn't new. It's what the good old Economy 7 tariff did. The point there was that it was a bugger to turn off coal power stations, even overnight.
It says in the link you posted that the cost is borne in the standing charge? That is everybody's standing charge, not the meter owners'.
On the other hand, smart meters make it cheaper for energy companies to provide their services. No need to send people walking the streets to read meters for a start. From a 2023 select committee report;
In 2019, the Department estimated the rollout would cost £13.5 billion from 2013 to 2034, and provide £19.5 billion of benefits over the same period (both in 2011 prices).
The Economist here is being reasonably clear about the importance of free speech, and the folly of police with nothing better to do, and it is impossible to disagree; but is notably unclear about where the lines of free speech should be drawn, if anywhere. For example, I am not at all clear whether the Economist wants a free for all about the N word or the P word or the blood libel other ethnic/racial slurs, or how keen it is for comic depictions of the prophet to be plastered up outside the mosque on a Friday.
So I am with the Economist in general, but they has done the easy bit, not the hard bit. I have an ingrained habit of expecting the Economist to do the difficult bit in its argumentation and not just be like the usual media crowd.
To combine the thread of music and What we did last night, I spent last night in the offices of the Guardian - or at least the kings place concert venue alongside it. Watching a world music festival event with renowned Malian singer Rokia Kone
It was maybe the most Remainery thing I’ve done. And rather enjoyable
To get over the trauma my friend and I then smoked gascake by the Refurbed Regents canal surrounded by excitable and attractive Londoners 35 years younger than us
1. Rokia Kone has a truly remarkable voice; it's a privilege to hear it live, if you ever get the chance, go
2. Hearing Malian Bambara music (even electrified as this) is like listening to someone speaking Proto-Indo-European: because you are listening to the rootsource of rock, jazz and pop. Because it was this African music which - when mashed together in America with British/Irish folk tunes and traditions - became the popular music of the 20th century, which then took over the world
3. I wish all of London was always like King's Cross on a sunny evening in May
About 15 years ago I broke up with a girl I had been in love with, and chasing, for years. I went out drinking for about a week, and couldn't sleep. Started listening to a couple of songs from a Malian musician called Habib Koite, "Din Din Wo" and "I Ka Barra" and they calmed my pain a little bit
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
1. Not a dinner party, just dinner out at a very good restaurant in the Forest of Dean (https://www.simplywildrestaurant.co.uk/) - highly recommended 2. Not a claim that Tories are doing well. simply that I have found the Tory base. 16% is still a lot of people.
Bear in mind I’m a member of a party that’s languished as low as 5% in polls in recent memory. But even then, you would still find core Lib Dem voters.
I had a great meal in the Forest of Dean a couple of years ago. It’s such a curious corner of the UK
Beautiful forest and river views - and then suddenly bleak tiny post industrial ex mining towns. Then down the road an exquisite village
Quite compelling
I think it was in the Forest of Dean - quick google says the Amazing Hedge Maze at Symonds Yat - that I took a glance at the second hand bookshelf and picked up a copy of "Millions of Women are Waiting to meet you" by a certain Sean Thomas.
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
Speak for yourself
I am speaking for myself, and for a majority of people - the level of uptake when taking into account the vast publicly-funded media campaign and all but coercion in some instances is paltry. If energy companies want their consumers to get these meters, they should fund the rollout.
And using price to match demand to supply isn't new. It's what the good old Economy 7 tariff did. The point there was that it was a bugger to turn off coal power stations, even overnight.
It says in the link you posted that the cost is borne in the standing charge? That is everybody's standing charge, not the meter owners'.
On the other hand, smart meters make it cheaper for energy companies to provide their services. No need to send people walking the streets to read meters for a start. From a 2023 select committee report;
In 2019, the Department estimated the rollout would cost £13.5 billion from 2013 to 2034, and provide £19.5 billion of benefits over the same period (both in 2011 prices).
Maybe people insisting on sticking with dumb meters should have to pay extra.
And the dumb meters have to be changed anyway after a certain period of time. They come to the end of their life. Our electricity meter was changed for this reason recently. It is quite a lot of years, but those refusing to change must have pretty old meters by now.
I'll be deciding where the wind is blowing in 2028 and betting accordingly. If that's towards Reform then I'll be betting on them.
But at the moment it's just too early to say. I don't underestimate Starmer simply because the people here saying he's done were the same people saying he was done in 2021 and laughing at me.
So I'll stick with my guns for now.
Who are these people?
I was basically the only person here at the peak of Johnson predicting he'd not last and Labour would win. I'm not sure if you were one of the people laughing but there were certainly a large number calling my predictions ridiculous.
Of course I also predicted a Corbyn win in 2019 so you can't win them all.
My line at the time was "he will fall apart, and it will be sudden and spectuacular, I just don't know if it will be in ten years or ten days time." Does that get me half-marks?
The chances that Kylie superfan had no idea about such thing is about as likely as Boris having no idea that people were partying every friday night in #10 during covid.
The chances that Kylie superfan had no idea about such thing is about as likely as Boris having no idea that people were partying every friday night in #10 during covid.
Dunno, for years the core of Liberace’s fan base was older ladies who thought a popper was something you fastened your clothes with.
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
They are essential to allow consumers and businesses to take advantage of cheap (or free) electricity during windy/sunny periods. They will save people a considerable sum each year by matching demand to supply.
Otherwise, we do stupid things like asking wind farms to disconnect from the grid.
The two things are not a binary choice. If Wind Farms only got paid for the power they actually successfully supplied, they would find ways to meet consumer demand, rather than consumer demand having to find ways to meet their supply. That's how a well-operated market should work.
It's not how, for example, Ryanair operates the market. They use pricing to increase or suppress demand at particularl times to match available capacity. This results in maximum seats sold at the lowest average prices. More importantly to Ryanair of course, it means a profitable airline.
All very clever and good. But the public is not handed an infrastructure bill so that Ryanair can operate its business model.
Of course we are. It's an overhead that's rolled into their operating costs. The set up costs of those dynamic pricing systems aren't cheap either. That all ends up in the price you pay for a flight - but that price is cheaper overall because it allows Ryanair to fill every plane.
The efficient use of resources governed by market forces is one of the best ways to generate economic growth.
This weather is like being on the Bolivian altiplano
Beautiful and warm in perfect clear sun, but as soon as you step in the shade, brrr
Many Bolivians on the altiplano don't have fridges. Because they don't need them. If they want something kept properly cold, they put it in the shade
The coldest I've ever been. Shivering in a sleeping bag while enduring a bad sunburn.
Magnificent part of the world, in an austere horrifying challenging scary dangerous way
I still remember the purple-red lake surrounded by the corpses of dead flamingoes
The flamingoes are fine as long as they stay in the thermally heated lake, but as soon as they get out they will freeze to death in moments if they don't fly away at once. The corpses are the flamingoes that couldn't get off the ground quick enough
A useless fact about Kings Place is that until 2020 you used to be able to pick up a free copy of the Guardian from the foyer of their offices. Fascinating I know. 😊
I'm not expecting everyone but Reform's supporters to vote tactically against them. 50% of the remaining Conservative voters approve of Nigel Farage, and they'd be more likely to vote tactically for Reform, than against them. Nor would I expect any significant number of Labour, Green, or Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for the Conservatives, to keep out Reform.
I would expect a lot of left wing voters (as in Canada), to hold their noses and vote for the main left wing party, in order to stop Reform.
I was at dinner with classic conservative voters last night: at least one a committed Brexiteer, all low tax fans, complaining about private school VAT, but also pretty wealthy and cheerful about their lot. Made money in their own businesses. Dismissive of Farage and Reform, laugh at the idea of the Lib Dems. It struck me that this is the Tory core and they’re no closer to abandoning the party now than in 2024.
Who needs polls, or indeed nationwide elections, telling us that the Tories are collapsing to 16% or worse, when we’ve got @TimS at a dinner party
A useless fact about Kings Place is that until 2020 you used to be able to pick up a free copy of the Guardian from the foyer of their offices. Fascinating, I know.
A glorious day in Wythenshawe and Sale East, which on current polling is going Reform next time round.
You have Gail's in..... the north?
That means you have sourdough. In Manchester??? And flat whites. And things like that
This is upsetting, and - quite frankly I don't believe it. This is faked
It's a Northern Gail's. Inside, they mainly sell tripe and other offal-related products.
Ah. Thankyou. Order is restored
I am also reassured that your photo, despite the sunshine, still manages to convey a hint of northern bleakness. I'm not sure what it is. The stolid red brick on the right, the slightly depressing clutter of metal, it's hard to pin down, but nonetheless something in that photo says "yes it's post-industrial northern England and yes, despite the sun and the Gail's, it's shit"
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
We should just stop the smart meter rollout. Nobody wants them, or the poles they need. It's a waste of billpayers' and taxpayers' money.
Speak for yourself
I am speaking for myself, and for a majority of people - the level of uptake when taking into account the vast publicly-funded media campaign and all but coercion in some instances is paltry. If energy companies want their consumers to get these meters, they should fund the rollout.
And using price to match demand to supply isn't new. It's what the good old Economy 7 tariff did. The point there was that it was a bugger to turn off coal power stations, even overnight.
It says in the link you posted that the cost is borne in the standing charge? That is everybody's standing charge, not the meter owners'.
On the other hand, smart meters make it cheaper for energy companies to provide their services. No need to send people walking the streets to read meters for a start. From a 2023 select committee report;
In 2019, the Department estimated the rollout would cost £13.5 billion from 2013 to 2034, and provide £19.5 billion of benefits over the same period (both in 2011 prices).
Maybe people insisting on sticking with dumb meters should have to pay extra.
And the dumb meters have to be changed anyway after a certain period of time. They come to the end of their life. Our electricity meter was changed for this reason recently. It is quite a lot of years, but those refusing to change must have pretty old meters by now.
I just never got around to it.
AFAIK everyone will get a Smart meter whether they want one or not as older meters come to EOL. It’s just they will be switched to dumb. No one produces old style meters.
I went out for bread this morning, and found the market setting up. This isn’t a big town, but the market is huge; I think probably more than half a mile long. Most of it is food
I must have seen a few hundred chickens in rotisseries, and hundreds of chunks of harder to identify meat. There were four stalls selling just olives, a lady selling everything ginger, a herb stall, a spice stall, two selling nuts, five cheese stalls, at least ten selling fruit and veg, another ten cooking food in giant pans, wine stalls, beer stalls, fresh meat stalls, cured meat stalls, one selling just cured sausages but at least fifty varieties, fish stalls, oyster stalls, mussel stalls, and a couple of bakery stalls (but I went to the bakery that the lovely lady who ran the restaurant I went to last night told me she gets her bread from)
I had my bread and cheese breakfast, and then wandered out again. By that time the market was packed. I went to the Petit Pâté de Pézenas shop and waited in the queue, when I got a rather unexpected tap on the shoulder.. It was the lovely lady from the restaurant. She told me I’d found the best place to buy them
The beer shop was closed, but the beer stall on the market wasn’t. I bought a couple of bottles of local amber beer (7.5% abv!) and went back to the flat to enjoy my Petites Pâtés
They are delicious. Tiny, sweet, spiced meat pies that go great with strong beer
Thank you Clive of India
Great to learn of your travels, Blanche, and to hear how much you like that place. Nearly bought a house there once. Sorry I didn't now.
This weather is like being on the Bolivian altiplano
Beautiful and warm in perfect clear sun, but as soon as you step in the shade, brrr
Many Bolivians on the altiplano don't have fridges. Because they don't need them. If they want something kept properly cold, they put it in the shade
The coldest I've ever been. Shivering in a sleeping bag while enduring a bad sunburn.
Magnificent part of the world, in an austere horrifying challenging scary dangerous way
I still remember the purple-red lake surrounded by the corpses of dead flamingoes
The flamingoes are fine as long as they stay in the thermally heated lake, but as soon as they get out they will freeze to death in moments if they don't fly away at once. The corpses are the flamingoes that couldn't get off the ground quick enough
I once camped (illegally, I think) on the Salar de Uyuni on my birthday.
I went to bed with a full water bottle by my head - next morning it was frozen solid. Turns out the salt doesn't retain heat particularly well. Who knew?
A useless fact about Kings Place is that until 2020 you used to be able to pick up a free copy of the Guardian from the foyer of their offices. Fascinating I know. 😊
I envy them King's Place as a workspace. It's one of the best locations in London now, with all the bars and cafes and youthful excitement of Revived King's X
The whole area THROBS with life (apart from poor Coal Drops Yard, slightly hidden away). I still find it mind boggling this is the same King's X where I used to do E in raves in huge dead old warehouses amid the total urban derelicton of the 1980s
A nationwide rollout of smart meters threatens to clutter the countryside with 40-foot poles
Here is the article in question. It is the assumption that any infrastructure will "blight" the country that stops so much being built. The default answer should always be yes. Other countries are laughing at how bad we are getting this wrong.
That's just your opinion bro. In all my travelling, the UK still stands out as one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Consider how we feel about those towns and cities blighted by rampant development in the 60s and 70s - let's not make the same mistake again.
Just because some spreadsheet wanker can't monetise something doesn't mean it has no value.
It's not about monetising, it's that the balance is so far to the view of "stop development" it's crazy.
If we want to grow the economy, we need to get building again. It is truly pathetic how long things take to get built here, they get completely bogged down in endless committees, appeals, other red tape, etc.
Clearly there is some balance to be found. But right now it's not anywhere near where it should be.
I've posted so many examples here of masts - as it's the industry I work in so I prefer to comment on things I know - that were blocked for nonsensical reasons.
Seems homeowners worry about the effects on the price of their homes
Now that is slightly different. The difference between a public and private good.
I have less sympathy with the house value argument, though I do think compensation (eg free broadband/data/energy) should be provided to those in close proximity to new infrastructure, simply to alter the incentives. Temper NIMBYism.
The public good is distinct from that. I am not personally enjoying Devon or wherever TimS is, and I don't live there, but there is a chance I could share that gorgeous view one day on a walk, along with the 70 million people other people on these islands. There is some value there.
This is a good case for Land Valuation Taxation, if the value of a property falls for a reason like this, the tax would drop accordingly.
This weather is like being on the Bolivian altiplano
Beautiful and warm in perfect clear sun, but as soon as you step in the shade, brrr
Many Bolivians on the altiplano don't have fridges. Because they don't need them. If they want something kept properly cold, they put it in the shade
The coldest I've ever been. Shivering in a sleeping bag while enduring a bad sunburn.
Magnificent part of the world, in an austere horrifying challenging scary dangerous way
I still remember the purple-red lake surrounded by the corpses of dead flamingoes
The flamingoes are fine as long as they stay in the thermally heated lake, but as soon as they get out they will freeze to death in moments if they don't fly away at once. The corpses are the flamingoes that couldn't get off the ground quick enough
I once camped (illegally, I think) on the Salar de Uyuni on my birthday.
I went to bed with a full water bottle by my head - next morning it was frozen solid. Turns out the salt doesn't retain heat particularly well. Who knew?
What a place tho, eh? Did you go to see that weird salt-flat-island with the shrine of sacrificed children's skeletons? Lovely
The only disappointing thing was the "salt hotel". I imagined a blinding white Taj Mahal made of Halen Mon seasalt. In reality, of course, raw salt quickly discolours so its a sludgy grey brown and looks like its made of crappy beige bricks
Comments
You obviously mean me, but I don’t always say the party I am voting for is going to win, so you’re passively aggressively bang wrong. And I understand betting.
https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/3635385#Comment_3635385
And look at the header that day in November 2021:
It is still odds-on that BoJo will survive as PM till 2024 or later
He had about ten months to go. Predictions are difficult, especially about the future.
I understand betting just as much as you. I will be betting on a Reform win if and when I feel that is likely. Right now I still feel much the same, Labour in government, not necessarily with a majority.
I do however think the value is betting on the PM after Sir Keir to be a Labour PM. As I do not believe Keir will make it to the next election.
https://morrisf1.blogspot.com/2025/05/imola-grand-prix-2025-pre-qualifying.html
Not sure I've offered a single pre-qualifying tip this year. Hmm.
Just because some spreadsheet wanker can't monetise something doesn't mean it has no value.
God’s own country.
I haven't been banned for about three years anyway, what are you talking about?
The value is on betting on the next PM after Sir Keir to be a Labour PM as above. As he won't in my view make it to the next election.
2. Not a claim that Tories are doing well. simply that I have found the Tory base. 16% is still a lot of people.
Bear in mind I’m a member of a party that’s languished as low as 5% in polls in recent memory. But even then, you would still find core Lib Dem voters.
If we want to grow the economy, we need to get building again. It is truly pathetic how long things take to get built here, they get completely bogged down in endless committees, appeals, other red tape, etc.
Clearly there is some balance to be found. But right now it's not anywhere near where it should be.
I've posted so many examples here of masts - as it's the industry I work in so I prefer to comment on things I know - that were blocked for nonsensical reasons.
TSE might even be able to say he is a Tory and be seen as aspirational again and an acceptable member of the upper middle classes at his candlelit suppers with snobbish liberal professionals rather than assumed to be a Brexit and Boris voting near racist working class oik. Voting Tory is something an elite pool now do, none of these common voters in the provinces who decide elections who now vote for Farage and Reform!
Phone mast wipes £50,000 off house value https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-1587027/Phone-mast-wipes-50000-off-house-value.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton
Beautiful forest and river views - and then suddenly bleak tiny post industrial ex mining towns. Then down the road an exquisite village
Quite compelling
If they just carry on being a slightly less crap version of their Tory predecessor, it will be on Farage’s terms. And he will be able to get away with his bullshit, spin, and fiscally absurd policies (think Truss x5), just by plugging away on immigration.
If they deliver tangible improvements, then it will likely be very different.
As a not irrelevant aside, this is an interesting stat from a recent ONS report.
Falling productivity in health and social care is the single largest negative contribution to overall productivity growth since 2019
https://x.com/jwhandley17/status/1923309807823470943
I have less sympathy with the house value argument, though I do think compensation (eg free broadband/data/energy) should be provided to those in close proximity to new infrastructure, simply to alter the incentives. Temper NIMBYism.
The public good is distinct from that. I am not personally enjoying Devon or wherever TimS is, and I don't live there, but there is a chance I could share that gorgeous view one day on a walk, along with the 70 million people other people on these islands. There is some value there.
Coleford and Chepstow sit awkwardly alongside Puzzlewood and Symonds Yat.
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/51713-is-tactical-voting-more-of-a-threat-or-opportunity-for-reform-uk
Remarkable.
Otherwise, we do stupid things like asking wind farms to disconnect from the grid, when we should be using that free electricity to charge batteries or run the bread machine.
It was maybe the most Remainery thing I’ve done. And rather enjoyable
To get over the trauma my friend and I then smoked gascake by the Refurbed Regents canal surrounded by excitable and attractive Londoners 35 years younger than us
Unfortunately, despite promising to fix the smart meters (Which they had installed) and having a legal duty to do so, they never did.
So yes smart meters are good
Free, high quality training, benefits and tax structured to favour locals etc.
If we trained sufficient medical staff, for example, they would take the jobs. No need to block visas for medics.
I was there last year, briefly, and it is indeed lush
Mohammed bin Salman has been lionized in Syria for Trump's decision to lift sanctions during his Riyadh trip. This will add further to Saudi Arabia's clout and soft power in Syria
https://x.com/SamRamani2/status/1923421216813072596
If I'm being honest, though, I really wouldn't trust a Reform government with the NHS at all.
https://www.smartenergygb.org/about-smart-meters/smart-facts/are-smart-meters-free
And the current uptake of smart meters is 66%, if the government is to be believed:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d95f7c4ba412c67701ed58/Q4_2024_Smart_Meters_Statistics_Report.pdf
Hardly a paltry minority.
And using price to match demand to supply isn't new. It's what the good old Economy 7 tariff did. The point there was that it was a bugger to turn off coal power stations, even overnight.
https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/05/15/britains-police-are-restricting-speech-in-worrying-ways
https://archive.ph/5nsyx
https://www.tiktok.com/@rokiakonemusic/video/7505308664958438678
I learned three things
1. Rokia Kone has a truly remarkable voice; it's a privilege to hear it live, if you ever get the chance, go
2. Hearing Malian Bambara music (even electrified as this) is like listening to someone speaking Proto-Indo-European: because you are listening to the rootsource of rock, jazz and pop. Because it was this African music which - when mashed together in America with British/Irish folk tunes and traditions - became the popular music of the 20th century, which then took over the world
3. I wish all of London was always like King's Cross on a sunny evening in May
In 2019, the Department estimated the rollout would cost £13.5 billion from 2013 to 2034, and provide £19.5 billion of benefits over the same period (both in 2011 prices).
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmpubacc/1332/report.html
Maybe people insisting on sticking with dumb meters should have to pay extra.
So I am with the Economist in general, but they has done the easy bit, not the hard bit. I have an ingrained habit of expecting the Economist to do the difficult bit in its argumentation and not just be like the usual media crowd.
https://x.com/bmay/status/1923722700305949003?s=46&t=fJymV-V84rexmlQMLXHHJQ
A classy lot, in the Forest of Dean.
I just never got around to it.
Who's gonna tell him about Freddie?!!
Have we done this? - Russia’s negotiator at the Ukraine talks once claimed that Russian’ have an extra chromosome.
Special Needs Military Operation….
Beautiful and warm in perfect clear sun, but as soon as you step in the shade, brrr
Many Bolivians on the altiplano don't have fridges. Because they don't need them. If they want something kept properly cold, they put it in the shade
The efficient use of resources governed by market forces is one of the best ways to generate economic growth.
Really striking that Reform are doing a number of things the Labour establishment denigrated:
1) They want to build a mass member party
2) They have lots of rallies.
3) They see the value in offline social spaces (a reform pub?!)
4) They want a pipeline from youth activism.
That means you have sourdough. In Manchester??? And flat whites. And things like that
This is upsetting, and - quite frankly I don't believe it. This is faked
I still remember the purple-red lake surrounded by the corpses of dead flamingoes
The flamingoes are fine as long as they stay in the thermally heated lake, but as soon as they get out they will freeze to death in moments if they don't fly away at once. The corpses are the flamingoes that couldn't get off the ground quick enough
I am also reassured that your photo, despite the sunshine, still manages to convey a hint of northern bleakness. I'm not sure what it is. The stolid red brick on the right, the slightly depressing clutter of metal, it's hard to pin down, but nonetheless something in that photo says "yes it's post-industrial northern England and yes, despite the sun and the Gail's, it's shit"
I went to bed with a full water bottle by my head - next morning it was frozen solid. Turns out the salt doesn't retain heat particularly well. Who knew?
The whole area THROBS with life (apart from poor Coal Drops Yard, slightly hidden away). I still find it mind boggling this is the same King's X where I used to do E in raves in huge dead old warehouses amid the total urban derelicton of the 1980s
The only disappointing thing was the "salt hotel". I imagined a blinding white Taj Mahal made of Halen Mon seasalt. In reality, of course, raw salt quickly discolours so its a sludgy grey brown and looks like its made of crappy beige bricks