... a procession is made to Sgùrr Alasdair, in the Cuilins of Skye, where, in a cryogenic vault buried beneath 4 million tons of basalt and quartz, the word “Brace!” lies sealed in a crystalline sarcophagus, guarded by “the twelve Tories” - the last of their ancient breed...
Must venture out to walk the dog soon... I think in the evening it'll be a minimal walk. It'll be feeling like 31C, which isn't for someone wearing a fur coat they can't take off.
Good day, everyone.
Really not the time now to walk the dog - far too warm. Better it doesn’t have a walk than to take it out now. Early morning was the best time.
They no doubt posted similar critical posts of the Queen faffing about having sandwiches with Paddington and jumping out of helicopters with 007, working hard for her £7.9M monarch salary
Or indeed SKS's recent walk in the mountains in Canada...
5 planes from China have landed altogether in Tehran, now.
Nor part of Israel"s plan.
Just needs the IDF to shoot one of them down for the full 'brace'.
As The Official Keeper Of The PB “Brace”, the decision to deploy it is strictly my own
This is for very good reasons. If everyone chucks out Official PB Braces willynilly, that’s a recipe for chaos and hyperbole
No, a Brace is only deployed in the field after a long, cloistered consultation with my advisors, followed by a Zoom call with the King, the Pope, the project manager of HS2, and the lead archaeologist at Gobekli Tepe
If the emerald light glows green, a procession is made to Sgùrr Alasdair, in the Cuilins of Skye, where, in a cryogenic vault buried beneath 4 million tons of basalt and quartz, the word “Brace!” lies sealed in a crystalline sarcophagus, guarded by “the twelve Tories” - the last of their ancient breed. @HYUFD sometimes pops by
Then, the Keeper of the Syllable - for that is me - approaches the vault and lifts out the Word with platinum tongs, holds it aloft in a silence purer than a Japanese nun on Jersey, and then, finally, the word is typed into Ye Great Annals of PB: Brace! - and the universe shudders
You can’t just say it any old how
It's gabbro and basalt. There's a bit of granite in Coire Uaigneach on Blaven but not much quartz in it.
(The gabbro is grippy as anything. The basalt (eg the In Pinn) will slide you into the abyss).
A gratuitous opportunity for me to post this oil on wood rendering of the Quiraing by my wife.
5 planes from China have landed altogether in Tehran, now.
Nor part of Israel"s plan.
Just needs the IDF to shoot one of them down for the full 'brace'.
As The Official Keeper Of The PB “Brace”, the decision to deploy it is strictly my own
This is for very good reasons. If everyone chucks out Official PB Braces willynilly, that’s a recipe for chaos and hyperbole
No, a Brace is only deployed in the field after a long, cloistered consultation with my advisors, followed by a Zoom call with the King, the Pope, the project manager of HS2, and the lead archaeologist at Gobekli Tepe
If the emerald light glows green, a procession is made to Sgùrr Alasdair, in the Cuilins of Skye, where, in a cryogenic vault buried beneath 4 million tons of basalt and quartz, the word “Brace!” lies sealed in a crystalline sarcophagus, guarded by “the twelve Tories” - the last of their ancient breed. @HYUFD sometimes pops by
Then, the Keeper of the Syllable - for that is me - approaches the vault and lifts out the Word with platinum tongs, holds it aloft in a silence purer than a Japanese nun on Jersey, and then, finally, the word is typed into Ye Great Annals of PB: Brace! - and the universe shudders
You can’t just say it any old how
If you are going to the Cuillin to announce "Brace", surely to make the announcement you have to stand aloft the Cioch, sword in hand, like the Highlander before you.
Not set fire to a cross? Would seem appropriate, in a number of ways?
Talking of cricket I’m taking my father in law to the Riverside today to watch the women’s and the men’s T20.
The T20 is great for clubs like Durham. Its criminal were cut adrift due to the hundred.
Last year when we went the women’s game was far better than the men’s so we want to see it again.
The T20 is great for everyone. There is literally nothing that the Hundred brings that the T20 doesn't do better. I may have made this before, but if formats of cricket were BBC television stations, the Hundred would be BBC3, the T20 would be BBC1, whatever the current domestic one day format would be BBC2, and the county championship would be BBC4.
These pro-Palestinian and pro-environmental extremist groups are becoming a distinct threat to the country.
We are at war, and groups like Extinction Rebellion are very much fifth columnists. The sad thing is that many of the 'activists' probably don't even realise it.
Sorry, who are we at war with?
We are in a war with Russia at the moment, and have been for a number of years. It is a Cold War at the moment, and I hope it remains that way, but it is a war nonetheless.
It'll be interesting to look back in a few decades and try to work out when it began: Salisbury, or earlier?
OK, so we're not at war with anyone. We are in a "cold war" (i.e., not an actual war) with Russia.
Russia does spread discord and misinformation in our country, including by supporting environmental groups, as well as supporting Brexit (to try to be on topic for the thread) and alt right groups. I agree with you there. At the same time, one of the things that we have that Russia doesn't is democracy, including the right to protest.
Russia supports discord, they supported the opponents of Brexit and "2nd vote" brigade too.
And Black Lives Matter, and anything else that drives discord.
Yes, I note that @bondegezou only cites right wing causes as being funded/supported by Russia. It is well known they support any cause that fuels rancour in the West, from the Scot Nats to BLM to Islamists to the SuperWoke. They’ve even been known to infiltrate PB. Badly
When someone writes The Decline & Fall of the West, a whole chapter should be written on the brilliant way Russia and China turned liberal democracy against itself, inverted our own Free Speech, and sent in saboteurs via social media
Unfortunately for us, they’ve done it very well
Not saying you're wrong but what's the evidence of China doing a good job of this?
I always wondered why Russia seemed to be so good at social media ops while China was so ham-fisted.
It would be worth a bit of digging to see the balance of which hostile power funds what. The west is surprisingly incurious about this.
China (mostky) buys influence.
Russia is carrying on the Cold War program of funding every dissident/extreme group, no matter the ideology. Even pre-internet, they were almost desperate in their attempts to create false narratives. See the vast time and effort they spent on the “CIA created AIDS” story.
Talking of cricket I’m taking my father in law to the Riverside today to watch the women’s and the men’s T20.
The T20 is great for clubs like Durham. Its criminal were cut adrift due to the hundred.
Last year when we went the women’s game was far better than the men’s so we want to see it again.
It's a money spinner for the non-test grounds / smaller counties, but with the money for the Hundred from India it looks like it will only go one way.
Did daydream that a cricket fan media mogul could put together a highlights package for the county games from the youtube streams. "Ball of the day" Goalhanger productions.
5 planes from China have landed altogether in Tehran, now.
Nor part of Israel"s plan.
Just needs the IDF to shoot one of them down for the full 'brace'.
As The Official Keeper Of The PB “Brace”, the decision to deploy it is strictly my own
This is for very good reasons. If everyone chucks out Official PB Braces willynilly, that’s a recipe for chaos and hyperbole
No, a Brace is only deployed in the field after a long, cloistered consultation with my advisors, followed by a Zoom call with the King, the Pope, the project manager of HS2, and the lead archaeologist at Gobekli Tepe
If the emerald light glows green, a procession is made to Sgùrr Alasdair, in the Cuilins of Skye, where, in a cryogenic vault buried beneath 4 million tons of basalt and quartz, the word “Brace!” lies sealed in a crystalline sarcophagus, guarded by “the twelve Tories” - the last of their ancient breed. @HYUFD sometimes pops by
Then, the Keeper of the Syllable - for that is me - approaches the vault and lifts out the Word with platinum tongs, holds it aloft in a silence purer than a Japanese nun on Jersey, and then, finally, the word is typed into Ye Great Annals of PB: Brace! - and the universe shudders
You can’t just say it any old how
If you are going to the Cuillin to announce "Brace", surely to make the announcement you have to stand aloft the Cioch, sword in hand, like the Highlander before you.
Not set fire to a cross? Would seem appropriate, in a number of ways?
Trump said two weeks to negotiate. We all assumed that meant US/Israel with Iran. But perhaps not and it’s China who have been sent in to deliver the facts of life.
They no doubt posted similar critical posts of the Queen faffing about having sandwiches with Paddington and jumping out of helicopters with 007, working hard for her £7.9M monarch salary
Or indeed SKS's recent walk in the mountains in Canada...
That piece at the Olympics was worth the queen's salary for that year alone. At the time, the queen was possibly the most famous and mysterious person in the world. Her taking part in that episode was possibly the most surprising bit of telly I can remember.
And an idiot Labour MP prefers to resign rather than do anything to slow future borrowing increases.
It says:
"Borrowing in the financial year to May 2025 was £37.7 billion; this was £1.6 billion more than in the same two-month period of 2024 and the third-highest April to May borrowing since monthly records began, after those of 2020 and 2021."
And Reeves answer to this was a public spending round that will eventually add another £140bn to current spending. We are heading for a disaster and those who put their hands over their ears and hum are doing those that need protection no good at all in the medium term.
I am resigned to the fact that we're only going to get our public spending sorted when somebody takes away our national credit card.
It'll be fun if it happens under a Reform government.
It really won't. Under whatever government it happens we will be looking at massive increases in tax and massive cuts in spending. All of us will be significantly poorer but inevitably those dependent upon the State will be the worse hit.
We can ameliorate this to some extent by acting now but everything Reeves does makes it worse. These ridiculous arguments about whether she can make her ridiculous targets make those realigning the deck chairs on the Titanic look both purposeful and useful.
I wonder what the impositions will be.
+2% basic income tax +5% top rate income tax +20% council tax plus extra council tax bands +10p fuel duty
End of the triple lock on pensions End of pensions credits End of WFA Rapid increase in state retirement age to 70 20% reduction in invalidity benefits
Immediate conversion of future public sector pension schemes from DB to DC 10% reduction in current DB payments over £50k pa 10% reduction in public sector pay above £100k pa
Don't know how much all that would save but I doubt it would be enough.
Don't cut badly needed services, make taxes fairer.
1. Apply a 2% tax on assets over £10 million, to raise up to £24 billion a year
2. Reform the Capital Gains Tax system through increasing rates and closing loopholes, to raise around £12 billion a year
3. Properly tax income from wealth, by applying National Insurance to investment income, raising up to £10.2 billion a year
Talking of cricket I’m taking my father in law to the Riverside today to watch the women’s and the men’s T20.
The T20 is great for clubs like Durham. Its criminal were cut adrift due to the hundred.
Last year when we went the women’s game was far better than the men’s so we want to see it again.
The T20 is great for everyone. There is literally nothing that the Hundred brings that the T20 doesn't do better. I may have made this before, but if formats of cricket were BBC television stations, the Hundred would be BBC3, the T20 would be BBC1, whatever the current domestic one day format would be BBC2, and the county championship would be BBC4.
I saw a tweet which listed all the bands/acts playing at the hundred.
It said start with 100 points and remove 3 for every band you know.
These pro-Palestinian and pro-environmental extremist groups are becoming a distinct threat to the country.
We are at war, and groups like Extinction Rebellion are very much fifth columnists. The sad thing is that many of the 'activists' probably don't even realise it.
Sorry, who are we at war with?
We are in a war with Russia at the moment, and have been for a number of years. It is a Cold War at the moment, and I hope it remains that way, but it is a war nonetheless.
It'll be interesting to look back in a few decades and try to work out when it began: Salisbury, or earlier?
OK, so we're not at war with anyone. We are in a "cold war" (i.e., not an actual war) with Russia.
Russia does spread discord and misinformation in our country, including by supporting environmental groups, as well as supporting Brexit (to try to be on topic for the thread) and alt right groups. I agree with you there. At the same time, one of the things that we have that Russia doesn't is democracy, including the right to protest.
Russia supports discord, they supported the opponents of Brexit and "2nd vote" brigade too.
And Black Lives Matter, and anything else that drives discord.
Yes, I note that @bondegezou only cites right wing causes as being funded/supported by Russia. It is well known they support any cause that fuels rancour in the West, from the Scot Nats to BLM to Islamists to the SuperWoke. They’ve even been known to infiltrate PB. Badly
When someone writes The Decline & Fall of the West, a whole chapter should be written on the brilliant way Russia and China turned liberal democracy against itself, inverted our own Free Speech, and sent in saboteurs via social media
Unfortunately for us, they’ve done it very well
Not saying you're wrong but what's the evidence of China doing a good job of this?
The existence of TikTok ?
IIUC it's true that TikTok content tended to pull for Trump a lot in the run-up to the last election but that's overdetermined, since Biden was trying to kill them and Trump cut them a deal.
Telling people why something happened, does not negate the fact that it did happen. This crops up often on PB.
Sure but the question here is who is doing it and why. It's often hard to tell with Chinese companies because they can act and mostly do independently, but then if the government decides to use them as its sock puppet then it can and they're powerless to resist.
As far as I can tell with TikTok (I may be wrong, I'd be interested to hear if I am):
- They're not really pushing Chinese government narratives particularly - They're feeding certain kinds of emotional / nihilistic anti-establishment politics but this is indistinguishable with what regular commercial social media incentives would produce, for example Reddit does the same - The thing they did before the US election totally fit their corporate objectives, but didn't particularly fit with Chinese government objectives, and we know that their investor cut a deal with Trump
And an idiot Labour MP prefers to resign rather than do anything to slow future borrowing increases.
It says:
"Borrowing in the financial year to May 2025 was £37.7 billion; this was £1.6 billion more than in the same two-month period of 2024 and the third-highest April to May borrowing since monthly records began, after those of 2020 and 2021."
And Reeves answer to this was a public spending round that will eventually add another £140bn to current spending. We are heading for a disaster and those who put their hands over their ears and hum are doing those that need protection no good at all in the medium term.
Yes, fine, but how would you reduce the deficit and borrowing?
I imagine we'll hear the same old mantras of "supply side reform", "50% haircut for public sector pensions", "tax cuts and spending cuts" from the usual suspects but was any of that on offer last July? Is any of that on offer now? You won't hear it from Labour, Reform, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Greens - is there some other political movement advocating a return to a blanced budget? How would they achieve it?
"Putting your hands over your ears and humming", as you put it, isn't fair. Plenty of people see the problem but, as with the "small boats", no one has come up with an easy, popular and cheap solution - if there were one, we'd have done it by now.
So it comes back to who has to feel the pain - which group can you demonise enough so everyone will say "yeah, let them suffer" - public sector workers, pensioners, others on welfare, the wealthy, property owners, Scottish lawyers, children - where would you like to start?
No, the usual whingeing every month about the borrowing numbers belies the fact of how we got here and the fact previous Governments allowed us to reach this point. I know what I would do but when I've proposed it, I've had a barrage of abuse from those who already feel "overtaxed" and complain "they" can't pay any more but someone else could and should.
It is simple, income tax/vat rises , end the gold plated public service pensions, 10% reduction in all benefits and then frozen for at least 5 years. No pay rises for public service unless self funding. Easy peasy just needs some bollocks.
'gold plated' is one of those political phrases that people always put in front of public sector pensions without thinking about it.
I haven’t seen one person ever stop to consider the impact of stopping current contributions on the closure of such a big pension scheme, with so many active pensions and preserved rights.
It’s the nature of final or average salary schemes - take away current contributions and the employer (in this case all of us) is on the hook for all preserved rights for many years. This costs more, not less.
Err, no it doesn’t. The rights cease to accrue once the scheme is closed. It is of course true that the accrued rights remain and require to be funded over several decades but the costs of that are no more than they would have been had the scheme remained open. They are simply not being added to.
To be replaced with what? Close DB pensions and move current employees to DC schemes – won't that cost more, at least in the short term?
There's nothing wrong with a defined benefit; if there's an issue with past public sector pensions it's the final salary bit, since they deliver a benefit unrelated to prior contributions and can hugely increase someone's benefit if significantly promoted in late career. Hence the move towards career average for DB schemes, which is both more equitable and more economic (although with very long career within one employer or sector much less common nowadays, the FS problem isn't as great as it once was, anyway). The idea of a DB simply provides some certainty to the scheme member and transfers the investment risk to the employer. If the sums have been done prudently this isn't necessarily a bad thing; indeed now interest rates are back at more 'normal' levels, many DB schemes are back in surplus, and although additional deficit contributions were needed after the financial crisis, taking the longer view there have been plenty of employers who benefitted from contribution holidays when returns were good.
5 planes from China have landed altogether in Tehran, now.
Nor part of Israel"s plan.
Just needs the IDF to shoot one of them down for the full 'brace'.
As The Official Keeper Of The PB “Brace”, the decision to deploy it is strictly my own
This is for very good reasons. If everyone chucks out Official PB Braces willynilly, that’s a recipe for chaos and hyperbole
No, a Brace is only deployed in the field after a long, cloistered consultation with my advisors, followed by a Zoom call with the King, the Pope, the project manager of HS2, and the lead archaeologist at Gobekli Tepe
If the emerald light glows green, a procession is made to Sgùrr Alasdair, in the Cuilins of Skye, where, in a cryogenic vault buried beneath 4 million tons of basalt and quartz, the word “Brace!” lies sealed in a crystalline sarcophagus, guarded by “the twelve Tories” - the last of their ancient breed. @HYUFD sometimes pops by
Then, the Keeper of the Syllable - for that is me - approaches the vault and lifts out the Word with platinum tongs, holds it aloft in a silence purer than a Japanese nun on Jersey, and then, finally, the word is typed into Ye Great Annals of PB: Brace! - and the universe shudders
You can’t just say it any old how
It's gabbro and basalt. There's a bit of granite in Coire Uaigneach on Blaven but not much quartz in it.
(The gabbro is grippy as anything. The basalt (eg the In Pinn) will slide you into the abyss).
A gratuitous opportunity for me to post this oil on wood rendering of the Quiraing by my wife.
Its a good job our political elite aren't very tech savvy, because these days it isn't that hard generate a new virtual kitchen. Making Starmer less robotic thats an incredible difficult and yet unsolved problem.
5 planes from China have landed altogether in Tehran, now.
Nor part of Israel"s plan.
Just needs the IDF to shoot one of them down for the full 'brace'.
As The Official Keeper Of The PB “Brace”, the decision to deploy it is strictly my own
This is for very good reasons. If everyone chucks out Official PB Braces willynilly, that’s a recipe for chaos and hyperbole
No, a Brace is only deployed in the field after a long, cloistered consultation with my advisors, followed by a Zoom call with the King, the Pope, the project manager of HS2, and the lead archaeologist at Gobekli Tepe
If the emerald light glows green, a procession is made to Sgùrr Alasdair, in the Cuilins of Skye, where, in a cryogenic vault buried beneath 4 million tons of basalt and quartz, the word “Brace!” lies sealed in a crystalline sarcophagus, guarded by “the twelve Tories” - the last of their ancient breed. @HYUFD sometimes pops by
Then, the Keeper of the Syllable - for that is me - approaches the vault and lifts out the Word with platinum tongs, holds it aloft in a silence purer than a Japanese nun on Jersey, and then, finally, the word is typed into Ye Great Annals of PB: Brace! - and the universe shudders
You can’t just say it any old how
Is not a "brace" a variety of medical support device for elderly men?
I think they used to be known as a "truss", but that application wilted some time ago.
Does anyone have a clue why Stokes would put India into bat on a day like this and a track like this?
Sky just put out a stat that showed the batting averages in Test Matches at Headingley by day since 2015; Day one was 26, and it rose each day thereafter. Day five was 40. I reckon that’s why Stokes elected to field
Does anyone have a clue why Stokes would put India into bat on a day like this and a track like this?
Sky just put out a stat that showed the batting averages in Test Matches at Headingley by day since 2015; Day one was 26, and it rose each day thereafter. Day five was 40. I reckon that’s why Stokes elected to field
Most first days at Headingley aren't close to 30 degrees centigrade.
Essentially, in buying Twitter Musk wrenched the entire political debate over to the right, and it is still moving right. And Zuckerberg and Co got jealous of Musk’s power and influence and wanted some of it. And also they noticed how Musk sacked half his staff with no apparent problem
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
I don't agree with you on this
There is a case for both views and you could say that you want to impose your own views
And I am not religious but I just say 'may your God go with you'
I would add I will be amazed if it doesn't pass though 4 years before it is implemented seems strange
I don't want to impose my views on anyone.
If you don't want to choose an assisted death, because of your religion or for any other reason, I respect your choice.
You choose what you want. Whether I agree with your choice, or not, is not relevant, its not my choice.
The only person I want to make a choice for, is myself. I want that freedom and you to have the freedom to choose for yourself without my views deciding it.
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
Esther Rantzen speaks.
Esther Rantzen was right.
Park your religion at your Church.
It has no place in the law in a free society.
Oh I wouldn’t fret. This will pass. You’ll get what you obsess about. This time.
But people have objections for many reasons.
But somewhere, Harold Shipman is watching on, smiling, knowing he was a visionary.
Shipman murdered his victims.
Those who opt for something getting their wishes is liberalism, not murder.
One of the risks with assisted dying is that it provides a means to murder people which will allow murderers to get away with it, provided they have all the paperwork in order.
A bit like the faked suicide notes, or the story that the victim just walked out and disappeared, but easier to achieve.
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
Esther Rantzen speaks.
Esther Rantzen was right.
Park your religion at your Church.
It has no place in the law in a free society.
Oh I wouldn’t fret. This will pass. You’ll get what you obsess about. This time.
But people have objections for many reasons.
But somewhere, Harold Shipman is watching on, smiling, knowing he was a visionary.
Shipman murdered his victims.
Those who opt for something getting their wishes is liberalism, not murder.
One of the risks with assisted dying is that it provides a means to murder people which will allow murderers to get away with it, provided they have all the paperwork in order.
A bit like the faked suicide notes, or the story that the victim just walked out and disappeared, but easier to achieve.
How, exactly?
As far as I understand it not one but two doctors need to meet with the patient who needs to clearly express their wishes.
There's no proviso, as I think there should be, for living wills or advanced directives.
So how exactly is someone supposed to fake that paperwork? Impersonate the individual at the doctor's appointment? Sounds risky.
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
I don't agree with you on this
There is a case for both views and you could say that you want to impose your own views
And I am not religious but I just say 'may your God go with you'
I would add I will be amazed if it doesn't pass though 4 years before it is implemented seems strange
I don't want to impose my views on anyone.
If you don't want to choose an assisted death, because of your religion or for any other reason, I respect your choice.
You choose what you want. Whether I agree with your choice, or not, is not relevant, its not my choice.
The only person I want to make a choice for, is myself. I want that freedom and you to have the freedom to choose for yourself without my views deciding it.
I accept that and many people will no doubt commit AD but it remains the case that people are concerned about the abuse of this law
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
Esther Rantzen speaks.
Esther Rantzen was right.
Park your religion at your Church.
It has no place in the law in a free society.
Oh I wouldn’t fret. This will pass. You’ll get what you obsess about. This time.
But people have objections for many reasons.
But somewhere, Harold Shipman is watching on, smiling, knowing he was a visionary.
Shipman murdered his victims.
Those who opt for something getting their wishes is liberalism, not murder.
It’s only murder as the state said so. The state used to say two men humping was illegal. Now it rightly isn’t. There’s even demand for pardons for them. He merely helped them on. A true visionary who would be delighted at this law.
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
MPs have an obligation to protect the vulnerable and those who can’t advocate for themselves. The articulate and sharp-elbowed, like yourself, will always make their point of view known.
Essentially, in buying Twitter Musk wrenched the entire political debate over to the right, and it is still moving right. And Zuckerberg and Co got jealous of Musk’s power and influence and wanted some of it. And also they noticed how Musk sacked half his staff with no apparent problem
Thanks for that, I'll have a browse later. The early paras have a quote which captures quite nicely the narcissism of the MAGA alpha male:
“When he was 19 years old, I think he had an idea in his head of what a CEO was supposed to be like and he was trying to be that, especially in public.”
A decade hence we will look back and see Musk’s purchase of X as one of the most significant political moments of our time
It transformed so many things. So it was actually quite a bargain at $44bn
Or, it removed his focus from Tesla and SpaceX, with the results we're now starting to see.
We will indeed see.
In the meantime it still gives us stuff like this. Here is three straight minutes of Donald Trump saying things will be happening “in two weeks” (spoiler alert: none of them ever happened) https://x.com/MarcoFoster_/status/1935808193155793136
University staff walk out over calls to return to the office three days a week
One staff member said: “It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I’m hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home.
“By the time I’ve finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I’m good for nothing the following day.”
Essentially, in buying Twitter Musk wrenched the entire political debate over to the right, and it is still moving right. And Zuckerberg and Co got jealous of Musk’s power and influence and wanted some of it. And also they noticed how Musk sacked half his staff with no apparent problem
Thanks for that, I'll ahve a browse later. The early paras have a quote which captures quite nicely the narcissism of the MAGA alpha male:
“When he was 19 years old, I think he had an idea in his head of what a CEO was supposed to be like and he was trying to be that, especially in public.”
He still does, and he is still trying.
Maybe
On the other hand, who is having more of an impact on the world, Mark Zuckerburg, or "MattW off of PB"?
This is fucking weird. All morning I've been convinced it's Saturday, just realised it's Friday
Same here. Have a late lunch by the beach with best friend from university who is on his way over and the whole day has been more of a typical Saturday ahead of a lunch, indolence, impatience and trying not to have a warm up drink as have to pick him up from airport on way to lunch.
University staff walk out over calls to return to the office three days a week
One staff member said: “It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I’m hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home.
“By the time I’ve finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I’m good for nothing the following day.”
This is fucking weird. All morning I've been convinced it's Saturday, just realised it's Friday
Same here. Have a late lunch by the beach with best friend from university who is on his way over and the whole day has been more of a typical Saturday ahead of a lunch, indolence, impatience and trying not to have a warm up drink as have to pick him up from airport on way to lunch.
Yes, I think it might be the weather (plus a befuddled brain after going to Luxembourg then the Faroes in rapid succession)
It's sunny. I woke up and yawned, feeling agreeably rested - work done for the week. Finally unpacked
Something in my head said Ah, yes, Saturday, meeting a friend for a riverside drink later, chill out and listen to music now...
Then I started getting emails from my Gazette editors, and some overseas flint agents, and I couldn't work out why they were all working at the weekend, I actually emailed one and said "wow, you're putting in the hours"
University staff walk out over calls to return to the office three days a week
One staff member said: “It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I’m hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home.
“By the time I’ve finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I’m good for nothing the following day.”
This is fucking weird. All morning I've been convinced it's Saturday, just realised it's Friday
Same here. Have a late lunch by the beach with best friend from university who is on his way over and the whole day has been more of a typical Saturday ahead of a lunch, indolence, impatience and trying not to have a warm up drink as have to pick him up from airport on way to lunch.
Yes, I think it might be the weather (plus a befuddled brain after going to Luxembourg then the Faroes in rapid succession)
It's sunny. I woke up and yawned, feeling agreeably rested - work done for the week. Finally unpacked
Something in my head said Ah, yes, Saturday, meeting a friend for a riverside drink later, chill out and listen to music now...
Then I started getting emails from my Gazette editors, and some overseas flint agents, and I couldn't work out why they were all working at the weekend, I actually emailed one and said "wow, you're putting in the hours"
They now presumably think I am going gaga
Well I think you’ve been known to go Lady GaGa
I do get very impatient before social jollies. Ideally I would sleep until two hours beforehand and then beautify myself and get going on the fun.
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
MPs have an obligation to protect the vulnerable and those who can’t advocate for themselves. The articulate and sharp-elbowed, like yourself, will always make their point of view known.
I agree that those who can't advocate for themselves should have protections, so where is the provision in this bill for advanced directives?
At the minute I can articulate my wishes, but if I get dementia I won't be able to, so I ought to be able to sign an advanced directive so express my wishes now. Why aren't MPs including that provision?
Or by advocating for those who can't, do you mean MPs imposing their own views on those who can't, rather than enabling those who can't to express their own intentions clearly while they still can?
University staff walk out over calls to return to the office three days a week
One staff member said: “It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I’m hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home.
“By the time I’ve finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I’m good for nothing the following day.”
University staff walk out over calls to return to the office three days a week
One staff member said: “It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I’m hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home.
“By the time I’ve finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I’m good for nothing the following day.”
5 planes from China have landed altogether in Tehran, now.
Nor part of Israel"s plan.
Just needs the IDF to shoot one of them down for the full 'brace'.
As The Official Keeper Of The PB “Brace”, the decision to deploy it is strictly my own
This is for very good reasons. If everyone chucks out Official PB Braces willynilly, that’s a recipe for chaos and hyperbole
No, a Brace is only deployed in the field after a long, cloistered consultation with my advisors, followed by a Zoom call with the King, the Pope, the project manager of HS2, and the lead archaeologist at Gobekli Tepe
If the emerald light glows green, a procession is made to Sgùrr Alasdair, in the Cuilins of Skye, where, in a cryogenic vault buried beneath 4 million tons of basalt and quartz, the word “Brace!” lies sealed in a crystalline sarcophagus, guarded by “the twelve Tories” - the last of their ancient breed. @HYUFD sometimes pops by
Then, the Keeper of the Syllable - for that is me - approaches the vault and lifts out the Word with platinum tongs, holds it aloft in a silence purer than a Japanese nun on Jersey, and then, finally, the word is typed into Ye Great Annals of PB: Brace! - and the universe shudders
You can’t just say it any old how
If you are going to the Cuillin to announce "Brace", surely to make the announcement you have to stand aloft the Cioch, sword in hand, like the Highlander before you.
Not set fire to a cross? Would seem appropriate, in a number of ways?
Fire seems a bit crude.
A cross of 80% Uranium 235, coated with phosphor, glowing in the half twilight?
And an idiot Labour MP prefers to resign rather than do anything to slow future borrowing increases.
It says:
"Borrowing in the financial year to May 2025 was £37.7 billion; this was £1.6 billion more than in the same two-month period of 2024 and the third-highest April to May borrowing since monthly records began, after those of 2020 and 2021."
And Reeves answer to this was a public spending round that will eventually add another £140bn to current spending. We are heading for a disaster and those who put their hands over their ears and hum are doing those that need protection no good at all in the medium term.
I am resigned to the fact that we're only going to get our public spending sorted when somebody takes away our national credit card.
It'll be fun if it happens under a Reform government.
It really won't. Under whatever government it happens we will be looking at massive increases in tax and massive cuts in spending. All of us will be significantly poorer but inevitably those dependent upon the State will be the worse hit.
We can ameliorate this to some extent by acting now but everything Reeves does makes it worse. These ridiculous arguments about whether she can make her ridiculous targets make those realigning the deck chairs on the Titanic look both purposeful and useful.
I wonder what the impositions will be.
+2% basic income tax +5% top rate income tax +20% council tax plus extra council tax bands +10p fuel duty
End of the triple lock on pensions End of pensions credits End of WFA Rapid increase in state retirement age to 70 20% reduction in invalidity benefits
Immediate conversion of future public sector pension schemes from DB to DC 10% reduction in current DB payments over £50k pa 10% reduction in public sector pay above £100k pa
Don't know how much all that would save but I doubt it would be enough.
Don't cut badly needed services, make taxes fairer.
1. Apply a 2% tax on assets over £10 million, to raise up to £24 billion a year
2. Reform the Capital Gains Tax system through increasing rates and closing loopholes, to raise around £12 billion a year
3. Properly tax income from wealth, by applying National Insurance to investment income, raising up to £10.2 billion a year
So with a budget deficit of over £150bn per year you recommend tax rises of 'up to' £40bn a year.
With 'up to' likely doing a lot of work.
By the way I didn't suggest any cuts in services - my ideas were a combination of tax rises and reductions in welfarism.
OK, so PM gets interviewed straight after member of public at her place? Sure - that happens. There's no conspiracy here, its just how our media work. Get taken off on a media opp and do your own thing whilst there.
No, the conspiracy is that the "random woman" appears to be an actress, and so this is another episode of The Thick of It...
This is fucking weird. All morning I've been convinced it's Saturday, just realised it's Friday
Same here. Have a late lunch by the beach with best friend from university who is on his way over and the whole day has been more of a typical Saturday ahead of a lunch, indolence, impatience and trying not to have a warm up drink as have to pick him up from airport on way to lunch.
Yes, I think it might be the weather (plus a befuddled brain after going to Luxembourg then the Faroes in rapid succession)
It's sunny. I woke up and yawned, feeling agreeably rested - work done for the week. Finally unpacked
Something in my head said Ah, yes, Saturday, meeting a friend for a riverside drink later, chill out and listen to music now...
Then I started getting emails from my Gazette editors, and some overseas flint agents, and I couldn't work out why they were all working at the weekend, I actually emailed one and said "wow, you're putting in the hours"
They now presumably think I am going gaga
Well I think you’ve been known to go Lady GaGa
I do get very impatient before social jollies. Ideally I would sleep until two hours beforehand and then beautify myself and get going on the fun.
Basically, God has gifted me a free day. A day I never expected. A tiny but precious extension to my life
I'm not going to waste it on here. I'm going to John Lewis to buy some cushions
THAT, my friends, is how to live. How to extract the very juice of life, and gulp it down with a Viking roar
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
MPs have an obligation to protect the vulnerable and those who can’t advocate for themselves. The articulate and sharp-elbowed, like yourself, will always make their point of view known.
I agree that those who can't advocate for themselves should have protections, so where is the provision in this bill for advanced directives?
At the minute I can articulate my wishes, but if I get dementia I won't be able to, so I ought to be able to sign an advanced directive so express my wishes now. Why aren't MPs including that provision?
Or by advocating for those who can't, do you mean MPs imposing their own views on those who can't, rather than enabling those who can't to express their own intentions clearly while they still can?
In the case dementia patients can live years with it so how can any POA request AD
Our son in laws mother and his father both lived in dementia care for over 2 years
The surreal and ludicrous end of Curatorial Wokeness
"The Benin artifacts previously delivered to Nigeria from UK and Germany have disappeared from public view. They are not on display in any museum. Some or all may have been sold into private markets. (Links in next tweet)"
The surreal and ludicrous end of Curatorial Wokeness
"The Benin artifacts previously delivered to Nigeria from UK and Germany have disappeared from public view. They are not on display in any museum. Some or all may have been sold into private markets. (Links in next tweet)"
This is very unlikely to happen if the Parthenon marbles are returned to Greece, though. That museum, and its delivious restaurant there also, are well-run places.
University staff walk out over calls to return to the office three days a week
One staff member said: “It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I’m hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home.
“By the time I’ve finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I’m good for nothing the following day.”
@Dura_Ace Whilst you're likely in sympatico to the protesters' cause, shouldn't RAF bases be a bit tougher to break into than this ?
Brize is only transport a/c so it's not like they are going to walk off with an AMRAAM.
It's not the Cold War (the real one not the made up one of Jessopious) when the perimeter would patrolled 24/7 by RAFR/Mod Plod/Wooly Alligators. (Snip)
Well, let's look back in ten years and see what the perspective on the current time is then. But I'd strongly argue that what we're seeing in international relations *is* a form of Cold War; even as far as having surrogate wars, with Ukraine a reasonable (if imperfect) analogy with Vietnam.
The other possible analogy is the mid 1930s, with the entire world drifting towards yet another crisis. We certainly have our fair share of dictators and would-be dictators and imperialists, with a good number of appeasers and excusers of them.
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
MPs have an obligation to protect the vulnerable and those who can’t advocate for themselves. The articulate and sharp-elbowed, like yourself, will always make their point of view known.
I agree that those who can't advocate for themselves should have protections, so where is the provision in this bill for advanced directives?
At the minute I can articulate my wishes, but if I get dementia I won't be able to, so I ought to be able to sign an advanced directive so express my wishes now. Why aren't MPs including that provision?
Or by advocating for those who can't, do you mean MPs imposing their own views on those who can't, rather than enabling those who can't to express their own intentions clearly while they still can?
Though you also wouldn't be 6 months from death, you've got years sat in your own excreta watching day time TV in an overheated day lounge before they'd consider looking at your AD. Bucket list of travel, sex, drugs and rock n roll before pulling the plug seems a more rational option.
The surreal and ludicrous end of Curatorial Wokeness
"The Benin artifacts previously delivered to Nigeria from UK and Germany have disappeared from public view. They are not on display in any museum. Some or all may have been sold into private markets. (Links in next tweet)"
But the British Museum had had its own issues with its collection:
"In 2020, Danish antiquities dealer Dr Ittai Gradel began to suspect an eBay seller he had been buying from was a thief who was stealing from the British Museum.
More than two years later, the museum would announce that thousands of objects were missing, stolen or damaged from its collection. It had finally believed Dr Gradel - but why had it taken so long for it to do so?"
The surreal and ludicrous end of Curatorial Wokeness
"The Benin artifacts previously delivered to Nigeria from UK and Germany have disappeared from public view. They are not on display in any museum. Some or all may have been sold into private markets. (Links in next tweet)"
But the British Museum had had its own issues with its collection:
"In 2020, Danish antiquities dealer Dr Ittai Gradel began to suspect an eBay seller he had been buying from was a thief who was stealing from the British Museum.
More than two years later, the museum would announce that thousands of objects were missing, stolen or damaged from its collection. It had finally believed Dr Gradel - but why had it taken so long for it to do so?"
We've got to get over the Woke Shit and stop handing back treasures to absurd countries that will just sell them corruptly. Who benefits from this? Absolutely no one, apart from a few rich greedy people in the Global South, certainly not the average citizen - anywhere
Utter disgrace how many religious MPs are opposing this reasonable liberalisation because they want to impose their religion on others.
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
MPs have an obligation to protect the vulnerable and those who can’t advocate for themselves. The articulate and sharp-elbowed, like yourself, will always make their point of view known.
I agree that those who can't advocate for themselves should have protections, so where is the provision in this bill for advanced directives?
At the minute I can articulate my wishes, but if I get dementia I won't be able to, so I ought to be able to sign an advanced directive so express my wishes now. Why aren't MPs including that provision?
Or by advocating for those who can't, do you mean MPs imposing their own views on those who can't, rather than enabling those who can't to express their own intentions clearly while they still can?
To get it passed it probably needs to err (which I agree it does) on the restrictive side. Once it's been in place a while it can be widened if the support is there. But if it falls that could be it for a generation.
The surreal and ludicrous end of Curatorial Wokeness
"The Benin artifacts previously delivered to Nigeria from UK and Germany have disappeared from public view. They are not on display in any museum. Some or all may have been sold into private markets. (Links in next tweet)"
But the British Museum had had its own issues with its collection:
"In 2020, Danish antiquities dealer Dr Ittai Gradel began to suspect an eBay seller he had been buying from was a thief who was stealing from the British Museum.
More than two years later, the museum would announce that thousands of objects were missing, stolen or damaged from its collection. It had finally believed Dr Gradel - but why had it taken so long for it to do so?"
University staff walk out over calls to return to the office three days a week
One staff member said: “It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I’m hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home.
“By the time I’ve finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I’m good for nothing the following day.”
One oddity of our move* to hybrid working has been the removal of office desktop PCs so that we all have to transport our laptops. It is a bit of a pain for those of us who cycle. Everything is supposed to be on the network drives, so there should be no need to have your specific laptop in front of you. Those without work laptops got shiny new ones; I already had one (paid for from a grant I won) and was told I could swap to shiny new one but could not have a new one and keep my old one for home use. More devices to keep hold of, I guess (I preferred the old one, which was a Thinkpad, so kept that - it's cosmetically fairly trashed now from 30-mile round trips in a cycle pannier).
The move to boost campus working where I am (2 days per week) has been somewhat performative. There's a day when my whole team is in and that's genuinely really useful. The other day, if I go in, I often see very few people I work with as they attend on other days and the whole thing feels rather pointless (plus two hours of productive time lost to commuting). So I mostly don't bother unless I am actually meeting someone in person and no one has had the guts to tell me off so far. I come in for in person meetings, of course, and for any new supervisees or students as required.
Like anything, in person working can be done with purpose - e.g. actually set two days when everyone in a group is in - but without that it's doing little more than ticking a box.
*for many people - I was 2-3 days at home before Covid
ETA: The quote looks like an exaggeration, of course. But enforcing performative office attendance will, like anything else put in the way, encourage the more able with more options to look elsewhere. If you're going to enforce more office working, you need to know why you are doing it and do it in such a way that actually helps towards those aims.
University staff walk out over calls to return to the office three days a week
One staff member said: “It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I’m hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home.
“By the time I’ve finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I’m good for nothing the following day.”
Comments
What a prick.
The T20 is great for clubs like Durham. Its criminal were cut adrift due to the hundred.
Last year when we went the women’s game was far better than the men’s so we want to see it again.
https://x.com/khamenei_ir/status/471009858842787840
What western media describe as “romance”, is not true #love. It’s a fleeting sexual excitement with no sense of #responsibility involved.
Or indeed SKS's recent walk in the mountains in Canada...
On sale among many other works at Brockley open studios the weekend after next. https://brockleyopenstudios.co.uk/
I may have made this before, but if formats of cricket were BBC television stations, the Hundred would be BBC3, the T20 would be BBC1, whatever the current domestic one day format would be BBC2, and the county championship would be BBC4.
Russia is carrying on the Cold War program of funding every dissident/extreme group, no matter the ideology. Even pre-internet, they were almost desperate in their attempts to create false narratives. See the vast time and effort they spent on the “CIA created AIDS” story.
Did daydream that a cricket fan media mogul could put together a highlights package for the county games from the youtube streams.
"Ball of the day" Goalhanger productions.
Yesterday, Keir Starmer did an interview with Talk TV.
On the same day, his account uploaded an interview with Nicola, a single mother of three, who just so so happens to have the exact same kitchen.
What are the chances!? 🤔
https://x.com/archrose90/status/1936007786455822608?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
At the time, the queen was possibly the most famous and mysterious person in the world. Her taking part in that episode was possibly the most surprising bit of telly I can remember.
1. Apply a 2% tax on assets over £10 million, to raise up to £24 billion a year
2. Reform the Capital Gains Tax system through increasing rates and closing loopholes, to raise around £12 billion a year
3. Properly tax income from wealth, by applying National Insurance to investment income, raising up to £10.2 billion a year
It said start with 100 points and remove 3 for every band you know.
I ended with 100 points.
As far as I can tell with TikTok (I may be wrong, I'd be interested to hear if I am):
- They're not really pushing Chinese government narratives particularly
- They're feeding certain kinds of emotional / nihilistic anti-establishment politics but this is indistinguishable with what regular commercial social media incentives would produce, for example Reddit does the same
- The thing they did before the US election totally fit their corporate objectives, but didn't particularly fit with Chinese government objectives, and we know that their investor cut a deal with Trump
Ben Stokes calls on England to adapt better ‘when we’re up against the wall’
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/19/ben-stokes-says-england-must-adapt-better-when-were-up-against-the-wall
If you don't agree with death due to your religion then don't choose it, don't stand in the way of those who do though.
Park your religion at your Church.
It has no place in the law in a free society.
Back from my lakeside walk, and it's quite warm here - it will be HOT later.
Has President Chump finished blowing up the USA's future, yet?
I think they used to be known as a "truss", but that application wilted some time ago.
But people have objections for many reasons.
But somewhere, Harold Shipman is watching on, smiling, knowing he was a visionary.
https://www.ft.com/content/a86f5ca3-f841-4cdc-9376-304e085c4cfd
Essentially, in buying Twitter Musk wrenched the entire political debate over to the right, and it is still moving right. And Zuckerberg and Co got jealous of Musk’s power and influence and wanted some of it. And also they noticed how Musk sacked half his staff with no apparent problem
It transformed so many things. So it was actually quite a bargain at $44bn
Those who opt for something getting their wishes is liberalism, not murder.
There is a case for both views and you could say that you want to impose your own views
And I am not religious but I just say 'may your God go with you'
I would add I will be amazed if it doesn't pass though 4 years before it is implemented seems strange
The imposition of views on others is entirely on one side.
If you don't want to choose an assisted death, because of your religion or for any other reason, I respect your choice.
You choose what you want. Whether I agree with your choice, or not, is not relevant, its not my choice.
The only person I want to make a choice for, is myself. I want that freedom and you to have the freedom to choose for yourself without my views deciding it.
A bit like the faked suicide notes, or the story that the victim just walked out and disappeared, but easier to achieve.
There is no god but I’ve no particular objection to believers whipping themselves with knotted ropes.
But in return I would like religionists to pipe down and not impose their love of suffering on others.
As far as I understand it not one but two doctors need to meet with the patient who needs to clearly express their wishes.
There's no proviso, as I think there should be, for living wills or advanced directives.
So how exactly is someone supposed to fake that paperwork? Impersonate the individual at the doctor's appointment? Sounds risky.
“When he was 19 years old, I think he had an idea in his head of what a CEO was supposed to be like and he was trying to be that, especially in public.”
He still does, and he is still trying.
We will indeed see.
In the meantime it still gives us stuff like this.
Here is three straight minutes of Donald Trump saying things will be happening “in two weeks” (spoiler alert: none of them ever happened)
https://x.com/MarcoFoster_/status/1935808193155793136
One staff member said: “It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I’m hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home.
“By the time I’ve finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I’m good for nothing the following day.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/jobs/university-staff-walk-out-return-office-three-days/
On the other hand, who is having more of an impact on the world, Mark Zuckerburg, or "MattW off of PB"?
(narrator: viewcode is putting this comment here so when its dark, wet and cold in winter we can look back on it)
May as well worship the entrails of a sheep
However there are many good reasons to object to this bill. Religion doesn’t come into it.
Do you support 🇺🇦Ukraine joining the 🇪🇺EU
Yes or No?
https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1935955679388246142
It's sunny. I woke up and yawned, feeling agreeably rested - work done for the week. Finally unpacked
Something in my head said Ah, yes, Saturday, meeting a friend for a riverside drink later, chill out and listen to music now...
Then I started getting emails from my Gazette editors, and some overseas flint agents, and I couldn't work out why they were all working at the weekend, I actually emailed one and said "wow, you're putting in the hours"
They now presumably think I am going gaga
I do get very impatient before social jollies. Ideally I would sleep until two hours beforehand and then beautify myself and get going on the fun.
At the minute I can articulate my wishes, but if I get dementia I won't be able to, so I ought to be able to sign an advanced directive so express my wishes now. Why aren't MPs including that provision?
Or by advocating for those who can't, do you mean MPs imposing their own views on those who can't, rather than enabling those who can't to express their own intentions clearly while they still can?
But total votes only around 500 - whereas 600 votes at Second Reading. Implies 100 more MPs still to turn up for main Third Reading vote later.
Around 13 to 16 Conservative MPs voting on the pro side this morning including Jeremy Hunt (Rishi Sunak absent - he voted pro at Second Reading).
Link to Commons results:
https://votes.parliament.uk/votes/commons
A cross of 80% Uranium 235, coated with phosphor, glowing in the half twilight?
With 'up to' likely doing a lot of work.
By the way I didn't suggest any cuts in services - my ideas were a combination of tax rises and reductions in welfarism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgQg1p2p_4A
No, the conspiracy is that the "random woman" appears to be an actress, and so this is another episode of The Thick of It...
https://x.com/jasondavis594/status/1935855753677422623
I'm not going to waste it on here. I'm going to John Lewis to buy some cushions
THAT, my friends, is how to live. How to extract the very juice of life, and gulp it down with a Viking roar
Our son in laws mother and his father both lived in dementia care for over 2 years
"The Benin artifacts previously delivered to Nigeria from UK and Germany have disappeared from public view. They are not on display in any museum. Some or all may have been sold into private markets. (Links in next tweet)"
"See here https://theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/10/benin-bronzes-nigeria-return-stolen-art/671245/ and here https://theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/benin-bronzes-nigeria-western-museums/674650/ Western museum curators know perfectly well what happens to art works delivered to Nigeria but are intimidated into silence."
https://x.com/davidfrum/status/1936037724684796395
And I walked a mile and a half from the station to the airport bus stop, 'cos the weather was nice and I had enough time.
The other possible analogy is the mid 1930s, with the entire world drifting towards yet another crisis. We certainly have our fair share of dictators and would-be dictators and imperialists, with a good number of appeasers and excusers of them.
As Trump edges closer to deciding on striking Iran’s nuclear sites, Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth has reportedly been shut out of top talks.
“Nobody is talking to Hegseth. There is no interface operationally between Hegseth and the White House at all,” an official told The Washington Post.
https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1935901811388420243
Bucket list of travel, sex, drugs and rock n roll before pulling the plug seems a more rational option.
But the British Museum had had its own issues with its collection:
"In 2020, Danish antiquities dealer Dr Ittai Gradel began to suspect an eBay seller he had been buying from was a thief who was stealing from the British Museum.
More than two years later, the museum would announce that thousands of objects were missing, stolen or damaged from its collection. It had finally believed Dr Gradel - but why had it taken so long for it to do so?"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpegg27g74do
Enuff
Looks close so ...🤞
Probably stuck on who to name the catalogue project after. And the design of the report binder.
The move to boost campus working where I am (2 days per week) has been somewhat performative. There's a day when my whole team is in and that's genuinely really useful. The other day, if I go in, I often see very few people I work with as they attend on other days and the whole thing feels rather pointless (plus two hours of productive time lost to commuting). So I mostly don't bother unless I am actually meeting someone in person and no one has had the guts to tell me off so far. I come in for in person meetings, of course, and for any new supervisees or students as required.
Like anything, in person working can be done with purpose - e.g. actually set two days when everyone in a group is in - but without that it's doing little more than ticking a box.
*for many people - I was 2-3 days at home before Covid
ETA: The quote looks like an exaggeration, of course. But enforcing performative office attendance will, like anything else put in the way, encourage the more able with more options to look elsewhere. If you're going to enforce more office working, you need to know why you are doing it and do it in such a way that actually helps towards those aims.
But that is including the bike!