My older daughter, 19, has expressed an interest in a road trip with her geriatric old dad, this summer. Last year we did south/central France and it was brilliant
But where now? We’ve done France (and Italy before it) and anywhere south seems absurdly hot
I want somewhere quirky but full of interest and ideally somewhere I’ve not been as well. I’m thinking Scandinavia or Eastern Europe….
It may be much too easy, but how about the west of Ireland?
The Wild Atlantic Way is a 2,600 km (1,600 mile) scenic coastal driving route along the west coast of Ireland, stretching from the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal to Kinsale in County Cork. It's one of the longest defined coastal routes in the world, offering dramatic coastal scenery, charming towns, and a rich cultural heritage.
The West Coast of Ireland is extremely interesting from a nature POV, too.
If you wanted to you could add NI in, too.
My other suggestions would be the west coast of Norway, which has amazing roads (there's a Top Gear / Grand Tour about it), or perhaps Finland / Sweden or the Baltics.
If you want history, what about the route of the old Iron Curtain?
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
I had a debate (and stormed out when I didn't make much progress) in Sunday School over whether an apple was a need or a want.
My argument was that apple was food and therefore a need, and not a want, especially if there was nothing else available. The teacher didn't agree.
Gritters sent out in Bedfordshire to protect melting road surfaces in heatwave
I ran a late afternoon leg of the Cotswold Relay a few years ago. Vivid memory of stepping out of the car barefoot and the foot sinking into the melty tarmac. A very hot day.
I may be wrong, but it doesn't strike me as obvious that gritters would help in this situation.
My older daughter, 19, has expressed an interest in a road trip with her geriatric old dad, this summer. Last year we did south/central France and it was brilliant
But where now? We’ve done France (and Italy before it) and anywhere south seems absurdly hot
I want somewhere quirky but full of interest and ideally somewhere I’ve not been as well. I’m thinking Scandinavia or Eastern Europe….
How about a Baltic States road trip? You could go from Vilnius to the coast at Klaipeda and follow it round to Riga and maybe go up into Estonia.
You could extend the start of this eastwards through Poland, which has many interesting cities surely some of which you haven't seen.
And if you do this, you have the opportunity of starting with the Newcastle-Hamburg ferry. Which is a boon if you're in the northern half of the UK. Which I know Leon isn't, but his daughter is.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
Always moving when we remember our childhood. Even gnarled and ruined wretches like me long to glimpse back through the mists to when Dad was as big as the fiercest of bears and Mum could perform miracles before breakfast. It was safe and warm because they made it safe and warm. I guess when we have the chance to remember that we are lucky, we had the ones to protect us who made it worth looking back longingly. Its funny, whenever I look back and remember Mum I can hear her telling me I need to go forward, and somewhere there I'll see her again. Now I'm all wistful
Beautifully put. I've another seam: childhood holidays, which up to the age of 5 were all on the Isle of Arran. Walking up to the hill after tea to put a stone on the cairn with my Dad, in matching blue woolly jumpers, the sun setting on the Firth of Clyde behind us. He seemed so impossibly old and wise then, but can't have been more than 30. He never gave the impression of doubt. I wonder if he felt it.
I can answer this on your dad's behalf. Yes. Much of the time.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
Always moving when we remember our childhood. Even gnarled and ruined wretches like me long to glimpse back through the mists to when Dad was as big as the fiercest of bears and Mum could perform miracles before breakfast. It was safe and warm because they made it safe and warm. I guess when we have the chance to remember that we are lucky, we had the ones to protect us who made it worth looking back longingly. Its funny, whenever I look back and remember Mum I can hear her telling me I need to go forward, and somewhere there I'll see her again. Now I'm all wistful
Beautifully put. I've another seam: childhood holidays, which up to the age of 5 were all on the Isle of Arran. Walking up to the hill after tea to put a stone on the cairn with my Dad, in matching blue woolly jumpers, the sun setting on the Firth of Clyde behind us. He seemed so impossibly old and wise then, but can't have been more than 30. He never gave the impression of doubt. I wonder if he felt it.
I rather expect any doubt if there were any was soon dispelled by the adoration of mini Cookie. We made them the heroes they were to us
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
It's a good question and difficult to disentangle. I do remember the World Cup Final of 1970 being discussed. But only cos it was my brother's Christening the same day. 3 and a half. I definitely remember decimal currency coming in when I was four, but again that was cos of my Mam's excitement at the change she got from the shop.
That's valid and impressive! Remembering a non-personal event aged 3 and a half
The winner so far
I have a weird fugitive memory of my falling out of a cot aged 2 and something. Incredibly dim and smoky memory
And I've been told I did fall out of a cot at that time, dramatically, but it is quite possible I invented the memory to fit the story, when told later
The earliest precise memories - and they are precise, i recall other kids, and being told to sleep at weird times - are from my first days at nursery school, just turned 4
Yes, there's a very big difference between first memories, and memories of "events". I have a short but distinct memory of the hospital food, and the post op discomfort, when I went in for an eye operation at somewhere between 2 and 3 years old.
Nursery school first day, quite distinctly. And the fact that they handed out jelly babies on the children's birthdays.
Yep. Nursery school. That's still there. Specifically being put to bed in the afternoon and my blanket being blue with a little red airplane stitched on.
All together now ... Awwww
That’s exactly my memory! Being told to go to sleep in the afternoon and sort of rebelling coz it was weird
Listen With Mother; BBC Home service, about 1.45pm. The first movement of Faure's Dolly Suite is indelibly fixed to this in me, and many of my generation - born 1954. And 'Are you sitting comfortably?'
Faure's piano music is a bit neglected, and the Nocturnes are wonderful. But there is nothing like the 2+ minutes of the Berceuse of the Dolly Suite, I suppose because of their indelible associations.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
A podcast from the Telegraph Battle Lines feed, which starts with an item about the IDF being ordered to shoot with live ammunition at civilians coming to the food distribution points.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
I had a debate (and stormed out when I didn't make much progress) in Sunday School over whether an apple was a need or a want.
My argument was that apple was food and therefore a need, and not a want, especially if there was nothing else available. The teacher didn't agree.
My first flounce.
My first controversial move was walking out of Superman at the cinema after 5 mins, saying it was stupid. That memory gives me some perspective when I get tetchy with my 5yo now for being difficult
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
A podcast from the Telegraph Battle Lines feed, which starts with an item about the IDF being ordered to shoot with live ammunition at civilians coming to the food distribution points.
Today, a good many people would have you believe a punk band is the number one threat to world peace.
"Last week it was a Palestine pressure group, the week before that it was another band.
"We are not for the death of jews, arabs or any other race or group of people.
"We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine. A machine whose own soldiers were told to use "unnecessary lethal force" against innocent civilians waiting for aid.
"A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.
The statement added: "We, like those in the spotlight before us, are not the story.
"We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction.
"The government doesn't want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity? To ask why they aren't doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?
"The more time they talk about Bob Vylan, the less time they spend answering for their criminal inaction.
"We are being targeted for speaking up. We are not the first. We will not be the last. And if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up too.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
I had a debate (and stormed out when I didn't make much progress) in Sunday School over whether an apple was a need or a want.
My argument was that apple was food and therefore a need, and not a want, especially if there was nothing else available. The teacher didn't agree.
My first flounce.
My first controversial move was walking out of Superman at the cinema after 5 mins, saying it was stupid. That memory gives me some perspective when I get tetchy with my 5yo now for being difficult
I think mine was a disagreement with a teacher at the age of about nine. I was taking a rather Bart-esque emphasis on a single point of detail, and getting into high dudgeon.
I don't know how to spell the noise of fed up annoyance I made as I walked away from her desk. It was along the lines of a lung-emptying "HUH !!".
Apart from my famous request "Have you got the bagpipes?" at the age of 4, when a friend's mum was trying to get us to play band with a toy trumpet, recorder etc. This was not Scotland.
Now: some banks might have $60m of customer deposits, and another $30m of Certificates of Deposits or something else. But it simply not the case they lend out a multiple of their deposits.
The issue with fractional reserve banking - and the reason that people get confused - is that when a bank lends money to someone, then it creates a deposit somewhere else in the banking system."
Yep I know that @rcs1000, but I wasn't going into that detail in replying to @hyufd. The key point being that depending upon the ratio of a bank's lending to its deposit determines the new money created in the economy. I deposit a £1 in the bank, the bank lends it to someone who deposits it and there is now £2 sitting on deposit. If everyone wants to withdraw their money there would be a run on the bank.
Indeed as a result of the fact that the same pound can be listed as a deposit and a loan repeatedly at the same bank.
I deposit £10 at Barclays, which loans it to Archie.
Archie deposits the £10 at Lloyds, which loans it to Bob.
Bob deposits the £10 at Barclays, which loans it to Craig who deposits it at Halifax.
Of the original £10, it is now at Halifax. Barclays is neutral, owing Bob and I £20 in total, and being owed £20 by Archie and Craig.
Scale this up repeatedly, then if Bob and I and everyone else who deposited our money at Barclays want it back simultaneously, Barclays won't have that much money available.
You are forgetting reserves but yes your broader point stands.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
My older daughter, 19, has expressed an interest in a road trip with her geriatric old dad, this summer. Last year we did south/central France and it was brilliant
But where now? We’ve done France (and Italy before it) and anywhere south seems absurdly hot
I want somewhere quirky but full of interest and ideally somewhere I’ve not been as well. I’m thinking Scandinavia or Eastern Europe….
Doesn't E Europe also risk being absurdly hot this summer ? Scandinavia might be a safer bet.
San Francisco to Seattle on 101 might also be fun ?
Some talk now of a further concessiom around the Timms review, details awaited, Government obviously not confident they have the numbers in the bag yet
Today, a good many people would have you believe a punk band is the number one threat to world peace.
"Last week it was a Palestine pressure group, the week before that it was another band.
"We are not for the death of jews, arabs or any other race or group of people.
"We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine. A machine whose own soldiers were told to use "unnecessary lethal force" against innocent civilians waiting for aid.
"A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.
The statement added: "We, like those in the spotlight before us, are not the story.
"We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction.
"The government doesn't want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity? To ask why they aren't doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?
"The more time they talk about Bob Vylan, the less time they spend answering for their criminal inaction.
"We are being targeted for speaking up. We are not the first. We will not be the last. And if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up too.
Free Palestine."
Reasonableness itself.
And I have no doubt that the centrist dads and assorted lefties chanting along with him had much the same feeling.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
I'm not sure the Conservative Party (as opposed to slightly odd characters within the Party, like Hall) would touch Lowe.
For all the amusement over the Farage/Lowe falling out (and the fact Farage has a long record of falling out with colleagues), RefUK are probably well rid of him - he's a proper piece of work, very much not a team player, and extremely likely to say and do incredibly embarrassing things.
My older daughter, 19, has expressed an interest in a road trip with her geriatric old dad, this summer. Last year we did south/central France and it was brilliant
But where now? We’ve done France (and Italy before it) and anywhere south seems absurdly hot
I want somewhere quirky but full of interest and ideally somewhere I’ve not been as well. I’m thinking Scandinavia or Eastern Europe….
Doesn't E Europe also risk being absurdly hot this summer ? Scandinavia might be a safer bet.
San Francisco to Seattle on 101 might also be fun ?
A podcast from the Telegraph Battle Lines feed, which starts with an item about the IDF being ordered to shoot with live ammunition at civilians coming to the food distribution points.
Today, a good many people would have you believe a punk band is the number one threat to world peace.
"Last week it was a Palestine pressure group, the week before that it was another band.
"We are not for the death of jews, arabs or any other race or group of people.
"We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine. A machine whose own soldiers were told to use "unnecessary lethal force" against innocent civilians waiting for aid.
"A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.
The statement added: "We, like those in the spotlight before us, are not the story.
"We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction.
"The government doesn't want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity? To ask why they aren't doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?
"The more time they talk about Bob Vylan, the less time they spend answering for their criminal inaction.
"We are being targeted for speaking up. We are not the first. We will not be the last. And if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up too.
Free Palestine."
Reasonableness itself.
And I have no doubt that the centrist dads and assorted lefties chanting along with him had much the same feeling.
"US-Israeli backed Gaza aid group must be shut down, say 130 charities"
More than 130 charities and other NGOs are calling for the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to be shut down.
Over 500 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid since the GHF started operating in late May, following Israel's three-month blockade of Gaza, the organisations said. Almost 4,000 have been injured.
The organisations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty, say Israeli forces and armed groups "routinely" open fire on Palestinians seeking aid.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
I had a debate (and stormed out when I didn't make much progress) in Sunday School over whether an apple was a need or a want.
My argument was that apple was food and therefore a need, and not a want, especially if there was nothing else available. The teacher didn't agree.
My first flounce.
My first controversial move was walking out of Superman at the cinema after 5 mins, saying it was stupid. That memory gives me some perspective when I get tetchy with my 5yo now for being difficult
I walked out of Bambi aged about that. Not because it was stupid, just because it was sad. In fact, I had form for absenting myself from immersion in fiction I found stressful. At infant school, I would often patiently wait out storytime in the cloakrooms. Especially if it was The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Didn't like the jeopardy.
My older daughter, 19, has expressed an interest in a road trip with her geriatric old dad, this summer. Last year we did south/central France and it was brilliant
But where now? We’ve done France (and Italy before it) and anywhere south seems absurdly hot
I want somewhere quirky but full of interest and ideally somewhere I’ve not been as well. I’m thinking Scandinavia or Eastern Europe….
How about a Baltic States road trip? You could go from Vilnius to the coast at Klaipeda and follow it round to Riga and maybe go up into Estonia.
Add the overnight ferry to Helsinki too. It may not be at its most Helsinkish in summer, but it's very pleasant.
Shame you can't drop in on the Hermitage, really. One day.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
It's a good question and difficult to disentangle. I do remember the World Cup Final of 1970 being discussed. But only cos it was my brother's Christening the same day. 3 and a half. I definitely remember decimal currency coming in when I was four, but again that was cos of my Mam's excitement at the change she got from the shop.
That's valid and impressive! Remembering a non-personal event aged 3 and a half
The winner so far
I have a weird fugitive memory of my falling out of a cot aged 2 and something. Incredibly dim and smoky memory
And I've been told I did fall out of a cot at that time, dramatically, but it is quite possible I invented the memory to fit the story, when told later
The earliest precise memories - and they are precise, i recall other kids, and being told to sleep at weird times - are from my first days at nursery school, just turned 4
I also remember being told to sleep on camp beds at nursery - I refused. Probably the earliest is sitting on a potty in front of the fire listening to Worker's Playtime with Wilfred Pickles.(I assume that happened several times).
My older daughter, 19, has expressed an interest in a road trip with her geriatric old dad, this summer. Last year we did south/central France and it was brilliant
But where now? We’ve done France (and Italy before it) and anywhere south seems absurdly hot
I want somewhere quirky but full of interest and ideally somewhere I’ve not been as well. I’m thinking Scandinavia or Eastern Europe….
Doesn't E Europe also risk being absurdly hot this summer ? Scandinavia might be a safer bet.
San Francisco to Seattle on 101 might also be fun ?
A podcast from the Telegraph Battle Lines feed, which starts with an item about the IDF being ordered to shoot with live ammunition at civilians coming to the food distribution points.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
I had a debate (and stormed out when I didn't make much progress) in Sunday School over whether an apple was a need or a want.
My argument was that apple was food and therefore a need, and not a want, especially if there was nothing else available. The teacher didn't agree.
My first flounce.
You were both right.
It reminds me of when I first subjected to adult scrutiny my teenage totem about macroeconomics - "If something is essential to people it should be publicly owned."
What about food, says Teach.
Instead of coolly processing and acknowledging the difference between 'a' food and Food, I plunged on and ended up arguing for farms, supermarkets, restaurants and every cafe and corner shop in Britain to be owned and run by the government.
Absurd. But is the sophisticated worldly person I've become 50 years later an improvement on that guileless Marxist Leninist youth? Not convinced he is.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
I had a debate (and stormed out when I didn't make much progress) in Sunday School over whether an apple was a need or a want.
My argument was that apple was food and therefore a need, and not a want, especially if there was nothing else available. The teacher didn't agree.
My first flounce.
My first controversial move was walking out of Superman at the cinema after 5 mins, saying it was stupid. That memory gives me some perspective when I get tetchy with my 5yo now for being difficult
I walked out of Bambi aged about that. Not because it was stupid, just because it was sad. In fact, I had form for absenting myself from immersion in fiction I found stressful. At infant school, I would often patiently wait out storytime in the cloakrooms. Especially if it was The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Didn't like the jeopardy.
Mum and dad took me to see the (original and best) Star Wars when it came to the UK in 1978, but as I was still only aged two, I screamed in terror when that big Imperial cruiser came into view at the beginning, and my parents had to take me away. Which is ironic, as it's one of my favourite films 47 years later
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
It's a good question and difficult to disentangle. I do remember the World Cup Final of 1970 being discussed. But only cos it was my brother's Christening the same day. 3 and a half. I definitely remember decimal currency coming in when I was four, but again that was cos of my Mam's excitement at the change she got from the shop.
That's valid and impressive! Remembering a non-personal event aged 3 and a half
The winner so far
I have a weird fugitive memory of my falling out of a cot aged 2 and something. Incredibly dim and smoky memory
And I've been told I did fall out of a cot at that time, dramatically, but it is quite possible I invented the memory to fit the story, when told later
The earliest precise memories - and they are precise, i recall other kids, and being told to sleep at weird times - are from my first days at nursery school, just turned 4
Yes, there's a very big difference between first memories, and memories of "events". I have a short but distinct memory of the hospital food, and the post op discomfort, when I went in for an eye operation at somewhere between 2 and 3 years old.
Nursery school first day, quite distinctly. And the fact that they handed out jelly babies on the children's birthdays.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
Do all of the policies for this new movement have to start with 'Restore'? If so here are some suggestions:
Restore Woodspice moisturising aftershave at M&S Restore the mechanical arrivals boards at train stations Restore the Plantagenet dynasty Restore department stores Restore sandwich spread in every storage cupboard.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
I wonder how many people lie in the intersection on a Venn Diagram of believing in the death penalty, and believing Letby is innocent.
Of course if we had the death penalty, then the state could kill Letby whether she's innocent or not.
Surely believing in the death penalty (which I don't, by the way) doesn't force you to believe that absolutely everyone convicted of murder is guilty and there are no miscarriages of justice?
I mean, it does raise a legitimate concern - that the death penalty means a small number of innocent people would be executed. The two answers open to proponents are, firstly, that they'd introduce an extra burden of "super proof" such that the sentence is reserved for those in whose guilt isn't just "beyond reasonable doubt" but "beyond any doubt". It's a weird one as you'd then have people convicted of murder but not "super" convicted, and I'm unsure it'd really work. The other is to take it on the chin and say yes, very sadly a tiny number of innocent people die but crime comes down serving the greater good.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
It's a good question and difficult to disentangle. I do remember the World Cup Final of 1970 being discussed. But only cos it was my brother's Christening the same day. 3 and a half. I definitely remember decimal currency coming in when I was four, but again that was cos of my Mam's excitement at the change she got from the shop.
That's valid and impressive! Remembering a non-personal event aged 3 and a half
The winner so far
I have a weird fugitive memory of my falling out of a cot aged 2 and something. Incredibly dim and smoky memory
And I've been told I did fall out of a cot at that time, dramatically, but it is quite possible I invented the memory to fit the story, when told later
The earliest precise memories - and they are precise, i recall other kids, and being told to sleep at weird times - are from my first days at nursery school, just turned 4
Yes, there's a very big difference between first memories, and memories of "events". I have a short but distinct memory of the hospital food, and the post op discomfort, when I went in for an eye operation at somewhere between 2 and 3 years old.
Nursery school first day, quite distinctly. And the fact that they handed out jelly babies on the children's birthdays.
I meant to say after she was born. A couple of days later. Fortunately I didn’t witness my mother push her out.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
I wonder how many people lie in the intersection on a Venn Diagram of believing in the death penalty, and believing Letby is innocent.
Of course if we had the death penalty, then the state could kill Letby whether she's innocent or not.
Surely believing in the death penalty (which I don't, by the way) doesn't force you to believe that absolutely everyone convicted of murder is guilty and there are no miscarriages of justice?
I mean, it does raise a legitimate concern - that the death penalty means a small number of innocent people would be executed. The two answers open to proponents are, firstly, that they'd introduce an extra burden of "super proof" such that the sentence is reserved for those in whose guilt isn't just "beyond reasonable doubt" but "beyond any doubt". It's a weird one as you'd then have people convicted of murder but not "super" convicted, and I'm unsure it'd really work. The other is to take it on the chin and say yes, very sadly a tiny number of innocent people die but crime comes down serving the greater good.
Yes, it's not why I oppose the DP. I still would even if it were 100% certain that everyone executed was guilty as charged.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
It's a good question and difficult to disentangle. I do remember the World Cup Final of 1970 being discussed. But only cos it was my brother's Christening the same day. 3 and a half. I definitely remember decimal currency coming in when I was four, but again that was cos of my Mam's excitement at the change she got from the shop.
That's valid and impressive! Remembering a non-personal event aged 3 and a half
The winner so far
I have a weird fugitive memory of my falling out of a cot aged 2 and something. Incredibly dim and smoky memory
And I've been told I did fall out of a cot at that time, dramatically, but it is quite possible I invented the memory to fit the story, when told later
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
I had a debate (and stormed out when I didn't make much progress) in Sunday School over whether an apple was a need or a want.
My argument was that apple was food and therefore a need, and not a want, especially if there was nothing else available. The teacher didn't agree.
My first flounce.
My first controversial move was walking out of Superman at the cinema after 5 mins, saying it was stupid. That memory gives me some perspective when I get tetchy with my 5yo now for being difficult
I walked out of Bambi aged about that. Not because it was stupid, just because it was sad. In fact, I had form for absenting myself from immersion in fiction I found stressful. At infant school, I would often patiently wait out storytime in the cloakrooms. Especially if it was The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Didn't like the jeopardy.
I hated having to visit my school friend for tea. They had a TV and it was always on the Lone Ranger day and it was much too exciting for me.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
I wonder how many people lie in the intersection on a Venn Diagram of believing in the death penalty, and believing Letby is innocent.
Of course if we had the death penalty, then the state could kill Letby whether she's innocent or not.
Surely believing in the death penalty (which I don't, by the way) doesn't force you to believe that absolutely everyone convicted of murder is guilty and there are no miscarriages of justice?
I mean, it does raise a legitimate concern - that the death penalty means a small number of innocent people would be executed. The two answers open to proponents are, firstly, that they'd introduce an extra burden of "super proof" such that the sentence is reserved for those in whose guilt isn't just "beyond reasonable doubt" but "beyond any doubt". It's a weird one as you'd then have people convicted of murder but not "super" convicted, and I'm unsure it'd really work. The other is to take it on the chin and say yes, very sadly a tiny number of innocent people die but crime comes down serving the greater good.
That argument will be easier when assisted dying comes in.
I have a memory of my parents shipping me off to my Aunt's for an end of the Sixties Party on New year's Eve. I would have been three and a month. The same thing happened when our kid was born. Three and a half.
But what's your first memory of a non-personal event? Something in the news? Or something that happened in your town, but not personally witnessed? Perhaps discussed in front of you
For me, as I say, it is Apollo 11. Age 6
My dad always claimed he could remember his Dad and a friend discussing Peace in Our Time, and Munich, when he was 4
Yes, that too. I was thinking of overtly political events, so had excluded that.
I had an Airfix kit of the Lunar module. I think my older brother got the Saturn V...
I was born in 1975. I certainly had no memory of male Prime Ministers before Major and remember thinking the concept an musing oddity when it was pointed out to me aged about 6 that such things were possible. I think I remember the party on the playing field at the back of the estate for the silver jubilee when I had just turned two, though I am probably conflating it with the same thing for the ChazzleDizzle in 1981, which I definitely remember. I certainly remember the Falklands War. My first political memory is off Michael Foot's wife being knocked over by a low-hanging branch in an open-topped bus. My first sporting memory is of the foul by Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battison in the 1982 Football World Cup. Even then, I remember thinking it a fundamentally stupid sport. My first cultural memory is of my parents listening to Abba in the car, though my first I would claim of my own is my fondness for the Vapor's 'Turning Japanese'. I can't imagine how I accessed this. Not necessarily a massively appropriate song for a five year old. I have numerous snippets of memories from 2, 3, 4 years old - but they are like tiny context-free vignettes, viewed through a keyhole: seeing a thunderstorm, sitting in the paddling pool on a hot day (probably in the summer of 77), arguing over the lyrics to 'all things bright and beautiful' (I was right, btw), children's television, playgroups. Toys. Trains (and suddenly, unbidden, the smell of trains in the 70s...)
If, as a writer or moviemaker, one could capture that weird "keyhole" effect of super-early childhood memories, it would be a powerful thing
We are actually getting something close to that with this scattergun of very small children's views of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s right now. I am enjoying it.
I find most of them profoundly moving
Eg “walking to school in the snow and putting my feet in my father’s snowy footprints”
These memories are intrinsically poetic. Focused on tiny but poignant and immortal details. Perhaps we are all born poets but then lose the knack over time…
I had a debate (and stormed out when I didn't make much progress) in Sunday School over whether an apple was a need or a want.
My argument was that apple was food and therefore a need, and not a want, especially if there was nothing else available. The teacher didn't agree.
My first flounce.
My first controversial move was walking out of Superman at the cinema after 5 mins, saying it was stupid. That memory gives me some perspective when I get tetchy with my 5yo now for being difficult
I walked out of Bambi aged about that. Not because it was stupid, just because it was sad. In fact, I had form for absenting myself from immersion in fiction I found stressful. At infant school, I would often patiently wait out storytime in the cloakrooms. Especially if it was The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Didn't like the jeopardy.
With you on finding fiction stressful. Films were a deeply immersive experience as a kid (and to an extent still are, though I lacked the analytical distancing back then). But I don't think I've ever walked out of one.
My older daughter, 19, has expressed an interest in a road trip with her geriatric old dad, this summer. Last year we did south/central France and it was brilliant
But where now? We’ve done France (and Italy before it) and anywhere south seems absurdly hot
I want somewhere quirky but full of interest and ideally somewhere I’ve not been as well. I’m thinking Scandinavia or Eastern Europe….
It may be much too easy, but how about the west of Ireland?
The Wild Atlantic Way is a 2,600 km (1,600 mile) scenic coastal driving route along the west coast of Ireland, stretching from the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal to Kinsale in County Cork. It's one of the longest defined coastal routes in the world, offering dramatic coastal scenery, charming towns, and a rich cultural heritage.
The West Coast of Ireland is extremely interesting from a nature POV, too.
If you wanted to you could add NI in, too.
My other suggestions would be the west coast of Norway, which has amazing roads (there's a Top Gear / Grand Tour about it), or perhaps Finland / Sweden or the Baltics.
If you want history, what about the route of the old Iron Curtain?
It does rather depend on the amount of time available, and the preferred daily driving time.
My older daughter, 19, has expressed an interest in a road trip with her geriatric old dad, this summer. Last year we did south/central France and it was brilliant
But where now? We’ve done France (and Italy before it) and anywhere south seems absurdly hot
I want somewhere quirky but full of interest and ideally somewhere I’ve not been as well. I’m thinking Scandinavia or Eastern Europe….
Given your politics, rural Hungary might suit - masses of history and culture in a compact area, some nice cycling routes, great food and wine, interesting but not overpowering scenery and plenty of quirky hotels - how about a former monastery? https://klastrom.hu/en Oh, and don't forget all those spas for pampering
My older daughter, 19, has expressed an interest in a road trip with her geriatric old dad, this summer. Last year we did south/central France and it was brilliant
But where now? We’ve done France (and Italy before it) and anywhere south seems absurdly hot
I want somewhere quirky but full of interest and ideally somewhere I’ve not been as well. I’m thinking Scandinavia or Eastern Europe….
Doesn't E Europe also risk being absurdly hot this summer ? Scandinavia might be a safer bet.
San Francisco to Seattle on 101 might also be fun ?
Indeed
I’ve just noticed that you can fly to Svalbard
Now THAT would be an adventure
One emerging tourist destination - island hopping in the Azores?
A podcast from the Telegraph Battle Lines feed, which starts with an item about the IDF being ordered to shoot with live ammunition at civilians coming to the food distribution points.
I think this one needs to be looked in the face so it can be evaluated, not dodged.
I've been recommending the Telegraph military podcasts for the last 3 years as the most authoritative source on the Ukraine War. Those have maintained quality whilst much of the rest of the paper has arguably gone to the dogs.
That, I think, is a judgement which is justified by the evidence we have repeatedly seen on PB.
It's the value of small teams of specialists on their own specialist beat, rather than eg UK Parliament correspondents reporting on the detail of the Israel or Ukraine conflict without having the hinterland.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
Do all of the policies for this new movement have to start with 'Restore'? If so here are some suggestions:
Restore Woodspice moisturising aftershave at M&S Restore the mechanical arrivals boards at train stations Restore the Plantagenet dynasty Restore department stores Restore sandwich spread in every storage cupboard.
Woodspice?
The Reform MPs use Oil of Ulay; it's why they look so young.
We are delighted to welcome Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie), Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, to our Advisory Board.
Doesn't Restore Britain say it's a pressure group rather than a party? Bit like the Monday Club was, or The Freedom Association, or numerous other talking shops for like-minded weirdos. So I expect she'll be okay.
Yes Lowe has specifically set it up not to be a party. The electoral aspect will happen through Advance. Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
Do all of the policies for this new movement have to start with 'Restore'? If so here are some suggestions:
Restore Woodspice moisturising aftershave at M&S Restore the mechanical arrivals boards at train stations Restore the Plantagenet dynasty Restore department stores Restore sandwich spread in every storage cupboard.
Woodspice?
The Reform MPs use Oil of Ulay; it's why they look so young.
Comments
The West Coast of Ireland is extremely interesting from a nature POV, too.
If you wanted to you could add NI in, too.
My other suggestions would be the west coast of Norway, which has amazing roads (there's a Top Gear / Grand Tour about it), or perhaps Finland / Sweden or the Baltics.
If you want history, what about the route of the old Iron Curtain?
My argument was that apple was food and therefore a need, and not a want, especially if there was nothing else available. The teacher didn't agree.
My first flounce.
And if you do this, you have the opportunity of starting with the Newcastle-Hamburg ferry. Which is a boon if you're in the northern half of the UK. Which I know Leon isn't, but his daughter is.
Lowe will either join Advance later or he will run on a Tory or joint Tory ticket
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/07/01/israel-limits-entry-of-baby-formula-in-gaza-as-infants-die-of-hunger_6742899_4.html#
https://x.com/RupertLowe10/status/1939987694785810625
AMIRIGHT?
https://x.com/imshin/status/1940014732552921238?t=3l9LyhpHUwPp30rmDQ42QQ&s=19
Hmm.
Today, a good many people would have you believe a punk band is the number one threat to world peace.
"Last week it was a Palestine pressure group, the week before that it was another band.
"We are not for the death of jews, arabs or any other race or group of people.
"We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine. A machine whose own soldiers were told to use "unnecessary lethal force" against innocent civilians waiting for aid.
"A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.
The statement added: "We, like those in the spotlight before us, are not the story.
"We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction.
"The government doesn't want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity? To ask why they aren't doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?
"The more time they talk about Bob Vylan, the less time they spend answering for their criminal inaction.
"We are being targeted for speaking up. We are not the first. We will not be the last. And if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up too.
Free Palestine."
I don't know how to spell the noise of fed up annoyance I made as I walked away from her desk. It was along the lines of a lung-emptying "HUH !!".
Apart from my famous request "Have you got the bagpipes?" at the age of 4, when a friend's mum was trying to get us to play band with a toy trumpet, recorder etc. This was not Scotland.
Of course if we had the death penalty, then the state could kill Letby whether she's innocent or not.
Bondi fires prosecutors who worked on Jan 6 cases, as democracy fades ever more in the US.
I like Ireland but I’ve seen much of it. Esp the west coast
Has any PB-er ever been to the far north of Scandinavia? The lofoten islands? Lapland?
Scandinavia might be a safer bet.
San Francisco to Seattle on 101 might also be fun ?
Government obviously not confident they have the numbers in the bag yet
And I have no doubt that the centrist dads and assorted lefties chanting along with him had much the same feeling.
For all the amusement over the Farage/Lowe falling out (and the fact Farage has a long record of falling out with colleagues), RefUK are probably well rid of him - he's a proper piece of work, very much not a team player, and extremely likely to say and do incredibly embarrassing things.
Are we stuck with this for the foreseeable or will access improve?
I’ve just noticed that you can fly to Svalbard
Now THAT would be an adventure
This imo is one area where the Telegraph is reliable.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn5kk1w00xyo
More than 130 charities and other NGOs are calling for the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to be shut down.
Over 500 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid since the GHF started operating in late May, following Israel's three-month blockade of Gaza, the organisations said. Almost 4,000 have been injured.
The organisations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty, say Israeli forces and armed groups "routinely" open fire on Palestinians seeking aid.
In fact, I had form for absenting myself from immersion in fiction I found stressful. At infant school, I would often patiently wait out storytime in the cloakrooms. Especially if it was The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Didn't like the jeopardy.
Shame you can't drop in on the Hermitage, really. One day.
NEW THREAD
It reminds me of when I first subjected to adult scrutiny my teenage totem about macroeconomics - "If something is essential to people it should be publicly owned."
What about food, says Teach.
Instead of coolly processing and acknowledging the difference between 'a' food and Food, I plunged on and ended up arguing for farms, supermarkets, restaurants and every cafe and corner shop in Britain to be owned and run by the government.
Absurd. But is the sophisticated worldly person I've become 50 years later an improvement on that guileless Marxist Leninist youth? Not convinced he is.
Restore Woodspice moisturising aftershave at M&S
Restore the mechanical arrivals boards at train stations
Restore the Plantagenet dynasty
Restore department stores
Restore sandwich spread in every storage cupboard.
I mean, it does raise a legitimate concern - that the death penalty means a small number of innocent people would be executed. The two answers open to proponents are, firstly, that they'd introduce an extra burden of "super proof" such that the sentence is reserved for those in whose guilt isn't just "beyond reasonable doubt" but "beyond any doubt". It's a weird one as you'd then have people convicted of murder but not "super" convicted, and I'm unsure it'd really work. The other is to take it on the chin and say yes, very sadly a tiny number of innocent people die but crime comes down serving the greater good.
Films were a deeply immersive experience as a kid (and to an extent still are, though I lacked the analytical distancing back then). But I don't think I've ever walked out of one.
Oh, and don't forget all those spas for pampering
Wildlife spotting in Poland or Romania?
I think you're answer is hasty, and TBH a bit sletchy. It's a podcast feed as I say, not an article, so is not behind any paywall - you can access it via the link I provided. Here is a Youtube deeplink:
https://youtu.be/DRp7UbRgVUE?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dk&t=101
I think this one needs to be looked in the face so it can be evaluated, not dodged.
I've been recommending the Telegraph military podcasts for the last 3 years as the most authoritative source on the Ukraine War. Those have maintained quality whilst much of the rest of the paper has arguably gone to the dogs.
That, I think, is a judgement which is justified by the evidence we have repeatedly seen on PB.
It's the value of small teams of specialists on their own specialist beat, rather than eg UK Parliament correspondents reporting on the detail of the Israel or Ukraine conflict without having the hinterland.
The Reform MPs use Oil of Ulay; it's why they look so young.