@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
New developments, if not in towns, should either be near a railway station or near a railway line with a condition of development being a railway station being funded and opened.
Pointless if trains only stop there once every second Thursday.
That sounds like quite a full on service. How many platforms are needed if they stop every second on Thursdays?
Say a minute of dwell time at the platform. Plus a minute interval between trains. 120 seconds. So 120 platforms?
Mind you, the number of a parallel tracks required for the actual journeys. You'd end up with trains nose to tail... make them one giant train... Then how to get people on and off... The Roads Must Roll made manifest?
I've a considerable interest in two of today's topics since both Mrs C and I are regular, if low-level, drinkers and concerned about our driving. I quite like some..... eg Ghost Ship Zero but generally find it easier to just not drink as much. I really, really don't want to fall over and damage my spine any more than it's damaged already. Fortunately the local pub has reasonably frequent changes of guest beers, so I'm able to experiment.
On driving. earlier this year I had a long drawn out discussion with the DVLA which resulted in me surrendering my licence, due to inability to react quickly enough (see above for spinal damage). During the process I had a couple of charged for assessments at a Centre associated with, but not part of, the DVLA. I 'passed' the first, but not the second.
Mrs C still has a licence and drives about the locality but was concerned about her sight. However the opticians have assured that it';s fine. However she fell foul of a speed camera earlier this year and as a result when on a Driving Awareness course, and while there was told about an organisation which will assess older drivers, m at no charge, and comment on their driving. She's now waiting for them to come back to her.
On the electric mobility scooter point, I've now got one and while I can manage many places locally well enough, including the supermarket and my favourite pub, I can't use the Post Office because the aisles are too narrow and I knock things off the shelves!
Keep knocking stuff off until they make it accessible. I used to measure the aisles as part of my old retail job.
I think those assessments you and wife have done should be free.
My 94 year old aunt takes a voluntary driving test every year. As she says she takes old people in her car and wants to be sure she is safe!
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
I recall some pubs in Edinburgh refusing to sell it in pints due to the potency. You could of course buy as many half pints as you could carry...
Had somebody ask for a Guinness shandy once. They got the raw ingredients to attempt to mix themselves. I assume they were taking the piss but its their money
The new drink driving limit: Sponsored by Guinness Zero.
By all accounts, alcohol-free booze has come on leaps and bounds so the designated driver no longer has to sip too-sweet soft drinks.
Low alcohol and alcohol free beer is now my drink of choice at pubs and even in the evening: I can recommend Brewdog's "Hazy AF" and the rest of their AF range.
I haven't given up drinking, and haven't yet found a good low alcohol wine (and the concept of low alcohol spirits strikes me as bizarre), but for beer they taste good enough for me, and I can drink them and drive.
Beer/lager is the only drink I have found where 0% can in any sense replicate the taste. I like the stuff like Gordons 0% as well, but gin it isn't. 0% wines - avoid.
Why do 0% lagers work and 0% wine doesn't? What's going on with the chemistry here?
Dunno, but just think of it as the small beer which they used to use routinely for drinks everyday rather than water (bug-laden) and tea/coffee (too expensive, also adulterated in hindsight).
While we are doing tightening the law on driving. How long can you ride around on a moped with L plates? It seems like some people are doing it forever.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Then the language will move on one dead Rail Forum user at a time. A bit like physics.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
I'll remove my cap as I pass the ditch on the way to the train station
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
While we are doing tightening the law on driving. How long can you ride around on a moped with L plates? It seems like some people are doing it forever.
And this is part of the duality of the law that upsets people so much.
On the one hand you have people taking their tests, listening to medical advice, getting insurance, maintaining the car carefully.
Then your mirror (carefully adjusted) gets wacked by an eternal L-plater on a scooter, doing delivery. He's probably uninsured.
You see similar in building - the bandit sites (visibly breaking the law) are rarely touched. Run a decent site and you actually get inspected.
The new drink driving limit: Sponsored by Guinness Zero.
By all accounts, alcohol-free booze has come on leaps and bounds so the designated driver no longer has to sip too-sweet soft drinks.
Low alcohol and alcohol free beer is now my drink of choice at pubs and even in the evening: I can recommend Brewdog's "Hazy AF" and the rest of their AF range.
I haven't given up drinking, and haven't yet found a good low alcohol wine (and the concept of low alcohol spirits strikes me as bizarre), but for beer they taste good enough for me, and I can drink them and drive.
Beer/lager is the only drink I have found where 0% can in any sense replicate the taste. I like the stuff like Gordons 0% as well, but gin it isn't. 0% wines - avoid.
There must be a market opportunity for anyone that can produce a palatable alcohol free wine.
Palatable wine is too big a challenge for many of them.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
There was also the issue of the pile-ons from errr.... supporters, especially online, for anyone daring to question The Maximum Leader.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
Agreed, except that we used to live a few doors away from Andrew Neil’s brother and sister in law (who was our daughter’s piano teacher). They were a very nice couple, but not working class.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
OMG, that is a real blast from the past for me as I used to drink a snakebite or two at the start of a night out as a student and I was not or have ever been a cider or a beer drinker but it was an absolute tradition and a very potent start to a good night out drinking. Was this a purely Scottish thing?
It was around at my university, though I thought it was cider and lager *. And I'd never drink anything (even then) with Gas-o-Lager in it.
(* "beer" is not lager)
I have just remembered, it was cider with either beer or lager but we girls used to ask for it with a dash of blackcurrent juice as well!
Snakebite and black
Yes, that is what we used to have at the start of a night out, but I would always end up being the only person in my age group drinking a gin and tonic by the end of the night. I just could not get into all the usual spirits with coke or lemonade mixers and almost gave up trying to find a drink mix I liked when someone suggested I try a gin and tonic. I was regarded as a complete oddity for drinking it back then and now gin has exploded in popularity with a crazy amount of various brands.
The new drink driving limit: Sponsored by Guinness Zero.
By all accounts, alcohol-free booze has come on leaps and bounds so the designated driver no longer has to sip too-sweet soft drinks.
Low alcohol and alcohol free beer is now my drink of choice at pubs and even in the evening: I can recommend Brewdog's "Hazy AF" and the rest of their AF range.
I haven't given up drinking, and haven't yet found a good low alcohol wine (and the concept of low alcohol spirits strikes me as bizarre), but for beer they taste good enough for me, and I can drink them and drive.
Beer/lager is the only drink I have found where 0% can in any sense replicate the taste. I like the stuff like Gordons 0% as well, but gin it isn't. 0% wines - avoid.
There must be a market opportunity for anyone that can produce a palatable alcohol free wine.
Palatable wine is too big a challenge for many of them.
I've tasted some zero alcohol wines that are up to "middle of the road Pinot Grigio" standards - a nice enough drink on a hot day in a cafe environment.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
OMG, that is a real blast from the past for me as I used to drink a snakebite or two at the start of a night out as a student and I was not or have ever been a cider or a beer drinker but it was an absolute tradition and a very potent start to a good night out drinking. Was this a purely Scottish thing?
It was around at my university, though I thought it was cider and lager *. And I'd never drink anything (even then) with Gas-o-Lager in it.
(* "beer" is not lager)
I have just remembered, it was cider with either beer or lager but we girls used to ask for it with a dash of blackcurrent juice as well!
Snakebite and black
Do people still drink barley wine? Gold Label was a thing back in the day in my student union. The cheapest and most direct way to oblivion as I recall its advocates cheerfully stating as they settled down in the gloomier corners.
While we are doing tightening the law on driving. How long can you ride around on a moped with L plates? It seems like some people are doing it forever.
Back in the '50's I passed my test on a moped, then bought a 250cc bike.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
There used to be a drink in the North East called a Boilermaker - half a pint of Newcastle Exhibition( aka "Ex") in a pint glass, topped up with half a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale (aka "Bottle of Dog").
As you still had the rest of the Brown, you would be obliged to have a second.
I've a considerable interest in two of today's topics since both Mrs C and I are regular, if low-level, drinkers and concerned about our driving. I quite like some..... eg Ghost Ship Zero but generally find it easier to just not drink as much. I really, really don't want to fall over and damage my spine any more than it's damaged already. Fortunately the local pub has reasonably frequent changes of guest beers, so I'm able to experiment.
On driving. earlier this year I had a long drawn out discussion with the DVLA which resulted in me surrendering my licence, due to inability to react quickly enough (see above for spinal damage). During the process I had a couple of charged for assessments at a Centre associated with, but not part of, the DVLA. I 'passed' the first, but not the second.
Mrs C still has a licence and drives about the locality but was concerned about her sight. However the opticians have assured that it';s fine. However she fell foul of a speed camera earlier this year and as a result when on a Driving Awareness course, and while there was told about an organisation which will assess older drivers, m at no charge, and comment on their driving. She's now waiting for them to come back to her.
On the electric mobility scooter point, I've now got one and while I can manage many places locally well enough, including the supermarket and my favourite pub, I can't use the Post Office because the aisles are too narrow and I knock things off the shelves!
As soneone who's doing it, who would your wife react to greater flexibility in types of vehicle available eg golf carts as used in eg Florida, or those French style microcars as extensively used in Amsterdam. Here we have traditionally not had anything smaller than a full-size car available, which is not horribly expensive. And our road networks etc set up such that it is intimidating to be driving one.
I'd consider asking them fairly gently about the Equality Act 2010 and their responsibility to provide an accessible service.
In this case, it would perhaps be "reasonable adjustments", which could be for example making the Post Office counter available down a wider aisle, even if that means that other things less universally used are more difficult.
But these things always need thought and flexibility. Do they know that you, and all the other people like you, can't get in and that it costs them money?
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
OMG, that is a real blast from the past for me as I used to drink a snakebite or two at the start of a night out as a student and I was not or have ever been a cider or a beer drinker but it was an absolute tradition and a very potent start to a good night out drinking. Was this a purely Scottish thing?
It was around at my university, though I thought it was cider and lager *. And I'd never drink anything (even then) with Gas-o-Lager in it.
(* "beer" is not lager)
I have just remembered, it was cider with either beer or lager but we girls used to ask for it with a dash of blackcurrent juice as well!
Snakebite and black
Do people still drink barley wine? Gold Label was a thing back in the day in my student union. The cheapest and most direct way to oblivion as I recall its advocates cheerfully stating as they settled down in the gloomier corners.
When I worked in my father's pub in the very early 90s there were two old dears aged mid 80s and mid 90s who used to drink a bottle or 2 of Gold Label of an evening. One of them used to drive to the pub as I recall. I used to walk the older one home (not far) after closing. She was a legend.
That's how our system works. No point in fining people amounts they can't pay as a) they won't be able and b) it can cause knock-on effects like loss of accommodation. It's widely applied to the Great British Public and not just immigrants.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
I agree.
Having worked for governments in Northern Ireland and Jersey, on the one had, and London and Brussels on the other, you certainly notice the difference between the level of scrutiny. In the former, everybody knows everybody else, there's much more of a you-scratch-my-back culture and it's in nobody's interests to blow whistles or upset the boat. While in London a ferocious and ferociously competitive media means that scandals are much more likely to come out.
That's also a strong argument against devolution, because you need a critical mass of media to get that level of competition and hence scrutiny.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
Agreed, except that we used to live a few doors away from Andrew Neil’s brother and sister in law (who was our daughter’s piano teacher). They were a very nice couple, but not working class.
So Andrew Neil and his family were as working class as the former SNP MP Mairi Black?
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
Snakebite and black with a top of blackcurrant cordial, snakebite and death with a shot in the top or a chaser Diamond white and special brew was the snakebite of choice for hard-core alcys
Snakebite and blackcurrant was referred to as "Purple Nasty" in my student days.
I would sometimes have a pint of "Micky Mouse", which was half bitter and half lager. But a pint of mild was my preference.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
OMG, that is a real blast from the past for me as I used to drink a snakebite or two at the start of a night out as a student and I was not or have ever been a cider or a beer drinker but it was an absolute tradition and a very potent start to a good night out drinking. Was this a purely Scottish thing?
It was around at my university, though I thought it was cider and lager *. And I'd never drink anything (even then) with Gas-o-Lager in it.
(* "beer" is not lager)
I have just remembered, it was cider with either beer or lager but we girls used to ask for it with a dash of blackcurrent juice as well!
Snakebite and black
Yes, that is what we used to have at the start of a night out, but I would always end up being the only person in my age group drinking a gin and tonic by the end of the night. I just could not get into all the usual spirits with coke or lemonade mixers and almost gave up trying to find a drink mix I liked when someone suggested I try a gin and tonic. I was regarded as a complete oddity for drinking it back then and now gin has exploded in popularity with a crazy amount of various brands.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
I recall some pubs in Edinburgh refusing to sell it in pints due to the potency. You could of course buy as many half pints as you could carry...
Had somebody ask for a Guinness shandy once. They got the raw ingredients to attempt to mix themselves. I assume they were taking the piss but its their money
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
I find that a difficult analysis gven there is *no* Scottish media, other than branches of the London operations and some local/regional newspaper firms, all formidably Unionist (including the owner of the National which originated and still seems to exist as a second best way of catching the readers lost when the Herald went full fat Union - and is not particularly pro SNP anyway).
It's certainly worth considering the analysis that these firms aren't willing to do their jobs, but it's not a problem that lies in Scotland. [edit] at least in terms of newspaper ownership.
Neil himself helped to turn the Scotsman from its previous life as a middle of hte road and fine Scottish newspaper into a DT-like UNionist sheet under the new owners, right down to society pages full of photos of "Mrs James Hamster-Macilroy and Mrs ffotherington-Lee enjoy a glass of wine at the latest art gallery opening".
I've a considerable interest in two of today's topics since both Mrs C and I are regular, if low-level, drinkers and concerned about our driving. I quite like some..... eg Ghost Ship Zero but generally find it easier to just not drink as much. I really, really don't want to fall over and damage my spine any more than it's damaged already. Fortunately the local pub has reasonably frequent changes of guest beers, so I'm able to experiment.
On driving. earlier this year I had a long drawn out discussion with the DVLA which resulted in me surrendering my licence, due to inability to react quickly enough (see above for spinal damage). During the process I had a couple of charged for assessments at a Centre associated with, but not part of, the DVLA. I 'passed' the first, but not the second.
Mrs C still has a licence and drives about the locality but was concerned about her sight. However the opticians have assured that it';s fine. However she fell foul of a speed camera earlier this year and as a result when on a Driving Awareness course, and while there was told about an organisation which will assess older drivers, m at no charge, and comment on their driving. She's now waiting for them to come back to her.
On the electric mobility scooter point, I've now got one and while I can manage many places locally well enough, including the supermarket and my favourite pub, I can't use the Post Office because the aisles are too narrow and I knock things off the shelves!
I'd consider asking them fairly gently about the Equality Act 2010 and their responsibility to provide an accessible service.
In this case, it would perhaps be "reasonable adjustments", which could be for example making the Post Office counter available down a wider aisle, even if that means that other things less universally used are more difficult.
But these things always need thought and flexibility. Do they know that you, and all the other people like you, can't get in and that it costs them money?
I'll have to give it another try one of these days. It's quite difficult to get in anyway as the door is very heavy. They have a bell, but sometimes there's only one shop-worker in the place.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
OMG, that is a real blast from the past for me as I used to drink a snakebite or two at the start of a night out as a student and I was not or have ever been a cider or a beer drinker but it was an absolute tradition and a very potent start to a good night out drinking. Was this a purely Scottish thing?
It was around at my university, though I thought it was cider and lager *. And I'd never drink anything (even then) with Gas-o-Lager in it.
(* "beer" is not lager)
I have just remembered, it was cider with either beer or lager but we girls used to ask for it with a dash of blackcurrent juice as well!
Snakebite and black
Yes, that is what we used to have at the start of a night out, but I would always end up being the only person in my age group drinking a gin and tonic by the end of the night. I just could not get into all the usual spirits with coke or lemonade mixers and almost gave up trying to find a drink mix I liked when someone suggested I try a gin and tonic. I was regarded as a complete oddity for drinking it back then and now gin has exploded in popularity with a crazy amount of various brands.
Of course, the great benefit of all of these designer/atelier/craft gins is that they remind us what a really good bargain a bottle of cheap gin can be.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
Snakebite and black with a top of blackcurrant cordial, snakebite and death with a shot in the top or a chaser Diamond white and special brew was the snakebite of choice for hard-core alcys
Snakebite and blackcurrant was referred to as "Purple Nasty" in my student days.
I would sometimes have a pint of "Micky Mouse", which was half bitter and half lager. But a pint of mild was my preference.
That's how our system works. No point in fining people amounts they can't pay as a) they won't be able and b) it can cause knock-on effects like loss of accommodation. It's widely applied to the Great British Public and not just immigrants.
But if you want to change the whole system ....
Some sort of community sentence perhaps...maybe delivering food to the local neighbourhood?
Deportation is probably generally appropriate from a system point of view even if harsh on the individual.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
OMG, that is a real blast from the past for me as I used to drink a snakebite or two at the start of a night out as a student and I was not or have ever been a cider or a beer drinker but it was an absolute tradition and a very potent start to a good night out drinking. Was this a purely Scottish thing?
It was around at my university, though I thought it was cider and lager *. And I'd never drink anything (even then) with Gas-o-Lager in it.
(* "beer" is not lager)
I have just remembered, it was cider with either beer or lager but we girls used to ask for it with a dash of blackcurrent juice as well!
Snakebite and black
A fellow tenant redecorated our toilet a la H block after several blastaways, diamond white and castaway.
Under my system, Deliveroo would be fined £100,000
The migrant in question, if he reported them, would get £50,000 and indefinite leave to remain.
The likes of Deliveroo are turning a blind eye. It is fairly easy to implement checks to ensure the person out delivering is the person on file e.g. they must take a live call from an operator or produce a video within a short period of time including certain things.
Deliveroo use insulation* and layering*, quite specifically.
They don't employee people. They contract with a "company" - which is supposed to be one person. The company, in turn, subcontracts (if the owner wants to). This can happen multiple times. So Deliveroo can claim total ignorance of who is actually delivering to your door.
Some of the "delivery riders" for Deliveroo are, themselves, substantial businesses employing many actual delivery riders as subcontractors.
So when you complain to Deliveroo about the axe murdering racist they sent to deliver your chicken nuggets, they simply point to the company they contracted with for the delivery.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
OMG, that is a real blast from the past for me as I used to drink a snakebite or two at the start of a night out as a student and I was not or have ever been a cider or a beer drinker but it was an absolute tradition and a very potent start to a good night out drinking. Was this a purely Scottish thing?
It was around at my university, though I thought it was cider and lager *. And I'd never drink anything (even then) with Gas-o-Lager in it.
(* "beer" is not lager)
I have just remembered, it was cider with either beer or lager but we girls used to ask for it with a dash of blackcurrent juice as well!
Snakebite and black
A fellow tenant redecorated our toilet a la H block after several blastaways, diamond white and castaway.
Yep. You're not drinking that for the good time glow
I've a considerable interest in two of today's topics since both Mrs C and I are regular, if low-level, drinkers and concerned about our driving. I quite like some..... eg Ghost Ship Zero but generally find it easier to just not drink as much. I really, really don't want to fall over and damage my spine any more than it's damaged already. Fortunately the local pub has reasonably frequent changes of guest beers, so I'm able to experiment.
On driving. earlier this year I had a long drawn out discussion with the DVLA which resulted in me surrendering my licence, due to inability to react quickly enough (see above for spinal damage). During the process I had a couple of charged for assessments at a Centre associated with, but not part of, the DVLA. I 'passed' the first, but not the second.
Mrs C still has a licence and drives about the locality but was concerned about her sight. However the opticians have assured that it';s fine. However she fell foul of a speed camera earlier this year and as a result when on a Driving Awareness course, and while there was told about an organisation which will assess older drivers, m at no charge, and comment on their driving. She's now waiting for them to come back to her.
On the electric mobility scooter point, I've now got one and while I can manage many places locally well enough, including the supermarket and my favourite pub, I can't use the Post Office because the aisles are too narrow and I knock things off the shelves!
I'd consider asking them fairly gently about the Equality Act 2010 and their responsibility to provide an accessible service.
In this case, it would perhaps be "reasonable adjustments", which could be for example making the Post Office counter available down a wider aisle, even if that means that other things less universally used are more difficult.
But these things always need thought and flexibility. Do they know that you, and all the other people like you, can't get in and that it costs them money?
I'll have to give it another try one of these days. It's quite difficult to get in anyway as the door is very heavy. They have a bell, but sometimes there's only one shop-worker in the place.
I know, but the habit of "normies" is that your issues will just not be on the radar (see barriers ) and you never know but they might be able to do some adaptations to get the "Zimmers" mob back in for the extra custom. It's not that they don't think; it's often that no one has done the education.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
There used to be a drink in the North East called a Boilermaker - half a pint of Newcastle Exhibition( aka "Ex") in a pint glass, topped up with half a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale (aka "Bottle of Dog").
As you still had the rest of the Brown, you would be obliged to have a second.
Although Broon Dog was always served with a half pint glass, so you could always request one of those.
I was at University in Newcastle in the '80s and never heard of a Boilermaker, but then I used to drink McEwan's 80/- or Bass or Strongarm in certain pubs. And Old Peculier in the Mitre (latterly the set for Byker Grove). And Cask Ex when they brought out the cask version. Oh and Samsom or Fed Special (which was far from special but sometimes the only cask beer available). If there was no real ale you could often get Theakston or Ruddles in funny wide-mouthed bottles with ring pulls. That might just have been the University bars though.
I was told they weren't allowed to sell Snakebite due to local licensing rules, but that might just have been the University bars protecting themselves from copious amounts of projectile vomiting. I did try it once, it seemed the lager and cider flavours cancelled each other out you got something tasteless that got you pissed, great for people who don't actually like the taste of alcoholic beverages.
Used to go to the Beer Festival when it was still at the Guildhall. On a less positive note I still remember the worst beers I have ever drunk* which were Drybioroughs Heavy and Lorimers Best Scotch.
* other than beers with a fault, had an Italian IPA last week that smelled of wet dog and I'm quite prepared to believe tasted of one too
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
Agreed, except that we used to live a few doors away from Andrew Neil’s brother and sister in law (who was our daughter’s piano teacher). They were a very nice couple, but not working class.
So Andrew Neil and his family were as working class as the former SNP MP Mairi Black?
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
Snakebite and black with a top of blackcurrant cordial, snakebite and death with a shot in the top or a chaser Diamond white and special brew was the snakebite of choice for hard-core alcys
Snakebite and blackcurrant was referred to as "Purple Nasty" in my student days.
I would sometimes have a pint of "Micky Mouse", which was half bitter and half lager. But a pint of mild was my preference.
Mild is a sad omission from most pubs now
Yes, as is its Scottish equivalent, Light (which is equivalent to Dark Mild). Both went out of fashion with the decline of heavy industry.
The new drink driving limit: Sponsored by Guinness Zero.
By all accounts, alcohol-free booze has come on leaps and bounds so the designated driver no longer has to sip too-sweet soft drinks.
Low alcohol and alcohol free beer is now my drink of choice at pubs and even in the evening: I can recommend Brewdog's "Hazy AF" and the rest of their AF range.
I haven't given up drinking, and haven't yet found a good low alcohol wine (and the concept of low alcohol spirits strikes me as bizarre), but for beer they taste good enough for me, and I can drink them and drive.
Beer/lager is the only drink I have found where 0% can in any sense replicate the taste. I like the stuff like Gordons 0% as well, but gin it isn't. 0% wines - avoid.
Why do 0% lagers work and 0% wine doesn't? What's going on with the chemistry here?
Dunno, but just think of it as the small beer which they used to use routinely for drinks everyday rather than water (bug-laden) and tea/coffee (too expensive, also adulterated in hindsight).
I find the initial taste of 0% beer can be OK but they lack body and mouth feel.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
I find that a difficult analysis gven there is *no* Scottish media, other than branches of the London operations and some local/regional newspaper firms, all formidably Unionist (including the owner of the National which originated and still seems to exist as a second best way of catching the readers lost when the Herald went full fat Union - and is not particularly pro SNP anyway).
It's certainly worth considering the analysis that these firms aren't willing to do their jobs, but it's not a problem that lies in Scotland. [edit] at least in terms of newspaper ownership.
Neil himself helped to turn the Scotsman from its previous life as a middle of hte road and fine Scottish newspaper into a DT-like UNionist sheet under the new owners, right down to society pages full of photos of "Mrs James Hamster-Macilroy and Mrs ffotherington-Lee enjoy a glass of wine at the latest art gallery opening".
I’m old enough to remember when The Scotsman supported the Liberal Party. I used to buy it then, as the Glasgow Herald supported Labour.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
You absolutely hit nail the on the head and highlight what we have been dealing with up here in Scotland for the last decade. Nicola Sturgeon's secretive over controlling and scandel laden domestic record in charge in Scotland is absolutely appalling and yet it has and continues to go largely unchallenged. And the lack of any digital or paper trail to many of the her government's decisions which then shrouds any accountibility in secrecy should be a scandal all on its own.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
OMG, that is a real blast from the past for me as I used to drink a snakebite or two at the start of a night out as a student and I was not or have ever been a cider or a beer drinker but it was an absolute tradition and a very potent start to a good night out drinking. Was this a purely Scottish thing?
It was around at my university, though I thought it was cider and lager *. And I'd never drink anything (even then) with Gas-o-Lager in it.
(* "beer" is not lager)
I have just remembered, it was cider with either beer or lager but we girls used to ask for it with a dash of blackcurrent juice as well!
Snakebite and black
Yes, that is what we used to have at the start of a night out, but I would always end up being the only person in my age group drinking a gin and tonic by the end of the night. I just could not get into all the usual spirits with coke or lemonade mixers and almost gave up trying to find a drink mix I liked when someone suggested I try a gin and tonic. I was regarded as a complete oddity for drinking it back then and now gin has exploded in popularity with a crazy amount of various brands.
I always used to find G&T too sweet (and warm, served as my parents did), but modern premium tonic and modern botanical-forward gin, with lots of ice, has transformed the experience.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
I recall some pubs in Edinburgh refusing to sell it in pints due to the potency. You could of course buy as many half pints as you could carry...
I got into gin and tonic, when a student.
On Friday nights, getting to the bar was often slow. So I hit on the idea of a double double - two double gin and tonics in a pint glass.
The bar staff were fine with the idea - but it was pointed out that the license banned selling more than a triple.
So they would give me two double tonics in separate glasses, and empty pint glass with some ice and slice, and two bottles of tonic. Which I would solemnly integrate at the bar, in front of them.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
Agreed, except that we used to live a few doors away from Andrew Neil’s brother and sister in law (who was our daughter’s piano teacher). They were a very nice couple, but not working class.
So Andrew Neil and his family were as working class as the former SNP MP Mairi Black?
The new drink driving limit: Sponsored by Guinness Zero.
By all accounts, alcohol-free booze has come on leaps and bounds so the designated driver no longer has to sip too-sweet soft drinks.
Low alcohol and alcohol free beer is now my drink of choice at pubs and even in the evening: I can recommend Brewdog's "Hazy AF" and the rest of their AF range.
I haven't given up drinking, and haven't yet found a good low alcohol wine (and the concept of low alcohol spirits strikes me as bizarre), but for beer they taste good enough for me, and I can drink them and drive.
Beer/lager is the only drink I have found where 0% can in any sense replicate the taste. I like the stuff like Gordons 0% as well, but gin it isn't. 0% wines - avoid.
Why do 0% lagers work and 0% wine doesn't? What's going on with the chemistry here?
Dunno, but just think of it as the small beer which they used to use routinely for drinks everyday rather than water (bug-laden) and tea/coffee (too expensive, also adulterated in hindsight).
I find the initial taste of 0% beer can be OK but they lack body and mouth feel.
Apparently they have now developed yeast that can ferment out all the sugar in the wort, while only making 0.5% alcohol, so you don't need any sort of industrial process to remove it, and it lowers to bar for being able to produce low alcohol beer. You still have problems with body and flavour (as alcohol carries flavour) but some tinkering with the malt and hops should sort that out.
If you are only going to have one alcoholic beer, though, you should have it at the end of the evening, as if you have an LA beer after a real one you really notice the difference
While we are doing tightening the law on driving. How long can you ride around on a moped with L plates? It seems like some people are doing it forever.
And this is part of the duality of the law that upsets people so much.
On the one hand you have people taking their tests, listening to medical advice, getting insurance, maintaining the car carefully.
Then your mirror (carefully adjusted) gets wacked by an eternal L-plater on a scooter, doing delivery. He's probably uninsured.
You see similar in building - the bandit sites (visibly breaking the law) are rarely touched. Run a decent site and you actually get inspected.
Some of which is to do with austerity particularly hitting council budgets.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
Hardly unique to Scotland. Most of our local media are hollowed-out clickbait machines. And the national media mostly aren't that much better. Meanwhile London apparently can't support a daily newspaper at all. And the bottom line is that the reason for that is that we're collectively not prepared to pay for anything better.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
My grandfather enjoyed a pint of twos - half a mild with half a bitter
As a student I used to drink snakebite which was a combination of cider and beer. It was weirdly potent.
OMG, that is a real blast from the past for me as I used to drink a snakebite or two at the start of a night out as a student and I was not or have ever been a cider or a beer drinker but it was an absolute tradition and a very potent start to a good night out drinking. Was this a purely Scottish thing?
It was around at my university, though I thought it was cider and lager *. And I'd never drink anything (even then) with Gas-o-Lager in it.
(* "beer" is not lager)
I have just remembered, it was cider with either beer or lager but we girls used to ask for it with a dash of blackcurrent juice as well!
Snakebite and black
Yes, that is what we used to have at the start of a night out, but I would always end up being the only person in my age group drinking a gin and tonic by the end of the night. I just could not get into all the usual spirits with coke or lemonade mixers and almost gave up trying to find a drink mix I liked when someone suggested I try a gin and tonic. I was regarded as a complete oddity for drinking it back then and now gin has exploded in popularity with a crazy amount of various brands.
I always used to find G&T too sweet (and warm, served as my parents did), but modern premium tonic and modern botanical-forward gin, with lots of ice, has transformed the experience.
"I've spoken to judges about how and why IPP sentences were so widely used for petty crimes, like stealing a bike or phone, and I have been told that it's because it was easier for a judge to use it than it was for them to explain why they weren't going to.
In 2012 the law was abolished. By that time more than 8,000 people had been given an IPP sentence.
Campaigners say there are still almost 2,500 stuck behind bars. The former Supreme Court Judge Justice Lord Brown called it "the greatest single stain on our criminal justice system"."
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
Agreed, except that we used to live a few doors away from Andrew Neil’s brother and sister in law (who was our daughter’s piano teacher). They were a very nice couple, but not working class.
So Andrew Neil and his family were as working class as the former SNP MP Mairi Black?
I don’t know. I’ve never met Mhairi Black.
She didn't come from a working class background.
More detail please. Her school catchment area includes some pretty dodgy parts of Glasgow unless Ibrox has had a makeover.
Liz Truss would have been just along the road a few miles at the same time.
"I've spoken to judges about how and why IPP sentences were so widely used for petty crimes, like stealing a bike or phone, and I have been told that it's because it was easier for a judge to use it than it was for them to explain why they weren't going to.
In 2012 the law was abolished. By that time more than 8,000 people had been given an IPP sentence.
Campaigners say there are still almost 2,500 stuck behind bars. The former Supreme Court Judge Justice Lord Brown called it "the greatest single stain on our criminal justice system"."
That might be almost 2500 bed-blockers. Aren't they supposed to be short of prison places?
And to complete the circle - the sentences were introduced to warehouse the repeat offenders of low level crime. Like phone theft, bag snatching and bike theft. Very often these are committed by prolific individuals - they will commit multiple crimes per day. So the idea was to lock them up until the brilliant, extensively resourced rehabilitation schemes in UK prisons had converted them from their lives of petty crime.
It's a good read. Coffey has followed the case for a long time, but manages to remain somewhat agnostic as to Letby's guilt. He lays out evidence and counter-argument without favour.
If you stand back a moment and think, the criminalisation of the wish to do honest work is odd. When the real problem is that group of people who have no intention of working honestly at all, but live on benefits, topped up in some cases by drug dealing and other small scale crime.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
There used to be a drink in the North East called a Boilermaker - half a pint of Newcastle Exhibition( aka "Ex") in a pint glass, topped up with half a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale (aka "Bottle of Dog").
As you still had the rest of the Brown, you would be obliged to have a second.
Although Broon Dog was always served with a half pint glass, so you could always request one of those.
I was at University in Newcastle in the '80s and never heard of a Boilermaker, but then I used to drink McEwan's 80/- or Bass or Strongarm in certain pubs. And Old Peculier in the Mitre (latterly the set for Byker Grove). And Cask Ex when they brought out the cask version. Oh and Samsom or Fed Special (which was far from special but sometimes the only cask beer available). If there was no real ale you could often get Theakston or Ruddles in funny wide-mouthed bottles with ring pulls. That might just have been the University bars though.
I was told they weren't allowed to sell Snakebite due to local licensing rules, but that might just have been the University bars protecting themselves from copious amounts of projectile vomiting. I did try it once, it seemed the lager and cider flavours cancelled each other out you got something tasteless that got you pissed, great for people who don't actually like the taste of alcoholic beverages.
Used to go to the Beer Festival when it was still at the Guildhall. On a less positive note I still remember the worst beers I have ever drunk* which were Drybioroughs Heavy and Lorimers Best Scotch.
* other than beers with a fault, had an Italian IPA last week that smelled of wet dog and I'm quite prepared to believe tasted of one too
If you want to get students who don't like the taste of alcohol pissed -- which you shouldn't and is immoral -- then caipiroska is deadly. Vodka, sugar, lemon juice, ice. It's cold, sweet and tart, and you do not notice how alcoholic it is.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
Yes, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Mail, Express, Sun, Times, Tele (hardly worth mentioning the Scotsman and Herald) not to mention the media operation of HMG are notably lily livered towards Indy and the Nats. Shades of all-conquering Israel (courtesy of Yahweh & US inc) whinging about how a few blokes in tunnels have controlled the media narrative and turned the world against them.
The article on the BBC is quite balanced. Whatever anyone believes about the case its probably not the best thing to have so much uncertainty about the conviction. One way or another she deserves another day in court.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
My parents moved from a little village (one shop, two pubs) to a nearby town when they got to 70, because they realised that they wouldn’t be able to drive for ever, and a couple of busses a day through the village wasn’t going to cut it.
The fact that they released a couple of hundred grand in housing equity helped too.
The village shop owners recently retired and couldn’t find a buyer, so now there’s no shop either.
While we are doing tightening the law on driving. How long can you ride around on a moped with L plates? It seems like some people are doing it forever.
And this is part of the duality of the law that upsets people so much.
On the one hand you have people taking their tests, listening to medical advice, getting insurance, maintaining the car carefully.
Then your mirror (carefully adjusted) gets wacked by an eternal L-plater on a scooter, doing delivery. He's probably uninsured.
You see similar in building - the bandit sites (visibly breaking the law) are rarely touched. Run a decent site and you actually get inspected.
Some of which is to do with austerity particularly hitting council budgets.
If you ask the inspectors, they say it has to do with being offered violence when they inspect the cowboy sites.
One inspector noticed that, after he inspected one site, a van was parked across the road from where he lived, when he got home. And drove off the moment he arrived. With the logo of the company he inspected....
I am back off to Asia again shortly, and this time will be visiting China for the first time. I will be going to Shenzhen, but open to visiting other places. Probably be there for 2-3 weeks. Advice...go...
Trump using the old shake down tactics, you kick me back some money, I let you do business....
Export taxes are explicitly illegal in the US so they’ve structured it as a “voluntary agreement”.
“Pay me” with the “or else” implied is anything but voluntary obviously, but in the current political environment it seems the US federal administration can get away with almost anything. How long before Trump actually shoots someone in the street & gets away with it, as he once claimed he could?
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
There used to be a drink in the North East called a Boilermaker - half a pint of Newcastle Exhibition( aka "Ex") in a pint glass, topped up with half a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale (aka "Bottle of Dog").
As you still had the rest of the Brown, you would be obliged to have a second.
Although Broon Dog was always served with a half pint glass, so you could always request one of those.
I was at University in Newcastle in the '80s and never heard of a Boilermaker, but then I used to drink McEwan's 80/- or Bass or Strongarm in certain pubs. And Old Peculier in the Mitre (latterly the set for Byker Grove). And Cask Ex when they brought out the cask version. Oh and Samsom or Fed Special (which was far from special but sometimes the only cask beer available). If there was no real ale you could often get Theakston or Ruddles in funny wide-mouthed bottles with ring pulls. That might just have been the University bars though.
I was told they weren't allowed to sell Snakebite due to local licensing rules, but that might just have been the University bars protecting themselves from copious amounts of projectile vomiting. I did try it once, it seemed the lager and cider flavours cancelled each other out you got something tasteless that got you pissed, great for people who don't actually like the taste of alcoholic beverages.
Used to go to the Beer Festival when it was still at the Guildhall. On a less positive note I still remember the worst beers I have ever drunk* which were Drybioroughs Heavy and Lorimers Best Scotch.
* other than beers with a fault, had an Italian IPA last week that smelled of wet dog and I'm quite prepared to believe tasted of one too
If you want to get students who don't like the taste of alcohol pissed -- which you shouldn't and is immoral -- then caipiroska is deadly. Vodka, sugar, lemon juice, ice. It's cold, sweet and tart, and you do not notice how alcoholic it is.
That Korean “beer” called “soju” is by far the worst. Tastes barely alcoholic. Like about 2%
So you guzzle gallons and then you realise it’s more like 20% and the next day you want to die
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
I agree.
Having worked for governments in Northern Ireland and Jersey, on the one had, and London and Brussels on the other, you certainly notice the difference between the level of scrutiny. In the former, everybody knows everybody else, there's much more of a you-scratch-my-back culture and it's in nobody's interests to blow whistles or upset the boat. While in London a ferocious and ferociously competitive media means that scandals are much more likely to come out.
That's also a strong argument against devolution, because you need a critical mass of media to get that level of competition and hence scrutiny.
Given your claims about the Western Isles being a Libdem stronghold, I think I’ll pass on this ‘insight’.
It's a good read. Coffey has followed the case for a long time, but manages to remain somewhat agnostic as to Letby's guilt. He lays out evidence and counter-argument without favour.
There is a key passage in Coffey's piece:
But it is difficult to tell because Letby's defence team have not shared the scientific evidence.
This is true in three senses. Firstly, the new Letby team have not released full reports. Secondly we do not know, and they have no duty to disclose, any other reports adverse to Letby they have received.
The third is the most interesting. In the two trials the defence offered no expert evidence in rebuttal of the prosecution. This can only mean (unless some fanciful rerason is true) that despite attempts all the expert evidence they had to hand didn't help or made things worse.
Only Letby herself can give permission for the unused defence reports to be disclosed. Her former counsel, Ben Myers KC can't do this. It is privileged to Letby herself.
I don't accept any of the new arguments until we know much more about why Letby would not call expert defence witnesses in either trial.
While we are doing tightening the law on driving. How long can you ride around on a moped with L plates? It seems like some people are doing it forever.
And this is part of the duality of the law that upsets people so much.
On the one hand you have people taking their tests, listening to medical advice, getting insurance, maintaining the car carefully.
Then your mirror (carefully adjusted) gets wacked by an eternal L-plater on a scooter, doing delivery. He's probably uninsured.
You see similar in building - the bandit sites (visibly breaking the law) are rarely touched. Run a decent site and you actually get inspected.
Some of which is to do with austerity particularly hitting council budgets.
If you ask the inspectors, they say it has to do with being offered violence when they inspect the cowboy sites.
One inspector noticed that, after he inspected one site, a van was parked across the road from where he lived, when he got home. And drove off the moment he arrived. With the logo of the company he inspected....
A competent state would call in inspectors from elsewhere at this point, mob handed.
The article on the BBC is quite balanced. Whatever anyone believes about the case its probably not the best thing to have so much uncertainty about the conviction. One way or another she deserves another day in court.
I would not want to on the jury.
I would point out that she had 10 months in court for the first trial + a second trial + multiple appeals. She's had more days in court than 95%+ of her fellow inmates. Maybe 99%+.
Her lawyers have submitted a file to the CCRC. If the CCRC decide her convictions are sound, I would hope that would be the end of it. If the CCRC decide the case needs looking at again, then that should happen.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
It's a station for all those over a certain age. Though we know what a railway station is - it's a pompous way of saying station. Train station has no discernible meaning at all. Like twenty twenty or batter.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
It's a station for all those over a certain age.
I'm going to start calling it a train stop. Like a bus stop, somewhere the train stops.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
It's a station for all those over a certain age.
I'm going to start calling it a train stop. Like a bus stop, somewhere the train stops.
Trains, especially when I am on them, stop at all sorts of places that are not stations. So it doesn't help. It's a station.
I am back off to Asia again shortly, and this time will be visiting China for the first time. I will be going to Shenzhen, but open to visiting other places. Probably be there for 2-3 weeks. Advice...go...
The wilds of Yunnan. Magnificent
Also you can get into Tibet there, without a special Tibetan visa because a corner of Yunnan is culturally Tibet - in every way except politically
Also Beijing and Shanghai OBVS. They are obvious but they are essential
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
It's a station for all those over a certain age.
I'm going to start calling it a train stop. Like a bus stop, somewhere the train stops.
Trains, especially when I am on them, stop at all sorts of places that are not stations. So it doesn't help. It's a station.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
It's a station for all those over a certain age.
I'm going to start calling it a train stop. Like a bus stop, somewhere the train stops.
Trains, especially when I am on them, stop at all sorts of places that are not stations. So it doesn't help. It's a station.
Maybe we should ask the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. Surely they know what a station is.
While we are doing tightening the law on driving. How long can you ride around on a moped with L plates? It seems like some people are doing it forever.
And this is part of the duality of the law that upsets people so much.
On the one hand you have people taking their tests, listening to medical advice, getting insurance, maintaining the car carefully.
Then your mirror (carefully adjusted) gets wacked by an eternal L-plater on a scooter, doing delivery. He's probably uninsured.
You see similar in building - the bandit sites (visibly breaking the law) are rarely touched. Run a decent site and you actually get inspected.
Some of which is to do with austerity particularly hitting council budgets.
If you ask the inspectors, they say it has to do with being offered violence when they inspect the cowboy sites.
One inspector noticed that, after he inspected one site, a van was parked across the road from where he lived, when he got home. And drove off the moment he arrived. With the logo of the company he inspected....
A competent state would call in inspectors from elsewhere at this point, mob handed.
Apparently, in the Goode Olde Days, the following day, a number of the friends of the inspector (who would be on good terms with all the decent builders) would pay a social call, for a free and frank exchange of views, upon the gentleman of the offending firm.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
It's a station for all those over a certain age.
I'm going to start calling it a train stop. Like a bus stop, somewhere the train stops.
Trains, especially when I am on them, stop at all sorts of places that are not stations. So it doesn't help. It's a station.
Maybe we should ask the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. Surely they know what a station is.
StationEry refers to writing materials like paper, pens, and envelopes StationAry means not moving or fixed in place.
On the subject of low alcohol beers etc. can I mention my "life hack" that has me ridiculed and mocked, but it's nevertheless a good idea: use the zero alcohol beer as a substitute for lemondade in a shandy. Half a glass of proper beer, topped up with the zero alcohol stuff. The end product still tastes like beer, but with a lower alcohol content, and not sickly sweet either. However, the beer purists will denounce you, youngsters will talk mockingly of "grand-dad's special cocktail" and your spouse will still think that you are drinking too much. I assure you, it's worth trying.
Mixing bottled and draught beer used to be a thing, partly because cask beer was often poor quality but bottled beer expensive. So mixing the two gave you a reasonable cost/quality ratio.
When I moved to London 30 years ago, some of the old soaks in Youngs pubs would still drink Ram Spesh, which was half a pint of Special in a pint glass, topped up with a bottle of Ram Rod.
There used to be a drink in the North East called a Boilermaker - half a pint of Newcastle Exhibition( aka "Ex") in a pint glass, topped up with half a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale (aka "Bottle of Dog").
As you still had the rest of the Brown, you would be obliged to have a second.
Although Broon Dog was always served with a half pint glass, so you could always request one of those.
I was at University in Newcastle in the '80s and never heard of a Boilermaker, but then I used to drink McEwan's 80/- or Bass or Strongarm in certain pubs. And Old Peculier in the Mitre (latterly the set for Byker Grove). And Cask Ex when they brought out the cask version. Oh and Samsom or Fed Special (which was far from special but sometimes the only cask beer available). If there was no real ale you could often get Theakston or Ruddles in funny wide-mouthed bottles with ring pulls. That might just have been the University bars though.
I was told they weren't allowed to sell Snakebite due to local licensing rules, but that might just have been the University bars protecting themselves from copious amounts of projectile vomiting. I did try it once, it seemed the lager and cider flavours cancelled each other out you got something tasteless that got you pissed, great for people who don't actually like the taste of alcoholic beverages.
Used to go to the Beer Festival when it was still at the Guildhall. On a less positive note I still remember the worst beers I have ever drunk* which were Drybioroughs Heavy and Lorimers Best Scotch.
* other than beers with a fault, had an Italian IPA last week that smelled of wet dog and I'm quite prepared to believe tasted of one too
If you want to get students who don't like the taste of alcohol pissed -- which you shouldn't and is immoral -- then caipiroska is deadly. Vodka, sugar, lemon juice, ice. It's cold, sweet and tart, and you do not notice how alcoholic it is.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
It's a station for all those over a certain age.
I'm going to start calling it a train stop. Like a bus stop, somewhere the train stops.
Trains, especially when I am on them, stop at all sorts of places that are not stations. So it doesn't help. It's a station.
Maybe we should ask the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. Surely they know what a station is.
StationEry refers to writing materials like paper, pens, and envelopes StationAry means not moving or fixed in place.
E in the middle for Envelope. The other one is ... the other one.
I am back off to Asia again shortly, and this time will be visiting China for the first time. I will be going to Shenzhen, but open to visiting other places. Probably be there for 2-3 weeks. Advice...go...
The wilds of Yunnan. Magnificent
Also you can get into Tibet there, without a special Tibetan visa because a corner of Yunnan is culturally Tibet - in every way except politically
Also Beijing and Shanghai OBVS. They are obvious but they are essential
Might be a bit far as it isn't a holiday, I have work engagements in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Shanghai looks doable though.
Got to also give myself plenty of time to get a good fake Rolex ;-)
The article on the BBC is quite balanced. Whatever anyone believes about the case its probably not the best thing to have so much uncertainty about the conviction. One way or another she deserves another day in court.
I would not want to on the jury.
I would point out that she had 10 months in court for the first trial + a second trial + multiple appeals. She's had more days in court than 95%+ of her fellow inmates. Maybe 99%+.
Her lawyers have submitted a file to the CCRC. If the CCRC decide her convictions are sound, I would hope that would be the end of it. If the CCRC decide the case needs looking at again, then that should happen.
Exactly. My guess is that the CCRC will in the end send some but not all convictions back to the CA, though they could send all of them (a decision to send some but not all could easily itself find that decision appealed to the SC, as of course if they are not all sent LL remains convicted of murder/attempted murder what ever happens).
The CA (Criminal Division) is a steep uphill climb for appellants. Though not impossible. The recent successful decision in Plummer is a classic even in that court's distinctive history. Worth a read if you want the history of how someone (arguably plainly guilty and a total scrote) got off in the end, after about 28 years. The popular press largely ignored it. I wonder why??
The article on the BBC is quite balanced. Whatever anyone believes about the case its probably not the best thing to have so much uncertainty about the conviction. One way or another she deserves another day in court.
I would not want to on the jury.
I would point out that she had 10 months in court for the first trial + a second trial + multiple appeals. She's had more days in court than 95%+ of her fellow inmates. Maybe 99%+.
Her lawyers have submitted a file to the CCRC. If the CCRC decide her convictions are sound, I would hope that would be the end of it. If the CCRC decide the case needs looking at again, then that should happen.
Exactly. My guess is that the CCRC will in the end send some but not all convictions back to the CA, though they could send all of them (a decision to send some but not all could easily itself find that decision appealed to the SC, as of course if they are not all sent LL remains convicted of murder/attempted murder what ever happens).
The CA (Criminal Division) is a steep uphill climb for appellants. Though not impossible. The recent successful decision in Plummer is a classic even in that court's distinctive history. Worth a read if you want the history of how someone (arguably plainly guilty and a total scrote) got off in the end, after about 28 years. The popular press largely ignored it. I wonder why??
He looks out of control in the clip. The car clearly has gone down a road that is temporarily closed in that direction, but he literally rams his bike in front of it.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has said she should have paused the GRR, I wonder if all her fervent supporters, ministers included, feel they were taken for a ride by her when they came out saying Alister Jack was attacking devolution when he actually did pause it!
I am being utterly sincere when I say that from the moment I heard that Nicola Sturgeon had the brass neck to call her memoirs 'Frankly' I called it when I said she was literally doing what she has done for years and that was trolling us in plain sight. This is the politician who in the last few years when ever put in front of an inquiry under oath developed amnesia and simple ignored any invites to appear in front of the Scotland committee at Westminster while Pete Wishart totally ignored her arrogant dismal of the committee and didn't criticise her absence.
About fifteen years ago she and her then husband set out to create the carefully PR created persona that was to be the presidential like figure that was to became bigger than the SNP as a party and the ill informed UK media lapped it up without question and even the most basic journalistic investigation went out the window while only Andrew Neil and less than a handful of other inquiring journalists were prepared to robustly question her about her record and the various SNP Government scandals happening domestically in Scotland under her stewardship.
This memoir is yet another clearly cynical attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to rehabilitate her post scandal laden political image and attempts to set out a more softer post frontline narrative that she doesn't deserve and simple doesn't exist. But everyone woman who stood up and stuck their head above the parapet to fight her GRR bill will find this news cold comfort. I have been a SCon voter for nearly 40 years, I fought passionately for No in the Indy Ref in 2014, I fought as passionately to Remain in the EU Ref. Both campaigns fought across political party lines where I made so many friends across the politcal divide.
But a few years ago in Scotland I finally found the political hill I was absolutely finally prepared to die on, and I have met an amazing group of cross party women who felt like I did and it has always been about the hard fought for rights for women and protecting those womens rights to have safe spaces. Nicola Sturgeon told us that our concerns were not valid when it suited her and hounded out other females like Joanna Cherrie, Joan McAlpine and Ash Regan from her own party. She is not and never has been the feminist she has tried to portray herself as when it suits.
Absolutely this! Post of the month! I still hope to see Sturgeon in jail, and I say this as an SNP member for over 50 years. The Scottish media are very critical of the SNP, but Sturgeon and her acolytes always seem to get a free pass.
Part of the problem is that the Scottish media is just too timid and lacking in resources to challenge. And the UK media, which actually counts, too ill-informed and afraid of seeming condescending, to challenge too. Frankly, they were in thrall to Nicola and, to be fair, she had a formidable media operation so you had to be very well-informed and confident to take her on, or even hold her to account. The one person who could, Andrew Neil, is, notably, a working-class Scot who is always formidably well-briefed - but there aren't too many media folk like him.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
Hardly unique to Scotland. Most of our local media are hollowed-out clickbait machines. And the national media mostly aren't that much better. Meanwhile London apparently can't support a daily newspaper at all. And the bottom line is that the reason for that is that we're collectively not prepared to pay for anything better.
‘we're collectively not prepared to pay for anything better’
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
You catch BUSES at a BUS station. You catch TRAINS at a TRAIN station.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
You catch BUSES at a BUS station. You catch TRAINS at a TRAIN station.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
You catch BUSES at a BUS station. You catch TRAINS at a TRAIN station.
And you catch PLANES at and a PLANE station.
The joys of the English language.
I have a good German friend who is fluent in English but refuses to believe that "make a photograph" is wrong. He is but that is literally what are you bloody doing. I make a sandwich, I make a left turn, I make a photograph...
I am back off to Asia again shortly, and this time will be visiting China for the first time. I will be going to Shenzhen, but open to visiting other places. Probably be there for 2-3 weeks. Advice...go...
The wilds of Yunnan. Magnificent
Also you can get into Tibet there, without a special Tibetan visa because a corner of Yunnan is culturally Tibet - in every way except politically
Also Beijing and Shanghai OBVS. They are obvious but they are essential
Might be a bit far as it isn't a holiday, I have work engagements in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Shanghai looks doable though.
Got to also give myself plenty of time to get a good fake Rolex ;-)
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
You catch BUSES at a BUS station. You catch TRAINS at a TRAIN station.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
You catch BUSES at a BUS station. You catch TRAINS at a TRAIN station.
And you catch PLANES at and a PLANE station.
How much of the GB rail network have you done, @turbotubbs?
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
You catch BUSES at a BUS station. You catch TRAINS at a TRAIN station.
And you catch PLANES at and a PLANE station.
How much of the GB rail network have you done, @turbotubbs?
I am back off to Asia again shortly, and this time will be visiting China for the first time. I will be going to Shenzhen, but open to visiting other places. Probably be there for 2-3 weeks. Advice...go...
The wilds of Yunnan. Magnificent
Also you can get into Tibet there, without a special Tibetan visa because a corner of Yunnan is culturally Tibet - in every way except politically
Also Beijing and Shanghai OBVS. They are obvious but they are essential
Might be a bit far as it isn't a holiday, I have work engagements in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Shanghai looks doable though.
Got to also give myself plenty of time to get a good fake Rolex ;-)
Get two. You'll need the other one for spares.
I hear that is how you get "best price".
Obviously I am not going to get a real or fake Rolex, I don't want my posting privileges to be revoked on PB.
@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.
I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.
@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.
A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.
Also the spread of housing estates far beyond sensible, in terms of public transport. I see estates being built in farmland in places which are sometimes a couple of miles from the nearest bus stop. Anyone living there is going to have problems when they get too old to tool around in their cars.
Although community is quite strong in rural areas in terms of lifts and there are taxis of course too
'New housing estates' are not the same as 'rural communities.' They would be more like plantations with lots of new people moving in.
In towns with lots of farmland nearby taxis can be at rather a premium too. They hang out in major conurbations.
Depends if said town has a train station or not
Railway station.
Pedantry gone mad. What is wrong with train station? It is not as if trains don't stop there so it seems like a perfectly adequate unambiguous description to me. National Rail and Trainline use it and Google tells me it is ok and it is apparently a more common term with the younger elements of society so @HYUFD is down with the youff as well.
A railway station is a location where the railway is stationed.
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
Do I understand correctly? The railway is stationed at place X because it is stationary, but the train is not stationed at place X because it is mobile. So place X is a railway station, not train station.
You catch BUSES at a BUS station. You catch TRAINS at a TRAIN station.
And you catch PLANES at and a PLANE station.
How much of the GB rail network have you done, @turbotubbs?
Not as much as you!
Well, then. TRAIN station is perfectly acceptable.
Comments
Mind you, the number of a parallel tracks required for the actual journeys. You'd end up with trains nose to tail... make them one giant train... Then how to get people on and off... The Roads Must Roll made manifest?
I assume they were taking the piss but its their money
There are folk over on Rail Forums who would die in a ditch over this.
This is a serious point as a properly functioning democracy requires a properly functioning fourth estate.
On the one hand you have people taking their tests, listening to medical advice, getting insurance, maintaining the car carefully.
Then your mirror (carefully adjusted) gets wacked by an eternal L-plater on a scooter, doing delivery. He's probably uninsured.
You see similar in building - the bandit sites (visibly breaking the law) are rarely touched. Run a decent site and you actually get inspected.
As you still had the rest of the Brown, you would be obliged to have a second.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ly7JjqEb0
I'd consider asking them fairly gently about the Equality Act 2010 and their responsibility to provide an accessible service.
In this case, it would perhaps be "reasonable adjustments", which could be for example making the Post Office counter available down a wider aisle, even if that means that other things less universally used are more difficult.
But these things always need thought and flexibility. Do they know that you, and all the other people like you, can't get in and that it costs them money?
But if you want to change the whole system ....
Having worked for governments in Northern Ireland and Jersey, on the one had, and London and Brussels on the other, you certainly notice the difference between the level of scrutiny. In the former, everybody knows everybody else, there's much more of a you-scratch-my-back culture and it's in nobody's interests to blow whistles or upset the boat. While in London a ferocious and ferociously competitive media means that scandals are much more likely to come out.
That's also a strong argument against devolution, because you need a critical mass of media to get that level of competition and hence scrutiny.
I would sometimes have a pint of "Micky Mouse", which was half bitter and half lager. But a pint of mild was my preference.
It's certainly worth considering the analysis that these firms aren't willing to do their jobs, but it's not a problem that lies in Scotland. [edit] at least in terms of newspaper ownership.
Neil himself helped to turn the Scotsman from its previous life as a middle of hte road and fine Scottish newspaper into a DT-like UNionist sheet under the new owners, right down to society pages full of photos of "Mrs James Hamster-Macilroy and Mrs ffotherington-Lee enjoy a glass of wine at the latest art gallery opening".
Deportation is probably generally appropriate from a system point of view even if harsh on the individual.
They don't employee people. They contract with a "company" - which is supposed to be one person. The company, in turn, subcontracts (if the owner wants to). This can happen multiple times. So Deliveroo can claim total ignorance of who is actually delivering to your door.
Some of the "delivery riders" for Deliveroo are, themselves, substantial businesses employing many actual delivery riders as subcontractors.
So when you complain to Deliveroo about the axe murdering racist they sent to deliver your chicken nuggets, they simply point to the company they contracted with for the delivery.
*Yes, I use those terms deliberately.
Jonathan Coffey, BBC Panorama"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj0y9673rjno
Zimmers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m0EZO5O2dM
Trigger Warning: Incoming Simon Cowell from 2012.
I was at University in Newcastle in the '80s and never heard of a Boilermaker, but then I used to drink McEwan's 80/- or Bass or Strongarm in certain pubs. And Old Peculier in the Mitre (latterly the set for Byker Grove). And Cask Ex when they brought out the cask version. Oh and Samsom or Fed Special (which was far from special but sometimes the only cask beer available). If there was no real ale you could often get Theakston or Ruddles in funny wide-mouthed bottles with ring pulls. That might just have been the University bars though.
I was told they weren't allowed to sell Snakebite due to local licensing rules, but that might just have been the University bars protecting themselves from copious amounts of projectile vomiting. I did try it once, it seemed the lager and cider flavours cancelled each other out you got something tasteless that got you pissed, great for people who don't actually like the taste of alcoholic beverages.
Used to go to the Beer Festival when it was still at the Guildhall. On a less positive note I still remember the worst beers I have ever drunk* which were Drybioroughs Heavy and Lorimers Best Scotch.
* other than beers with a fault, had an Italian IPA last week that smelled of wet dog and I'm quite prepared to believe tasted of one too
On Friday nights, getting to the bar was often slow. So I hit on the idea of a double double - two double gin and tonics in a pint glass.
The bar staff were fine with the idea - but it was pointed out that the license banned selling more than a triple.
So they would give me two double tonics in separate glasses, and empty pint glass with some ice and slice, and two bottles of tonic. Which I would solemnly integrate at the bar, in front of them.
If you are only going to have one alcoholic beer, though, you should have it at the end of the evening, as if you have an LA beer after a real one you really notice the difference
Liz Truss would have been just along the road a few miles at the same time.
Can anyone spot the flaw here?
The time has come for tough but brave decisions, given the abyss that yawns before us
Yes. I’m going to paint my entire living room in Little Greene’s Hale Navy
Shades of all-conquering Israel (courtesy of Yahweh & US inc) whinging about how a few blokes in tunnels have controlled the media narrative and turned the world against them.
I would not want to on the jury.
The fact that they released a couple of hundred grand in housing equity helped too.
The village shop owners recently retired and couldn’t find a buyer, so now there’s no shop either.
One inspector noticed that, after he inspected one site, a van was parked across the road from where he lived, when he got home. And drove off the moment he arrived. With the logo of the company he inspected....
brain's trustWorld Traveller advice welcome.I am back off to Asia again shortly, and this time will be visiting China for the first time. I will be going to Shenzhen, but open to visiting other places. Probably be there for 2-3 weeks. Advice...go...
“Pay me” with the “or else” implied is anything but voluntary obviously, but in the current political environment it seems the US federal administration can get away with almost anything. How long before Trump actually shoots someone in the street & gets away with it, as he once claimed he could?
So you guzzle gallons and then you realise it’s more like 20% and the next day you want to die
Honestly. It’s fucking dangerous
(A colour that strong works better as a single wall, IMHO.)
But it is difficult to tell because Letby's defence team have not shared the scientific evidence.
This is true in three senses. Firstly, the new Letby team have not released full reports. Secondly we do not know, and they have no duty to disclose, any other reports adverse to Letby they have received.
The third is the most interesting. In the two trials the defence offered no expert evidence in rebuttal of the prosecution. This can only mean (unless some fanciful rerason is true) that despite attempts all the expert evidence they had to hand didn't help or made things worse.
Only Letby herself can give permission for the unused defence reports to be disclosed. Her former counsel, Ben Myers KC can't do this. It is privileged to Letby herself.
I don't accept any of the new arguments until we know much more about why Letby would not call expert defence witnesses in either trial.
Her lawyers have submitted a file to the CCRC. If the CCRC decide her convictions are sound, I would hope that would be the end of it. If the CCRC decide the case needs looking at again, then that should happen.
It’s south facing with two enormous floor ceiling sash windows
The light will flood in by day then it will become a moody blue thinkspace at night
I’m in “late middle age”. I’m not going down without a fight. I want drama! ENTIRELY BLUE ROOMS
Also you can get into Tibet there, without a special Tibetan visa because a corner of Yunnan is culturally Tibet - in every way except politically
Also Beijing and Shanghai OBVS. They are obvious but they are essential
StationAry means not moving or fixed in place.
The other one is ... the other one.
Got to also give myself plenty of time to get a good fake Rolex ;-)
The CA (Criminal Division) is a steep uphill climb for appellants. Though not impossible. The recent successful decision in Plummer is a classic even in that court's distinctive history. Worth a read if you want the history of how someone (arguably plainly guilty and a total scrote) got off in the end, after about 28 years. The popular press largely ignored it. I wonder why??
https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2025/1036.html
Either she is a serial killer responsible for killing or attempting to kill many, many babies.
OR
She is innocent of all charges and a case has been created against her.
There isn't a halfway house where she killed a few of them, but the others are natural causes/bad practice at a failing unit.
https://x.com/UB1UB2/status/1954670070451359772
He looks out of control in the clip. The car clearly has gone down a road that is temporarily closed in that direction, but he literally rams his bike in front of it.
Pretty much our epitaph.
I have a good German friend who is fluent in English but refuses to believe that "make a photograph" is wrong. He is but that is literally what are you bloody doing. I make a sandwich, I make a left turn, I make a photograph...
Obviously I am not going to get a real or fake Rolex, I don't want my posting privileges to be revoked on PB.