It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
So what you're saying is that the Europeans who live in Britain are the 'wrong' sort of Europeans.
That we now have Europeans who have integrated and speak English and have average lives with average families while doing average jobs and living in average houses in average towns.
And not 'citizens of anywhere' who would flutter around spending a season here and a year there while always talking in their own language.
My point was only that what I miss about not being in the EU is nothing to do with what colour people are or what hotels people are being put up in or whether they get here by plane or rubber boat just that the vibe was so much better when we were in. Its not a thing I can or want to quantify. I loved the feeling of being European which feels much less so now. Now we're English visiting Europe. The difference is subtle but it's there. I'm sure there are many more important reasons for hating Brexit but that's my No1.
As it’s such a beautiful day I will extend the olive branch and say: actually I can understand this
Indeed I felt a pang of it myself and it’s one of the reasons I could have voted Remain. I liked being “European” - I liked freedom of movement. I just despised the anti democratic EU. And something HAS been taken away now we’ve left
Also, I would feel bereft if Scotland left the UK. I would feel a vital chunk of my Britishness was gone. So I genuinely sympathise with your feelings
However whenever you make this point I am also mystified. You’ve lived in France (at least part time) for decades. Surely you have French residency and free moment so nothing has really been taken from YOU?
I've a 1922 copy of The Jungle Book, with an elephant and a small swastika on the front. The broken cross was used by many cultures, including Hindus.
You may be right about reclaiming it. But the cross of Saint George is not remotely the same thing.
Yet.
We'll know the boundary has been crossed when people start fleeing the UK rather than endangering themselves to get in, but by then it will probably be too late.
Anecdotage warning: saw one of my best friends at the weekend, currently working very successfully in the US with citizenship, American wife & 2 kids. They are seriously thinking about moving to UK (back to UK in friend's case), so it does happen. I stifled any frying pan and fire comments.
Yes, the US was in my mind. We've had anecdotes of PBers who've changed their minds about going there. No doubt the flag business has the same effect on would be immigrants to the UK. Eventually I'd expect to see a natural drop in the number of people arriving in small boats. They have Internet access and must be aware of the flag business. Once the story sinks in that the UK is the primary place where such dreadful people live, those in the Calais camps etc will presumably prefer to stay in France where they're safe from such threats.
Isn't UK swastika use now almost exclusively by proPals to attempt to demonise Israelis?
I wouldn't think they need to. Israeli actions are demonising themselves enough as it is.
According to all Hamas approved reports..
Mystifying why they don't let foreign journalists in to Gaza to report the truth, I'm sure the most moral army in the world lads would come up smelling of roses.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
I've a 1922 copy of The Jungle Book, with an elephant and a small swastika on the front. The broken cross was used by many cultures, including Hindus.
You may be right about reclaiming it. But the cross of Saint George is not remotely the same thing.
Yet.
We'll know the boundary has been crossed when people start fleeing the UK rather than endangering themselves to get in, but by then it will probably be too late.
Anecdotage warning: saw one of my best friends at the weekend, currently working very successfully in the US with citizenship, American wife & 2 kids. They are seriously thinking about moving to UK (back to UK in friend's case), so it does happen. I stifled any frying pan and fire comments.
Yes, the US was in my mind. We've had anecdotes of PBers who've changed their minds about going there. No doubt the flag business has the same effect on would be immigrants to the UK. Eventually I'd expect to see a natural drop in the number of people arriving in small boats. They have Internet access and must be aware of the flag business. Once the story sinks in that the UK is the primary place where such dreadful people live, those in the Calais camps etc will presumably prefer to stay in France where they're safe from such threats.
Sad times.
That is presumably what quite a few of the flag hangers want. So you’re saying it will work?
I cannot regard Howe as a villain. It is not his fault that the Tories obsessed about Europe for the subsequent 30 years to the detriment of themselves and the country. It is not is fault that Thatcher went on too long undoing some of the good that she had done with his considerable assistance.
What I am concerned about is where are the Howes of today? He was a serious intellectual heavyweight who thought deeply about public policy and the public good. Like every human he wasn't always right but he was deeply focused on that public good, ahead even of party political considerations. I cannot think of his equivalent in the House of Commons today. Instead, our most prominent politicians are interested in sound bites, social media, clickbait and, above all, themselves. They are obsessed with what sounds good rather than what is good. Gestures instead of substance. It's sad.
Edit, see this fracking nonsense this morning.
This is what concerns me when I look at the UK today: the fundamentally unserious nature of political commentary and by extension politics itself. The number of commentators with a deep and layered understanding of political realities has given way to celebrity presenters who obsess about political theatre and process but fail to understand anything about political ideologies or even the basic mechanisms of administration. The contrast between say Charles Wheeler of thirty years ago and Naga Munchetty of today is pretty astonishing. Thus when people like Gove or Johnson, or Farage for that matter, come up with superficial and even absurd ideas then their media pals do not analyse them as ideas but simply in terms of shallow political positioning, because human interest is all they (and apparently we) really understand. The result is that really bad ideas get adopted with little scrutiny and both policy making and even public administration itself are degraded. The fact that so many politicians in the current crop of Tories were media workers themselves compounded the problem. Gove may have had "enough of experts", and I think that tells you that he had lost the plot in terms of enacting reasonable or even workable legislation. It has been said that Brexit was a fundamentally unserious policy and has been executed in such a ridiculous way as to guarantee its failure: that is where this fundamental lack of seriousness in British politics brought us.
Both policies (bright ideas) and the execution of policy (actually enacting workable laws) have much lower priority than presentation and media management, and this is why Britain is failing to address the multiple crises that it faces. All is not well in Estonia, but it is not considered being a nerdy swot to have read books and to be able to engage with the various experts in policy and execution in an organised and serious way.
Basically the UK needs to get real, but apparently a few hundred flag shaggers are more important than reform of our tax code and a total overhaul of our public administration and infrastructure. That, of course is what the Mail, Murdoch etc are misdirecting you towards, and ultimately it results in the Trump world of cretins.
Whilst I agree with your broader point, the bit I highlighted is also part of the problem. Your critique lands purely at those who you dislike politically, you cannot help but turn your analysis into a partisan point.
You could have made the same point perfectly, and probably better, if you had called out the lack of depth and analysis when interviewing politicians and the powerful from all political persuasions but you needed to aim it all to the “right”.
It’s questionable how much influence the Mail and Murdoch have today compared to social media so by throwing them into your attack it shows again your political bias, we all have them, but it is coming to a conclusion based on flawed reasoning. If you think BBC presenters and the like are big Boris and Farage fans then I really couldn’t agree, it’s just that they don’t rip them apart to the extent that would make you happy and criticise their views which you dislike.
So yes, we are not a particularly deep society at the moment, possibly anti-intellectual, but you don’t fix it by identifying the “problems” as being only things and people you already dislike.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
MOR and vulgar are quite different. Leon just happens to be both
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
There is something more than faintly ridiculous about a homeowner being force to cough up £116000 13 years after felling a common lime tree on her own land, while nothing happens to a pub in Enfield that cut down an historic oak on land that didn't belong to them.
The difference is, of course, the familiar pattern where an otherwise law abiding person hires a nice lawyer and engages with the process.
Versus the kind of person who frequents the back pages of Private Eye - crimes aplenty, wheedling their way out of any serious punishment.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
When we post waspish put downs accusing others of vulgarity, perhaps we could avoid splitting the infinitive.
Isn't UK swastika use now almost exclusively by proPals to attempt to demonise Israelis?
I wouldn't think they need to. Israeli actions are demonising themselves enough as it is.
According to all Hamas approved reports..
Mystifying why they don't let foreign journalists in to Gaza to report the truth, I'm sure the most moral army in the world lads would come up smelling of roses.
What on earth makes you think that Hamas would allow the truth to be told from Gaza?
Foreign journalists would report Hamas propaganda, or they'd be hostages, or dead
"1. Overhaul of the civil service: replacement of all key leadership positions alligned to political priorities of incoming government. 2. Judicial reform: reasserting parliamentary sovereignty over political judicial activism. 3. Abolition of key QUANGOs, Commisions, "Independent" Bodies that have eroded democratic accountability and led to bureaucratic power-grab over the last 30 years. Without these basics, the next government will, like so many before, be tied in knots by the 'system' and fail to deliver on the priorities of the British people."
So that is: 1. Remove anyone from the machinery of government who doesn't parrot whatever madness is government policy 2. Ensure that all trials deliver the result demanded on X 3. Abolish any arms length agency so that all decisions on all things are made by ministers
The Conservative Party is over. They've gone utterly mad.
But presumably not asserting supremacy of the current Labour majority Parliament over the judge who ruled in favour of Tory Epping Forest council?
"1. Overhaul of the civil service: replacement of all key leadership positions alligned to political priorities of incoming government. 2. Judicial reform: reasserting parliamentary sovereignty over political judicial activism. 3. Abolition of key QUANGOs, Commisions, "Independent" Bodies that have eroded democratic accountability and led to bureaucratic power-grab over the last 30 years. Without these basics, the next government will, like so many before, be tied in knots by the 'system' and fail to deliver on the priorities of the British people."
So that is: 1. Remove anyone from the machinery of government who doesn't parrot whatever madness is government policy 2. Ensure that all trials deliver the result demanded on X 3. Abolish any arms length agency so that all decisions on all things are made by ministers
The Conservative Party is over. They've gone utterly mad.
But presumably not asserting supremacy of the current Labour majority Parliament over the judge who ruled in favour of Tory Epping Forest council?
Well quite. Principles do not pledge party allegiance. Either judges are independent or they are not...
Do you know whether this is a properly conducted poll @hyufd, because I don't believe it. There is no way Labour are on 0%. As we have seen if you ask people if they have been decapitated the number is greater than 0%. It is really just about impossible to get a zero figure in a proper poll. The LD figure is also very dubious.
You'd have to be stupid as a farmer to vote Labour.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
I’m on a train passing through Tunbridge Wells. No flags to be seen
I’m with my older daughter having a day out. We’re off to do battle. As in, do Battle. We’re going to see the site of the battle of Hastings (neither of us has been before)
I’ve just noticed that she is intensely reading Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road”
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
Only if you are drinking Watney's Red Barrel.
Or Madri.
Packing a couple of bottles of Madri to take to Spain would be good for a laugh. You could post photographic evidence that it really is a Spanish beer.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
"1. Overhaul of the civil service: replacement of all key leadership positions alligned to political priorities of incoming government. 2. Judicial reform: reasserting parliamentary sovereignty over political judicial activism. 3. Abolition of key QUANGOs, Commisions, "Independent" Bodies that have eroded democratic accountability and led to bureaucratic power-grab over the last 30 years. Without these basics, the next government will, like so many before, be tied in knots by the 'system' and fail to deliver on the priorities of the British people."
So that is: 1. Remove anyone from the machinery of government who doesn't parrot whatever madness is government policy 2. Ensure that all trials deliver the result demanded on X 3. Abolish any arms length agency so that all decisions on all things are made by ministers
The Conservative Party is over. They've gone utterly mad.
The third one I can buy into completely. All Governmental power should be exercised within the electoral system (from Parish to Parliament). Not handed off to semi-independent organisations with their own agendas.
The first two are just batshit crazy by people who don't understand either the British system nor the (very different) American system they are trying to emulate.
You don't think that it's good that some decisions are depoliticised and handed over to an arms length body? When, for example, NICE reviews the evidence of whether a drug is effective, or the MHRA reviews whether a new hip implant is safe, I think it's better that those decisions are NOT taken by politicians.
I am not suggesting they are taken by politicians directly. But they should be directly part of the relevant department within Government rather than being farmed off so politicians can claim they are not responsible for decisions. NICE is a good example. They are already making political decisions based on available public funding rather than the actual effectiveness of drugs or treatments. If such decisions are to be made then they should be the responsibility of the elected politicians.
Politicians should set the parameters, but you don't want them involved in individual drug decisions. I think that's handled well by having NICE as an arms length body. People trust the independence of NICE, but the parameters they work within are set by government.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
is there really nothing more attractive to look at than your phone (tablet)?
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
When we post waspish put downs accusing others of vulgarity, perhaps we could avoid splitting the infinitive.
I did consider that but 'displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings vulgarly' sounds shite.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
New lighting
£20 John Lewis lamp (discount - with new special bulbs fitted). In front, a £60 piece of vintage 1960s Murano glass - geode
Inside the geode - a perfect Neolithic flint arrowhead found by me, in Gobekli Tepe, as I talked to the great Klaus Schmidt - the first journalist to properly do that - in 2006 - and as he walked me around the site (then almost completely unknown)
That visit led to the book that led to the ££££ that bought me the flat where that arrowhead now lies in its bowl of Venetian amber
Beat that. You can’t. No one can beat that, sorry. It’s a perfect narrative loop done with cheap lighting, vintage glass and 12,000 year old flint carved by the men who changed the world. And bought my flat
Are you sure that bowl thingy is not a repurposed ashtray?
Isn't UK swastika use now almost exclusively by proPals to attempt to demonise Israelis?
I wouldn't think they need to. Israeli actions are demonising themselves enough as it is.
According to all Hamas approved reports..
Mystifying why they don't let foreign journalists in to Gaza to report the truth, I'm sure the most moral army in the world lads would come up smelling of roses.
What on earth makes you think that Hamas would allow the truth to be told from Gaza?
Foreign journalists would report Hamas propaganda, or they'd be hostages, or dead
Mighty powerful these Hamas boys, got the whole world media fooled and still in control of Gaza despite the massed Panzerarmee and airforce of the IDF roaming at will.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
When we post waspish put downs accusing others of vulgarity, perhaps we could avoid splitting the infinitive.
When we waspishly accuse others of splitting an infinitive, we should make sure there is an infinitive to split.
(Hint: infinitives don't end with -ing and "to" is an adverbial particle belonging with "sink". Sunk isn't an infinitive either)
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
New lighting
£20 John Lewis lamp (discount - with new special bulbs fitted). In front, a £60 piece of vintage 1960s Murano glass - geode
Inside the geode - a perfect Neolithic flint arrowhead found by me, in Gobekli Tepe, as I talked to the great Klaus Schmidt - the first journalist to properly do that - in 2006 - and as he walked me around the site (then almost completely unknown)
That visit led to the book that led to the ££££ that bought me the flat where that arrowhead now lies in its bowl of Venetian amber
Beat that. You can’t. No one can beat that, sorry. It’s a perfect narrative loop done with cheap lighting, vintage glass and 12,000 year old flint carved by the men who changed the world. And bought my flat
Are you sure that bowl thingy 1s not a repurposed ashtray?
Yes. It’s a geode. A special design they did in the 1960s (and maybe other times)
I have looked at the ashtrays however. Some of them are exquisite - from this period - and you can get them for pennies and they are excellent for displaying things like - random example - 3300 year old shards of painted pottery that I found in the desolated monotheistic city of Akhetaten in middle Egypt when I went there with armed guards during the Egyptian civil war
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
Reform have the ability to stir up people about insane and costly ideas. The BGS survey indicates resources are there but unlikely to be recoverable. However the lack of substance to their claims (see their county councillors) doesn't seem to be a barrier to their progress.
Fracking is neither insane nor costly. It is a commercial opportunity - if companies try it and it doesn't work, they will lose their investment. It doesn't affect the taxpayer. The Government had no business banning it - a Tory one to boot.
Quite wrong. Why do you think the big firms only do fracking in the UK with small spinoff firms? So they don't have to clean up the mess, as the public purse inevitably will, given the bitty and broken nature of onshore geology in the relevant strata, and the implications for water and methane pollution.
Morning all With reference to the Farmers Poll, I believe Survation tend to conduct the CLA polling, if this one was also them it'll be on their website soon. Theres an article about it in Business Matters not pay walled https://bmmagazine.co.uk/in-business/farmers-poll-inheritance-tax-crisis/ 500 respondents but doesn't say who conducted it
For reference, a 1000 respondent poll of farmers for GE 2024 on July 1 found........ Of more than 1,000 respondents, 33% voted Conservative; 23% voted Labour; 22% voted Reform UK; 12% voted Liberal Democrat; 4% voted Green Party; 3% voted ‘other’; with 2% for Plaid Cymru and 1% for the SNP.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
is there really nothing more attractive to look at than your phone (tablet)?
I'm sure I don't know what you mean, OKC. I'm a happily married man!
A guaranteed way to lose votes in return for nothing.
Its 'reopen the pits' level of pointlessness.
It's about the vibe. Renewables are wimpy woke, fossils are what real men have for breakfast.
Its cosplaying they're Americans.
The problem is that there are a lot more people living in West Yorkshire and north Derbyshire than west Texas and North Dakota.
More fundamentally, in the US, the landowner owns the mineral rights beneath their property, and gets a payout if it is fracked under. In the UK the crown owns them, and the government doesn’t need to pay a penny.
Are you sure of that? If so the law must have changed since the 19th century given the fortunes made by landowners whose land was mined for coal and iron ore.
It depends on the mineral. Oil (and gas?) is IIRC a state good presumably because of Churchill and the Navy needing it for strategic reasons in the great modernization of the RN c. 1910 onwards. Coal is not. Gravel is not.
There are one or two further anomalies such as silver and gold in Scotland. I *believe* they fall to the Crown.
Isn't UK swastika use now almost exclusively by proPals to attempt to demonise Israelis?
I wouldn't think they need to. Israeli actions are demonising themselves enough as it is.
According to all Hamas approved reports..
Mystifying why they don't let foreign journalists in to Gaza to report the truth, I'm sure the most moral army in the world lads would come up smelling of roses.
What on earth makes you think that Hamas would allow the truth to be told from Gaza?
Foreign journalists would report Hamas propaganda, or they'd be hostages, or dead
Mighty powerful these Hamas boys, got the whole world media fooled and still in control of Gaza despite the massed Panzerarmee and airforce of the IDF roaming at will.
Isn't UK swastika use now almost exclusively by proPals to attempt to demonise Israelis?
I wouldn't think they need to. Israeli actions are demonising themselves enough as it is.
According to all Hamas approved reports..
Mystifying why they don't let foreign journalists in to Gaza to report the truth, I'm sure the most moral army in the world lads would come up smelling of roses.
What on earth makes you think that Hamas would allow the truth to be told from Gaza?
Foreign journalists would report Hamas propaganda, or they'd be hostages, or dead
Mighty powerful these Hamas boys, got the whole world media fooled and still in control of Gaza despite the massed Panzerarmee and airforce of the IDF roaming at will.
Big_G - Speaking of chimney sweeps, one of my favorite American politicians began his business career as one:
During his freshman year in high school, Burgum's father died. He later said that the experience shaped him as a person.[6] He graduated from North Dakota State University (NDSU) in 1978. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and served as student body president. As a college student, he started a chimney-sweeping business.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
Isn't UK swastika use now almost exclusively by proPals to attempt to demonise Israelis?
I wouldn't think they need to. Israeli actions are demonising themselves enough as it is.
According to all Hamas approved reports..
Mystifying why they don't let foreign journalists in to Gaza to report the truth, I'm sure the most moral army in the world lads would come up smelling of roses.
What on earth makes you think that Hamas would allow the truth to be told from Gaza?
Foreign journalists would report Hamas propaganda, or they'd be hostages, or dead
Mighty powerful these Hamas boys, got the whole world media fooled and still in control of Gaza despite the massed Panzerarmee and airforce of the IDF roaming at will.
Subtle swastika there..
Since Bibi & his ethno-nationalist pals are never done calling Hamas Nazis without any resort to subtlety, I feel it’s very much sauce for the goose territory.
Isn't UK swastika use now almost exclusively by proPals to attempt to demonise Israelis?
I wouldn't think they need to. Israeli actions are demonising themselves enough as it is.
According to all Hamas approved reports..
Mystifying why they don't let foreign journalists in to Gaza to report the truth, I'm sure the most moral army in the world lads would come up smelling of roses.
What on earth makes you think that Hamas would allow the truth to be told from Gaza?
Foreign journalists would report Hamas propaganda, or they'd be hostages, or dead
Mighty powerful these Hamas boys, got the whole world media fooled and still in control of Gaza despite the massed Panzerarmee and airforce of the IDF roaming at will.
Subtle swastika there..
Since Bibi & his ethno-nationalist pals are never done calling Hamas Nazis without any resort to subtlety, I feel it’s very much sauce for the goose territory.
Isn't UK swastika use now almost exclusively by proPals to attempt to demonise Israelis?
I wouldn't think they need to. Israeli actions are demonising themselves enough as it is.
According to all Hamas approved reports..
Mystifying why they don't let foreign journalists in to Gaza to report the truth, I'm sure the most moral army in the world lads would come up smelling of roses.
What on earth makes you think that Hamas would allow the truth to be told from Gaza?
Foreign journalists would report Hamas propaganda, or they'd be hostages, or dead
Mighty powerful these Hamas boys, got the whole world media fooled and still in control of Gaza despite the massed Panzerarmee and airforce of the IDF roaming at will.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
When we post waspish put downs accusing others of vulgarity, perhaps we could avoid splitting the infinitive.
I did consider that but 'displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings vulgarly' sounds shite.
"1. Overhaul of the civil service: replacement of all key leadership positions alligned to political priorities of incoming government. 2. Judicial reform: reasserting parliamentary sovereignty over political judicial activism. 3. Abolition of key QUANGOs, Commisions, "Independent" Bodies that have eroded democratic accountability and led to bureaucratic power-grab over the last 30 years. Without these basics, the next government will, like so many before, be tied in knots by the 'system' and fail to deliver on the priorities of the British people."
So that is: 1. Remove anyone from the machinery of government who doesn't parrot whatever madness is government policy 2. Ensure that all trials deliver the result demanded on X 3. Abolish any arms length agency so that all decisions on all things are made by ministers
The Conservative Party is over. They've gone utterly mad.
The third one I can buy into completely. All Governmental power should be exercised within the electoral system (from Parish to Parliament). Not handed off to semi-independent organisations with their own agendas.
The first two are just batshit crazy by people who don't understand either the British system nor the (very different) American system they are trying to emulate.
You don't think that it's good that some decisions are depoliticised and handed over to an arms length body? When, for example, NICE reviews the evidence of whether a drug is effective, or the MHRA reviews whether a new hip implant is safe, I think it's better that those decisions are NOT taken by politicians.
I am not suggesting they are taken by politicians directly. But they should be directly part of the relevant department within Government rather than being farmed off so politicians can claim they are not responsible for decisions. NICE is a good example. They are already making political decisions based on available public funding rather than the actual effectiveness of drugs or treatments. If such decisions are to be made then they should be the responsibility of the elected politicians.
Politicians should set the parameters, but you don't want them involved in individual drug decisions. I think that's handled well by having NICE as an arms length body. People trust the independence of NICE, but the parameters they work within are set by government.
It simply allows the Government to pretend it is not their fault that safe and effectve drugs are not available via the NHS.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
When we post waspish put downs accusing others of vulgarity, perhaps we could avoid splitting the infinitive.
When we waspishly accuse others of splitting an infinitive, we should make sure there is an infinitive to split.
(Hint: infinitives don't end with -ing and "to" is an adverbial particle belonging with "sink". Sunk isn't an infinitive either)
Lucky is a pedant in training. Cut him a little slack.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. The IDF Netenyahu apologists are defenders of genocide. The biggest recruiting sergeant for anti semitism are the actions of the IDF and Netenyahu.
A guaranteed way to lose votes in return for nothing.
Its 'reopen the pits' level of pointlessness.
It's about the vibe. Renewables are wimpy woke, fossils are what real men have for breakfast.
Its cosplaying they're Americans.
The problem is that there are a lot more people living in West Yorkshire and north Derbyshire than west Texas and North Dakota.
More fundamentally, in the US, the landowner owns the mineral rights beneath their property, and gets a payout if it is fracked under. In the UK the crown owns them, and the government doesn’t need to pay a penny.
Are you sure of that? If so the law must have changed since the 19th century given the fortunes made by landowners whose land was mined for coal and iron ore.
All OIl, Gas, Gold, Silver and Coal are owned by the Government either through the Crown Estates or the Mining Remediation Authority. However they may have to pay Wayleave to get the stuff out via your land.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. The IDF Netenyahu apologists are defenders of genocide. The biggest recruiting sergeant for anti semitism are the actions of the IDF and Netenyahu.
The level of Hamas advocacy on here is quite startling and disturbing
"1. Overhaul of the civil service: replacement of all key leadership positions alligned to political priorities of incoming government. 2. Judicial reform: reasserting parliamentary sovereignty over political judicial activism. 3. Abolition of key QUANGOs, Commisions, "Independent" Bodies that have eroded democratic accountability and led to bureaucratic power-grab over the last 30 years. Without these basics, the next government will, like so many before, be tied in knots by the 'system' and fail to deliver on the priorities of the British people."
So that is: 1. Remove anyone from the machinery of government who doesn't parrot whatever madness is government policy 2. Ensure that all trials deliver the result demanded on X 3. Abolish any arms length agency so that all decisions on all things are made by ministers
The Conservative Party is over. They've gone utterly mad.
The third one I can buy into completely. All Governmental power should be exercised within the electoral system (from Parish to Parliament). Not handed off to semi-independent organisations with their own agendas.
The first two are just batshit crazy by people who don't understand either the British system nor the (very different) American system they are trying to emulate.
You don't think that it's good that some decisions are depoliticised and handed over to an arms length body? When, for example, NICE reviews the evidence of whether a drug is effective, or the MHRA reviews whether a new hip implant is safe, I think it's better that those decisions are NOT taken by politicians.
I am not suggesting they are taken by politicians directly. But they should be directly part of the relevant department within Government rather than being farmed off so politicians can claim they are not responsible for decisions. NICE is a good example. They are already making political decisions based on available public funding rather than the actual effectiveness of drugs or treatments. If such decisions are to be made then they should be the responsibility of the elected politicians.
Politicians should set the parameters, but you don't want them involved in individual drug decisions. I think that's handled well by having NICE as an arms length body. People trust the independence of NICE, but the parameters they work within are set by government.
And which now appear to be driving our pharma industry overseas.
NICE was an excellent wheeze when we were still EU members, as access to the continental market masked the policy tradeoffs that we're now having to start considering.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. The IDF Netenyahu apologists are defenders of genocide. The biggest recruiting sergeant for anti semitism are the actions of the IDF and Netenyahu.
The level of Hamas advocacy on here is quite startling and disturbing
No what’s disturbing is the support for a genocide . People aren’t advocating for Hamas , that’s the go to riposte from those trying to defend the slaughter of Gazans.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
New lighting
£20 John Lewis lamp (discount - with new special bulbs fitted). In front, a £60 piece of vintage 1960s Murano glass - geode
Inside the geode - a perfect Neolithic flint arrowhead found by me, in Gobekli Tepe, as I talked to the great Klaus Schmidt - the first journalist to properly do that - in 2006 - and as he walked me around the site (then almost completely unknown)
That visit led to the book that led to the ££££ that bought me the flat where that arrowhead now lies in its bowl of Venetian amber
Beat that. You can’t. No one can beat that, sorry. It’s a perfect narrative loop done with cheap lighting, vintage glass and 12,000 year old flint carved by the men who changed the world. And bought my flat
Are you sure that bowl thingy is not a repurposed ashtray?
My grandfather was the accountant to a well known glass company based in Scotland.
He had them designate one of their fancy pieces as an ink pot as a perfume bottle would have attracted purchase tax.
I wonder if ash trays were the same [officially called something else].
Reform have the ability to stir up people about insane and costly ideas. The BGS survey indicates resources are there but unlikely to be recoverable. However the lack of substance to their claims (see their county councillors) doesn't seem to be a barrier to their progress.
Fracking is neither insane nor costly. It is a commercial opportunity - if companies try it and it doesn't work, they will lose their investment. It doesn't affect the taxpayer. The Government had no business banning it - a Tory one to boot.
Quite wrong. Why do you think the big firms only do fracking in the UK with small spinoff firms? So they don't have to clean up the mess, as the public purse inevitably will, given the bitty and broken nature of onshore geology in the relevant strata, and the implications for water and methane pollution.
Exactly this. Fracking works in large areas of unbroken geology like the North German/Polish plains or large parts of North America. But it is simply impractical in the UK. Not just because of our interesting geology but also because of the amount of infrastructure needed.
No cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed in the U.S. for decades. However, the Trump administration and livestock ranchers anticipate infestations that could reduce the nation's cattle herd and lift beef prices, already at record highs.
Screwworm, a parasitic fly that eats livestock and wildlife alive, can infest any warm-blooded animal. Last month, the pest was found in Mexico about 370 miles from the U.S. border, prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to indefinitely halt imports of Mexican cattle.
The best method to fight screwworm is by breeding sterile flies that reduce the mating population of wild flies. However, experts say many more sterile flies would be needed beyond the current production capacity to slow screwworm's spread in Latin America...
I wonder how much the Trump cutback in overseas aid and/or public health spending has affected the longstanding program to keep this under control in Central America.
I think I'm right in thinking that there's no current medication to treat it in humans.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. The IDF Netenyahu apologists are defenders of genocide. The biggest recruiting sergeant for anti semitism are the actions of the IDF and Netenyahu.
The level of Hamas advocacy on here is quite startling and disturbing
No what’s disturbing is the support for a genocide . People aren’t advocating for Hamas , that’s the go to riposte from those trying to defend the slaughter of Gazans.
I think it's fair to be skeptical of Hamas reports and critical of Israel for blocking journalists from Gaza. Most people think Israel have gone to far, but what would the UK have done? And there are still hostages or bodies being retained in Gaza.
It is good to be reminded just how shite Tezzie was as PM.
But not as shite as Truss or Starmer
I think that Truss was better at the "being PM" stuff. Certainly more personality. If she wasn't such a nut-job, she'd still be in Downing St.
Starmer I would still put above May, but behind Sunak.
May for all her faults got the Brexit deal Boris cut and pasted 99% of and did not crash the markets like Truss nor leave a massive deficit and near 10% unemployment like Brown nor lose a major referendum like Cameron and promptly resign nor abandon a key WW2 commemoration like Sunak nor hammer pensioners and farmers like Starmer. She also did good work against domestic violence and slavery.
May was dull but dutiful and moral and there was no risk of partygate under her. She was a poor campaigner and the dementia tax proposal disaster had to be scrapped quickly but she did three years as PM, won most seats at a general election and her premiership looks far better now in retrospect than in summer 2019
Journalists slaughtered and then the IDF waited for first responders to arrive and then slaughtered them .
The stock IDF response which is a blatant lie is we don’t target civilians and will have a sham initial inquiry .
I thought journalists weren't allowed in? Genuine question. Is it only some allowed in?
Since they banned foreign journalists from entering only those already in Gaza are reporting . If the Israeli government had nothing to hide they would allow proper free access .
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
I’m on a train passing through Tunbridge Wells. No flags to be seen
I’m with my older daughter having a day out. We’re off to do battle. As in, do Battle. We’re going to see the site of the battle of Hastings (neither of us has been before)
I’ve just noticed that she is intensely reading Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road”
*proud father*
We were at my parents in Tunbridge Wells today coincidentally. Tunbridge Wells was the only local authority in Kent to vote Remain and is the only Kent seat with a LD MP so unlikely to be flag central
"1. Overhaul of the civil service: replacement of all key leadership positions alligned to political priorities of incoming government. 2. Judicial reform: reasserting parliamentary sovereignty over political judicial activism. 3. Abolition of key QUANGOs, Commisions, "Independent" Bodies that have eroded democratic accountability and led to bureaucratic power-grab over the last 30 years. Without these basics, the next government will, like so many before, be tied in knots by the 'system' and fail to deliver on the priorities of the British people."
So that is: 1. Remove anyone from the machinery of government who doesn't parrot whatever madness is government policy 2. Ensure that all trials deliver the result demanded on X 3. Abolish any arms length agency so that all decisions on all things are made by ministers
The Conservative Party is over. They've gone utterly mad.
The third one I can buy into completely. All Governmental power should be exercised within the electoral system (from Parish to Parliament). Not handed off to semi-independent organisations with their own agendas.
The first two are just batshit crazy by people who don't understand either the British system nor the (very different) American system they are trying to emulate.
You don't think that it's good that some decisions are depoliticised and handed over to an arms length body? When, for example, NICE reviews the evidence of whether a drug is effective, or the MHRA reviews whether a new hip implant is safe, I think it's better that those decisions are NOT taken by politicians.
I am not suggesting they are taken by politicians directly. But they should be directly part of the relevant department within Government rather than being farmed off so politicians can claim they are not responsible for decisions. NICE is a good example. They are already making political decisions based on available public funding rather than the actual effectiveness of drugs or treatments. If such decisions are to be made then they should be the responsibility of the elected politicians.
Politicians should set the parameters, but you don't want them involved in individual drug decisions. I think that's handled well by having NICE as an arms length body. People trust the independence of NICE, but the parameters they work within are set by government.
It simply allows the Government to pretend it is not their fault that safe and effectve drugs are not available via the NHS.
And that's a good thing. Otherwise we'd have endless cases of MPs lobbying the government to procure some insanely expensive drug for a rare disease just to extend someone's life by 6 months.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. The IDF Netenyahu apologists are defenders of genocide. The biggest recruiting sergeant for anti semitism are the actions of the IDF and Netenyahu.
The level of Hamas advocacy on here is quite startling and disturbing
I don’t want to make assumptions about your antecedents, but do the IDF take gentile foreign volunteers? Perhaps time for another empty gesture?
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
When we post waspish put downs accusing others of vulgarity, perhaps we could avoid splitting the infinitive.
When we waspishly accuse others of splitting an infinitive, we should make sure there is an infinitive to split.
(Hint: infinitives don't end with -ing and "to" is an adverbial particle belonging with "sink". Sunk isn't an infinitive either)
When we waspishly attempt to hoist someone with their own petard, perhaps we should get the right part of the sentence, otherwise we could end up looking like a twat, couldn't we? HINT.
Split Infinitive Meaning Yes, "vulgarly displaying" splits the infinitive. The infinitive "to display" is split by the adverb "vulgarly," which is placed between "to" and the verb "display".
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
I'm currently lying on the beach in Marbella, drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift, so I hope that if anyone holds the vulgarity crown today it is me.
I’m on a train passing through Tunbridge Wells. No flags to be seen
I’m with my older daughter having a day out. We’re off to do battle. As in, do Battle. We’re going to see the site of the battle of Hastings (neither of us has been before)
I’ve just noticed that she is intensely reading Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road”
*proud father*
The King Crimson album "Beat" draws its lyrical inspiration from the beat poets. Not, as you might have assumed, to do with the playing of virtuoso drummer Bill Bruford who features on it.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
When we post waspish put downs accusing others of vulgarity, perhaps we could avoid splitting the infinitive.
When we waspishly accuse others of splitting an infinitive, we should make sure there is an infinitive to split.
(Hint: infinitives don't end with -ing and "to" is an adverbial particle belonging with "sink". Sunk isn't an infinitive either)
Lucky is a pedant in training. Cut him a little slack.
Thankfully I am cutting you a little slack, as the split infinitive was there, obvious, and acknowledged by the original poster, you utter pillock.
It’s hard to overstate what a disaster Boris Johnson turned out to be. It’s likely none of the present tensions would be happening in the UK if he hadn’t done this. The worst thing is, I couldn’t tell you if he did it on purpose or by accident. Either is quite possible.
At the time I remember plenty of Brexiteers saying things like "it's not about the numbers, it's about control" and claiming that immigration from the Commonwealth would be less unpopular with the sort of people who don't like immigration than immigration from the EU. I have to say that both arguments seemed implausible at the time.
With the odd exception, I don't think immigration from the commonwealth is a problem. Immigration from India is very visible in my part of the world, but it isn't really a problem: these are by and large skilled immigrants whom Britain has sought and who integrate easily. The problem is illegals and dubious asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
It's the Euroopeans who have disappeared that I miss the most. You could go round towns and cities all over the UK and it was full of young attractive people speaking a multitude of languages. It's like that in the Sounth of France everywhere and it used to be like that in England. It's difficult to realise how it's changed over the last nine or ten years
You're comparing your current fantasy world with your earlier fantasy world.
Without considering which of them people who live in this country might actually prefer.
Though perhaps one reason you might think there are fewer Europeans in Britain is that many of them have integrated and now speak English.
Not at all. It was a more transitory population. My ex lives the life of a hippy in Crete and lives with a revolving population. She loves it. She's never been happier. Different people turn up at different times and they live a great life. If success is your thing she's had that. If your thing is six pints of beer on a Saturday night then little in the UK will have changed.
The Spanish have a saying about 'The smell of the paint' which is just another way of describing 'the vibe' and to a lot of people it doesn't matter at all. Leon despite his tales of derring do is one of them. I don't think there's a more MOR person on here. He swoons over Taylor swift and thinks Sydney Sweeney is the most alluring person he's seen. That's fine. That's his taste. Take a look at his room featured on here often. Enough said! Not everyone is sensitive to what goes on around them or the styling of the place they live in and that's why some like you and Leon like Brexit and others like me don't
lol
You are a low watt minor-public-school retired tampon advertising executive who lives in a neo fascist enclave surrounded by Russian noovs
You are, without question, the most vulgar person on here
I don't think Roger has ever sunk to vulgarly displaying pics of his garish soft furnishings, but chacun à son goût.
When we post waspish put downs accusing others of vulgarity, perhaps we could avoid splitting the infinitive.
When we waspishly accuse others of splitting an infinitive, we should make sure there is an infinitive to split.
(Hint: infinitives don't end with -ing and "to" is an adverbial particle belonging with "sink". Sunk isn't an infinitive either)
Lucky is a pedant in training. Cut him a little slack.
Thankfully I am cutting you a little slack, as the split infinitive was there, obvious, and acknowledged by the original poster, you utter pillock.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. The IDF Netenyahu apologists are defenders of genocide. The biggest recruiting sergeant for anti semitism are the actions of the IDF and Netenyahu.
The level of Hamas advocacy on here is quite startling and disturbing
I don’t want to make assumptions about your antecedents, but do the IDF take gentile foreign volunteers? Perhaps time for another empty gesture?
However keen I might be, I'm quite sure they wouldn't want me
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. (SNip)
How do journalists get into Gaza? I assume they need permission from the Israelis; I also guess they'd need permission from the Gazan authorities as well (i.e. Hamas). AIUI the BBC have no reporters in Gaza, because of Israeli restrictions, so have to rely on ones already in Gaza. Who I would guess might be rather pro-Palestinian...
(This is another way I think Israel is being stoopid.)
It is good to be reminded just how shite Tezzie was as PM.
But not as shite as Truss or Starmer
That’s a low bar. It’s scary to realise that May is the best of our last five Prime Ministers.
I think that's unfair (to three of the last five). Being PM is something that's complex enough to be hard to reduce to a simple one-dimensional good/bad index.
Boris Johnson, for example, was an instinctive liar and venal, which made him an unstoppable person to be PM, in a way that May was not. But in many ways he was better at the job of PM. He was able to delegate, which was important during the pandemic. He was able to inspire and lead.
I would say that he was much better at being PM than May, but that he had character defects that should have made it impossible for anyone to support him in becoming PM, while May was broadly speaking the reverse.
Sunak was a poor PM in many ways, but he did have at least one achievement to his name - the Windsor framework - which is one more than I can recall for May.
I would only put Truss as unequivocally below May in the rankings of the last five PMs.
It is good to be reminded just how shite Tezzie was as PM.
But not as shite as Truss or Starmer
That’s a low bar. It’s scary to realise that May is the best of our last five Prime Ministers.
I think that's unfair (to three of the last five). Being PM is something that's complex enough to be hard to reduce to a simple one-dimensional good/bad index.
Boris Johnson, for example, was an instinctive liar and venal, which made him an unstoppable person to be PM, in a way that May was not. But in many ways he was better at the job of PM. He was able to delegate, which was important during the pandemic. He was able to inspire and lead.
I would say that he was much better at being PM than May, but that he had character defects that should have made it impossible for anyone to support him in becoming PM, while May was broadly speaking the reverse.
Sunak was a poor PM in many ways, but he did have at least one achievement to his name - the Windsor framework - which is one more than I can recall for May.
I would only put Truss as unequivocally below May in the rankings of the last five PMs.
What's the alternate UK government history had Cameron won the Brexit vote ?
It's hardly credible that it would have been worse.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. The IDF Netenyahu apologists are defenders of genocide. The biggest recruiting sergeant for anti semitism are the actions of the IDF and Netenyahu.
The level of Hamas advocacy on here is quite startling and disturbing
Quite disturbing, but sadly not startling.
And of course the Hamas apologists believe they're the moral ones filled with righteous indignation.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. (SNip)
How do journalists get into Gaza? I assume they need permission from the Israelis; I also guess they'd need permission from the Gazan authorities as well (i.e. Hamas). AIUI the BBC have no reporters in Gaza, because of Israeli restrictions, so have to rely on ones already in Gaza. Who I would guess might be rather pro-Palestinian...
(This is another way I think Israel is being stoopid.)
In fairness, I don't think they are.
a) No foreign journalists are allowed on the front line of Ukraine / Russia war. They let them in the first few weeks of the war have wider access, they got ambushed, shot at, etc, it was a shit show. Gaza is a very much a live warzone, where the front line is basically the whole of Gaza as it is tiny area.
b) Having hostages is huge leverage for Hamas. It would be the obvious thing to do is take Western journalists hostage. If that happened, Israel would get the blame for letting them go.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. The IDF Netenyahu apologists are defenders of genocide. The biggest recruiting sergeant for anti semitism are the actions of the IDF and Netenyahu.
The level of Hamas advocacy on here is quite startling and disturbing
I don’t want to make assumptions about your antecedents, but do the IDF take gentile foreign volunteers? Perhaps time for another empty gesture?
The IDF seem to be doing quite well at grinding down Hamas by themselves.
They should just keep up the good work until there are zero Hamas supporters left alive, or they surrender unconditionally.
Just as we did with WWII with both Germany and Japan.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. (SNip)
How do journalists get into Gaza? I assume they need permission from the Israelis; I also guess they'd need permission from the Gazan authorities as well (i.e. Hamas). AIUI the BBC have no reporters in Gaza, because of Israeli restrictions, so have to rely on ones already in Gaza. Who I would guess might be rather pro-Palestinian...
(This is another way I think Israel is being stoopid.)
In fairness, I don't think they are.
a) No foreign journalists are allowed on the front line of Ukraine / Russia war. They let them in the first few weeks of the war have wider access, they got ambushed, shot at, etc, it was a shit show. Gaza is a very much a live warzone, where the front line is basically the whole of Gaza as it is tiny area.
b) Having hostages is huge leverage for Hamas. It would be the obvious thing to do is take Western journalists hostage. If that happened, Israel would get the blame for letting them go.
Remarkable how many people here fail to comprehend that Gaza is a war zone.
The amount of people who spread bullshit that its an "occupation" not a war zone, then react with outrage and indignation that the IDF might go into Gaza City.
Weird that they might have to fight to get into a city they supposedly already occupy. Almost as if its a war zone and not an occupation.
The idea that Hamas would detain foreign journalists is nonsense . It’s in their best interests to elicit sympathy from the west , holding journalists would do the opposite. (SNip)
How do journalists get into Gaza? I assume they need permission from the Israelis; I also guess they'd need permission from the Gazan authorities as well (i.e. Hamas). AIUI the BBC have no reporters in Gaza, because of Israeli restrictions, so have to rely on ones already in Gaza. Who I would guess might be rather pro-Palestinian...
(This is another way I think Israel is being stoopid.)
In fairness, I don't think they are.
a) No foreign journalists are allowed on the front line of Ukraine / Russia war. They let them in the first few weeks of the war have wider access, they got ambushed, shot at, etc, it was a shit show. Gaza is a very much a live warzone, where the front line is basically the whole of Gaza as it is tiny area.
b) Having hostages is huge leverage for Hamas. It would be the obvious thing to do is take Western journalists hostage. If that happened, Israel would get the blame for letting them go.
Comments
Indeed I felt a pang of it myself and it’s one of the reasons I could have voted Remain. I liked being “European” - I liked freedom of movement. I just despised the anti democratic EU. And something HAS been taken away now we’ve left
Also, I would feel bereft if Scotland left the UK. I would feel a vital chunk of my Britishness was gone. So I genuinely sympathise with your feelings
However whenever you make this point I am also mystified. You’ve lived in France (at least part time) for decades. Surely you have French residency and free moment so nothing has really been taken from YOU?
Sad times.
The stock IDF response which is a blatant lie is we don’t target civilians and will have a sham initial inquiry .
You could have made the same point perfectly, and probably better, if you had called out the lack of depth and analysis when interviewing politicians and the powerful from all political persuasions but you needed to aim it all to the “right”.
It’s questionable how much influence the Mail and Murdoch have today compared to social media so by throwing them into your attack it shows again your political bias, we all have them, but it is coming to a conclusion based on flawed reasoning. If you think BBC presenters and the like are big Boris and Farage fans then I really couldn’t agree, it’s just that they don’t rip them apart to the extent that would make you happy and criticise their views which you dislike.
So yes, we are not a particularly deep society at the moment, possibly anti-intellectual, but you don’t fix it by identifying the “problems” as being only things and people you already dislike.
It is good to be reminded just how shite Tezzie was as PM.
It’s scary to realise that May is the best of our last five Prime Ministers.
Versus the kind of person who frequents the back pages of Private Eye - crimes aplenty, wheedling their way out of any serious punishment.
Foreign journalists would report Hamas propaganda, or they'd be hostages, or dead
Starmer I would still put above May, but behind Sunak.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/T90NnJorWf4
I’m with my older daughter having a day out. We’re off to do battle. As in, do Battle. We’re going to see the site of the battle of Hastings (neither of us has been before)
I’ve just noticed that she is intensely reading Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road”
*proud father*
Go ahead Punk, make my day
(Hint: infinitives don't end with -ing and "to" is an adverbial particle belonging with "sink". Sunk isn't an infinitive either)
I have looked at the ashtrays however. Some of them are exquisite - from this period - and you can get them for pennies and they are excellent for displaying things like - random example - 3300 year old shards of painted pottery that I found in the desolated monotheistic city of Akhetaten in middle Egypt when I went there with armed guards during the Egyptian civil war
With reference to the Farmers Poll, I believe Survation tend to conduct the CLA polling, if this one was also them it'll be on their website soon. Theres an article about it in Business Matters not pay walled https://bmmagazine.co.uk/in-business/farmers-poll-inheritance-tax-crisis/
500 respondents but doesn't say who conducted it
For reference, a 1000 respondent poll of farmers for GE 2024 on July 1 found........
Of more than 1,000 respondents, 33% voted Conservative; 23% voted Labour; 22% voted Reform UK; 12% voted Liberal Democrat; 4% voted Green Party; 3% voted ‘other’; with 2% for Plaid Cymru and 1% for the SNP.
There are one or two further anomalies such as silver and gold in Scotland. I *believe* they fall to the Crown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFtE9HMtiOc
(He, and Nikki Haley, are my favorites in the Republican Party for 2028.)
If it was a film you would think it too far fetched..........
It's a fine euphemism.
Cut him a little slack.
NICE was an excellent wheeze when we were still EU members, as access to the continental market masked the policy tradeoffs that we're now having to start considering.
It wasn't just the EMA that we lost with Brexit.
He had them designate one of their fancy pieces as an ink pot as a perfume bottle would have attracted purchase tax.
I wonder if ash trays were the same [officially called something else].
Exactly this. Fracking works in large areas of unbroken geology like the North German/Polish plains or large parts of North America. But it is simply impractical in the UK. Not just because of our interesting geology but also because of the amount of infrastructure needed.
US allows emergency authorizations of animal drugs to fight screwworms
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-allows-emergency-authorizations-animal-drugs-fight-screwworms-2025-08-19/
U.S. health officials gave the Food and Drug Administration the power to quickly authorize veterinarians and farmers to treat or prevent infestations of a flesh-eating livestock pest with animal drugs that may be approved for other purposes or available in other countries, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday.
No cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed in the U.S. for decades. However, the Trump administration and livestock ranchers anticipate infestations that could reduce the nation's cattle herd and lift beef prices, already at record highs.
Screwworm, a parasitic fly that eats livestock and wildlife alive, can infest any warm-blooded animal.
Last month, the pest was found in Mexico about 370 miles from the U.S. border, prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to indefinitely halt imports of Mexican cattle.
The best method to fight screwworm is by breeding sterile flies that reduce the mating population of wild flies. However, experts say many more sterile flies would be needed beyond the current production capacity to slow screwworm's spread in Latin America...
I wonder how much the Trump cutback in overseas aid and/or public health spending has affected the longstanding program to keep this under control in Central America.
I think I'm right in thinking that there's no current medication to treat it in humans.
Turns out we LOST
Total bummer. Waste of a day
She also did good work against domestic violence and slavery.
May was dull but dutiful and moral and there was no risk of partygate under her. She was a poor campaigner and the dementia tax proposal disaster had to be scrapped quickly but she did three years as PM, won most seats at a general election and her premiership looks far better now in retrospect than in summer 2019
Cleaners, care workers and shop assistants most seen as underpaid followed by nurses
* yes I know they won a lot too.
Yes, "vulgarly displaying" splits the infinitive. The infinitive "to display" is split by the adverb "vulgarly," which is placed between "to" and the verb "display".
Not many people know that.
Just a constant hum of overwhelming defeat
Ukraine has upgraded its Neptune missile — here's what we know
https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-reportedly-unveils-upgraded-neptune/
(This is another way I think Israel is being stoopid.)
Boris Johnson, for example, was an instinctive liar and venal, which made him an unstoppable person to be PM, in a way that May was not. But in many ways he was better at the job of PM. He was able to delegate, which was important during the pandemic. He was able to inspire and lead.
I would say that he was much better at being PM than May, but that he had character defects that should have made it impossible for anyone to support him in becoming PM, while May was broadly speaking the reverse.
Sunak was a poor PM in many ways, but he did have at least one achievement to his name - the Windsor framework - which is one more than I can recall for May.
I would only put Truss as unequivocally below May in the rankings of the last five PMs.
It's hardly credible that it would have been worse.
And of course the Hamas apologists believe they're the moral ones filled with righteous indignation.
a) No foreign journalists are allowed on the front line of Ukraine / Russia war. They let them in the first few weeks of the war have wider access, they got ambushed, shot at, etc, it was a shit show. Gaza is a very much a live warzone, where the front line is basically the whole of Gaza as it is tiny area.
b) Having hostages is huge leverage for Hamas. It would be the obvious thing to do is take Western journalists hostage. If that happened, Israel would get the blame for letting them go.
They should just keep up the good work until there are zero Hamas supporters left alive, or they surrender unconditionally.
Just as we did with WWII with both Germany and Japan.
The amount of people who spread bullshit that its an "occupation" not a war zone, then react with outrage and indignation that the IDF might go into Gaza City.
Weird that they might have to fight to get into a city they supposedly already occupy. Almost as if its a war zone and not an occupation.