So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Couldn't they have spent some of their royalty income soundproofing their pad ?
Stupid woman. Mobile networks already block phones reported stolen.
The only value in stolen phones is for parts like the screen, but there's nothing the manufacturers can do about that without enforcing serialisation of all the internal components, which would kill the entire independent repair industry, and force people to have their phones repaired only by the manufacturer - who will conveniently charge so much it's cheaper to buy a new phone.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
I think I’m doing the most Austrian thing possible. I’m sitting in the sunny main square of a little spa town being served spritzer by a guy in lederhosen as I stare at an Alp and wait for an oompah band to begin playing popular waltzes
All I need is Arnold Schwarzenegger to randomly join me for some Sachertorte
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
He wrote the music. Hal David was the lyricist. It was like Elton John and Bernie Taupin. A partnership of equals.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
This Guy's in Love with You 24 Hours to Tulsa
Wifey also worked with Jimmy Webb:
Wichita Lineman Galveston McArthur Park
(sadly not on any of those!)
I will also some time relate the story of Jim Steinman trying to get her to work on Bat Out of Hell 2 - and how he seriously creeped her out!
Four years is a very long time in politics, but right now it looks plausible that we will have a Trump-style authoritarian government after the next election. And David Allen Green points out quite correctly that the UK constitution provides no protection against a government that abandons all self-restraint.
There is a case to call on the left to hold their noses and not rock the boat. But that case relies on the centre doing their bit to keep out the right. Right now, it seems like Starmer is presuming on the left's support and using it as licence to pander to the illiberal right; in the hope of winning back potential reform voters. He is failing to go in to bat for the rule of law, failing to point out when Farage and reform cross over into racist campaigning against immigrants who have a legal right to remain - or even citizenship . This is a stupid strategy because it legitimizes the very people who are his main electoral rivals.
There is an alternative case that the left, and anyone who wants to see the rule of law extend beyond the next election, that as much pressure as possible needs to be put on the government and Starmer to change tack.
Many people would argue that failing to control the borders is a prime example of "abandoning all restraint".
It's interesting how the left can't see this.
Exactly how does one 'control the borders'? The problem, as I see it is one of technology. It's easy, and apparently quite cheap, to obtain inflatable boats and find desperate people to buy seats in them. It was much harder to cross the Channel 'uncontrolled' when the only boats available were wooden and had to be built by hand. When the 'desperate' people had to buy, or be bought, tickets on one or other of the ferries we didn't have the same problem, although I seem to recall tales of riots in the East End of London back in the 1930's.
I'm not denying that there are people crossing who we would regard as unwanted rogues but there are many to whom we promised 'care and support' but made it impossible to get here.
It would be interesting, and perhaps informative, to have journalists talk to people who actually have travelled here by rubber boats, instead of making assumptions.
We've controlled the borders for almost a thousand years. The idea we can't do so now is ridiculous.
I really LOL at that. we didn't 'control' our borders. Our borders in the last thousand years were incredibly porous - even if you were smuggling goods. It's just that the demand to come over here was not as great, the ability to travel large distances not as easy, and the knowledge of greener pastures on the other side of the fence not as widespread.
The idea that our borders were somehow under 'control' is laughable. Heck, the last French invasion had to be seen off by Jemima Nicholas, not an army.
We also had open borders until the 1905 Aliens Act. Before that anyone could come, hence our 19th Century German, Jewish, Chinese, Lascar, Yemeni etc communities.
No need for small boats in those days, just buy a ticket or work a passage on any ship.
Churchill, as Home Sec., got jeered in the aftermath on the Sydney Street siege. He was seen by the locals as soft of immigration - the men involved in the siege were political radicals from Imperial Russia. Latvians, IIRC.
Yes, most of the participants in incident were Latvian and Russian Jews, refugees* from Czarist persecution and torture. Then as now there was concern at cultural change, particularly tinged with anti-semitism and reactionary responses to revolutionary ideas. Nothing new under the sun?
A generation later the same immigrant communities smashed Moseleys Blackshirts at the Batle of Cable St, doing great service to their new homeland. Let's hope we don't need to repeat that bit of history too.
*from what I can see of their biographies they would qualify under current rules
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
This Guy's in Love with You 24 Hours to Tulsa
Wifey also worked with Jimmy Webb:
Wichita Lineman Galveston McArthur Park
(sadly not on any of those!)
I will also some time relate the story of Jim Steinman trying to get her to work on Bat Out of Hell 2 - and how he seriously creeped her out!
Wichita Lineman is one of THE great American songs
On a slightly related point; one of the new towns being developed in this area is Northstowe, on the site of the old RAF Oakington. Like all modern developments, it has significant ponds / lakes to cope with runoff. But unlike older settlements such as mine, one of the three lakes has been specifically designed to cater for wild / openwater swimming.
Seems like a cool (or freezing in winter!) idea to me.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
Quite a few knew before he died. He's always been something of an icon.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
This Guy's in Love with You 24 Hours to Tulsa
Wifey also worked with Jimmy Webb:
Wichita Lineman Galveston McArthur Park
(sadly not on any of those!)
I will also some time relate the story of Jim Steinman trying to get her to work on Bat Out of Hell 2 - and how he seriously creeped her out!
Wichita Lineman is one of THE great American songs
It’s also very random to make an iconic song about such a random blue collar job.
Don’t get songs now about road line painters or asylum hotel cleaners.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
I was kinda joking but it’s also true. Open water really adds to a landscape. It can turn pleasant scenery into something striking, even sublime - as Capability Brown knew so well
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
Quite a few knew before he died. He's always been something of an icon.
I’ve been into Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s work for decades.
Even in this thread poor old Hal David gets no recognition.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
This Guy's in Love with You 24 Hours to Tulsa
Wifey also worked with Jimmy Webb:
Wichita Lineman Galveston McArthur Park
(sadly not on any of those!)
I will also some time relate the story of Jim Steinman trying to get her to work on Bat Out of Hell 2 - and how he seriously creeped her out!
Wichita Lineman is one of THE great American songs
It’s also very random to make an iconic song about such a random blue collar job.
Don’t get songs now about road line painters or asylum hotel cleaners.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
On a slightly related point; one of the new towns being developed in this area is Northstowe, on the site of the old RAF Oakington. Like all modern developments, it has significant ponds / lakes to cope with runoff. But unlike older settlements such as mine, one of the three lakes has been specifically designed to cater for wild / openwater swimming.
Seems like a cool (or freezing in winter!) idea to me.
That's a great idea, but it relies on enforcement by a powerful local authority. And that requires skill and capacity, both of which are gutted nearly everywhere.
Otherwise developers will slope shoulders.
On one I was involved in a few years ago there was a footpath into the local country park in the approved planning app, which is now almost impassable unless you are a mountain goat.
It's like that phone mast smack in the middle of the new mobility track in Derby that I quoted. The planning condition did not include dimensions of extra width they were supposed to add to mitigate the damage, so they installed a few inches and it cannot be followed through on.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
Quite a few knew before he died. He's always been something of an icon.
I’ve been into Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s work for decades.
Even in this thread poor old Hal David gets no recognition.
I mentioned Hal David in the original comment which kicked off this conversation!
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
Quite a few knew before he died. He's always been something of an icon.
I’ve been into Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s work for decades.
Even in this thread poor old Hal David gets no recognition.
I mentioned Hal David in the original comment which kicked off this conversation!
Can’t understand why people say the borders are not controlled. You’re either here by right or invitation, otherwise you’re illegal.
So if the numbers of illegals or potential illegals are too many and cost too much the crew up the courts. If there are those not visible to the courts then crew up the police.
We are in this situation by choice as we won’t pay the money needed. A sort of shorthand way of saying pay your taxes (Angela)
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
Fortunately, Ukraine is giving would-be imperialist expansionist the fear that a military take-over of another country might become a very expensive morass.
What's more likely are attempted political take-overs. As Putin has show with Belarus and, more recently, Georgia, and as he attempted in Ukraine, altering the political climate so that mini-me's are in charge.
I was kinda joking but it’s also true. Open water really adds to a landscape. It can turn pleasant scenery into something striking, even sublime - as Capability Brown knew so well
I am on a train heading to LEuston. When I get there I will be tens of miles from my work laptop. Later tonight I will board the Caledonian Sleeper and tomorrow I will be in Edinburgh and hundreds of miles from my work laptop. My usual "ohshitohshit" work worry is being replaced by a more diffuse sense of unhappiness, revolving around the fact that if things go wrong I can't fix it. When I was a kid holidays were done when school broke up, but now work is a 24/7 experience and I can't relax because there is always work coming in. My clients are nice people but contact me at all hours requiring work to be done Right Now Tonight, so if they contact me and I'm On Holiday the work will just pile up until I return. I love my job but damn it is taking its toll. ☹️
Can’t understand why people say the borders are not controlled. You’re either here by right or invitation, otherwise you’re illegal.
So if the numbers of illegals or potential illegals are too many and cost too much the crew up the courts. If there are those not visible to the courts then crew up the police.
We are in this situation by choice as we won’t pay the money needed. A sort of shorthand way of saying pay your taxes (Angela)
It's not illegal to claim asylum of course, but yes of course there should be speedy assessment, and deportation of those refused.
Stupid woman. Mobile networks already block phones reported stolen.
The only value in stolen phones is for parts like the screen, but there's nothing the manufacturers can do about that without enforcing serialisation of all the internal components, which would kill the entire independent repair industry, and force people to have their phones repaired only by the manufacturer - who will conveniently charge so much it's cheaper to buy a new phone.
And much time, effort and ink has been shed in court cases specifically stopping companies blocking third party components for repairs.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
Four years is a very long time in politics, but right now it looks plausible that we will have a Trump-style authoritarian government after the next election. And David Allen Green points out quite correctly that the UK constitution provides no protection against a government that abandons all self-restraint.
There is a case to call on the left to hold their noses and not rock the boat. But that case relies on the centre doing their bit to keep out the right. Right now, it seems like Starmer is presuming on the left's support and using it as licence to pander to the illiberal right; in the hope of winning back potential reform voters. He is failing to go in to bat for the rule of law, failing to point out when Farage and reform cross over into racist campaigning against immigrants who have a legal right to remain - or even citizenship . This is a stupid strategy because it legitimizes the very people who are his main electoral rivals.
There is an alternative case that the left, and anyone who wants to see the rule of law extend beyond the next election, that as much pressure as possible needs to be put on the government and Starmer to change tack.
Many people would argue that failing to control the borders is a prime example of "abandoning all restraint".
It's interesting how the left can't see this.
Exactly how does one 'control the borders'? The problem, as I see it is one of technology. It's easy, and apparently quite cheap, to obtain inflatable boats and find desperate people to buy seats in them. It was much harder to cross the Channel 'uncontrolled' when the only boats available were wooden and had to be built by hand. When the 'desperate' people had to buy, or be bought, tickets on one or other of the ferries we didn't have the same problem, although I seem to recall tales of riots in the East End of London back in the 1930's.
I'm not denying that there are people crossing who we would regard as unwanted rogues but there are many to whom we promised 'care and support' but made it impossible to get here.
It would be interesting, and perhaps informative, to have journalists talk to people who actually have travelled here by rubber boats, instead of making assumptions.
We've controlled the borders for almost a thousand years. The idea we can't do so now is ridiculous.
Have we Andy? How do you know? Smuggling was endemic back in the day.
Stupid woman. Mobile networks already block phones reported stolen.
The only value in stolen phones is for parts like the screen, but there's nothing the manufacturers can do about that without enforcing serialisation of all the internal components, which would kill the entire independent repair industry, and force people to have their phones repaired only by the manufacturer - who will conveniently charge so much it's cheaper to buy a new phone.
And much time, effort and ink has been shed in court cases specifically stopping companies blocking third party components for repairs.
For a bog-standard, non top-of-the-range mobile, how many of the components are actually reusable, and how costly are they to extract? In other words, how much would a mobile phone that is locked and useless as a phone get the fence/middleman?
(You can probably tell I was not on the hardware side of consumer electronics, and brand myself every time I am even in the same room as a soldering iron...)
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I think, and hope, that Canada could do enough with European help to deter the US from launching an SMO by ensuring there would be consequences. The US and its allies couldn’t fully control Iraq or Afghanistan after all. I don’t think the Americans are yet in the zone of accepting hundreds of thousands of war dead, Russia style.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I think, and hope, that Canada could do enough with European help to deter the US from launching an SMO by ensuring there would be consequences. The US and its allies couldn’t fully control Iraq or Afghanistan after all. I don’t think the Americans are yet in the zone of accepting hundreds of thousands of war dead, Russia style.
I hope you are right. But what if deterrence failed. The fact that so far Trump shows a deep dislike of the death of USA military forces is the only saving grace I can think of.
"A very good friend of mine was a Navy Deep Diver, a branch of the Navy’s Special Forces. (We lost him last year.) And he was stationed there for a while. Had all sorts of stories, including this one. (With pictures!) So when anybody turned up missing he was one of the people tasked with locating them. And when he was informed of their last known whereabouts he often knew it wasn’t going to end well.
So what happens is this. The atoll has a beautiful reef and tide pool system lining the inner lagoon. And the tides are such that at low tide, nearly 100 meters of reef is exposed. The inner lagoon is also about 400 feet deep, down past the photic zone.
New people or folks that didn’t get the word would be overjoyed at all the pristine reef life and hand and spear fish all day long. (New Phillipino contractors were the most common victims.) And they would wander all the way to the inner edge.
And then the tide would come in. Most people expect the tide to come in like it does with a normal shoreline. But what you have here is a coral reef, which are *porous*. So while you’re looking at the tide come in, you don’t realize the beach is still 100 meters *behind* you! And you suddenly find yourself in deepening water. No problem right? It won’t get any deeper than four feet.
Except as the tide comes in, young great hammerheads, which had been lurking in the deep water, come up with the incoming tide in pursuit of various reef fish stunned by being in tidepools. And as when they do this their dorsal fins are obvious, sometimes people panic and try to run.
Which attracts more of them. And the faster you go, the more you splash, the more aggressive the hammerheads become. Woof.
He had photos of five sets of flippers and swim trunks, torn to shreds. Sometimes near hibachis and spear guns, proving they “almost” made it. But policy states that without dirtect proof otherwise, they were drowning victims who were scavenged."
I am on a train heading to LEuston. When I get there I will be tens of miles from my work laptop. Later tonight I will board the Caledonian Sleeper and tomorrow I will be in Edinburgh and hundreds of miles from my work laptop. My usual "ohshitohshit" work worry is being replaced by a more diffuse sense of unhappiness, revolving around the fact that if things go wrong I can't fix it. When I was a kid holidays were done when school broke up, but now work is a 24/7 experience and I can't relax because there is always work coming in. My clients are nice people but contact me at all hours requiring work to be done Right Now Tonight, so if they contact me and I'm On Holiday the work will just pile up until I return. I love my job but damn it is taking its toll. ☹️
That’s tough
You could literally tell your clients “step away for two weeks I’m on a family holiday”
I may be deluded but a lot of people respect that?
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I fear you are correct. This is about 1932. The parallels are uncanny
Much of it, however, is being driven by an insane left wing in the west (equivalent to the fellow traveling Stalinist Fabians of the 30s?) who do not understand how they are driving despairing voters to the hard or far right
Look at the asylum discourse this weekend. The rights of 23 year old Syrian men in free four star hotels which we pay for, and who still hate Britain, must come first, in Britain, over the rights of British girls not to be raped
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
Quite a few knew before he died. He's always been something of an icon.
He's in Austin Powers International Man of Mystery, and it doesn't get much bigger than that.
I am on a train heading to LEuston. When I get there I will be tens of miles from my work laptop. Later tonight I will board the Caledonian Sleeper and tomorrow I will be in Edinburgh and hundreds of miles from my work laptop. My usual "ohshitohshit" work worry is being replaced by a more diffuse sense of unhappiness, revolving around the fact that if things go wrong I can't fix it. When I was a kid holidays were done when school broke up, but now work is a 24/7 experience and I can't relax because there is always work coming in. My clients are nice people but contact me at all hours requiring work to be done Right Now Tonight, so if they contact me and I'm On Holiday the work will just pile up until I return. I love my job but damn it is taking its toll. ☹️
I'm hoping you enjoy that work if it's so all consuming?
I am on a train heading to LEuston. When I get there I will be tens of miles from my work laptop. Later tonight I will board the Caledonian Sleeper and tomorrow I will be in Edinburgh and hundreds of miles from my work laptop. My usual "ohshitohshit" work worry is being replaced by a more diffuse sense of unhappiness, revolving around the fact that if things go wrong I can't fix it. When I was a kid holidays were done when school broke up, but now work is a 24/7 experience and I can't relax because there is always work coming in. My clients are nice people but contact me at all hours requiring work to be done Right Now Tonight, so if they contact me and I'm On Holiday the work will just pile up until I return. I love my job but damn it is taking its toll. ☹️
That’s tough
You could literally tell your clients “step away for two weeks I’m on a family holiday”
I may be deluded but a lot of people respect that?
I do not know viewcode's situation but a lot of companies expect even quite low-level employees (eg me) to be available 24x7. That is why there is occasional talk of something like the French laws on the right to switch off. For freelancers there may be the added fear of being replaced.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I fear you are correct. This is about 1932. The parallels are uncanny
Much of it, however, is being driven by an insane left wing in the west (equivalent to the fellow traveling Stalinist Fabians of the 30s?) who do not understand how they are driving despairing voters to the hard or far right
Look at the asylum discourse this weekend. The rights of 23 year old Syrian men in free four star hotels which we pay for, and who still hate Britain, must come first, in Britain, over the rights of British girls not to be raped
In this light, Brits may as well vote Nazi
Britain has a wonderful history of peaceful change coming when needed. The glorious revolution. The industrial revolution. The Great Reform Act. This era is just the same. We are just lucky like that.
"The nations not so blessed as thee, must in their turn to tyrants fall, while thou shalt flourish great and free, the dread and envy of them all"
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I think, and hope, that Canada could do enough with European help to deter the US from launching an SMO by ensuring there would be consequences. The US and its allies couldn’t fully control Iraq or Afghanistan after all. I don’t think the Americans are yet in the zone of accepting hundreds of thousands of war dead, Russia style.
It'd be hubristic overreach by the USA and its power crazy leader. When the Canadian winter sets in they'd be stranded with stretched supply lines and no warm boots.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I fear you are correct. This is about 1932. The parallels are uncanny
Much of it, however, is being driven by an insane left wing in the west (equivalent to the fellow traveling Stalinist Fabians of the 30s?) who do not understand how they are driving despairing voters to the hard or far right
Look at the asylum discourse this weekend. The rights of 23 year old Syrian men in free four star hotels which we pay for, and who still hate Britain, must come first, in Britain, over the rights of British girls not to be raped
In this light, Brits may as well vote Nazi
Britain has a wonderful history of peaceful change coming when needed. The glorious revolution. The industrial revolution. The Great Reform Act. This era is just the same. We are just lucky like that.
"The nations not so blessed as thee, must in their turn to tyrants fall, while thou shalt flourish great and free, the dread and envy of them all"
Where is that from? Bing knows nothing. Google finds a garbled (scanned?) text.
I am on a train heading to LEuston. When I get there I will be tens of miles from my work laptop. Later tonight I will board the Caledonian Sleeper and tomorrow I will be in Edinburgh and hundreds of miles from my work laptop. My usual "ohshitohshit" work worry is being replaced by a more diffuse sense of unhappiness, revolving around the fact that if things go wrong I can't fix it. When I was a kid holidays were done when school broke up, but now work is a 24/7 experience and I can't relax because there is always work coming in. My clients are nice people but contact me at all hours requiring work to be done Right Now Tonight, so if they contact me and I'm On Holiday the work will just pile up until I return. I love my job but damn it is taking its toll. ☹️
That’s tough
You could literally tell your clients “step away for two weeks I’m on a family holiday”
I may be deluded but a lot of people respect that?
I do not know viewcode's situation but a lot of companies expect even quite low-level employees (eg me) to be available 24x7. That is why there is occasional talk of something like the French laws on the right to switch off. For freelancers there may be the added fear of being replaced.
Well it’s fucking bollocks and you have my total sympathies
I despise working from home and I’m pretty sure it’s contributing to the British malaise, but as a quid pro quo if Brits are expected to go back to work then they should get the right to switch off the phone at 6pm and get four weeks unbothered holiday
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I fear you are correct. This is about 1932. The parallels are uncanny
Much of it, however, is being driven by an insane left wing in the west (equivalent to the fellow traveling Stalinist Fabians of the 30s?) who do not understand how they are driving despairing voters to the hard or far right
Look at the asylum discourse this weekend. The rights of 23 year old Syrian men in free four star hotels which we pay for, and who still hate Britain, must come first, in Britain, over the rights of British girls not to be raped
In this light, Brits may as well vote Nazi
Britain has a wonderful history of peaceful change coming when needed. The glorious revolution. The industrial revolution. The Great Reform Act. This era is just the same. We are just lucky like that.
"The nations not so blessed as thee, must in their turn to tyrants fall, while thou shalt flourish great and free, the dread and envy of them all"
Where is that from? Bing knows nothing. Google finds a garbled (scanned?) text.
It's from Rule Britannia, minus a few repetitions. A remarkable song that tells a very clever story that gets lost because people think it's mindless jingoism - it is actually the opposite.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
no one on the planet would ever trust trump to pay them
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
I am on a train heading to LEuston. When I get there I will be tens of miles from my work laptop. Later tonight I will board the Caledonian Sleeper and tomorrow I will be in Edinburgh and hundreds of miles from my work laptop. My usual "ohshitohshit" work worry is being replaced by a more diffuse sense of unhappiness, revolving around the fact that if things go wrong I can't fix it. When I was a kid holidays were done when school broke up, but now work is a 24/7 experience and I can't relax because there is always work coming in. My clients are nice people but contact me at all hours requiring work to be done Right Now Tonight, so if they contact me and I'm On Holiday the work will just pile up until I return. I love my job but damn it is taking its toll. ☹️
That’s tough
You could literally tell your clients “step away for two weeks I’m on a family holiday”
I may be deluded but a lot of people respect that?
I do not know viewcode's situation but a lot of companies expect even quite low-level employees (eg me) to be available 24x7. That is why there is occasional talk of something like the French laws on the right to switch off. For freelancers there may be the added fear of being replaced.
My last company was the same.
However when I got a 4% rise when inflation was 11% fuck them. I did what is called quiet quitting. Worked my contracted hours and that was it and any calls out of work hours went unanswered. Fuck them.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
"For ten years" is laughable.
Of course it would be forever
I think it's a good idea.
As I have said many times before, they should be moved to the West Bank, the ghastly West Bank settlers moved to Gaza or Israel proper. Then you get a solid Israel with territorial integrity, a solid Palestinian state with territorial integrity, and everyone is a winner.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Plenty of spare space in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.
IMHO at this point there are only two futures, neither great. Either a forced removal of the Gaza population, presumably in the first instance to Egypt against Egypt's will, or hand it over to determine its own future and make the Gaza/Israel border as secure as North Korea + credible promise to use nuclear response if attacked and let the UN/Egypt/Arab/islamic world sort it out between them.
In either case the USA to continue to treat and protect Israel for military purposes as if it were an extension of USA territory.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
I have absolutely no idea, and I’m glad it’s not my job to sort it out
BUT, I do believe some version of this - population movements - is now the only viable long term solution, given how much both sides genocidally loathe each other. If it wasn’t so globally destabilising I’d be quite happy for them both to fight each other to the death, because: who cares
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
"For ten years" is laughable.
Of course it would be forever
And when Hamas threaten to shoot anyone and all their extended family if they take this $ cash offer?
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
There are apparently around 700,000 Israeli settlers in The West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are 2.1 million Palestinians living in Gaza. Given that Gazans are currently packed into a very small space, so used to dense conditions, I think the space vacated by 700,000 settlers would be more than adequate for 2.1 million of them to start with.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
I have absolutely no idea, and I’m glad it’s not my job to sort it out
BUT, I do believe some version of this - population movements - is now the only viable long term solution, given how much both sides genocidally loathe each other. If it wasn’t so globally destabilising I’d be quite happy for them both to fight each other to the death, because: who cares
What’s clear is the current situation is not sustainable. The balance of power is massively skewed in favour of Israel. The west support Israel. Neither party wants a two state solution. The world would be a better place without Hamas.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
There are apparently around 700,000 Israeli settlers in The West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are 2.1 million Palestinians living in Gaza. Given that Gazans are currently packed into a very small space, so used to dense conditions, I think the space vacated by 700,000 settlers would be more than adequate for 2.1 million of them to start with.
I'm not in favour of the settlers in any way, and the vast majority should f-off into Israel proper.
But the Gazans in this so-called 'plan' are *not* going to go there. Israel would not allow it, for obvious reasons. So the question is, where will they go?
We need to be very careful not to inadvertently create a new version of the Madagascar Plan.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
I have absolutely no idea, and I’m glad it’s not my job to sort it out
BUT, I do believe some version of this - population movements - is now the only viable long term solution, given how much both sides genocidally loathe each other. If it wasn’t so globally destabilising I’d be quite happy for them both to fight each other to the death, because: who cares
What’s clear is the current situation is not sustainable. The balance of power is massively skewed in favour of Israel. The west support Israel. Neither party wants a two state solution. The world would be a better place without Hamas.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
I have absolutely no idea, and I’m glad it’s not my job to sort it out
BUT, I do believe some version of this - population movements - is now the only viable long term solution, given how much both sides genocidally loathe each other. If it wasn’t so globally destabilising I’d be quite happy for them both to fight each other to the death, because: who cares
So you think the plan is the solution, but you've got zero answer to the most obvious, and immediate, question about that plan? Perhaps that alone makes the plan unworkable and stupid.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
If that happens, and it might, they go to Egypt in the first instance. Egypt in the end would not be given a choice. After that it's an Arab/Islamic problem to sort. Once you account for events since the October massacre and account for the current USA gangster tyranny, and account for the fact that the two state solution is dead then either Gazans are removed or Gaza is absolutely separated from Israel politically and by an impenetrable boundary and Korean style security.
(None of this is what I wish to happen. But I think it will happen).
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
I have absolutely no idea, and I’m glad it’s not my job to sort it out
BUT, I do believe some version of this - population movements - is now the only viable long term solution, given how much both sides genocidally loathe each other. If it wasn’t so globally destabilising I’d be quite happy for them both to fight each other to the death, because: who cares
What’s clear is the current situation is not sustainable. The balance of power is massively skewed in favour of Israel. The west support Israel. Neither party wants a two state solution. The world would be a better place without Hamas.
So why not.
What’s wrong with my solution? - make more land.
You probably need some sort of process to ensure that nobody knows which is the original land promised to their forefathers and which is the modern copy.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
I have absolutely no idea, and I’m glad it’s not my job to sort it out
BUT, I do believe some version of this - population movements - is now the only viable long term solution, given how much both sides genocidally loathe each other. If it wasn’t so globally destabilising I’d be quite happy for them both to fight each other to the death, because: who cares
What’s clear is the current situation is not sustainable. The balance of power is massively skewed in favour of Israel. The west support Israel. Neither party wants a two state solution. The world would be a better place without Hamas.
So why not.
Yes
It’s like some ghastly couple in a holiday resort who constantly, loudly argue, bicker and threaten to kill each other, ruining every single day by the pool for everyone else
In the end you just want to give them weapons and say, Go on then, get on with it, and stop destroying our precious holidays, we don’t care “who started it”
OR you say FFS just get a divorce, commencing here, and one of you has to go to Finland, now, here’s $5k for a flight this afternoon
Trump is in favour of the Finland option and I agree with him, otherwise they will argue to the end of time
Solving this grotesque and endless altercation would also get it off the streets of western cities, which is a consummation much to be wish’d
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
If that happens, and it might, they go to Egypt in the first instance. Egypt in the end would not be given a choice. After that it's an Arab/Islamic problem to sort. Once you account for events since the October massacre and account for the current USA gangster tyranny, and account for the fact that the two state solution is dead then either Gazans are removed or Gaza is absolutely separated from Israel politically and by an impenetrable boundary and Korean style security.
(None of this is what I wish to happen. But I think it will happen).
And you’re right, Those are the only two realistic outcomes
Which is better for the poor Gazans? Trump’s option, probably
Can’t understand why people say the borders are not controlled. You’re either here by right or invitation, otherwise you’re illegal.
So if the numbers of illegals or potential illegals are too many and cost too much the crew up the courts. If there are those not visible to the courts then crew up the police.
We are in this situation by choice as we won’t pay the money needed. A sort of shorthand way of saying pay your taxes (Angela)
It's not illegal to claim asylum of course, but yes of course there should be speedy assessment, and deportation of those refused.
The law as it stands is that if you come by an irregular route or if you overstay a visa, you are not here lawfully - unless otherwise proven. It’s not a difficult concept to grasp. The law was changed by the conservatives ( and not repealed) as it’s one of the common ways to bring clarity within the law. So unless otherwise proven is the current MO and leaving people in the legal limbo of not being able to prove the otherwise is because of the unwillingness to crew up the courts.
Get the courts working and the issue resolves itself.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
I have absolutely no idea, and I’m glad it’s not my job to sort it out
BUT, I do believe some version of this - population movements - is now the only viable long term solution, given how much both sides genocidally loathe each other. If it wasn’t so globally destabilising I’d be quite happy for them both to fight each other to the death, because: who cares
What’s clear is the current situation is not sustainable. The balance of power is massively skewed in favour of Israel. The west support Israel. Neither party wants a two state solution. The world would be a better place without Hamas.
So why not.
What’s wrong with my solution? - make more land.
You probably need some sort of process to ensure that nobody knows which is the original land promised to their forefathers and which is the modern copy.
About half (maybe more) of Israelis are concerned by the narrowing of Israel that happens if you go back to 67 borders. The religious types wanting specific land are a minority.
So if you built an extra 30-40 miles of land, you’d get at least half of Israel behind the plan.
And we all know that Kristi Noem is insane, so we ignore her.
That’s a bit harsh on insane people.
Our local Crumbling Michael, who camps outside the local Sainsbury’s, has never praised Donald Trump, supported semi-semi-fascism etc.
He shouts at pigeons, but don’t we all. And he’s quite polite to the PCSO lady who checks on him and asks him in a stern voice if he’s been taking his pills.
I am on a train heading to LEuston. When I get there I will be tens of miles from my work laptop. Later tonight I will board the Caledonian Sleeper and tomorrow I will be in Edinburgh and hundreds of miles from my work laptop. My usual "ohshitohshit" work worry is being replaced by a more diffuse sense of unhappiness, revolving around the fact that if things go wrong I can't fix it. When I was a kid holidays were done when school broke up, but now work is a 24/7 experience and I can't relax because there is always work coming in. My clients are nice people but contact me at all hours requiring work to be done Right Now Tonight, so if they contact me and I'm On Holiday the work will just pile up until I return. I love my job but damn it is taking its toll. ☹️
That’s tough
You could literally tell your clients “step away for two weeks I’m on a family holiday”
I may be deluded but a lot of people respect that?
I do not know viewcode's situation but a lot of companies expect even quite low-level employees (eg me) to be available 24x7. That is why there is occasional talk of something like the French laws on the right to switch off. For freelancers there may be the added fear of being replaced.
My last company was the same.
However when I got a 4% rise when inflation was 11% fuck them. I did what is called quiet quitting. Worked my contracted hours and that was it and any calls out of work hours went unanswered. Fuck them.
Some 40 years ago, a colleague of mine had his refusal to work weekends down to a fine art. He always sounded so concerned and apologetic as he said "I'm sorry, you've picked the wrong weekend, we're away." And he was away, too, they took the caravan off somewhere every weekend.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I fear you are correct. This is about 1932. The parallels are uncanny
Much of it, however, is being driven by an insane left wing in the west (equivalent to the fellow traveling Stalinist Fabians of the 30s?) who do not understand how they are driving despairing voters to the hard or far right
Look at the asylum discourse this weekend. The rights of 23 year old Syrian men in free four star hotels which we pay for, and who still hate Britain, must come first, in Britain, over the rights of British girls not to be raped
In this light, Brits may as well vote Nazi
Britain has a wonderful history of peaceful change coming when needed. The glorious revolution. The industrial revolution. The Great Reform Act. This era is just the same. We are just lucky like that.
"The nations not so blessed as thee, must in their turn to tyrants fall, while thou shalt flourish great and free, the dread and envy of them all"
Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance, as they say. David Cameron was phenomenally lucky until he wasn't.
What drives the Your Party/Corbyn figures in the 16-17 year olds? i.e. presumably they were too young/too not paying attention when Corbyn was at his peak for them to really have gained "brand loyalty" from that period.
And we all know that Kristi Noem is insane, so we ignore her.
That’s a bit harsh on insane people.
Our local Crumbling Michael, who camps outside the local Sainsbury’s, has never praised Donald Trump, supported semi-semi-fascism etc.
He shouts at pigeons, but don’t we all. And he’s quite polite to the PCSO lady who checks on him and asks him in a stern voice if he’s been taking his pills.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Plenty of spare space in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.
IMHO at this point there are only two futures, neither great. Either a forced removal of the Gaza population, presumably in the first instance to Egypt against Egypt's will, or hand it over to determine its own future and make the Gaza/Israel border as secure as North Korea + credible promise to use nuclear response if attacked and let the UN/Egypt/Arab/islamic world sort it out between them.
In either case the USA to continue to treat and protect Israel for military purposes as if it were an extension of USA territory.
It does seem to be an exception to 'America First'.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I fear you are correct. This is about 1932. The parallels are uncanny
Much of it, however, is being driven by an insane left wing in the west (equivalent to the fellow traveling Stalinist Fabians of the 30s?) who do not understand how they are driving despairing voters to the hard or far right
Look at the asylum discourse this weekend. The rights of 23 year old Syrian men in free four star hotels which we pay for, and who still hate Britain, must come first, in Britain, over the rights of British girls not to be raped
In this light, Brits may as well vote Nazi
Britain has a wonderful history of peaceful change coming when needed. The glorious revolution. The industrial revolution. The Great Reform Act. This era is just the same. We are just lucky like that.
"The nations not so blessed as thee, must in their turn to tyrants fall, while thou shalt flourish great and free, the dread and envy of them all"
Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance, as they say. David Cameron was phenomenally lucky until he wasn't.
With great respect, I am not sure how David Cameron being a cocky little git undermines the argument of Britain being continually blessed with the ability to evolve and turn toward prosperity and away from turmoil. We didn't do this out of design or because of a constitution - it just happened. For reasons far more complex than we can fathom.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I fear you are correct. This is about 1932. The parallels are uncanny
Much of it, however, is being driven by an insane left wing in the west (equivalent to the fellow traveling Stalinist Fabians of the 30s?) who do not understand how they are driving despairing voters to the hard or far right
Look at the asylum discourse this weekend. The rights of 23 year old Syrian men in free four star hotels which we pay for, and who still hate Britain, must come first, in Britain, over the rights of British girls not to be raped
In this light, Brits may as well vote Nazi
Britain has a wonderful history of peaceful change coming when needed. The glorious revolution. The industrial revolution. The Great Reform Act. This era is just the same. We are just lucky like that.
"The nations not so blessed as thee, must in their turn to tyrants fall, while thou shalt flourish great and free, the dread and envy of them all"
Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance, as they say. David Cameron was phenomenally lucky until he wasn't.
Our past performance also includes the long anarchy following the death of Henry I, John, the violence and deposition of Edward II and Richard II, the Wars of the Roses, the violence and deposition of Richard III, the Civil Wars to name a few.
I've mentioned before that we had a committee that used to sit in the 50's into the 60's to decide where the boundary lay between the UK and Norway. At some point the Norwegians laid on a slap-up lunch and our negotatiators said "OK, you can have it where you think it lies."
Which was a purely academic exercise - until all the massive Norwegian oil fields were found to lay in the bit we had conceded.
Norway has a massive wealth fund for the ages - as a result of one slap-up lunch.
Also, because they have a tiny population compared to the UK. In 1970, Norway had about 3.5 million people.
Let's just invade and take the wealth fund. It's ours.
Putin would.
I wonder if we are going to see stuff like this
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
If the more pessimistic view - which I hold for now until proved otherwise - about Trumpism and the gangster kleptocracy that is the USA is right, then in relative terms we are about in 1932, awaiting the method by which future elections will be abandoned or rigged, the military control the streets and the takeover is complete.
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
I fear you are correct. This is about 1932. The parallels are uncanny
Much of it, however, is being driven by an insane left wing in the west (equivalent to the fellow traveling Stalinist Fabians of the 30s?) who do not understand how they are driving despairing voters to the hard or far right
Look at the asylum discourse this weekend. The rights of 23 year old Syrian men in free four star hotels which we pay for, and who still hate Britain, must come first, in Britain, over the rights of British girls not to be raped
In this light, Brits may as well vote Nazi
Britain has a wonderful history of peaceful change coming when needed. The glorious revolution. The industrial revolution. The Great Reform Act. This era is just the same. We are just lucky like that.
"The nations not so blessed as thee, must in their turn to tyrants fall, while thou shalt flourish great and free, the dread and envy of them all"
Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance, as they say. David Cameron was phenomenally lucky until he wasn't.
Our past performance also includes the long anarchy following the death of Henry I, John, the violence and deposition of Edward II and Richard II, the Wars of the Roses, the violence and deposition of Richard III, the Civil Wars to name a few.
Indeed.
When I was a fund manager, I used to have a saying: "that sounds like the kind of thing that's true until it's not".
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
There are apparently around 700,000 Israeli settlers in The West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are 2.1 million Palestinians living in Gaza. Given that Gazans are currently packed into a very small space, so used to dense conditions, I think the space vacated by 700,000 settlers would be more than adequate for 2.1 million of them to start with.
I'm not in favour of the settlers in any way, and the vast majority should f-off into Israel proper.
But the Gazans in this so-called 'plan' are *not* going to go there. Israel would not allow it, for obvious reasons. So the question is, where will they go?
We need to be very careful not to inadvertently create a new version of the Madagascar Plan.
Israel would not want to allow it, but it is an important component in the plan that Israel must not have everything its own way. You are effectively removing a big security headache for Israel, and adding a big landmass to Israel, but to do that, they have to get out of the West Bank. That is fair, and the only ones who lose out are the settlers, who nobody likes anyway. If Israel strongly opposes resettling the settlers, it would appear grotesquely obstructive, and potentially create a wedge issue for America.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Plenty of spare space in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.
IMHO at this point there are only two futures, neither great. Either a forced removal of the Gaza population, presumably in the first instance to Egypt against Egypt's will, or hand it over to determine its own future and make the Gaza/Israel border as secure as North Korea + credible promise to use nuclear response if attacked and let the UN/Egypt/Arab/islamic world sort it out between them.
In either case the USA to continue to treat and protect Israel for military purposes as if it were an extension of USA territory.
It does seem to be an exception to 'America First'.
Trump's theory of global power blocs is mostly geographical, but USA itself has exceptions in Alaska and Hawaii. IMO Israel is seen by Trumpism as effectively a further exception as an extension of the USA's sphere of influence. Whereas western Euriope is not in his mind part of that sphere. an unresolved question is the status of South Korea and Japan. I think he wants to keep them. But I think Taiwan probably is China's.
What drives the Your Party/Corbyn figures in the 16-17 year olds? i.e. presumably they were too young/too not paying attention when Corbyn was at his peak for them to really have gained "brand loyalty" from that period.
Is Corbyn big on the socials these days?
Regrettably, the big downside of Corbyn (his antisemitism) seems a lot less shocking to many people now.
So burt Bacharach and Hal David got it completely wrong in their song “What the world needs now”
It should actually go like THIS
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone
“Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love - BUT ALSO LAKES. WE NEED MORE LAKES”
That’s not only a much superior lyric in terms of rhythm and scansion, it also underlines the pro-lake message we need to send out
My wife was once songwriting in Santa Monica with John Bettis who wrote for The Carpenters (including "Goodbye To Love," "Yesterday Once More," "Only Yesterday," and "Top Of The World"). They were trying something out on the piano, when there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it...." says Bettis. "It will be Burt..." Turns out Burt Bacharach lived above him - and would earwig on songwriting sessions. He'd come down if he heard something he liked - and try to muscle in! Wifey of course wanted to meet Burt, persuaded Bettis to let him in. And, as predicted, he then spent an age trying to get in on the act of the song they were writing.
Thought you might like that one!
Cracking anecdote!
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love Walk On By I Say a Little Prayer Do You Know the Way to San Jose (They Long to Be) Close to You Alfie The Look of Love Anyone Who Had a Heart I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head Always Something There to Remind Me Baby It’s You Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
He wrote the music. Hal David was the lyricist. It was like Elton John and Bernie Taupin. A partnership of equals.
I love the way in I'll Never Fall In Love Again Hal David rhymed pneumonia with phone ya.
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
Where are they going to move away to? Would your approval of Trump's mad plan include them coming to the UK for the ten years?
Of course not. No way they come here
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
So where do they go then? You think this brilliant plan's okay, but you wouldn't want them? Why should other people went them?
There are apparently around 700,000 Israeli settlers in The West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are 2.1 million Palestinians living in Gaza. Given that Gazans are currently packed into a very small space, so used to dense conditions, I think the space vacated by 700,000 settlers would be more than adequate for 2.1 million of them to start with.
I'm not in favour of the settlers in any way, and the vast majority should f-off into Israel proper.
But the Gazans in this so-called 'plan' are *not* going to go there. Israel would not allow it, for obvious reasons. So the question is, where will they go?
We need to be very careful not to inadvertently create a new version of the Madagascar Plan.
Israel would not want to allow it, but it is an important component in the plan that Israel must not have everything its own way. You are effectively removing a big security headache for Israel, and adding a big landmass to Israel, but to do that, they have to get out of the West Bank. That is fair, and the only ones who lose out are the settlers, who nobody likes anyway. If Israel strongly opposes resettling the settlers, it would appear grotesquely obstructive, and potentially create a wedge issue for America.
I would support that: but Netanyahu cannot.
He is utterly dependent on the Settler vote to keep him in power. Were he to attempt to dismantle the setttlements, and/or to force Israelis out of the West Bank then he would go. (And go to prison, almost certainly.)
Now, that sounds -and is- pretty unfair on the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority. But that is the reality of where we are. If Netanyahu were to fall, maybe that could change, but realistically, I think the only way it could work would be if the borders of Israel were extended into the West Bank somewhat, so that the biggest of the settlements would not need dismantlng.
The problem is that many in Israel are punch drunk with victory right now. They don't feel they need to give up anything. It's an unfortunate situation that is likely to result in serious problems down the line. And many, many dead Israelis and Palestinians.
Comments
Thought you might like that one!
Or perhaps they actually liked having him round.
https://www.manverslaketrust.co.uk/
The only value in stolen phones is for parts like the screen, but there's nothing the manufacturers can do about that without enforcing serialisation of all the internal components, which would kill the entire independent repair industry, and force people to have their phones repaired only by the manufacturer - who will conveniently charge so much it's cheaper to buy a new phone.
Burt Bacharach was fecking amazing. When he died - RIP - suddenly everyone realised he’d done all these fab songs -
What the World Needs Now Is Love
Walk On By
I Say a Little Prayer
Do You Know the Way to San Jose
(They Long to Be) Close to You
Alfie
The Look of Love
Anyone Who Had a Heart
I’ll Never Fall in Love Again
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head
Always Something There to Remind Me
Baby It’s You
Make It Easy on Yourself
And many more.. Incredible songbook
All I need is Arnold Schwarzenegger to randomly join me for some Sachertorte
24 Hours to Tulsa
Wifey also worked with Jimmy Webb:
Wichita Lineman
Galveston
McArthur Park
(sadly not on any of those!)
I will also some time relate the story of Jim Steinman trying to get her to work on Bat Out of Hell 2 - and how he seriously creeped her out!
A generation later the same immigrant communities smashed Moseleys Blackshirts at the Batle of Cable St, doing great service to their new homeland. Let's hope we don't need to repeat that bit of history too.
*from what I can see of their biographies they would qualify under current rules
Seems like a cool (or freezing in winter!) idea to me.
He's always been something of an icon.
Don’t get songs now about road line painters or asylum hotel cleaners.
Putin would.
This is where I was today
MORE LAKES, BITTE
Even in this thread poor old Hal David gets no recognition.
A while back.
So many countries are in a terrible debt situation. One way to ease that is…. Invade and conquer a smaller but wealthy country. Take all their resources. Sorted
America could take Canada. Who is going to stop them? China, Taiwan. Britain, Ireland (and Norway). France, Belgium
It would be in keeping with America moving from its Republican phase to its imperial mode
Otherwise developers will slope shoulders.
On one I was involved in a few years ago there was a footpath into the local country park in the approved planning app, which is now almost impassable unless you are a mountain goat.
It's like that phone mast smack in the middle of the new mobility track in Derby that I quoted. The planning condition did not include dimensions of extra width they were supposed to add to mitigate the damage, so they installed a few inches and it cannot be followed through on.
I always acknowledge the writers…
So if the numbers of illegals or potential illegals are too many and cost too much the crew up the courts. If there are those not visible to the courts then crew up the police.
We are in this situation by choice as we won’t pay the money needed. A sort of shorthand way of saying pay your taxes (Angela)
What's more likely are attempted political take-overs. As Putin has show with Belarus and, more recently, Georgia, and as he attempted in Ukraine, altering the political climate so that mini-me's are in charge.
He's also trying in this country as well.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qattara_Depression_Project
Sadly gone the way of the HS2 Northern extension.
Far Righty:
starmerout
The Fabian Society is a communist plot poisoning British society
https://x.com/ForeverScept
Far Lefty:
starmer_out
Starmer and the Blairites must be shown the door and replaced with class fighters..
https://x.com/starmer_out
From then on it is not possible to say what horrors await, including such impossible things as the occupation of Canada and Greenland, which, as you say, no western power could lift a finger to prevent.
A relative triviality in that scheme of things, if the pessimists are right, is that it isn't really possible to say what effect this would have on UK elections in 2028/9, and in particular on the fate of parties, such as Reform, which sit fairly loosely to the rule of law and international obligation. But by then who would be Quisling, who would be Petain and who would be Churchill is not something I would put money on, not on moral grounds but because my crystal ball clouds over well before then.
(You can probably tell I was not on the hardware side of consumer electronics, and brand myself every time I am even in the same room as a soldering iron...)
"A very good friend of mine was a Navy Deep Diver, a branch of the Navy’s Special Forces. (We lost him last year.) And he was stationed there for a while. Had all sorts of stories, including this one. (With pictures!) So when anybody turned up missing he was one of the people tasked with locating them. And when he was informed of their last known whereabouts he often knew it wasn’t going to end well.
So what happens is this. The atoll has a beautiful reef and tide pool system lining the inner lagoon. And the tides are such that at low tide, nearly 100 meters of reef is exposed. The inner lagoon is also about 400 feet deep, down past the photic zone.
New people or folks that didn’t get the word would be overjoyed at all the pristine reef life and hand and spear fish all day long. (New Phillipino contractors were the most common victims.) And they would wander all the way to the inner edge.
And then the tide would come in. Most people expect the tide to come in like it does with a normal shoreline. But what you have here is a coral reef, which are *porous*. So while you’re looking at the tide come in, you don’t realize the beach is still 100 meters *behind* you! And you suddenly find yourself in deepening water. No problem right? It won’t get any deeper than four feet.
Except as the tide comes in, young great hammerheads, which had been lurking in the deep water, come up with the incoming tide in pursuit of various reef fish stunned by being in tidepools. And as when they do this their dorsal fins are obvious, sometimes people panic and try to run.
Which attracts more of them. And the faster you go, the more you splash, the more aggressive the hammerheads become. Woof.
He had photos of five sets of flippers and swim trunks, torn to shreds. Sometimes near hibachis and spear guns, proving they “almost” made it. But policy states that without dirtect proof otherwise, they were drowning victims who were scavenged."
You could literally tell your clients “step away for two weeks I’m on a family holiday”
I may be deluded but a lot of people respect that?
Much of it, however, is being driven by an insane left wing in the west (equivalent to the fellow traveling Stalinist Fabians of the 30s?) who do not understand how they are driving despairing voters to the hard or far right
Look at the asylum discourse this weekend. The rights of 23 year old Syrian men in free four star hotels which we pay for, and who still hate Britain, must come first, in Britain, over the rights of British girls not to be raped
In this light, Brits may as well vote Nazi
(I used to find it hard to switch off too)
"The nations not so blessed as thee, must in their turn to tyrants fall, while thou shalt flourish great and free, the dread and envy of them all"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqveUbuxTQY
from I'm innocent, it was a bunch of kids! to "Yeah, I'm f**cked"
“Trump to offer $5000 to every gazan to move away from Gaza for ten years”
It’s entirely mad but it’s less mad than any other “solution” to this problem. There aren’t going to be two states. Israel will not stop. Israel will never peacefully live alongside Palestinians determined to kill every Jew between the river and the sea
And no one can disarm Israel because it has nukes and is prepared to use them, like it or not
Let’s hope trumps madness works
I despise working from home and I’m pretty sure it’s contributing to the British malaise, but as a quid pro quo if Brits are expected to go back to work then they should get the right to switch off the phone at 6pm and get four weeks unbothered holiday
But if you have a better plan than Trump’s, or a version of it, do tell. Because every “plan” I’ve seen is some ludicrous painful continuation of the status quo which sees Israel tormenting Palestine for eternity and Palestinians constantly trying to invade Israel again so they can rape and murder thousands of Jews
https://youtu.be/35IEkEwMqzg?si=ZrBn2Gckh6bsx-dx
However when I got a 4% rise when inflation was 11% fuck them. I did what is called quiet quitting. Worked my contracted hours and that was it and any calls out of work hours went unanswered. Fuck them.
As I have said many times before, they should be moved to the West Bank, the ghastly West Bank settlers moved to Gaza or Israel proper. Then you get a solid Israel with territorial integrity, a solid Palestinian state with territorial integrity, and everyone is a winner.
IMHO at this point there are only two futures, neither great. Either a forced removal of the Gaza population, presumably in the first instance to Egypt against Egypt's will, or hand it over to determine its own future and make the Gaza/Israel border as secure as North Korea + credible promise to use nuclear response if attacked and let the UN/Egypt/Arab/islamic world sort it out between them.
In either case the USA to continue to treat and protect Israel for military purposes as if it were an extension of USA territory.
BUT, I do believe some version of this - population movements - is now the only viable long term solution, given how much both sides genocidally loathe each other. If it wasn’t so globally destabilising I’d be quite happy for them both to fight each other to the death, because: who cares
So why not.
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1962162663837806867
But the Gazans in this so-called 'plan' are *not* going to go there. Israel would not allow it, for obvious reasons. So the question is, where will they go?
We need to be very careful not to inadvertently create a new version of the Madagascar Plan.
(None of this is what I wish to happen. But I think it will happen).
It’s like some ghastly couple in a holiday resort who constantly, loudly argue, bicker and threaten to kill each other, ruining every single day by the pool for everyone else
In the end you just want to give them weapons and say, Go on then, get on with it, and stop destroying our precious holidays, we don’t care “who started it”
OR you say FFS just get a divorce, commencing here, and one of you has to go to Finland, now, here’s $5k for a flight this afternoon
Trump is in favour of the Finland option and I agree with him, otherwise they will argue to the end of time
Solving this grotesque and endless altercation would also get it off the streets of western cities, which is a consummation much to be wish’d
Which is better for the poor Gazans? Trump’s option, probably
Get the courts working and the issue resolves itself.
So if you built an extra 30-40 miles of land, you’d get at least half of Israel behind the plan.
Our local Crumbling Michael, who camps outside the local Sainsbury’s, has never praised Donald Trump, supported semi-semi-fascism etc.
He shouts at pigeons, but don’t we all. And he’s quite polite to the PCSO lady who checks on him and asks him in a stern voice if he’s been taking his pills.
Is Corbyn big on the socials these days?
Strangely, the drone shot neglects to show it.
[Anyway, RSPB Old Moor next door is a bit more interesting than Manvers]
When I was a fund manager, I used to have a saying: "that sounds like the kind of thing that's true until it's not".
IMO Israel is seen by Trumpism as effectively a further exception as an extension of the USA's sphere of influence. Whereas western Euriope is not in his mind part of that sphere. an unresolved question is the status of South Korea and Japan. I think he wants to keep them. But I think Taiwan probably is China's.
He is utterly dependent on the Settler vote to keep him in power. Were he to attempt to dismantle the setttlements, and/or to force Israelis out of the West Bank then he would go. (And go to prison, almost certainly.)
Now, that sounds -and is- pretty unfair on the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority. But that is the reality of where we are. If Netanyahu were to fall, maybe that could change, but realistically, I think the only way it could work would be if the borders of Israel were extended into the West Bank somewhat, so that the biggest of the settlements would not need dismantlng.
The problem is that many in Israel are punch drunk with victory right now. They don't feel they need to give up anything. It's an unfortunate situation that is likely to result in serious problems down the line. And many, many dead Israelis and Palestinians.