Georgia governor race in 2026 to set her up as the heir to MAGA in 2028/2032?
I don't think that's seriously on the cards for her. She'll be a talking head on the media, I suspect. There may well be podcasts.
She's a big "name" and that's good to get a media career, but doesn't really have the coalition of support to challenge for big political offices. Indeed, her leaving indicates she was less than confident about a likely primary challenge in her own district.
Georgia governor race in 2026 to set her up as the heir to MAGA in 2028/2032?
I don't think that's seriously on the cards for her. Talking head on the media, I suspect.
She's a big "name", but doesn't really have the coalition of support to challenge for big offices. Indeed, her leaving indicates she was less than confident about a likely primary challenge in her own district.
Possibly, now I think of it. Take the cash, lose the scrutiny and be a pundit/TV host. The Sarah Palin gambit.
'ANAS Sarwar has said Scottish Labour will not win a majority at next year's Holyrood election.
In an interview with the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, the Scottish Labour leader said he hopes to "form a minority Labour administration".
It comes as Scottish Labour fell into fourth place in Scotland, according to a poll published by YouGov this week.'
Claiming he wouldn't be FM if it took Reform support.
'Sarwar also attempted to distance himself from the Labour Government in Westminster as he claimed people in Scotland "would not be voting for Keir Starmer or Rachel Reeves" in next May's election.'
OT - Have we found out which of the communist Bishops faked this poll?
Who are you asking? If you are asking a Trumpist all of them are communist.
Aninteresting framing over the last several years, especially revealing as to what causes brandings of "woke", and how the claim is a broad allegation actually based on a very narrow set of criteria has been Justin Welby.
Welby had an evangelical conversion at Cambridge University, and formed at Holy Trinity Brompton, within the Charismatic Evangelical tradition of the Church of England.
Yes he still received that label, and sources like the Telegraph have branded him liberal.
How do we know Trump isn't a Communist?
Cosying up to the former KGB-man Putin Always wears a red tie (Republican colour!) Admirer of China's Xi and N. Korea's Kim
He might be one now, having praised the new Mayor of New York.
The Mayor is a Communist. We know that because Karoline Leavitt * told us.
* I qui like her new nickname "Taco Belle" over "Propaganda Barbie".
I have a sneaking admiration for Ms Leavitt, she has an admirable indefatigability in terms of defending the indefensible.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
Looking at the Private Eye front page it smartly frames the problem as not being with the BBC but with the people who criticise the BBC. Fine but doesn't Auntie still need to be held accountable?
Look, I know it’s unconventional, but England have a long history of using the first Test of every series as the warm up. We now enter a 4 Test Series at -1.
Georgia governor race in 2026 to set her up as the heir to MAGA in 2028/2032?
Surely the same problem in the Primaries as staying in the HoR?
Ossoff must be praying she somehow gets the gig as Republican nominee for the Senate.
Can you imagine the carnage of her campaign?
Personally, I think Ossoff is reasonably safe. He's an effective operator (and superb fundraiser - he has formidable cash for this one), the polls look okay for him, and the message from earlier this month was Democrats are likely to have a fairly chunky turnout advantage (outperforming their polls) in a mid-term without Trump on the ballot.
I don't think Taylor Greene will go for the nomination or get it.
OT - Have we found out which of the communist Bishops faked this poll?
Who are you asking? If you are asking a Trumpist all of them are communist.
Aninteresting framing over the last several years, especially revealing as to what causes brandings of "woke", and how the claim is a broad allegation actually based on a very narrow set of criteria has been Justin Welby.
Welby had an evangelical conversion at Cambridge University, and formed at Holy Trinity Brompton, within the Charismatic Evangelical tradition of the Church of England.
Yes he still received that label, and sources like the Telegraph have branded him liberal.
How do we know Trump isn't a Communist?
Cosying up to the former KGB-man Putin Always wears a red tie (Republican colour!) Admirer of China's Xi and N. Korea's Kim
He might be one now, having praised the new Mayor of New York.
The Mayor is a Communist. We know that because Karoline Leavitt * told us.
* I qui like her new nickname "Taco Belle" over "Propaganda Barbie".
I have a sneaking admiration for Ms Leavitt, she has an admirable indefatigability in terms of defending the indefensible.
Even the vile "Piggy" remark.
It’s one of those weird jobs that really doesn’t exist anywhere else, at least not in such a public forum.
The Press Secretary has to go out every day and defend the indefensible to the hilt, arguing that black is white and lies are truth.
There’s a reason most of them are very young and only last a year or so.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Thanks for that confirmation Peter, again from someone who has actually been there rather than the imagined impression.
I am reminded of the shock here when Reform won a by election in Addlestone, because it was in Surrey. Anyone who knows Addlestone was not surprised at all.
Looking at the Private Eye front page it smartly frames the problem as not being with the BBC but with the people who criticise the BBC. Fine but doesn't Auntie still need to be held accountable?
Is satire still multi-directional?
Mr Hislop personally still gets £20k a week for HIGNFY. Follow the money…
Some front for Nathan Gill to have tweeted this knowing what he was doing. Lefties do seem to be implying all of his party members are equally crooked though
Ex-MP Jared O'Mara charged with seven counts of fraud, you have to delve deep to find out what party he belonged to. Could you imagine if he had been UKIP, it would have been front page news implying all party members are equally crooked. Oh BBC 🙄
They’re desperate for some shit to stick to Farage. It’s politics. All part of the game.
Theres loads of Pro-Putin remarks by Farage on the record.
Gill and Farage are birds of a feather.
Are you seriously claiming Farage is on the same level as the convicted Nathan Gill ?
I can't remember who it was, probably not Farage, but someone from UKIP/ Brexit was making remarkably similar pro- Russian, anti- Ukraine speeches contemporaneously to those made by Gill in the European Parliament. Uncanny!
If only I could remember who that was.
As long as they did it without taking money, or making sure they lost the receipts, they will be fine, I'm sure. Certainly from a criminal point of view.
"Saying similar things to Gill without even being paid for it" probably shouldn't be a political defence, but that depends on how teflon any such figure is, if they even exist.
Nathan Gill appeared to be incredibly thick too. Someone more sophisticated, if they existed, would more likely than not have covered their tracks.
In terms of the war chest Russia has available to indulge in covert activity, Nathan Gill massively undersold himself.
It would be quite evasive to call for an investigation into the influence of Russian money on UK politics whilst politely ignoring the vast hoovering of money from other states. China and India being two that spring to mind immediately, but also Israel, the Saudis, the Qataris, and many more. US money is also a big issue, though I think it's more private sector - corporations and billionaire 'philanthropists'.
Would you actually oppose an investigation into Russian money and its influence on UK politics?
I would oppose the investigation's terms being so narrowly defined. Russia is a billigerent state, but it lags behind others in the security threat to the UK stakes.
Wide or deep? There is a fine line between investigating everything and investigating nothing.
I am in favour of a very specific investigation into the grooming gangs, because whilst all of our policing seems a bit crap, the collusion and cover up on the part of the state was a phenomenon peculiar to grooming gangs. It would be absurd to suggest that the issue of foreign influence over our politics was limited to Russia. In fact, as Russia has become more and more of a pariah state, its ability to wield influence has undoubtedly weakened. It is the influence of those we treat as allies (even if that is just a fond wish on our part) that really changes policy and weakens security.
On child sex abuse, we have had this debate. We have had local inquiries already, and although the government eventually caved to a national inquiry, it rapidly fell apart over the precise scope. Targeting White girls in care is not the same as targeting Asian girls from different communities, for example. Trafficking girls around the country is not the same as local sugar daddies. There might have been a case for some sort of meta-review of all the local reports, but all we have achieved is to delay action.
On foreign influence, we have support of pressure groups by direct or disguised subsidy, online trolling (even on pb), cyberattacks as weapon or for ransom, sabotage, potential sabotage as electronic infrastructure is controlled from abroad, control of diaspora communities, influence on academia (every minor language course is probably subsidised by the relevant government) and so on. Look at the row over the Chinese Embassy. What is the point of worrying it will be used for espionage? All embassies are used for espionage. The real issues are its position and size.
You aren't really looking in the right place. The desire to commit horiffic acts, the means, and the cultural antecedents are interesting, and possibly alarming, but the enquiry must be focused on the failure of the state - social services, police, and other bodies to deal with the issue. Not just failure, collusion and cover up. Because that is essentially what led to the industrial rape - the de facto legalisation and the resulting absence of consequences. See also pot, see also shoplifting.
Who was making the operational decisions not to investigate or seek prosecution, and on what authority? What training were officers, senior and junior receiving and by which organisations, and are they still providing the same training? Were officers being measured or benchmarked on the ethnicity of those they arrested? Why did complaints procedures and ombudsmen result in nothing? That's just for a start, and just for the police. There's also social services, politics, both local and national, and the absence of media coverage. In recent weeks we've seen a long-standing denial by Sadiq Khan that this wasn't an issue in London being exploded. The idea that a national enquiry is not warranted is absurd.
Look, I know it’s unconventional, but England have a long history of using the first Test of every series as the warm up. We now enter a 4 Test Series at -1.
I remember the 1993 Ashes very well!
England used the first FIVE matches to warm up and finally win the 6th, which IIRC was the first under Atherton's captaincy.
OT - Have we found out which of the communist Bishops faked this poll?
Who are you asking? If you are asking a Trumpist all of them are communist.
Aninteresting framing over the last several years, especially revealing as to what causes brandings of "woke", and how the claim is a broad allegation actually based on a very narrow set of criteria has been Justin Welby.
Welby had an evangelical conversion at Cambridge University, and formed at Holy Trinity Brompton, within the Charismatic Evangelical tradition of the Church of England.
Yes he still received that label, and sources like the Telegraph have branded him liberal.
How do we know Trump isn't a Communist?
Cosying up to the former KGB-man Putin Always wears a red tie (Republican colour!) Admirer of China's Xi and N. Korea's Kim
He might be one now, having praised the new Mayor of New York.
The Mayor is a Communist. We know that because Karoline Leavitt * told us.
* I qui like her new nickname "Taco Belle" over "Propaganda Barbie".
I have a sneaking admiration for Ms Leavitt, she has an admirable indefatigability in terms of defending the indefensible.
Even the vile "Piggy" remark.
It’s one of those weird jobs that really doesn’t exist anywhere else, at least not in such a public forum.
The Press Secretary has to go out every day and defend the indefensible to the hilt, arguing that black is white and lies are truth.
There’s a reason most of them are very young and only last a year or so.
Allegra Stratton was being set up for something like that istr. Back in Johnson times.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
10. George W. Bush 9. Rudy Giuliani 8. Mitt Romney 7. Ted Nugent 6. Bruce Springsteen 5. Newt Gingrich 4. Bill Clinton 3. Muhammad Ali 2. Dick Cheney 1. John Wayne Bonus: Donald Trump Bonus: Joe Biden
To be fair,dodging the draft is quite a bit different from not serving.
You can just not be called up, and therefore not serve, but if you take active steps to avoid it then that's quite another matter.
I recall someone tried to say that Col. Oliver North dodged the draft.
Which he kinda did.
But most people would argue that volunteering for the Marines instead and fighting in Vietnam was not really draft dodging.
I knew a few people who 'dodged' National Serviced by signing up for three years. The rate of pay for even a short-term regular was far better than for National Servicemen
You could also more easily choose your arm of service, and (with some luck) your regiment/corps/speciality. The RN took very few NS, relatively speaking, for instance, so if you wanted life on the briny ... And if you wanted to fly, you had a much better chance that way in the Raff than as a a conscript. A friend of mine, a keen glider pilot, did NS - he spent 2 years as a storesman on one of those East Anglian bases where the snow from the east used to pile in drifts on the boots of the a/cmen paraded in the morning.
The gent who's funeral I went to last week was one of the last in National Service sent abroad. He was born in 1936, and was sent to Malaya. My own dad was younger and went to University to become an architect, so was timed out.
For him, it formed his style for life - things like polished boots, neat and tidy, decently groomed, active in walking in the Peak District, in his case very self-disciplined to the extent that no one could even remember him ever raising his voice.
When I was growing up in the 1970s he still had things in his closet like an army box kite.
My father in law was sent out as part of the MELF in the canal zone (radio technician / operator).
For some mad reason he did a couple more years afterwards.
Toyed with splitting a points bet on Bearman and Albon but instead went with backing Russell each way at 13 and hedging at 2.5. Huge change in track conditions from qualifying to the race so who knows...
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
One notes in passing the MTG's resignation comes two days after she becomes entitled to lifetime pension benefits (claimable at age 62), worth at least $8700 per annum at today's values.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
10. George W. Bush 9. Rudy Giuliani 8. Mitt Romney 7. Ted Nugent 6. Bruce Springsteen 5. Newt Gingrich 4. Bill Clinton 3. Muhammad Ali 2. Dick Cheney 1. John Wayne Bonus: Donald Trump Bonus: Joe Biden
To be fair,dodging the draft is quite a bit different from not serving.
You can just not be called up, and therefore not serve, but if you take active steps to avoid it then that's quite another matter.
I recall someone tried to say that Col. Oliver North dodged the draft.
Which he kinda did.
But most people would argue that volunteering for the Marines instead and fighting in Vietnam was not really draft dodging.
I knew a few people who 'dodged' National Serviced by signing up for three years. The rate of pay for even a short-term regular was far better than for National Servicemen
You could also more easily choose your arm of service, and (with some luck) your regiment/corps/speciality. The RN took very few NS, relatively speaking, for instance, so if you wanted life on the briny ... And if you wanted to fly, you had a much better chance that way in the Raff than as a a conscript. A friend of mine, a keen glider pilot, did NS - he spent 2 years as a storesman on one of those East Anglian bases where the snow from the east used to pile in drifts on the boots of the a/cmen paraded in the morning.
The gent who's funeral I went to last week was one of the last in National Service sent abroad. He was born in 1936, and was sent to Malaya. My own dad was younger and went to University to become an architect, so was timed out.
For him, it formed his style for life - things like polished boots, neat and tidy, decently groomed, active in walking in the Peak District, in his case very self-disciplined to the extent that no one could even remember him ever raising his voice.
When I was growing up in the 1970s he still had things in his closet like an army box kite.
My father in law was sent out as part of the MELF in the canal zone (radio technician / operator).
For some mad reason he did a couple more years afterwards.
He's still going...
A family member of mine was sent to the canal in Suez crisis as part of national service.
Sadly, he's no longer with us, but he timed his passing well: his funeral was the week before the March 2020 lockdown.
Some front for Nathan Gill to have tweeted this knowing what he was doing. Lefties do seem to be implying all of his party members are equally crooked though
Ex-MP Jared O'Mara charged with seven counts of fraud, you have to delve deep to find out what party he belonged to. Could you imagine if he had been UKIP, it would have been front page news implying all party members are equally crooked. Oh BBC 🙄
They’re desperate for some shit to stick to Farage. It’s politics. All part of the game.
Theres loads of Pro-Putin remarks by Farage on the record.
Gill and Farage are birds of a feather.
Are you seriously claiming Farage is on the same level as the convicted Nathan Gill ?
I can't remember who it was, probably not Farage, but someone from UKIP/ Brexit was making remarkably similar pro- Russian, anti- Ukraine speeches contemporaneously to those made by Gill in the European Parliament. Uncanny!
If only I could remember who that was.
As long as they did it without taking money, or making sure they lost the receipts, they will be fine, I'm sure. Certainly from a criminal point of view.
"Saying similar things to Gill without even being paid for it" probably shouldn't be a political defence, but that depends on how teflon any such figure is, if they even exist.
Nathan Gill appeared to be incredibly thick too. Someone more sophisticated, if they existed, would more likely than not have covered their tracks.
In terms of the war chest Russia has available to indulge in covert activity, Nathan Gill massively undersold himself.
It would be quite evasive to call for an investigation into the influence of Russian money on UK politics whilst politely ignoring the vast hoovering of money from other states. China and India being two that spring to mind immediately, but also Israel, the Saudis, the Qataris, and many more. US money is also a big issue, though I think it's more private sector - corporations and billionaire 'philanthropists'.
Would you actually oppose an investigation into Russian money and its influence on UK politics?
I would oppose the investigation's terms being so narrowly defined. Russia is a billigerent state, but it lags behind others in the security threat to the UK stakes.
Name one
You could argue China, which is the rising global superpower on whom Russia depends. The big fear I have for Europe is that China will see its own interest being in supporting Russian belligerence on the eastern flank of the continent. And the longer Europe fails to call China out on its support for war against Ukraine the more likely that is to happen.
China is highly dependent on world trade. It spies and disrupts to get a competitive advantage in technology and trade. But the last thing China wants is an unstable world order that disrupts trade, particularly a global hot war. I think China is more of a stabilising force than the US under Trump. So I see China as a restraining influence on Russia in preventing Putin from using nuclear weapons. I also don't think that China will risk a hot war over Taiwan. There are are other methods available.
So I see China as very strong competitor to the UK in technology and trade, but not as a military threat, in the way I see Russia.
One notes in passing the MTG's resignation comes two days after she becomes entitled to lifetime pension benefits (claimable at age 62), worth at least $8700 per annum at today's values.
10. George W. Bush 9. Rudy Giuliani 8. Mitt Romney 7. Ted Nugent 6. Bruce Springsteen 5. Newt Gingrich 4. Bill Clinton 3. Muhammad Ali 2. Dick Cheney 1. John Wayne Bonus: Donald Trump Bonus: Joe Biden
To be fair,dodging the draft is quite a bit different from not serving.
You can just not be called up, and therefore not serve, but if you take active steps to avoid it then that's quite another matter.
I recall someone tried to say that Col. Oliver North dodged the draft.
Which he kinda did.
But most people would argue that volunteering for the Marines instead and fighting in Vietnam was not really draft dodging.
I knew a few people who 'dodged' National Serviced by signing up for three years. The rate of pay for even a short-term regular was far better than for National Servicemen
You could also more easily choose your arm of service, and (with some luck) your regiment/corps/speciality. The RN took very few NS, relatively speaking, for instance, so if you wanted life on the briny ... And if you wanted to fly, you had a much better chance that way in the Raff than as a a conscript. A friend of mine, a keen glider pilot, did NS - he spent 2 years as a storesman on one of those East Anglian bases where the snow from the east used to pile in drifts on the boots of the a/cmen paraded in the morning.
The gent who's funeral I went to last week was one of the last in National Service sent abroad. He was born in 1936, and was sent to Malaya. My own dad was younger and went to University to become an architect, so was timed out.
For him, it formed his style for life - things like polished boots, neat and tidy, decently groomed, active in walking in the Peak District, in his case very self-disciplined to the extent that no one could even remember him ever raising his voice.
When I was growing up in the 1970s he still had things in his closet like an army box kite.
My father in law was sent out as part of the MELF in the canal zone (radio technician / operator).
For some mad reason he did a couple more years afterwards.
He's still going...
My Dad managed to defer National Service by joining Manchester University RAF reserve. He didn't get paid, but discovered that he was eligible for flight pay, so got trained on a chipmonk and flew every weekend. He still loves aviation.
This only deferred his NS so he did consider signing up for a full commission, but NS was abolished shortly before he graduated, so he went into sales instead. A lot of life is about timing things right.
What a cold and miserable day. Definitely one to wear the long johns and waterproofs at the footy.
Yeah, me and the dog had an hours wander around the town during a break in the rain, but it is fairly windy here and now pissing down again. A grey day. And only just over a month since we were sunning ourselves on the riviera! Still, only three weeks to the earliest sunset of the year….
What a cold and miserable day. Definitely one to wear the long johns and waterproofs at the footy.
Yeah, me and the dog had an hours wander around the town during a break in the rain, but it is fairly windy here and now pissing down again. A grey day.
I opened the door, my dog looked out and went straight back to the sofa. I don't blame him.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
Some front for Nathan Gill to have tweeted this knowing what he was doing. Lefties do seem to be implying all of his party members are equally crooked though
Ex-MP Jared O'Mara charged with seven counts of fraud, you have to delve deep to find out what party he belonged to. Could you imagine if he had been UKIP, it would have been front page news implying all party members are equally crooked. Oh BBC 🙄
They’re desperate for some shit to stick to Farage. It’s politics. All part of the game.
Theres loads of Pro-Putin remarks by Farage on the record.
Gill and Farage are birds of a feather.
Are you seriously claiming Farage is on the same level as the convicted Nathan Gill ?
I can't remember who it was, probably not Farage, but someone from UKIP/ Brexit was making remarkably similar pro- Russian, anti- Ukraine speeches contemporaneously to those made by Gill in the European Parliament. Uncanny!
If only I could remember who that was.
As long as they did it without taking money, or making sure they lost the receipts, they will be fine, I'm sure. Certainly from a criminal point of view.
"Saying similar things to Gill without even being paid for it" probably shouldn't be a political defence, but that depends on how teflon any such figure is, if they even exist.
Nathan Gill appeared to be incredibly thick too. Someone more sophisticated, if they existed, would more likely than not have covered their tracks.
In terms of the war chest Russia has available to indulge in covert activity, Nathan Gill massively undersold himself.
It would be quite evasive to call for an investigation into the influence of Russian money on UK politics whilst politely ignoring the vast hoovering of money from other states. China and India being two that spring to mind immediately, but also Israel, the Saudis, the Qataris, and many more. US money is also a big issue, though I think it's more private sector - corporations and billionaire 'philanthropists'.
Would you actually oppose an investigation into Russian money and its influence on UK politics?
I would oppose the investigation's terms being so narrowly defined. Russia is a billigerent state, but it lags behind others in the security threat to the UK stakes.
Name one
You could argue China, which is the rising global superpower on whom Russia depends. The big fear I have for Europe is that China will see its own interest being in supporting Russian belligerence on the eastern flank of the continent. And the longer Europe fails to call China out on its support for war against Ukraine the more likely that is to happen.
China is highly dependent on world trade. It spies and disrupts to get a competitive advantage in technology and trade. But the last thing China wants is an unstable world order that disrupts trade, particularly a global hot war. I think China is more of a stabilising force than the US under Trump. So I see China as a restraining influence on Russia in preventing Putin from using nuclear weapons. I also don't think that China will risk a hot war over Taiwan. There are are other methods available.
So I see China as very strong competitor to the UK in technology and trade, but not as a military threat, in the way I see Russia.
Each of the dictatorships brings its own particular destructive skillset to the table. The whole is greater and more dangerous than the sum of its parts. Anne Applebaum’s Autocracy Inc captures the power of this mob network nicely.
Look, I know it’s unconventional, but England have a long history of using the first Test of every series as the warm up. We now enter a 4 Test Series at -1.
At least give the cricketers credit for getting it over and done with nice and early?
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
Banbury is pretty dire of a Saturday night, as well. I felt sorry for any foreign tourists staying there who thought they were in for a quiet evening in a sleepy historic Oxfordshire town, and found themselves in a sea of piss, vomit and an air of imminent violence.
And innacurate. From donkey field to caring for his mother and brother, Starmer seems to have had a caring upbringing.
Its only his political career as PM that is a failure.
......and why would you write it? If he knows him well it's a breach of friendship if he doesn't then it an invention and an unpleasant one.
....and what a contrast to an interview this morning with Jeremy Hunt. He spoke very warmly of Rachel R who he said he knows very well and likes a lot and someone who out of the public eye has a great sense of humour.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
What a cold and miserable day. Definitely one to wear the long johns and waterproofs at the footy.
Yeah, me and the dog had an hours wander around the town during a break in the rain, but it is fairly windy here and now pissing down again. A grey day.
I opened the door, my dog looked out and went straight back to the sofa. I don't blame him.
Many years ago, I had a cat that would demand to be let out of the front door. If it was raining, he would turn around, head to the back window, demand I open it, and look to see if the weather there was better.
He lived to be 15 and never realised that it was always the same...
What a cold and miserable day. Definitely one to wear the long johns and waterproofs at the footy.
Yeah, me and the dog had an hours wander around the town during a break in the rain, but it is fairly windy here and now pissing down again. A grey day.
I opened the door, my dog looked out and went straight back to the sofa. I don't blame him.
Many years ago, I had a cat that would demand to be let out of the front door. If it was raining, he would turn around, head to the back window, demand I open it, and look to see if the weather there was better.
He lived to be 15 and never realised that it was always the same...
My old cat was the same. I saw it as eternal optimism.
Current cat seems waterproof and not bothered by rain, rather unusual in a cat.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
Banbury is pretty dire of a Saturday night, as well. I felt sorry for any foreign tourists staying there who thought they were in for a quiet evening in a sleepy historic Oxfordshire town, and found themselves in a sea of piss, vomit and an air of imminent violence.
Sounds like the Winchester of my youth. Makes you proud to see some British are keeping up the old traditions.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
Banbury is pretty dire of a Saturday night, as well. I felt sorry for any foreign tourists staying there who thought they were in for a quiet evening in a sleepy historic Oxfordshire town, and found themselves in a sea of piss, vomit and an air of imminent violence.
That actually sounds like a good place to go for a night out
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
Some front for Nathan Gill to have tweeted this knowing what he was doing. Lefties do seem to be implying all of his party members are equally crooked though
Ex-MP Jared O'Mara charged with seven counts of fraud, you have to delve deep to find out what party he belonged to. Could you imagine if he had been UKIP, it would have been front page news implying all party members are equally crooked. Oh BBC 🙄
They’re desperate for some shit to stick to Farage. It’s politics. All part of the game.
Theres loads of Pro-Putin remarks by Farage on the record.
Gill and Farage are birds of a feather.
Are you seriously claiming Farage is on the same level as the convicted Nathan Gill ?
I can't remember who it was, probably not Farage, but someone from UKIP/ Brexit was making remarkably similar pro- Russian, anti- Ukraine speeches contemporaneously to those made by Gill in the European Parliament. Uncanny!
If only I could remember who that was.
As long as they did it without taking money, or making sure they lost the receipts, they will be fine, I'm sure. Certainly from a criminal point of view.
"Saying similar things to Gill without even being paid for it" probably shouldn't be a political defence, but that depends on how teflon any such figure is, if they even exist.
Nathan Gill appeared to be incredibly thick too. Someone more sophisticated, if they existed, would more likely than not have covered their tracks.
In terms of the war chest Russia has available to indulge in covert activity, Nathan Gill massively undersold himself.
It would be quite evasive to call for an investigation into the influence of Russian money on UK politics whilst politely ignoring the vast hoovering of money from other states. China and India being two that spring to mind immediately, but also Israel, the Saudis, the Qataris, and many more. US money is also a big issue, though I think it's more private sector - corporations and billionaire 'philanthropists'.
Would you actually oppose an investigation into Russian money and its influence on UK politics?
I would oppose the investigation's terms being so narrowly defined. Russia is a billigerent state, but it lags behind others in the security threat to the UK stakes.
Wide or deep? There is a fine line between investigating everything and investigating nothing.
I am in favour of a very specific investigation into the grooming gangs, because whilst all of our policing seems a bit crap, the collusion and cover up on the part of the state was a phenomenon peculiar to grooming gangs. It would be absurd to suggest that the issue of foreign influence over our politics was limited to Russia. In fact, as Russia has become more and more of a pariah state, its ability to wield influence has undoubtedly weakened. It is the influence of those we treat as allies (even if that is just a fond wish on our part) that really changes policy and weakens security.
On child sex abuse, we have had this debate. We have had local inquiries already, and although the government eventually caved to a national inquiry, it rapidly fell apart over the precise scope. Targeting White girls in care is not the same as targeting Asian girls from different communities, for example. Trafficking girls around the country is not the same as local sugar daddies. There might have been a case for some sort of meta-review of all the local reports, but all we have achieved is to delay action.
On foreign influence, we have support of pressure groups by direct or disguised subsidy, online trolling (even on pb), cyberattacks as weapon or for ransom, sabotage, potential sabotage as electronic infrastructure is controlled from abroad, control of diaspora communities, influence on academia (every minor language course is probably subsidised by the relevant government) and so on. Look at the row over the Chinese Embassy. What is the point of worrying it will be used for espionage? All embassies are used for espionage. The real issues are its position and size.
You aren't really looking in the right place. The desire to commit horiffic acts, the means, and the cultural antecedents are interesting, and possibly alarming, but the enquiry must be focused on the failure of the state - social services, police, and other bodies to deal with the issue. Not just failure, collusion and cover up. Because that is essentially what led to the industrial rape - the de facto legalisation and the resulting absence of consequences. See also pot, see also shoplifting.
Who was making the operational decisions not to investigate or seek prosecution, and on what authority? What training were officers, senior and junior receiving and by which organisations, and are they still providing the same training? Were officers being measured or benchmarked on the ethnicity of those they arrested? Why did complaints procedures and ombudsmen result in nothing? That's just for a start, and just for the police. There's also social services, politics, both local and national, and the absence of media coverage. In recent weeks we've seen a long-standing denial by Sadiq Khan that this wasn't an issue in London being exploded. The idea that a national enquiry is not warranted is absurd.
You've won. There will be a national inquiry. I do not share your optimism that it will achieve anything useful or discover anything not already in the various local reports.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
Banbury is pretty dire of a Saturday night, as well. I felt sorry for any foreign tourists staying there who thought they were in for a quiet evening in a sleepy historic Oxfordshire town, and found themselves in a sea of piss, vomit and an air of imminent violence.
Sounds like the Winchester of my youth. Makes you proud to see some British are keeping up the old traditions.
As discussed on here a few days ago, central London is much safer and pleasanter of an evening than any regional UK town.
Some front for Nathan Gill to have tweeted this knowing what he was doing. Lefties do seem to be implying all of his party members are equally crooked though
Ex-MP Jared O'Mara charged with seven counts of fraud, you have to delve deep to find out what party he belonged to. Could you imagine if he had been UKIP, it would have been front page news implying all party members are equally crooked. Oh BBC 🙄
They’re desperate for some shit to stick to Farage. It’s politics. All part of the game.
Theres loads of Pro-Putin remarks by Farage on the record.
Gill and Farage are birds of a feather.
Are you seriously claiming Farage is on the same level as the convicted Nathan Gill ?
I can't remember who it was, probably not Farage, but someone from UKIP/ Brexit was making remarkably similar pro- Russian, anti- Ukraine speeches contemporaneously to those made by Gill in the European Parliament. Uncanny!
If only I could remember who that was.
As long as they did it without taking money, or making sure they lost the receipts, they will be fine, I'm sure. Certainly from a criminal point of view.
"Saying similar things to Gill without even being paid for it" probably shouldn't be a political defence, but that depends on how teflon any such figure is, if they even exist.
Nathan Gill appeared to be incredibly thick too. Someone more sophisticated, if they existed, would more likely than not have covered their tracks.
In terms of the war chest Russia has available to indulge in covert activity, Nathan Gill massively undersold himself.
It would be quite evasive to call for an investigation into the influence of Russian money on UK politics whilst politely ignoring the vast hoovering of money from other states. China and India being two that spring to mind immediately, but also Israel, the Saudis, the Qataris, and many more. US money is also a big issue, though I think it's more private sector - corporations and billionaire 'philanthropists'.
Would you actually oppose an investigation into Russian money and its influence on UK politics?
I would oppose the investigation's terms being so narrowly defined. Russia is a billigerent state, but it lags behind others in the security threat to the UK stakes.
Wide or deep? There is a fine line between investigating everything and investigating nothing.
I am in favour of a very specific investigation into the grooming gangs, because whilst all of our policing seems a bit crap, the collusion and cover up on the part of the state was a phenomenon peculiar to grooming gangs. It would be absurd to suggest that the issue of foreign influence over our politics was limited to Russia. In fact, as Russia has become more and more of a pariah state, its ability to wield influence has undoubtedly weakened. It is the influence of those we treat as allies (even if that is just a fond wish on our part) that really changes policy and weakens security.
On child sex abuse, we have had this debate. We have had local inquiries already, and although the government eventually caved to a national inquiry, it rapidly fell apart over the precise scope. Targeting White girls in care is not the same as targeting Asian girls from different communities, for example. Trafficking girls around the country is not the same as local sugar daddies. There might have been a case for some sort of meta-review of all the local reports, but all we have achieved is to delay action.
On foreign influence, we have support of pressure groups by direct or disguised subsidy, online trolling (even on pb), cyberattacks as weapon or for ransom, sabotage, potential sabotage as electronic infrastructure is controlled from abroad, control of diaspora communities, influence on academia (every minor language course is probably subsidised by the relevant government) and so on. Look at the row over the Chinese Embassy. What is the point of worrying it will be used for espionage? All embassies are used for espionage. The real issues are its position and size.
You aren't really looking in the right place. The desire to commit horiffic acts, the means, and the cultural antecedents are interesting, and possibly alarming, but the enquiry must be focused on the failure of the state - social services, police, and other bodies to deal with the issue. Not just failure, collusion and cover up. Because that is essentially what led to the industrial rape - the de facto legalisation and the resulting absence of consequences. See also pot, see also shoplifting.
Who was making the operational decisions not to investigate or seek prosecution, and on what authority? What training were officers, senior and junior receiving and by which organisations, and are they still providing the same training? Were officers being measured or benchmarked on the ethnicity of those they arrested? Why did complaints procedures and ombudsmen result in nothing? That's just for a start, and just for the police. There's also social services, politics, both local and national, and the absence of media coverage. In recent weeks we've seen a long-standing denial by Sadiq Khan that this wasn't an issue in London being exploded. The idea that a national enquiry is not warranted is absurd.
You've won. There will be a national inquiry. I do not share your optimism that it will achieve anything useful.
It will be like the Covid enquiry. A lot of people will only happy if it is verdict first, then evidence looked at.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
Banbury is pretty dire of a Saturday night, as well. I felt sorry for any foreign tourists staying there who thought they were in for a quiet evening in a sleepy historic Oxfordshire town, and found themselves in a sea of piss, vomit and an air of imminent violence.
Sounds like the Winchester of my youth. Makes you proud to see some British are keeping up the old traditions.
My memories of Winchester are the National Trust Mill and the island in the stream, the Cathedral (especially the flooded crypt and the Gormley sculpture therein), and the restoration by diver.
Plus a phrase coined by a friend who used to live there in one of the modern estates, in a house I could never find because the estate had about 97 curvy cul-de-sacs. He described his house as being "lost inside a lung".
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
10. George W. Bush 9. Rudy Giuliani 8. Mitt Romney 7. Ted Nugent 6. Bruce Springsteen 5. Newt Gingrich 4. Bill Clinton 3. Muhammad Ali 2. Dick Cheney 1. John Wayne Bonus: Donald Trump Bonus: Joe Biden
To be fair,dodging the draft is quite a bit different from not serving.
You can just not be called up, and therefore not serve, but if you take active steps to avoid it then that's quite another matter.
I recall someone tried to say that Col. Oliver North dodged the draft.
Which he kinda did.
But most people would argue that volunteering for the Marines instead and fighting in Vietnam was not really draft dodging.
I knew a few people who 'dodged' National Serviced by signing up for three years. The rate of pay for even a short-term regular was far better than for National Servicemen
You could also more easily choose your arm of service, and (with some luck) your regiment/corps/speciality. The RN took very few NS, relatively speaking, for instance, so if you wanted life on the briny ... And if you wanted to fly, you had a much better chance that way in the Raff than as a a conscript. A friend of mine, a keen glider pilot, did NS - he spent 2 years as a storesman on one of those East Anglian bases where the snow from the east used to pile in drifts on the boots of the a/cmen paraded in the morning.
The gent who's funeral I went to last week was one of the last in National Service sent abroad. He was born in 1936, and was sent to Malaya. My own dad was younger and went to University to become an architect, so was timed out.
For him, it formed his style for life - things like polished boots, neat and tidy, decently groomed, active in walking in the Peak District, in his case very self-disciplined to the extent that no one could even remember him ever raising his voice.
When I was growing up in the 1970s he still had things in his closet like an army box kite.
My father in law was sent out as part of the MELF in the canal zone (radio technician / operator).
For some mad reason he did a couple more years afterwards.
He's still going...
A family member of mine was sent to the canal in Suez crisis as part of national service.
Sadly, he's no longer with us, but he timed his passing well: his funeral was the week before the March 2020 lockdown.
My late father signed up for an artificer apprenticeship in 1941 with the RN, rather than be conscripted a couple of years later. Got to Plymouth after the big blitz there, then put in full four years training (Admiralty did not skimp with artificer training even at that time); he was in the admin machinery to go out to SEA/Pacific when the other kind of bombs fell (and did spend some time there anyway: I have his photos of one of the bombed cities a few years on).
Was also sent out to Korea but things maritime quietened somewhat just as his ship arrived.
He also managed to get a funeral not long before covid!
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
Did anyone notice Starmer saying that "we're allies with South Africa" ?
I mention it because some people were upset that Israel was also called an ally recently.
Maybe they'd like to get as upset about South Africa being called an ally.
IMO neither Israel nor South Africa is an ally of this country, I doubt I'd even call them friends.
Israel, yes. I think they do provide us with assistance and intelligence sharing etc even if things have been a little problematic. What does South Africa do?
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
Banbury is pretty dire of a Saturday night, as well. I felt sorry for any foreign tourists staying there who thought they were in for a quiet evening in a sleepy historic Oxfordshire town, and found themselves in a sea of piss, vomit and an air of imminent violence.
Sounds like the Winchester of my youth. Makes you proud to see some British are keeping up the old traditions.
As discussed on here a few days ago, central London is much safer and pleasanter of an evening than any regional UK town.
Safe but boring. Pubs shut by midnight and no chance of any good after about 9pm unless you really know where to go.
One notes in passing the MTG's resignation comes two days after she becomes entitled to lifetime pension benefits (claimable at age 62), worth at least $8700 per annum at today's values.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
tbf, I think it is mainly the more lifestyle stuff that the Mail paywalls, although there are several tiers iirc. I have the cheapest one. I can't read Andrew Neil.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
Banbury is pretty dire of a Saturday night, as well. I felt sorry for any foreign tourists staying there who thought they were in for a quiet evening in a sleepy historic Oxfordshire town, and found themselves in a sea of piss, vomit and an air of imminent violence.
I've always considered Banbury to be the first midland town, when going north. Noticeable accent there which is not dissimilar from my father's, from Bromsgrove.
tbf, I think it is mainly the more lifestyle stuff that the Mail paywalls, although there are several tiers iirc. I have the cheapest one. I can't read Andrew Neil.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
Did anyone notice Starmer saying that "we're allies with South Africa" ?
I mention it because some people were upset that Israel was also called an ally recently.
Maybe they'd like to get as upset about South Africa being called an ally.
IMO neither Israel nor South Africa is an ally of this country, I doubt I'd even call them friends.
Israel, yes. I think they do provide us with assistance and intelligence sharing etc even if things have been a little problematic. What does South Africa do?
There are deep, permanent allies that are almost totally aligned. Limited in our case probably to ANZ, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, various overseas territories and one or two Eastern European countries
Then there are structural allies, who may nevertheless differ in geopolitical positioning. Most EU countries, the US, Japan, Korea.
Then a broad category of “friends” who are generally helpful but have different strategic alignments. Greece, Singapore, Gulf States, Israel, many others
Sceptical trading partners with whom we have reasonable relations. South Africa, Kenya, India, Pakistan.
Geopolitical rivals. China
Enemies. Russia, Iran, NK.
Then those who don’t really care either way, like most of Latin America or Central Asia.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Neither Gloucester or Cheltenham are in the Cotswolds.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
Banbury is pretty dire of a Saturday night, as well. I felt sorry for any foreign tourists staying there who thought they were in for a quiet evening in a sleepy historic Oxfordshire town, and found themselves in a sea of piss, vomit and an air of imminent violence.
Sounds like the Winchester of my youth. Makes you proud to see some British are keeping up the old traditions.
As discussed on here a few days ago, central London is much safer and pleasanter of an evening than any regional UK town.
That's some claim if true. I mean there must be hundreds or even thousands of UK towns?
Some front for Nathan Gill to have tweeted this knowing what he was doing. Lefties do seem to be implying all of his party members are equally crooked though
Ex-MP Jared O'Mara charged with seven counts of fraud, you have to delve deep to find out what party he belonged to. Could you imagine if he had been UKIP, it would have been front page news implying all party members are equally crooked. Oh BBC 🙄
They’re desperate for some shit to stick to Farage. It’s politics. All part of the game.
Theres loads of Pro-Putin remarks by Farage on the record.
Gill and Farage are birds of a feather.
Are you seriously claiming Farage is on the same level as the convicted Nathan Gill ?
I can't remember who it was, probably not Farage, but someone from UKIP/ Brexit was making remarkably similar pro- Russian, anti- Ukraine speeches contemporaneously to those made by Gill in the European Parliament. Uncanny!
If only I could remember who that was.
As long as they did it without taking money, or making sure they lost the receipts, they will be fine, I'm sure. Certainly from a criminal point of view.
"Saying similar things to Gill without even being paid for it" probably shouldn't be a political defence, but that depends on how teflon any such figure is, if they even exist.
Nathan Gill appeared to be incredibly thick too. Someone more sophisticated, if they existed, would more likely than not have covered their tracks.
In terms of the war chest Russia has available to indulge in covert activity, Nathan Gill massively undersold himself.
It would be quite evasive to call for an investigation into the influence of Russian money on UK politics whilst politely ignoring the vast hoovering of money from other states. China and India being two that spring to mind immediately, but also Israel, the Saudis, the Qataris, and many more. US money is also a big issue, though I think it's more private sector - corporations and billionaire 'philanthropists'.
Would you actually oppose an investigation into Russian money and its influence on UK politics?
I would oppose the investigation's terms being so narrowly defined. Russia is a billigerent state, but it lags behind others in the security threat to the UK stakes.
Name one
China
China is the one spending money Saudi and similar giving money to loony radicals is another Russia is a current threat. Fading in the long term - economics, demographics and the transition away from fossil fuels will see to them in the next 20 or so years. Which is why they are dangerous now. India is an odd one - less hostile, but spending more and more money on influence.
I wouldn’t include India in that list. They are definitely an emerging power but we have generally friendly relations either them and lots of cultural links. They are, of course, robust in pursuing their own interests but less threatening than the others you name
tbf, I think it is mainly the more lifestyle stuff that the Mail paywalls, although there are several tiers iirc. I have the cheapest one. I can't read Andrew Neil.
One might imagine that would be the premium package.
What a cold and miserable day. Definitely one to wear the long johns and waterproofs at the footy.
Yeah, me and the dog had an hours wander around the town during a break in the rain, but it is fairly windy here and now pissing down again. A grey day.
I opened the door, my dog looked out and went straight back to the sofa. I don't blame him.
Many years ago, I had a cat that would demand to be let out of the front door. If it was raining, he would turn around, head to the back window, demand I open it, and look to see if the weather there was better.
He lived to be 15 and never realised that it was always the same...
TBF a couple of times when I was growing up it was raining outside the front door and sunny out the back
10. George W. Bush 9. Rudy Giuliani 8. Mitt Romney 7. Ted Nugent 6. Bruce Springsteen 5. Newt Gingrich 4. Bill Clinton 3. Muhammad Ali 2. Dick Cheney 1. John Wayne Bonus: Donald Trump Bonus: Joe Biden
To be fair,dodging the draft is quite a bit different from not serving.
You can just not be called up, and therefore not serve, but if you take active steps to avoid it then that's quite another matter.
I recall someone tried to say that Col. Oliver North dodged the draft.
Which he kinda did.
But most people would argue that volunteering for the Marines instead and fighting in Vietnam was not really draft dodging.
I knew a few people who 'dodged' National Serviced by signing up for three years. The rate of pay for even a short-term regular was far better than for National Servicemen
You could also more easily choose your arm of service, and (with some luck) your regiment/corps/speciality. The RN took very few NS, relatively speaking, for instance, so if you wanted life on the briny ... And if you wanted to fly, you had a much better chance that way in the Raff than as a a conscript. A friend of mine, a keen glider pilot, did NS - he spent 2 years as a storesman on one of those East Anglian bases where the snow from the east used to pile in drifts on the boots of the a/cmen paraded in the morning.
The gent who's funeral I went to last week was one of the last in National Service sent abroad. He was born in 1936, and was sent to Malaya. My own dad was younger and went to University to become an architect, so was timed out.
For him, it formed his style for life - things like polished boots, neat and tidy, decently groomed, active in walking in the Peak District, in his case very self-disciplined to the extent that no one could even remember him ever raising his voice.
When I was growing up in the 1970s he still had things in his closet like an army box kite.
My father in law was sent out as part of the MELF in the canal zone (radio technician / operator).
For some mad reason he did a couple more years afterwards.
He's still going...
A family member of mine was sent to the canal in Suez crisis as part of national service.
Sadly, he's no longer with us, but he timed his passing well: his funeral was the week before the March 2020 lockdown.
Talk of national service now is mostly nonsense, but I do wonder how much we have lost by not having it. Perhaps it was a thing of its time and no amount of tweaking could make it work now, although other countries manage.
It did get lots of people to mix who would never have done so normally, and others actually learned useful things which turned into a career.
On the other hand, different relatives of mine who really didn't suit it at all ended up whitewashing coal.
Some front for Nathan Gill to have tweeted this knowing what he was doing. Lefties do seem to be implying all of his party members are equally crooked though
Ex-MP Jared O'Mara charged with seven counts of fraud, you have to delve deep to find out what party he belonged to. Could you imagine if he had been UKIP, it would have been front page news implying all party members are equally crooked. Oh BBC 🙄
They’re desperate for some shit to stick to Farage. It’s politics. All part of the game.
Theres loads of Pro-Putin remarks by Farage on the record.
Gill and Farage are birds of a feather.
Are you seriously claiming Farage is on the same level as the convicted Nathan Gill ?
I can't remember who it was, probably not Farage, but someone from UKIP/ Brexit was making remarkably similar pro- Russian, anti- Ukraine speeches contemporaneously to those made by Gill in the European Parliament. Uncanny!
If only I could remember who that was.
As long as they did it without taking money, or making sure they lost the receipts, they will be fine, I'm sure. Certainly from a criminal point of view.
"Saying similar things to Gill without even being paid for it" probably shouldn't be a political defence, but that depends on how teflon any such figure is, if they even exist.
Nathan Gill appeared to be incredibly thick too. Someone more sophisticated, if they existed, would more likely than not have covered their tracks.
In terms of the war chest Russia has available to indulge in covert activity, Nathan Gill massively undersold himself.
It would be quite evasive to call for an investigation into the influence of Russian money on UK politics whilst politely ignoring the vast hoovering of money from other states. China and India being two that spring to mind immediately, but also Israel, the Saudis, the Qataris, and many more. US money is also a big issue, though I think it's more private sector - corporations and billionaire 'philanthropists'.
Would you actually oppose an investigation into Russian money and its influence on UK politics?
I would oppose the investigation's terms being so narrowly defined. Russia is a billigerent state, but it lags behind others in the security threat to the UK stakes.
Wide or deep? There is a fine line between investigating everything and investigating nothing.
I am in favour of a very specific investigation into the grooming gangs, because whilst all of our policing seems a bit crap, the collusion and cover up on the part of the state was a phenomenon peculiar to grooming gangs. It would be absurd to suggest that the issue of foreign influence over our politics was limited to Russia. In fact, as Russia has become more and more of a pariah state, its ability to wield influence has undoubtedly weakened. It is the influence of those we treat as allies (even if that is just a fond wish on our part) that really changes policy and weakens security.
On child sex abuse, we have had this debate. We have had local inquiries already, and although the government eventually caved to a national inquiry, it rapidly fell apart over the precise scope. Targeting White girls in care is not the same as targeting Asian girls from different communities, for example. Trafficking girls around the country is not the same as local sugar daddies. There might have been a case for some sort of meta-review of all the local reports, but all we have achieved is to delay action.
On foreign influence, we have support of pressure groups by direct or disguised subsidy, online trolling (even on pb), cyberattacks as weapon or for ransom, sabotage, potential sabotage as electronic infrastructure is controlled from abroad, control of diaspora communities, influence on academia (every minor language course is probably subsidised by the relevant government) and so on. Look at the row over the Chinese Embassy. What is the point of worrying it will be used for espionage? All embassies are used for espionage. The real issues are its position and size.
You aren't really looking in the right place. The desire to commit horiffic acts, the means, and the cultural antecedents are interesting, and possibly alarming, but the enquiry must be focused on the failure of the state - social services, police, and other bodies to deal with the issue. Not just failure, collusion and cover up. Because that is essentially what led to the industrial rape - the de facto legalisation and the resulting absence of consequences. See also pot, see also shoplifting.
Who was making the operational decisions not to investigate or seek prosecution, and on what authority? What training were officers, senior and junior receiving and by which organisations, and are they still providing the same training? Were officers being measured or benchmarked on the ethnicity of those they arrested? Why did complaints procedures and ombudsmen result in nothing? That's just for a start, and just for the police. There's also social services, politics, both local and national, and the absence of media coverage. In recent weeks we've seen a long-standing denial by Sadiq Khan that this wasn't an issue in London being exploded. The idea that a national enquiry is not warranted is absurd.
You've won. There will be a national inquiry. I do not share your optimism that it will achieve anything useful or discover anything not already in the various local reports.
The only thing that big enquiries ever achieve is that they add to the (short) list of things are burnt into the brains of the jobsworths. For the police this goes
- Don’t be obviously corrupt - Don’t kill lots of football fans by negligence - Don’t be racialist, while arresting people for possessing offensive wives - Don’t be sexist. Or too rapey
The National Enquiry Into Stuff we can’t mention will add
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Thanks for that confirmation Peter, again from someone who has actually been there rather than the imagined impression.
I am reminded of the shock here when Reform won a by election in Addlestone, because it was in Surrey. Anyone who knows Addlestone was not surprised at all.
Of course there are exceptions. Matching Green not too far from where we live in rural Essex has an average house price of £929,167 and is probably posher than most of Surrey, with plenty of old farming families nearby, grade listed buildings near the Green and the hunt on Boxing Day,
On average though Surrey is not only posher than Essex but probably the poshest county in England, although the Cotswolds belt of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and Berkshire and Bucks are not far behind, all also areas the LDs now have lots of MPs
What a cold and miserable day. Definitely one to wear the long johns and waterproofs at the footy.
Yeah, me and the dog had an hours wander around the town during a break in the rain, but it is fairly windy here and now pissing down again. A grey day.
I opened the door, my dog looked out and went straight back to the sofa. I don't blame him.
Many years ago, I had a cat that would demand to be let out of the front door. If it was raining, he would turn around, head to the back window, demand I open it, and look to see if the weather there was better.
He lived to be 15 and never realised that it was always the same...
TBF a couple of times when I was growing up it was raining outside the front door and sunny out the back
TBF either you grew up exceptionally faster than the rest of us, or that’s a stunningly useless observation?
What a cold and miserable day. Definitely one to wear the long johns and waterproofs at the footy.
Yeah, me and the dog had an hours wander around the town during a break in the rain, but it is fairly windy here and now pissing down again. A grey day.
I opened the door, my dog looked out and went straight back to the sofa. I don't blame him.
Many years ago, I had a cat that would demand to be let out of the front door. If it was raining, he would turn around, head to the back window, demand I open it, and look to see if the weather there was better.
He lived to be 15 and never realised that it was always the same...
TBF a couple of times when I was growing up it was raining outside the front door and sunny out the back
We had a day where there was snow in the front garden but not the back.
Then again this town has about 15 different micro-climates so nothing surprises me.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Thanks for that confirmation Peter, again from someone who has actually been there rather than the imagined impression.
I am reminded of the shock here when Reform won a by election in Addlestone, because it was in Surrey. Anyone who knows Addlestone was not surprised at all.
Of course there are exceptions. Matching Green not too far from where we live in rural Essex has an average house price of £929,167 and is probably posher than most of Surrey, with plenty of old farming families nearby, grade listed buildings near the Green and the hunt on Boxing Day,
On average though Surrey is not only posher than Essex but probably the poshest county in England, although the Cotswolds belt of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and Berkshire and Bucks are not far behind, all also areas the LDs now have lots of MPs
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Thanks for that confirmation Peter, again from someone who has actually been there rather than the imagined impression.
I am reminded of the shock here when Reform won a by election in Addlestone, because it was in Surrey. Anyone who knows Addlestone was not surprised at all.
Of course there are exceptions. Matching Green not too far from where we live in rural Essex has an average house price of £929,167 and is probably posher than most of Surrey, with plenty of old farming families nearby, grade listed buildings near the Green and the hunt on Boxing Day,
On average though Surrey is not only posher than Essex but probably the poshest county in England, although the Cotswolds belt of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and Berkshire and Bucks are not far behind, all also areas the LDs now have lots of MPs
Wherever you live, whoever you are, there will be richer people living in nicer places. The race to get ahead is one that most of us will lose.
Unfortunately, human progress depends on us playing an individually futile game. (Part of Europe's problem is that we have mostly become to comfortable to strive obsessively. That either means we are doomed, or that we have worked out how to win the game.)
Listening, I'd say that Farage's worry should be that other UKIP MEPs were able to be persuaded to speak to that agenda voluntarily.
Should be rule of thumb that public corruption and bribery results in a jail term.
I don't believe we want to see anyone go down for the fast lane friends and family PPE scam. There would be some big name casualties if that were ever investigated properly, which is why the current inquiry will be a whitewash.
Did anyone notice Starmer saying that "we're allies with South Africa" ?
I mention it because some people were upset that Israel was also called an ally recently.
Maybe they'd like to get as upset about South Africa being called an ally.
IMO neither Israel nor South Africa is an ally of this country, I doubt I'd even call them friends.
Israel, yes. I think they do provide us with assistance and intelligence sharing etc even if things have been a little problematic. What does South Africa do?
There are deep, permanent allies that are almost totally aligned. Limited in our case probably to ANZ, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, various overseas territories and one or two Eastern European countries
Then there are structural allies, who may nevertheless differ in geopolitical positioning. Most EU countries, the US, Japan, Korea.
Then a broad category of “friends” who are generally helpful but have different strategic alignments. Greece, Singapore, Gulf States, Israel, many others
Sceptical trading partners with whom we have reasonable relations. South Africa, Kenya, India, Pakistan.
Geopolitical rivals. China
Enemies. Russia, Iran, NK.
Then those who don’t really care either way, like most of Latin America or Central Asia.
It’s interesting to think that inside five short years Ukraine has joined your first category (I broadly recognise your list, but might argue for the U.S. in category one for as long as we choose to stay aligned and follow their lead).
Ukraine as a close ally is a new thing and will have lasting implications after the war.
Some front for Nathan Gill to have tweeted this knowing what he was doing. Lefties do seem to be implying all of his party members are equally crooked though
Ex-MP Jared O'Mara charged with seven counts of fraud, you have to delve deep to find out what party he belonged to. Could you imagine if he had been UKIP, it would have been front page news implying all party members are equally crooked. Oh BBC 🙄
They’re desperate for some shit to stick to Farage. It’s politics. All part of the game.
Theres loads of Pro-Putin remarks by Farage on the record.
Gill and Farage are birds of a feather.
Are you seriously claiming Farage is on the same level as the convicted Nathan Gill ?
I can't remember who it was, probably not Farage, but someone from UKIP/ Brexit was making remarkably similar pro- Russian, anti- Ukraine speeches contemporaneously to those made by Gill in the European Parliament. Uncanny!
If only I could remember who that was.
As long as they did it without taking money, or making sure they lost the receipts, they will be fine, I'm sure. Certainly from a criminal point of view.
"Saying similar things to Gill without even being paid for it" probably shouldn't be a political defence, but that depends on how teflon any such figure is, if they even exist.
Nathan Gill appeared to be incredibly thick too. Someone more sophisticated, if they existed, would more likely than not have covered their tracks.
In terms of the war chest Russia has available to indulge in covert activity, Nathan Gill massively undersold himself.
This morning I learned that Nathan Gill is a bishop in the Church of the Latter-day Saints.
The bishop got bashed by the judge yesterday.
So both a Mormon and a moron.
(You have to be pretty dumb to get caught taking bribes.)
And the scale of the bribes was pathetic. A ten year stretch for the bribe value of a used Fiesta.
He probably got substantially less in cash in lieu terms than say someone going on a swinging weekend holiday to a villa in Northern Italy.
Yes, but thats very British of him. Sturgeon destroyed her career for a motorhome.
It was a six figure value motorhome mind.
....and according to her very readable autobiography she didn't do it
Was it an unspecified "big boy" that parked it on her drive?
What a cold and miserable day. Definitely one to wear the long johns and waterproofs at the footy.
Yeah, me and the dog had an hours wander around the town during a break in the rain, but it is fairly windy here and now pissing down again. A grey day.
I opened the door, my dog looked out and went straight back to the sofa. I don't blame him.
Many years ago, I had a cat that would demand to be let out of the front door. If it was raining, he would turn around, head to the back window, demand I open it, and look to see if the weather there was better.
He lived to be 15 and never realised that it was always the same...
TBF a couple of times when I was growing up it was raining outside the front door and sunny out the back
OT - Have we found out which of the communist Bishops faked this poll?
Who are you asking? If you are asking a Trumpist all of them are communist.
Aninteresting framing over the last several years, especially revealing as to what causes brandings of "woke", and how the claim is a broad allegation actually based on a very narrow set of criteria has been Justin Welby.
Welby had an evangelical conversion at Cambridge University, and formed at Holy Trinity Brompton, within the Charismatic Evangelical tradition of the Church of England.
Yes he still received that label, and sources like the Telegraph have branded him liberal.
How do we know Trump isn't a Communist?
Cosying up to the former KGB-man Putin Always wears a red tie (Republican colour!) Admirer of China's Xi and N. Korea's Kim
He might be one now, having praised the new Mayor of New York.
The Mayor is a Communist. We know that because Karoline Leavitt * told us.
* I qui like her new nickname "Taco Belle" over "Propaganda Barbie".
I have a sneaking admiration for Ms Leavitt, she has an admirable indefatigability in terms of defending the indefensible.
Even the vile "Piggy" remark.
It’s one of those weird jobs that really doesn’t exist anywhere else, at least not in such a public forum.
The Press Secretary has to go out every day and defend the indefensible to the hilt, arguing that black is white and lies are truth.
There’s a reason most of them are very young and only last a year or so.
It can't be good for the soul, but she is more of a moral vacuum than most of her predecessors, so perhaps that doesn't bother her.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Thanks for that confirmation Peter, again from someone who has actually been there rather than the imagined impression.
I am reminded of the shock here when Reform won a by election in Addlestone, because it was in Surrey. Anyone who knows Addlestone was not surprised at all.
Of course there are exceptions. Matching Green not too far from where we live in rural Essex has an average house price of £929,167 and is probably posher than most of Surrey, with plenty of old farming families nearby, grade listed buildings near the Green and the hunt on Boxing Day,
On average though Surrey is not only posher than Essex but probably the poshest county in England, although the Cotswolds belt of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and Berkshire and Bucks are not far behind, all also areas the LDs now have lots of MPs
Listening, I'd say that Farage's worry should be that other UKIP MEPs were able to be persuaded to speak to that agenda voluntarily.
Should be rule of thumb that public corruption and bribery results in a jail term.
I don't believe we want to see anyone go down for the fast lane friends and family PPE scam. There would be some big name casualties if that were ever investigated properly, which is why the current inquiry will be a whitewash.
Some of the small fry might.
Teens 'ran amok' at ex-MP's Covid firm - court
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8drd99n3g6o.amp ..Shahid Malik is on trial at Bradford Crown Court with four others accused of fraudulent trading and causing a public nuisance. Mr Malik and another of his co-defendants, Faisal Shoukat, are also accused of money laundering. The trial has been hearing evidence from former employees of RT Diagnostics, a firm set up by Mr Malik and Mr Shoukat during the pandemic, with one of them likening its premises in Halifax to a "building site". The defendants deny all of the charges against them. Prosecutors allege the business - which made £6.67m in three weeks - was a "cash cow" set up to take advantage of the Government's expanding test and trace system in March 2021...
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Thanks for that confirmation Peter, again from someone who has actually been there rather than the imagined impression.
I am reminded of the shock here when Reform won a by election in Addlestone, because it was in Surrey. Anyone who knows Addlestone was not surprised at all.
Of course there are exceptions. Matching Green not too far from where we live in rural Essex has an average house price of £929,167 and is probably posher than most of Surrey, with plenty of old farming families nearby, grade listed buildings near the Green and the hunt on Boxing Day,
On average though Surrey is not only posher than Essex but probably the poshest county in England, although the Cotswolds belt of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and Berkshire and Bucks are not far behind, all also areas the LDs now have lots of MPs
Do you ever wear a Matching Tye?
Matching Tye is the other main settlement in Matching indeed but still not as expensive as Matching Green, though even in Matching Tye the average house price is still £578,333 and therefore still closer to Surrey than most of the rest of Essex.
The problem for the Tories is that apart from their own diehards -14 seats worth-they have no allies. Faced with Farage or Badenoch civilised folk might as well go to the pub.
Labour by contrast have a cornucopia of choice. Labour.... Lib Dem ....Zacks mob....Gaza indy's.....whichever is in the best position to defeat the fascists and I have no doubt that they'll come out in force
The dog that continues not to bark is the LDs. In 100 seats they are safely either first or contending to win, in the rest SFAICS no movement that matters. The only centrists who have not trashed their reputation, they could and should be the obvious refuge but they are not. In a sense this is more mysterious than why the Tories look as if they may go out of business, and I can't see a non-circular explanation.
The LDs are now the party of posh home counties Remainers, the leftwingers who backed Charles Kennedy now vote Green or Labour and Leavers won't vote for them either
You are right, it is, but remember the vast majority of the voters in these constituencies aren't posh. Guildford, Woking, Camberley, etc town centres aren't posh and these are the areas they pile up the majority of votes. Even posh villages, like I live in, still have a council housing, flats above shops etc and these villages still vote primarily Tory. We analyse the boxes when they are opened. The villages all around me voted Tory. Our village was neck and neck, but Guildford town was LD and by far the biggest block of votes.
Guildford town centre may not be Cotswolds naice but it is significantly better than average. A castle, water, decent range of independent shops, fewer vape, bookies, charities and vacant lots than the vast majority of similar sized English towns.
It is, but I'm sorry that analysis is not correct. You are just looking at the High St. Nobody lives there. They live around it. Park Barn is a huge ex council estate. Most of the other houses in the town are old small terraces. Once you move out further you get to housing estates of flats, semis, and small detached houses. There are only a handful of big houses in Guildford itself and many of those are multiple occupancy flats eh York Rd. Outside of Guildford you get the posh villages. We expect to win the town. Victory is achieved my squeezing the villages. Not to winning them but minimising the loss.
Woking is even more so. People have an odd view of Surrey. Sheerwater in Woking or Old Dean in Camberley are not just not posh they are very unposh.
I used to frequent Camberley quite a bit so I know you're correct. However, when I visited Haslemere (the very centre of it) even the charity shops were above my touch. My first few visits they did have a Wetherspoon's but that was sold off & became a much posher restaurant. After that it was salad bowl & roll in my hotel room (and even they had to come from Waitrose).
I recognise the depiction of Guildford from my time as a resident of Merrow Park, although that outer suburb/village was quite strongly LD. Park Barn is where I worked, and it is definitely not posh.
The Cotswolds however are not universally 'naice'. Try spending a Saturday night in Gloucester, or even Cheltenham, if you wish to be disabused of the notion.
Thanks for that confirmation Peter, again from someone who has actually been there rather than the imagined impression.
I am reminded of the shock here when Reform won a by election in Addlestone, because it was in Surrey. Anyone who knows Addlestone was not surprised at all.
Of course there are exceptions. Matching Green not too far from where we live in rural Essex has an average house price of £929,167 and is probably posher than most of Surrey, with plenty of old farming families nearby, grade listed buildings near the Green and the hunt on Boxing Day,
On average though Surrey is not only posher than Essex but probably the poshest county in England, although the Cotswolds belt of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and Berkshire and Bucks are not far behind, all also areas the LDs now have lots of MPs
Are you sure you are not posting from the 1950s?
I sometimes wish I was, on a summer day in Matching with little traffic about you could be back in the 1950s
What a cold and miserable day. Definitely one to wear the long johns and waterproofs at the footy.
Yeah, me and the dog had an hours wander around the town during a break in the rain, but it is fairly windy here and now pissing down again. A grey day.
I opened the door, my dog looked out and went straight back to the sofa. I don't blame him.
Many years ago, I had a cat that would demand to be let out of the front door. If it was raining, he would turn around, head to the back window, demand I open it, and look to see if the weather there was better.
He lived to be 15 and never realised that it was always the same...
TBF a couple of times when I was growing up it was raining outside the front door and sunny out the back
tbf, I think it is mainly the more lifestyle stuff that the Mail paywalls, although there are several tiers iirc. I have the cheapest one. I can't read Andrew Neil.
Comments
She's a big "name" and that's good to get a media career, but doesn't really have the coalition of support to challenge for big political offices. Indeed, her leaving indicates she was less than confident about a likely primary challenge in her own district.
Can you imagine the carnage of her campaign?
'ANAS Sarwar has said Scottish Labour will not win a majority at next year's Holyrood election.
In an interview with the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, the Scottish Labour leader said he hopes to "form a minority Labour administration".
It comes as Scottish Labour fell into fourth place in Scotland, according to a poll published by YouGov this week.'
Claiming he wouldn't be FM if it took Reform support.
'Sarwar also attempted to distance himself from the Labour Government in Westminster as he claimed people in Scotland "would not be voting for Keir Starmer or Rachel Reeves" in next May's election.'
Even the vile "Piggy" remark.
https://www.cotswolds-nl.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/CotswoldsAONBMap.pdf
Is satire still multi-directional?
I don't think Taylor Greene will go for the nomination or get it.
The Press Secretary has to go out every day and defend the indefensible to the hilt, arguing that black is white and lies are truth.
There’s a reason most of them are very young and only last a year or so.
I am reminded of the shock here when Reform won a by election in Addlestone, because it was in Surrey. Anyone who knows Addlestone was not surprised at all.
Who was making the operational decisions not to investigate or seek prosecution, and on what authority? What training were officers, senior and junior receiving and by which organisations, and are they still providing the same training? Were officers being measured or benchmarked on the ethnicity of those they arrested? Why did complaints procedures and ombudsmen result in nothing? That's just for a start, and just for the police. There's also social services, politics, both local and national, and the absence of media coverage. In recent weeks we've seen a long-standing denial by Sadiq Khan that this wasn't an issue in London being exploded. The idea that a national enquiry is not warranted is absurd.
England used the first FIVE matches to warm up and finally win the 6th, which IIRC was the first under Atherton's captaincy.
All the Non Posh of Gloucester and Cheltenham are going to be moving to the Banbury hinterland, with the inevitable result that there will be far more watching of neighbours by men with dark glasses and moustachios.
For some mad reason he did a couple more years afterwards.
He's still going...
Betting PostF1: https://morrisf1.blogspot.com/2025/11/las-vegas-grand-prix-2025-pre-race.html
Toyed with splitting a points bet on Bearman and Albon but instead went with backing Russell each way at 13 and hedging at 2.5. Huge change in track conditions from qualifying to the race so who knows...
(I have to say, I think it's rougher than Gloucester at its worst, although much pleasanter at its best.)
One notes in passing the MTG's resignation comes two days after she becomes entitled to lifetime pension benefits (claimable at age 62), worth at least $8700 per annum at today's values.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15315721/marjorie-taylor-greene-quit-congress-pension.html
Sadly, he's no longer with us, but he timed his passing well: his funeral was the week before the March 2020 lockdown.
It spies and disrupts to get a competitive advantage in technology and trade.
But the last thing China wants is an unstable world order that disrupts trade, particularly a global hot war.
I think China is more of a stabilising force than the US under Trump.
So I see China as a restraining influence on Russia in preventing Putin from using nuclear weapons.
I also don't think that China will risk a hot war over Taiwan. There are are other methods available.
So I see China as very strong competitor to the UK in technology and trade, but not as a military threat, in the way I see Russia.
https://www.capitoltrades.com/trades?politician=G000596
She will have made at least in the tens of millions of dollars from her brief political career so far.
This only deferred his NS so he did consider signing up for a full commission, but NS was abolished shortly before he graduated, so he went into sales instead. A lot of life is about timing things right.
Oh, sorry, you meant the language?
He lived to be 15 and never realised that it was always the same...
Current cat seems waterproof and not bothered by rain, rather unusual in a cat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UunBvFQNm1Y
Listening, I'd say that Farage's worry should be that other UKIP MEPs were able to be persuaded to speak to that agenda voluntarily.
I mention it because some people were upset that Israel was also called an ally recently.
Maybe they'd like to get as upset about South Africa being called an ally.
IMO neither Israel nor South Africa is an ally of this country, I doubt I'd even call them friends.
Neither NOR.
Either OR.
Now write it out a hundred times!
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x93m5ma
Plus a phrase coined by a friend who used to live there in one of the modern estates, in a house I could never find because the estate had about 97 curvy cul-de-sacs. He described his house as being "lost inside a lung".
Was also sent out to Korea but things maritime quietened somewhat just as his ship arrived.
He also managed to get a funeral not long before covid!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15315819/Labour-councillors-Lamborghini-council-disabled.html
The motorhome of the proletariat.
And makes next month's special election in Tennessee even more important.
https://bylinetimes.com/2024/06/11/nigel-farage-and-an-extraordinary-lack-of-curiosity-from-uk-government-and-intelligence-services-over-possible-russian-interference-in-brexit/
Ben: Finished!
Sunil Centurion: Right. Now don't do it again!
[leaves]
Then there are structural allies, who may nevertheless differ in geopolitical positioning. Most EU countries, the US, Japan, Korea.
Then a broad category of “friends” who are generally helpful but have different strategic alignments. Greece, Singapore, Gulf States, Israel, many others
Sceptical trading partners with whom we have reasonable relations. South Africa, Kenya, India, Pakistan.
Geopolitical rivals. China
Enemies. Russia, Iran, NK.
Then those who don’t really care either way, like most of Latin America or Central Asia.
It did get lots of people to mix who would never have done so normally, and others actually learned useful things which turned into a career.
On the other hand, different relatives of mine who really didn't suit it at all ended up whitewashing coal.
- Don’t be obviously corrupt
- Don’t kill lots of football fans by negligence
- Don’t be racialist, while arresting people for possessing offensive wives
- Don’t be sexist. Or too rapey
The National Enquiry Into Stuff we can’t mention will add
- Always arrest all the nonces.
It’s a work in progress…
On average though Surrey is not only posher than Essex but probably the poshest county in England, although the Cotswolds belt of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and Berkshire and Bucks are not far behind, all also areas the LDs now have lots of MPs
Then again this town has about 15 different micro-climates so nothing surprises me.
Unfortunately, human progress depends on us playing an individually futile game. (Part of Europe's problem is that we have mostly become to comfortable to strive obsessively. That either means we are doomed, or that we have worked out how to win the game.)
Ukraine as a close ally is a new thing and will have lasting implications after the war.
Teens 'ran amok' at ex-MP's Covid firm - court
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8drd99n3g6o.amp
..Shahid Malik is on trial at Bradford Crown Court with four others accused of fraudulent trading and causing a public nuisance. Mr Malik and another of his co-defendants, Faisal Shoukat, are also accused of money laundering.
The trial has been hearing evidence from former employees of RT Diagnostics, a firm set up by Mr Malik and Mr Shoukat during the pandemic, with one of them likening its premises in Halifax to a "building site".
The defendants deny all of the charges against them.
Prosecutors allege the business - which made £6.67m in three weeks - was a "cash cow" set up to take advantage of the Government's expanding test and trace system in March 2021...
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