Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
I couldn't do without the browning effect of a very hot pan and the differential cooking degree within the omelette's thickness. But the watercress is a very interesting idea.
English Heritage admits promoting ‘nonsense’ theory about Christmas Charity apologises over widely discredited theory that Roman Empire repurposed sun god festival ... In a now-deleted post on X, the social media platform, on Wednesday, English Heritage wrote: “Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? It was celebrated by the Romans as the birth of the sun god, Sol Invictus. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it was changed into a Christian holy day, and parts of the winter festivals were brought together.”
The claim is widely discredited among historians, because the evidence for Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25 appears later than the first records of Christians saying Christ was born on the date. ... In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome and Sextus Julius Africanus dated the birth of Christ to December 25 by adding nine months – the term of a pregnancy – to March 25. ... A spokesman for English Heritage said: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/english-heritage-promoting-nonsense-theory-christmas-jesus/ (£££)
Sol Invictus was I believe a cult propagated by late-Empire pagans to counter Christianity.
Mithras's birthday was also 25 December, and I am not sure who decided the Incarnation happened on 25 March. The fact that Christmas llis 6bmonths after Midsummer probably has more to do with it, as a popular midwinter festival
Mithras' birthday was not on the 25th (the god from which the Mithraic cult derived was in any case not 'born' in any classical sense, but rather emerged from rock). The idea it was was due to a confusion with - ironically - the Sol Invictus cult.
The reason 25th December was fixed on as the day of Jesus' birth is because it was believed in the late Roman Empire that people died on the same day they were conceived. As Passover for the relevant year (which they wrongly thought was 33AD) was on the 25th March, they made that the Feast of the Annunciation and added nine months to get the date of Jesus' birth.
Hence why medieval Christian calendars started the new year on March 25th.
They look to be a good idea for protecting pedestrianised areas and allowing commercial deliveries through.
New for this season at Leicester City matches are portable anti vehicle devices, maybe in response to the Liverpool incident.
Because a vehicle can't be hostile. A problem in driver-related violence reporting (deliberate or not) is that most media suggest "a car has hit and killed a cyclist", rather than "a driver of a car".
I agree that this helps mitigate the impact of a Paul Doyle situation.
Presumably you feel the same way about reporting of -say- gun deaths?
Yes, actually. The gun nuts aren't wrong when they suggest that it takes a human to do it, and I think the fact so many Americans seem to think shooting people is reasonable is as much of an issue as the guns themselves. Some self-defence laws are just mad - they've actually codified this attitude.
Otoh, I also believe we should treat road safety like we do aviation safety. I'm certainly not keen on jailing people for mistakes unless they are particularly egregious (I think lengthy driving bans are better). Mitigate human error as far as possible - 20mph limits, regulate out large SUVs/pick-up trucks, better physical protection for cyclists, LTNs etc.
This is one of these areas where I tend to agree, but at the same time you need to understand *why* the justice system is as it is.
A driver is in control of a multi-ton metal box that is driven at great speed, resulting in a lot of kinetic energy. If said metal box comes into contact with a human being, there is a high chance that human will be severely injured or even die.
There is only a small chance of any individual act of -say- surfing the web while driving results in disaster. Which means the criminal justice system ends up punishing people very harshly when it does, because otherwise there is only a very limited deterrent effect.
Agree with that.
Though, weirdly, our justice system does consider a driving ban a very harsh punishment. Exceptional hardship rules see drivers with 30+ points driving around - that is a demonstrably dangerous individual to be on the road given detection rates.
It was even the case for Paul Doyle, in a city where 40% of households don't have access to a car.
I'll encounter several people driving while using a mobile, vehicles with a strong smell of skunk, speeding and incosiderate driving on my cycle commute. Very very few drivers are caught and punished when committing driving offences, those that do get caught are either extremely unlucky or offend so frequently they're finally caught.
I ask my question again. Is it a sub sample? Stuart Dickson used to get into hot water for posting regional sub samples. Apologies in advance if it is not a sub sample.
My photo for the day illustrates what’s possible, and also the tremendous NIMBY pressure that will face councils at every step.
This is a building project literally in (well, behind) my backyard. They’re taking an old low rise building and adding a few storeys to it.
I think it looks nice and will fill in what was previously a rather large and incongruous gap in the roofline. And this is just the sort of dense urban milieu where we should be encouraging infill. All the neighbours are outraged and depressed by it and letters regularly go into the council.
Presumably you saw the planning application etc? From what I can see it wouldn’t be ideal for the extra storey to have a balcony which directly overlooks your garden? You might be fine with this - I probably wouldn’t (not that I have a garden!). Moving somewhere already overlooked is one thing. Becoming overlooked later-on is something else.
As long as these developments are designed properly there’s no reason to be upset as your neighbours evidently are.
No more nude sunbathing , will be lines of pervs with telescopes scanning all the back gardens
My photo for the day illustrates what’s possible, and also the tremendous NIMBY pressure that will face councils at every step.
This is a building project literally in (well, behind) my backyard. They’re taking an old low rise building and adding a few storeys to it.
I think it looks nice and will fill in what was previously a rather large and incongruous gap in the roofline. And this is just the sort of dense urban milieu where we should be encouraging infill. All the neighbours are outraged and depressed by it and letters regularly go into the council.
Presumably you saw the planning application etc? From what I can see it wouldn’t be ideal for the extra storey to have a balcony which directly overlooks your garden? You might be fine with this - I probably wouldn’t (not that I have a garden!). Moving somewhere already overlooked is one thing. Becoming overlooked later-on is something else.
As long as these developments are designed properly there’s no reason to be upset as your neighbours evidently are.
No more nude sunbathing , will be lines of pervs with telescopes scanning all the back gardens
I knew Ayrshire is a bit of a micro-climate, but...
I think people's brain chemistry gets changed by their environment. People who live in cities become more comfortable living cheek by jowl, people who live in the countryside get used to solitude and find excessive interaction intrusive and even threatening. Like MelonB I am an urban dweller and of course my garden is massively overlooked and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm lucky to have a garden at all. I will squeeze into the tiniest spot on the tube. I don't mind graffiti. I don't notice litter. I'm sure if I was used to a more solitary kind of living I would find a city like London quite alarming, but I like being surrounded by people.
I'm like you - lived all my life in large cities - but moved to a village a few years ago to be with my (since April) wife. I miss cities, but less than I expected: I'm not sure it's unusual, but I don't really care whether passers-by can see me or not, so it just comes down to having to go further for films, plays, etc. And of course in London it can take an hour to go anywhere in particular...
Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me..
A great example of how Gavin Newsom is as unsuitable as Kamala Harris was as a presidential candidate. He’s not going to out-Trump the president, no matter how hard he tries.
“Make America California Again” has little support in California any more, especially when there’s been precisely no houses rebuilt from January’s fires.
I don't much like Newsom, but he has the advantage over Trump that he is not senile, insane, stupid, nor malevolent.
His problem is that he believes in nothing except achieving power, and that his record in California is terrible. He is, like Kamala Harris, another one of those politicians who has kept failing upwards.
He also won’t be running against Trump.
A Trump supporter complains about someone else believing in nothing except achieving power!
Careful, you may engender a now lesser spotted ‘I’m not a Trump supporter but’.
My photo for the day illustrates what’s possible, and also the tremendous NIMBY pressure that will face councils at every step.
This is a building project literally in (well, behind) my backyard. They’re taking an old low rise building and adding a few storeys to it.
I think it looks nice and will fill in what was previously a rather large and incongruous gap in the roofline. And this is just the sort of dense urban milieu where we should be encouraging infill. All the neighbours are outraged and depressed by it and letters regularly go into the council.
Presumably you saw the planning application etc? From what I can see it wouldn’t be ideal for the extra storey to have a balcony which directly overlooks your garden? You might be fine with this - I probably wouldn’t (not that I have a garden!). Moving somewhere already overlooked is one thing. Becoming overlooked later-on is something else.
As long as these developments are designed properly there’s no reason to be upset as your neighbours evidently are.
No more nude sunbathing , will be lines of pervs with telescopes scanning all the back gardens
I knew Ayrshire is a bit of a micro-climate, but...
I ask my question again. Is it a sub sample? Stuart Dickson used to get into hot water for posting regional sub samples. Apologies in advance if it is not a sub sample.
I am more confused now than I was after your earlier post which seemed to clear things up.
? Cardiff University (well… people from their Political Science Dept.) commissioned it from YouGov. They have, for whatever reason, decided to put the tables up on GitHub rather than on the proper YouGov site. I have no idea why.
I think people's brain chemistry gets changed by their environment. People who live in cities become more comfortable living cheek by jowl, people who live in the countryside get used to solitude and find excessive interaction intrusive and even threatening. Like MelonB I am an urban dweller and of course my garden is massively overlooked and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm lucky to have a garden at all. I will squeeze into the tiniest spot on the tube. I don't mind graffiti. I don't notice litter. I'm sure if I was used to a more solitary kind of living I would find a city like London quite alarming, but I like being surrounded by people.
I'm like you - lived all my life in large cities - but moved to a village a few years ago to be with my (since April) wife. I miss cities, but less than I expected: I'm not sure it's unusual, but I don't really care whether passers-by can see me or not, so it just comes down to having to go further for films, plays, etc. And of course in London it can take an hour to go anywhere in particular...
A friend of mine taught at the LSE.
He said it was nearly as quick to get to and from Worcester (where he lives) as it would be to get to Chelmsford.
English Heritage admits promoting ‘nonsense’ theory about Christmas Charity apologises over widely discredited theory that Roman Empire repurposed sun god festival ... In a now-deleted post on X, the social media platform, on Wednesday, English Heritage wrote: “Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? It was celebrated by the Romans as the birth of the sun god, Sol Invictus. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it was changed into a Christian holy day, and parts of the winter festivals were brought together.”
The claim is widely discredited among historians, because the evidence for Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25 appears later than the first records of Christians saying Christ was born on the date. ... In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome and Sextus Julius Africanus dated the birth of Christ to December 25 by adding nine months – the term of a pregnancy – to March 25. ... A spokesman for English Heritage said: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/english-heritage-promoting-nonsense-theory-christmas-jesus/ (£££)
Sol Invictus was I believe a cult propagated by late-Empire pagans to counter Christianity.
Mithras's birthday was also 25 December, and I am not sure who decided the Incarnation happened on 25 March. The fact that Christmas llis 6bmonths after Midsummer probably has more to do with it, as a popular midwinter festival
Mithras' birthday was not on the 25th (the god from which the Mithraic cult derived was in any case not 'born' in any classical sense, but rather emerged from rock). The idea it was was due to a confusion with - ironically - the Sol Invictus cult.
The reason 25th December was fixed on as the day of Jesus' birth is because it was believed in the late Roman Empire that people died on the same day they were conceived. As Passover for the relevant year (which they wrongly thought was 33AD) was on the 25th March, they made that the Feast of the Annunciation and added nine months to get the date of Jesus' birth.
Hence why medieval Christian calendars started the new year on March 25th.
Blimey that is prolix, it's longer than one of Cyclefree's headers.
I'm not sure Mithras/Sol is down to "confusion" he does seem to have been regarded as some sort of solar deity. Having a solar festival midwinter makes a lot of sense
I think people's brain chemistry gets changed by their environment. People who live in cities become more comfortable living cheek by jowl, people who live in the countryside get used to solitude and find excessive interaction intrusive and even threatening. Like MelonB I am an urban dweller and of course my garden is massively overlooked and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm lucky to have a garden at all. I will squeeze into the tiniest spot on the tube. I don't mind graffiti. I don't notice litter. I'm sure if I was used to a more solitary kind of living I would find a city like London quite alarming, but I like being surrounded by people.
I'm like you - lived all my life in large cities - but moved to a village a few years ago to be with my (since April) wife. I miss cities, but less than I expected: I'm not sure it's unusual, but I don't really care whether passers-by can see me or not, so it just comes down to having to go further for films, plays, etc. And of course in London it can take an hour to go anywhere in particular...
It's the unknowns I miss after leaving London. Chance encounters can really affect a life and you get a lot more when around many millions of people.
English Heritage admits promoting ‘nonsense’ theory about Christmas Charity apologises over widely discredited theory that Roman Empire repurposed sun god festival ... In a now-deleted post on X, the social media platform, on Wednesday, English Heritage wrote: “Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? It was celebrated by the Romans as the birth of the sun god, Sol Invictus. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it was changed into a Christian holy day, and parts of the winter festivals were brought together.”
The claim is widely discredited among historians, because the evidence for Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25 appears later than the first records of Christians saying Christ was born on the date. ... In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome and Sextus Julius Africanus dated the birth of Christ to December 25 by adding nine months – the term of a pregnancy – to March 25. ... A spokesman for English Heritage said: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/english-heritage-promoting-nonsense-theory-christmas-jesus/ (£££)
Sol Invictus was I believe a cult propagated by late-Empire pagans to counter Christianity.
Mithras's birthday was also 25 December, and I am not sure who decided the Incarnation happened on 25 March. The fact that Christmas llis 6bmonths after Midsummer probably has more to do with it, as a popular midwinter festival
Mithras' birthday was not on the 25th (the god from which the Mithraic cult derived was in any case not 'born' in any classical sense, but rather emerged from rock). The idea it was was due to a confusion with - ironically - the Sol Invictus cult.
The reason 25th December was fixed on as the day of Jesus' birth is because it was believed in the late Roman Empire that people died on the same day they were conceived. As Passover for the relevant year (which they wrongly thought was 33AD) was on the 25th March, they made that the Feast of the Annunciation and added nine months to get the date of Jesus' birth.
Hence why medieval Christian calendars started the new year on March 25th.
Blimey that is prolix, it's longer than one of Cyclefree's headers.
I'm not sure Mithras/Sol is down to "confusion" he does seem to have been regarded as some sort of solar deity. Having a solar festival midwinter makes a lot of sense
Not really. I mean, anyone doing sun worship (or as I shall now always think of it, a @malcolmg impression) right now would not be getting anything back for their pains.
I ask my question again. Is it a sub sample? Stuart Dickson used to get into hot water for posting regional sub samples. Apologies in advance if it is not a sub sample.
I am more confused now than I was after your earlier post which seemed to clear things up.
? Cardiff University (well… people from their Political Science Dept.) commissioned it from YouGov. They have, for whatever reason, decided to put the tables up on GitHub rather than on the proper YouGov site. I have no idea why.
Cardiff University are a pretty rum organisation. Oh wait that's where I went...
My photo for the day illustrates what’s possible, and also the tremendous NIMBY pressure that will face councils at every step.
This is a building project literally in (well, behind) my backyard. They’re taking an old low rise building and adding a few storeys to it.
I think it looks nice and will fill in what was previously a rather large and incongruous gap in the roofline. And this is just the sort of dense urban milieu where we should be encouraging infill. All the neighbours are outraged and depressed by it and letters regularly go into the council.
Presumably you saw the planning application etc? From what I can see it wouldn’t be ideal for the extra storey to have a balcony which directly overlooks your garden? You might be fine with this - I probably wouldn’t (not that I have a garden!). Moving somewhere already overlooked is one thing. Becoming overlooked later-on is something else.
As long as these developments are designed properly there’s no reason to be upset as your neighbours evidently are.
No more nude sunbathing , will be lines of pervs with telescopes scanning all the back gardens
English Heritage admits promoting ‘nonsense’ theory about Christmas Charity apologises over widely discredited theory that Roman Empire repurposed sun god festival ... In a now-deleted post on X, the social media platform, on Wednesday, English Heritage wrote: “Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? It was celebrated by the Romans as the birth of the sun god, Sol Invictus. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it was changed into a Christian holy day, and parts of the winter festivals were brought together.”
The claim is widely discredited among historians, because the evidence for Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25 appears later than the first records of Christians saying Christ was born on the date. ... In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome and Sextus Julius Africanus dated the birth of Christ to December 25 by adding nine months – the term of a pregnancy – to March 25. ... A spokesman for English Heritage said: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/english-heritage-promoting-nonsense-theory-christmas-jesus/ (£££)
Sol Invictus was I believe a cult propagated by late-Empire pagans to counter Christianity.
Mithras's birthday was also 25 December, and I am not sure who decided the Incarnation happened on 25 March. The fact that Christmas llis 6bmonths after Midsummer probably has more to do with it, as a popular midwinter festival
Mithras' birthday was not on the 25th (the god from which the Mithraic cult derived was in any case not 'born' in any classical sense, but rather emerged from rock). The idea it was was due to a confusion with - ironically - the Sol Invictus cult.
The reason 25th December was fixed on as the day of Jesus' birth is because it was believed in the late Roman Empire that people died on the same day they were conceived. As Passover for the relevant year (which they wrongly thought was 33AD) was on the 25th March, they made that the Feast of the Annunciation and added nine months to get the date of Jesus' birth.
Hence why medieval Christian calendars started the new year on March 25th.
Blimey that is prolix, it's longer than one of Cyclefree's headers.
I'm not sure Mithras/Sol is down to "confusion" he does seem to have been regarded as some sort of solar deity. Having a solar festival midwinter makes a lot of sense
Not really. I mean, anyone doing sun worship (or as I shall now always think of it, a @malcolmg impression) right now would not be getting anything back for their pains.
My photo for the day illustrates what’s possible, and also the tremendous NIMBY pressure that will face councils at every step.
This is a building project literally in (well, behind) my backyard. They’re taking an old low rise building and adding a few storeys to it.
I think it looks nice and will fill in what was previously a rather large and incongruous gap in the roofline. And this is just the sort of dense urban milieu where we should be encouraging infill. All the neighbours are outraged and depressed by it and letters regularly go into the council.
Presumably you saw the planning application etc? From what I can see it wouldn’t be ideal for the extra storey to have a balcony which directly overlooks your garden? You might be fine with this - I probably wouldn’t (not that I have a garden!). Moving somewhere already overlooked is one thing. Becoming overlooked later-on is something else.
As long as these developments are designed properly there’s no reason to be upset as your neighbours evidently are.
No more nude sunbathing , will be lines of pervs with telescopes scanning all the back gardens
I knew Ayrshire is a bit of a micro-climate, but...
I'm impressed.
Malc's always been very full frontal on PB.
When I were a wean a friend of the same age came up from his home in the south of England for a family seaside holiday in the spring break. He is still talking about it half a century later: he'd never been so cold in his life on the beach. Me, I could only remember it being a bit windy and (after some further thought) maybe some snow at one point.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
English Heritage admits promoting ‘nonsense’ theory about Christmas Charity apologises over widely discredited theory that Roman Empire repurposed sun god festival ... In a now-deleted post on X, the social media platform, on Wednesday, English Heritage wrote: “Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? It was celebrated by the Romans as the birth of the sun god, Sol Invictus. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it was changed into a Christian holy day, and parts of the winter festivals were brought together.”
The claim is widely discredited among historians, because the evidence for Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25 appears later than the first records of Christians saying Christ was born on the date. ... In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome and Sextus Julius Africanus dated the birth of Christ to December 25 by adding nine months – the term of a pregnancy – to March 25. ... A spokesman for English Heritage said: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/english-heritage-promoting-nonsense-theory-christmas-jesus/ (£££)
Sol Invictus was I believe a cult propagated by late-Empire pagans to counter Christianity.
Mithras's birthday was also 25 December, and I am not sure who decided the Incarnation happened on 25 March. The fact that Christmas llis 6bmonths after Midsummer probably has more to do with it, as a popular midwinter festival
Mithras' birthday was not on the 25th (the god from which the Mithraic cult derived was in any case not 'born' in any classical sense, but rather emerged from rock). The idea it was was due to a confusion with - ironically - the Sol Invictus cult.
The reason 25th December was fixed on as the day of Jesus' birth is because it was believed in the late Roman Empire that people died on the same day they were conceived. As Passover for the relevant year (which they wrongly thought was 33AD) was on the 25th March, they made that the Feast of the Annunciation and added nine months to get the date of Jesus' birth.
Hence why medieval Christian calendars started the new year on March 25th.
Blimey that is prolix, it's longer than one of Cyclefree's headers.
I'm not sure Mithras/Sol is down to "confusion" he does seem to have been regarded as some sort of solar deity. Having a solar festival midwinter makes a lot of sense
Not really. I mean, anyone doing sun worship (or as I shall now always think of it, a @malcolmg impression) right now would not be getting anything back for their pains.
My photo for the day illustrates what’s possible, and also the tremendous NIMBY pressure that will face councils at every step.
This is a building project literally in (well, behind) my backyard. They’re taking an old low rise building and adding a few storeys to it.
I think it looks nice and will fill in what was previously a rather large and incongruous gap in the roofline. And this is just the sort of dense urban milieu where we should be encouraging infill. All the neighbours are outraged and depressed by it and letters regularly go into the council.
Presumably you saw the planning application etc? From what I can see it wouldn’t be ideal for the extra storey to have a balcony which directly overlooks your garden? You might be fine with this - I probably wouldn’t (not that I have a garden!). Moving somewhere already overlooked is one thing. Becoming overlooked later-on is something else.
As long as these developments are designed properly there’s no reason to be upset as your neighbours evidently are.
No more nude sunbathing , will be lines of pervs with telescopes scanning all the back gardens
I knew Ayrshire is a bit of a micro-climate, but...
I'm impressed.
Malc's always been very full frontal on PB.
When I were a wean a friend of the same age came up from his home in the south of England for a family seaside holiday in the spring break. He is still talking about it half a century later: he'd never been so cold in his life on the beach. Me, I could only remember it being a bit windy and (after some further thought) maybe some snow at one point.
What a wuss.
If he wanted cold, you should have taken him for a dip in Loch Ness.
Please do not impugn the integrity of BPC registered pollsters.
It is fine to critique their methodology but not their motives.
Is a criticism of Goodwin's promotion of a poll that uses a unique methodology as proof of a particular reality the same as criticising the pollster's integrity? In other words is a criticism of Goodwin's interpretation a defacto direct criticism of FoN? If so I have probably crossed that line.
They look to be a good idea for protecting pedestrianised areas and allowing commercial deliveries through.
New for this season at Leicester City matches are portable anti vehicle devices, maybe in response to the Liverpool incident.
Because a vehicle can't be hostile. A problem in driver-related violence reporting (deliberate or not) is that most media suggest "a car has hit and killed a cyclist", rather than "a driver of a car".
I agree that this helps mitigate the impact of a Paul Doyle situation.
Presumably you feel the same way about reporting of -say- gun deaths?
Yes, actually. The gun nuts aren't wrong when they suggest that it takes a human to do it, and I think the fact so many Americans seem to think shooting people is reasonable is as much of an issue as the guns themselves. Some self-defence laws are just mad - they've actually codified this attitude.
Otoh, I also believe we should treat road safety like we do aviation safety. I'm certainly not keen on jailing people for mistakes unless they are particularly egregious (I think lengthy driving bans are better). Mitigate human error as far as possible - 20mph limits, regulate out large SUVs/pick-up trucks, better physical protection for cyclists, LTNs etc.
This is one of these areas where I tend to agree, but at the same time you need to understand *why* the justice system is as it is.
A driver is in control of a multi-ton metal box that is driven at great speed, resulting in a lot of kinetic energy. If said metal box comes into contact with a human being, there is a high chance that human will be severely injured or even die.
There is only a small chance of any individual act of -say- surfing the web while driving results in disaster. Which means the criminal justice system ends up punishing people very harshly when it does, because otherwise there is only a very limited deterrent effect.
Agree with that.
Though, weirdly, our justice system does consider a driving ban a very harsh punishment. Exceptional hardship rules see drivers with 30+ points driving around - that is a demonstrably dangerous individual to be on the road given detection rates.
It was even the case for Paul Doyle, in a city where 40% of households don't have access to a car.
I'll encounter several people driving while using a mobile, vehicles with a strong smell of skunk, speeding and incosiderate driving on my cycle commute. Very very few drivers are caught and punished when committing driving offences, those that do get caught are either extremely unlucky or offend so frequently they're finally caught.
You got picked up by the police? Did you run a red light?
English Heritage admits promoting ‘nonsense’ theory about Christmas Charity apologises over widely discredited theory that Roman Empire repurposed sun god festival ... In a now-deleted post on X, the social media platform, on Wednesday, English Heritage wrote: “Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? It was celebrated by the Romans as the birth of the sun god, Sol Invictus. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it was changed into a Christian holy day, and parts of the winter festivals were brought together.”
The claim is widely discredited among historians, because the evidence for Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25 appears later than the first records of Christians saying Christ was born on the date. ... In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome and Sextus Julius Africanus dated the birth of Christ to December 25 by adding nine months – the term of a pregnancy – to March 25. ... A spokesman for English Heritage said: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/english-heritage-promoting-nonsense-theory-christmas-jesus/ (£££)
Sol Invictus was I believe a cult propagated by late-Empire pagans to counter Christianity.
Mithras's birthday was also 25 December, and I am not sure who decided the Incarnation happened on 25 March. The fact that Christmas llis 6bmonths after Midsummer probably has more to do with it, as a popular midwinter festival
Mithras' birthday was not on the 25th (the god from which the Mithraic cult derived was in any case not 'born' in any classical sense, but rather emerged from rock). The idea it was was due to a confusion with - ironically - the Sol Invictus cult.
The reason 25th December was fixed on as the day of Jesus' birth is because it was believed in the late Roman Empire that people died on the same day they were conceived. As Passover for the relevant year (which they wrongly thought was 33AD) was on the 25th March, they made that the Feast of the Annunciation and added nine months to get the date of Jesus' birth.
Hence why medieval Christian calendars started the new year on March 25th.
Blimey that is prolix, it's longer than one of Cyclefree's headers.
I'm not sure Mithras/Sol is down to "confusion" he does seem to have been regarded as some sort of solar deity. Having a solar festival midwinter makes a lot of sense
Not really. I mean, anyone doing sun worship (or as I shall now always think of it, a @malcolmg impression) right now would not be getting anything back for their pains.
Please do not impugn the integrity of BPC registered pollsters.
It is fine to critique their methodology but not their motives.
Is a criticism of Goodwin's promotion of a poll that uses a unique methodology as proof of a particular reality the same as criticising the pollster's integrity? In other words is a criticism of Goodwin a defacto direct criticism of FoN?
You are okay to remind everyone that Matt Goodwin ran the polling firm that was the worst pollster at GE2024.
English Heritage admits promoting ‘nonsense’ theory about Christmas Charity apologises over widely discredited theory that Roman Empire repurposed sun god festival ... In a now-deleted post on X, the social media platform, on Wednesday, English Heritage wrote: “Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? It was celebrated by the Romans as the birth of the sun god, Sol Invictus. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it was changed into a Christian holy day, and parts of the winter festivals were brought together.”
The claim is widely discredited among historians, because the evidence for Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25 appears later than the first records of Christians saying Christ was born on the date. ... In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome and Sextus Julius Africanus dated the birth of Christ to December 25 by adding nine months – the term of a pregnancy – to March 25. ... A spokesman for English Heritage said: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/english-heritage-promoting-nonsense-theory-christmas-jesus/ (£££)
Sol Invictus was I believe a cult propagated by late-Empire pagans to counter Christianity.
Mithras's birthday was also 25 December, and I am not sure who decided the Incarnation happened on 25 March. The fact that Christmas llis 6bmonths after Midsummer probably has more to do with it, as a popular midwinter festival
Mithras' birthday was not on the 25th (the god from which the Mithraic cult derived was in any case not 'born' in any classical sense, but rather emerged from rock). The idea it was was due to a confusion with - ironically - the Sol Invictus cult.
The reason 25th December was fixed on as the day of Jesus' birth is because it was believed in the late Roman Empire that people died on the same day they were conceived. As Passover for the relevant year (which they wrongly thought was 33AD) was on the 25th March, they made that the Feast of the Annunciation and added nine months to get the date of Jesus' birth.
Hence why medieval Christian calendars started the new year on March 25th.
Blimey that is prolix, it's longer than one of Cyclefree's headers.
I'm not sure Mithras/Sol is down to "confusion" he does seem to have been regarded as some sort of solar deity. Having a solar festival midwinter makes a lot of sense
Not really. I mean, anyone doing sun worship (or as I shall now always think of it, a @malcolmg impression) right now would not be getting anything back for their pains.
English Heritage admits promoting ‘nonsense’ theory about Christmas Charity apologises over widely discredited theory that Roman Empire repurposed sun god festival ... In a now-deleted post on X, the social media platform, on Wednesday, English Heritage wrote: “Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? It was celebrated by the Romans as the birth of the sun god, Sol Invictus. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it was changed into a Christian holy day, and parts of the winter festivals were brought together.”
The claim is widely discredited among historians, because the evidence for Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25 appears later than the first records of Christians saying Christ was born on the date. ... In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome and Sextus Julius Africanus dated the birth of Christ to December 25 by adding nine months – the term of a pregnancy – to March 25. ... A spokesman for English Heritage said: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/english-heritage-promoting-nonsense-theory-christmas-jesus/ (£££)
Sol Invictus was I believe a cult propagated by late-Empire pagans to counter Christianity.
Mithras's birthday was also 25 December, and I am not sure who decided the Incarnation happened on 25 March. The fact that Christmas llis 6bmonths after Midsummer probably has more to do with it, as a popular midwinter festival
Mithras' birthday was not on the 25th (the god from which the Mithraic cult derived was in any case not 'born' in any classical sense, but rather emerged from rock). The idea it was was due to a confusion with - ironically - the Sol Invictus cult.
The reason 25th December was fixed on as the day of Jesus' birth is because it was believed in the late Roman Empire that people died on the same day they were conceived. As Passover for the relevant year (which they wrongly thought was 33AD) was on the 25th March, they made that the Feast of the Annunciation and added nine months to get the date of Jesus' birth.
Hence why medieval Christian calendars started the new year on March 25th.
Blimey that is prolix, it's longer than one of Cyclefree's headers.
I'm not sure Mithras/Sol is down to "confusion" he does seem to have been regarded as some sort of solar deity. Having a solar festival midwinter makes a lot of sense
Not really. I mean, anyone doing sun worship (or as I shall now always think of it, a @malcolmg impression) right now would not be getting anything back for their pains.
My photo for the day illustrates what’s possible, and also the tremendous NIMBY pressure that will face councils at every step.
This is a building project literally in (well, behind) my backyard. They’re taking an old low rise building and adding a few storeys to it.
I think it looks nice and will fill in what was previously a rather large and incongruous gap in the roofline. And this is just the sort of dense urban milieu where we should be encouraging infill. All the neighbours are outraged and depressed by it and letters regularly go into the council.
Presumably you saw the planning application etc? From what I can see it wouldn’t be ideal for the extra storey to have a balcony which directly overlooks your garden? You might be fine with this - I probably wouldn’t (not that I have a garden!). Moving somewhere already overlooked is one thing. Becoming overlooked later-on is something else.
As long as these developments are designed properly there’s no reason to be upset as your neighbours evidently are.
No more nude sunbathing , will be lines of pervs with telescopes scanning all the back gardens
I knew Ayrshire is a bit of a micro-climate, but...
I'm impressed.
Malc's always been very full frontal on PB.
When I were a wean a friend of the same age came up from his home in the south of England for a family seaside holiday in the spring break. He is still talking about it half a century later: he'd never been so cold in his life on the beach. Me, I could only remember it being a bit windy and (after some further thought) maybe some snow at one point.
What a wuss.
If he wanted cold, you should have taken him for a dip in Loch Ness.
Ha.
Last year, someone from our rowing club arranged to do some rowing on Loch Ness - prep for the big event there.
The boat got swamped by a moron in a powered boat. Our guy towelled himself off, and asked when they were going back out. The locals were huddled in tinfoil blankets and talking about hypothermia.
Mind you, he used to do the weekly lake dip challenges in Scandinavia - jump in the same lake, each weekend, over a whole year. By winter, they are chainsawing the ice out, first....
Keir Starmer responds to Donald Trump and says he wouldn't allow someone to tell his daughter, wife or colleagues to be "quiet, piggy"
"I absolutely wouldn't... I would call it out"
I bet he wouldn’t call it out if it was Trump telling Starmer’s daughter, wife or colleagues to be "quiet, piggy" . ‘It’s just Donald showing how special the special relationship is, he’s like everyone’s favourite naughty uncle.’
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
I’ve got two omelette pans. Quite old. They only need a wipe as they are magnificently seasoned and totally non stick.
Keir Starmer responds to Donald Trump and says he wouldn't allow someone to tell his daughter, wife or colleagues to be "quiet, piggy"
"I absolutely wouldn't... I would call it out"
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Probably beats it.
What really surprises me is that williamglenn thinks it's [edit: to call out some offensive stuff] 2025-fresh. It's been around for a few years, so long I'm beginning to develop a mental callosity over the original scar tissue from encountering it.
I don't pay for Netflix so I couldn't give a monkeys what he gets paid. I wonder if his following has dropped since he left the BBC?
His following of enraged righties seems as substantial as ever.
I dont think so. Its more likely that right of centre are enraged with him not supportive of.
Hopefully I will never have listen to.his smarmy voice ever again.
You do seem to get very angry at all and any sort of stuff. Chill. How on earth can Gary Lineker make you angry? If you don't like him ignore him. It certainly looks like the BBC had a bargain when they had him. Presumably they made some sort of saving when they let him go (did they?) but was it worthwhile comparing the loss of his profile (and those that left with him) to the current presenters.
What a sad sack of potatoes this Starmer government have become.
I have no time for Palestine Action. It espouses violence contrary to my principles and is actually counterproductive to the Palestinian cause. I'm happy for members to be prosecuted when merited on normal laws.
And what could they do that might assist the Paletinian cause?
Not vandalise military hardware going to Ukraine, not vandalise govt property and businesses.
Or twatting coppers with hammers
Or supporting either openly, or tacitly, Hamas
To start.
I am pretty much with Taz on this one.
The group I would compare Palestine Action to is SHAC, who also had a hard core who embraced terror techniques, surrounded by a penumbra of peaceful activists who when they protected the violent hard core acted as useful idiots.
I think that by the time the various trials are done, the Govt will have been shown to be correct in their proscription - though I am not convinced by the "arrest hundreds" tactics.
In the PA case, they are deliberately attacking with violence the defences of the UK. At a time of security threat an international instability, it would be fair to call that treachery.
As for the hunger strikers - they chose to do it, and they have the freedom to stop whenever they want to do so. But they are using self-harm as a method of blackmail to force an action on an elected Government. We should not cave in.
They look to be a good idea for protecting pedestrianised areas and allowing commercial deliveries through.
New for this season at Leicester City matches are portable anti vehicle devices, maybe in response to the Liverpool incident.
Because a vehicle can't be hostile. A problem in driver-related violence reporting (deliberate or not) is that most media suggest "a car has hit and killed a cyclist", rather than "a driver of a car".
I agree that this helps mitigate the impact of a Paul Doyle situation.
It was interesting, the day after Paul Doyle's sentencing, the number of the Twatterati who went straight for xenophobia.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
Many offices have only a microwave.
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
Many offices have only a microwave.
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
Blimey, the housing shortage is more serious than even @BartholomewRoberts thought if we're pressing rice cookers into service as living spaces.
Keir Starmer responds to Donald Trump and says he wouldn't allow someone to tell his daughter, wife or colleagues to be "quiet, piggy"
"I absolutely wouldn't... I would call it out"
It's a nuanced area, calling out. Recent example: Tesco queue, bloke before me trying to return something without the relevant docs. Cashier couldn't process. Bloke would not budge, just kept on arguing, time passing, me normally Mr Patience finally snapped. "Look, could you perhaps take this offline?" I said. "There's lots of us waiting here. This is rather inconsiderate" At which point I glance at the bloke behind me, expecting a show of support for my calling out of the first bloke. But no. He went and called ME out. "C'mon mate, he's just standing up for his rights," he said. "What's your big hurry anyway." Quite a torrid situation. Fortunately at this point a manager came and took charge.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
Many offices have only a microwave.
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
For those of us who used to contract away from home and stop in travelodges (keep the costs down) kettle food was an art form.
First thing I’d do in any room would be empty the kettle and wash it in case someone had left piss in it.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
Many offices have only a microwave.
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
Blimey, the housing shortage is more serious than even @BartholomewRoberts thought if we're pressing rice cookers into service as living spaces.
FindOutNow just smells off. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.
Main purpose seems to be to provide pear-clutchers with content for shit-posting on X etc.
The only poll I know of that isn't a bit off is the Curtice poll on election day, which, as I understand it, is done on the expensive traditional model of asking the right number of people from the right groupings from the right places how they voted. He is generally right.
I am amazed that any other method works at all. And no method can be checked out apart from those conducted immediately before an election.
It's possible that FON methodology will be shown to come unstuck in May. But I wouldn't bet on it.
FWIW, in trying to predict the future in general polls are of limited use in my view. So, for example, the Tories and Labour are both in deep and similar numerical trouble polling wise.. But the Tories face a party on the right who seem to be eclipsing them. Labour do not face a similar single party challenge. So, while both might recover, Labour stand a better chance of doing so. For millions of voters in hundreds of seats there being nowhere else to go.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
Many offices have only a microwave.
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
Blimey, the housing shortage is more serious than even @BartholomewRoberts thought if we're pressing rice cookers into service as living spaces.
Living in a rice cooker?
Luuuuuxury….
When I were lad a rice cooker was called t' saucepan.
They look to be a good idea for protecting pedestrianised areas and allowing commercial deliveries through.
New for this season at Leicester City matches are portable anti vehicle devices, maybe in response to the Liverpool incident.
Because a vehicle can't be hostile. A problem in driver-related violence reporting (deliberate or not) is that most media suggest "a car has hit and killed a cyclist", rather than "a driver of a car".
I agree that this helps mitigate the impact of a Paul Doyle situation.
It was interesting, the day after Paul Doyle's sentencing, the number of the Twatterati who went straight for xenophobia.
FindOutNow just smells off. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.
Main purpose seems to be to provide pear-clutchers with content for shit-posting on X etc.
The only poll I know of that isn't a bit off is the Curtice poll on election day, which, as I understand it, is done on the expensive traditional model of asking the right number of people from the right groupings from the right places how they voted. He is generally right.
I am amazed that any other method works at all. And no method can be checked out apart from those conducted immediately before an election.
It's possible that FON methodology will be shown to come unstuck in May. But I wouldn't bet on it.
FWIW, in trying to predict the future in general polls are of limited use in my view. So, for example, the Tories and Labour are both in deep and similar numerical trouble polling wise.. But the Tories face a party on the right who seem to be eclipsing them. Labour do not face a similar single party challenge. So, while both might recover, Labour stand a better chance of doing so. For millions of voters in hundreds of seats there being nowhere else to go.
The Tories need to remind ALL former Tory, potential Reform voters that Nathan Gill made pro-Russian, anti Ukrainian speeches for Russian money to the EU Parliament. Several of his colleagues who now stand under the Reform banner made (very, very) similar speeches, albeit in their cases free from Russian bribes. A fact that is in many ways more troubling than that of Gill, who at least can justify why he did what he did for hard cash. The others must have made their speeches because they believed the narrative.
Come on Tories. Reform are not your friends they like and promote Vladimir Putin for free. Tell the World!
And of course 'calling out' can be deeply political. Eg that supposedly independent consultant looking at BBC bias who called them out for calling out Donald Trump over Jan 6th without calling out Kamala Harris for something similar, and yet didn't call them out for any instances of unbalanced calling out in the opposite direction.
FindOutNow just smells off. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.
Main purpose seems to be to provide pear-clutchers with content for shit-posting on X etc.
I thought this was a big no no on this site?
One of he powers that be has questioned FoN's allocation of "never voted" respondents despite their BPC status. It does seem an odd methodology, but then if it gets the answer Goodwin likes I suppose it can't be bad. On the other hand there is nothing to say they are right and everyone else is wrong.
On here taking FoN polls seriously is an excellent trolling tool.
The issue with poling is not whether your methodology proves to be right - that's mostly a matter of guesswork apart from with polls done in the expensive traditional way, which is almost never. The issue is that your methodology is well communicated and consistent.
The 2016 referendum shows (IIRC) that more usual non voters will vote for particular purposes. It is not irrational to think that if a GE were held today the balance of people voting would be skewed compared with normal, by lots of centrists staying at home and lots of fringers turning out to vote for Galloway, Jezza, Farage, Green marxists, Islamists and Binface.
To me that thought is a spur to turn out for the most boring centrist on the ballot. Others will think differently.
FindOutNow just smells off. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.
Main purpose seems to be to provide pear-clutchers with content for shit-posting on X etc.
The only poll I know of that isn't a bit off is the Curtice poll on election day, which, as I understand it, is done on the expensive traditional model of asking the right number of people from the right groupings from the right places how they voted. He is generally right.
I am amazed that any other method works at all. And no method can be checked out apart from those conducted immediately before an election.
It's possible that FON methodology will be shown to come unstuck in May. But I wouldn't bet on it.
FWIW, in trying to predict the future in general polls are of limited use in my view. So, for example, the Tories and Labour are both in deep and similar numerical trouble polling wise.. But the Tories face a party on the right who seem to be eclipsing them. Labour do not face a similar single party challenge. So, while both might recover, Labour stand a better chance of doing so. For millions of voters in hundreds of seats there being nowhere else to go.
The Tories need to remind ALL former Tory, potential Reform voters that Nathan Gill made pro-Russian, anti Ukrainian speeches for Russian money to the EU Parliament. Several of his colleagues who now stand under the Reform banner made (very, very) similar speeches, albeit in their cases free from Russian bribes. A fact that is in many ways more troubling than that of Gill, who at least can justify why he did what he did for hard cash. The others must have made their speeches because they believed the narrative.
Come on Tories. Reform are not your friends they like and promote Vladimir Putin for free. Tell the World!
For this to be true, the Tories would have to convey to the public that given a choice they would prefer to sustain a Labour led government rather than a Reform one. This is (IMO) essential and necessary. But hard.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
Many offices have only a microwave.
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
The office one is a good point.
But for people living in tiny apartments, it is worth remembering you can get an induction 'hob' for as little as about forty quid. That pays for itself pretty quickly in massively increasing your ability to cook food - pasta is now a doddle, for example.
FindOutNow just smells off. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.
Main purpose seems to be to provide pear-clutchers with content for shit-posting on X etc.
The only poll I know of that isn't a bit off is the Curtice poll on election day, which, as I understand it, is done on the expensive traditional model of asking the right number of people from the right groupings from the right places how they voted. He is generally right.
I am amazed that any other method works at all. And no method can be checked out apart from those conducted immediately before an election.
It's possible that FON methodology will be shown to come unstuck in May. But I wouldn't bet on it.
FWIW, in trying to predict the future in general polls are of limited use in my view. So, for example, the Tories and Labour are both in deep and similar numerical trouble polling wise.. But the Tories face a party on the right who seem to be eclipsing them. Labour do not face a similar single party challenge. So, while both might recover, Labour stand a better chance of doing so. For millions of voters in hundreds of seats there being nowhere else to go.
Although Labour do face their own nightmare scenario, which is leaking Brexity votes to Reform, Prog votes to the Greens, and Centrist votes to the LDs.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
Many offices have only a microwave.
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
The office one is a good point.
But for people living in tiny apartments, it is worth remembering you can get an induction 'hob' for as little as about forty quid. That pays for itself pretty quickly in massively increasing your ability to cook food - pasta is now a doddle, for example.
I've noticed that at places like Robert Dyas, microwaves with a built in single ring cooker (on the top) are a thing. People are buying them,...
I think people's brain chemistry gets changed by their environment. People who live in cities become more comfortable living cheek by jowl, people who live in the countryside get used to solitude and find excessive interaction intrusive and even threatening. Like MelonB I am an urban dweller and of course my garden is massively overlooked and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm lucky to have a garden at all. I will squeeze into the tiniest spot on the tube. I don't mind graffiti. I don't notice litter. I'm sure if I was used to a more solitary kind of living I would find a city like London quite alarming, but I like being surrounded by people.
I'm like you - lived all my life in large cities - but moved to a village a few years ago to be with my (since April) wife. I miss cities, but less than I expected: I'm not sure it's unusual, but I don't really care whether passers-by can see me or not, so it just comes down to having to go further for films, plays, etc. And of course in London it can take an hour to go anywhere in particular...
A friend of mine taught at the LSE.
He said it was nearly as quick to get to and from Worcester (where he lives) as it would be to get to Chelmsford.
I hope he was more knowledgeable about his specialism than journey times. Assuming half an hour to walk down to Tottenham Court Road and then get to Paddington or Liverpool St, journey time would be 1 hour exactly for Chelmsford and 2 hors 34 for Worcester. Not very close!
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
Many offices have only a microwave.
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
The office one is a good point.
But for people living in tiny apartments, it is worth remembering you can get an induction 'hob' for as little as about forty quid. That pays for itself pretty quickly in massively increasing your ability to cook food - pasta is now a doddle, for example.
I've noticed that at places like Robert Dyas, microwaves with a built in single ring cooker (on the top) are a thing. People are buying them,...
The modern Baby Belling. The latter was once common in the sort of granny flat/nanny quarters that one could rent as a step up from shared houses.
Yesterday I went on a long cycle, and after getting back had a strong desire not to go to the store, and also -given the particularly hilly route I'd rode- for some pasta.
So... I put some spaghetti in a pot to boil (with a little olive oil and lots of salt).
While that was cooking I heated some olive oil in a pan, and put in one clove of thinly sliced garlic, and another 2-3 crushed cloves. Once those were getting a little fragrant, I chucked in a spoonful of capers. I then grabbed a little can of the nicest tuna I could find, and chucked it in with the capers and garlic. I then kept this on a very low heat and broke the fillets up somewhat.
When the pasta was al dente, I drained all but a cup (or maybe a little less) of the water, and put it in with the garlic, olive oil, capers and tuna, and mixed it well.
I then headed off to the fridge again, found some parsley, chopped it, and dumped it in with the pasta.
Very simple, really. The only expensive bit was the tuna. But even that is only $7 on Amazon if bought as part of a pack of 6. (Tonnino yellowfin tuna fillets in olive oil.)
Wife and children declared it deilicious.
Tonight I'm doing a tortellini soup.
Mm! Very reminiscent of our supper last night - fried aubergines and onions and courgettes with hot smoked salmon and an egg broken in, served with pasta and cooked samphire. Normally we have capers but we'd run out!
But yours is still simpler. Definitely worth a try.
You want simple ?
My recipe for omelette in a paper cup. Microwave a knob of butter for 1min to melt it. Add coarsely chopped watercress and three eggs; stir. Microwave at the medium setting for 2min 20 sec (may need experimentation for your particular microwave).
Surprisingly good.
Omlettes are not exactly that complicated to make, though. You are basically swapping a tiny bit of washing up for a disgarded paper cup.
For breakfast without a kitchen.
But with a microwave.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
Many offices have only a microwave.
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
The office one is a good point.
But for people living in tiny apartments, it is worth remembering you can get an induction 'hob' for as little as about forty quid. That pays for itself pretty quickly in massively increasing your ability to cook food - pasta is now a doddle, for example.
I've noticed that at places like Robert Dyas, microwaves with a built in single ring cooker (on the top) are a thing. People are buying them,...
The modern Baby Belling. The latter was once common in the sort of granny flat/nanny quarters that one could rent as a step up from shared houses.
Meets the minimum requirements for renting out a house, IIRC. Basic cooker must be supplied? I think the microwave is usually a combination microwave/oven though.
Some years ago, I read about an apartment in Seattle that had only a mini-fridge and microwave in each efficiency apartment. (The rent was quite reasonable.) There have been times in my life when that would have been a good solution for me -- and many others, for example, a new employee at Amazon or Microsoft, just out of school.
(There was a full kitchen in the complex, which tenants could reserve, if they wanted to entertain.)
Many in Seattle found this apartment appalling, and looked for ways to get rid of it.
English Heritage admits promoting ‘nonsense’ theory about Christmas Charity apologises over widely discredited theory that Roman Empire repurposed sun god festival ... In a now-deleted post on X, the social media platform, on Wednesday, English Heritage wrote: “Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? It was celebrated by the Romans as the birth of the sun god, Sol Invictus. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it was changed into a Christian holy day, and parts of the winter festivals were brought together.”
The claim is widely discredited among historians, because the evidence for Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25 appears later than the first records of Christians saying Christ was born on the date. ... In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome and Sextus Julius Africanus dated the birth of Christ to December 25 by adding nine months – the term of a pregnancy – to March 25. ... A spokesman for English Heritage said: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/english-heritage-promoting-nonsense-theory-christmas-jesus/ (£££)
Sol Invictus was I believe a cult propagated by late-Empire pagans to counter Christianity.
Mithras's birthday was also 25 December, and I am not sure who decided the Incarnation happened on 25 March. The fact that Christmas llis 6bmonths after Midsummer probably has more to do with it, as a popular midwinter festival
Mithras' birthday was not on the 25th (the god from which the Mithraic cult derived was in any case not 'born' in any classical sense, but rather emerged from rock). The idea it was was due to a confusion with - ironically - the Sol Invictus cult.
The reason 25th December was fixed on as the day of Jesus' birth is because it was believed in the late Roman Empire that people died on the same day they were conceived. As Passover for the relevant year (which they wrongly thought was 33AD) was on the 25th March, they made that the Feast of the Annunciation and added nine months to get the date of Jesus' birth.
Hence why medieval Christian calendars started the new year on March 25th.
Blimey that is prolix, it's longer than one of Cyclefree's headers.
I'm not sure Mithras/Sol is down to "confusion" he does seem to have been regarded as some sort of solar deity. Having a solar festival midwinter makes a lot of sense
Not really. I mean, anyone doing sun worship (or as I shall now always think of it, a @malcolmg impression) right now would not be getting anything back for their pains.
My photo for the day illustrates what’s possible, and also the tremendous NIMBY pressure that will face councils at every step.
This is a building project literally in (well, behind) my backyard. They’re taking an old low rise building and adding a few storeys to it.
I think it looks nice and will fill in what was previously a rather large and incongruous gap in the roofline. And this is just the sort of dense urban milieu where we should be encouraging infill. All the neighbours are outraged and depressed by it and letters regularly go into the council.
Presumably you saw the planning application etc? From what I can see it wouldn’t be ideal for the extra storey to have a balcony which directly overlooks your garden? You might be fine with this - I probably wouldn’t (not that I have a garden!). Moving somewhere already overlooked is one thing. Becoming overlooked later-on is something else.
As long as these developments are designed properly there’s no reason to be upset as your neighbours evidently are.
No more nude sunbathing , will be lines of pervs with telescopes scanning all the back gardens
I knew Ayrshire is a bit of a micro-climate, but...
I'm impressed.
Malc's always been very full frontal on PB.
When I were a wean a friend of the same age came up from his home in the south of England for a family seaside holiday in the spring break. He is still talking about it half a century later: he'd never been so cold in his life on the beach. Me, I could only remember it being a bit windy and (after some further thought) maybe some snow at one point.
The knitted trunks were a problem as well when waterlogged, but a cup of tea after a brisk dip soon warmed you up
Comments
https://news.sky.com/story/millions-could-see-county-council-elections-delayed-again-13485209
And Putin's little helpers are ahead in the polls in the UK.
I'm impressed.
It is fine to critique their methodology but not their motives.
He said it was nearly as quick to get to and from Worcester (where he lives) as it would be to get to Chelmsford.
I'm not sure Mithras/Sol is down to "confusion" he does seem to have been regarded as some sort of solar deity. Having a solar festival midwinter makes a lot of sense
Hopefully I will never have listen to.his smarmy voice ever again.
Got it.
Very useful, but only in a limited range of scenarios.
If he wanted cold, you should have taken him for a dip in Loch Ness.
https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2001652643471515847
Keir Starmer responds to Donald Trump and says he wouldn't allow someone to tell his daughter, wife or colleagues to be "quiet, piggy"
"I absolutely wouldn't... I would call it out"
Obviously.
Probably beats it.
Last year, someone from our rowing club arranged to do some rowing on Loch Ness - prep for the big event there.
The boat got swamped by a moron in a powered boat. Our guy towelled himself off, and asked when they were going back out. The locals were huddled in tinfoil blankets and talking about hypothermia.
Mind you, he used to do the weekly lake dip challenges in Scandinavia - jump in the same lake, each weekend, over a whole year. By winter, they are chainsawing the ice out, first....
‘It’s just Donald showing how special the special relationship is, he’s like everyone’s favourite naughty uncle.’
'Count 'em yourself, you Pommie fucker!'
The group I would compare Palestine Action to is SHAC, who also had a hard core who embraced terror techniques, surrounded by a penumbra of peaceful activists who when they protected the violent hard core acted as useful idiots.
I think that by the time the various trials are done, the Govt will have been shown to be correct in their proscription - though I am not convinced by the "arrest hundreds" tactics.
In the PA case, they are deliberately attacking with violence the defences of the UK. At a time of security threat an international instability, it would be fair to call that treachery.
As for the hunger strikers - they chose to do it, and they have the freedom to stop whenever they want to do so. But they are using self-harm as a method of blackmail to force an action on an elected Government. We should not cave in.
Especially for the line ‘you could have tied my tits together with candy floss’ 😂😂😂
Quite a few people live in tiny flats with minimal cooking facilities - there's a whole genre of cook books on how to live out of a rice cooker, for example.
First thing I’d do in any room would be empty the kettle and wash it in case someone had left piss in it.
There are at least another 28 things on the "We Hate Starmer because ..." list held by the furiouso lobby
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-aircraft-carrier-to-sail-to-arctic-for-top-secret-mission-2/
Here is a gift link to the NYT Trump Epstein article that has explosive new claims.
The piece briefly touches on 14-year-old Jane Doe, who says Epstein brought her to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
https://bsky.app/profile/jsweetli.bsky.social/post/3mabl2scxjm26
Luuuuuxury….
I am amazed that any other method works at all. And no method can be checked out apart from those conducted immediately before an election.
It's possible that FON methodology will be shown to come unstuck in May. But I wouldn't bet on it.
FWIW, in trying to predict the future in general polls are of limited use in my view. So, for example, the Tories and Labour are both in deep and similar numerical trouble polling wise.. But the Tories face a party on the right who seem to be eclipsing them. Labour do not face a similar single party challenge. So, while both might recover, Labour stand a better chance of doing so. For millions of voters in hundreds of seats there being nowhere else to go.
Come on Tories. Reform are not your friends they like and promote Vladimir Putin for free. Tell the World!
The 2016 referendum shows (IIRC) that more usual non voters will vote for particular purposes. It is not irrational to think that if a GE were held today the balance of people voting would be skewed compared with normal, by lots of centrists staying at home and lots of fringers turning out to vote for Galloway, Jezza, Farage, Green marxists, Islamists and Binface.
To me that thought is a spur to turn out for the most boring centrist on the ballot. Others will think differently.
But for people living in tiny apartments, it is worth remembering you can get an induction 'hob' for as little as about forty quid. That pays for itself pretty quickly in massively increasing your ability to cook food - pasta is now a doddle, for example.
.NEW THREAD
(There was a full kitchen in the complex, which tenants could reserve, if they wanted to entertain.)
Many in Seattle found this apartment appalling, and looked for ways to get rid of it.