A homeless, autistic, man turned up on the Christmas doorstep in 1975, and lived with a family for the next 45 years. They knew him a little from school years etc, but he had been institutionalised with little support and released with little support. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxwllqz1l0o
In terms of destroying Russian infrastructure, Ukrainians have increasingly Catholic tastes.
(However, Orthodox Christmas isn't for another fortnight.)
The Ukrainian Orthodox moved to Western Christmas just after the war broke out.
One of my colleagues is Ukranian, from Donetsk no less. She celebrates Christmas Eve, but the main celebration is at 12th night. She leaves her Christmas decorations up until after har birthday at the end of January.
Has Ukraine won yet as you were predicting as early as 2023?
1.1 million casualties can hardly be described as a Russian triumph. The fighting may continue, but Ukraine will survive and that counts as a temporary victory. Eventually Moscovite brutality will pay the just price. Patience is a virtue.
And Grace is a little girl who wouldn’t wash her face
Putin’s negotiation tactics are more reminiscent of Violet Elizabeth.
For our legal eagles, I'd welcome a piece looking at legal avenues for recovering spondulicks from the likes of Michel Mone, and why she in particular is still in the Lords. *
Given that action is still continuing, it is possibilities and potentials, but I'm interested - also in the various deceptions engaged in over the years.
* After we've done the current round of HoL reforms, I'm quite inclined now to rolling overlapping longer terms, perhaps with a greater element of approval by citizen juries rather than insider committees, or perhaps regional elections a la Oz.
With AI it is much easier to remove people on the inside as well...
Which AI would you recommend for photos. I would especially like to take 3 or 4 photos and put them together ti get a photo where everyone is smiling and looking the right way. I find ChatGPT great for medical diagnosis but it flatly refuses to doctor photos.
A few Tio Pepes. Some 2007 claret (indifferent, but I like the taste of old wine even when it's mediocre). Some lesser red wines. Some ordinary port. A few beers, slowly.
All perfectly balanced.
Boxing day involves driving and, therefore, sobriety.
With AI it is much easier to remove people on the inside as well...
Which AI would you recommend for photos. I would especially like to take 3 or 4 photos and put them together ti get a photo where everyone is smiling and looking the right way. I find ChatGPT great for medical diagnosis but it flatly refuses to doctor photos.
I think Google Pixel phones have features that help with that kind of thing.
Today is the 1,400th day of Russia's Special Military Operation.
Russia's involvement in WW2 was only 1,418 days.
I hear that Putin hates the comparison because in 1,418 days, Stalin got from Moscow to Berlin against the much more formidable Nazi army, while Putin has managed to advance about 30 miles in Donetsk against the much less formidable Ukrainians.
What a pathetic genocidal incompetent he is. And how negligent we in the free world have been in letting him get away with it.
Am I right in thinking in that there is no wicketkeeper in the England squad other than Smith?
If they ask me, I may be able to make it over there for the final test. I have the correct surname, and in every other respect can offer more than the current incumbent.
Today is the 1,400th day of Russia's Special Military Operation.
Russia's involvement in WW2 was only 1,418 days.
It's not true though. The Soviet Union joined the War on 17 September 1939, on the Nazi side.
I'm sure no-one on this site would ever be pedantic on these matters, but one can also say that the Soviet Union's week-long rout of the Japanese in Manchuria should also be included, leading to a duration of 2159 days.
And in fact, the Soviet Union never signed a peace treaty with Japan. Yeltsin's Russia finally did on July 30 1998, giving a technical duration of their involvement in WW2 of 21,502 days, or about six decades, which is probably about how long Putin needs to conquer the parts of Ukraine he wants.
In terms of destroying Russian infrastructure, Ukrainians have increasingly Catholic tastes.
(However, Orthodox Christmas isn't for another fortnight.)
The Ukrainian Orthodox moved to Western Christmas just after the war broke out.
One of my colleagues is Ukranian, from Donetsk no less. She celebrates Christmas Eve, but the main celebration is at 12th night. She leaves her Christmas decorations up until after har birthday at the end of January.
My Spanish family celebrate it on 6th January (3 KIngs) but for my Orthodox family, the 6th is Xmas Eve. Xmas is 7th. So depending on who is about we can have 3 goes at all the food that's been cooked and this year we may need to.
Today is the 1,400th day of Russia's Special Military Operation.
Russia's involvement in WW2 was only 1,418 days.
It's not true though. The Soviet Union joined the War on 17 September 1939, on the Nazi side.
No. The Soviet Union remained officially neutral in the war between Germany and the western allies.
The German declaration of war on the Soviet Union, officially Note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany to the Soviet government from 21 June 1941 is a diplomatic note presented by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Soviet ambassador Vladimir Dekanozov in Berlin on 22 June 1941 at 4 a.m. local time, informing him about the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the preceding casus belli.
The Russian didn't officially declare war on Germany. The existence of the German declaration of war on the Soviet Union was long concealed by Soviet authorities, because it mentions the secret protocol to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which was revealed only in 1989.
The reaction of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was described particularly in the memoirs of Georgy Zhukov. According to Zhukov, when Molotov reported that Germany had declared war, Stalin "sank down into his chair and lost himself in thought". After a protracted pause Stalin finally allowed the issue of Directive No. 2 on combat readiness at 7:15 a.m. on 22 June. According to admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, however, Soviet troops were brought into combat readiness already on 21 June, at around 17:00.
With AI it is much easier to remove people on the inside as well...
Which AI would you recommend for photos. I would especially like to take 3 or 4 photos and put them together ti get a photo where everyone is smiling and looking the right way. I find ChatGPT great for medical diagnosis but it flatly refuses to doctor photos.
I think Google Pixel phones have features that help with that kind of thing.
My Pixel died yesterday; a sudden and apparently cause-less unresponsive black screen, coincidentally occurring just after I wished everyone merry Xmas on PB with it. Amid the festivities all the obvious gambits I have deployed to resurrect it have so far failed.
Has Ukraine won yet as you were predicting as early as 2023?
1.1 million casualties can hardly be described as a Russian triumph. The fighting may continue, but Ukraine will survive and that counts as a temporary victory. Eventually Moscovite brutality will pay the just price. Patience is a virtue.
The impact on Russian demographics alone will be brutal, and take more than a generation to overcome; that’s before you get to considering its economy, finances and reputation.
'I don't believe it should go with turkey... I think that's wrong.'
@NickFerrariLBC is shocked by @trussliz 's controversial take on what belongs on a Christmas dinner.
I listened to that LBC slot with her while in the car. My god, she’s a nutcase - how did the Tories ever allow her to get right through to the country’s top job, I will never know….
So we should have a competition of who got the worst present. I start with an advantage as we have a tradition in our household of buying duff presents. My best was a duck shaped toilet bush and holder for my wife and a step ladder.
This year my wife won. One of my presents was clearly a pair of bottles of red. She has often bought me a Barolo , so I opened in anticipation. It was 2 commercial sized (wine bottle size) bottles of Lea and Perrin's. I love L&P, but I was gutted.
Bravo Mrs kjh.
Something in which you can keep both your wife and your step ladder sounds like a cracking present to me?
So we should have a competition of who got the worst present. I start with an advantage as we have a tradition in our household of buying duff presents. My best was a duck shaped toilet bush and holder for my wife and a step ladder.
This year my wife won. One of my presents was clearly a pair of bottles of red. She has often bought me a Barolo , so I opened in anticipation. It was 2 commercial sized (wine bottle size) bottles of Lea and Perrin's. I love L&P, but I was gutted.
Bravo Mrs kjh.
Something in which you can keep both your wife and your step ladder sounds like a cracking present to me?
We need to know how many steps to properly judge it....
Today is the 1,400th day of Russia's Special Military Operation.
Russia's involvement in WW2 was only 1,418 days.
It's not true though. The Soviet Union joined the War on 17 September 1939, on the Nazi side.
No. The Soviet Union remained officially neutral in the war between Germany and the western allies.
The German declaration of war on the Soviet Union, officially Note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany to the Soviet government from 21 June 1941 is a diplomatic note presented by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Soviet ambassador Vladimir Dekanozov in Berlin on 22 June 1941 at 4 a.m. local time, informing him about the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the preceding casus belli.
The Russian didn't officially declare war on Germany. The existence of the German declaration of war on the Soviet Union was long concealed by Soviet authorities, because it mentions the secret protocol to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which was revealed only in 1989.
The reaction of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was described particularly in the memoirs of Georgy Zhukov. According to Zhukov, when Molotov reported that Germany had declared war, Stalin "sank down into his chair and lost himself in thought". After a protracted pause Stalin finally allowed the issue of Directive No. 2 on combat readiness at 7:15 a.m. on 22 June. According to admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, however, Soviet troops were brought into combat readiness already on 21 June, at around 17:00.
I realise they didn't declare war, but they invaded Poland (and later the Baltic states) and therefore supported the Nazi dismemberment of Poland. That sounds like "taking part" to me. Poland was an Allied nation. They haven't declared war on Ukraine either.
Finland is usually regarded as a participant in WW2 as well.
Today is the 1,400th day of Russia's Special Military Operation.
Russia's involvement in WW2 was only 1,418 days.
It's not true though. The Soviet Union joined the War on 17 September 1939, on the Nazi side.
No. The Soviet Union remained officially neutral in the war between Germany and the western allies.
The German declaration of war on the Soviet Union, officially Note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany to the Soviet government from 21 June 1941 is a diplomatic note presented by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Soviet ambassador Vladimir Dekanozov in Berlin on 22 June 1941 at 4 a.m. local time, informing him about the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the preceding casus belli.
The Russian didn't officially declare war on Germany. The existence of the German declaration of war on the Soviet Union was long concealed by Soviet authorities, because it mentions the secret protocol to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which was revealed only in 1989.
The reaction of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was described particularly in the memoirs of Georgy Zhukov. According to Zhukov, when Molotov reported that Germany had declared war, Stalin "sank down into his chair and lost himself in thought". After a protracted pause Stalin finally allowed the issue of Directive No. 2 on combat readiness at 7:15 a.m. on 22 June. According to admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, however, Soviet troops were brought into combat readiness already on 21 June, at around 17:00.
I realise they didn't declare war, but they invaded Poland (and later the Baltic states) and therefore supported the Nazi dismemberment of Poland. That sounds like "taking part" to me. Poland was an Allied nation. They haven't declared war on Ukraine either.
Finland is usually regarded as a participant in WW2 as well.
Finland lost nearly three times the proportion of its population than the UK as casualties of the war, and during the Lapland War pretty much every settlement in the north of the country was burned to the ground, by the Germans, and the residents driven away. Following on from their heroic success in holding the Soviets at bay, despite overwhelming odds.
Today is the 1,400th day of Russia's Special Military Operation.
Russia's involvement in WW2 was only 1,418 days.
It's not true though. The Soviet Union joined the War on 17 September 1939, on the Nazi side.
No. The Soviet Union remained officially neutral in the war between Germany and the western allies.
The German declaration of war on the Soviet Union, officially Note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany to the Soviet government from 21 June 1941 is a diplomatic note presented by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Soviet ambassador Vladimir Dekanozov in Berlin on 22 June 1941 at 4 a.m. local time, informing him about the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the preceding casus belli.
The Russian didn't officially declare war on Germany. The existence of the German declaration of war on the Soviet Union was long concealed by Soviet authorities, because it mentions the secret protocol to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which was revealed only in 1989.
The reaction of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was described particularly in the memoirs of Georgy Zhukov. According to Zhukov, when Molotov reported that Germany had declared war, Stalin "sank down into his chair and lost himself in thought". After a protracted pause Stalin finally allowed the issue of Directive No. 2 on combat readiness at 7:15 a.m. on 22 June. According to admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, however, Soviet troops were brought into combat readiness already on 21 June, at around 17:00.
I realise they didn't declare war, but they invaded Poland (and later the Baltic states) and therefore supported the Nazi dismemberment of Poland. That sounds like "taking part" to me. Poland was an Allied nation. They haven't declared war on Ukraine either.
Finland is usually regarded as a participant in WW2 as well.
Finland lost nearly three times the proportion of its population than the UK as casualties of the war, and during the Lapland War pretty much every settlement in the north of the country was burned to the ground, by the Germans, and the residents driven away. Following on from their heroic success in holding the Soviets at bay, despite overwhelming odds.
Russia (and Ukraine, I think) had a huge demographic loss from WWII. It was speculated as one reason for Putin's attempt to recreate the Soviet Union and conquer Ukraine. Grimly ironic, given how many needless deaths he's caused.
Today is the 1,400th day of Russia's Special Military Operation.
Russia's involvement in WW2 was only 1,418 days.
It's not true though. The Soviet Union joined the War on 17 September 1939, on the Nazi side.
No. The Soviet Union remained officially neutral in the war between Germany and the western allies.
The German declaration of war on the Soviet Union, officially Note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany to the Soviet government from 21 June 1941 is a diplomatic note presented by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Soviet ambassador Vladimir Dekanozov in Berlin on 22 June 1941 at 4 a.m. local time, informing him about the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the preceding casus belli.
The Russian didn't officially declare war on Germany. The existence of the German declaration of war on the Soviet Union was long concealed by Soviet authorities, because it mentions the secret protocol to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which was revealed only in 1989.
The reaction of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was described particularly in the memoirs of Georgy Zhukov. According to Zhukov, when Molotov reported that Germany had declared war, Stalin "sank down into his chair and lost himself in thought". After a protracted pause Stalin finally allowed the issue of Directive No. 2 on combat readiness at 7:15 a.m. on 22 June. According to admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, however, Soviet troops were brought into combat readiness already on 21 June, at around 17:00.
I realise they didn't declare war, but they invaded Poland (and later the Baltic states) and therefore supported the Nazi dismemberment of Poland. That sounds like "taking part" to me. Poland was an Allied nation. They haven't declared war on Ukraine either.
Finland is usually regarded as a participant in WW2 as well.
Finland lost nearly three times the proportion of its population than the UK as casualties of the war, and during the Lapland War pretty much every settlement in the north of the country was burned to the ground, by the Germans, and the residents driven away. Following on from their heroic success in holding the Soviets at bay, despite overwhelming odds.
Russia (and Ukraine, I think) had a huge demographic loss from WWII. It was speculated as one reason for Putin's attempt to recreate the Soviet Union and conquer Ukraine. Grimly ironic, given how many needless deaths he's caused.
The first part is true, but any demographic collapse from WWII would be baked in by now and irrelevant to Putin’s Cockwaving Operation. I would have thought it would be more likely a response to the demographic collapse seen in Russia from the 1970s onwards caused by ill health and economic instability.
Listening sporadically through the night, rewinding on BBC sounds until at 8am frustratingly it cuts the playback for Aussie regional cricket, I was optimistic at Aus 72-4. The prequel was Cook on 2010-11, 3 victories by an innings, which surely should be the ECB's model for an Ashes tour? "We won all our warm-up games" "Anderson, Tremlett and Bresnan hit a relentless line and length" And a top 3 that broke Aus bowling attack. When Strauss, Cook and Trott batted well and long then the middle order cashed in, when they didn't then it collapsed. England need another opener in the top 3, whether Duckett and Crawley keep their places is another question, but they need to have a top 3 that bat out 40 overs.
A few Tio Pepes. Some 2007 claret (indifferent, but I like the taste of old wine even when it's mediocre). Some lesser red wines. Some ordinary port. A few beers, slowly.
All perfectly balanced.
Boxing day involves driving and, therefore, sobriety.
This where we miss @Leon popping in to tell us he's just discovered a forgotten case of Chateau Pétrus under his bed, given to him by Virginia Woolf's granddaughter.
Has Ukraine won yet as you were predicting as early as 2023?
Yep they’re winning.
50,000 dead Russians to not take Kupyansk, and 100,000 dead Russians to not take Pokrovsk.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
The only nations "winning" the SMO are the USA and China. Ukraine is a bankrupt ruin in political crisis. Russia and the EU are diminished. The UK are irrelevant, just rowing in on whatever the EU position is without any voice in shaping it.
Barring Ukraine running out of other people's money or the Farage of Kiev being toppled, the SMO will probably continue on its current trajectory for a while yet. Incremental, bloody gains by Russia and occasional PIRA style spectaculars by Ukraine. It'll all be over by next Christmas.
A few Tio Pepes. Some 2007 claret (indifferent, but I like the taste of old wine even when it's mediocre). Some lesser red wines. Some ordinary port. A few beers, slowly.
All perfectly balanced.
Boxing day involves driving and, therefore, sobriety.
As well as some reasonable wines, I have some Finnish Lingoncello lined up for the family, to add to Prosecco and soda water to make a pre-dinner spritz, and then a ‘mystery drink’ for the dessert course being a small bottle of expensive ice cider from Norway. The latter intended for yesterday, but as normally happens at Christmas when asked who wanted pudding, the only audible response was groaning and moaning.
Listening sporadically through the night, rewinding on BBC sounds until at 8am frustratingly it cuts the playback for Aussie regional cricket, I was optimistic at Aus 72-4. The prequel was Cook on 2010-11, 3 victories by an innings, which surely should be the ECB's model for an Ashes tour? "We won all our warm-up games" "Anderson, Tremlett and Bresnan hit a relentless line and length" And a top 3 that broke Aus bowling attack. When Strauss, Cook and Trott batted well and long then the middle order cashed in, when they didn't then it collapsed. England need another opener in the top 3, whether Duckett and Crawley keep their places is another question, but they need to have a top 3 that bat out 40 overs.
I thought we’d lost already?
They could just have done home and spent Xmas with their families
Christmas scoff done and dusted at Stodge Towers - the roast pork with various trimmings deemed a triumph by Mrs Stodge so all's well.
We'll have beef at New Year and have Yorkshires then - I'm not opposed to Yorkshires with roast pork in truth (they do them very well in York) but offering them for breakfast at Toby Carvery is, I feel, an idea slightly ahead of its time. Dipping your Weetabix and milk in a Yorkshire pud - consider me unconvinced.
Still freezing cold here in East London and the traditional Christmas fireworks are getting underway or more accurately some numbskulls have had some left over from Diwali or Guy Fawkes and are letting them off.
Now, to the serious business of Christmas - the Boxing Day horse racing bets...
Frosty here in God's country, beautiful sunrise and blue sky. Get your tips up stodge
I've been reading this article on the later years of Lloyd George, and it's worth reading simply for the awesome pun in the title (be warned, it runs across two pages so you need to scroll down to appreciate it):
David Dutton had the reputation of being a bit of a Tristram* but I'm willing to forgive him a lot in light of this.
*After Tristram Hunt, the undistinguished and inept historian who became an undistinguished and inept MP before becoming the undistinguished and inept curator of the V&A.
Christmas scoff done and dusted at Stodge Towers - the roast pork with various trimmings deemed a triumph by Mrs Stodge so all's well.
We'll have beef at New Year and have Yorkshires then - I'm not opposed to Yorkshires with roast pork in truth (they do them very well in York) but offering them for breakfast at Toby Carvery is, I feel, an idea slightly ahead of its time. Dipping your Weetabix and milk in a Yorkshire pud - consider me unconvinced.
Still freezing cold here in East London and the traditional Christmas fireworks are getting underway or more accurately some numbskulls have had some left over from Diwali or Guy Fawkes and are letting them off.
Now, to the serious business of Christmas - the Boxing Day horse racing bets...
Frosty here in God's country, beautiful sunrise and blue sky. Get your tips up stodge
Dull and bleak in Downtown East London but with 11 meetings, 75 races and 714 runners across Britain and Ireland, you'd think I could find you something...
I studied the form on Christmas Eve and this morning find most of the ones I selected then are doing passable imitations of barges without a crew or steering on a fast flowing river in terms of their odds increasing.
Nonetheless, your wish is my co-operation and I'll start with my patent for the day:
U CAN'T BE SERIOUS 12.45 Kempton IDAHO SUN 1.05 Aintree BLENKINSOP 2.15 Aintree
In addition, a couple I'm going to play each way at bigger prices - BANBRIDGE in the King George (2.30 Kempton) - currently at 14s and GERYVILLE in the 2.45 at Wetherby who is currently 16s.
The usual disclaimers apply but good luck to anyone playing today.
Bother. I got three bottles of malt for Xmas, so felt duty bound to drink half of one tonight.
That was probably a mistake on top of everything else.
Fortunately I've now watched sufficient Kdrama to have an approximate idea of how to make hangover soup for breakfast.
Wish me well.
Half a bottle is 15 units (or more if cask strength). See you tomorrow!
Or not, as the case may be.
It looks as though I had a better night than the nutjob in the White House.
Trump: Merry Christmas to all, including the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein…. attended his parties, and thought he was the greatest guy on earth, only to "drop him like a dog" when things got too HOT, falsely claimed they had nothing to do with him…. https://x.com/Acyn/status/2004340515102417210
The Telegraph, with its eye as usual on its key readership, notes house prices in Kensington & Chelsea have fallen 16% in the past year from an average £1.47 million to £1.19 million and while the wailing and gnashing of teeth continues, overall London house prices have fallen 2.4% apparently (and needless to say, it's all Rachel Reeves's fault but then so is the weather, the state of English cricket, my inability to back winners etc).
The other side of this is fewer Londoners are leaving the capital because it seems the price differential between the capital and other parts of the country isn't what it was and your East End matchbox no longer equates to a five bedroom property with 20 acres of land in Yorkshire (I mean, who wants 20 acres, who lives in a matchbox and why not Lincolnshire, Lancashire or Cheshire, why is it always Yorkshire?)
Presumably this will enable provincial English people to move back into the capital so the streets will be alive with clotted cream, whippets and dubious accents (not much different to now then).
Has Ukraine won yet as you were predicting as early as 2023?
Yep they’re winning.
50,000 dead Russians to not take Kupyansk, and 100,000 dead Russians to not take Pokrovsk.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
The only nations "winning" the SMO are the USA and China. Ukraine is a bankrupt ruin in political crisis. Russia and the EU are diminished. The UK are irrelevant, just rowing in on whatever the EU position is without any voice in shaping it.
Barring Ukraine running out of other people's money or the Farage of Kiev being toppled, the SMO will probably continue on its current trajectory for a while yet. Incremental, bloody gains by Russia and occasional PIRA style spectaculars by Ukraine. It'll all be over by next Christmas.
The best analysis of what's happening in Ukraine..🧐 after years of being told Russia was on the point of collapse..it's pretty fanciful to think they're now about to roll over Europe..💩
The Telegraph, with its eye as usual on its key readership, notes house prices in Kensington & Chelsea have fallen 16% in the past year from an average £1.47 million to £1.19 million and while the wailing and gnashing of teeth continues, overall London house prices have fallen 2.4% apparently (and needless to say, it's all Rachel Reeves's fault but then so is the weather, the state of English cricket, my inability to back winners etc).
The other side of this is fewer Londoners are leaving the capital because it seems the price differential between the capital and other parts of the country isn't what it was and your East End matchbox no longer equates to a five bedroom property with 20 acres of land in Yorkshire (I mean, who wants 20 acres, who lives in a matchbox and why not Lincolnshire, Lancashire or Cheshire, why is it always Yorkshire?)
Presumably this will enable provincial English people to move back into the capital so the streets will be alive with clotted cream, whippets and dubious accents (not much different to now then).
Bother. I got three bottles of malt for Xmas, so felt duty bound to drink half of one tonight.
That was probably a mistake on top of everything else.
Fortunately I've now watched sufficient Kdrama to have an approximate idea of how to make hangover soup for breakfast.
Wish me well.
Half a bottle is 15 units (or more if cask strength). See you tomorrow!
Or not, as the case may be.
It looks as though I had a better night than the nutjob in the White House.
Trump: Merry Christmas to all, including the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein…. attended his parties, and thought he was the greatest guy on earth, only to "drop him like a dog" when things got too HOT, falsely claimed they had nothing to do with him…. https://x.com/Acyn/status/2004340515102417210
Either his dementia treatment has been paused or the person tactfully checking his social media account is plausibly deniable is on holiday.
The Telegraph, with its eye as usual on its key readership, notes house prices in Kensington & Chelsea have fallen 16% in the past year from an average £1.47 million to £1.19 million and while the wailing and gnashing of teeth continues, overall London house prices have fallen 2.4% apparently (and needless to say, it's all Rachel Reeves's fault but then so is the weather, the state of English cricket, my inability to back winners etc).
The other side of this is fewer Londoners are leaving the capital because it seems the price differential between the capital and other parts of the country isn't what it was and your East End matchbox no longer equates to a five bedroom property with 20 acres of land in Yorkshire (I mean, who wants 20 acres, who lives in a matchbox and why not Lincolnshire, Lancashire or Cheshire, why is it always Yorkshire?)
Presumably this will enable provincial English people to move back into the capital so the streets will be alive with clotted cream, whippets and dubious accents (not much different to now then).
A 99% welcome change, and a medium term trend that needs to be continued.
The Telegraph, with its eye as usual on its key readership, notes house prices in Kensington & Chelsea have fallen 16% in the past year from an average £1.47 million to £1.19 million and while the wailing and gnashing of teeth continues, overall London house prices have fallen 2.4% apparently (and needless to say, it's all Rachel Reeves's fault but then so is the weather, the state of English cricket, my inability to back winners etc).
The other side of this is fewer Londoners are leaving the capital because it seems the price differential between the capital and other parts of the country isn't what it was and your East End matchbox no longer equates to a five bedroom property with 20 acres of land in Yorkshire (I mean, who wants 20 acres, who lives in a matchbox and why not Lincolnshire, Lancashire or Cheshire, why is it always Yorkshire?)
Presumably this will enable provincial English people to move back into the capital so the streets will be alive with clotted cream, whippets and dubious accents (not much different to now then).
Bother. I got three bottles of malt for Xmas, so felt duty bound to drink half of one tonight.
That was probably a mistake on top of everything else.
Fortunately I've now watched sufficient Kdrama to have an approximate idea of how to make hangover soup for breakfast.
Wish me well.
Half a bottle is 15 units (or more if cask strength). See you tomorrow!
Or not, as the case may be.
It looks as though I had a better night than the nutjob in the White House.
Trump: Merry Christmas to all, including the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein…. attended his parties, and thought he was the greatest guy on earth, only to "drop him like a dog" when things got too HOT, falsely claimed they had nothing to do with him…. https://x.com/Acyn/status/2004340515102417210
Men worry about appearing less masculine if they express concern over climate change.
I'd have thought this was the case across loads of topics, not just climate change.
Some men find it very difficult to accept that someone else could be more of an expert than them - a particular challenge when leading a group of older men up a mountain, where a hierarchy has to be established to keep everyone safe.
It's the doubling down that drives me nuts. You can point out that they are walking along the edge of a cornice and still a protest. It's only when you shrug and start to unclip them from the line that you get some introspection.
Has Ukraine won yet as you were predicting as early as 2023?
Yep they’re winning.
50,000 dead Russians to not take Kupyansk, and 100,000 dead Russians to not take Pokrovsk.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
The only nations "winning" the SMO are the USA and China. Ukraine is a bankrupt ruin in political crisis. Russia and the EU are diminished. The UK are irrelevant, just rowing in on whatever the EU position is without any voice in shaping it.
Barring Ukraine running out of other people's money or the Farage of Kiev being toppled, the SMO will probably continue on its current trajectory for a while yet. Incremental, bloody gains by Russia and occasional PIRA style spectaculars by Ukraine. It'll all be over by next Christmas.
I've long argued the current situation suits a lot of the players including Putin and Zelensky as it legitimises both of them in power.
The Russians, Ukrainians and others doing the fighting and dying are the losers but no one worries about them.
The entire defence industry, from analysts to manufacturers, has done very well out of this war. It has pushed itself up the political agenda and persuaded western Governments Russia is a military colossus equivalent to the Warsaw Pact (it can't even reach Kharkiv) and more public funds have to be thrown at defence meaning more weapons to be manufactured and sold and more defence analysts appearing on talk shows telling us what a threat Russia is and if you don't accept the argument they are a conventional military threat, the argument shifts to cyber warfare and how they could shut down the Internet.
The defence industry is also learning about how wars are fought in the first quarter of the 21st century, the power of drones to strike far beyond the frontlines, the vulnerability of armour etc, etc. That will shape defence strategies and scenarios for decades to come.
The arms manufacturers, whether State owned or private, have also done well with demand for their products, funding for R&D and Government approval - the last thing any of them want is peace.
Men worry about appearing less masculine if they express concern over climate change.
I'd have thought this was the case across loads of topics, not just climate change.
Some men find it very difficult to accept that someone else could be more of an expert than them - a particular challenge when leading a group of older men up a mountain, where a hierarchy has to be established to keep everyone safe.
It's the doubling down that drives me nuts. You can point out that they are walking along the edge of a cornice and still a protest. It's only when you shrug and start to unclip them from the line that you get some introspection.
Darwin technique.
I still have nightmares about taking my kids downs some very narrow mountain paths with steep drops at the side. Both of them seemed quite relaxed but I needed a stiff drink afterwards.
Christmas scoff done and dusted at Stodge Towers - the roast pork with various trimmings deemed a triumph by Mrs Stodge so all's well.
We'll have beef at New Year and have Yorkshires then - I'm not opposed to Yorkshires with roast pork in truth (they do them very well in York) but offering them for breakfast at Toby Carvery is, I feel, an idea slightly ahead of its time. Dipping your Weetabix and milk in a Yorkshire pud - consider me unconvinced.
Still freezing cold here in East London and the traditional Christmas fireworks are getting underway or more accurately some numbskulls have had some left over from Diwali or Guy Fawkes and are letting them off.
Now, to the serious business of Christmas - the Boxing Day horse racing bets...
Frosty here in God's country, beautiful sunrise and blue sky. Get your tips up stodge
Dull and bleak in Downtown East London but with 11 meetings, 75 races and 714 runners across Britain and Ireland, you'd think I could find you something...
I studied the form on Christmas Eve and this morning find most of the ones I selected then are doing passable imitations of barges without a crew or steering on a fast flowing river in terms of their odds increasing.
Nonetheless, your wish is my co-operation and I'll start with my patent for the day:
U CAN'T BE SERIOUS 12.45 Kempton IDAHO SUN 1.05 Aintree BLENKINSOP 2.15 Aintree
In addition, a couple I'm going to play each way at bigger prices - BANBRIDGE in the King George (2.30 Kempton) - currently at 14s and GERYVILLE in the 2.45 at Wetherby who is currently 16s.
The usual disclaimers apply but good luck to anyone playing today.
Gift link to bypass paywall. An inside look at the life of a former SpAd for the blue team.
Hmmmm.
£85k and is complaining he's underpaid because he has 'a certain lifestyle' to keep up.
For what essentially amounts to devising and implementing policy decisions which he clearly knew nothing about given he was hopping among departments.
I'm not totally convinced by this logic. Indeed, looking at a lot of SPADs I would say the key problem is they don't have a clue about the matters they manage (Freedman and Cummings at Education were just embarrassing and the current lot are not better) and I can't see how hiring board members and advertising execs would change that equation.
Surely rather it would be better to pitch the pay at the level of people who understand the job? So for Transport, a safety inspector on Network Rail gets between 40 and 76k, depending on the role. A classroom teacher at the top end would get around 50-65k. A senior nurse would be about the same.
So add in a premium for the extra hours worked (because although a teacher or a nurse might work 12 hours a day it won't be 7 days) and the pay looks about right to me.
It's not the salary structure, it's recruiting in the wrong pool.
The Telegraph, with its eye as usual on its key readership, notes house prices in Kensington & Chelsea have fallen 16% in the past year from an average £1.47 million to £1.19 million and while the wailing and gnashing of teeth continues, overall London house prices have fallen 2.4% apparently (and needless to say, it's all Rachel Reeves's fault but then so is the weather, the state of English cricket, my inability to back winners etc).
The other side of this is fewer Londoners are leaving the capital because it seems the price differential between the capital and other parts of the country isn't what it was and your East End matchbox no longer equates to a five bedroom property with 20 acres of land in Yorkshire (I mean, who wants 20 acres, who lives in a matchbox and why not Lincolnshire, Lancashire or Cheshire, why is it always Yorkshire?)
Presumably this will enable provincial English people to move back into the capital so the streets will be alive with clotted cream, whippets and dubious accents (not much different to now then).
Christmas scoff done and dusted at Stodge Towers - the roast pork with various trimmings deemed a triumph by Mrs Stodge so all's well.
We'll have beef at New Year and have Yorkshires then - I'm not opposed to Yorkshires with roast pork in truth (they do them very well in York) but offering them for breakfast at Toby Carvery is, I feel, an idea slightly ahead of its time. Dipping your Weetabix and milk in a Yorkshire pud - consider me unconvinced.
Still freezing cold here in East London and the traditional Christmas fireworks are getting underway or more accurately some numbskulls have had some left over from Diwali or Guy Fawkes and are letting them off.
Now, to the serious business of Christmas - the Boxing Day horse racing bets...
Frosty here in God's country, beautiful sunrise and blue sky. Get your tips up stodge
On holiday in Kerala, Malc? Hope you're enjoying it
Has Ukraine won yet as you were predicting as early as 2023?
Yep they’re winning.
50,000 dead Russians to not take Kupyansk, and 100,000 dead Russians to not take Pokrovsk.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
The only nations "winning" the SMO are the USA and China. Ukraine is a bankrupt ruin in political crisis. Russia and the EU are diminished. The UK are irrelevant, just rowing in on whatever the EU position is without any voice in shaping it.
Barring Ukraine running out of other people's money or the Farage of Kiev being toppled, the SMO will probably continue on its current trajectory for a while yet. Incremental, bloody gains by Russia and occasional PIRA style spectaculars by Ukraine. It'll all be over by next Christmas.
Putin's a greedy bastard!
Russia = 17,000,000 sq. km. in area Ukraine = 600,000 sq. km. in area
Christmas scoff done and dusted at Stodge Towers - the roast pork with various trimmings deemed a triumph by Mrs Stodge so all's well.
We'll have beef at New Year and have Yorkshires then - I'm not opposed to Yorkshires with roast pork in truth (they do them very well in York) but offering them for breakfast at Toby Carvery is, I feel, an idea slightly ahead of its time. Dipping your Weetabix and milk in a Yorkshire pud - consider me unconvinced.
Still freezing cold here in East London and the traditional Christmas fireworks are getting underway or more accurately some numbskulls have had some left over from Diwali or Guy Fawkes and are letting them off.
Now, to the serious business of Christmas - the Boxing Day horse racing bets...
Frosty here in God's country, beautiful sunrise and blue sky. Get your tips up stodge
Dull and bleak in Downtown East London but with 11 meetings, 75 races and 714 runners across Britain and Ireland, you'd think I could find you something...
I studied the form on Christmas Eve and this morning find most of the ones I selected then are doing passable imitations of barges without a crew or steering on a fast flowing river in terms of their odds increasing.
Nonetheless, your wish is my co-operation and I'll start with my patent for the day:
U CAN'T BE SERIOUS 12.45 Kempton IDAHO SUN 1.05 Aintree BLENKINSOP 2.15 Aintree
In addition, a couple I'm going to play each way at bigger prices - BANBRIDGE in the King George (2.30 Kempton) - currently at 14s and GERYVILLE in the 2.45 at Wetherby who is currently 16s.
The usual disclaimers apply but good luck to anyone playing today.
Gift link to bypass paywall. An inside look at the life of a former SpAd for the blue team.
Hmmmm.
£85k and is complaining he's underpaid because he has 'a certain lifestyle' to keep up.
For what essentially amounts to devising and implementing policy decisions which he clearly knew nothing about given he was hopping among departments.
I'm not totally convinced by this logic. Indeed, looking at a lot of SPADs I would say the key problem is they don't have a clue about the matters they manage (Freedman and Cummings at Education were just embarrassing and the current lot are not better) and I can't see how hiring board members and advertising execs would change that equation.
Surely rather it would be better to pitch the pay at the level of people who understand the job? So for Transport, a safety inspector on Network Rail gets between 40 and 76k, depending on the role. A classroom teacher at the top end would get around 50-65k. A senior nurse would be about the same.
So add in a premium for the extra hours worked (because although a teacher or a nurse might work 12 hours a day it won't be 7 days) and the pay looks about right to me.
It's not the salary structure, it's recruiting in the wrong pool.
This is very difficult to judge because I don't really know what a SPAD is supposed to do. If you're looking for a subject-area expert who is on on-call pretty much all the time and lives in central London, £85k isn't going to attract the kind of high performer that you need. But if it's some staffer in their 20s fresh out of uni, it's not a good use of the cash.
Off topic I think Mercedes and Red Bull's engines should be banned as they current are for F1 2026. If Mercedes only supplied one team they clearly would be banned, it's essentially paying ransom if they're allowed in their current form.
Off topic I think Mercedes and Red Bull's engines should be banned as they current are for F1 2026. If Mercedes only supplied one team they clearly would be banned, it's essentially paying ransom if they're allowed in their current form.
Not swayed by the argument they're being innovative and it's a grey area?
Has Ukraine won yet as you were predicting as early as 2023?
Yep they’re winning.
50,000 dead Russians to not take Kupyansk, and 100,000 dead Russians to not take Pokrovsk.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
The only nations "winning" the SMO are the USA and China. Ukraine is a bankrupt ruin in political crisis. Russia and the EU are diminished. The UK are irrelevant, just rowing in on whatever the EU position is without any voice in shaping it.
Barring Ukraine running out of other people's money or the Farage of Kiev being toppled, the SMO will probably continue on its current trajectory for a while yet. Incremental, bloody gains by Russia and occasional PIRA style spectaculars by Ukraine. It'll all be over by next Christmas.
You are seriously saying that Zelensky and Putin are moral equivalents? Seriously equating Zelensky and Farage? That is, um, an "interesting" view.
Today is the 1,400th day of Russia's Special Military Operation.
Russia's involvement in WW2 was only 1,418 days.
It's not true though. The Soviet Union joined the War on 17 September 1939, on the Nazi side.
No. The Soviet Union remained officially neutral in the war between Germany and the western allies.
The German declaration of war on the Soviet Union, officially Note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany to the Soviet government from 21 June 1941 is a diplomatic note presented by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Soviet ambassador Vladimir Dekanozov in Berlin on 22 June 1941 at 4 a.m. local time, informing him about the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the preceding casus belli.
The Russian didn't officially declare war on Germany. The existence of the German declaration of war on the Soviet Union was long concealed by Soviet authorities, because it mentions the secret protocol to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which was revealed only in 1989.
The reaction of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was described particularly in the memoirs of Georgy Zhukov. According to Zhukov, when Molotov reported that Germany had declared war, Stalin "sank down into his chair and lost himself in thought". After a protracted pause Stalin finally allowed the issue of Directive No. 2 on combat readiness at 7:15 a.m. on 22 June. According to admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, however, Soviet troops were brought into combat readiness already on 21 June, at around 17:00.
I realise they didn't declare war, but they invaded Poland (and later the Baltic states) and therefore supported the Nazi dismemberment of Poland. That sounds like "taking part" to me. Poland was an Allied nation. They haven't declared war on Ukraine either.
Finland is usually regarded as a participant in WW2 as well.
Finland lost nearly three times the proportion of its population than the UK as casualties of the war, and during the Lapland War pretty much every settlement in the north of the country was burned to the ground, by the Germans, and the residents driven away. Following on from their heroic success in holding the Soviets at bay, despite overwhelming odds.
Finland spent most of WW2 allied to the Nazis, before switching sides in 1944. The full story is quite complex, see
Gift link to bypass paywall. An inside look at the life of a former SpAd for the blue team.
Hmmmm.
£85k and is complaining he's underpaid because he has 'a certain lifestyle' to keep up.
For what essentially amounts to devising and implementing policy decisions which he clearly knew nothing about given he was hopping among departments.
I'm not totally convinced by this logic. Indeed, looking at a lot of SPADs I would say the key problem is they don't have a clue about the matters they manage (Freedman and Cummings at Education were just embarrassing and the current lot are not better) and I can't see how hiring board members and advertising execs would change that equation.
Surely rather it would be better to pitch the pay at the level of people who understand the job? So for Transport, a safety inspector on Network Rail gets between 40 and 76k, depending on the role. A classroom teacher at the top end would get around 50-65k. A senior nurse would be about the same.
So add in a premium for the extra hours worked (because although a teacher or a nurse might work 12 hours a day it won't be 7 days) and the pay looks about right to me.
It's not the salary structure, it's recruiting in the wrong pool.
This is very difficult to judge because I don't really know what a SPAD is supposed to do. If you're looking for a subject-area expert who is on on-call pretty much all the time and lives in central London, £85k isn't going to attract the kind of high performer that you need. But if it's some staffer in their 20s fresh out of uni, it's not a good use of the cash.
Gift link to bypass paywall. An inside look at the life of a former SpAd for the blue team.
Hmmmm.
£85k and is complaining he's underpaid because he has 'a certain lifestyle' to keep up.
For what essentially amounts to devising and implementing policy decisions which he clearly knew nothing about given he was hopping among departments.
I'm not totally convinced by this logic. Indeed, looking at a lot of SPADs I would say the key problem is they don't have a clue about the matters they manage (Freedman and Cummings at Education were just embarrassing and the current lot are not better) and I can't see how hiring board members and advertising execs would change that equation.
Surely rather it would be better to pitch the pay at the level of people who understand the job? So for Transport, a safety inspector on Network Rail gets between 40 and 76k, depending on the role. A classroom teacher at the top end would get around 50-65k. A senior nurse would be about the same.
So add in a premium for the extra hours worked (because although a teacher or a nurse might work 12 hours a day it won't be 7 days) and the pay looks about right to me.
It's not the salary structure, it's recruiting in the wrong pool.
This is very difficult to judge because I don't really know what a SPAD is supposed to do. If you're looking for a subject-area expert who is on on-call pretty much all the time and lives in central London, £85k isn't going to attract the kind of high performer that you need. But if it's some staffer in their 20s fresh out of uni, it's not a good use of the cash.
I'm skeptical.
That 85k was in the Home Office, after he had become a SPAD elsewhere in 2016. So perhaps 2019, 2020 or so.
That was in the top 3% of the national income profile. His complaint is that it is less than a Director level appointment in a London Public Affairs Group.
He went into spaddery directly from the Brexit campaign, and does not point out eg his Director level experience in a PA Group in London. Nor does he point out his (say) 150k income from the Brexit campaign.
Has Ukraine won yet as you were predicting as early as 2023?
Yep they’re winning.
50,000 dead Russians to not take Kupyansk, and 100,000 dead Russians to not take Pokrovsk.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
The only nations "winning" the SMO are the USA and China. Ukraine is a bankrupt ruin in political crisis. Russia and the EU are diminished. The UK are irrelevant, just rowing in on whatever the EU position is without any voice in shaping it.
Barring Ukraine running out of other people's money or the Farage of Kiev being toppled, the SMO will probably continue on its current trajectory for a while yet. Incremental, bloody gains by Russia and occasional PIRA style spectaculars by Ukraine. It'll all be over by next Christmas.
You are seriously saying that Zelensky and Putin are moral equivalents? Seriously equating Zelensky and Farage? That is, um, an "interesting" view.
Not just a wrong view, a highly offensive view.
Pretty sure one of DA’s 2025 resolutions was be less offensive. Shocking that he’s let himself down.
The Telegraph, with its eye as usual on its key readership, notes house prices in Kensington & Chelsea have fallen 16% in the past year from an average £1.47 million to £1.19 million and while the wailing and gnashing of teeth continues, overall London house prices have fallen 2.4% apparently (and needless to say, it's all Rachel Reeves's fault but then so is the weather, the state of English cricket, my inability to back winners etc).
The other side of this is fewer Londoners are leaving the capital because it seems the price differential between the capital and other parts of the country isn't what it was and your East End matchbox no longer equates to a five bedroom property with 20 acres of land in Yorkshire (I mean, who wants 20 acres, who lives in a matchbox and why not Lincolnshire, Lancashire or Cheshire, why is it always Yorkshire?)
Presumably this will enable provincial English people to move back into the capital so the streets will be alive with clotted cream, whippets and dubious accents (not much different to now then).
"The main specification is that the Yorkshire should take up the maximum space to minimise sale of things that are not air."
(Maybe he means hot air as it's the Telegraph)
The statistic we need is the percentage of useable plate plan area occupied by a Yorkshire Pudding.
(Height is less relevant because a heap can be constructed.)
(This is round 28 in the Pizza Hut Salad Construction Wars from my days at University, when slice-of-cucumber parapets were banned.)
Never forget that there is something of a Laffer curve at play when talking about Yorkshire Puddings. If you increase the size of the Pudding too much, you stop saving money, because once you squeeze the rest of the food that far, there comes a point at which it can simply emigrate to within the confines of the Yorkshire and is no longer beholden to further squeezing.
I'm planning to venture down Oxford Street later today. It's good to know that it's not going to be too crowded.
I shall be taking the Daily Mail's advice and having a walk in the woods and not going within several miles of a shop. I blame the government. And it's the time of year to read Hardy's 'The Darkling Thrush'.
'I don't believe it should go with turkey... I think that's wrong.'
@NickFerrariLBC is shocked by @trussliz 's controversial take on what belongs on a Christmas dinner.
I listened to that LBC slot with her while in the car. My god, she’s a nutcase - how did the Tories ever allow her to get right through to the country’s top job, I will never know….
It's extraordinary isn't it. And she was always a nutcase, it's not like she had acted all normal until she got the top job. I guess they saw Labour members choosing Jeremy Corbyn and went hold my beer.
'I don't believe it should go with turkey... I think that's wrong.'
@NickFerrariLBC is shocked by @trussliz 's controversial take on what belongs on a Christmas dinner.
I listened to that LBC slot with her while in the car. My god, she’s a nutcase - how did the Tories ever allow her to get right through to the country’s top job, I will never know….
It's extraordinary isn't it. And she was always a nutcase, it's not like she had acted all normal until she got the top job. I guess they saw Labour members choosing Jeremy Corbyn and went hold my beer.
Off topic I think Mercedes and Red Bull's engines should be banned as they current are for F1 2026. If Mercedes only supplied one team they clearly would be banned, it's essentially paying ransom if they're allowed in their current form.
Not swayed by the argument they're being innovative and it's a grey area?
No. They run into higher ratios by design. That's like, bear with me on the analogy, having a plank that organically grows back at the point of testing. If it was known to run thin during the race by design teams would be DQ for it regardless of the thickness at point of testing.
'I don't believe it should go with turkey... I think that's wrong.'
@NickFerrariLBC is shocked by @trussliz 's controversial take on what belongs on a Christmas dinner.
I listened to that LBC slot with her while in the car. My god, she’s a nutcase - how did the Tories ever allow her to get right through to the country’s top job, I will never know….
It's extraordinary isn't it. And she was always a nutcase, it's not like she had acted all normal until she got the top job. I guess they saw Labour members choosing Jeremy Corbyn and went hold my beer.
The membership of either of the major parties is a frankly insane way to select the leadership. Neither are fit for purpose.
Off topic I think Mercedes and Red Bull's engines should be banned as they current are for F1 2026. If Mercedes only supplied one team they clearly would be banned, it's essentially paying ransom if they're allowed in their current form.
Not swayed by the argument they're being innovative and it's a grey area?
No. They run into higher ratios by design. That's like, bear with me on the analogy, having a plank that organically grows back at the point of testing. If it was known to run thin during the race by design teams would be DQ for it regardless of the thickness at point of testing.
Or imagine the teams had a button the driver could push that unfurled a new plank from the sides at the end of a race from the side skirts to be compliant; however they ran the whole race at a ridiculous 2 mm or something like that. Would that be allowed ?
Today is the 1,400th day of Russia's Special Military Operation.
Russia's involvement in WW2 was only 1,418 days.
It's not true though. The Soviet Union joined the War on 17 September 1939, on the Nazi side.
No. The Soviet Union remained officially neutral in the war between Germany and the western allies.
The German declaration of war on the Soviet Union, officially Note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany to the Soviet government from 21 June 1941 is a diplomatic note presented by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Soviet ambassador Vladimir Dekanozov in Berlin on 22 June 1941 at 4 a.m. local time, informing him about the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the preceding casus belli.
The Russian didn't officially declare war on Germany. The existence of the German declaration of war on the Soviet Union was long concealed by Soviet authorities, because it mentions the secret protocol to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which was revealed only in 1989.
The reaction of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was described particularly in the memoirs of Georgy Zhukov. According to Zhukov, when Molotov reported that Germany had declared war, Stalin "sank down into his chair and lost himself in thought". After a protracted pause Stalin finally allowed the issue of Directive No. 2 on combat readiness at 7:15 a.m. on 22 June. According to admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, however, Soviet troops were brought into combat readiness already on 21 June, at around 17:00.
I realise they didn't declare war, but they invaded Poland (and later the Baltic states) and therefore supported the Nazi dismemberment of Poland. That sounds like "taking part" to me. Poland was an Allied nation. They haven't declared war on Ukraine either.
Finland is usually regarded as a participant in WW2 as well.
Finland lost nearly three times the proportion of its population than the UK as casualties of the war, and during the Lapland War pretty much every settlement in the north of the country was burned to the ground, by the Germans, and the residents driven away. Following on from their heroic success in holding the Soviets at bay, despite overwhelming odds.
Finland spent most of WW2 allied to the Nazis, before switching sides in 1944. The full story is quite complex, see
Well, a bit more complicated than that. During the Winter War of 39-40 the Soviet Union was aligned with Nazi Germany, hence Finland was allied with us.
Indeed we considered an Anglo French force going to Finlands aid:
I'm planning to venture down Oxford Street later today. It's good to know that it's not going to be too crowded.
I shall be taking the Daily Mail's advice and having a walk in the woods and not going within several miles of a shop. I blame the government. And it's the time of year to read Hardy's 'The Darkling Thrush'.
Reminds me of a Chris de Burgh special, the Painter
"Madam I think we should take a walk in the woods, you understand it's the light", And did I mind, no, I was so kind when they, came back in the middle of the night, and I swear I'll take care of the painter, Oh the painter..."
1976: A Traditional Country Christmas Dinner | A Taste of Britain | BBC Archive
It feels like another world.
It featured Appletreewick, which is one of my favourite places.
For my sins, I listened to the Planet Normal podcast, and to me these types of presentations want to defend a past that only ever existed in the head of the individual.
Comments
A homeless, autistic, man turned up on the Christmas doorstep in 1975, and lived with a family for the next 45 years. They knew him a little from school years etc, but he had been institutionalised with little support and released with little support.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxwllqz1l0o
The main specification is that the Yorkshire should take up the maximum space to minimise sale of things that are not air.
Given that action is still continuing, it is possibilities and potentials, but I'm interested - also in the various deceptions engaged in over the years.
* After we've done the current round of HoL reforms, I'm quite inclined now to rolling overlapping longer terms, perhaps with a greater element of approval by citizen juries rather than insider committees, or perhaps regional elections a la Oz.
I got three bottles of malt for Xmas, so felt duty bound to drink half of one tonight.
That was probably a mistake on top of everything else.
Fortunately I've now watched sufficient Kdrama to have an approximate idea of how to make hangover soup for breakfast.
Wish me well.
A few Tio Pepes.
Some 2007 claret (indifferent, but I like the taste of old wine even when it's mediocre).
Some lesser red wines.
Some ordinary port.
A few beers, slowly.
All perfectly balanced.
Boxing day involves driving and, therefore, sobriety.
"US launches 'powerful strikes' against Islamic State in Nigeria, says Trump"
What a pathetic genocidal incompetent he is. And how negligent we in the free world have been in letting him get away with it.
If they ask me, I may be able to make it over there for the final test. I have the correct surname, and in every other respect can offer more than the current incumbent.
Hope you all had a nice Christmas and got splendid gifts.
And in fact, the Soviet Union never signed a peace treaty with Japan. Yeltsin's Russia finally did on July 30 1998, giving a technical duration of their involvement in WW2 of 21,502 days, or about six decades, which is probably about how long Putin needs to conquer the parts of Ukraine he wants.
The German declaration of war on the Soviet Union, officially Note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany to the Soviet government from 21 June 1941 is a diplomatic note presented by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Soviet ambassador Vladimir Dekanozov in Berlin on 22 June 1941 at 4 a.m. local time, informing him about the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the preceding casus belli.
The Russian didn't officially declare war on Germany. The existence of the German declaration of war on the Soviet Union was long concealed by Soviet authorities, because it mentions the secret protocol to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which was revealed only in 1989.
The reaction of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was described particularly in the memoirs of Georgy Zhukov. According to Zhukov, when Molotov reported that Germany had declared war, Stalin "sank down into his chair and lost himself in thought". After a protracted pause Stalin finally allowed the issue of Directive No. 2 on combat readiness at 7:15 a.m. on 22 June. According to admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, however, Soviet troops were brought into combat readiness already on 21 June, at around 17:00.
Finland is usually regarded as a participant in WW2 as well.
Q. What is the traditional drink for Boxing Day?
A. Punch!
"We won all our warm-up games"
"Anderson, Tremlett and Bresnan hit a relentless line and length"
And a top 3 that broke Aus bowling attack. When Strauss, Cook and Trott batted well and long then the middle order cashed in, when they didn't then it collapsed.
England need another opener in the top 3, whether Duckett and Crawley keep their places is another question, but they need to have a top 3 that bat out 40 overs.
IS have been attacking Christians in Nigeria and this was done in cooperation with the Nigerian government
Ukraine is a bankrupt ruin in political crisis.
Russia and the EU are diminished.
The UK are irrelevant, just rowing in on whatever the EU position is without any voice in shaping it.
Barring Ukraine running out of other people's money or the Farage of Kiev being toppled, the SMO will probably continue on its current trajectory for a while yet. Incremental, bloody gains by Russia and occasional PIRA style spectaculars by Ukraine. It'll all be over by next Christmas.
They could just have done home and spent Xmas with their families
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494425002555
Men worry about appearing less masculine if they express concern over climate change.
I've been reading this article on the later years of Lloyd George, and it's worth reading simply for the awesome pun in the title (be warned, it runs across two pages so you need to scroll down to appreciate it):
https://liberalhistory.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/77_Dutton_Wonderful_wizard_as_was-3.pdf
David Dutton had the reputation of being a bit of a Tristram* but I'm willing to forgive him a lot in light of this.
*After Tristram Hunt, the undistinguished and inept historian who became an undistinguished and inept MP before becoming the undistinguished and inept curator of the V&A.
I studied the form on Christmas Eve and this morning find most of the ones I selected then are doing passable imitations of barges without a crew or steering on a fast flowing river in terms of their odds increasing.
Nonetheless, your wish is my co-operation and I'll start with my patent for the day:
U CAN'T BE SERIOUS 12.45 Kempton
IDAHO SUN 1.05 Aintree
BLENKINSOP 2.15 Aintree
In addition, a couple I'm going to play each way at bigger prices - BANBRIDGE in the King George (2.30 Kempton) - currently at 14s and GERYVILLE in the 2.45 at Wetherby who is currently 16s.
The usual disclaimers apply but good luck to anyone playing today.
Trump: Merry Christmas to all, including the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein…. attended his parties, and thought he was the greatest guy on earth, only to "drop him like a dog" when things got too HOT, falsely claimed they had nothing to do with him….
https://x.com/Acyn/status/2004340515102417210
The Telegraph, with its eye as usual on its key readership, notes house prices in Kensington & Chelsea have fallen 16% in the past year from an average £1.47 million to £1.19 million and while the wailing and gnashing of teeth continues, overall London house prices have fallen 2.4% apparently (and needless to say, it's all Rachel Reeves's fault but then so is the weather, the state of English cricket, my inability to back winners etc).
The other side of this is fewer Londoners are leaving the capital because it seems the price differential between the capital and other parts of the country isn't what it was and your East End matchbox no longer equates to a five bedroom property with 20 acres of land in Yorkshire (I mean, who wants 20 acres, who lives in a matchbox and why not Lincolnshire, Lancashire or Cheshire, why is it always Yorkshire?)
Presumably this will enable provincial English people to move back into the capital so the streets will be alive with clotted cream, whippets and dubious accents (not much different to now then).
Well according to @MattW below
"The main specification is that the Yorkshire should take up the maximum space to minimise sale of things that are not air."
(Maybe he means hot air as it's the Telegraph)
As to your question, nobody's perfect.
Or both, of course.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15413473/Reeves-1bn-Boxing-Day-sales-slump-Retailers.html
Tonight's lottery numbers are on page 94.
Good morning everyone.
(Height is less relevant because a heap can be constructed.)
(This is round 28 in the Pizza Hut Salad Construction Wars from my days at University, when slice-of-cucumber parapets were banned.)
Some men find it very difficult to accept that someone else could be more of an expert than them - a particular challenge when leading a group of older men up a mountain, where a hierarchy has to be established to keep everyone safe.
It's the doubling down that drives me nuts. You can point out that they are walking along the edge of a cornice and still a protest. It's only when you shrug and start to unclip them from the line that you get some introspection.
The Russians, Ukrainians and others doing the fighting and dying are the losers but no one worries about them.
The entire defence industry, from analysts to manufacturers, has done very well out of this war. It has pushed itself up the political agenda and persuaded western Governments Russia is a military colossus equivalent to the Warsaw Pact (it can't even reach Kharkiv) and more public funds have to be thrown at defence meaning more weapons to be manufactured and sold and more defence analysts appearing on talk shows telling us what a threat Russia is and if you don't accept the argument they are a conventional military threat, the argument shifts to cyber warfare and how they could shut down the Internet.
The defence industry is also learning about how wars are fought in the first quarter of the 21st century, the power of drones to strike far beyond the frontlines, the vulnerability of armour etc, etc. That will shape defence strategies and scenarios for decades to come.
The arms manufacturers, whether State owned or private, have also done well with demand for their products, funding for R&D and Government approval - the last thing any of them want is peace.
I still have nightmares about taking my kids downs some very narrow mountain paths with steep drops at the side. Both of them seemed quite relaxed but I needed a stiff drink afterwards.
https://x.com/oldroberts953/status/2004456845558124843
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/527b554692bf7c11
Gift link to bypass paywall. An inside look at the life of a former SpAd for the blue team.
Konfusion 1:35 Wetherby
Absolutely Doyen 3:13 Wincanton
Four Springs 12:40 Market Rasen
Noble Park 12:45 Kempton
Sir Gino 13:55 Kempton
Blenkinsop 14:15 Kempton
Gaelic Warrior 14:30 Kempton
Mydaddypaddy 13:05 Aintree
Fortune Timmy 13:07 Fontwell
£85k and is complaining he's underpaid because he has 'a certain lifestyle' to keep up.
For what essentially amounts to devising and implementing policy decisions which he clearly knew nothing about given he was hopping among departments.
I'm not totally convinced by this logic. Indeed, looking at a lot of SPADs I would say the key problem is they don't have a clue about the matters they manage (Freedman and Cummings at Education were just embarrassing and the current lot are not better) and I can't see how hiring board members and advertising execs would change that equation.
Surely rather it would be better to pitch the pay at the level of people who understand the job? So for Transport, a safety inspector on Network Rail gets between 40 and 76k, depending on the role. A classroom teacher at the top end would get around 50-65k. A senior nurse would be about the same.
So add in a premium for the extra hours worked (because although a teacher or a nurse might work 12 hours a day it won't be 7 days) and the pay looks about right to me.
It's not the salary structure, it's recruiting in the wrong pool.
Russia = 17,000,000 sq. km. in area
Ukraine = 600,000 sq. km. in area
Good luck.
And a fulsome tribute to Radiohead, inexplicably in "Pseuds Corner"
Not just a wrong view, a highly offensive view.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland_in_World_War_II
That 85k was in the Home Office, after he had become a SPAD elsewhere in 2016. So perhaps 2019, 2020 or so.
That was in the top 3% of the national income profile. His complaint is that it is less than a Director level appointment in a London Public Affairs Group.
He went into spaddery directly from the Brexit campaign, and does not point out eg his Director level experience in a PA Group in London. Nor does he point out his (say) 150k income from the Brexit campaign.
Cry me a river.
STOP MAKING THE KIDS FAT AND GAY AND PATHETIC!
https://x.com/pgatuor/status/2004261365549351329?s=46&t=fJymV-V84rexmlQMLXHHJQ
Indeed we considered an Anglo French force going to Finlands aid:
https://www.tarinoitasotavuosilta.fi/en/finland-and-great-britain-unfulfilled-promises/#:~:text=In the Winter War 1939,war against these two countries.
Which would have meant fighting Stalin and Hitler at the same time, a tall order even with the French as yet undefeated.
"Madam I think we should take a walk in the woods,
you understand it's the light",
And did I mind, no, I was so kind when they,
came back in the middle of the night,
and I swear I'll take care of the painter, Oh the painter..."
This from yesterday was interesting. It featured Appletreewick, which is one of my favourite places.
For my sins, I listened to the Planet Normal podcast, and to me these types of presentations want to defend a past that only ever existed in the head of the individual.