Someone who was personally involved in screwing up on all the measures he mentions in the video when previously in government, wants us to believe he has all the answers.
There was a Home Office Minister called Jobert Renrick who put all the asylum seekers into 5* hotels. Different chap I believe.
That's a rubbish limerick. Let me try to improve;
There was a Home Office Minister called Jenrick He was a bit of a jab in the arm Nonetheless he went too far In the future he'll be mainly at the bar That jumped up complete Richard.
Oh, dear, surely we can improve on that.
There was once a young minister called Jenrick Whose policies were - who would have kenned it? Exactly the same As the ones he defamed: And his political career was thus ended.
There once was a fellow named Jenrick, Whose logic was truly eccentric. The views he’d decried He adopted with pride, Till his polling turned quite atmospheric.
Aren't these tips contradictory? There is a good chance neither wins and it's almost certain that at least one doesn't win.
For the Greens to lead in a poll, I reckon they need to get to at least 22% to have any chance (their best so far is 19%) and even that might only get them a tie. The equation is basically Reform plus Conservative divided by two. That's been as low as 21% in one YouGov back in July, but generally it doesn't go below 22%. And, of course, it needs the split to be 50:50.
I think I'd want more like 33/1 to be tempted.
What software did you use to produce that graph please?
Also how is it calculated?
Assuming that Con averages between 15-20 (from memory) and Ref is 20-30, shouldn’t Con+ Ref halved be in the 25-30 range rather than below 25?
He means (Con plus Ref) halved not Con plus Ref halved.
Someone who was personally involved in screwing up on all the measures he mentions in the video when previously in government, wants us to believe he has all the answers.
There was a Home Office Minister called Jobert Renrick who put all the asylum seekers into 5* hotels. Different chap I believe.
I thought all the jacuzzis were closed which makes them “not 5* hotels”?
Not according to GB News and the Daily Mail. I believe those hotels without a spa had one fitted by the Labour Government when they arrived in office, at the same time they handed out the Motability Maseratis.
Motability Maseratis - poppycock.
Motability Bugattis - obviously.
What kind of a CommieSymp are you?
I seem to recall a Frank & Earnest debate with several hundred SeanTs - trying to get him to admit that the hotels were all budget…
Personally, I think the hotel thing is another example of how Process pushes society into poor solutions. Every other idea for storing migrants was tried. Each was defeated by legal process. The hotels were used because the legal advice was that no Process was required to use them - simply block book for x years.
We see similar in things such as mass battery storage. It may not be the best, cheapest etc. but there is next to nothing that can stop you putting a couple of ISO containers on your land.
Clearly those complaining about luxury hotels accommodating asylum seekers have never stayed at the Macclesfield Travelodge.
Slightly paraphrasing your comment, could it be that hotels are actually the optimal short term accommodation for asylum seekers, given they need to go somewhere? Hotels are highly space efficient bed factories for transient populations. Importantly for a controversial policy, they already exist so impacts on other people are minimised. I suspect if contracts are managed properly that they are also cost effective.
Why the hell is anyone fretting about hotels.
A govt scheme is giving money to councils to build social housing for Asylum seekers.
At least five have volunteered (Brighton, of course, being one): with up to 200 interested.
The Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai is the first Russian oil refinery to be hit by Ukrainian drones in 2026. Previously targeted in November and September of 2025, it has a capacity of 6.5 million tons and is the... 26th largest refinery in Russia with about 2% of total Russian capacity.
Also hit overnight was an oil terminal in Tartarstan that processes and stores crude oil from northern Russia oilfields. If the Ukrainians can damage that it might force some of the oil wells to shut down.
And once shut down, oil wells can take years to restart so Russia will not want to allow that.
Russia may not want =/= Russia can enforce.
This winter is going to be brutal for all concerned in the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Ukrainians have endured 4 winters of it. Up to now, Russians in Moscow and St. Petersburg have endured 0. The shock for metropolitan Russians will be severe.
Parts of Moscow and St.P spent last night without power, and at least four O&G facilities put on a free fireworks show.
My prediction for ‘26 is that ordinary metropolitan Russians finally start to feel that their country is at war.
My prediction for 2026 is that we'll be inundated with anniversaries: 10 years since Brexit; 100 years since the Great Depression; and that's just the big ones. 50 years since the long, hot summer of 76; 60 years since England won the World Cup (since renamed the Men's World Cup; no doubt soon to be renamed the Trump World Cup).
250 years of the US.
1783?
Yes, strictly speaking that's when the USA became a legal entity, not 1776.
I'm not sure the Founding Fathers would agree with you. Nevertheless 1776 is the fixed point date that everyone celebrates. The clue's in the July 4 national holiday.
The 1783 Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3rd.
I'm not sure a "British Recognition of Your Independence Day" is going to catch on, but a party on September 3rd might ease the pains of the return to school, so we could give it a go?
Someone who was personally involved in screwing up on all the measures he mentions in the video when previously in government, wants us to believe he has all the answers.
There was a Home Office Minister called Jobert Renrick who put all the asylum seekers into 5* hotels. Different chap I believe.
I thought all the jacuzzis were closed which makes them “not 5* hotels”?
Not according to GB News and the Daily Mail. I believe those hotels without a spa had one fitted by the Labour Government when they arrived in office, at the same time they handed out the Motability Maseratis.
Motability Maseratis - poppycock.
Motability Bugattis - obviously.
What kind of a CommieSymp are you?
I seem to recall a Frank & Earnest debate with several hundred SeanTs - trying to get him to admit that the hotels were all budget…
Personally, I think the hotel thing is another example of how Process pushes society into poor solutions. Every other idea for storing migrants was tried. Each was defeated by legal process. The hotels were used because the legal advice was that no Process was required to use them - simply block book for x years.
We see similar in things such as mass battery storage. It may not be the best, cheapest etc. but there is next to nothing that can stop you putting a couple of ISO containers on your land.
Clearly those complaining about luxury hotels accommodating asylum seekers have never stayed at the Macclesfield Travelodge.
Slightly paraphrasing your comment, could it be that hotels are actually the optimal short term accommodation for asylum seekers, given they need to go somewhere? Hotels are highly space efficient bed factories for transient populations. Importantly for a controversial policy, they already exist so impacts on other people are minimised. I suspect if contracts are managed properly that they are also cost effective.
Why the hell is anyone fretting about hotels.
A govt scheme is giving money to councils to build social housing for Asylum seekers.
At least five have volunteered (Brighton, of course, being one): with up to 200 interested.
If locals waiting for homes, often for years, are upset by this just tell them they’re racist. Usually does the trick and shuts them up 👍
To my point #2. Hotels already exist for transient populations so it minimises impacts on locals.
Depends on the hotel. Some of them have their facilities used by more than just the guests.
For some of them, yes. I recall one that got @SeanT fuming, was a newish business hotel in a business park, just off the local roundabout on/off the motorway.
Someone who was personally involved in screwing up on all the measures he mentions in the video when previously in government, wants us to believe he has all the answers.
There was a Home Office Minister called Jobert Renrick who put all the asylum seekers into 5* hotels. Different chap I believe.
I thought all the jacuzzis were closed which makes them “not 5* hotels”?
Not according to GB News and the Daily Mail. I believe those hotels without a spa had one fitted by the Labour Government when they arrived in office, at the same time they handed out the Motability Maseratis.
Motability Maseratis - poppycock.
Motability Bugattis - obviously.
What kind of a CommieSymp are you?
I seem to recall a Frank & Earnest debate with several hundred SeanTs - trying to get him to admit that the hotels were all budget…
Personally, I think the hotel thing is another example of how Process pushes society into poor solutions. Every other idea for storing migrants was tried. Each was defeated by legal process. The hotels were used because the legal advice was that no Process was required to use them - simply block book for x years.
We see similar in things such as mass battery storage. It may not be the best, cheapest etc. but there is next to nothing that can stop you putting a couple of ISO containers on your land.
Clearly those complaining about luxury hotels accommodating asylum seekers have never stayed at the Macclesfield Travelodge.
Slightly paraphrasing your comment, could it be that hotels are actually the optimal short term accommodation for asylum seekers, given they need to go somewhere? Hotels are highly space efficient bed factories for transient populations. Importantly for a controversial policy, they already exist so impacts on other people are minimised. I suspect if contracts are managed properly that they are also cost effective.
Why the hell is anyone fretting about hotels.
A govt scheme is giving money to councils to build social housing for Asylum seekers.
At least five have volunteered (Brighton, of course, being one): with up to 200 interested.
Proposals are at the considered by ministers stage so don't hold your breath.
The current levels are simply unaffordable and not always needed, but there would be massive outcry - this will not happen.
Taking a 500ft view, the use of taxis for school transport in particular seems worthy of investigation.
I’m not saying it’s Minnesotan daycare levels of ‘mismanagement’, but it would be good to know who’s running the taxi companies that benefit and if the job of getting kids to school could be done more efficiently.
Ferrying kids to school could be done a bit more cheaply but there are fundamental constraints. First, children need to arrive at school at the same time, so there is a morning peak in demand. Second, they need driving home again. Third, this needs to happen every school day. Fourth, at least some drivers will need special training and/or equipment and/or DBS checks.
So for any one taxi, that is one or two hours in the morning, and the same in the afternoon, for most of the year, and it will need to be booked in advance. Four hours a day, an hour for lunch, it is almost a full-time job. It's a seller's market.
Councils might be able to save money by running specialist minibuses but because of parental choice, kids living in one place don't all go to the nearest school (one of my many recurring rants) so it will not be just the one minibus. Savings would be limited even if politics and belief in the preternatural efficiency of private sector solutions (viz taxis) were not factors.
You can figure out the most efficient route to get children to the relevant school. Some kids will have to get picked up earlier and spend longer on the bus. The issue is the unreasonable demands - door to door service with no waiting time - and the fact that councils accommodate.
A considerable number of private schools run school buses. These are quite popular in West London, judging from the local drop off/pickup points.
There’s obviously the issue of whether the SEND kids can adapt to it. Some will love it - years ago, my ex hand a daughter who had quite severe issues, requiring a specialist school. The child adored her school bus - which stopped directly outside the house.
Yes - some also do tailored routes and use apps to opt in/out on a weekly basis - BizzyBus I think
Proposals are at the considered by ministers stage so don't hold your breath.
The current levels are simply unaffordable and not always needed, but there would be massive outcry - this will not happen.
Taking a 500ft view, the use of taxis for school transport in particular seems worthy of investigation.
I’m not saying it’s Minnesotan daycare levels of ‘mismanagement’, but it would be good to know who’s running the taxi companies that benefit and if the job of getting kids to school could be done more efficiently.
Ferrying kids to school could be done a bit more cheaply but there are fundamental constraints. First, children need to arrive at school at the same time, so there is a morning peak in demand. Second, they need driving home again. Third, this needs to happen every school day. Fourth, at least some drivers will need special training and/or equipment and/or DBS checks.
So for any one taxi, that is one or two hours in the morning, and the same in the afternoon, for most of the year, and it will need to be booked in advance. Four hours a day, an hour for lunch, it is almost a full-time job. It's a seller's market.
Councils might be able to save money by running specialist minibuses but because of parental choice, kids living in one place don't all go to the nearest school (one of my many recurring rants) so it will not be just the one minibus. Savings would be limited even if politics and belief in the preternatural efficiency of private sector solutions (viz taxis) were not factors.
You can figure out the most efficient route to get children to the relevant school. Some kids will have to get picked up earlier and spend longer on the bus. The issue is the unreasonable demands - door to door service with no waiting time - and the fact that councils accommodate.
Small, but perfectly formed difficulty. Many of these children refuse to get on a bus, or interact in any way with other people, children and adults. Sometimes they're down, effectively, to inter-acting with just one parent.
It's NOT EASY!
I never said it was easy. So use my solution for the 80% and provide higher touch (as it were) support for the harder cases
'Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, meanwhile, celebrated his party's performance in the local elections back in May, and looked forward to a successful performance in this year's round of council and assembly votes.
"We can win again in 2026 - in Scotland, Wales and across England," he said.'
Scotland and Wales? I think he's been on the cooking sherry.
N9tice he didn't mention the LibDems lacklustre performance in national opinion polls.
'Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, meanwhile, celebrated his party's performance in the local elections back in May, and looked forward to a successful performance in this year's round of council and assembly votes.
"We can win again in 2026 - in Scotland, Wales and across England," he said.'
Scotland and Wales? I think he's been on the cooking sherry.
N9tice he didn't mention the LibDems lacklustre performance in national opinion polls.
He can hardly say "We will probably do alright again because the Tories will probably do badly. If that changes we'd be shafted though".
'Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, meanwhile, celebrated his party's performance in the local elections back in May, and looked forward to a successful performance in this year's round of council and assembly votes.
"We can win again in 2026 - in Scotland, Wales and across England," he said.'
Scotland and Wales? I think he's been on the cooking sherry.
N9tice he didn't mention the LibDems lacklustre performance in national opinion polls.
There should be a Ed Davey exit market on BF. Really very hard to price, but that's why there should be one.
Proposals are at the considered by ministers stage so don't hold your breath.
The current levels are simply unaffordable and not always needed, but there would be massive outcry - this will not happen.
Taking a 500ft view, the use of taxis for school transport in particular seems worthy of investigation.
I’m not saying it’s Minnesotan daycare levels of ‘mismanagement’, but it would be good to know who’s running the taxi companies that benefit and if the job of getting kids to school could be done more efficiently.
Ferrying kids to school could be done a bit more cheaply but there are fundamental constraints. First, children need to arrive at school at the same time, so there is a morning peak in demand. Second, they need driving home again. Third, this needs to happen every school day. Fourth, at least some drivers will need special training and/or equipment and/or DBS checks.
So for any one taxi, that is one or two hours in the morning, and the same in the afternoon, for most of the year, and it will need to be booked in advance. Four hours a day, an hour for lunch, it is almost a full-time job. It's a seller's market.
Councils might be able to save money by running specialist minibuses but because of parental choice, kids living in one place don't all go to the nearest school (one of my many recurring rants) so it will not be just the one minibus. Savings would be limited even if politics and belief in the preternatural efficiency of private sector solutions (viz taxis) were not factors.
You can figure out the most efficient route to get children to the relevant school. Some kids will have to get picked up earlier and spend longer on the bus. The issue is the unreasonable demands - door to door service with no waiting time - and the fact that councils accommodate.
A considerable number of private schools run school buses. These are quite popular in West London, judging from the local drop off/pickup points.
There’s obviously the issue of whether the SEND kids can adapt to it. Some will love it - years ago, my ex hand a daughter who had quite severe issues, requiring a specialist school. The child adored her school bus - which stopped directly outside the house.
Yes - some also do tailored routes and use apps to opt in/out on a weekly basis - BizzyBus I think
I can confirm what you should make of it. You either have too much time on your hands or you are not using it wisely. Hth.
Skimmed through it - most of it is pointing out that by the time Labour changes leader (if they do) the window to implement policies before the next election will have closed.
That’s actually a good point and something to factor into betting.
Someone who was personally involved in screwing up on all the measures he mentions in the video when previously in government, wants us to believe he has all the answers.
There was a Home Office Minister called Jobert Renrick who put all the asylum seekers into 5* hotels. Different chap I believe.
I thought all the jacuzzis were closed which makes them “not 5* hotels”?
Not according to GB News and the Daily Mail. I believe those hotels without a spa had one fitted by the Labour Government when they arrived in office, at the same time they handed out the Motability Maseratis.
Motability Maseratis - poppycock.
Motability Bugattis - obviously.
What kind of a CommieSymp are you?
I seem to recall a Frank & Earnest debate with several hundred SeanTs - trying to get him to admit that the hotels were all budget…
Personally, I think the hotel thing is another example of how Process pushes society into poor solutions. Every other idea for storing migrants was tried. Each was defeated by legal process. The hotels were used because the legal advice was that no Process was required to use them - simply block book for x years.
We see similar in things such as mass battery storage. It may not be the best, cheapest etc. but there is next to nothing that can stop you putting a couple of ISO containers on your land.
Clearly those complaining about luxury hotels accommodating asylum seekers have never stayed at the Macclesfield Travelodge.
Slightly paraphrasing your comment, could it be that hotels are actually the optimal short term accommodation for asylum seekers, given they need to go somewhere? Hotels are highly space efficient bed factories for transient populations. Importantly for a controversial policy, they already exist so impacts on other people are minimised. I suspect if contracts are managed properly that they are also cost effective.
Why the hell is anyone fretting about hotels.
A govt scheme is giving money to councils to build social housing for Asylum seekers.
At least five have volunteered (Brighton, of course, being one): with up to 200 interested.
I can confirm what you should make of it. You either have too much time on your hands or you are not using it wisely. Hth.
Skimmed through it - most of it is pointing out that by the time Labour changes leader (if they do) the window to implement policies before the next election will have closed.
That’s actually a good point and something to factor into betting.
Implement policies? What is this weird thing you speak of?
Someone who was personally involved in screwing up on all the measures he mentions in the video when previously in government, wants us to believe he has all the answers.
There was a Home Office Minister called Jobert Renrick who put all the asylum seekers into 5* hotels. Different chap I believe.
That's a rubbish limerick. Let me try to improve;
There was a Home Office Minister called Jenrick He was a bit of a jab in the arm Nonetheless he went too far In the future he'll be mainly at the bar That jumped up complete Richard.
Oh, dear, surely we can improve on that.
There was once a young minister called Jenrick Whose policies were - who would have kenned it? Exactly the same As the ones he defamed: And his political career was thus ended.
There once was a fellow named Jenrick, Whose logic was truly eccentric. The views he’d decried He adopted with pride, Till his polling turned quite atmospheric.
I've got as far as rhyming BobbyJ with popinjay, but now I'm stuck.
I'm better at haiku.
Pretentious Tory The world revolves around him. He loves to think so.
'Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, meanwhile, celebrated his party's performance in the local elections back in May, and looked forward to a successful performance in this year's round of council and assembly votes.
"We can win again in 2026 - in Scotland, Wales and across England," he said.'
Scotland and Wales? I think he's been on the cooking sherry.
N9tice he didn't mention the LibDems lacklustre performance in national opinion polls.
I've got a big slow-cooker chilli on the go to see me through the next few cold days. Lots of chorizo in it which is making the kitchen smell comforting already.
has to be steak pie on 1st January
Butcher pie with puff pastry.
(Actually we're having chicken stew for logistical reasons. The butcher pie (chicken and ham) was a few days back.)
Happy New Year to all PBers.
Lunch was celery, walnut and date salad with a lemon dressing.
Dinner the stock from the Xmas roast remnants plus more surplus celery and carrots and shallots (I bought way too much veg last week) into a slow cooked chicken casserole.
TL:DR the Russians put a $500k bounty on his head, and Ukranian spooks convinced Moscow they’d killed him to the point that the bounty got paid out. He wasn’t dead, he’s still working for Ukraine.
Someone who was personally involved in screwing up on all the measures he mentions in the video when previously in government, wants us to believe he has all the answers.
There was a Home Office Minister called Jobert Renrick who put all the asylum seekers into 5* hotels. Different chap I believe.
I thought all the jacuzzis were closed which makes them “not 5* hotels”?
Not according to GB News and the Daily Mail. I believe those hotels without a spa had one fitted by the Labour Government when they arrived in office, at the same time they handed out the Motability Maseratis.
Motability Maseratis - poppycock.
Motability Bugattis - obviously.
What kind of a CommieSymp are you?
I seem to recall a Frank & Earnest debate with several hundred SeanTs - trying to get him to admit that the hotels were all budget…
Personally, I think the hotel thing is another example of how Process pushes society into poor solutions. Every other idea for storing migrants was tried. Each was defeated by legal process. The hotels were used because the legal advice was that no Process was required to use them - simply block book for x years.
We see similar in things such as mass battery storage. It may not be the best, cheapest etc. but there is next to nothing that can stop you putting a couple of ISO containers on your land.
Clearly those complaining about luxury hotels accommodating asylum seekers have never stayed at the Macclesfield Travelodge.
Slightly paraphrasing your comment, could it be that hotels are actually the optimal short term accommodation for asylum seekers, given they need to go somewhere? Hotels are highly space efficient bed factories for transient populations. Importantly for a controversial policy, they already exist so impacts on other people are minimised. I suspect if contracts are managed properly that they are also cost effective.
Why the hell is anyone fretting about hotels.
A govt scheme is giving money to councils to build social housing for Asylum seekers.
At least five have volunteered (Brighton, of course, being one): with up to 200 interested.
If locals waiting for homes, often for years, are upset by this just tell them they’re racist. Usually does the trick and shuts them up 👍
To my point #2. Hotels already exist for transient populations so it minimises impacts on locals.
Apart from those who,work in the hotels who get the sack when they get repurposed for asylum seekers. Of course.
And those who use the gym, or wish to book the function room for a family get together.
Or people who, you know, need to book a hotel room for the night.
I remember overseas visitors turning up, in the summer, to a hotel they had bookings in which had since been repurposed for asylum seekers. The kinder online contingent on social media blamed them for booking the hotel 😂
I just had a very interesting discussion with Grok about my upcoming walk down the west of France. It gave me plenty of useful looking advice, similar to a recent chat with Google AI
I told it my holiday motto*, and that I like to drink beer while walking. It gave me a whole load more advice, centred around beer. And a cracking suggestion: put that motto on a T-shirt; people might buy you beer
Well done Grok. All of my T-shirts will say that!
*Je marche partout, et je bois comme un trou. In case you didn’t know
The Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai is the first Russian oil refinery to be hit by Ukrainian drones in 2026. Previously targeted in November and September of 2025, it has a capacity of 6.5 million tons and is the... 26th largest refinery in Russia with about 2% of total Russian capacity.
Also hit overnight was an oil terminal in Tartarstan that processes and stores crude oil from northern Russia oilfields. If the Ukrainians can damage that it might force some of the oil wells to shut down.
And once shut down, oil wells can take years to restart so Russia will not want to allow that.
Russia may not want =/= Russia can enforce.
This winter is going to be brutal for all concerned in the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Ukrainians have endured 4 winters of it. Up to now, Russians in Moscow and St. Petersburg have endured 0. The shock for metropolitan Russians will be severe.
Parts of Moscow and St.P spent last night without power, and at least four O&G facilities put on a free fireworks show.
My prediction for ‘26 is that ordinary metropolitan Russians finally start to feel that their country is at war.
My prediction for 2026 is that we'll be inundated with anniversaries: 10 years since Brexit; 100 years since the Great Depression; and that's just the big ones. 50 years since the long, hot summer of 76; 60 years since England won the World Cup (since renamed the Men's World Cup; no doubt soon to be renamed the Trump World Cup).
250 years of the US.
1783?
Yes, strictly speaking that's when the USA became a legal entity, not 1776.
The Articles of Confederation established a national government before 1783, albeit a weak one.
Someone’s told Trump it’s 250 years this year, so don’t confuse him with facts. He won’t be President in 7 years months time, anyway.
Fixed.
I would say 'we can but hope,' but if Trump is removed in the next 7 months that makes Vance President.
And that would be the greater of two evils.
Are you sure? Satan Miller appears to be running the show at present. Is Vance really worse than Miller? If Vance is a ten on the 1-10 scale of evil, Miller must be at least a 90 out of ten.
Someone who was personally involved in screwing up on all the measures he mentions in the video when previously in government, wants us to believe he has all the answers.
There was a Home Office Minister called Jobert Renrick who put all the asylum seekers into 5* hotels. Different chap I believe.
I thought all the jacuzzis were closed which makes them “not 5* hotels”?
Not according to GB News and the Daily Mail. I believe those hotels without a spa had one fitted by the Labour Government when they arrived in office, at the same time they handed out the Motability Maseratis.
Motability Maseratis - poppycock.
Motability Bugattis - obviously.
What kind of a CommieSymp are you?
I seem to recall a Frank & Earnest debate with several hundred SeanTs - trying to get him to admit that the hotels were all budget…
Personally, I think the hotel thing is another example of how Process pushes society into poor solutions. Every other idea for storing migrants was tried. Each was defeated by legal process. The hotels were used because the legal advice was that no Process was required to use them - simply block book for x years.
We see similar in things such as mass battery storage. It may not be the best, cheapest etc. but there is next to nothing that can stop you putting a couple of ISO containers on your land.
Clearly those complaining about luxury hotels accommodating asylum seekers have never stayed at the Macclesfield Travelodge.
Slightly paraphrasing your comment, could it be that hotels are actually the optimal short term accommodation for asylum seekers, given they need to go somewhere? Hotels are highly space efficient bed factories for transient populations. Importantly for a controversial policy, they already exist so impacts on other people are minimised. I suspect if contracts are managed properly that they are also cost effective.
Why the hell is anyone fretting about hotels.
A govt scheme is giving money to councils to build social housing for Asylum seekers.
At least five have volunteered (Brighton, of course, being one): with up to 200 interested.
If locals waiting for homes, often for years, are upset by this just tell them they’re racist. Usually does the trick and shuts them up 👍
To my point #2. Hotels already exist for transient populations so it minimises impacts on locals.
Apart from those who,work in the hotels who get the sack when they get repurposed for asylum seekers. Of course.
And those who use the gym, or wish to book the function room for a family get together.
Or people who, you know, need to book a hotel room for the night.
I remember overseas visitors turning up, in the summer, to a hotel they had bookings in which had since been repurposed for asylum seekers. The kinder online contingent on social media blamed them for booking the hotel 😂
Creative incompetence by the hotel owners?
For my first visit to Reading Festival, our group had planned it practically a year in advance - post exam stuff at uni.
I booked a room in budget hotel locally and paid a deposit. With a couple of months to go, the manager rang me to try and break the booking - the hotel was supposed to be block booked for the support crews.
I held on. Some people laughed about over preparing. Then realised I had the only clean toilet and a shower that worked.
I see the Friends of Ed Davey are out in force this evening.
A 15% poll rating (according to YouGov) with the Conservatives on 19% reads pretty well for LDs defending their seats at this stage and the local by-election results in LD seats reflect that.
Rather like the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats have islands of activity surrounded by oceans of weakness.
The question for London LDs in May is not whether they can win Newham but whether they can make further progress in Merton and any progress in some of the other foothold Boroughs (as well as keeping Sutton, Richmond and Kingston). Reform may assist in those aims.
Davey became LD leader in August 2020, about four months after Starmer became Labour leader so he's only been party leader for five and a bit years. He's been the most successful LD leader since Paddy Ashdown and like Paddy has a lot for which to thank the Conservative Party. Given the incredible volatility de nos jours, I wouldn't go far as to say he will lead the party into the next election but it seems the most likely option and assuming a further advance or consolidation he might stand down a year or two later in favour of.....well, who knows?
There is another excellent long article for SMO enthusiasts in the NYT this morning - available via the paywall busting technology of your choice.
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump. - Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL. - Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so. - All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies. - Trump is Trump. - The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
I’m abundantly pleased with myself that I appear to have invented the sentence that is my motto. It rhymes, contains a well used idiom, and perfectly describes my holidays. And it makes all the French people laugh (with, not at.. I’m pretty sure)
ETA my French at school ended with an A at GCSE when I was fourteen. I’m much more confident now, but only a bit more knowledgeable of the language
I watched the first of a twenty four part series about the Iron Curtain earlier. It was on the BBC in 1998, and narrated by Kenneth Branagh. One thing that struck me immediately was the use of the past tense to describe what had happened, rather than the modern trend of using the present, which I find really irritating
In many parts of the US, "special needs" children are picked up in special, short buses. Including in my district (Lake Washington). So far as I know the system works reasonably well.
(Although, not suprisingly, this has led to the "short bus people" sneer.)
Similar buses are used by MetroKC, for the severely disabled in King County. (Ordinary buses, which I often ride, can accomodate most people in wheelchairs, or using walkers.)
(For the record: MetroKC subsidizes rides for oldies like me. It costs me a dollar for a ride, and I can use the transfer I can get when I board to return, for example, from a shopping trip, since the transfer lasts for four hours.)
In many parts of the US, "special needs" children are picked up in special, short buses. Including in my district (Lake Washington). So far as I know the system works reasonably well.
(Although, not suprisingly, this has led to the "short bus people" sneer.)
Similar buses are used by MetroKC, for the severely disabled in King County. (Ordinary buses, which I often ride, can accomodate most people in wheelchairs, or using walkers.)
(For the record: MetroKC subsidizes rides for oldies like me. It costs me a dollar for a ride, and I can use the transfer I can get when I board to return, for example, from a shopping trip, since the transfer lasts for four hours.)
It does indicate how nasty some kids can be. There are exceptions though. I finished my teaching career at a private school which had a lot more special needs children of some sort or other, most of them in mainstream lessons. Most were accepted without question in lessons and not teased or bullied.
There is another excellent long article for SMO enthusiasts in the NYT this morning - available via the paywall busting technology of your choice.
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump. - Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL. - Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so. - All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies. - Trump is Trump. - The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
An unlikely new hero Tucker Carlson and from what i hear people are listening-though Israelis backed by Trump are an easy target
- Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL.
In many parts of the US, "special needs" children are picked up in special, short buses. Including in my district (Lake Washington). So far as I know the system works reasonably well.
(Although, not suprisingly, this has led to the "short bus people" sneer.)
Similar buses are used by MetroKC, for the severely disabled in King County. (Ordinary buses, which I often ride, can accomodate most people in wheelchairs, or using walkers.)
(For the record: MetroKC subsidizes rides for oldies like me. It costs me a dollar for a ride, and I can use the transfer I can get when I board to return, for example, from a shopping trip, since the transfer lasts for four hours.)
It does indicate how nasty some kids can be. There are exceptions though. I finished my teaching career at a private school which had a lot more special needs children of some sort or other, most of them in mainstream lessons. Most were accepted without question in lessons and not teased or bullied.
The “short bus” snear is quite often an adult insult.
- Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL.
They are cereal killers.
JD Vance does the Frosties receptions for the Ukranians. MTG and Loomer compete for the poptart. Too many to mention for the crunchy nuts.
- Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL.
They are cereal killers.
JD Vance does the Frosties receptions for the Ukranians. MTG and Loomer compete for the poptart. Too many to mention for the crunchy nuts.
I watched the first of a twenty four part series about the Iron Curtain earlier. It was on the BBC in 1998, and narrated by Kenneth Branagh. One thing that struck me immediately was the use of the past tense to describe what had happened, rather than the modern trend of using the present, which I find really irritating
That's a really good series. I still use it today when teaching the Cold War, especially the episodes on Berlin (1948/61) Korea and Cuba.
- Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL.
They are cereal killers.
JD Vance does the Frosties receptions for the Ukranians. MTG and Loomer compete for the poptart. Too many to mention for the crunchy nuts.
Shirley, Your Party has a lock on the Fruit & Nuts option?
- Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL.
They are cereal killers.
JD Vance does the Frosties receptions for the Ukranians. MTG and Loomer compete for the poptart. Too many to mention for the crunchy nuts.
Shirley, Your Party has a lock on the Fruit & Nuts option?
- Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL.
They are cereal killers.
JD Vance does the Frosties receptions for the Ukranians. MTG and Loomer compete for the poptart. Too many to mention for the crunchy nuts.
Shirley, Your Party has a lock on the Fruit & Nuts option?
I watched the first of a twenty four part series about the Iron Curtain earlier. It was on the BBC in 1998, and narrated by Kenneth Branagh. One thing that struck me immediately was the use of the past tense to describe what had happened, rather than the modern trend of using the present, which I find really irritating
Yes. That "it's a cold night in Paris in 1789 and a young man in tight breeches approaches the Bastille wishing he'd brought a coat" technique is a bit overdone.
The BBC even somehow managed to find an expert to comment on this new register called Dawn Register.
Will it affect people who use it to buy completely legal things on the dark web? Asking for a friend.
Eventually why not? Initially I suspect it will be very much looking for missing CGT (which the taxpayers may not even realise is due). Money laundering probably tackled next before they bother with general law enforcement.
- Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL.
They are cereal killers.
JD Vance does the Frosties receptions for the Ukranians. MTG and Loomer compete for the poptart. Too many to mention for the crunchy nuts.
Shirley, Your Party has a lock on the Fruit & Nuts option?
Is Your Party still any sort of thing?
Apart from a terrible warning?
It’s not often that a political party dedicates itself, so fully, to becoming a Monty Python skit.
Times are tough for many - anything that brings a smile is welcome.
There is another excellent long article for SMO enthusiasts in the NYT this morning - available via the paywall busting technology of your choice.
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump. - Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL. - Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so. - All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies. - Trump is Trump. - The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
My geopolitical sense of all this is that Trump wants to bomb Africans.
The BBC even somehow managed to find an expert to comment on this new register called Dawn Register.
Will it affect people who use it to buy completely legal things on the dark web? Asking for a friend.
My understanding is that that is all Monero these days (which PBers hopefully bought into when tipped it); so if you buy BTC and convert it to Monero which you store in your self hosted wallet then you'll be fine.
There is another excellent long article for SMO enthusiasts in the NYT this morning - available via the paywall busting technology of your choice.
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump. - Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL. - Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so. - All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies. - Trump is Trump. - The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
My geopolitical sense of all this is that Trump wants to bomb Africans.
And not necessarily those living on the continent of Africa.
I notice the Guardian has chose this moment to publish a piece by the Iranian foreign minister. I wonder if they will give a right of reply to an Iranian dissident.
The BBC even somehow managed to find an expert to comment on this new register called Dawn Register.
Will it affect people who use it to buy completely legal things on the dark web? Asking for a friend.
My understanding is that that is all Monero these days (which PBers hopefully bought into when tipped it); so if you buy BTC and convert it to Monero which you store in your self hosted wallet then you'll be fine.
Each BTC-Monero and Monero-BTC round trip then becomes subject to CGT, as do the GBP-BTC ones. Not a problem if only converting one way of course.
I notice the Guardian has chose this moment to publish a piece by the Iranian foreign minister. I wonder if they will give a right of reply to an Iranian dissident.
There is another excellent long article for SMO enthusiasts in the NYT this morning - available via the paywall busting technology of your choice.
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump. - Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL. - Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so. - All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies. - Trump is Trump. - The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
My geopolitical sense of all this is that Trump wants to bomb Africans.
And not necessarily those living on the continent of Africa.
Nigeria and Venezuela are both oil producers. The conspiratorial view would be he's trying to help Russia with market share.
Overheads are notorious for creating these kinds of ceiling fires. Which is where the modern style of stripping out all the ceiling tiles and leaving the a/c ducting etc exposed, in building with concrete ceilings, comes from.
I watched the first of a twenty four part series about the Iron Curtain earlier. It was on the BBC in 1998, and narrated by Kenneth Branagh. One thing that struck me immediately was the use of the past tense to describe what had happened, rather than the modern trend of using the present, which I find really irritating
That's a really good series. I still use it today when teaching the Cold War, especially the episodes on Berlin (1948/61) Korea and Cuba.
Wasn't there a series called "Cold War"? I have the book on my shelf.
- Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL.
They are cereal killers.
JD Vance does the Frosties receptions for the Ukranians. MTG and Loomer compete for the poptart. Too many to mention for the crunchy nuts.
Shirley, Your Party has a lock on the Fruit & Nuts option?
Is Your Party still any sort of thing?
Apart from a terrible warning?
I suppose it could be a slowburner. One of those things that doesn't do much at first but over time, due to qualities that need unhurried reflection to appreciate, become a force to be reckoned with. Like The Shawshank Redemption.
- The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
Horseshoe theory of politics alive and well it seems. Maybe we focus too much on ideology. In reality, weirdo sociopathic men for some reason find themselves at opposite ends of the political spectrum but their natural affinity draws them together.
The BBC even somehow managed to find an expert to comment on this new register called Dawn Register.
Will it affect people who use it to buy completely legal things on the dark web? Asking for a friend.
My understanding is that that is all Monero these days (which PBers hopefully bought into when tipped it); so if you buy BTC and convert it to Monero which you store in your self hosted wallet then you'll be fine.
Each BTC-Monero and Monero-BTC round trip then becomes subject to CGT, as do the GBP-BTC ones. Not a problem if only converting one way of course.
If you just want to speculate with Monero, then Coinbase allows you to buy it directly, I think.
Overheads are notorious for creating these kinds of ceiling fires. Which is where the modern style of stripping out all the ceiling tiles and leaving the a/c ducting etc exposed, in building with concrete ceilings, comes from.
Reminds me of this (which the start of was caught on video)
I notice the Guardian has chose this moment to publish a piece by the Iranian foreign minister. I wonder if they will give a right of reply to an Iranian dissident.
A Rasht decision?
Nobody got the pun?
OK. Rasht is a city on the Caspian Sea coast of Iran. It was briefly part of the Russian Empire from 1723-1732.
There is another excellent long article for SMO enthusiasts in the NYT this morning - available via the paywall busting technology of your choice.
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump. - Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL. - Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so. - All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies. - Trump is Trump. - The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
Is the JD view correct? Because right now, the only winner from the Ukraine war is China, which is increasingly reducing Russia to vassal status
Overheads are notorious for creating these kinds of ceiling fires. Which is where the modern style of stripping out all the ceiling tiles and leaving the a/c ducting etc exposed, in building with concrete ceilings, comes from.
Reminds me of this (which the start of was caught on video)
I watched the first of a twenty four part series about the Iron Curtain earlier. It was on the BBC in 1998, and narrated by Kenneth Branagh. One thing that struck me immediately was the use of the past tense to describe what had happened, rather than the modern trend of using the present, which I find really irritating
That's a really good series. I still use it today when teaching the Cold War, especially the episodes on Berlin (1948/61) Korea and Cuba.
Wasn't there a series called "Cold War"? I have the book on my shelf.
There is another excellent long article for SMO enthusiasts in the NYT this morning - available via the paywall busting technology of your choice.
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump. - Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL. - Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so. - All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies. - Trump is Trump. - The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
Is the JD view correct? Because right now, the only winner from the Ukraine war is China, which is increasingly reducing Russia to vassal status
A variant of Russia! Stonk! Theory! is that USA should ally with the Extra Heterosexual Manly Men of Russia (raping conscripts isn't gay, by the way) and work with them against China and the effete, Metrosexual Europeans.
There is another excellent long article for SMO enthusiasts in the NYT this morning - available via the paywall busting technology of your choice.
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump. - Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL. - Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so. - All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies. - Trump is Trump. - The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
Is the JD view correct? Because right now, the only winner from the Ukraine war is China, which is increasingly reducing Russia to vassal status
A variant of Russia! Stonk! Theory! is that USA should ally with the Extra Heterosexual Manly Men of Russia (raping conscripts isn't gay, by the way) and work with them against China and the effete, Metrosexual Europeans.
Let’s stonk To the rhythm of the honky tonk Stick a red nose on your conk And let’s stonk.
There is another excellent long article for SMO enthusiasts in the NYT this morning - available via the paywall busting technology of your choice.
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump. - Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL. - Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so. - All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies. - Trump is Trump. - The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
Is the JD view correct? Because right now, the only winner from the Ukraine war is China, which is increasingly reducing Russia to vassal status
I suspect Dura and Vance are persuaded by what Jonathan Haidt calls motivated reasoning. They want to be pro Russia so they find a justification for it.
Lavrov said the other day that if China attacked Taiwan Russia would likely support them. The US might want to go it alone (pace Venezuela) but their adversaries are still capable of aligning themselves.
Comments
Whose logic was truly eccentric.
The views he’d decried
He adopted with pride,
Till his polling turned quite atmospheric.
https://youtu.be/Q7h_aDZBUmA?si=MYg6JJeWT1UIAKC0
Trigger warning - includes Jacob Rees-Mogg.
For some of them, yes. I recall one that got @SeanT fuming, was a newish business hotel in a business park, just off the local roundabout on/off the motorway.
'Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, meanwhile, celebrated his party's performance in the local elections back in May, and looked forward to a successful performance in this year's round of council and assembly votes.
"We can win again in 2026 - in Scotland, Wales and across England," he said.'
Scotland and Wales? I think he's been on the cooking sherry.
N9tice he didn't mention the LibDems lacklustre performance in national opinion polls.
Says the Welsh Reform Party whose leader has just been jailed for ten years for being a Russian asset.
https://x.com/RUKWales/status/2005564469603434881
And starting from a premise that I don't think is correct.
That’s actually a good point and something to factor into betting.
Or people who, you know, need to book a hotel room for the night.
I'm better at haiku.
Pretentious Tory
The world revolves around him.
He loves to think so.
Lunch was celery, walnut and date salad with a lemon dressing.
Dinner the stock from the Xmas roast remnants plus more surplus celery and carrots and shallots (I bought way too much veg last week) into a slow cooked chicken casserole.
https://x.com/the_real_itdude/status/2006714837171077272
TL:DR the Russians put a $500k bounty on his head, and Ukranian spooks convinced Moscow they’d killed him to the point that the bounty got paid out. He wasn’t dead, he’s still working for Ukraine.
I declare it to be a success.
No other nationality is allowed on PB.
I have just done up some braised red cabbage (15p each, thank-you Tesco) for the freezer with old apples, onions, spices and vinegar.
I told it my holiday motto*, and that I like to drink beer while walking. It gave me a whole load more advice, centred around beer. And a cracking suggestion: put that motto on a T-shirt; people might buy you beer
Well done Grok. All of my T-shirts will say that!
*Je marche partout, et je bois comme un trou. In case you didn’t know
Most nice
https://foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/tom-kerridges-best-red-cabbage-with-cranberry-sauce
For my first visit to Reading Festival, our group had planned it practically a year in advance - post exam stuff at uni.
I booked a room in budget hotel locally and paid a deposit. With a couple of months to go, the manager rang me to try and break the booking - the hotel was supposed to be block booked for the support crews.
I held on. Some people laughed about over preparing. Then realised I had the only clean toilet and a shower that worked.
I see the Friends of Ed Davey are out in force this evening.
A 15% poll rating (according to YouGov) with the Conservatives on 19% reads pretty well for LDs defending their seats at this stage and the local by-election results in LD seats reflect that.
Rather like the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats have islands of activity surrounded by oceans of weakness.
The question for London LDs in May is not whether they can win Newham but whether they can make further progress in Merton and any progress in some of the other foothold Boroughs (as well as keeping Sutton, Richmond and Kingston). Reform may assist in those aims.
Davey became LD leader in August 2020, about four months after Starmer became Labour leader so he's only been party leader for five and a bit years. He's been the most successful LD leader since Paddy Ashdown and like Paddy has a lot for which to thank the Conservative Party. Given the incredible volatility de nos jours, I wouldn't go far as to say he will lead the party into the next election but it seems the most likely option and assuming a further advance or consolidation he might stand down a year or two later in favour of.....well, who knows?
It's doesn't tell much that seasoned observers of matters in the Donyetskiy Bassein didn't already know but it's well written and entertaining.
- Hegseth is a craven fucking bootlicker who just wants to please Trump even when it's not apparent what exactly would please Trump.
- Kellog is a cold war dinosaur who should have been pensioned off and let nowhere near the SMO. I didn't know the Russians had tried to assassinate him at an embassy dinner with a lethal injection. Fucking LOL.
- Zelenskiy, as we already know, doesn't listen to anybody and sporadically fucks himself and by extension Ukraine by not doing so.
- All of Trump's court eunuchs (Lutnick, that lanky cum stain Jared, etc.) run independent and competing foreign policies.
- Trump is Trump.
- The only person who seems to have a clear eyed strategy in the whole farrago is Just Dance. He thinks aiding Ukraine only helps Europe and is a complete misallocation of resources that should be going to the Pacific. He's probably right in strictly instrumental terms.
ETA my French at school ended with an A at GCSE when I was fourteen. I’m much more confident now, but only a bit more knowledgeable of the language
(Although, not suprisingly, this has led to the "short bus people" sneer.)
Similar buses are used by MetroKC, for the severely disabled in King County. (Ordinary buses, which I often ride, can accomodate most people in wheelchairs, or using walkers.)
(For the record: MetroKC subsidizes rides for oldies like me. It costs me a dollar for a ride, and I can use the transfer I can get when I board to return, for example, from a shopping trip, since the transfer lasts for four hours.)
Also known as swedes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CymTspAA8rI
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgl2je65klo
The BBC even somehow managed to find an expert to comment on this new register called Dawn Register.
It was SMASH (Single Malt And Single Hop) - Golden Promise and Centennial - IPA
I believe it will be good
MTG and Loomer compete for the poptart.
Too many to mention for the crunchy nuts.
Apart from a terrible warning?
Times are tough for many - anything that brings a smile is welcome.
Also with rice, chips, Peshwari naan and mango chutney.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c8xdxvj2qjdt
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-hop-water/
I hope it tastes better than it looks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire
OK. Rasht is a city on the Caspian Sea coast of Iran. It was briefly part of the Russian Empire from 1723-1732.
"Eu ando por todo o lado, e bebo como um desalmado"
I'm going to walk from Lisbon to Santiago next year
To the rhythm of the honky tonk
Stick a red nose on your conk
And let’s stonk.
Lavrov said the other day that if China attacked Taiwan Russia would likely support them. The US might want to go it alone (pace Venezuela) but their adversaries are still capable of aligning themselves.