What would his platform be? "Respect," he says and pauses heavily. "Respect." He sounds like the Godfather. "We're a second rate economic power, a debtor nation. We're getting kicked around." I try to imagine the kind of deals he would make with Gorbachev, and fail. I choose an issue. What would he do about Iran, for instance? "I'd be harsh on Iran. They've been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships and I'd do a number on Kharg Island. I'd go in and take it. Iran can't even beat Iraq, yet they push the United States around. It'd be good for the world to take them on."
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
I'm sure you can't mean you, because what you offered was a biased load of vapid bilge® stemming from your resentment about land-based oil extraction not facing the same health and safety constraints as off-shore - the field that you make your living from. You are not an impartial observer, and the point remains, if it is impractical, non-commercial, non-viable, and all the rest of the bollocks that's spouted about it, there is no need for a ban. Let people take the commercial risk if they want.
By the way, I have every sympathy with your frustrations. I want regulations to be sensible and as light as possible on all industries.
That's why it hasn't taken off. If it was economically viable it would be happening.
Fucking England....not only fucked it up, but could have least allowed France to score a try to win... as I had a sneaky 87p (Bet365 restricted) on France to score over 50...
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
It's just become pure culture wars stuff. Nothing at all to do now with actual energy extraction or security. It is now apparently merely a test of whether you believe in Britain or not.
Sadly, this is completely true.
It's like the WW1 "stabbed in the back" myth, that Germany would have won without the shadowy cabal having sabotaged them.
Only in this case, it's a shadowy cabal that caused Cuadrilla and iGas to fail to drill a single well that encountered commercial quantities of natural gas.
And the really bizarre thing is that there actually is a good story of the UK government having fucked up its hydrocarbons strategy: it's just in the North Sea, rather than the Bowland Shale.
Lest we forget Reform's energy policy is pure Arthur Scargil.
Restart coal mining and bring back traditional steelmaking to Wales, says Nigel Farage
I regularly visit Tata in Port Talbot. Not only was it good night Vienna for the blast furnaces when they went cold, but the dismantling has started. The electric arc furnaces are due to open in a couple of years perhaps he can claim them.
A spirited defeat that the RFU will decide "shows signs of improvement" and so Borthwick and Co stay in place, and nothing ever gets won
But, a defeat. Four defeats in a row. Totally unacceptable in the 6N for a nation with the money and player pool of England"
Imagine if England had Shaun Edwards defence, they kept England out a number of times, where as England couldn't keep them out whenerver they got into the 22.
Reform’s Richard Tice avoided nearly £600,000 in tax
The deputy leader’s property company paid nothing in corporation tax on multimillion-pound profits for most of 2018-21
The deputy leader of Reform UK avoided nearly £600,000 in corporation tax after obtaining a rare legal status for his company.
Richard Tice then channelled dividends, paid by the company, into structures including an offshore trust and a string of dormant businesses. Several did not pay any tax during the relevant period.
The MP for Boston & Skegness has served as Nigel Farage’s candidate for deputy prime minister since the last general election, and is also Reform’s spokesman for business, trade and energy.
It can be revealed today that his property company paid nothing in corporation tax on its multimillion-pound profits for most of 2018 to 2021. During the period, he served as leader of Reform; chairman of its forerunner, the Brexit Party; and a member of the European parliament.
He was still personally liable to pay tax on the dividends, but his company’s ownership structure — which included a trust in Jersey, three shell companies and a pension investment vehicle — further reduced his exposure to tax. In one year, four of six entities which received dividends paid no tax on them.
Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, said it was possible Tice was engaged in “highly aggressive tax planning”.
The very definition of a non-story, unless he's proven to have done something illegal
Indeed, it makes me more likely to vote for him
Do you want a businessman politician who dutifully pays the maximum amount of taxes without any attempt to legally lower them, or a cunning businessman poliitician who cleverly minimises tax, legally?
You want the latter
As long as your cunning businessman politician is happy that joe average taxpayer is also doing everything possible to cleverly minimise their tax legally. If so, fair game.
Fucking England....not only fucked it up, but could have least allowed France to score a try to win... as I had a sneaky 87p (Bet365 restricted) on France to score over 50...
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
I'm sure you can't mean you, because what you offered was a biased load of vapid bilge® stemming from your resentment about land-based oil extraction not facing the same health and safety constraints as off-shore - the field that you make your living from. You are not an impartial observer, and the point remains, if it is impractical, non-commercial, non-viable, and all the rest of the bollocks that's spouted about it, there is no need for a ban. Let people take the commercial risk if they want.
By the way, I have every sympathy with your frustrations. I want regulations to be sensible and as light as possible on all industries.
It's because it's impractical, non-commercial and non-viable that politicians can get the cost-free thanks* from the electorate of banning it.
* Or at least avoid the criticism for not banning it.
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
It's just become pure culture wars stuff. Nothing at all to do now with actual energy extraction or security. It is now apparently merely a test of whether you believe in Britain or not.
Sadly, this is completely true.
It's like the WW1 "stabbed in the back" myth, that Germany would have won without the shadowy cabal having sabotaged them.
Only in this case, it's a shadowy cabal that caused Cuadrilla and iGas to fail to drill a single well that encountered commercial quantities of natural gas.
And the really bizarre thing is that there actually is a good story of the UK government having fucked up its hydrocarbons strategy: it's just in the North Sea, rather than the Bowland Shale.
There is actually an interesting potential unconventional source of syngas in the UK, and that is in-situ gasification of coal fields. The issue is the risk of pollution of ground water, which happened at the Chinchilla project in Queensland. BUT: the potential is definitely there, and it could be a really interesting, relatively cheap, secure source of domestic energy.
Sorry to point this out, but you are not remotely an impartial observer either. In one of your relatively rare high quality observations on UK fracking, you agreed that the ban was not justified. I agree. I think that's where we should leave it.
There should not be a ban on fracking; as you say, let the market decide.
But that doesn't stop the fact that the Bowland Shale turned out to have significant issues: in particular,
(1) the organic content was way below where you wanted it to be (1-3% vs a generally accepted minimum of 4-7% for commercial explotation in the US) and (2) the geological structures were less attractive than the US; in particular it was much less homogeneous, which made the possibility of making it truly 'factory like' significantly harder. (And it's this factory process which is the whole 'joy' of shale. You just do it again, and again, getting slightly better every time.)
And then you have the problem that operating in the UK is going to be much more expensive than the US. For a start, there aren't thousands of trained staff, and a ready supply of horizontal drill rigs. I've been to horizontal drill pads in Texas, and watched wells being fracked. It takes a *lot* of space, which is much easier if you are in the middle of a State with a population density of less than 10% of the UK. (And that Texas population is mostly in a few big cities, with incredibly sparsely populated land in between.)
I would love it if shale gas in the UK made economic sense. But the combination of low organic content, geological compexity and high costs make it highly unlikely to be so.
(Do bear in mind, too, that there are many shales in the US that look much more attractive than Bowland, and yet still weren't commercially viable.)
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
It's just become pure culture wars stuff. Nothing at all to do now with actual energy extraction or security. It is now apparently merely a test of whether you believe in Britain or not.
Sadly, this is completely true.
It's like the WW1 "stabbed in the back" myth, that Germany would have won without the shadowy cabal having sabotaged them.
Only in this case, it's a shadowy cabal that caused Cuadrilla and iGas to fail to drill a single well that encountered commercial quantities of natural gas.
And the really bizarre thing is that there actually is a good story of the UK government having fucked up its hydrocarbons strategy: it's just in the North Sea, rather than the Bowland Shale.
Lest we forget Reform's energy policy is pure Arthur Scargil.
Restart coal mining and bring back traditional steelmaking to Wales, says Nigel Farage
I regularly visit Tata in Port Talbot. Not only was it good night Vienna for the blast furnaces when they went cold, but the dismantling has started. The electric arc furnaces are due to open in a couple of years perhaps he can claim them.
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
I'm sure you can't mean you, because what you offered was a biased load of vapid bilge® stemming from your resentment about land-based oil extraction not facing the same health and safety constraints as off-shore - the field that you make your living from. You are not an impartial observer, and the point remains, if it is impractical, non-commercial, non-viable, and all the rest of the bollocks that's spouted about it, there is no need for a ban. Let people take the commercial risk if they want.
By the way, I have every sympathy with your frustrations. I want regulations to be sensible and as light as possible on all industries.
That's why it hasn't taken off. If it was economically viable it would be happening.
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
I'm sure you can't mean you, because what you offered was a biased load of vapid bilge® stemming from your resentment about land-based oil extraction not facing the same health and safety constraints as off-shore - the field that you make your living from. You are not an impartial observer, and the point remains, if it is impractical, non-commercial, non-viable, and all the rest of the bollocks that's spouted about it, there is no need for a ban. Let people take the commercial risk if they want.
By the way, I have every sympathy with your frustrations. I want regulations to be sensible and as light as possible on all industries.
That's why it hasn't taken off. If it was economically viable it would be happening.
NO IT WOULDN'T BECAUSE IT IS BANNED.
What had happened to the share prices of Cuadrilla and iGas before the ban?
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
I'm sure you can't mean you, because what you offered was a biased load of vapid bilge® stemming from your resentment about land-based oil extraction not facing the same health and safety constraints as off-shore - the field that you make your living from. You are not an impartial observer, and the point remains, if it is impractical, non-commercial, non-viable, and all the rest of the bollocks that's spouted about it, there is no need for a ban. Let people take the commercial risk if they want.
By the way, I have every sympathy with your frustrations. I want regulations to be sensible and as light as possible on all industries.
That's why it hasn't taken off. If it was economically viable it would be happening.
NO IT WOULDN'T BECAUSE IT IS BANNED.
It wasn't banned until after it had failed to be commercially viable. At that point it was a free hit for the politicians.
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
I'm sure you can't mean you, because what you offered was a biased load of vapid bilge® stemming from your resentment about land-based oil extraction not facing the same health and safety constraints as off-shore - the field that you make your living from. You are not an impartial observer, and the point remains, if it is impractical, non-commercial, non-viable, and all the rest of the bollocks that's spouted about it, there is no need for a ban. Let people take the commercial risk if they want.
By the way, I have every sympathy with your frustrations. I want regulations to be sensible and as light as possible on all industries.
That's why it hasn't taken off. If it was economically viable it would be happening.
NO IT WOULDN'T BECAUSE IT IS BANNED.
What had happened to the share prices of Cuadrilla and iGas before the ban?
What would happen to your share price if your industry was being enmeshed in regularory red tape and heading toward being banned?
How long does Trump now think this war is going to last? It took us a week to get 1 destroyer fit to leave port. 2 aircraft carriers? It will take months.
And I would not be even remotely inclined to hurry to be frank.
What use are aicraft carriers as escort vessels?
If they are providing aircraft or helicopters to cover off drones or missiles I suppose.
Why not just base the aircraft and helicopters on land? The Strait of Hormuz is not wide.
There may be a difference between a fixed location in an airfield and a target that moves around at sea. It depends on the level of technology they are facing.
If they are in an anti-ship role or anti-ground role, then the instrument of attack is the aircraft, and the F35b can cover 20ish miles in a minute. There's no *need* for the ship itself to be in the Strait. It can loiter lots of miles away and just have the planes patrolling. It'll need something to escort it to make sure it doesn't get droned.
The Mediterranean, the Strait of Hormuz...this is not optimum carrier territory. It's far too close to land. It should be roaming the Atlantic or Pacific, not ten miles from shore.
What would his platform be? "Respect," he says and pauses heavily. "Respect." He sounds like the Godfather. "We're a second rate economic power, a debtor nation. We're getting kicked around." I try to imagine the kind of deals he would make with Gorbachev, and fail. I choose an issue. What would he do about Iran, for instance? "I'd be harsh on Iran. They've been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships and I'd do a number on Kharg Island. I'd go in and take it. Iran can't even beat Iraq, yet they push the United States around. It'd be good for the world to take them on."
That is one powerful and sophisticated geopolitical brain, isn't it. No way was it ever going to be fulfilled by real estate and reality tv.
What would his platform be? "Respect," he says and pauses heavily. "Respect." He sounds like the Godfather. "We're a second rate economic power, a debtor nation. We're getting kicked around." I try to imagine the kind of deals he would make with Gorbachev, and fail. I choose an issue. What would he do about Iran, for instance? "I'd be harsh on Iran. They've been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships and I'd do a number on Kharg Island. I'd go in and take it. Iran can't even beat Iraq, yet they push the United States around. It'd be good for the world to take them on."
That is one powerful and sophisticated geopolitical brain, isn't it. No way was it ever going to be fulfilled by real estate and reality tv.
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
I'm sure you can't mean you, because what you offered was a biased load of vapid bilge® stemming from your resentment about land-based oil extraction not facing the same health and safety constraints as off-shore - the field that you make your living from. You are not an impartial observer, and the point remains, if it is impractical, non-commercial, non-viable, and all the rest of the bollocks that's spouted about it, there is no need for a ban. Let people take the commercial risk if they want.
By the way, I have every sympathy with your frustrations. I want regulations to be sensible and as light as possible on all industries.
That's why it hasn't taken off. If it was economically viable it would be happening.
NO IT WOULDN'T BECAUSE IT IS BANNED.
What had happened to the share prices of Cuadrilla and iGas before the ban?
What would happen to your share price if your industry was being enmeshed in regularory red tape and heading toward being banned?
The share prices fell because they announced disappointing results from the wells they drilled! I know, I owned lots of iGas.
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
The serious collector moves into a tiny cottage on his land, and reserves the main house for his objects only:
What would his platform be? "Respect," he says and pauses heavily. "Respect." He sounds like the Godfather. "We're a second rate economic power, a debtor nation. We're getting kicked around." I try to imagine the kind of deals he would make with Gorbachev, and fail. I choose an issue. What would he do about Iran, for instance? "I'd be harsh on Iran. They've been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships and I'd do a number on Kharg Island. I'd go in and take it. Iran can't even beat Iraq, yet they push the United States around. It'd be good for the world to take them on."
That is one powerful and sophisticated geopolitical brain, isn't it. No way was it ever going to be fulfilled by real estate and reality tv.
This is still reality TV.
Unfortunately we are all participants.
Yep. Second series commissioned by a few gullibles in the USA rustbelt and now beamed live around the globe 24/7 with no off switch.
What would his platform be? "Respect," he says and pauses heavily. "Respect." He sounds like the Godfather. "We're a second rate economic power, a debtor nation. We're getting kicked around." I try to imagine the kind of deals he would make with Gorbachev, and fail. I choose an issue. What would he do about Iran, for instance? "I'd be harsh on Iran. They've been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships and I'd do a number on Kharg Island. I'd go in and take it. Iran can't even beat Iraq, yet they push the United States around. It'd be good for the world to take them on."
Chessum not heading closer to the posts lost that game.
That and that blooming yellow right on half-time.
Incidentally, is Henry Pollock what you end up with if you start with BoJo and specify the "all muscle" option? A lot of it's the hair, but it's not just the hair.
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
There is a reason they look relatively rustic
When I got the guy in to do my windowblinds and painting as part of my overall refurb (now 11 months in, and weeks from finishing, finally) he noted that, remarkably, I have the window frames and panels and glass from when the house was first built in the 1830s. The panes are original, the sash windows are original, it's all here
So, nah, I'm not gonna sand everything down so it looks like a Barratt Home in Bedfordshire
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
It's just become pure culture wars stuff. Nothing at all to do now with actual energy extraction or security. It is now apparently merely a test of whether you believe in Britain or not.
Sadly, this is completely true.
It's like the WW1 "stabbed in the back" myth, that Germany would have won without the shadowy cabal having sabotaged them.
Only in this case, it's a shadowy cabal that caused Cuadrilla and iGas to fail to drill a single well that encountered commercial quantities of natural gas.
And the really bizarre thing is that there actually is a good story of the UK government having fucked up its hydrocarbons strategy: it's just in the North Sea, rather than the Bowland Shale.
There is actually an interesting potential unconventional source of syngas in the UK, and that is in-situ gasification of coal fields. The issue is the risk of pollution of ground water, which happened at the Chinchilla project in Queensland. BUT: the potential is definitely there, and it could be a really interesting, relatively cheap, secure source of domestic energy.
Sorry to point this out, but you are not remotely an impartial observer either. In one of your relatively rare high quality observations on UK fracking, you agreed that the ban was not justified. I agree. I think that's where we should leave it.
There should not be a ban on fracking; as you say, let the market decide.
But that doesn't stop the fact that the Bowland Shale turned out to have significant issues: in particular,
(1) the organic content was way below where you wanted it to be (1-3% vs a generally accepted minimum of 4-7% for commercial explotation in the US) and (2) the geological structures were less attractive than the US; in particular it was much less homogeneous, which made the possibility of making it truly 'factory like' significantly harder. (And it's this factory process which is the whole 'joy' of shale. You just do it again, and again, getting slightly better every time.)
And then you have the problem that operating in the UK is going to be much more expensive than the US. For a start, there aren't thousands of trained staff, and a ready supply of horizontal drill rigs. I've been to horizontal drill pads in Texas, and watched wells being fracked. It takes a *lot* of space, which is much easier if you are in the middle of a State with a population density of less than 10% of the UK. (And that Texas population is mostly in a few big cities, with incredibly sparsely populated land in between.)
I would love it if shale gas in the UK made economic sense. But the combination of low organic content, geological compexity and high costs make it highly unlikely to be so.
(Do bear in mind, too, that there are many shales in the US that look much more attractive than Bowland, and yet still weren't commercially viable.)
Surely even you must see that you argument about 'thousands of trained staff' is utterly circular. Why would there be thousands of trained staff if the industry is banned? Why would there be a ready supply of horizontal drill rigs?
As for the rest of what you say, a web search tells me that:
The organic content of the Bowland-Hodder shales is typically in the range of 1-3% but can reach 8%
So I don't see much value in calculating the entire industry's viability based on mean averages.
The piece I've linked to also reminds us of the joke of UK regulations before the ban:
The seismicity limit in the UK is currently set to 0.5 on the Richter Scale. This means operations must stop when seismic activity of 0.5 on the Richter Scale or higher is recorded....The UK limit seems to be quite conservative when comparing to Canada and the USA, where the upper limit is set at 4 on the Richter Scale. In its call to the government -To end “unworkable” shale policy or end shale- Jim Ratcliffe, INEOS Chairman makes following statement, “The Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) seems to lack a basic understanding of the Richter Scale. It is a logarithmic scale. The limit within the United States is typically set at 4.0 – a level that the US Environmental Protection Agency feels is safe and will not lead to any damage to land, property or people. To put that into perspective, magnitude 4.0 is 3,162 times higher than 0.5 and 177,827 times stronger in terms of energy release.”
And the Government were playing silly buggers with planning too:
The government has however rejected their appeal for planning permission to develop four fracking wells in the Fylde area because of traffic concerns.
Fracking, like every other British industry, has suffered from an utterly captured useless civil service, and equally useless joke politicians like Alok Sharma and Jimmy Dimly, whose lifetime ambition was one day to shake hands with George Clooney.
It was not given a chance to survive, much less support, and it already faced hostility and a vast array of deliberate obstacles before it was banned.
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
There is a reason they look relatively rustic
When I got the guy in to do my windowblinds and painting as part of my overall refurb (now 11 months in, and weeks from finishing, finally) he noted that, remarkably, I have the window frames and panels and glass from when the house was first built in the 1830s. The panes are original, the sash windows are original, it's all here
So, nah, I'm not gonna sand everything down so it looks like a Barratt Home in Bedfordshire
Definitely noom as I can see the ghostly face of a cat in that globe to the right hand side slightly towards the bottom.
It looks good but I wonder if it doesn't rather overpower your fossils.
Of course it does. They are just the backdrop in this scene, deliberately humdrum but with some modest presence. Like mildly interesting extras in a movie frame
I have other fossils which are AMAZEBOMBS, but they are elsewhere
eg that horrible evil trilobite is now perched in my bathroom, so it stares at me, menacingly, during my ablutions. This means I keep things brisk
Proper sport happening at Indian Wells this evening. Never mind this Rugby lark.
Have signed up to a Philippine TV channel to stream it, and am behind a VPN. Let's see how much they overcharge my card...
You don't have sky sports?
I only watch the bigger tennis and snooker events. Not really worth it...
Ah ok. No, I wouldn't get sky just for that. I'm into lots of sports. Too many really. About the only big ones I can't get into are basketball, show jumping and motoGP.
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
Doesn't look like many nations rushing to send ships to the Hormuz Strait at present. Given the greatness of the US under Trump one would have thought they could police the Straits
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
There is a reason they look relatively rustic
When I got the guy in to do my windowblinds and painting as part of my overall refurb (now 11 months in, and weeks from finishing, finally) he noted that, remarkably, I have the window frames and panels and glass from when the house was first built in the 1830s. The panes are original, the sash windows are original, it's all here
So, nah, I'm not gonna sand everything down so it looks like a Barratt Home in Bedfordshire
Definitely noom as I can see the ghostly face of a cat in that globe to the right hand side slightly towards the bottom.
You can?? I don't have a cat
It is hypnotic in its mix of reflections and luminescence
eg I cannot recognise anything in the reflections in this pic, except for the yellow bottle of Miracle-Gro plant food, which I bought for my succulents, it's down there bottom right
What's genius about this stone is that it changes all the time., through the day, as the light hits at different angles. Suddenly it will glow bright orangey-green,. then back to electric blue, and so on. All for £32. I love eBay
It looks good but I wonder if it doesn't rather overpower your fossils.
Of course it does. They are just the backdrop in this scene, deliberately humdrum but with some modest presence. Like mildly interesting extras in a movie frame
I have other fossils which are AMAZEBOMBS, but they are elsewhere
eg that horrible evil trilobite is now perched in my bathroom, so it stares at me, menacingly, during my ablutions. This means I keep things brisk
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
There is a reason they look relatively rustic
When I got the guy in to do my windowblinds and painting as part of my overall refurb (now 11 months in, and weeks from finishing, finally) he noted that, remarkably, I have the window frames and panels and glass from when the house was first built in the 1830s. The panes are original, the sash windows are original, it's all here
So, nah, I'm not gonna sand everything down so it looks like a Barratt Home in Bedfordshire
Definitely noom as I can see the ghostly face of a cat in that globe to the right hand side slightly towards the bottom.
You can?? I don't have a cat
It is hypnotic in its mix of reflections and luminescence
eg I cannot recognise anything in the reflections in this pic, except for the yellow bottle of Miracle-Gro plant food, which I bought for my succulents, it's down there bottom right
What's genius about this stone is that it changes all the time., through the day, as the light hits at different angles. Suddenly it will glow bright orangey-green,. then back to electric blue, and so on. All for £32. I love eBay
The cat is just above the plant food bottle. Two eyes, cute cat nose, whiskers.
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
There is a reason they look relatively rustic
When I got the guy in to do my windowblinds and painting as part of my overall refurb (now 11 months in, and weeks from finishing, finally) he noted that, remarkably, I have the window frames and panels and glass from when the house was first built in the 1830s. The panes are original, the sash windows are original, it's all here
So, nah, I'm not gonna sand everything down so it looks like a Barratt Home in Bedfordshire
Definitely noom as I can see the ghostly face of a cat in that globe to the right hand side slightly towards the bottom.
You can?? I don't have a cat
It is hypnotic in its mix of reflections and luminescence
eg I cannot recognise anything in the reflections in this pic, except for the yellow bottle of Miracle-Gro plant food, which I bought for my succulents, it's down there bottom right
What's genius about this stone is that it changes all the time., through the day, as the light hits at different angles. Suddenly it will glow bright orangey-green,. then back to electric blue, and so on. All for £32. I love eBay
In MR James's The Stalls of Barchester the reverend doesn't have a cat. And yet...
It looks good but I wonder if it doesn't rather overpower your fossils.
Of course it does. They are just the backdrop in this scene, deliberately humdrum but with some modest presence. Like mildly interesting extras in a movie frame
I have other fossils which are AMAZEBOMBS, but they are elsewhere
eg that horrible evil trilobite is now perched in my bathroom, so it stares at me, menacingly, during my ablutions. This means I keep things brisk
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
You'll be full on crystal wellbeing soon
Yes, I can now kind-of see what woowoo hippykids are into, with crystals
I've bought about six spheres now. Rose quartz, obsidian, druzy agate, etc. They are all insanely cheap given the power and beauty - £20-£40
Labradorite is my favourite so far, but carnelian is also special
The combo of eBay and Chinese capitalism and maybe people being stupider means you can buy lots and lots of beautiful things for ridiculously cheap prices
Doesn't look like many nations rushing to send ships to the Hormuz Strait at present. Given the greatness of the US under Trump one would have thought they could police the Straits
You have a beautifully succinct and understated sense of humour. You're the male right of centre Victoria Wood of Essex.
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
There is a reason they look relatively rustic
When I got the guy in to do my windowblinds and painting as part of my overall refurb (now 11 months in, and weeks from finishing, finally) he noted that, remarkably, I have the window frames and panels and glass from when the house was first built in the 1830s. The panes are original, the sash windows are original, it's all here
So, nah, I'm not gonna sand everything down so it looks like a Barratt Home in Bedfordshire
Definitely noom as I can see the ghostly face of a cat in that globe to the right hand side slightly towards the bottom.
You can?? I don't have a cat
It is hypnotic in its mix of reflections and luminescence
eg I cannot recognise anything in the reflections in this pic, except for the yellow bottle of Miracle-Gro plant food, which I bought for my succulents, it's down there bottom right
What's genius about this stone is that it changes all the time., through the day, as the light hits at different angles. Suddenly it will glow bright orangey-green,. then back to electric blue, and so on. All for £32. I love eBay
The cat is just above the plant food bottle. Two eyes, cute cat nose, whiskers.
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
It's just become pure culture wars stuff. Nothing at all to do now with actual energy extraction or security. It is now apparently merely a test of whether you believe in Britain or not.
I often wonder whether Lucky Guy is one of the few contributers brave enough to use his own image in his avatar.
If so, he does give the appearance of being in the sales department of whatever outfit he works for rather than something more operational. And it also feels right for his contribution on here - say something that sounds good to his aim and see if it lands, somewhere in the background of his avatar is his terror eyed pre-sales consultant bag carrier going "what magic in the name of hell am I going to use to deliver that mound of vapour he has just promised?"
Meanwhile, PB is stuffed full of folk who are far more likely to identify with said bag carrier.
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
You'll be full on crystal wellbeing soon
Yes, I can now kind-of see what woowoo hippykids are into, with crystals
I've bought about six spheres now. Rose quartz, obsidian, druzy agate, etc. They are all insanely cheap given the power and beauty - £20-£40
Labradorite is my favourite so far, but carnelian is also special
The combo of eBay and Chinese capitalism and maybe people being stupider means you can buy lots and lots of beautiful things for ridiculously cheap prices
Lapis lazuli is farcically cheap given that there are only2 or 3 mines in the world. And one is in Afghanistan. They won't align your chakras mind.
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
You'll be full on crystal wellbeing soon
Yes, I can now kind-of see what woowoo hippykids are into, with crystals
I've bought about six spheres now. Rose quartz, obsidian, druzy agate, etc. They are all insanely cheap given the power and beauty - £20-£40
Labradorite is my favourite so far, but carnelian is also special
The combo of eBay and Chinese capitalism and maybe people being stupider means you can buy lots and lots of beautiful things for ridiculously cheap prices
Lapis lazuli is farcically cheap given that there are only2 or 3 mines in the world. And one is in Afghanistan. They won't align your chakras mind.
It really is! I bought a stunning lapis man-bracelet on sisowath quay, Phnom Penh, about 3 weeks ago. It’s medium-good quality from the Afghan mines (it follows an old Silk Road trail down to Bangkok - then to Cambodia)
£20
Twenty quid for a succulent Afghan lapis lazuli bracelet
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
You'll be full on crystal wellbeing soon
Yes, I can now kind-of see what woowoo hippykids are into, with crystals
I've bought about six spheres now. Rose quartz, obsidian, druzy agate, etc. They are all insanely cheap given the power and beauty - £20-£40 Labradorite is my favourite so far, but carnelian is also special
The combo of eBay and Chinese capitalism and maybe people being stupider means you can buy lots and lots of beautiful things for ridiculously cheap prices
"Luscious Leon here, your genial guide to the Crystal Maze, welcome. Six intrepid PBers have gathered here in order that they might pit their wits and skills against the many fiendish and devious games which lie in wait for them in the four adventure zones within the Crystal Maze. Now if they're clever, or very, very lucky, they may win the odd time crystal or two, and the more crystals they get, the more time they get to spend inside the Crystal Dome behind me, where they might win some fabulous, or maybe not so fabulous prizes. Let's meet these brave PBers, shall we?"
It's really not. She's very online, an Atlanticist by trade, confrontational and a shallow, reflexive thinker.
Her immediate view, which would have been emotionally butressed by the right wing social media whirl that is her universe, was to support Trump. The fact that this was also in opposition to Labour's position only inflamed the bloodlust.
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
There is a reason they look relatively rustic
When I got the guy in to do my windowblinds and painting as part of my overall refurb (now 11 months in, and weeks from finishing, finally) he noted that, remarkably, I have the window frames and panels and glass from when the house was first built in the 1830s. The panes are original, the sash windows are original, it's all here
So, nah, I'm not gonna sand everything down so it looks like a Barratt Home in Bedfordshire
Definitely noom as I can see the ghostly face of a cat in that globe to the right hand side slightly towards the bottom.
You can?? I don't have a cat
It is hypnotic in its mix of reflections and luminescence
eg I cannot recognise anything in the reflections in this pic, except for the yellow bottle of Miracle-Gro plant food, which I bought for my succulents, it's down there bottom right
What's genius about this stone is that it changes all the time., through the day, as the light hits at different angles. Suddenly it will glow bright orangey-green,. then back to electric blue, and so on. All for £32. I love eBay
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
There is a reason they look relatively rustic
When I got the guy in to do my windowblinds and painting as part of my overall refurb (now 11 months in, and weeks from finishing, finally) he noted that, remarkably, I have the window frames and panels and glass from when the house was first built in the 1830s. The panes are original, the sash windows are original, it's all here
So, nah, I'm not gonna sand everything down so it looks like a Barratt Home in Bedfordshire
Definitely noom as I can see the ghostly face of a cat in that globe to the right hand side slightly towards the bottom.
You can?? I don't have a cat
It is hypnotic in its mix of reflections and luminescence
Gaze into the eyes of an oriental feline and you will forget these gimcrack bits of rock.
For the first time, an Iranian-backed militia has carried out an FPV drone attack in Iraq, an incredibly dangerous new development. Seen here, the FPV munition flies around Victory Base near Baghdad International Airport before slamming into a building
Delighted to announce I have reached an agreement with the National Army Museum which will mean that my collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses - the largest in the world - will go on display there
'The US may not do a tap about a surface escort corridor when it comes to the Straits of Hormuz, it may be left to the Gulf states and the Europeans, who, by the way are capable of managing an escort line.'
Turns out that post wasnt too far off. The US hasnt got the kit knocking about
I see everyone needs cheering up. Especially the Irish. So look here’s the latest addition to my increasingly deranged flat
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
All that wealth, and you still can't sand and paint a window sill. 😄
Labradorite - the 60s and 70s favourite bland storefront cladding.
By the way I am amused to see @Luckyguy yet again going on about fracking at the end of the last thread. I have lost track of the number of times those who actually know something about this have told him it is not practical in the UK. Hell, even the head of Quadrilla who were at the forefront of exploring this has said it is not a viable proposition.
I'm sure you can't mean you, because what you offered was a biased load of vapid bilge® stemming from your resentment about land-based oil extraction not facing the same health and safety constraints as off-shore - the field that you make your living from. You are not an impartial observer, and the point remains, if it is impractical, non-commercial, non-viable, and all the rest of the bollocks that's spouted about it, there is no need for a ban. Let people take the commercial risk if they want.
By the way, I have every sympathy with your frustrations. I want regulations to be sensible and as light as possible on all industries.
What a dumb posting - even for you. Land based extraction is just as much my field as offshore. I have worked dozens of land based oil fields in the UK including providing operations cover for fracking operations. A nice earner even if utterly pointless. Hence the reason that, unlike you, I know what I am talking about.
And it is not just me. Everyone else on here who actually knows anything about fracking has already told you exactly the same thing. RCS repeated it only a few days ago. So if I were you I would drop the ad hominem bollocks and actually look at the facts. Ban or no ban fracking is not practical or economic in the UK because of the geology.
Starmer agreed that ditching jury trials led to wrongful convictions PM found Troubles-era courts limited judges’ ability to ‘properly test evidence’ ... We formed the view that the issue with regard to the Diplock Courts is not miscarriage of justice; but that the Northern Ireland [Emergency Provisions] Act does not provide for adequate “carriage” of justice in the first place. The state of the law is such that it enables wrongful convictions to occur in the absence of any procedural or judicial error. The Diplock Courts are failing to secure reliable convictions based on properly tested evidence. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/14/keir-starmer-jury-trial-labour-wrongful-conviction-troubles/ (£££)
Starmer agreed that ditching jury trials led to wrongful convictions PM found Troubles-era courts limited judges’ ability to ‘properly test evidence’ ... We formed the view that the issue with regard to the Diplock Courts is not miscarriage of justice; but that the Northern Ireland [Emergency Provisions] Act does not provide for adequate “carriage” of justice in the first place. The state of the law is such that it enables wrongful convictions to occur in the absence of any procedural or judicial error. The Diplock Courts are failing to secure reliable convictions based on properly tested evidence. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/14/keir-starmer-jury-trial-labour-wrongful-conviction-troubles/ (£££)
"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."
Delighted to announce I have reached an agreement with the National Army Museum which will mean that my collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses - the largest in the world - will go on display there
Delighted to announce I have reached an agreement with the National Army Museum which will mean that my collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses - the largest in the world - will go on display there
Comments
https://x.com/sethjlevy/status/2032628728350515339
What would his platform be? "Respect," he says and pauses heavily. "Respect." He sounds like the Godfather. "We're a second rate economic power, a debtor nation. We're getting kicked around." I try to imagine the kind of deals he would make with Gorbachev, and fail. I choose an issue. What would he do about Iran, for instance? "I'd be harsh on Iran. They've been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships and I'd do a number on Kharg Island. I'd go in and take it. Iran can't even beat Iraq, yet they push the United States around. It'd be good for the world to take them on."
An England fan speaks
‘C’Mon England’ - Gerry Adams.
https://x.com/gerryadamssf/status/2032912813572698317?s=61
"This is going to be the worst result for England
A spirited defeat that the RFU will decide "shows signs of improvement" and so Borthwick and Co stay in place, and nothing ever gets won
But, a defeat. Four defeats in a row. Totally unacceptable in the 6N for a nation with the money and player pool of England"
Oh and all the deep mines are full of water.
Taxes should be low, flat, and paid by all.
Heh....
The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix will not take place in April
Due to the ongoing situation in the Middle East the Grands Prix, alongside F2, F3, and F1 Academy rounds, will not take place as scheduled
While alternatives were considered, no substitutions will be made in April
https://x.com/F1/status/2032939894989836767
Switzerland has closed its airspace to US military flights directly related to the war against Iran, Bloomberg reports.
Strict neutrality and all that?
* Or at least avoid the criticism for not banning it.
But that doesn't stop the fact that the Bowland Shale turned out to have significant issues: in particular,
(1) the organic content was way below where you wanted it to be (1-3% vs a generally accepted minimum of 4-7% for commercial explotation in the US)
and
(2) the geological structures were less attractive than the US; in particular it was much less homogeneous, which made the possibility of making it truly 'factory like' significantly harder. (And it's this factory process which is the whole 'joy' of shale. You just do it again, and again, getting slightly better every time.)
And then you have the problem that operating in the UK is going to be much more expensive than the US. For a start, there aren't thousands of trained staff, and a ready supply of horizontal drill rigs. I've been to horizontal drill pads in Texas, and watched wells being fracked. It takes a *lot* of space, which is much easier if you are in the middle of a State with a population density of less than 10% of the UK. (And that Texas population is mostly in a few big cities, with incredibly sparsely populated land in between.)
I would love it if shale gas in the UK made economic sense. But the combination of low organic content, geological compexity and high costs make it highly unlikely to be so.
(Do bear in mind, too, that there are many shales in the US that look much more attractive than Bowland, and yet still weren't commercially viable.)
The Mediterranean, the Strait of Hormuz...this is not optimum carrier territory. It's far too close to land. It should be roaming the Atlantic or Pacific, not ten miles from shore.
Unfortunately we are all participants.
Have signed up to a Philippine TV channel to stream it, and am behind a VPN. Let's see how much they overcharge my card...
It’s a sphere of pure Labradorite. I’ve put it on a Georgian jelly glass (a strangely perfect display method) on a bed of fossils, foreign coins and random metal detector finds (Roman buckles to 30s car badges)
That aethereal and noomy blue glow when the sun hits the sphere is called “Labradorescence”
“Inside labradorite are microscopic layers of different feldspar crystals stacked like an impossibly thin mille-feuille. When light enters the stone it bounces between those layers and interferes with itself. Certain wavelengths reinforce each other and leap back out as colour. Others cancel out and disappear.
Result: a dark stone that suddenly ignites with colour when the angle is right.”
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/gloucestershire-cotswolds/snowshill-manor-and-garden
Incidentally, is Henry Pollock what you end up with if you start with BoJo and specify the "all muscle" option? A lot of it's the hair, but it's not just the hair.
When I got the guy in to do my windowblinds and painting as part of my overall refurb (now 11 months in, and weeks from finishing, finally) he noted that, remarkably, I have the window frames and panels and glass from when the house was first built in the 1830s. The panes are original, the sash windows are original, it's all here
So, nah, I'm not gonna sand everything down so it looks like a Barratt Home in Bedfordshire
A sphere of pure Labradorite is £32 on eBay
I promise, you will not regret it. Put it somewhere that the sun can hit it, and it is utterly mesmering and oddly consoling
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256494528450?_skw=labradorite&itmmeta=01KKQ7PS8PS4PXGHHK11V8FMY1&hash=item3bb843e7c2:g:4ckAAOSw13lmLnS5&itmprp=enc:AQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xAIwXlzj7ohUHTvqrRvZJO8Q2e6XkCk9xDac1hNZfiE51G7gqFmIrdALHupinVpXStoDxmJLbaveVuOWV9Nt44G2ViWiB7DZZwxDktPECILnJIioYs1ktzlM9UDYAA7M/m6khOr5DVOvT9tfVt+qUPxGT3uXjWzJvVJNsvN3XpwSzt6p/fr9m0M+CLJaSTTWT7KhP2xRNwodn4m2wBOJKv5jdygHnNGjJhyIcxZMi6DcR715XG2EMINADaNwV26Jh0=|tkp:Bk9SR-CU2-edZw
As for the rest of what you say, a web search tells me that:
So I don't see much value in calculating the entire industry's viability based on mean averages.
The piece I've linked to also reminds us of the joke of UK regulations before the ban:
And the Government were playing silly buggers with planning too:
Fracking, like every other British industry, has suffered from an utterly captured useless civil service, and equally useless joke politicians like Alok Sharma and Jimmy Dimly, whose lifetime ambition was one day to shake hands with George Clooney.
It was not given a chance to survive, much less support, and it already faced hostility and a vast array of deliberate obstacles before it was banned.
I have other fossils which are AMAZEBOMBS, but they are elsewhere
eg that horrible evil trilobite is now perched in my bathroom, so it stares at me, menacingly, during my ablutions. This means I keep things brisk
It is hypnotic in its mix of reflections and luminescence
eg I cannot recognise anything in the reflections in this pic, except for the yellow bottle of Miracle-Gro plant food, which I bought for my succulents, it's down there bottom right
What's genius about this stone is that it changes all the time., through the day, as the light hits at different angles. Suddenly it will glow bright orangey-green,. then back to electric blue, and so on. All for £32. I love eBay
Some things need to be savoured.
Or maybe i am going mad.
Edit: I did enlarge the image in a new tab
noomy.
I've bought about six spheres now. Rose quartz, obsidian, druzy agate, etc. They are all insanely cheap given the power and beauty - £20-£40
Labradorite is my favourite so far, but carnelian is also special
The combo of eBay and Chinese capitalism and maybe people being stupider means you can buy lots and lots of beautiful things for ridiculously cheap prices
What on earth is going on in our prison service?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15646729/Londons-Burning-star-John-Alford-dead-jail.html
You're the male right of centre Victoria Wood of Essex.
If so, he does give the appearance of being in the sales department of whatever outfit he works for rather than something more operational. And it also feels right for his contribution on here - say something that sounds good to his aim and see if it lands, somewhere in the background of his avatar is his terror eyed pre-sales consultant bag carrier going "what magic in the name of hell am I going to use to deliver that mound of vapour he has just promised?"
Meanwhile, PB is stuffed full of folk who are far more likely to identify with said bag carrier.
They won't align your chakras mind.
£20
Twenty quid for a succulent Afghan lapis lazuli bracelet
Why she decided to follow Trump is baffling.
Her immediate view, which would have been emotionally butressed by the right wing social media whirl that is her universe, was to support Trump. The fact that this was also in opposition to Labour's position only inflamed the bloodlust.
Perhaps a cat has you - https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/More_Ghost_Stories_of_an_Antiquary/The_Stalls_of_Barchester_Cathedral
Plenty of wine; convivial, but sobering.
https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/2032964990857293987?s=20
https://x.com/LordAshcroft/status/2032955193931784528?s=20
'The US may not do a tap about a surface escort corridor when it comes to the Straits of Hormuz, it may be left to the Gulf states and the Europeans, who, by the way are capable of managing an escort line.'
Turns out that post wasnt too far off. The US hasnt got the kit knocking about
And it is not just me. Everyone else on here who actually knows anything about fracking has already told you exactly the same thing. RCS repeated it only a few days ago. So if I were you I would drop the ad hominem bollocks and actually look at the facts. Ban or no ban fracking is not practical or economic in the UK because of the geology.
https://karpathy.ai/jobs/
AI exposure: 9/10
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/math/mathematicians-and-statisticians.htm
Good job nobody on here makes a living out of such an occupation.
PM found Troubles-era courts limited judges’ ability to ‘properly test evidence’
...
We formed the view that the issue with regard to the Diplock Courts is not miscarriage of justice; but that the Northern Ireland [Emergency Provisions] Act does not provide for adequate “carriage” of justice in the first place. The state of the law is such that it enables wrongful convictions to occur in the absence of any procedural or judicial error. The Diplock Courts are failing to secure reliable convictions based on properly tested evidence.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/14/keir-starmer-jury-trial-labour-wrongful-conviction-troubles/ (£££)
NEW THREAD
3.5-4 million dwellings were damaged or destroyed in the UK; that was just under 30% of the housing stock.
The breakdown is 200k destroyed, 250k seriously damaged, the rest being minor. 1 million in London, the remainder outside.