Sorry, but do you seriously think that Twitter account looks reliable in any way, shape or form?
As per the edit on my earlier post, I can't see the Connolly judge, who was in Birmingham, listed for Southampton Crown Court. Let me know if you have anything that looks more plausible than the tweets of a nutter.
Looks like the claim is that it's the Southport Judge and that's also a fix and it's as bad as what They did to Connolly.
There may be something in that, or it could be a bad case of Twitter Brain.
It seems there are a whole set of people who don't understand that we have the riot act (with serious punishments) as serious sentences rapidly stops people rioting when they discover throwing things results in 3 years in jail...
And it's not unique to the UK, it's just in large parts of the world guns are used instead...
Edit - the irony is that it actually doesn't matter who the judge is - sentencing guidelines are there to make sure judges follow the same calculations when sentencing people...
And the sentencing guidelines have to be followed - if they weren’t, Connolly would have had a trivial time appealing the sentence.
If you read the sentencing guidelines for what she was charged with, it was right down the middle.
Also the first 2 offenders have records as long as your arm.
Specially designed cycle paths on the hill out of Brixham and towards Paignton. Specifically introduced to help cyclist safety from large articulated fish lorries, and seasonal traffic.
Cyclists generally ignore it, block traffic cause gridlock.
Many with more fecking cameras on them than GCHQ... Ready to report you for yelling "get on the fucking cycle path" as you drive past.
There are three types of cycle path.
1. Well-designed cycle paths that make cycling better - cyclists will use these paths. 2. Badly-designed cycle paths that make cycling more dangerous, or less convenient - cyclists will not use these paths. 3. Paint on the road surface - car drivers will ignore these.
Which category are the ones you are talking about?
Much though I hate to defend that poster, that's not altogether true. Next to the A449 from Wolverhampton to Penkridge (on both sides) is a cycleway that's beautifully laid out. It's wide, straight, surfaced properly, grade separated, no pedestrians and has pelican crossings so you can navigate safely. It must be the best cycleway in the whole Midlands.
Some utter twat persists, every day, in cycling rather slowly up the middle of the nearside lane of the dual carriageway, causing total chaos.
There is no excuse for that other than to be a total arsehole. Unless this person is such a total idiot he has not noticed the cycleway signs literally at his elbow, in which case he should probably not be allowed out without an escort.
If that total idiot was in a car he would not be causing traffic either.
This is what our can't misguided think-beyond-their-own-experiences city dwellers fail to comprehend. Roads that typically travel at or about the speed limit can be seriously damaged by one individual who is not doing the limit that then snarls everyone behind them until they can get into a different lane to overtake.
Whether that one individual be an agricultural vehicle, the bin lorry, a cyclist or an elderly driver afraid to drive properly.
Shared spaces mean they can all be on the road, but the idea its great that they are and should be celebrated is not necessarily correct and depends upon the circumstances.
It's not a matter of celebrating that one is stuck behind someone driving more slowly than you are comfortable doing. It's a matter of co-operating with other road users so everyone gets to their final destination in one piece.
There are too many drivers who seem to have either a death wish, or believe that they are invincible, or in their rage at being slightly inconvenienced and delayed lose all sense of proportion and put everyone else on the road in the vicinity at risk of death or serious injury.
My 14-year old daughter* is doing a sponsored coast to coast bike ride the weekend after next, so I have an unusually heightened sense of cycle safety at the moment (not least after the headmaster at her school was killed cycling home a couple of months back). I'm generally fairly relaxed about sharing a road with vehicle traffic, but you notice driver behaviour a lot more when your daughter is on the road. My perspective is that almost all drivers are pretty considerate, especially in towns or on small country lanes. Trying to force an overtake which isn't there is very rare; they will almost always wait to be waved on. The roads which worry me though are country A roads. With my daughter, I will go a long way out of my way to avoid these. It's not even that I blame the drivers: but if the expectation is that you can be travelling at 60mph, you can very quickly be on a slow moving vehicle you didn't expect to be there.
*actually the two of us - but she is the one fundraising; I'm just there to keep an eye.
Yes. Most car drivers are fine. But even if it's only ~1% of car drivers who are reckless, they put other people at risk.
In a similar way, most cyclists don't want to be in anyone else's way. But there's a pervasive attitude - which is what started this conversation - that they are being deliberately difficult and in some way deserve what's coming to them. I've experienced a lot of hostility from car drivers which basically boils down to them being enraged that I dare to be on the road (which actually I generally don't anymore, eventually I just couldn't take the worry).
It's bizarre, otherwise kind and normal people are really aggressive about this.
PassPixi. Transforms the experience. Even better, a propane canister strapped to your pannier rack.
It’s sad because I really struggle to persuade my partner to cycle with me after her experiences with drivers, both deliberate and accidental. We shouldn’t settle for anything less than 50:50 gender balance and kids regularly cycling to school.
(It’s one thing Burnham has been really good on, rather disproving the idea it’s only the Dutch/ Londoners who can cycle).
Is that down to Burnham or really Chris Boardman? Similar to Andrew Gilligan being the real driving force for cycling provision in London.
Both those statements are some way off imo.
It's fair to say that Andrew Gilligan had a role in one important stage - he was BoJo's cycling Czar from 2013 to 2016. He drove the concept of radial Cycling Superhighways more or less on points of the clock, and the first generation of such (they are now on generation 3, or perhaps 4).
Similarly Chris Boardman, who was more strategic than Gilligan, and key in Manchester from 2017 to 2022.
On a side note, most cam reports are from dashcams not cyclecams.
The Department of Justice has issued an opinion to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) that its guidelines about disparate-impact liability under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act are unconstitutional. The Office of Legal Counsel found that EEOC’s guidelines pressured employers to engage in racial discrimination.
"Despite trying to promote equality, EEOC's disparate impact liability interpretation under Title VII actually fosters the very discrimination its guidelines seek to address," said Acting Attorney General @DAGToddBlanche. "This opinion will now allow businesses to hire based on performance, restoring equal opportunities in the American workplace."
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
Eh?
So if Lord Sugar or Tony Robinson or other celebs who've endorsed Labour in the past make naked partisan comments, does that get counted against their budget?
Many ways to criticise Musk and Restore, but celebrities making comments is neither new nor actionable surely?
That’s a fair argument, that it’s the same as a newspaper endorsement coming from the proprietor or editorial team. But what if they’re foreigners widely read in the UK.
There’s plenty of both positives and negatives about Mr Lowe, but I was thinking it’s an issue that hasnn’t come up before, so might be worthy of somebody getting a ruling on what is or isn’t allowed.
The simple solution to most of our Social Media related woes is to make any platform that uses an alogorithm other than chronological liable as any other media publisher. It would cut them down to size very quickly if they didn't shape up.
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
I would have thought, given Musk's reputation in this country, that it would more be more valuable to everyone else than to Restore. Divide the benefit by the number of candidates and it probably works out OK.
The Whitehouse are very angry at Starmer's three months threat to the US social media organisations. They are suggesting it will disadvantage US social media Moguls.
Apparently threatening to stop children being groomed online is an infringement of freedom of speech. I can understand why Trump might conclude that. Kemi might have to U turn her online safety commitment if she doesn't want to upset the Donald.
Barefaced lies = Noble free speech
Requesting evidence for barefaced lies = Conspiracy to suppress the Truth
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
Eh?
So if Lord Sugar or Tony Robinson or other celebs who've endorsed Labour in the past make naked partisan comments, does that get counted against their budget?
Many ways to criticise Musk and Restore, but celebrities making comments is neither new nor actionable surely?
That’s a fair argument, that it’s the same as a newspaper endorsement coming from the proprietor or editorial team. But what if they’re foreigners widely read in the UK.
There’s plenty of both positives and negatives about Mr Lowe, but I was thinking it’s an issue that hasnn’t come up before, so might be worthy of somebody getting a ruling on what is or isn’t allowed.
Given people make endorsements all the time, and there's never been any case of it getting red flagged as a cost, I think there is precedence that it has come up and it is in fact allowed.
I'm not sure why them being foreigners would be relevant.
Given our financial rules, it would be perverse and open to abuse if endorsements could be counted against a parties budget without them spending it.
So the first 2 people arrested in the protests outside Southampton police station have got 34 and 37 months each in prison
For what, exactly? Looks awfully “Two-tier” unless someone was seriously injured.
Throwing a bin, according to Twitter.
From the BBC...
Footage shown in Southampton Crown Court showed O'Leary "walking casually" in the crowd in front of the police cordon when he spots a smoke grenade on the ground, picks it up and throws it towards police.
O'Leary also admitted resisting a police officer and possession of an offensive weapon – a samurai sword in his bedroom - when officers came to arrest him in the early hours of 7 June.
The court heard he adopted a "fighting stance" at the top of the stairs and threatened officers who had to use pava spray to subdue him.
[...]
Meanwhile Connor Bishop, 24, from Southampton, was seen in footage [...] carrying a yellow traffic cone which he threw towards officers.
He was seen running with the cone, "pursuing officers for some time with it", prosecutor, Siobhan Linsley told the court.
"Once it's thrown he then follows it again, picks it up again," she said.
[...]
He also admitted throwing a box of screws and punching a wall which was not captured on footage.
The only bincident I have seen footage involved a lathe wheeled commercial bin, with something on fire inside it.
My betting position on Makerfield, drawing on advice in an earlier thread:
Reform to Win Labour 47.5% or greater vote share.
Staked for an equal return, I get about 160% back if either happens, which feels like a pretty strong position. And there is technically a tiny chance that both come in.
The Department of Justice has issued an opinion to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) that its guidelines about disparate-impact liability under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act are unconstitutional. The Office of Legal Counsel found that EEOC’s guidelines pressured employers to engage in racial discrimination.
"Despite trying to promote equality, EEOC's disparate impact liability interpretation under Title VII actually fosters the very discrimination its guidelines seek to address," said Acting Attorney General @DAGToddBlanche. "This opinion will now allow businesses to hire based on performance, restoring equal opportunities in the American workplace."
Does that mean they're not obliged to hire people with serious mental health problems, orange skin and very small penises just because they are from an oppressed minority, viz the Trump Mafia?
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
I would have thought, given Musk's reputation in this country, that it would more be more valuable to everyone else than to Restore. Divide the benefit by the number of candidates and it probably works out OK.
The Whitehouse are very angry at Starmer's three months threat to the US social media organisations. They are suggesting it will disadvantage US social media Moguls.
Apparently threatening to stop children being groomed online is an infringement of freedom of speech. I can understand why Trump might conclude that. Kemi might have to U turn her online safety commitment if she doesn't want to upset the Donald.
Barefaced lies = Noble free speech
Requesting evidence for barefaced lies = Conspiracy to suppress the Truth
This is how it is.
Starmer's got nothing to lose, he won't gain too much credit at this stage for standing up to Trump but his successor will.
Badenoch would be very wise to reflect on that fact and the fact that siding with Trump will alienate many older Tory voters eg 95% of those left
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
I would have thought, given Musk's reputation in this country, that it would more be more valuable to everyone else than to Restore. Divide the benefit by the number of candidates and it probably works out OK.
The Whitehouse are very angry at Starmer's three months threat to the US social media organisations. They are suggesting it will disadvantage US social media Moguls.
Apparently threatening to stop children being groomed online is an infringement of freedom of speech. I can understand why Trump might conclude that. Kemi might have to U turn her online safety commitment if she doesn't want to upset the Donald.
Barefaced lies = Noble free speech
Requesting evidence for barefaced lies = Conspiracy to suppress the Truth
This is how it is.
Starmer's got nothing to lose, he won't gain too much credit at this stage for standing up to Trump but his successor will.
Badenoch would be very wise to reflect on that fact and the fact that siding with Trump will alienate many older Tory voters eg 95% of those left
Yes, and even Reform voters are not universally fans of Trump, though Trumpier than the other parties.
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
Eh?
So if Lord Sugar or Tony Robinson or other celebs who've endorsed Labour in the past make naked partisan comments, does that get counted against their budget?
Many ways to criticise Musk and Restore, but celebrities making comments is neither new nor actionable surely?
But Musk isn’t just commenting. He’s broadcasting his message to the world through the social media platform he owns. Twitter is programmed to push his thoughts at people. That’s closer to if Lord Sugar took out a paid advert.
Anybody watching Tom Hanks world war 2 series? I watched its episode on Barbarossa last night, then watched the world at wars version. Frankly I have no idea why Hanks bothered. TWAW far better and with talking heads of those involved.
So the first 2 people arrested in the protests outside Southampton police station have got 34 and 37 months each in prison
For what, exactly? Looks awfully “Two-tier” unless someone was seriously injured.
No one should be in any doubt by now that the courts take a f*cking dim view of violent disorder and rioting.
Been that way for a long long time.
If only they applied similar to rapes and sex crimes. Mental that raping someone at knifepoint gets nothing but shouting at the police gets you 3 years, what a country England has become.
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
Eh?
So if Lord Sugar or Tony Robinson or other celebs who've endorsed Labour in the past make naked partisan comments, does that get counted against their budget?
Many ways to criticise Musk and Restore, but celebrities making comments is neither new nor actionable surely?
But Musk isn’t just commenting. He’s broadcasting his message to the world through the social media platform he owns. Twitter is programmed to push his thoughts at people. That’s closer to if Lord Sugar took out a paid advert.
That's not new though, Murdoch has broadcast his messages to the world through platforms he owns for decades. When has it ever been expensed?
Global US Correspondent Simon Marks has been sitting in for the dreary Tom Swarbrick on LBC this week. He is very good. I am not sure of his UK political affiliation. Unusually for LBC it would be very difficult to determine.
I follow Marks as Washington correspondent on LBC and his analysis is excellent, particularly if one is a never Trumper.
I believe Marks is one of the finest political broadcasters we currently have in the UK. Why is he languishing on LBC.
Matt Frei is excellent as well, I believe even better than Marks.
If only there were a way to stop Russian soldiers getting paid as well the war would be over in a week.
The rate on Russian bonds is up to 15% again today. Brent has fallen a lot today on data from China showing a huge drop in Chinese crude oil imports. The Russian Central Bank has started printing money to buy Russian bonds and fund the war effort. There's been a steady flow of cash out of the Russian banking system for the last twelve months, most likely as Russians use their savings to cope with inflation and some employers putting employees onto short hours. The Russian government is urgently trying to privatise assets to raise cash, but there were no buyers for a Russian coal company they wanted to sell.
The signs of increasing stress on Russia's economy and government finances are there, but how much road they have left for can-kicking I don't know.
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
Eh?
So if Lord Sugar or Tony Robinson or other celebs who've endorsed Labour in the past make naked partisan comments, does that get counted against their budget?
Many ways to criticise Musk and Restore, but celebrities making comments is neither new nor actionable surely?
But Musk isn’t just commenting. He’s broadcasting his message to the world through the social media platform he owns. Twitter is programmed to push his thoughts at people. That’s closer to if Lord Sugar took out a paid advert.
That's not new though, Murdoch has broadcast his messages to the world through platforms he owns for decades. When has it ever been expensed?
Sandpit asked whether Lowe had had communications with Musk. If someone endorsed you, that’s one thing. If a candidate arranges with someone for the equivalent of a paid ad, that’s something that could come under rules around election communications and donations.
Global US Correspondent Simon Marks has been sitting in for the dreary Tom Swarbrick on LBC this week. He is very good. I am not sure of his UK political affiliation. Unusually for LBC it would be very difficult to determine.
I follow Marks as Washington correspondent on LBC and his analysis is excellent, particularly if one is a never Trumper.
I believe Marks is one of the finest political broadcasters we currently have in the UK. Why is he languishing on LBC.
Matt Frei is excellent as well, I believe even better than Marks.
If only there were a way to stop Russian soldiers getting paid as well the war would be over in a week.
The rate on Russian bonds is up to 15% again today. Brent has fallen a lot today on data from China showing a huge drop in Chinese crude oil imports. The Russian Central Bank has started printing money to buy Russian bonds and fund the war effort. There's been a steady flow of cash out of the Russian banking system for the last twelve months, most likely as Russians use their savings to cope with inflation and some employers putting employees onto short hours. The Russian government is urgently trying to privatise assets to raise cash, but there were no buyers for a Russian coal company they wanted to sell.
The signs of increasing stress on Russia's economy and government finances are there, but how much road they have left for can-kicking I don't know.
I could envisage the oligarchs deciding they need to dispense with Putin and transfer their allegiance to some bastard like Sergey Lavrov.
[X] has become almost unusable because of how many different fake images there are of Farage beating up Andrew Bailey - never seen anything this number... it's like every second post!
Anybody watching Tom Hanks world war 2 series? I watched its episode on Barbarossa last night, then watched the world at wars version. Frankly I have no idea why Hanks bothered. TWAW far better and with talking heads of those involved.
It’s sub GCSE, probably sub Common Entrance level history. Covers the ground at pace with some nice colourised shots and that is it. I read a comment where they opined, probably correctly, that it’s being rushed along so they can get to the bit where the Americans win the war.
I’m sure, as usual, the American efforts on D-Day will be overplayed and the fact that British land and naval forces on D-day were more numerous but there you go, luckily the bbc will spend millions on Strictly etc unlike commercial stations and so not have a very good, sellable, series on the war to compete.
Anybody watching Tom Hanks world war 2 series? I watched its episode on Barbarossa last night, then watched the world at wars version. Frankly I have no idea why Hanks bothered. TWAW far better and with talking heads of those involved.
I'm in a small minority that doesn't think Hanks is as great as most people say in any case. He is a good actor, but I find him often quite boring. Whether as a producer he has a good eye who knows, but WW2 stuff needs to be pretty good to get attention, as there's so much other content on the subject.
If only there were a way to stop Russian soldiers getting paid as well the war would be over in a week.
The rate on Russian bonds is up to 15% again today. Brent has fallen a lot today on data from China showing a huge drop in Chinese crude oil imports. The Russian Central Bank has started printing money to buy Russian bonds and fund the war effort. There's been a steady flow of cash out of the Russian banking system for the last twelve months, most likely as Russians use their savings to cope with inflation and some employers putting employees onto short hours. The Russian government is urgently trying to privatise assets to raise cash, but there were no buyers for a Russian coal company they wanted to sell.
The signs of increasing stress on Russia's economy and government finances are there, but how much road they have left for can-kicking I don't know.
Yes the economic news out of Russia is terrible, and if they’re saying that officially then we know it’s a lot worse behind the scenes. They’re at least half way through their gold reserves already, with China the buyers well under market price, and they’ve had to significant’y cut signup payments to new soldiers. Meanwhile inflation is rampant despite official figures, and fuel is again being rationed in large parts of the country.
The war is now affecting ordinary Russians in a way it hasn’t up until this year. The bombing of St. Petersberg last week, taking out an oil depot and a warship just as Putin opened a big economic conference there, was possibly the icing on the cake for the elites realising the war was coming to them.
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
Eh?
So if Lord Sugar or Tony Robinson or other celebs who've endorsed Labour in the past make naked partisan comments, does that get counted against their budget?
Many ways to criticise Musk and Restore, but celebrities making comments is neither new nor actionable surely?
But Musk isn’t just commenting. He’s broadcasting his message to the world through the social media platform he owns. Twitter is programmed to push his thoughts at people. That’s closer to if Lord Sugar took out a paid advert.
That's not new though, Murdoch has broadcast his messages to the world through platforms he owns for decades. When has it ever been expensed?
Sandpit asked whether Lowe had had communications with Musk. If someone endorsed you, that’s one thing. If a candidate arranges with someone for the equivalent of a paid ad, that’s something that could come under rules around election communications and donations.
Yes, it’s a question worth asking and having a ruling made.
I’m in favour of freedom of speech, but we don’t want to do down the US route of billions of pounds of potentially untraceable money spent on elections.
The father of one of the murdered in the Nottingham 2023 case tells Ch4 news he hopes this is the last time there needs to an inquiry into the failure of public sector agencies with severely mentally disturbed potential killers.
To be utterly brutally frank: yeh, right like that is going to happen.
I'm sure @Cyclefree can share how we go round and around with these investigations into some major public fuck up or other and NOTHING EVERY CHANGES.
[X] has become almost unusable because of how many different fake images there are of Farage beating up Andrew Bailey - never seen anything this number... it's like every second post!
That’s a nakedly partisan political comment to someone with likely several million UK followers, during a restricted election period.
Will one of the other parties ask for a ruling from the Electoral Commission on what might be the value of such posts, if they need to be included in by-election spending, and ask Lowe to produce any communications he may have had with Mr Musk?
Eh?
So if Lord Sugar or Tony Robinson or other celebs who've endorsed Labour in the past make naked partisan comments, does that get counted against their budget?
Many ways to criticise Musk and Restore, but celebrities making comments is neither new nor actionable surely?
But Musk isn’t just commenting. He’s broadcasting his message to the world through the social media platform he owns. Twitter is programmed to push his thoughts at people. That’s closer to if Lord Sugar took out a paid advert.
That's not new though, Murdoch has broadcast his messages to the world through platforms he owns for decades. When has it ever been expensed?
Sandpit asked whether Lowe had had communications with Musk. If someone endorsed you, that’s one thing. If a candidate arranges with someone for the equivalent of a paid ad, that’s something that could come under rules around election communications and donations.
What's the precedence for that?
Politicians have regularly had correspondence with Murdoch et al.
If only there were a way to stop Russian soldiers getting paid as well the war would be over in a week.
The rate on Russian bonds is up to 15% again today. Brent has fallen a lot today on data from China showing a huge drop in Chinese crude oil imports. The Russian Central Bank has started printing money to buy Russian bonds and fund the war effort. There's been a steady flow of cash out of the Russian banking system for the last twelve months, most likely as Russians use their savings to cope with inflation and some employers putting employees onto short hours. The Russian government is urgently trying to privatise assets to raise cash, but there were no buyers for a Russian coal company they wanted to sell.
The signs of increasing stress on Russia's economy and government finances are there, but how much road they have left for can-kicking I don't know.
I could envisage the oligarchs deciding they need to dispense with Putin and transfer their allegiance to some bastard like Sergey Lavrov.
Recently there was a big argument in the higher echelons of the Russian state over the number of senior generals being assassinated by the Ukrainians. The generals weren't happy that the FSB wasn't able to protect them.
Putin smoothed things over by saying that his own personal bodyguard force would be used to protect the most senior people.
Of course, this means that the highly-trained and uber-loyal Presidential bodyguard force is now in place, "protecting" all the other most senior members of the government and armed forces. Kinda convenient for Putin that.
Anybody watching Tom Hanks world war 2 series? I watched its episode on Barbarossa last night, then watched the world at wars version. Frankly I have no idea why Hanks bothered. TWAW far better and with talking heads of those involved.
More or less agree, though as you say the fantastic advantage TWAW had was lots of participants talking about being there. A series of (mostly US) talking heads spouting clichès doesn’t really compare. The Hanks thing does have a lot of new or little seen footage though. Good fun picking out the occasional ahistorical bloopers.
If only there were a way to stop Russian soldiers getting paid as well the war would be over in a week.
The rate on Russian bonds is up to 15% again today. Brent has fallen a lot today on data from China showing a huge drop in Chinese crude oil imports. The Russian Central Bank has started printing money to buy Russian bonds and fund the war effort. There's been a steady flow of cash out of the Russian banking system for the last twelve months, most likely as Russians use their savings to cope with inflation and some employers putting employees onto short hours. The Russian government is urgently trying to privatise assets to raise cash, but there were no buyers for a Russian coal company they wanted to sell.
The signs of increasing stress on Russia's economy and government finances are there, but how much road they have left for can-kicking I don't know.
Yes the economic news out of Russia is terrible, and if they’re saying that officially then we know it’s a lot worse behind the scenes. They’re at least half way through their gold reserves already, with China the buyers well under market price, and they’ve had to significant’y cut signup payments to new soldiers. Meanwhile inflation is rampant despite official figures, and fuel is again being rationed in large parts of the country.
The war is now affecting ordinary Russians in a way it hasn’t up until this year. The bombing of St. Petersberg last week, taking out an oil depot and a warship just as Putin opened a big economic conference there, was possibly the icing on the cake for the elites realising the war was coming to them.
Oh yes, I forgot about the gold. The Russians had been doing quite well out of the strong run in the gold price over the last few years, but that's started to rapidly go into reverse as well.
Apparently the Russian military has banned supply vehicles from taking the main highways across southern Ukraine due to the frequency of drone attack, and told them to take alternative routes. I wonder how much that will help them?
Why don’t US authorities just stick up a sign telling football fans to fxck off ! Because that’s the attitude pervading from the loathsome administration.
This WC hasn’t even started and it’s already turning into a clusterfxck . Never have I been so underwhelmed and disinterested in a WC .
Why don’t US authorities just stick up a sign telling football fans to fxck off ! Because that’s the attitude pervading from the loathsome administration.
This WC hasn’t even started and it’s already turning into a clusterfxck . Never have I been so underwhelmed and disinterested in a WC .
I only ever really get interested once things kick off, and quite frankly the biggest hurdle for this world cup is not really its fault, in that the start times are awful for Europe.
Why don’t US authorities just stick up a sign telling football fans to fxck off ! Because that’s the attitude pervading from the loathsome administration.
This WC hasn’t even started and it’s already turning into a clusterfxck . Never have I been so underwhelmed and disinterested in a WC .
I only ever really get interested once things kick off, and quite frankly the biggest hurdle for this world cup is not really its fault, in that the start times are awful for Europe.
I’m three hours ahead of the UK, am looking at midnight starts for the first couple of England games, and more matches overall are get-up-early than stay-up-late. The matches themselves will be well over two hours as well, with the drinks breaks and crazy injury time.
Nice long sentences for those who protested at Henry Nowak demonstrations.
"Two men have been jailed for violent disorder at a protest in Southampton following the murder of Henry Nowak.
Connor Bishop, 24, was sentenced to two years and eight months and Leon O'Leary, 41, was jailed for three years and one month. Both pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing.
They are the first people to be sentenced after violence on 2 June saw 12 police officers and a police dog injured as missiles including wheelie bins and chairs were thrown."
Nice long sentences for those who protested at Henry Nowak demonstrations.
"Two men have been jailed for violent disorder at a protest in Southampton following the murder of Henry Nowak.
Connor Bishop, 24, was sentenced to two years and eight months and Leon O'Leary, 41, was jailed for three years and one month. Both pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing.
They are the first people to be sentenced after violence on 2 June saw 12 police officers and a police dog injured as missiles including wheelie bins and chairs were thrown."
Nice long sentences for those who protested at Henry Nowak demonstrations.
"Two men have been jailed for violent disorder at a protest in Southampton following the murder of Henry Nowak.
Connor Bishop, 24, was sentenced to two years and eight months and Leon O'Leary, 41, was jailed for three years and one month. Both pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing.
They are the first people to be sentenced after violence on 2 June saw 12 police officers and a police dog injured as missiles including wheelie bins and chairs were thrown."
It takes 400 companies >2 years to build a Patriot missile. Perhaps this is why USA suddenly gave up in Iran.
Incompetent manufacturing will cause us to lose future wars too. Boom is building vertically integrated factories that can do in 24h what otherwise takes years.
(Oh, this is the guy building a privately-funded supersonic airliner in the US).
It takes 400 companies >2 years to build a Patriot missile. Perhaps this is why USA suddenly gave up in Iran.
Incompetent manufacturing will cause us to lose future wars too. Boom is building vertically integrated factories that can do in 24h what otherwise takes years.
(Oh, this is the guy building a privately-funded supersonic airliner in the US).
Demand isn’t there for supersonic jets - time to pivot (not surprising given how much money is in military tenders)
Why don’t US authorities just stick up a sign telling football fans to fxck off ! Because that’s the attitude pervading from the loathsome administration.
This WC hasn’t even started and it’s already turning into a clusterfxck . Never have I been so underwhelmed and disinterested in a WC .
Why don’t US authorities just stick up a sign telling football fans to fxck off ! Because that’s the attitude pervading from the loathsome administration.
This WC hasn’t even started and it’s already turning into a clusterfxck . Never have I been so underwhelmed and disinterested in a WC .
Why don’t US authorities just stick up a sign telling football fans to fxck off ! Because that’s the attitude pervading from the loathsome administration.
This WC hasn’t even started and it’s already turning into a clusterfxck . Never have I been so underwhelmed and disinterested in a WC .
A sign saying "Fuck off but please pay through the nose for the privilege of it", would be closer to the mark.
Why don’t US authorities just stick up a sign telling football fans to fxck off ! Because that’s the attitude pervading from the loathsome administration.
This WC hasn’t even started and it’s already turning into a clusterfxck . Never have I been so underwhelmed and disinterested in a WC .
It takes 400 companies >2 years to build a Patriot missile. Perhaps this is why USA suddenly gave up in Iran.
Incompetent manufacturing will cause us to lose future wars too. Boom is building vertically integrated factories that can do in 24h what otherwise takes years.
(Oh, this is the guy building a privately-funded supersonic airliner in the US).
Demand isn’t there for supersonic jets - time to pivot (not surprising given how much money is in military tenders)
His first pivot is to making turbines for data centres, while he gets them certified to go on aeroplanes. They’re remarkably similar.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
Why don’t US authorities just stick up a sign telling football fans to fxck off ! Because that’s the attitude pervading from the loathsome administration.
This WC hasn’t even started and it’s already turning into a clusterfxck . Never have I been so underwhelmed and disinterested in a WC .
A sign saying "Fuck off but please pay through the nose for the privilege of it", would be closer to the mark.
The US administration attitude is they’re doing you a big favour to be allowed into the country and you should just be grateful even if customs and immigration make your life hell . I dread to think what horror stories are going to emerge over the next month .
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
Its the way its passed on, generation to generation, very moving.
There'll be a few lads pacing across fields in Fermanagh tonight, wondering how deep their Dads and Uncles buried things.
Sky News reporter getting a warm reception just now 'WILL YA FUCK OFF'.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
My daughter, who is mixed race, was listening to the news from Belfast and said something that made me quite sad. She said that black and brown people just needed to behave better than white people because every time one of them did something bad it meant that all minorities would get blamed for it. I pointed out to her that her mother was born here over 50 years ago and so maybe people should have got used to the existence of minorities in this country by now and learned to treat every person as an individual. But she's probably right.
It takes 400 companies >2 years to build a Patriot missile. Perhaps this is why USA suddenly gave up in Iran.
Incompetent manufacturing will cause us to lose future wars too. Boom is building vertically integrated factories that can do in 24h what otherwise takes years.
(Oh, this is the guy building a privately-funded supersonic airliner in the US).
Demand isn’t there for supersonic jets - time to pivot (not surprising given how much money is in military tenders)
His first pivot is to making turbines for data centres, while he gets them certified to go on aeroplanes. They’re remarkably similar.
That's why they're called aeroderivative gas turbines.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
Its the way its passed on, generation to generation, very moving.
There'll be a few lads pacing across fields in Fermanagh tonight, wondering how deep their Dads and Uncles buried things.
Sky News reporter getting a warm reception just now 'WILL YA FUCK OFF'.
Best to board up the Europa Hotel until after the marching season is over.
So the first 2 people arrested in the protests outside Southampton police station have got 34 and 37 months each in prison
For what, exactly? Looks awfully “Two-tier” unless someone was seriously injured.
No one should be in any doubt by now that the courts take a f*cking dim view of violent disorder and rioting.
Been that way for a long long time.
Twitter seems to think this was the same judge who sentenced Lucy Connolly. Any truth to that?
"Twitter seems to think" = "Untrue with near 100% probability".
Sandpit is basically a conspiracy theorist.
One had 9 previous convictions and was also done for possession of an offensive weapon, the other 7 and was serving a community order, so they weren't being sentenced for a first offence of violent disorder.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
My daughter, who is mixed race, was listening to the news from Belfast and said something that made me quite sad. She said that black and brown people just needed to behave better than white people because every time one of them did something bad it meant that all minorities would get blamed for it. I pointed out to her that her mother was born here over 50 years ago and so maybe people should have got used to the existence of minorities in this country by now and learned to treat every person as an individual. But she's probably right.
That is sad and I have empathy but isn’t that the way of humans? A white balding England football fan throws a chair at a tournament and fights the police and Europeans think all white English supporters are terrible so the good ones have to behave even better to counteract. Britain is hammered by the global south for colonisation and slavery and all Brits are supposed to carry that burden irrespective of the fact that some were bad, some were good, many just taking economic opportunities (in the same way small boats people might be) and so we are judged by the worst standards.
If you are white of Boer descent in SA then you might be treated worse by black South Africans because of your colour and name even if you have lived a sainted life.
The “outsider” in its widest terms is always more noticeable for wrongs and the insiders can’t be “got rid of” in the way that some might want outsiders to be.
Once it was the Irish. It’s not always about colour but purely being an “outsider”.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
Its the way its passed on, generation to generation, very moving.
There'll be a few lads pacing across fields in Fermanagh tonight, wondering how deep their Dads and Uncles buried things.
Sky News reporter getting a warm reception just now 'WILL YA FUCK OFF'.
Best to board up the Europa Hotel until after the marching season is over.
Flashback. Late 90s, we'd hired a car in Belfast (very little ID required compared with England at the same time) to go round the Glens, came back, parked up in a whole row of cars near The Crown and just up from the Europa, had our evening, returned to the car, it was the only one left parked on the road as far as the eye could see.
Jesus, I crapped myself at the possible implications of that.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
Its the way its passed on, generation to generation, very moving.
There'll be a few lads pacing across fields in Fermanagh tonight, wondering how deep their Dads and Uncles buried things.
Sky News reporter getting a warm reception just now 'WILL YA FUCK OFF'.
Best to board up the Europa Hotel until after the marching season is over.
Flashback. Late 90s, we'd hired a car in Belfast, very little ID required compared with England at the same time to go round the Glens, came back, parked up in a whole row of cars near The Crown and just up from the Europa, had our evening, returned to the car, it was the only one left parked on the road as far as the eye could see.
Jesus, I crapped myself at the possible implications of that.
That’s why you should pay the excess then you could have relaxed.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
Its the way its passed on, generation to generation, very moving.
There'll be a few lads pacing across fields in Fermanagh tonight, wondering how deep their Dads and Uncles buried things.
Sky News reporter getting a warm reception just now 'WILL YA FUCK OFF'.
Best to board up the Europa Hotel until after the marching season is over.
Flashback. Late 90s, we'd hired a car in Belfast, very little ID required compared with England at the same time to go round the Glens, came back, parked up in a whole row of cars near The Crown and just up from the Europa, had our evening, returned to the car, it was the only one left parked on the road as far as the eye could see.
Jesus, I crapped myself at the possible implications of that.
That’s why you should pay the excess then you could have relaxed.
Possibly not the best advice given his declared state.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
Its the way its passed on, generation to generation, very moving.
There'll be a few lads pacing across fields in Fermanagh tonight, wondering how deep their Dads and Uncles buried things.
Sky News reporter getting a warm reception just now 'WILL YA FUCK OFF'.
Best to board up the Europa Hotel until after the marching season is over.
Flashback. Late 90s, we'd hired a car in Belfast, very little ID required compared with England at the same time to go round the Glens, came back, parked up in a whole row of cars near The Crown and just up from the Europa, had our evening, returned to the car, it was the only one left parked on the road as far as the eye could see.
Jesus, I crapped myself at the possible implications of that.
That’s why you should pay the excess then you could have relaxed.
Possibly not the best advice given his declared state.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
My daughter, who is mixed race, was listening to the news from Belfast and said something that made me quite sad. She said that black and brown people just needed to behave better than white people because every time one of them did something bad it meant that all minorities would get blamed for it. I pointed out to her that her mother was born here over 50 years ago and so maybe people should have got used to the existence of minorities in this country by now and learned to treat every person as an individual. But she's probably right.
That is sad and I have empathy but isn’t that the way of humans? A white balding England football fan throws a chair at a tournament and fights the police and Europeans think all white English supporters are terrible so the good ones have to behave even better to counteract. Britain is hammered by the global south for colonisation and slavery and all Brits are supposed to carry that burden irrespective of the fact that some were bad, some were good, many just taking economic opportunities (in the same way small boats people might be) and so we are judged by the worst standards.
If you are white of Boer descent in SA then you might be treated worse by black South Africans because of your colour and name even if you have lived a sainted life.
The “outsider” in its widest terms is always more noticeable for wrongs and the insiders can’t be “got rid of” in the way that some might want outsiders to be.
Once it was the Irish. It’s not always about colour but purely being an “outsider”.
I have lived in a country most of whose inhabitants were descendents of Africans enslaved by the British and it really wasn't something that I carried around with me every day and nobody ever treated me badly for being white or British. On the other hand I've seen how living with racism has taken its toll on my wife and I'm very sad to see it playing out now for my children. It is an incredible privilege to live free of this stuff as white people get to.
Nice long sentences for those who protested at Henry Nowak demonstrations.
"Two men have been jailed for violent disorder at a protest in Southampton following the murder of Henry Nowak.
Connor Bishop, 24, was sentenced to two years and eight months and Leon O'Leary, 41, was jailed for three years and one month. Both pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing.
They are the first people to be sentenced after violence on 2 June saw 12 police officers and a police dog injured as missiles including wheelie bins and chairs were thrown."
Leon, who was protesting about a murder by knifing:
"admitted resisting a police officer and possession of an offensive weapon - a samurai sword in his bedroom - when officers came to arrest him in the early hours of 7 June. The court heard he adopted a "fighting stance" at the top of the stairs and threatened officers who had to use pava spray to subdue him."
No irony here I'm sure....lucky to only get 3 years imo.
Nice long sentences for those who protested at Henry Nowak demonstrations.
"Two men have been jailed for violent disorder at a protest in Southampton following the murder of Henry Nowak.
Connor Bishop, 24, was sentenced to two years and eight months and Leon O'Leary, 41, was jailed for three years and one month. Both pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing.
They are the first people to be sentenced after violence on 2 June saw 12 police officers and a police dog injured as missiles including wheelie bins and chairs were thrown."
Leon, who was protesting about a murder by knifing:
"admitted resisting a police officer and possession of an offensive weapon - a samurai sword in his bedroom - when officers came to arrest him in the early hours of 7 June. The court heard he adopted a "fighting stance" at the top of the stairs and threatened officers who had to use pava spray to subdue him."
No irony here I'm sure....lucky to only get 3 years imo.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
My daughter, who is mixed race, was listening to the news from Belfast and said something that made me quite sad. She said that black and brown people just needed to behave better than white people because every time one of them did something bad it meant that all minorities would get blamed for it. I pointed out to her that her mother was born here over 50 years ago and so maybe people should have got used to the existence of minorities in this country by now and learned to treat every person as an individual. But she's probably right.
That is sad and I have empathy but isn’t that the way of humans? A white balding England football fan throws a chair at a tournament and fights the police and Europeans think all white English supporters are terrible so the good ones have to behave even better to counteract. Britain is hammered by the global south for colonisation and slavery and all Brits are supposed to carry that burden irrespective of the fact that some were bad, some were good, many just taking economic opportunities (in the same way small boats people might be) and so we are judged by the worst standards.
If you are white of Boer descent in SA then you might be treated worse by black South Africans because of your colour and name even if you have lived a sainted life.
The “outsider” in its widest terms is always more noticeable for wrongs and the insiders can’t be “got rid of” in the way that some might want outsiders to be.
Once it was the Irish. It’s not always about colour but purely being an “outsider”.
And also, a lot of the time you'll get people going overboard to be nice, to overcompensate for the actions of others or their own insecurities or whatever.
My wife probably gets more preferential/pleasant interactions from people determined not to be seen as racist, than the equivalent amount of actual racism.
Which, again, seems to be a fundamental feature of human nature.
Bad evening to be an empty bus or van in Norn Iron.
Even after nearly thirty years of the GFA you never forget the old skills. I am sure torching a taxi is just like riding a bike. Once learned, it's something one never forgets.
My daughter, who is mixed race, was listening to the news from Belfast and said something that made me quite sad. She said that black and brown people just needed to behave better than white people because every time one of them did something bad it meant that all minorities would get blamed for it. I pointed out to her that her mother was born here over 50 years ago and so maybe people should have got used to the existence of minorities in this country by now and learned to treat every person as an individual. But she's probably right.
That is sad and I have empathy but isn’t that the way of humans? A white balding England football fan throws a chair at a tournament and fights the police and Europeans think all white English supporters are terrible so the good ones have to behave even better to counteract. Britain is hammered by the global south for colonisation and slavery and all Brits are supposed to carry that burden irrespective of the fact that some were bad, some were good, many just taking economic opportunities (in the same way small boats people might be) and so we are judged by the worst standards.
If you are white of Boer descent in SA then you might be treated worse by black South Africans because of your colour and name even if you have lived a sainted life.
The “outsider” in its widest terms is always more noticeable for wrongs and the insiders can’t be “got rid of” in the way that some might want outsiders to be.
Once it was the Irish. It’s not always about colour but purely being an “outsider”.
I have lived in a country most of whose inhabitants were descendents of Africans enslaved by the British and it really wasn't something that I carried around with me every day and nobody ever treated me badly for being white or British. On the other hand I've seen how living with racism has taken its toll on my wife and I'm very sad to see it playing out now for my children. It is an incredible privilege to live free of this stuff as white people get to.
What you say is sadly all true but boulay is correct too. Othering is human nature, and if it wasn't race it would be religion (see NI), class, wealth or whatever. There are decades when things get better or worse, this is one which is getting worse after a few decades of it getting better.
It takes 400 companies >2 years to build a Patriot missile. Perhaps this is why USA suddenly gave up in Iran.
Incompetent manufacturing will cause us to lose future wars too. Boom is building vertically integrated factories that can do in 24h what otherwise takes years.
(Oh, this is the guy building a privately-funded supersonic airliner in the US).
Demand isn’t there for supersonic jets - time to pivot (not surprising given how much money is in military tenders)
His first pivot is to making turbines for data centres, while he gets them certified to go on aeroplanes. They’re remarkably similar.
That's why they're called aeroderivative gas turbines.
It’s pretty rare to find a generator turbine that isn’t derived from an aircraft engine, IIRC
In some areas the changes have been startling. A few years back an FFSC rocket engine was beyond state of the art for the biggest aerospace firms. Recently, Stoke built an FFSC with a handful of engineers inside a year and fired it on a test stand.
Comments
It's fair to say that Andrew Gilligan had a role in one important stage - he was BoJo's cycling Czar from 2013 to 2016. He drove the concept of radial Cycling Superhighways more or less on points of the clock, and the first generation of such (they are now on generation 3, or perhaps 4).
Similarly Chris Boardman, who was more strategic than Gilligan, and key in Manchester from 2017 to 2022.
On a side note, most cam reports are from dashcams not cyclecams.
https://x.com/TheJusticeDept/status/2064391410531389706
The Department of Justice has issued an opinion to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) that its guidelines about disparate-impact liability under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act are unconstitutional. The Office of Legal Counsel found that EEOC’s guidelines pressured employers to engage in racial discrimination.
"Despite trying to promote equality, EEOC's disparate impact liability interpretation under Title VII actually fosters the very discrimination its guidelines seek to address," said Acting Attorney General @DAGToddBlanche. "This opinion will now allow businesses to hire based on performance, restoring equal opportunities in the American workplace."
Requesting evidence for barefaced lies = Conspiracy to suppress the Truth
This is how it is.
The govt is, rightly, doubling down on its decision not to,give the WASPI women a penny.
https://x.com/dontdelay/status/2064399014653513933?s=61
I'm not sure why them being foreigners would be relevant.
Given our financial rules, it would be perverse and open to abuse if endorsements could be counted against a parties budget without them spending it.
But I have no firm authentication.
That's good news for the US.
Badenoch would be very wise to reflect on that fact and the fact that siding with Trump will alienate many older Tory voters eg 95% of those left
https://x.com/tendar/status/2064404551352955229
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yzwy055xdo
"David Sullivan banned from contact with West Ham women's and youth teams since 2023"
The signs of increasing stress on Russia's economy and government finances are there, but how much road they have left for can-kicking I don't know.
@jessicaelgot
[X] has become almost unusable because of how many different fake images there are of Farage beating up Andrew Bailey - never seen anything this number... it's like every second post!
I’m sure, as usual, the American efforts on D-Day will be overplayed and the fact that British land and naval forces on D-day were more numerous but there you go, luckily the bbc will spend millions on Strictly etc unlike commercial stations and so not have a very good, sellable, series on the war to compete.
The war is now affecting ordinary Russians in a way it hasn’t up until this year. The bombing of St. Petersberg last week, taking out an oil depot and a warship just as Putin opened a big economic conference there, was possibly the icing on the cake for the elites realising the war was coming to them.
I’m in favour of freedom of speech, but we don’t want to do down the US route of billions of pounds of potentially untraceable money spent on elections.
To be utterly brutally frank: yeh, right like that is going to happen.
I'm sure @Cyclefree can share how we go round and around with these investigations into some major public fuck up or other and NOTHING EVERY CHANGES.
Politicians have regularly had correspondence with Murdoch et al.
Burnham has been PM for a year.
Former Health Sec, with shall we say, some legacy issues.
Haigh is Health Sec.
The Nottingham inquiry reports. Utterly explosive over public sector failure after failure after failure.
Kaboom.
Putin smoothed things over by saying that his own personal bodyguard force would be used to protect the most senior people.
Of course, this means that the highly-trained and uber-loyal Presidential bodyguard force is now in place, "protecting" all the other most senior members of the government and armed forces. Kinda convenient for Putin that.
The average Russian has not a clue how much damage Putin has done. It will take decades to put back together.
Mind you, there is a still a chunk of low-information America that can't see the damage done to the US under Trump.
We are in a world of stupid on steroids.
The Hanks thing does have a lot of new or little seen footage though. Good fun picking out the occasional ahistorical bloopers.
This is essential viewing imho
https://x.com/Channel4News/status/2064301955170668847
Apparently the Russian military has banned supply vehicles from taking the main highways across southern Ukraine due to the frequency of drone attack, and told them to take alternative routes. I wonder how much that will help them?
This WC hasn’t even started and it’s already turning into a clusterfxck . Never have I been so underwhelmed and disinterested in a WC .
"Two men have been jailed for violent disorder at a protest in Southampton following the murder of Henry Nowak.
Connor Bishop, 24, was sentenced to two years and eight months and Leon O'Leary, 41, was jailed for three years and one month. Both pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing.
They are the first people to be sentenced after violence on 2 June saw 12 police officers and a police dog injured as missiles including wheelie bins and chairs were thrown."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c982y5n0nlno
https://x.com/bscholl/status/2064406095180022187
It takes 400 companies >2 years to build a Patriot missile. Perhaps this is why USA suddenly gave up in Iran.
Incompetent manufacturing will cause us to lose future wars too. Boom is building vertically integrated factories that can do in 24h what otherwise takes years.
(Oh, this is the guy building a privately-funded supersonic airliner in the US).
Untrue with 100% certainty
I started by saying “twitter says X, any evidence for it?” That’s being inquisitive, not conspiracy. I’m not an Arabian Candace Owens.
There'll be a few lads pacing across fields in Fermanagh tonight, wondering how deep their Dads and Uncles buried things.
Sky News reporter getting a warm reception just now 'WILL YA FUCK OFF'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrightbus
If you are white of Boer descent in SA then you might be treated worse by black South Africans because of your colour and name even if you have lived a sainted life.
The “outsider” in its widest terms is always more noticeable for wrongs and the insiders can’t be “got rid of” in the way that some might want outsiders to be.
Once it was the Irish. It’s not always about colour but purely being an “outsider”.
Jesus, I crapped myself at the possible implications of that.
"admitted resisting a police officer and possession of an offensive weapon - a samurai sword in his bedroom - when officers came to arrest him in the early hours of 7 June. The court heard he adopted a "fighting stance" at the top of the stairs and threatened officers who had to use pava spray to subdue him."
No irony here I'm sure....lucky to only get 3 years imo.
Say it isn't so.
And also, a lot of the time you'll get people going overboard to be nice, to overcompensate for the actions of others or their own insecurities or whatever.
My wife probably gets more preferential/pleasant interactions from people determined not to be seen as racist, than the equivalent amount of actual racism.
Which, again, seems to be a fundamental feature of human nature.
In some areas the changes have been startling. A few years back an FFSC rocket engine was beyond state of the art for the biggest aerospace firms. Recently, Stoke built an FFSC with a handful of engineers inside a year and fired it on a test stand.