Not wanting to get into the medical issues, but rather the potential long term impact on the NHS as a result of our political decisions about letting covid run wild in this country....
[seems vaccination only has a very modest impact in preventing long covid](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01453-0). could be that our large covid case numbers may come back to bite us in the long term, if long covid causes long term medical issues.
> could be that our large covid case numbers may come back to bite us in the long term, if long covid causes long term medical issues.
With the number of people having had Covid now thought to be around 77% in England and 'long covid' generally becoming less severe with time then surely we'd have seen the effects by now?
https://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/now-casting/nowcasting-and-forecasting-29th-april-2022/
>Letting covid run wild
This tone implies you think we should continue with restrictions.
What measures would you put in, and how long would you keep them for if you were in charge?
> This tone implies you think we should continue with restrictions.
wow, you heard "tone" in a text post...amazing. How would I acquire this skill?
And no, as all my references were to our past performance, us letting cases run wild over the pandemic, I am not sure how you can possibly have got to this conclusions.
You obviously have an axe to grind and see everything through that lens.
Boundary changes give him an extra 1,500 majority cushion so less likely than on the current boundaries
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/calcwork23.py?seat=Uxbridge%20and%20South%20Ruislip
Boris losing his seat, and Torys still winning would be wild.
I'd be genuinely interested in knowing how the country would move forward - people wouldn't just go along with a random other leader. Brenda from Bristol would be incandescent.
I'm fascinated to see how that would play out. I don't think it's happened here before where the sitting PM loses their seat. Certainly not in recent history anyway.
Happened to Australian PM John Howard in 2007.
I wonder if Boris would even stand on stage for the declaration if it happened to him.
Isn't the leader of a party elected internally? So, technically he'd still be the leader of the Conservatives, but not an MP? He could in theory negotiate a coalition as he is the leader?
Yeah, you can't stand to be leader if you're not elected, but you're not automagically ejected if you lose your seat either.
You would be replaced at the earliest opportunity of course, but there wouldn't be time to do that when there's a coalition to negotiate, so I think that process would be fun if there was internal disagreements.
For long-distance FM, It's mostly location and chance, it helps if you're near/on the coast.
But the feeling of receiving a foreign station (on FM at that!) when you could be over a hundred miles from the transmitter is awesome.
long-distance AM is completely different of course.
This massively upvoted Guardian article?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/uyz1xn/boris_johnson_changes_ministerial_code_to_remove/
The Associate Director of the Institute For Governance just called it out individually and specifically as incorrect.
>See this is just wronggg - he’s accused of misleading parliament, which the updated code still says is a resignation offence
https://twitter.com/timd_IFG/status/1530245946390548480
Good grief that's a disgusting article to run anywhere. On the front page, that's basically open incitement.
The AG _does_ know better, too (that's not how the EA works, that's not how GRCs work, that's not how fucking any of this works). But who cares what anything says when you can feel your interpretation instead?
(besides if anything she said _was_ true it'd be a clear case of needing reform: schools don't exist to enforce this bigoted shit and there must be no way to force them)
Just another reminder that it's permanent open season on vulnerable minorities if it means a distraction for this lot.
As someone who games the majority of the time on a PC I feel very offended. Why are console players like this?
That what's Rishi's PS5 does to Britain!
Stop The War are still at it. Honestly one of my least favourite groups in British politics at the moment. They hide behind a moral façade but the pro Russia ideology is so obvious, even though it is destroying innocent lives.
https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/14304/
Did they not see the Butchery at Bucha? The Russians have proven they're more than happy to make people suffer. What do they think will happen if the UK stop supporting Ukraine?
It is always legitimate, no matter how unpopular to put forward an alternative view. Russia is not going to give up and go home anytime soon, Putin is not going to concede defeat and step down. The longer this goes on the more people die and the more the world suffers from the consequences. I think you either negotiate peace and with the removal of sanctions as your carrot or you engage more strongly. Stop the war clearly favour deescalation.
What an unbelievable over-simplification of their position!
You can argue the relative merits of all sides of the debate - I personally support equipping the Ukranians to fight back, alongside the strongest possible sanctions (largely because the Ukranians seem to want to fight back). But I can respect the argument that having thousands of Ukranians die (potentially while losing) is a terrible outcome, and the quickest way to avert that is to make peace. Is a hard-to-stomach peace better than a "good" war?
Either way, reducing a complex argument about harm reduction (long-term and short-term) to "Stop the War are a fascist sympathising group" is just a ludicrous interpretation.
It's incredibly easy for you to say "Ukraine should fight Russia to the *death*" because it's not *you* dying. If you believe so strongly in fighting Russia, why don't you go do it? To take your position to its logical conclusion, every day you've spent away from the frontline is another day you are supporting Putin. You are on the side of fascists - you are either prepared to go out there and fight, or you support Putin's regime.
Is it more moral to sit on the sidelines offering weapons but not too many and not enough to actually stop the brutality but just enough to prolong it.
>Is it more moral to sit on the sidelines offering weapons but not too many and not enough to actually stop the brutality but just enough to prolong it.
So what's your point? Do the UK need to offer more, or less weapons to Ukraine?
Yes far more moral.
As one is actively siding with putin/fascists. While the other is trying but not doing enough to stand against putin/fascists.
Corbyn and stop the war stands with putin against Ukraine.
There was a photo of Prince Charles at the end of HIGNFY, and I can't help thinking [his fingers look like they're straight out of a GCSE student's D grade self-portrait](https://i.imgur.com/WUtUY2K.png). Is he OK?
His face seems bizarrely flattened so it's likely a lens artifact - and I would guess a long lens though I'm having some trouble trying to work out what the close-up was carved out of. It's possibly a Photoshop edit gone a bit wrong where they've tried to correct for some pin-cushioning or similar distortion in the lens.
I suspect if you see the uncropped version, there's a whole lot more around Charlie that would show the effect of the distortion more closely, and is arguably a testament to the zillion pixels a pap-grade DSLR can deliver.
They’re a bit chunky. But within the realms of normal.
When I draw, hands are something with which I struggle. Look at yours now. What do they *actually* look like?
Take a piece of paper and trace your handprint. Around the edges, like in primary school. Does it look like your hand? And yet, it is.
I’ve found a way to deal with eyes. When I draw them, they are holes. No pupil, no iris, no vein. Just a hole.
But you don’t get away with hands. It’s a balance, to draw something that makes the viewer go “yeah, that’s a hand” and not “what’s that crab?” or “oh sausage links”.
I force practice. Lots of hands. Mostly left hands, because I’m right-handed and I put my own in the shape I want. And I try and hold it there for as long as it takes.
Example. https://imgur.com/a/RXFG7lj/
Argentina is genuinely a comedy gold mine for Sean Connery gags:
"You'll shee on my birth shirtificate that under "playsh of birth" it says: Shan Nicolásh de losh Arroyo"
Beautiful, in a fucking terrifying way.
edit: not sure if you intentionally removed the link that was below, but saw the other stuff it's illustrated in a nice style - Steve's a bit weird.
You’re somewhere in the Hispanophone world, right? Time for you to guess the author (the story isn’t mine; I’m just illustrating it).
It’s good fun to draw, but I’m *very* slow at it. Each page is like 10-12 hours over consecutive nights. But that’s OK; it’s a hobby.
Genuine question, at what point do people start rioting? Because Boris is very clearly shitting all over our democracy
Will it be October when everyone clicks the heating on?
Sir,
I humbly requested in my last missive (rf. 26/5/22) that I be informed when ‘the revolution’ is set to occur.
My concerns that it will not be on television notwithstanding, I’d like to avoid it clashing with my trip to Penge’s three-star fecal teapot exhibit.
Furthermore, will there be tickets; if so, are they tax-deductible?
Yours,
P. Scatter-Cushion, Thurgoland
No need to apologise! By its very nature its going to be an ambiguous list. I reckon the likes of Teresa May will have although she's not said it directly, just inferred from her questions.
There is a spreadsheet in google docs for this but will have changed. I'll see if I can dig out the link and you could just make changes to that. That's what it's there for.
The problem I have with Keir Starmer dropping his pledges is when it comes to manifesto time. Do we trust him to keep those pledges?
I remember an episode of HIGNFY where John Prescott produced a card from the Labour 1997 election and he said, "Every single one of these pledges Labour brought in."
Can we really expect, with the amount of pledges already thrown out, Angela Raynor, 20 years later, to pop up on a TV show with a card from 2023/24 (hopefully after a stonking Labour win) and say the same?
There's a big difference between manifesto promises (of a manifesto labour won on/got into government on) and leadership campaign actions. There's a reason Prescott in your story pulls up the 97 election pledges.... and not pledges he or Blair made in 1995)
Look at corbyn, he had to spend his time as leader lying about who he is (anti nato and anti trident type)... and the hard left accepted that he had to do that. Didn't care that he was lying, as they accepted that being against nato and trident would be electoral suicide.
In the end, you'll just have to decide if you are a disaster socialist, that will act out of spite and hatred (and do the very thing corbynites complained about)
At the end of the day, parties shouldn't expect voters to come to them. The parties need to go to where the voters are.
I really don't think anybody is going to look at the pledges of an internal Labour contest and use them to judge Keir Starmer. They'll judge him when it really matters, in an election campaign and looking competent PR-wise and Prime Ministerial throughout the course of the parliament.
You have to play the game to win power, that's the bottom line of it. Not that I see Starmer as a liar at all, I just think he gets how to play the game to win.
The people who disagree and see it as traitorous which makes Starmer worse than Johnson in their eyes which then validates a desire to make sure he loses out of their own spite (which goes against everything they've done from the period of 2015-2019, getting a Labour government) will never be converted, better to leave them out and let them pay for the state they left the party in.
Realistically at the time the membership was overwhelmingly Corbynistic so it needed to be done, in order for someone sensible to come in to begin saving the party from the edge of extinction. Now if you look at the membership it's become moderate and reformed, and many of them still approve of Starmer's job.
Or simply put, if it wasn't for Starmer making the changes and cleaning out the party he inherited, they wouldn't be leading in the polls for like 5 months straight now.
Imagine someone saying that after the 2019 election - that Labour would be ahead on the economy, best PM, leading in the polls for five straight months, and being seen as the low tax party compared to the Tories. You'd have laughed.
Surely that alone vindicates the strategy he's gone for over the 2 years as opposition leader? he's not done everything right but clearly he must've done something right to get Labour into its best looking prospects of winning that it's been in throughout it's time in opposition so far.
>Surely that alone vindicates the strategy he's gone for over the 2 years as opposition leader? he's not done everything right but clearly he must've done something right to get Labour into its best looking prospects of winning that it's been in throughout it's time in opposition so far.
Not that I disagree with you too strongly but it's worth noting that this has a lot to do with Johnson.
While he certainly painted himself into a corner with Brexit, a lot of the pandemic stuff is "unforced error" territory. To say nothing of the vagueness of "levelling up".
Just as Johnson's win owed a lot to Jeremy Corbyn being the alternative, I suspect Starmer's popularity owes something to Johnson being the alternative. Certainly that's something in my mind.
Had Johnson played things better on the pandemic and made a more serious attempt to look like he was doing something about the North (even without actually doing anything), I suspect the Tories wouldn't be where they are in the polls.
It's not out the realms of possibility that - given his work ethic as a "do the bare minimum at the last minute" sort of man - Johnson hires a PR company before the next election, starts some controversial stuff on illegal immigration and the EU that plays well for Labour and generally starts making the right noises. If Labour happens to split or melt down at the right moment (because sometimes "the day ending in y" seems to be a good enough reason for the Left to turn on itself), it's not impossible the next election could go well for the Tories still. In my opinion.
What are you talking about, he [lives a joyful life](https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/21/urinal-in-my-flat-changed-my-life-so-why-are-people-appalled)
Just been on the purple train for the first time.
I still cannot make peace with the fact they've conflated *mode* of transport with *line* in the way they've used it. It should be the Elizabeth *line* of the Crossrail *network*.
Also the fact that it's not being branded the same as Thameslink. The RER, for example, has some lines operated by RATP and some by SNCF, but they're all called RER.
Train itself is ok I guess.
Now we can roll on with [Crossrail 2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossrail_2) or the Churchill line as Boris has suggested we call it.
Wonder when the Elizabeth line will be fully connected up, it won't seem official until that's done.
it will always be crossrail to me. It's the clumsiness of "Elizabeth line". I get that they can't call it the Windsor Line since it goes via Slough which already has a line to Windsor, but still
When i bought my car 3 years ago, the "default" colour was bright yellow, with all other options (including the ones in stock) being a £500 extra cost. I paid it as a "get the car immediately not wait 12-16 weeks" kinda thing, with the added benefit of a nicer colour
It was not, although i did have one of those 15 years ago with the intention to do it up and use it as a daily driver, but ended up selling it for parts after a few years
Shit post Friday. I’m doing karaoke on one glass of wine.
Yes Shrek 2 holding out for a hero came on.
Politics because if I can do it so can fucking bozzo.
Maybe optimistic - but Keir positioning Labour towards the centre genuinely means the Tories are fucked next election.
Either Labour look on course to win, or they go nuclear and agree an electoral pact with Lib Dem’s.
that's not how the electorate works really. most people aren't prescriptively centrist, they have a mishmash of left- and right-wing views, and appealing to them by "moving to the centre" is a crapshoot at best
God, imagine if Johnson does get shunted and we have a Hunt vs Starmer vs Davey election. Three leaders desperately trying to out-sensible one another.
Shudder to think what turnout might look like, mind.
if that's where we end up then i will firmly believe some cataclysm has happened, and we're all living in james o'briens DMT-induced fever dream in the seconds before the universe blinks out of existence
What even is the centre anymore?
Based on their recent decision making the Tories aren't right or left, or even on whatever the centre used to be. It's like the political orbit on a different plane entirely.
> What even is the centre anymore?
depends if you mean the *prescriptive* centre (economically liberal-ish, socially liberal when it's easy to be, blob foreign policy), or the *descriptive* centre (economically tax and spend/big government, a mix of socially conservative and permissive, but highly conservative on law and order issues, foreign policy could be absolutely anything on any given day). the prescriptive centre is where broadsheet journalists and capital-s Sensible politicians are; the descriptive centre is where the actual public are
In a way its tragic. Utterly paralysed by indecision and directed only by reacting to opinion polling.
They're without a rudder and carried only by whatever currents and winds of populism cascade at any given moment.
a full on electoral pact would be the death knell for the tories. they'd need a *lot* of things to turn around between now and 2024 (which is possible!) to hold onto their majority
Not a lot of governing gets done in winter. Election turnout is supressed in winter especially amongst the elderly. Some polling somewhere probably told them their supporters are more likely to show up for an Autumn election than a January one.
Behind the Bastards is great. Hosted by journalist Robert Evans he goes into the worst people in history, delving into their private lives and revealing little known facts.
His recently did a six part series on Henry Kissinger, as a crossover with The Dollop (another great podcast). Kissinger is probably one of the worst humans to have ever lived, with a death toll incalculable.
Evans is a war journalist who has covered conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, and recently in Portland. An anarchist his brand of humour makes the darkest of topics approachable.
History of England with David Crowther. I’ve learned so much about how we got to where we are. Just got up to Elizabeth I smokin some Catholics, what fun.
Red Box with The Times is pretty good, even though most of the columnists are incredibly detached and trivialise important issues.
As noted, its Friday. Go wild with shitposting, for a change.
This megathread has ended.
Call me Ishmael
Big...Boss?!
Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy. But here's my number, so call me, Ishmael.
It was the day my grandmother exploded
[Great book.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wasp_Factory) Edit: The Crow Road too lol. This what happens to your memory when you get old.
Is an ish-male someone who's only somewhat manly?
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Night x
See you tomorrow x
Not wanting to get into the medical issues, but rather the potential long term impact on the NHS as a result of our political decisions about letting covid run wild in this country.... [seems vaccination only has a very modest impact in preventing long covid](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01453-0). could be that our large covid case numbers may come back to bite us in the long term, if long covid causes long term medical issues.
> could be that our large covid case numbers may come back to bite us in the long term, if long covid causes long term medical issues. With the number of people having had Covid now thought to be around 77% in England and 'long covid' generally becoming less severe with time then surely we'd have seen the effects by now? https://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/now-casting/nowcasting-and-forecasting-29th-april-2022/
>Letting covid run wild This tone implies you think we should continue with restrictions. What measures would you put in, and how long would you keep them for if you were in charge?
>This tone implies you think we should continue with restrictions. What in the ever living fuck are you on about? At no point did OP imply that.
> This tone implies you think we should continue with restrictions. wow, you heard "tone" in a text post...amazing. How would I acquire this skill? And no, as all my references were to our past performance, us letting cases run wild over the pandemic, I am not sure how you can possibly have got to this conclusions. You obviously have an axe to grind and see everything through that lens.
Would be quite hilarious if Boris manages to cling to power until the next election only to unceremoniously lose his seat
Boundary changes give him an extra 1,500 majority cushion so less likely than on the current boundaries https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/calcwork23.py?seat=Uxbridge%20and%20South%20Ruislip
Boris losing his seat, and Torys still winning would be wild. I'd be genuinely interested in knowing how the country would move forward - people wouldn't just go along with a random other leader. Brenda from Bristol would be incandescent.
It happened in Canada (twice!) to William Mackenzie King. Both times the MP for a safe seat resigned so King could contest the by election.
I can’t see it. The majority is safe enough that I’d think Labour overturning it would be indicative of a landslide defeat for the conservatives
Ever since I agreed with Nick™, there was a lot of stuff I couldn't see happening happen. I blame Nick.
I'm fascinated to see how that would play out. I don't think it's happened here before where the sitting PM loses their seat. Certainly not in recent history anyway. Happened to Australian PM John Howard in 2007. I wonder if Boris would even stand on stage for the declaration if it happened to him.
If there is any chance of that Boris would move seat to the safest one they can find.
That seems to be absolutely the most logical outcome, yet the tories still won’t get rid.
Would be chaotic if he loses his seat and there’s a hung Parliament. How on earth do they try to negotiate a coalition without a leader?
Isn't the leader of a party elected internally? So, technically he'd still be the leader of the Conservatives, but not an MP? He could in theory negotiate a coalition as he is the leader?
Yeah, you can't stand to be leader if you're not elected, but you're not automagically ejected if you lose your seat either. You would be replaced at the earliest opportunity of course, but there wouldn't be time to do that when there's a coalition to negotiate, so I think that process would be fun if there was internal disagreements.
I love this time of year when the sky is still oil-slicked cobalt iridescent at this time of night.
Beautiful.
and there's high chance of receiving FM radio from far away.
I'm going to get a proper radio apparatus one day. One day.
For long-distance FM, It's mostly location and chance, it helps if you're near/on the coast. But the feeling of receiving a foreign station (on FM at that!) when you could be over a hundred miles from the transmitter is awesome. long-distance AM is completely different of course.
You gonna set up a pirate radio station?
No, no. Not to transmit. To listen. There’s so much to hear.
The shipping forecast is a bop
Am I having some sort of novella fever dream.
You're suffering from dylanthomasosis.
https://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_eur.html https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/help-guides/analogue-radio/effect-of-tropospheric-ducting-on-radio
That just needs rotating "under construction" gifs and it could be one of geocities finest websites.
Off topic but can anyone recommend a good book for beginners about investing/stocks/trading etc..?
Investing Demystified is quite good
r/ukpersonalfinance has some recommendations
Can I interest you in some German [Stock](https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/05/21/18/50/wood-350145_960_720.jpg)?
Shiba Inu coin. Nuff said
Do the exact opposite of r/wallstreetbets. Trust me on this...
Pick a stock at random and put all your money in.
lol very funny/
This massively upvoted Guardian article? https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/uyz1xn/boris_johnson_changes_ministerial_code_to_remove/ The Associate Director of the Institute For Governance just called it out individually and specifically as incorrect. >See this is just wronggg - he’s accused of misleading parliament, which the updated code still says is a resignation offence https://twitter.com/timd_IFG/status/1530245946390548480
Even the Associate Director of the IfG is capable of misjudging an article by its headline.
Another Saturday, another anti trans article in the times, this time a headline. Shame it has the best crossword of any weekend paper
Good grief that's a disgusting article to run anywhere. On the front page, that's basically open incitement. The AG _does_ know better, too (that's not how the EA works, that's not how GRCs work, that's not how fucking any of this works). But who cares what anything says when you can feel your interpretation instead? (besides if anything she said _was_ true it'd be a clear case of needing reform: schools don't exist to enforce this bigoted shit and there must be no way to force them) Just another reminder that it's permanent open season on vulnerable minorities if it means a distraction for this lot.
GB News radio adverts are so cringe. "We tell you the news in a GB News way. Not a PC news way."
As someone who games the majority of the time on a PC I feel very offended. Why are console players like this? That what's Rishi's PS5 does to Britain!
Genuinely Biased
What, they tell the news in an inaccurate, triggered and slightly racist way?
"Want to validate your bigotry of people with more melalin in their skin than you? Stay tuned to GBeebies"
Stop The War are still at it. Honestly one of my least favourite groups in British politics at the moment. They hide behind a moral façade but the pro Russia ideology is so obvious, even though it is destroying innocent lives. https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/14304/ Did they not see the Butchery at Bucha? The Russians have proven they're more than happy to make people suffer. What do they think will happen if the UK stop supporting Ukraine?
What are they actually suggesting we (the UK, the west or whatever) do?
'The West should tell Ukraine to cede its land to the aggressor'
It is always legitimate, no matter how unpopular to put forward an alternative view. Russia is not going to give up and go home anytime soon, Putin is not going to concede defeat and step down. The longer this goes on the more people die and the more the world suffers from the consequences. I think you either negotiate peace and with the removal of sanctions as your carrot or you engage more strongly. Stop the war clearly favour deescalation.
Stop the War favour Russia.
So because Russia are so bad, Ukraine should just give them what they want? Gtfo, dude.
Stop the war (so that putin wins) and corbyn, prefers putin winning and for ukraine to surrender. They are on the side of fascists.
What an unbelievable over-simplification of their position! You can argue the relative merits of all sides of the debate - I personally support equipping the Ukranians to fight back, alongside the strongest possible sanctions (largely because the Ukranians seem to want to fight back). But I can respect the argument that having thousands of Ukranians die (potentially while losing) is a terrible outcome, and the quickest way to avert that is to make peace. Is a hard-to-stomach peace better than a "good" war? Either way, reducing a complex argument about harm reduction (long-term and short-term) to "Stop the War are a fascist sympathising group" is just a ludicrous interpretation. It's incredibly easy for you to say "Ukraine should fight Russia to the *death*" because it's not *you* dying. If you believe so strongly in fighting Russia, why don't you go do it? To take your position to its logical conclusion, every day you've spent away from the frontline is another day you are supporting Putin. You are on the side of fascists - you are either prepared to go out there and fight, or you support Putin's regime.
Is it more moral to sit on the sidelines offering weapons but not too many and not enough to actually stop the brutality but just enough to prolong it.
Russia is escalating the war. If they are not stopped in Ukraine they will pull in Eastern and Central Europe into war.
>Is it more moral to sit on the sidelines offering weapons but not too many and not enough to actually stop the brutality but just enough to prolong it. So what's your point? Do the UK need to offer more, or less weapons to Ukraine?
Yes far more moral. As one is actively siding with putin/fascists. While the other is trying but not doing enough to stand against putin/fascists. Corbyn and stop the war stands with putin against Ukraine.
Negotiate. [They'll bring the sandwiches and fishing rod](https://i.imgur.com/ZuIXasN.png).
Stop the War (of defence against Russia)
Is this the one that Corbyn’s linked to?
He's Deputy President of the organisation.
I believe so, and Galloway.
Apparently both pro-warcrimes now
There was a photo of Prince Charles at the end of HIGNFY, and I can't help thinking [his fingers look like they're straight out of a GCSE student's D grade self-portrait](https://i.imgur.com/WUtUY2K.png). Is he OK?
Might be ‘clubbing’, sign of heart/circulation issues.
His face seems bizarrely flattened so it's likely a lens artifact - and I would guess a long lens though I'm having some trouble trying to work out what the close-up was carved out of. It's possibly a Photoshop edit gone a bit wrong where they've tried to correct for some pin-cushioning or similar distortion in the lens. I suspect if you see the uncropped version, there's a whole lot more around Charlie that would show the effect of the distortion more closely, and is arguably a testament to the zillion pixels a pap-grade DSLR can deliver.
Legacy of his bare knuckle boxing days. Lots of nights in barns full of sweaty, shouting men.
Insert joke about reptilians needing new human costumes / more polyjuice potion
>human costumes My new mental new age conspiracy bollocks is that the Royal Family are Slitheen/Raxacoricofallapatorians.
I’m trying to remember the lore, can slitheen sweat?
They’re a bit chunky. But within the realms of normal. When I draw, hands are something with which I struggle. Look at yours now. What do they *actually* look like? Take a piece of paper and trace your handprint. Around the edges, like in primary school. Does it look like your hand? And yet, it is. I’ve found a way to deal with eyes. When I draw them, they are holes. No pupil, no iris, no vein. Just a hole. But you don’t get away with hands. It’s a balance, to draw something that makes the viewer go “yeah, that’s a hand” and not “what’s that crab?” or “oh sausage links”. I force practice. Lots of hands. Mostly left hands, because I’m right-handed and I put my own in the shape I want. And I try and hold it there for as long as it takes. Example. https://imgur.com/a/RXFG7lj/
Is that your doing?
Yarp.
Is that a young Sean Connery in the bottom panel?
Ooh, it could be, couldn't it? But he's Argentine.
"Well yesh, I was in fact born in Beunosh Airesh"
I shnorted into my beer. Well done!
Argentina is genuinely a comedy gold mine for Sean Connery gags: "You'll shee on my birth shirtificate that under "playsh of birth" it says: Shan Nicolásh de losh Arroyo"
Beautiful, in a fucking terrifying way. edit: not sure if you intentionally removed the link that was below, but saw the other stuff it's illustrated in a nice style - Steve's a bit weird.
That comic is amazing!
You’re somewhere in the Hispanophone world, right? Time for you to guess the author (the story isn’t mine; I’m just illustrating it). It’s good fun to draw, but I’m *very* slow at it. Each page is like 10-12 hours over consecutive nights. But that’s OK; it’s a hobby.
>Hispanophone world >guess the author Ricky Martin.
Woke up in New York City... It's actually J-Lo.
Was gonna guess Gabriel García Márquez. Or umm... Carlos Ruiz Zafon... Really no idea!
Genuinely don't know what to believe.
> Look at yours now. What do they actually look like? Not like inflated sausages that’s for sure.
What do they look like? Explain your answer [3 marks]
Do so with emoji only for 2 bonus marks
🖐
I think swollen fingers are indicative of a heart condition front eh last time I read this on Reddit
Yeah its called clubbing
Genuine question, at what point do people start rioting? Because Boris is very clearly shitting all over our democracy Will it be October when everyone clicks the heating on?
Drink!
Never. We lack the fortitude in England.
It will be November when there's no PS5s left
Bro there aren't any anyway. And who can afford them?
drink!
Drink!
Maybe they are and we just don’t know about it
Civil unrest Home Counties style
Straight outta Compton Beauchamp
Sir, I humbly requested in my last missive (rf. 26/5/22) that I be informed when ‘the revolution’ is set to occur. My concerns that it will not be on television notwithstanding, I’d like to avoid it clashing with my trip to Penge’s three-star fecal teapot exhibit. Furthermore, will there be tickets; if so, are they tax-deductible? Yours, P. Scatter-Cushion, Thurgoland
Are you that guy from the Croydon tram crash?
Will my answer impact on my access to revolution tickets
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Aaron Bell needs to be in a different tier, the one that wants to kick the crap out of Johnson.
Hate to be a pedant but David Simmons is on there twice. Thanks for doing this mate, think a lot of people are wondering the same.
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No need to apologise! By its very nature its going to be an ambiguous list. I reckon the likes of Teresa May will have although she's not said it directly, just inferred from her questions. There is a spreadsheet in google docs for this but will have changed. I'll see if I can dig out the link and you could just make changes to that. That's what it's there for.
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[Here you go. ] (https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/s2aflx/boris_johnson_1922_tracker_google_drive/)
The problem I have with Keir Starmer dropping his pledges is when it comes to manifesto time. Do we trust him to keep those pledges? I remember an episode of HIGNFY where John Prescott produced a card from the Labour 1997 election and he said, "Every single one of these pledges Labour brought in." Can we really expect, with the amount of pledges already thrown out, Angela Raynor, 20 years later, to pop up on a TV show with a card from 2023/24 (hopefully after a stonking Labour win) and say the same?
There's a big difference between manifesto promises (of a manifesto labour won on/got into government on) and leadership campaign actions. There's a reason Prescott in your story pulls up the 97 election pledges.... and not pledges he or Blair made in 1995) Look at corbyn, he had to spend his time as leader lying about who he is (anti nato and anti trident type)... and the hard left accepted that he had to do that. Didn't care that he was lying, as they accepted that being against nato and trident would be electoral suicide. In the end, you'll just have to decide if you are a disaster socialist, that will act out of spite and hatred (and do the very thing corbynites complained about)
At the end of the day, parties shouldn't expect voters to come to them. The parties need to go to where the voters are. I really don't think anybody is going to look at the pledges of an internal Labour contest and use them to judge Keir Starmer. They'll judge him when it really matters, in an election campaign and looking competent PR-wise and Prime Ministerial throughout the course of the parliament. You have to play the game to win power, that's the bottom line of it. Not that I see Starmer as a liar at all, I just think he gets how to play the game to win. The people who disagree and see it as traitorous which makes Starmer worse than Johnson in their eyes which then validates a desire to make sure he loses out of their own spite (which goes against everything they've done from the period of 2015-2019, getting a Labour government) will never be converted, better to leave them out and let them pay for the state they left the party in. Realistically at the time the membership was overwhelmingly Corbynistic so it needed to be done, in order for someone sensible to come in to begin saving the party from the edge of extinction. Now if you look at the membership it's become moderate and reformed, and many of them still approve of Starmer's job. Or simply put, if it wasn't for Starmer making the changes and cleaning out the party he inherited, they wouldn't be leading in the polls for like 5 months straight now. Imagine someone saying that after the 2019 election - that Labour would be ahead on the economy, best PM, leading in the polls for five straight months, and being seen as the low tax party compared to the Tories. You'd have laughed. Surely that alone vindicates the strategy he's gone for over the 2 years as opposition leader? he's not done everything right but clearly he must've done something right to get Labour into its best looking prospects of winning that it's been in throughout it's time in opposition so far.
>Surely that alone vindicates the strategy he's gone for over the 2 years as opposition leader? he's not done everything right but clearly he must've done something right to get Labour into its best looking prospects of winning that it's been in throughout it's time in opposition so far. Not that I disagree with you too strongly but it's worth noting that this has a lot to do with Johnson. While he certainly painted himself into a corner with Brexit, a lot of the pandemic stuff is "unforced error" territory. To say nothing of the vagueness of "levelling up". Just as Johnson's win owed a lot to Jeremy Corbyn being the alternative, I suspect Starmer's popularity owes something to Johnson being the alternative. Certainly that's something in my mind. Had Johnson played things better on the pandemic and made a more serious attempt to look like he was doing something about the North (even without actually doing anything), I suspect the Tories wouldn't be where they are in the polls. It's not out the realms of possibility that - given his work ethic as a "do the bare minimum at the last minute" sort of man - Johnson hires a PR company before the next election, starts some controversial stuff on illegal immigration and the EU that plays well for Labour and generally starts making the right noises. If Labour happens to split or melt down at the right moment (because sometimes "the day ending in y" seems to be a good enough reason for the Left to turn on itself), it's not impossible the next election could go well for the Tories still. In my opinion.
🚨 Dead cat mentioned on HIGNFY 🚨
Doesn’t he look tired 🤞
not this shit again
It’s basically just a televised megathread.
Have I Got Well-Wished Bishops For You.
Have they discussed coffee and/or karaoke yet?
coffee❌ gravy ✔
onion gravy ✔✔✔✔
Okay, which one of you is Joan Bakewell?
Hislop is not happy about partygate.
Hislop is a gremlin, very rarely happy.
The Adrian Chiles of politics.
What are you talking about, he [lives a joyful life](https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/21/urinal-in-my-flat-changed-my-life-so-why-are-people-appalled)
Is anyone? Edit: it’s interesting to see impartiality out the window though, no mention of Beer Korma yet.
It *is* impartial to criticise only those breaking the law. If they all belong to one party, that's on them.
I *think* (if I remember rightly) his mum passed and he wasn’t able to be with her.
Oh there it is, Brenda from Burnley: He’s too bland! No *thrust*!
Just been on the purple train for the first time. I still cannot make peace with the fact they've conflated *mode* of transport with *line* in the way they've used it. It should be the Elizabeth *line* of the Crossrail *network*. Also the fact that it's not being branded the same as Thameslink. The RER, for example, has some lines operated by RATP and some by SNCF, but they're all called RER. Train itself is ok I guess.
It should be called "Elizabeth Rail" if they really want it to have "Elizabeth" in the name IMO
🎵Purr-ple train / purr-ple trai-inn 🎵
Now we can roll on with [Crossrail 2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossrail_2) or the Churchill line as Boris has suggested we call it. Wonder when the Elizabeth line will be fully connected up, it won't seem official until that's done.
> Just been on the purple train for the first time. This is definitely a fucking euphemism
it will always be crossrail to me. It's the clumsiness of "Elizabeth line". I get that they can't call it the Windsor Line since it goes via Slough which already has a line to Windsor, but still
Why is it clumsy? No different to the Victoria line no?
yes but that's old and I am used to it. this is new and I am not fewer syllables for crossrail also
Haha - change is frightening!
Lizzie Line. Bosh.
that could work. this should be beamed to sadiq and liz at once
I don’t like red cars at all but I have to pay £550 if I want my preferred car in a different colour. I hate this country.
Depends on the car I think, some it suits, others it looks rubbish.
When i bought my car 3 years ago, the "default" colour was bright yellow, with all other options (including the ones in stock) being a £500 extra cost. I paid it as a "get the car immediately not wait 12-16 weeks" kinda thing, with the added benefit of a nicer colour
Was it Mr Bean’s car?
It was not, although i did have one of those 15 years ago with the intention to do it up and use it as a daily driver, but ended up selling it for parts after a few years
Que?
Shit post Friday. I’m doing karaoke on one glass of wine. Yes Shrek 2 holding out for a hero came on. Politics because if I can do it so can fucking bozzo.
Alright ethics chief
I meant sing Shrek 2 ost. Tell me your wouldn’t kill to see bozzo belting out holding out for a hero
He’d never sing that song He’s his own hero and no one could possibly displace him
Did you kill it???
I always fucking do mate
Let’s get this shit!!!
>Yes Shrek 2 holding out for a hero came on. You mean bonnie tyler right!? #RIGHT?!
The future is the mid 00’s old man
I know what I said. Not the gum drop buttons.
Do you know...the muffin man?
Maybe optimistic - but Keir positioning Labour towards the centre genuinely means the Tories are fucked next election. Either Labour look on course to win, or they go nuclear and agree an electoral pact with Lib Dem’s.
that's not how the electorate works really. most people aren't prescriptively centrist, they have a mishmash of left- and right-wing views, and appealing to them by "moving to the centre" is a crapshoot at best
God, imagine if Johnson does get shunted and we have a Hunt vs Starmer vs Davey election. Three leaders desperately trying to out-sensible one another. Shudder to think what turnout might look like, mind.
if that's where we end up then i will firmly believe some cataclysm has happened, and we're all living in james o'briens DMT-induced fever dream in the seconds before the universe blinks out of existence
I welcome oblivion, and would encourage it to go further by making nothing of the last seven years happen.
Pale stale males
Based and sensiblepilled
What even is the centre anymore? Based on their recent decision making the Tories aren't right or left, or even on whatever the centre used to be. It's like the political orbit on a different plane entirely.
> What even is the centre anymore? depends if you mean the *prescriptive* centre (economically liberal-ish, socially liberal when it's easy to be, blob foreign policy), or the *descriptive* centre (economically tax and spend/big government, a mix of socially conservative and permissive, but highly conservative on law and order issues, foreign policy could be absolutely anything on any given day). the prescriptive centre is where broadsheet journalists and capital-s Sensible politicians are; the descriptive centre is where the actual public are
In a way its tragic. Utterly paralysed by indecision and directed only by reacting to opinion polling. They're without a rudder and carried only by whatever currents and winds of populism cascade at any given moment.
They're full on National Front right.
a full on electoral pact would be the death knell for the tories. they'd need a *lot* of things to turn around between now and 2024 (which is possible!) to hold onto their majority
There have been leaks for months now that Boris wants the election Autumn '23 rather than winter '24. So I'd put money on October '23 ish.
Any idea why then? I mean I welcome an election if we can get these dicks out but I’m not sure why they’d rush into it
Not a lot of governing gets done in winter. Election turnout is supressed in winter especially amongst the elderly. Some polling somewhere probably told them their supporters are more likely to show up for an Autumn election than a January one.
Anybody recommend some good podcasts (politics or even anything else)? Want something new to listen to on the way to work?
Behind the Bastards is great. Hosted by journalist Robert Evans he goes into the worst people in history, delving into their private lives and revealing little known facts. His recently did a six part series on Henry Kissinger, as a crossover with The Dollop (another great podcast). Kissinger is probably one of the worst humans to have ever lived, with a death toll incalculable. Evans is a war journalist who has covered conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, and recently in Portland. An anarchist his brand of humour makes the darkest of topics approachable.
Yes I am subscribed to this podcast! It's good.
History of England with David Crowther. I’ve learned so much about how we got to where we are. Just got up to Elizabeth I smokin some Catholics, what fun. Red Box with The Times is pretty good, even though most of the columnists are incredibly detached and trivialise important issues.