Wednesday 18th August 2021

[refitman]

Morning all.

[frog222]

Morning rfm
@gilsey -- "agile ceremonies" was my favourite too !

The TB were not even inside the presidential palace in Kabul before the BBC were asking some hapless minister
"How many will we take ?"
FFS we already have ONE GBNews .

[frog222]

I thought they would have shut it down, but still open and has grown from 120K earlier --



https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/576886

[frog222]

Raab scrabble word-salad —

“I think it is easy to say that with the benefit of hindsight, but the truth is you are always measuring a very fluid constellation matrix, if you like, of risk factors, and that is the reality.”



I trust you are all listening eagerly to the 'debate'

[gilsey]

Looks alarmingly like a superspreader event in the HoC.

[frog222]

https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Ind ... 4f2a1cdf90

Powerful stuff ! Blackford going great guns .

[PorFavor]

Good morfternoon. Or not, as the case may be.

"Comedian Sean Lock dies aged 58" (Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/ ... es-aged-58

[AnatolyKasparov]

Well that is no real age.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

That's such a shame, I've always enjoyed his surreal daftness.

Another shitty thing happening to add to the collection.

[gilsey]

[gilsey]

Former NI Sec
@OwenPaterson
: "This is Britain's biggest foreign policy humiliation since Suez....

No, that's Brexit.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Austin Mitchell also RIP, though he got to 86 which isn't a bad innings.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Looks alarmingly like a superspreader event in the HoC.

I don't think Covid 19 is a thing in this country anymore.

[gilsey]

Schrodinger's virus.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Looks alarmingly like a superspreader event in the HoC.

I don't think Covid 19 is a thing in this country anymore.

It is to those still getting it bad (or worse)

[tinyclanger2]

The species' ability to avoid reality is stunning. I feel we are rapidly devolving back to some pre-science, pre-civilisation state.
BTW - has anyone heard from Citizen? I can imagine the endless global misery is not entirely uplifting.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

It is to those still getting it bad (or worse)

Indeed, but apparently not to about 90% of people in shops or on buses. At least round here. My area has the highest Covid infection rate it's ever experienced and yet most people are carrying on like it's yesterday's news. I'd like to say I find that astonishing but sadly I'd be lying.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

BTW - has anyone heard from Citizen? I can imagine the endless global misery is not entirely uplifting.

A few weeks ago. She wasn't sounding too chipper.

[AnatolyKasparov]

It is to those still getting it bad (or worse)

Indeed, but apparently not to about 90% of people in shops or on buses. At least round here. My area has the highest Covid infection rate it's ever experienced and yet most people are carrying on like it's yesterday's news. I'd like to say I find that astonishing but sadly I'd be lying.

Still wear my mask in small shops and on trains, but think supermarkets are now safe enough not to need it (better ventilation etc)

The mileage of others may vary, as ever.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

The Delta variant has a viral load 1,200 times higher than good old bog standard Covid 19, if there's someone anywhere near you spewing out that amount of viral particles the feeble ventilation in a supermarket is going to do absolutely sod all. The vaccines reduced the viral load for all previous variants but along came Delta and now it makes next to no difference whether you've been vaccinated or not. Removing the requirement to wear masks was an act of unmitigated stupidty.

[frog222]

The Delta variant has a viral load 1,200 times higher than good old bog standard Covid 19, ;; Removing the requirement to wear masks was an act of unmitigated stupidty.

Masks still compulsory in supermarkets, and for kids 7+ when school opens . Figures still rising steadily, c2000 in ICU which has doubled in three weeks .

[refitman]

[PaulfromYorkshire]

This Tweet popped up on my timeline because AngryBirdFlies, formerly of this parish, liked it.

I happen to know ABF is absolutely not a Corbyn fan, but the thread that follows is a ringing endorsement of his politics!

Be careful what you like!!!

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Good question. Where’s Gove?

[PorFavor]

"Patel hints Afghans crossing Channel will be treated same as other migrants

Priti Patel appeared to confirm there would be no exception made for those fleeing the Taliban who used “irregular” routes to come to the UK" (Guardian)

Priti Patel advises Afghan refugees to stick to the 'bus route.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... r-migrants

[AnatolyKasparov]

Please don't tweet Chris Williamson on here. As the saying goes, even when he's right he's wrong.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Niall Ferguson, David Aaronovitch, Andrew Roberts, William Shawcross. It was these four I remember most as the 'intellectual' talking heads on TV extolling the virtues of invading Afghanistan and then Iraq.

I remember Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen being held up as beacons of the 'decent left' as if the rest of us were reprobates for wondering how propelling explosives at people would encourage them to create progressive democracies. There was even a forum for the 'decent left' to wank over how great it was that other humans were being maimed and killed quite horribly for their own good. It was called Harry's Place. It was quite the thing at the time.

Now, 20 years later, are these fools going to admit they were wrong? We all agreed at the time that the women and next generation in Afghanistan deserved a better life. The question was whether bombing the shit out of them, murdering them with private security contractors then handing control to a bunch of corrupt Western educated stooges was a good idea.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Slightly disagree with the above.

There was a strong (some would say compelling) case for doing something like what happened after Sept 11 - but it certainly should have been much more time limited (and of course we should have stayed right out of Iraq)

Serious consideration should have been given to exiting Afghanistan once OBL was offed, if not before.

Harry's Place wasn't too bad once (statement of interest, I used to post there btl regularly) It is now a haven for alt-centrist (at best) cranks.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Harry's Place was a cesspit of outright racism. I used to post there myself otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it. Don't tell me you didn't notice it dude.

There was a strong case for doing something about Saudi Arabia and it's state funding of Wahhabism in Pakistan.

There still is.

[PorFavor]

I remember Harry's Place but I especially remember Niall Ferguson. He was (inexplicably) a sort of respectable pin-up figure at the time.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

[PorFavor]

Night night.