"It's not so you can order a baguette in a boulangerie. It's so that you can understand that other people have different perspectives to you."
I'm all for languages, but knowing how to order a baguette is handy (and my AO French was of little use in that regard).
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
This poem, written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer just before the Nazis killed him in 1945, seems curiously Dylanesque (shades of Idiot Wind in particular).
Ah, yes, I think the same family used to have a pub in Richmond, where I had a very good meal...
(and provoking people like me into retweeting it)
Me too, or whether it was a Simpsons reference...
Looks good. Is that somewhere Sussexy?
Swavoury? Swoasty? Picklish? Fricy?
Thanks, Waitrose, you've put me right off food. All food. I may never eat again.
Are you writing/have you written a King's Cross book?
I find it very hard to believe that a senior civil servant wouldn't have sought a political steer from someone (Foreign Secretary, No10 SpAd?) before proceeding, though as others have said the appointment had already been announced. Which I would say made raising the issue all the more urgent.
YOU BROUGHT A HOME NEXT TO TRAFALGAR SQUARE. THAT IS NOT A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBOURHOOD. HEAVEN HAS BEEN THERE SINCE 1979
astonishing levels of Nimby
If Starmer didn't know, then he is responsible for a government in which it was possible for him not to know.
Always slightly surprised that UK's leading bath shop is called 'Victorian Plumbing', a name suggestive of stained enamel baths, long-drop loos with wobbly cisterns, and gurgling heating pipes and giant radiators generating hardly any warmth.
Black robe and swill
I believe Anita Hill
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWzI...
Indeed, as one former landlord pointed out to me, the people who bought her former rental were much better off than the people who were renting it previously.
So shady and exploitative...
This is a good thread which gives some structure to my feelings of uneasiness about the BBC reporting of asylum abuse. (I'd add that the broadcaster of record leading with its own investigations two days in a row feels a bit blinkered).
Interesting analysis of why the link between car ownership and affluence is weaker in London than elsewhere (read down the thread).
Great paean to London and response to its enemies by @jwbrown.bsky.social. The capital is flawed and imperfect but still a global beacon of success, productivity and diversity. www.onlondon.co.uk/jack-brown-t...
Quite (same instinct that makes me want to ring the 'How's my driving?' number to leave a compliment). My local council's portal is certainly quite objection-focused:
Only takes a minute...
I have seen a lot of NIMBY selfishness in my time, but "my convenience matters more than cancer care" is a new low. Quite seriously tempted to email them and tell them as much.
Ah, the bright pink rosés that are nice and dry, and their evil counterpart, the most delicately coloured rosés that taste of bubblegum...
Why is MoD procurement so bad? Would love to read an analysis of why only three of 45 major MoD projects are running smoothly. ar25.nista.grid.civilservice.gov.uk/tables
It's that time of year when the Taxpayers Alliance publishes its town hall rich list and here's what I'm going to say... The Prime Minister's salary has been more-or-less frozen since 2010 and if it had risen with general pay growth it would be about £300k. It is a terrible benchmark.
It's a frustration about all newspapers nowadays - they want to keep us on their website, so you have to search independently for any reports cited.
Always the same. When I worked on the Jubilee Line extension in 1994, the planning team were all moving over to start on Crossrail (1)!
Looking forward to this event on 11 May, organised by The London Society and hosted by University of London. I'll be talking about London universities' history of innovation and its impact on the city, and a star panel will discuss what this means today. Sign up! londonsociety.org.uk/event/talk-2...
Though the ToTP archive (our usual getting-home-after-a-Friday-night-out viewing) is getting more and more gappy - like a partly-decayed ancient manuscript.
8.30ish