neilm
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Post by neilm on Mar 21, 2023 12:10:07 GMT
First of all, I didn't say I prefer American Football (I said I like its aggression) Have you watched hurling? The fastest game on grass for my money. It and gaelic football have an attractive element of physicality.
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neilm
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Post by neilm on Mar 7, 2023 22:21:06 GMT
Regular updates please. Pretty please. Of course! I'm hoping to blag my way onto two other digs with the uni as well, one in Bosnia before Cookham and one in Iraq after it. I might have to start a thread! Which Iraqi site? I assume the dig at Lagash is over for the time being, although I sincerely hope it is there because it looks fantastic.
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Post by neilm on Mar 4, 2023 14:09:24 GMT
I think it's a shame the Co-Operative party doesn't allow you to be a member of any other party than Labour. I understand the history of the Co-Operative party, but Co-operatism isn't necessarily a centre left ideology, and it could easily make sense for a paternalistic Conservative, a social liberal or a Green to agree with the aims, but I guess if they were to allow other party members to use the Co-Operative Party badge in some way, Labour would just end the agreement with them. Edit: Even the Labour MPs seem to cross the internal spectrum of the party, from right leaning Labour MPs like Steve Reed to left leaning MPs like Lloyd Russell Moyle. I agree. I don't have a detailed knowledge of what policies, if any, the Co-Op party has, but I think the principle of co-operativism is much undervalued and underutilised these days. I could certainly see myself joining a party with that as a main pillar of their principles. Perhaps we should join and mount a takeover - rather-amiable-and-not-very-militant Militant! I'm also in the dark about the Co-operative Party and its actual policies. There is a sound case from the economic right for cooperatives and mutuals: if they focused on that alone then I'd be interested in joining. As it stands, they seem to have not been very effective at working towards those principles when Labour are in power and look like they need to widen the net.
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Post by neilm on Feb 25, 2023 20:09:28 GMT
He's been popping up in American media recently so maybe a on manoeuvres.
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Post by neilm on Feb 16, 2023 13:12:54 GMT
The Co-Operative Party is an affiliated organisation, but unlike the other organisations it's also a political party in its own right. However, it only stands candidates in a fusion arrangement with the Labour Party. Generally I'd say that in factional terms most of those associated with it are on the soft right of the party, though it's not a hard and fast rule. Never seen it as a soft-right option. I am not of that background anyway. I suspect the perspective may be that a cooperative position is about increasing the labour share through developing and growing enterprises rather than redistributive measures, which puts them on the economic right (in Labour terms). That's my reading of the situation and I might be wrong. There is the added factor that there are people on the actual economic right who support cooperatives, mutuals and so on as a way of building individual involvement in the economy and view it as a way of building a shareowning democracy. This a more continental view admittedly but it isn't that rare a stance especially in academia in the UK. This may also influence some on the left to view the Co-Op Party as being right wing.
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neilm
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Post by neilm on Feb 16, 2023 13:02:39 GMT
I am on my PC - it lets me change my name, not my party. You need to go to the Settings tab, then the Display Group option. Beat me to it!
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Post by neilm on Feb 16, 2023 12:01:01 GMT
I am ignorant when it comes to this, but genuinely curious. Can I ask what is the ideological distinction between being ‘just’ Labour and being Labour and Co-Operative? Is the latter generally more to the left? Is it symbolic more than anything or does the Co-Operative Party have a ‘voice at the table?’ The Co-Operative Party is an affiliated organisation, but unlike the other organisations it's also a political party in its own right. However, it only stands candidates in a fusion arrangement with the Labour Party. Generally I'd say that in factional terms most of those associated with it are on the soft right of the party, though it's not a hard and fast rule. I don't have a particular axe to grind against the Co-Op Party, but it does strike me that when Labour has been in government they haven't really pushed to advance cooperatives and mutuals as much as they could. The previous Labour government created some not great legislation which feels like it was a bit of a sop to keep the money coming in. There is a sound economic case for cooperative enterprises (even from a right wing perspective) and they just don't seem to be making it.
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Post by neilm on Feb 11, 2023 18:14:53 GMT
I have other connections to Skem, but not comfortable with disclosing those on the forum. I don't think you're alone in that! It's like admitting you're a fan of Preston Bus Station.
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Post by neilm on Feb 10, 2023 17:51:03 GMT
This must rate as one of the most boring by elections of recent times, along with Airdrie and Sleaford.
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Post by neilm on Feb 4, 2023 12:16:47 GMT
not just nationally though, they are in a generally weak position in London specifically. Things might be different if Labour were in power by the time of the Mayoral election, but that's unlikely - for the Tories to win the Mayoralty, they probably need both an unpopular mayor AND Labour to have been in power nationally for a reasonable time. I agree that Khan is not very popular, especially in outer London boroughs where many voters are angry about the ULEZ extension. Turning that into a Conservative victory, however, will be very difficult, though not totally impossible. The lack of second preferences may hurt them as well: there is no option to get the extra votes that won't go to a transfer unfriendly Khan.
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Post by neilm on Feb 4, 2023 11:28:54 GMT
Maybe Countdown was fixed and the letters game was just a way of transmitting encoded messages to deep cover agents? Or the numbers were a TV version of those radio stations. A good job the Lincolnshire Poacher wasn't the theme music, the conspiracy theorists would have gone wild.
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Post by neilm on Feb 4, 2023 10:32:00 GMT
I once got told that Paul Foot had security connections but I imagine they weren't voluntary, or that he knew them because he'd worked out who they really were, or it was people like Clive Ponting. However, when I started at my current employer, a much older colleague who was dealing with strikes in the late 70s and 80s told me that a fair number of well known journalists, TV people etc were, if not actual MI5 agents, informants of a sort. Including (allegedly) a number of those who you wouldn't think of.
Presumably this was mainly journalists telling a friend (whose job was a bit vague) they regularly saw at dinner parties when the next SOGAT walk out was planned for or whatever, and also a number were people like Whiteley with known sympathies who could be relied upon to make a documentary that might influence a jury. And a few were no doubt people with obvious security connections who shared information intentionally without actually being a regular asset: not specifically naming them but people like Peter Jay and Joe Haines might very well fall into that category. So nothing beyond what you would expect.
But the thought that someone like Polly Toynbee was actually a deep cover MI5 asset is delicious.
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Post by neilm on Jan 14, 2023 17:46:11 GMT
To me, although it is nothing like the poorest, Milton Keynes is the worst place I've ever been to in Britain. Just so soulless. Bletchley and Wolverton are alright, if a little rough around the edges (and judging by images, Newport Pagnell looks very nice but I've never been). The problem is that the "city centre" area, which is where most people actually visit and think of as MK, definitely is as you describe. Central Milton Keynes just doesn't feel like it was designed for people - the buildings are too big and too spaced out, the roads are too wide, and the entire atmosphere is artificial at best.
I lived in Newport for a year (in a very nice Victorian terrace). It's a great place to live. Ditto Woburn Sands. I partly agree about the centre. It is artificial but it is very people friendly and the market easily beats most others I've seen. The real problem is that the local centres don't function as designed, although the Neath Hill one is good. The pub is a bit rough around the edges but has some fantastic regulars.
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Post by neilm on Jan 14, 2023 17:45:10 GMT
There is absolutely nothing wrong with either Plymouth or Milton Keynes.
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Post by neilm on Jan 10, 2023 20:40:32 GMT
He's a real party loyalist so this is a surprise. This hasn't come from the SW Devon people which might explain why it wasn't instant (the actual deselection was before Christmas), but I will know more when I speak to a pal tomorrow. It is a bit of one sided article: he didn't step down from the cabinet he got sacked and neither has he been a councillor continuously since 1992.
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Post by neilm on Jan 5, 2023 22:55:49 GMT
but I don’t even know what those numbers mean. Presumably “+400” means 4/1 (20%) or 3/1 (25%). They're American or 'moneyline' odds, although Americans often use fractions. There are three main odds types: fractional, decimal and moneyline. There are a further three only really used in the countries in the name: Malaysian (or Malay), Indonesian (or Indo) and Hong Kong (or HK). Most Asian countries use decimals. I personally quite like HK odds and always used those when working in Asia. You will sometimes hear Americans asking to 'bet the moneyline' or 'bet the spread', which is what we call the handicap but is priced slightly differently. Anyway, those numbers reflect what we call odds on or odds against. The '+' and '-' show the amount you need to bet to win $100, or what you'd win for every $100 out down. Favourites have a '-' attached but the higher the number the greater the chance (what we would call a 'bigger price') so -300 has a better chance than -120. Some people call this 'absolute value' (as opposed to value, which is a specific thing in betting): just ignore the '-' and look at the number. '+' means odds on/underdog/less favoured/bigger price depending on which you prefer. The higher the number the bigger the price, so +300 is a higher price than +120. American odds always have a $100 base, even at racetracks where the tote returns to a $2 stake but they display an estimated price (you can see this in action if you ever watch the overnight racing from the States. Don't get it confused with the Australian stuff which is different again). Converting between moneyline odds and fractional prices is easy. And you have identified the correct method: for '+' odds, divide by 100 so +350 becomes 3.5/1 or 7/2. For '-' odds, it is -100 divided by the price so -400 becomes 1/4 (-100/-400) (or -4.0 in Malay odds and 1. 25 in decimal prices).
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Post by neilm on Jan 2, 2023 0:20:22 GMT
Further to the above: I was looking through some files for a former colleague from Gibraltar who now works in Malta. Dean Hili is on the board of the Malta Gaming Authority and chairs the Audit Committee.
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Post by neilm on Jan 1, 2023 9:57:26 GMT
Livingstone had almost zero impact on the Gherkin, I thought. My cousin is a civil engineer who at that point was working for a firm contracted to Foster and Partners who designed the previous proposal, the Millennium Tower. He was quite excited to be part of the design process because there aren't many newly qualified people who get to work on something so massive. When that didn't get off the ground thanks to objections from Heathrow, they went back the drawing board and he worked with a group designing steels for the new proposal. I remember him saying that Prescott had granted permission for the new design around the time Livingstone was elected: I don't know if Red Ken had commented in public about the design but I'd be willing to bet that he did. It was the original design, which would have been the tallest building in Europe, that was 'the erotic gherkin' (which was a bloody stupid nickname) and had an unusual design although the current building looks far more like one. Where Livingstone may have had an impact is on rules around building size and protecting the view around St Pauls which came out as a consequence of 30 St Mary Axe: Davıd Boothroyd will know more about that.
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Post by neilm on Dec 27, 2022 20:54:46 GMT
Maltese local election paper Mark Causon is now the Maltese ambassador to Denmark.
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Post by neilm on Dec 16, 2022 18:20:05 GMT
Is the South Kesteven one related to a leisure centre issue?
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