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Well this explains why CT has been so quite on here.

Bet you secretly wish you were off to Arran for a few days like me.

The fucking clip of him, man. If he had a modicum of marketing nouse he wouldn’t be seen anywhere the product

I mean they literally voted for this guy. I think you've too much faith in the British public.

i hate to break it to you folks, but the great British public don't vote on policy or Labour would have won every election in the last 40 years. They repeatedly support labour policies but the vote in the tories. They basically vote for whichever leader they like he best, and the Labour leader always has to overcome an overwhemingly hostile media. All this policy/tactical discussion is irrelevant. people are idiots

Isthmus be something to do with the currents I reckon

well, she does ooze sex appeal so we shouldn't be too surprised

Maybe using conference to grandstand and resign at a politically sensitive time might have had something to do with that feeling.

Gandaft- “ So, what do I get for my £43.57p- a handjob, tittyfuck, or what?” Brass… “ Er, no”

Yeah, the appalling quality of politicians today, at all levels and sides of the political spectrum, and also internationally, is somewhat of a head scratcher. I mean out of 330 million people is Biden really the best you can do? Even if lets say he is in the top 99.999% of ability, in the US there should still be tens of thousands of better candidates. And the diminution of quality over the years is very noticeable in bot the US and our country. Take Thatcher, universally loathed maybe but it's hard not to admire what she achieved as a woman from her background. Even Major who felt ridiculously under qualified at the time was one hell of a statesman compared with the present bunch. Then Blair, Brown, and the Eton brigade took charge and ruined the country. And look at the Ozzie contingent. Anglophone politics is a mess, with the possible exceptions of Canada and NZ (neither of which are real countries anyway).

We had a drive to Prasonisi beach last year where the Med and Aegean seas meet each other. Pretty cool to see

He’s also a dirty foreigner stealing jobs from honest British managers.

Ok well I'm fully with you on Israel now. Not remotely close to being an important issue for the Labour Party. Even if we should be worrying about human rights, and I'm not sure we have the capacity for that at present, we should be directing it in a far more widespread way. Continuously harping on about Israel to the exclusion of all others frankly is antisemitic. As for the EU - I don't see us rejoining any time soon either, but I don't think that's the platform Labour should stand on. It should be about making the best of where we are, all the while being very up front about why things are shit, and trying to encourage useful dialogue around the issue instead of pretending it isn't happening. @Renton my issue now isn't really Starmer, it's the whole party. I'm as sick of Corbyn and his tribe (why are they even still relevant, why have they not fucked off?!) as I am of what I perceive to be a collective issue with the Labour moderates in their total lack of strategic vision. I saw an article about Obama just now, saying its time for the rich to pay a bit more in taxes. He then clarified that this meant him too. Perfect - acknowledges his own wealth, acknowledges that he could do more, doesn't make a big fuss about it but lands the point. Still exudes leadership even now. I wonder quite often why we don't have more Blairs and Obamas (flawed though they both were) and my leading theory is that they probably do exist, even within party machinations, but that every other political figure within a party thinks they can be the same thing, lacking the self awareness necessary to see that they're nothing of the sort. But your Blair and Obamas have to fight through these people to get to the position where they can take control, and it doesn't seem to happen that often. I mean I can't think of anyone in Labour who fits the bill but they must exist, surely. For me, Starmer is a Biden. Can't win off his own back but maybe could win if his opponent was horrifying enough. And given that I've been pretty impressed with Biden in general, that's not a bad thing to be. I would still prefer something better though.

My solution would be for the party to stand front and centre and tell people truthfully why the country is in the shambles it is, and what we were going to do about it irrespective of any sacred cows. We are a nation of fucking adults whose political class treat them like children. If people are wrong about something, they need to grow the fuck up and accept it. I said quite a few times that I was wrong to back Corbyn fwiw, I think Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper would have been the better options for such a period of turmoil. At least I'm man enough to acknowledge that. I can't be doing with this babying of people who voted for Brexit, all this protecting them from the reality of their choice man, it's one of the most pathetic things I've seen in politics, perhaps more pathetic even than Brexit itself. I would snap your hand off for a Blair or an Obama at this juncture but we've got nothing. No leadership, no strategy, just wait and see and a dollop of opportunism. We need to do better than this, surely. The long term solution is the nation getting fucking real with itself, but it needs to be led towards that. A one off Labour victory against the worst Prime Minister the country has ever seen which will allow a holding pattern at best, and time enough for the Tories to sort themselves out again while Labour still doesn't come to terms with the fundamental problems it has, is not a solution. If Labour don't win next time out, maybe we will have to concede collectively that they aren't electable in any iteration of their current form, and that we need to actually come up with a real solution. If they do win then I'll field all the "I told you so"s on offer, but even should that happen I don't think it'll be the kind of victory, or the kind of government, that this country needs. Not based on current evidence.

It's not what you know, it's who you know. Which is great for Bruce because he knows nothing about managing a club but he's clearly shared bacon sarnies with most of the pundits and reporters which is why they like him and don't pick on him. NES obviously doesn't have mates in English game so he's fair game.

Stopping in a villa on the coast about a mile past Lindos. We stopped there last year. Spent most of the week snorkelling in the sea with the bairn!

There's footage of some dickhead pulling a knife on another driver going round. The driver reversed back a bit then promptly drove forward & knocked the fucker over. Exactly what I would have done

A split definitely hurts Labour. Suddenly there is competition for votes and union money. Not to mention that while those further to the left do a lot of canvassing around election time. There is room in the Labour party for those on the left but they can't accept that their platform has been rejected by the electorate. Instead of campaigning for certain elements to be retained (which Starmer would certainly be open to) they've decided that it's all or nothing and are more than happy to undermine the leadership and ensure that if they don't get their utopian vision then we're condemned to further Tory rule.

It's come full circle....

FYP

Somebody hide this post from CT.

Not at all - 3 or 4 excellent holidays in the late 80s/early 90s then I went back 8 years ago just to see how it had changed. Now I like to go in October as its not as scorchio as the summer and its good for amateurish old git cycling as well as plenty of good restaurants and bars. I stay in slightly better standard of hotels these days compared to the first few times around. As Alex says the Troodos are worth a visit. One thing worth mentioning is that EU money has built a few motorways which means it's very easy to see the entire island but having said that the old roads are a much more pleasant drive if you enjoy stopping off and more scenery. Two years ago it was above 25 nearly every day with a couple of days a bit over 30 - the sea is very swimmable as well.

https://7stgeorges.com/ This place is great @Dr Gloom Can't remember who told me about it - might even have been someone on here - but its a lush family run restaurant where they grow all their own produce. The way it worked when I was there is that you pay a fixed price and they just keep bringing you lush dishes until you tell them to stop. You get a mini speech on arrival where they'll just ask you to please not waste food, ie when you're full, say stop. Anyway, it'll likely be a taxi ride from wherever you're staying, but it's worth it.

The Roman mosaics on the headland are worth a look. The necropolis rather ambitiously titled the ‘tombs of the kings’ is good too. If that’s your cup of char. The Troodos Mountains are worth seeing if you hire a car. Paphos is quite British but more like f a family place. Beaches round there are nowt to write home about but there’s a canny chance you’ll still get decent weather. What’s described as Paphos is pretty sprawling so you could be well outside the town itself but there’s loads of taxis which are pretty cheap. Just don’t be alarmed if they pull over to let some more passengers in half way through your journey. It’s common practice but I was wtfs gannin on here like? The first time it happened. The couple the taxi picked nearly shit themselves too when they got in

2 weeks at our school. 2. Bastard. Weeks.

He was definitely almost human for a tory.

Half term only lasts a week.

Sorry to hear of this Rents. And for arguing about pointless shite with you in the politics thread. I'd be furious too, but as everyone has said really, I think for the sake of your dad you should park it for now and try to get on. Hopefully your mum is negative anyway.

Oh and as for the avatar. Yeah I can now see that too and am concerned you've ruined it for me Hopefully my brain writes it off as a feverish delusion.

Sorry to hear this mate. My dad was able to swap nominated person between himself and my Godfather's two sons for weeks before Jim died, is that not possible for your Dad? The Office of the Public Guardian might be able to give you advice on Power of Attorney? That said it's a civil service department, so I'm not sure how efficient they'll be.

And I would be fascinated to understand why it is that the unions have shot down PR. That would have been one very thin silver lining from this conference but no, we are denied even that.

He had a stridently pro-EU view going into the leadership election which was binned almost as soon as he took power, ultimately culminating in signing off on the one of the worst possible deals we could have managed. Whether you agree with his stance on that or not, this is a pledge he effectively lied about to win over people like me, demonstrating how prepared he is to take us for granted. As for everything else Labour, the left will very much consider that what they are doing within Labour now is what the centrists did under Corbyn. There were open letters to the press, leadership challenges, active undermining of strategy. I mean come on man, this war hasn't been waged by one side. And what I will say personally is that it was pathetic and risible when the centre did it, and its no better with the left doing it. Yeah the left lost the last two times, but then the centre lost the two times before that. Maybe no one wants any iteration of Labour. We seem to be pinning all of our hopes on Johnson failing so spectacularly that Labour sneak in, having more or less admitted to ourselves that the party has no vision, strategy or competence to do what needs to be done to win on its own terms, whether from the left or centre. Were we up against even a middling Tory PM, Starmer would lose convincingly. He'll probably lose convincingly even to Johnson, but you do have to allow for the possibility that things might get so bad that the electorate will try anything. The issue with Labour isn't the membership, the left, the centre, any of it. The issue with Labour is that its a busted flush with no vision or ideas to sell to people, that it is entirely reactive in policy ideas, and that it is no longer prepared to stand up for what it believes in, so desperate it is to court the votes of the damned. It will lose because it stands for fuck all. Been a while since I checked the polls I guess, are the Lib Dems and Greens still benefiting from Starmer's "brilliance" or has he stemmed the bleeding now?

I'm looking for a window for you to do Goat fell. No, can't find one.

Labour should just scrap the conference altogether, no good ever comes out of it nowadays.

The minimum wage comrade McDonald wants is equivalent to £31,200 per annum assuming the job is full time. That's a lot more than the median wage is currently and I would imagine be higher than anywhere else in the world. Now is that really affordable for small businesses with marginal profits and what would the potential unintended consequences of this be, for instance for inflation and for more skilled jobs? I remember when I visited Cuba the taxi drivers were on a better wedge than hospital consultants due to tips they received from westerners like me. Is this desirable? Showing yourself to be economically illiterate is not a good way to get elected.

Aye, clearly it's Starmer creating the divisions in the Labour party.

The problem is that red wall voters - the social conservatives who labour need to win back - will listen to JHB and Ferrari. It’s infuriating that they don’t have the balls to just give an honest answer to her question, which let’s face is it is: only biological women have a cervix (it isn’t transphobic to say that) trans women don’t have a cervix. Meanwhile, the cult continues to prefer to remain forever in opposition. Instead of using conference to batter a Tory party on the ropes they would rather engage in this sort of thing. The party needs fo split

I don’t see anything to be gained from going on her show. You have people having a go at Bridget for the answer she gave because it wasn’t ‘prepared’. JHB just wants a black or white answer to what is a very nuanced debate just to further polarise people. As Tom points out the left aren’t going to win that way and there’s more to be lost than gained by falling into these sorts of traps. I’m not saying go down the Corbyn route of not playing the media game, but going on a right wing cunt’s radio show is just setting yourself up for a fall. It’s not like the listeners who agree with the host are going to vote Labour because they give the ‘right’ answer. Especially if it contradicts what the party leader has just said.

I can’t imagine Labour, or the left will ever win the culture war.

You missed the bit about it being made by a UK company pre-Brexit

Paying more for a blue passport that isn't blue made in Polland for a French company that isn't as useful and doesn't last as long as the old EU one. Peak Brexit.

Caught out trying to look like a human

he might have looked slightly less deranged if he'd just stuck to the weird head-nodding

Every time I see one of Redwood’s tweets I have to remind myself it’s not from a parody account

Never heard of the cunt, err, I mean RIP.