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I'd find it quicker to get the mid point of 397mm in my head than 15 & 5/8ths inches. Think I'd convert to metric divide by 2 then convert back to imperial ;).
The Tories will win the next election and nothing will change.
tory MPs are now saying they will lose in despair and the polls show Johnson wuill lose his seat. The longer this drags on th worse it is for the tories and they are going to get a real kicking at the next election
TJ please tell me which tab on memory map converts it to pirates of the Caribbean mode. My kids will love it
I don't know this at all?
(fwiw I think imperial unit sizes are generally nicer than metric- a cm is a bit small, an inch is a nice size for measuring stuff. But all the eighths and 16ths and such are bollocks. Decimalised imperial is teh way forwards!)
what about OO gauge, 4 mm to a foot won't someone think of the children!!!!
I love my eighths and if you don't want to deal with thirty-tooths this is where a gnat's bollock comes in ...... fifteen and five eighths and a gnat's bollock. What could be clearer?
Edit : There's also a measurement called "half a gnat's bollock".
Gnats bawhair up here
See also smidge, tadge and smidgeon
tory MPs are now saying they will lose in despair and the polls show Johnson wuill lose his seat. The longer this drags on th worse it is for the tories and they are going to get a real kicking at the next election
Won't happen. The UK changed fundamentally in 2016. Lots of suppressed prejudice was weaponised and legitimised in the process. That genie will not go back in the bottle.
Id bet a lot you are wrong on that. I have been saying it for a while but the corruptipon ad arrogance has really cut thru to the pub;lic and once an image sticks its hard for it to be changed
What changed in 2016? Absolutly nothing fundamental. tories are toast at the next election. No party has every recovered from something like this in a year or two - it takes a generation - see the collapse of the major government of the collapse of the callaghan one
I measured my daughter for her police uniform in metric. Then… realised they still wanted it in inches. No problem, I turned the tape over and used the Imperial measurements on the other side. She got a call from stores as she was the most unusual shape they’d ever seen. Metric started at one end and Imperial at the other. This was only just over ten years ago, it shouldn’t be too hard to go back to total confusion.
Imperial? What does it mean to you? Is it colonialism?
Lots of suppressed prejudice was weaponised and legitimised in the process. That genie will not go back in the bottle.
The tory party have been a racist party for a long long time. You need to look up a bit of political history
1964. Overt racism
edit - i'll use a slightly less offensive poster
Ond of the tory rags is leading with johnson teaaring up EU laws.
Really?
His shambolic administration have previously confirmed that OJEU regulations will be adopted fully into UK law - and nothing has been said to change that.
For those who aren't conversant with OJEU; official journal of the european union whose regulations cover public sector procurement so every tender and procurement process run by UK central government, local government and regulated organisation - every utility in2 every sector - are subject to OJEU with fines/penalties for
non-compliance enshrined in the legislation.
That represents a massive spend.
Take back control?
My arse
TJ - yet another spelling error from the 'well educated' tory party; burdened, not burdoned.
Half-wits then, half-wits now - but with far fewer scruples, intelligence, brains or integrity.
I don't think that poster was a genuine Conservative Party poster, the spelling mistake is a clue. Yes Conservative Party election agents do tend to be well educated.
And the reference to 'Ministry of Repatriation' is another clue, there was never any such ministry under a Conservative government, nor was it ever a Tory manifesto commitment.
The poster no doubt refers to the Tory general election campaign in Smethwick in 1964 which was undoubtedly racist, and it certainly expresses the sentiments of the Tory candidate. The problem is that despite the poster's claim the Labour Party in Smethwick was also racist in 1964, it apparently barred black people from being members of the Labour Club.
All that was perfectly legal until Harold Wilson introduced the Race Relations Act.
Edit: I suspect that the poster is the work of a far-right organisation such as the League of Empire Loyalists.
Personally, I'm loving the idea that working in metric will become an act of rebellion!
"Lots of suppressed prejudice was weaponised and legitimised in the process. That genie will not go back in the bottle."
This is the truth. That the Tories ha e always been a bit more racist is besides the point now.
The shift in politics caused by Brexit have made the past irrelevant. There is a narrative that in the US, Civil Rights legislation saw the Democrat vote swing to the Republicans in the South. What really happened was that this happened across the whole country and in effect the entire nation became Southernised'.
A similar thing has happened here, politics has been turned on its head and the salt of the earth working class Northerner turned out to be a bit more salty than the propaganda had suggested.
If tj is right, then I think he'll have to rely on the good people of the South to turn against the Tories because they find them too repugnant, the North could be lost to Labour for generations.
sorry if that poster was not the real tory one. the real tory one was actually more offensive but I edited it for a marginally less offensive one
the point I was making is that the tories are a racist party, that this playing of the race card is nothing new even if labour use it sometimes as well.
NO government that I have seen has ever recovered from a situation like this. Once your reputation is shot then it takes a long time to repair it.
there is more to come on the parties yet, there is also more to come out about the cash for pals and Acuri (sp)
The opposition now have a wonderful attack line with a picture of Johnson partying while the queen mourned alone
the tories only hope is to get rid of Johnson and try to reset by throwing him under a bus. His refusal to resign just prolongs the scandals. the longer he stays the better for the opposition
I love my eighths and if you don’t want to deal with thirty-tooths this is where a gnat’s bollock comes in …… fifteen and five eighths and a gnat’s bollock. What could be clearer?
Obviously, the unit that is 1/1000 of an inch, the mil.
As an IT type with binary numbers everywhere, I obviously have to like the subdivision of inches with 1/2", 1/4", 1/8" etc... Until the gosh darned mil turns up instead of 1/1024"...
Imperial is great for rough sizes of stuff. I find feet and inches easier to visualise.
For accuracy metric is way easier.
I was always taught metric but as mentioned before use both at work.
Ref the Tories, my other half has voted for them in the past but in recent times she refers to them as '****ing Tories' , like an angry student might.
I think the damage done is deeper than some realise.
I'm a 'floating voter' and can't imagine voting for them in the foreseeable.
But I do like imperial. there is poetry in the units and they are at a better human scale than metric.
Because it literally evolved from human scale things like farming and from human parts like palm, hand and foot (and to a certain extent cubit which isn't imperial but is the same principle).
Barleycorn, furlong (short for "furrow long" as in the distance an ox could plough without stopping), rods/chains (derived from the linkages on ploughing kit), acre (one furrow long by one chain).
There were dozens of different "gallons" across the British Empire until standardisation in 1824. There were also various different definitions of chains/rods etc depending on ploughing kit.
Miles were originally Roman, 1000 paces (because the Romans were sensible enough to count in 10's), [I]mille passus[/I] literally 1000 paces, and the Roman pace was defined as 5 feet based on average Army marching (so 5000ft to the mile). Most countries measured miles slightly differently or adapted it from various other influences the result being that there was little actual standardisation.
All of this seems to fit Boris quite well, making up weights and measures as he goes...
Relax folks, every single pint of beer (568ml) in a pub is dispensed through a 3/8” pipe using 3/8” fittings to reduce it down to either 5/16” or 3/16” at the tap which might use a 3/4” nozzle. However, the water lines keeping your beer cold are 15mm. If that isn’t an analogy on how the EU/UK relationship works I don’t know what is 😂🙄
I've never known the UK not just to be a weird mix of Imperial and metric. pretty much like everywhere else in the world. It's a meaningless culture war headline, and it seems to have worked.
I imagine it'll go quiet again when some-one points out what advertising the cost of fuel in gallons will do to his popularity.
“Lots of suppressed prejudice was weaponised and legitimised in the process. That genie will not go back in the bottle.”
This is the truth. That the Tories ha e always been a bit more racist is besides the point now.
The shift in politics caused by Brexit have made the past irrelevant. There is a narrative that in the US, Civil Rights legislation saw the Democrat vote swing to the Republicans in the South. What really happened was that this happened across the whole country and in effect the entire nation became Southernised’.
A similar thing has happened here, politics has been turned on its head and the salt of the earth working class Northerner turned out to be a bit more salty than the propaganda had suggested.
If tj is right, then I think he’ll have to rely on the good people of the South to turn against the Tories because they find them too repugnant, the North could be lost to Labour for generations.
This.
And the good people of the South will split the non-tory vote as they’ll head for the Libdems. The only way to get rid of this rabble is a centre left ‘anyone but the Tories’ coalition.
Anything else is just fanciful musings.
Jesus, the imperial dead cat has really done it's job.
I'm hoping that to finish off the Jubilee weekend, Her Maj has Boris arrested, transported to the Tower via Traitors Gate, publicly beheaded at the O2 (cos we need to move with the times) and has his head mounted on the security gates at Downing Street as a warning to the next incumbent.
Radio4’s flagship radio news programme warbling on about it now.
Let's face it, he's got away with it because it is perceived by his MPs that enough of their constituents would want him to get away with it.
There are two national votes on record to support this assumption.
sorry if that poster was not the real tory one. the real tory one was actually more offensive but I edited it for a marginally less offensive one
No the posters which used the n-word weren't real Tory posters either. Peter Griffith the 1964 Tory candidate in Smethwick was strongly criticised for not condemning the homemade posters, not for producing them. He said that he agreed with the sentiments behind them.
Establishing the truth is important for several reasons. Otherwise it firstly ignores the shameful truth that Smethwick Labour club operated a colour bar and obviously also had deeply ingrained racism.
Secondly it also ignores the fact that despite the poster's claim the mass immigration of the 1950s and early 60s from Commonwealth countries occurred overwhelmingly not under Labour governments but Tory governments. Indeed I believe that under a Tory government London Transport had at one time a recruiting office in Kingston Jamaica. There was no "Ministry of Repatriation"
And thirdly because the charge sheet against the Tories in all matters, including racism, is sufficiently damning without the need to make factually incorrect claims.
And yes, despite strong opposition from the pre-Thatcher leadership large sections of the Tory Party strongly supported white supremacists in Rhodesia and South Africa. The National Front was in part founded by disaffected former Tories.
Should anyone be interested or revolted, 'stuff the jubilee' badges £1 from Bookmarks.
then nautical =- a fathom is six feet and nautical miles something I have forgotton that is bigger than a statue mile
The Nautical Mile is used Internationally for marine, space and air navigation. As are knots.
It was originally defined as 1 minute of latitude but now is defined as 1852 metres.
Quite a useful distraction technique this dead cat thing
Indeed.
Unfortunately, its also having the desired effect of rallying the gammons in the week that they go all misty-eyed and celebrate our archaic class structure in a festival of cap-doffing and pretending we're still relevant.
All just part of the ongoing culture war
Gentlemen.
The Queen!
Sorry. Just had to disrupt our thread with something completely irrelevant.
Ernie - I knew you would know a bit more than I about this stuff. Ta
The basic point remains tho that this current racism in the tory party is nothing new nor a paradigm shift as some posters on here try to claim
I recall Cameron being keen on the Hogshead.
(probably bindun three times on this thread by now)
tjagain
I have some imperial micrometers
Me too and still use them. When I did my vehicle fitter aprenticeship as a civi for the army all measurements were imperial. All mechanical tolerances were in thous. Quite happy to work in metric though and also have the habit of mixing both at times.
Gnats bawhair up here
See also smidge, tadge and smidgeon
In one place I worked it was usually a fanny hair's breadth. Not sure who Fanny is or was. I also had one colleague who would describe a well fitting part as "fits like an **sehole on a p*ss pot" which seemed like a very inaccurate description to me!
I don’t think that poster was a genuine Conservative Party poster, the spelling mistake is a clue. Yes Conservative Party election agents do tend to be well educated.
Literally seconds of googling:
The mini-investigation is an interesting read though.
I obviously lack your googling skills cougar, had I not a direct link to your article would have saved me a lot of time.
Windrush scandal caused by 30 years of racist immigration laws
Yeah but woke but yeah but............
The mini-investigation is an interesting read though.
It is a fascinating article - what tyres for race-baiting?
Windrush scandal caused by ‘30 years of racist immigration laws’ – report
That article seems to suggest that "racist immigration laws" ended in 1981. I didn't read beyond that so I don't know what Margret Thatcher did to end racist immigration laws.
IMO the most enduring racism in the UK is in the UK's immigration and nationality laws. You only need to see how differently refugees from Ukraine are currently being treated in comparison to non-europeans refugees to be reminded of that.
So, ministers trotting out the line that Carries party doesn’t “need” investigation. In my mind, there’s no smoke without fire and this tells me that it definitely should be investigated.
Which one of her parties? The one that Sue Gray started looking into, then decided not to? Or the one that has never been looked into at all? Neither were looked into by the Met, as far as we know.
They'd have to admit she had a party in the first place, right? Have they done that yet?
Note that a pint may be bigger that you realise, assuming that we’re going with a standard with a bit of heritage, and not some jonny-come-lately pint that until recently only applied in certain parts of the UK (or smaller if we want to appease the US types what we want a trade deal with)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joug
Here’s ten different sizes of “pint” from 250ml to 1696ml - all handily defined in millilitres, which usefully are pretty standard. (Well reasonably - it was apparently out by a factor of 1.000028 at one point)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint
I obviously lack your googling skills cougar, had I not a direct link to your article would have saved me a lot of time.
For the avoidance of doubt, that wasn't meant as a dig. Rather, I just thought it was interesting. I've seen that poster several times in the past and never really knew the backstory.
No I didn't see it as a dig! I'm glad you found an article that makes some of the points I was trying to make.
There’s probably a reason Starmer isn’t trying to finish him off.
I recall Cameron being keen on the Hogshead.
Congratulations.Undervalued comment of the thread award.
https://www.jeremywright.org.uk/news/prime-minister-may-2022-0
I have therefore, with regret, concluded that, for the good of this and future Governments, the Prime Minister should resign.
We have the privileges committee to report in the autumn - right around the time of conference
We still have the london assembly investigation into the Acuri corruption to report
We have various court cases being assembled by the good law project
WE still have Tory Mps dithering and the daily drip drip of resignations / letters of no confidence
All this establishes and reinforces the public mood that Johnson is a corrupt liar. Its not going to go away before the election. Johnson being the man of no principles will not resign so he will continue to inflict damage on the public view of the tories.
He has not slimed his way out of this by any means and the worst is yet to come
Back to the old imperial measurements for a moment...
https://twitter.com/davipart64/status/1531239951551045635?t=GcyFwjVFUWqba2apU8UAnQ&s=19
What it means is when you go shopping what was a kg is now a lb.
BillMC
Full MemberShould anyone be interested or revolted, ‘stuff the jubilee’ badges £1 from Bookmarks.
Excuse my rudery
He has not slimed his way out of this by any means and the worst is yet to come
I think this is one thing that is an absolute given. The way his mind works, he's 'got away with it'. Again. And as we know, the more he 'gets away with' in his own mind, the more arrogant and reckless he becomes.
I get the distinct feeling that we still don't know the half of it, and theres plenty more of his misdemeanours to come to light yet. And until they do, he'll just carry on behaving like the self-absorbed, entitled **** that he is
igm Full Member
Here’s ten different sizes of “pint” from 250ml to 1696ml – all handily defined in millilitres, which usefully are pretty standard. (Well reasonably – it was apparently out by a factor of 1.000028 at one point)
While I have long known that Imperial and US pints are different sizes, I only discovered that Imperial and US fluid ounces are different sizes too. While I think there are arguments that can be made about how some Imperial measurements can be more "useful" sizes than their metric equivalents, the morass of incompatibilities and lack of consistency between different non-metric measures is a significant mark against them.
Don't believe rumors
https://twitter.com/CatNeilan/status/1531266594470604805?t=pI8juBhAivdPHq2NDnTNEw&s=19
Let's assume Johnson does face a vonc
I'd guess that he's much more likely to lose it if they missed the by-elections in 3 weeks
If he does gett booted what next, can you imagine how bitter he would be on the backbenches, especially as some of the ERG have turned on him, what allies would he have?
If he does get booted what next, can you imagine how bitter he would be on the backbenches, especially as some of the ERG have turned on him, what allies would he have?
Theres absolutely no way on earth that Johnson will ever utter a peep from the backbenches, because he won't ever be on the backbenches. With an ego the size of a continental shelf, the second he's out of number ten he'll immediately resign as an MP. He'll be off to continue where he left off. Writing racist columns for the Torygraph and crap books about historical figures he likes to compare himself too.
He’ll be off to continue where he left off. Writing racist columns for the Torygraph and crap books about historical figures he likes to compare himself too.
Nah he will happily stay as an MP & do a farage, ie claim max expenses but never bother to turn up, for as long as he can grift it
do wonder what his MPs will be thinking right now
https://twitter.com/JAHeale/status/1531189521978728448
I wouldn't expect him to be anymore bitter than he was after Gove stabbed him in the back when he previously made a bid for the party leadership.
Although Blair is fairly unique in his ego not allowing him to sit on the backbenches after a period of party leader there is no reason why Johnson couldn't resign from his parliamentary seat as the same time.
I don't think there is much evidence that Johnson relies on politics to provide him with a living.
"do wonder what his MPs will be thinking right now"
Ultimately it isn'teven down to the MP's, it's down to conservative party membership who get to make the choice for them.
Whatever they decide to do, they face the double jeopardy of getting rid of the Benny Hill impersonator whilst not being able to control the outcome themselves.
Even if the rump of the tory MP's wanted to put a grown up in charge, it's not as simple as that, they can provide the membership with a menu of options but can't control which one they choose. The party, and the future of the country are in the hands of a few thousand unelected party members who get to exerscise their 'VIP' vote.
We could end up with Ben Wallace but we could also end up with Suella Braverman. We have to remember that their are even worse options than Johnson.
The parliamentary party can control the leadership election. the rules are daft in that the parliamentary party whittle down the candidates to a choice of two then put that choice to the membership - or they can do a coronation and only have one candidate - a stitch up in back rooms so the parliamentary party get their choice
"or they can do a coronation and only have one candidate – a stitch up in back rooms so the parliamentary party get their choice"
Better that way than the current 'method'. At least those making the decision would have been democratically elected.
Though like you tj, I'm happy for him to stay around for a while, I want to see all the mud thrown at him spread into all the nooks and crannies of the tory party, rather than giving the Tories a chance to re-boot with a clean slate.
The latest opinion poll gives Labour a 3% lead over the Tories, which doesn't exactly represent an insurmountable obstacle for the Tories to overcome between now and the next general election in two year's time.
https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-gb-voting-intention-29-may-2022/
If they do struggle in wiping out Labour's single digit lead the obvious strategy would be for the Tories to change leaders just prior to the general election and let the honeymoon poll bump carry them over the line.
The only thing which would pose a serious threat to the Tories would be if Labour were to change tactics and up the ante by providing a credible and radical alternative, rather than more of the same but with supposably greater integrity.
If that were the case the Tories would be on much dodgier ground and much more limited in their possible response. What would be the point of changing leader if the entire Tory economic and social strategy has been discredited in the eyes of the electorate?
Obviously if you believe that the Tories's economic and social policies aren't fundamentally wrong then that isn't an option.
Edit: Sorry the Opinium poll giving Labour a 3% lead has just been superceded by one giving Labour a 7% lead
https://mobile.twitter.com/OpiniumResearch
The only thing which would pose a serious threat to the Tories would be if Labour were to change tactics and up the ante by providing a credible and radical alternative, rather than more of the same but with supposably greater integrity.
An electoral pact between Labour and the LibDems is what the Tories fear the most. Labour have had a stab with the 'credible and radical', and come close, then were beaten soundly.
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/blogs/ec_constsoc_20220523.html
That's quite an eye opener Martin. The Green Party already made way for the Labour candidate in this seat at the last election. Something more formal nationally (especially one that led to more actual Green MPs as a result as well as the Conservatives being out of government) would be very welcome around here, I feel.
Oh, none of the opposition parties are just offering the same as the Conservatives. Enough of this "they're all the same", "there is no alternative" narrative... it really is not true. It's what this government and friendly elements of the press are pushing hard... people now accept that Johnson is who is, and offers what little he offers... the whole plan is to get voters to feel that everyone else is the same, that things can't be better, that we can't have better, and to stay at home if they can't bring themselves to vote Conservative. Don't go along with it. Don't help them out of this hole.
An anti tory pact on a platform of proper constitutional reform and closer links to the EU would be a massive vote winner and would put the tories out of power for good. Its intensely frustrating to me they will not do this. Its been obvious for decades this is what the UK needs. ( or for the limp dems to just eff off and disappear and stop splitting the anti tory vote. they have acheived nothing ever bar keeping tories in power)
Ernie - why do yo always quote the gloomiest polls? Most polls show around a 10 pt lead for labour and have done consitently for many months. current polling shows tories losing 90 seats
After all is said and done, Labour currently have a 3% lead? What on earth do they have to do to get fired?
Yeah, I liked the '17 Green MPs' aspect of it. A new voice in Parliament that is long overdue. We currently have a Conservative Party that is shifting noticeably to the right, and Labour and the other parties need to realise that the only way to get them out and keep them out is to join forces and then deliver electoral reform. Will mean permanent coalition government in all likelihood, but, in my lifetime, FPTP has reliably delivered tory governments as a default.
Proportional representation would force the Conservatives to skim the scum off the top of the party as it stands, so it can compete for something a bit closer to the centre, so even it might start to sound a little less unhinged.
That poll is an outlier. Most polls have a 9% lead and have done for months. Ernie likes to pick the worst polling for labour.
An anti tory pact on a platform of proper constitutional reform and closer links to the EU would be a massive vote winner
Whilst I'd like to believe this is plausible I fear the second part of the statement might not be the "massive vote winner" you & I hope it might be.....
Even if the rump of the tory MP’s wanted to put a grown up in charge
Having a grown up in charge and pursuing the current form of Brexit are mutually incompatible.