flood resistance/ prevention/ mitigation … amazing stuff going on locally, including by some very good Labour folk, but they can’t do anything to encourage change of land use by the largest property owners

No quarrel with that but at a local level *all* the capable councillors, independent or party members will be doing exactly this. So there’s no differential between party there unless you think party makes a difference to individual councillor’s performance at a local lever. (Which I can tell you from personal experience it doesn’t.)

Yes I agree, but no other party has the membership numbers that Labour do. If Starmer could tap into that with say 10 high profile but achievable projects a year, as well as funding from the membership (even £1 for each project from every member would be a huge amount to work with, probably around £400k.)

In Kelvins example, what if Labour bought the land with money from the membership and built the flood defence (as a pure example, I’ve no idea on the scale etc.) with the help of large numbers of members from outside that constituency it’s something that no other party or individual councilors could achieve.

Doing something like that would be easy to promote locally, would unite the membership as it’s not a left or right thing it’s just the Labour party doing what it exists to do as well as basically being bulletproof from criticism from the Torys. It would also then open channels of dialog between Labour and the community away from the attacks about being Remainers,wokist urban elite or whatever.

All that is going on here, but it isn’t enough.

Out of interest what kind of things are going in your area? Do you have any idea why they are not effective?

I don’t know how on earth labour counter this. There seems to be no appetite outside the major cities for what they’re selling

This video makes some good points. Sidestep the media, Facebook etc. and just use the LP membership and supporters to make positive change directly within the communities that they want to help.

If a Labour candidate can point to specific good things that the party has helped achieve in the community it will carry gravitas. It would show that the party does care about them and is willing to put time, effort and money in to making their lives better whilst out of power, imagine what they can do when in power.

Anyone with their own Hartlepool predictions?

Just a guess, but I think the last minute panic and focus on it means it’s likely to go Tory.

I think it’ll actually be a fairly solid Tory gain, but I’m hopeful that nationally the picture will be different and limited in damage.

Also think turnout will be low nationally, so make sure you encourage everyone you know to get out, as every vote will count more so than in a GE.

Okeford Hill is around an hour or so from Bath.

Steeper and more natural than say Windhill or Tidworth but does have a range of trails:

Weren’t people replacing the stock Vault bushing with Igus or metal bushings with good results some time ago?

I’ve done this. You need to do it before there is any play in the bushing really otherwise they’ll always be a bit of play and rattle, even with the metal bush. The metal bushings last far far far longer than the plastic ones as you’d expect.

If buying Vaults again I’d swap the bushings to metal from new. I wouldn’t buy Vaults again though, the internal bearing is tiny and doesn’t last that long. I’ve had one strip and fly off, leaving the outer race embedded in the pedal.

Most people I know with vaults were replacing the Vault bushing with one from a completely different pedal. Whilst simultaneously replacing the rest of the Vault parts with the rest of the parts from that pedal.

Lol. Basically this. Theres so much choice with pedals, there’s no need to stick to any that aren’t up to the job.

RaceFace thing about 6 months/1000 miles

Hope stainless steel about 6000 miles, then replaced bearings, cups still going.

I’ve always said to myself that if I eat meat I’d have to be willing to kill the animal myself, but also eat any animal, (Cats and dogs for instance) because I couldn’t reconcile how you’d decided to eat one animal but not another.

Whilst maybe I’d convinced myself I was following those rules if actually pushed to do it I don’t think I was.

We then moved house, got a cat and also have cows at the bottom of the garden. They are inquisitive so come right up close to see what’s going on. Having BBQs with burgers started to make be feel uncomfortable, but not enough to stop, just a nagging doubt that what I was doing was wrong.

A few years back I read a succession of articles about how stopping eating beef is the easiest way to reduce carbon emissions, so did that. Within a few weeks of that I stopped eating all meat/fish and haven’t since.

Personally I found the switch pretty easy and don’t miss meat at all really. Interestingly I was recently watching a cooking program where they upturned a bucket of meat and splopped it on the counter. This repulsed me, which came as a surprise as before it just wouldn’t of registered.

The left’s best hope is to shut up for the meantime and let the Labour party fight on a centrist platform and hope that he delivers something more progressive once and if he gets into office. Kind of like what’s just happened in America.

Problem is Biden was polling well above Trump for months before the election, when it came to it it was closer than predicted.

Labour sitting quietly is a huge gamble and revolves around the Tories making EVEN MORE mistakes than they have in the last year to shift voting intention.

I struggle to even imagine what the Tories would need to do to get Labour polling above them.

Starmer needs to step aside before we get to a general election. I doubt he will, and I’m damn sure the Labour Party are too inflexible to replace him if to comes to that.

I think of there was a shoe-in candidate in the wings it would happen pretty quickly. Sadly I don’t think there is.

If you aren’t happy to pay the price asked, attempt to get it to a price that you are. If that’s not possible, buy something else

Whilst this is obviously true, I think socially it’s more complex.

The seemingly quite rapid increase in bikes over the last few years has shifted where the “top end” is. Say it’s now £13k . That shift also moves the middle of the market, and the bottom end.

I’ve read multiple reviews state £5k bikes as “good value” and it’s common now for £2-3k to be seen as “entry level”

My concern is that many people will be put off the sport because of this. Yes, you might say “there are £1k bikes that are great” and whilst that is true, in the same way as other markets, if it’s seen as being the bottom end many people will see it as being rubbish as to get a “good” bike you need to spend £4k+ as that’s the centre of the market.

Genuine question here, will and of the above stand up to a rechargeable angle grinder?

Have a hunt on YouTube and you’ll see some examples. It seems a decent Rechargeable angle grinder will eventually get through pretty much anything, but the bigger chains may end up taking multiple batteries and discs as well as many minutes to cut. (As opposed to a few seconds to snip with bolt cutters on the thinner stuff)

possibly the best was Disraeli; he said that ‘half the cabinet are knaves’ and then withdrew it and replaced with ‘half the cabinet are not knaves’

Brilliant.😂

If I was Keir I would say every time in PMQs (or any interview)

“He cheated on every woman he’s been with, he lies to this house, he lied to the Queen”

Calling someone a liar in the Commons is not allowed and considered “unparliamentary language”.

Skinner was kicked out just for calling Cameron “Dodgy Dave”.

Not a bad article from Rachel Reeves MP:

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2021/03/our-search-national-story

Totally agree with what she’s saying about how Starmer and co. need to reconnect, a bit light on the ‘how’ though.

2016 G160 linkage analysis

https://linkagedesign.blogspot.com/2015/08/whyte-g-160-275-2016.html?m=1

It’s slightly progressive then massively regressive, so unless they’ve changed it on whatever model year yours is, it’s pretty unsuitable for a coil.

I’ve tried a coil on a linear bike and whilst it’s obviously completely ridable as above you either need to up the spring rate or add loads of compression damping so you end up with a harsh ride and a heavy shock.

A progressive spring or coil with a air bottom out system might work ok but if it was me I’d just stick with air as that’s what the frame is designed for.

I’ve got something similar to this:

https://uk.anker.com/products/a8176?variant=37339742797988&currency=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=uk_anker_conversion_shopping_shopify_purchase&utm_content=AnkerShopify&utm_term={12003214692}_{116821276035}_{489895722430}&gclid=CjwKCAiAjp6BBhAIEiwAkO9Wuq0eAh4ZGa8KU_YWJEbiIo1hcrbijhO0-mLNPOzgiIgb49McqsKnUhoC-7kQAvD_BwE

Works well.

You can also cast the screen using a Chromecast although there is a little delay.

Or if you’ve got a newer phone Dex/TV

https://insights.samsung.com/2021/01/19/how-to-use-samsung-dex-wirelessly-on-your-tv-2/

anything with a tvr badge with a v8 will fulfill the last two criteria and will be fairly cheap to buy by now. cheap to run however…

TVRs on PH start at £10k.

+1 for MBP

Canon do a highly regarded 50mm f1.8

Don’t bother with the kit lens, whilst the focal range is useful it’s a bit slow and compared to the bargain 1.8 50mm it’s night and day.

I’ve had 2 of the 1.8s which I got new both times for around £80. They are a little plasticy but take great photos for the money.

Bus services and pound shops!

I’ll defer judgement until we get something more concrete than some leaked report of a presentation from a random staffer, but yeah… It’s going to need to be substantially more visionary than that to keep even many current Labour voters let alone get more!

And to follow that

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/02/labour-urged-to-focus-on-flag-and-patriotism-to-win-voters-trust-leak-reveals

Christ! You lot are so unbelievably cynical. You’re honestly suggesting that nobody cares about 100,000+ dead (christ only knows what the final figure will be) as long as they get to go and sit in a pub beer garden by the time the sun comes out?

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/01/28/voting-intention-con-37-lab-41-26-27-jan

100,000 are dead, the PPE scandal still happened, test and trace still isn’t working, borders still a mess, exam fiasco happened etc etc etc etc.

After the vaccine starts really taking effect and we head into the spring do you think Tory voting intention will go up or down?

and most didn’t know what party was currently in govt, and most of them didn’t care.

Yes. It’s shocking how many people couldn’t answer “What are the core principles party X stands for”? With the exception probably of the Greens and Brexit. :)

“>https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000ryh2/party-political-broadcasts-labour-party-01022021

I found it a very depressing watch. Again though, not aimed at me, is it.

I…. actually quite liked it. Sure it’s not some tub thumping fanfare, but it’s not the time for that. Touched on the Tory incompetence but didn’t dwell too long and overall was a decent positive package.

Moving forward they can’t keep being so timid, but for right now, thought it was pretty well judged, both verbal and imagery.

He’s discovered that there’s a magic money tree and like all good populists is going to use it for maximum advantage. It’s going to be interesting to see what Starmer does.

Yeah. Boris knows which buttons to push that will be popular, even if he never delivers.

In a year or so after Covid has hopefully passed, the Tory’s can focus on divisive attacks on Labour, probably based on social issues.

Starmer and co. Need to start forming a solid economic and social stance which they can back up and really get behind to push back on the inevitable attacks that are coming.

At the moment Starmer does still seem a bit reactionary which has been ok for a while but that time is now slowly coming to an end.

Not because it’s posh here, it’s not on the whole but because so many that frankly should be voting Labour/ Lib dems are so utterly disenfranchised they just don’t vote.

This is the big challenge, it’s up to everyone (who wants a change in government) to gently dig into these people to find out why they feel so unempowered and convince them voting does make a huge difference to the direction of the country.

Explaining how other parties are more (or less) likely to solve their issues and concerns should be something that’s done consistently, not just 6 weeks up to an election

Is the Green Party any good? What about Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Extinction Rebellion?

XR have many local groups:

You can find closest one here

And have email newsletter, WhatsApp groups and Telegram broadcasts to keep you in the loop of what’s going on.

Signing up is free if you just want to check it out.

As soon as they came out I fell in love with the styling and like you thought they looked like a ton of fun.

I’ve driven both the 160 and 180 in a few different trims over the years.

The 180 is impressively quick in a straight line, but that’s about all I personally liked about the car. 2 of the ones I drove were pretty quiet, one had a slightly louder exhaust which sounded ok, but it’s a small engine turbod so it never sounds incredible.

I’d assumed that to drive they’d be “go-karty in nature” as well but they just aren’t. The seating position is really high, and the car overall is quite tall so feels rolly and not that planted, somehow it equally seems crashy over potholes, which is quite an achievement. Steering is pretty vague, brakes were decent.

Love the seats but the rest of the interior is very much “standard 500 with some metal trim stuck on”.

Had a Punto Evo Esseesse for a few days (same 180 engine) and whilst flawed in other ways, makes much more sense as it’s more practical than the 500.

If you want go karty fun an MX5 is much better choice in my opinion.

Twitter banning the editor of the Canary I believe

Yep

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheMendozaWoman

The user liked a random Alistair Campbell and Karl Turner tweet a few hours after the post.

Less consumerism, more outdoors…erism.

All good.

At the risk of derailing this thread into another circular repeation nightmare.

The left demonstrated they were willing to move on by supporting Starmer in the leadership election and his intention to unify the party.

Labour membership over time:

Undeniably membership jumped hugely under Corbyn. To around 580,000 from around 200,000.

In the leadership voting:

401,564 members voted.

Starmer won in the first round with 225,135 votes, so even if we assume that literally every pre Corbyn member voted for Starmer (and they didn’t leave in that period which seems unlikely) then that’s potentially an extra 25,000 “Corbyn members” who put Starmer as their first vote. (Affiliates makes this hard to prove)

This is the minimum that could of done that, in reality it’s likely way higher than that, and the number of pre Corbyn members that left in the Corbyn years is likely much higher than 0.

It’s not hard to believe that a decent chunk of “Corbyn members” switched to Starmer at least as one choice on their votes.

Ha brilliant. That ramp looks really fun. How high is your garage roof? I’ve wondered if I could build something in mine but thought I’d hit my head.

For those interested on how their MP voted.

https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/896#noes

Confused here. Most pesto has cheese in it, it’s vegetarian but not vegan? Have I missed something?

Some cheeses, such as parmesan contain rennet.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennet

Nothing of any relevance to 99.99999999% of people lives, that’s for sure

….. Until the day comes when it does become relevant.

And

I don’t know if you noticed or not but we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, today is the cut-off date for a no-deal Brexit, the countries economy is heading for collapse

Is precisely the opportunity to slide in policies like this under the radar.

It’s possible to oppose things like this AND deal with the other issues above.

In the short term has anyone had any success with ultrasonic deterent thingys and are they safe around cats?

Tried one that had “cat safe” setting. Had zero impact. Had read up on the reviews before hand but gave it ago anyway whilst waiting for posion to work.

My advice is don’t bother.

What would it take for a Labour leader to win you over?

This is such a key question, and arguably what this whole thread revolves around.

Well put Kelvin.

Good question and one I would have to think about.

Please answer, and anyone else reading this thread that hasn’t/didn’t vote Labour.

The better we understand this the more bridges can be built

getting back onto the OP and the ‘veggie for a meat lover’ topic, would you say that by going meat-free youre losing protein intake? or are lentils/split-peas/beans etc pretty much the same protein? i know its probably far more complicated than that with amino acid profiles etc, but in general can you reach the same protein macros?

Over the summer for around 8 weeks I tracked my macros. Protein goal was 111g which is probably over what a sedentary person needs but I’m fairly active on the bike.

The challenge I found keeping the protein high was finding solutions that didn’t put me well over in fat intake. There’s quite a lot of veggie protein options, but many are high fat.

There are many area with better topography than Windhill in the same rough area of North / centeal Dorset,

North Dorset already has Okeford Hill bikepark.

There used to be official DH trails at Melbury Abbas too and they ran races etc. https://www.facebook.com/melburyabbasDH/