I doubt you will have peace. Temporary ceased fire perhaps but that’s not long term nor forever. Oppressiors can never bring peace to the oppressed .

Yes, would agree only temporary.  But that might give time for cooler heads to prevail in general.  On oppression, that’s a minority view.  Most western democracies continue to fully support Israel’s right to self defence, and its action to clear out Hamas’ tunnels appear to be what forced Sinwar out in the open today, rather than hiding under schools and hospitals.

No one should be holding their breath, but some new optimism for peace today.  Sadly I don’t think this will be the end of Hamas, but return of the hostages taken in thr 7th October attacks might get us back on the track for a two state peace process we were on before Iran started the current conflict.

This is what the IDF think about children:5 6 Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics: What We Saw in Gaza

The two authors of the report though are, like the two main antagonists in this forum thread, well known one sided activists outside their day job.  One has a twitter history of familiar sounding quotes comparing Israel to the Nazis and the other is down with calling October 7th last year an innovative and astounding achievement.

Lots of sellers have the motorised bit separately, with adjustable width.  Then just buy a wooden / MDF top of your choice from say IKEA or local timber / kitchen unit supplier.

Netanyahu doesn’t want all out war, he simply wants Israeli citizens to be safe from rocket attacks and Israeli kids to be able to attend a music festival without being kidnapped, raped and their bodies dragged through the streets in front of cheering crowds.

The region was on a reasonable path to a two state peace process until Iran intervened last October.

Iran is not a peaceable example of reasonable restraint, its actions were equivalent of an uneasy break up of a pub fight that might just allow everyone to get home in one piece ending when some drunk nutjob runs over and headbutts someone ensuring chaos. Iran has played that nutjob role for several generations and the local police and shops know the individual and mannerisms well by now. Unfortunately there will always be some well meaning charities and lawyers saying it’s because he had a bad childhood or just split up with his girlfriend, so it’s someone else’s fault he started this latest fight and the rest of the community should therefore cheer his violence on and give him a nice council house between the river and sea rather than locking him up.

Zionist and Jew are different terms, but are very much being used as a dog whistle here.  This is evident when mixed with language like ‘hunting people down’, given the historical context last century and  opposing the two state peace process which has/had broad international support.   Comments above stating a two state solution is a false peace and a war to wipe Israel out would be preferable are without any possible doubt reflective of causes and organisations which wish ill on Jewish people at large, no matter what linguistic technicalities might be added afterwards in an attempt to mask this.

It’s quite worrying.  There are a few on here who need to look themselves in a mirror: celebrating the violent failure of the peace process, advocating for war, calling for Jews to be hunted down brutally,.no stone unturned!? This is well beyond anti semitism and utterly warped.

Ernie, thanks for sharing that article.  From a neutral perspective though it only confirms that Hamas continues to base weapons systems at civilian sites. This works for Hamas as it fuels its information campaign: even here in the UK you’ll see voices online or waving flags in the street focusing on the outcome of the impossible solution this places one of the few democratic nations in the middle east in, not the context and cause.

The sad thing is that prior to the attacks last October, we were getting close to peace.  A deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel to improve relations would have been a huge step towards an eventual two state solution, the only viable route to peace.  Iran intervened to stop this though Hamas’ action last October, both in full knowledge of how this would play out in human lives.

Do we feel the actions of individuals here are more or less of a concern than something like the institutionalised Cash for Honours deals that heralded the end of the last Labour government?

Some people drink water by the pint. I do. What’s the point of a thimble of water on a warm June day?

Absolutely agreed.  Hot day, probably been on bus all day, first chance for a big drink of water.  Neck a pint of it when you have the chance.  Really strange thing to criticise someone for.

On PPE and covid era I’m surprised there weren’t more decisions that can be presented as poor in hindsight. On a retail level, shops at some points were selling single masks for £5-10 that were worth 10p as if you forgot one you weren’t allowed in the supermarket. Most homes in the country will have ended up with a box of them somewhere in a cupboard they will never use or that the elastic broke every time on.

At government level we saw the same. Countries outbidding each other for supplies in the millions, imposing export bans and so on.  Every part of the world wanting them immediately not in two years time, so normal six month procurement processes would clearly not have been appropriate – you placed an order immediately or some other country did, knowing you were paying over the odds and possibly something was wrong, but had to secure supply.

A labour government would have been in the same situation at the time.  We’ve schools still locked into 30 year PFI contracts from the last Labour government that mean they can’t re-arrange the chairs without a fee, pay £302 to change a plug and have a company linked to Labour cronies cut the grass weekly all winter.

Not a dig at Labour, point is they are all just as bad as each other.  To my original point, there’s no material difference between the L and C ideas for the next term, or new money to make big commitments.

Skooby39 tell us who got prosecuted for rule breaking socialising! Then maybe stfu

Thank you, this one though we went through a bit earlier.  As a recap, someone else helpfully provided the technicalities on the rules, but essentially Kier got away with it because his beers came with a takeaway rather than using the office catering service. Whether you feel there’s a moral difference beyond the admin point is likely political.  No need for stfu, that’s like shouting ‘scum’ in Parliament and wondering why MPs are being attacked in their own offices.

Oh dear, that must be a record for speed of change of subject. Have you considered contacting Guinness world records? I’m sure they would love to hear from you!

Thanks.  However the subject hasn’t changed from Toxicity.  There’s a lot of loud voices of the view that the Tories are the nasty racists talking about immigration.  Labour has the exact same “stop the boats” policy, that differs only on technicalities.

As said above, most of the toxic comments tend to come from the left.

Kettle is on.

Hold the horses.  Am pointing out both parties have same core objectives, merits of any a different conversation.

Labour’s immigration and border policy: How we’ll create a fair system and stop the small boat crossings

Labour’s immigration and border policy: How we’ll create a fair system and stop the small boat crossings

For me there is a big diference between

Yep. Two groups of people having drinks and booze after a long day of work.  Crowding round a table of food and crowding round a table with pizza, garlic bread and wedges.  As said above only material difference is that one office had 20 civil service staffers as well as the party members.

This is the fundamental problem in this election.  Both parties have almost identical policies.  The one thing we know for certain is that we won’t wake up in early July to find a socialist revolution, or surge of cash into public services, and the small boats will be arriving each summer for years.  The only difference is soundbite technicalities about catering.

Go on, your turn, describe the other video I linked

Thought process was long days in office, let’s have some food and drink with group we’ve been working with all day anyhow so social distancing has gone out window.

Kier wasn’t on his own and I’m sure he and his team would have been sharing some colourful views on the covid rules, given STW very much was at the time.

The point is the toxicity.  To call a group of people arrogant and incompetent, and another group not, solely based on whether their booze and grease arrived as a takeaway rather than the office catering, is patently absurd.

You can argue the thought process was identical, I’d disagree.

Thought process was long days in office, let’s have some food and drink with group we’ve been working with all day anyhow so social distancing has gone out window.  Absolutely identical in every way.  The different outcome is solely a reflection of covid era legislative quirks about scotch eggs being a meal and so on.

It is absolutely not comparable with parties in number 10 with booze being smuggled in in wheelie cases.

Kiers beers didn’t arrive under his arm through the front door. And he was electioneering at the time, not running the country, so they could all have been at home. The thought process was identical, the only difference is that there weren’t 20 civil service staffers present in the office as well as the party members.

the incredible incompetence, arrogance and outright corruption of the Tories

That’s the toxic part.  Kier & co had beers in the office too, Labour will need to cosy up to business if elected to secure foreign investment, Reeves has made it clear tax and public spending will remain at near austerity, and Kier won’t be changing anything on trans rights and immigration other than at soundbite level.  So I guess you feel the same about Labour?

Nothing to do with the media, Corbyn was a well known conviction politician prior to becoming Labour leader and his position and political views have always been clear.  He’s someone everyone has a view on, whether you agree with them or not! The country just wasn’t willing to move to a Nordic type system overnight. The Labour MPs grasped this quickly hence the multiple no confidence votes they initiated.

Why have Labour only gone up 10% since 2019? I think the polls are wrong, I can see them getting 50% of the vote, with a majority of 120+ in the Commons.

I’m thinking the same.  Have said before on here but I’m thinking hung parliament with Tory protest votes for reform evaporating on the day in swing seats.

A lot of toxic language being used on here mainly about the Tories, which I think reflects on the speakers involved not the politicians. In global terms there’s not much difference between Labour and the Tories with both a whisker off centre, and little variance in their stated plans if they are elected.  This is to be expected as the UK electorate won’t vote for Corbyn type socialism or Le Pen style nationalism.

What about the 2017 hung parliament?

No a proper one where no one can agree a coalition.  Then we get a new election in the Autumn.  The Tories will ditch Sunak for someone on the right and the Labs will ditch Sir Keir for someone on the left (Raynor).  At least then the country will have a choice instead of the current sliver to the left and sliver to the right, but mainly identical options we now have.

I think that’s a distinct possibility. The higher of the forecasts are due to Reform splitting the right wing vote so ideally I want to see Reform doing well enough to gift the LibDems more seats but not well enough to win any themselves.

I think on day this will be closer than most predict.  Reform+ Conservative total is ahead of or within 1pc of Labour.  Question is will Tory voters actually back Farage on the day it counts knowing it will split the vote in a swing constituency.  Unlikely given electoral history.

My hunch is that we’ll wake up to a hung parliament / no overall majority on the morning.  This isn’t based on anything credible I’ve been too the bookies about, but more that British politics recently has thrown up so many surprises and convoluted situations, and a hung parliament is about the only thing we’ve not had..

To me, Kier seems to be doing the right thing, although I’m as confused as the rest about the recent defection.

The job of politicians is to represent the views of the electorate, and Corbyn proved twice, with open goal elections, that the country doesn’t want a ‘progressive’ socialist revolution.  The consensus right now is likely a slightly left of centre direction in terms of policy.  If Kier and Labour move to the left once elected the Conservatives will be back in at the next cycle.

Both the Tories and Labour are split the same on Brexit.

29″ / 650b wheels on a mountain bike have to be the winner here. Road bikes always used 700c. The 26″ MTB wheel size was an accident, but the reason the wheel size never aligned before is that for off road use, when you need to accelerate/ decelerate and change direction rapidly, slightly smaller 26″ wheels make more sense. 29″ wheels make sense on a roadie / gravel bike, but for genuine MTB momentum is more often a problem than a benefit.

Also, be sceptical about the hype; the benchmarks that show Apple destroying Intel are a bit cherry-picked according to some.

I think cherry-picked is beyond generous. Weren’t they showing charts pretending to be direct performance comparisons, but were actually performance ‘per watt’ of M1 mobile vs desktop replacement intel cores. Reality was the M1’s raw performance was considerably behind the intel desktop replacement range and had the same performance per watt as intels equivalent ‘all day battery’ range.

Nothing special about Apple kit. Lots of people change a three year old £400 Acer for a new £999 MacBook and are somehow surprised it’s a bit slicker.

Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch. All in Dorset but clearly should be in Hampshire!

83% of Christchurch voted not to be in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

what’s the current go-to super cheap one? we’re taking a group of kids out locally for about an hour. we’ve enough in the spares / lends for the adults but need 5 matching ones for the kids. matching so they don’t all argue.

is the solarstorm / nestling x2 still on the mark, or is anything else recommended for £25 ish including battery? we’ll have the odd spare if something goes and 90 mins battery will be more than enough.

Especially considering neither major party has any interest in doing so.

While I voted remain, and still would, the above is critical. If there was a referendum again tomorrow it would be 50/50 again. That split is reflected equally in both political parties too. Labour’s left and the Conservative right, for different reasons.

Are you working on the move or from a (home) office? Does your employer use virtual desktop or is the software running locally? If virtual desktop your own PC performance is irrelevant as all the apps, OS and computer doing the work are in some data centre. If you’re in a fixed location a multi monitor setup with matching screens will be better than using the laptop one.

The number of people who can’t afford basic food has gone up massively under the recent Tory governments. A staggering HUNDRED TIMES more people couldn’t afford to buy food in 2021 than in 2008.

While not downplaying the difficulties many families find themselves in, the statistics you showed don’t say that.

The rise in people using foodbank/s will also be driven by availability – supply creates demand, and that (thankfully) the stigma associated with using food banks has all but gone in many areas.

Molgrips. Thats precisely the reaction i have seen repeatedly. No one gives too hoots about the uk

Flags at half mast at the White House, and even Vladimir Putin, chief antagonist in a proxy war the West is fighting against him, appears to have left a respectful tribute.

You need to read the room if nothing else…

Announcing a new nuclear power plant does precisely nothing to help with the energy crisis. It won’t be on line for 20+ years

It’s this kind of problematic thinking that led us into the current situation in the first place. Y

2nd hand good shout, thanks. Hive / Nest seem to need heat link / hubs in addition to the unit itself. Both over £150 new at moment and something tells me won’t be getting cleared down on black Friday this year.

Also interested in any links to sites / forums on homebrew, raspberry pi type options if that’s a thing by now.

What an unpleasant thread title. Wish mods would ban people who can’t be civil or just want to stir up trouble.

None of them are evil. By international standards they’re all just a slight whisker away from the views of our mainstream left of centre party in the UK.

One thing I also note is that while there’s a lot of completely inappropriate language and hate speech used in political content on this bike forum, it’s all coming from left wing / socialist members of the community. It’s not appropriate to shout ‘scum’ in the house of commons and the OP and some of the posters above should be similarly ashamed of themselves.

Lenovo M10 Plus and Samsung A8 both under £150 at moment for prime day.

Even a basic £40 fire tablet will run iPlayer, simple kids games etc no problem, hence why the amazon fire range have swamped the value end of the market.

Ipads are fine if you’re happy with limits of apples walled garden on the app front, but the kids will be happier with a 8″ fire or lenovo each, no daisy chained headphones and some Google play vouchers.

Durham police – there’s no case to answer so announce your decision soon

Now that is highly debatable. I’d like to support Kier, but it looks like exactly the same scenario. Kier went into an election on a holier than thou basis, but afterwards we find out it went on later than we thought, 12 people, was pre-arranged and the MET bodyguards are describing those present as ‘tipsy but not pi.. d’. Oh and of course Kier’s office have already formally apologised for an error in saying Angela Rayner wasn’t there… Could she not have corrected that herself..

Interesting period coming for UK politics.

@skooby39 have you got a link to the report? Would be interesting to see how it’s worked out. The UK, Mexico and Luxembourg seem like odd bedfellows for a top 3 of anything!

Not the article but below from Guardian. Looks like many on a lot more than £102k.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/20/english-secondary-school-headteachers-among-best-paid-in-the-world

£84k? Plus exes, directorships, travel, long holidays, heating for your horses, duck houses, free houses etc etc. Blimey I can’t imagine why they are so keen to hold on to their jobs rather than walk into these easier jobs for more money.

Just like the salary though, the sleaze opportunities are poor relative to other roles. When he was in charge of Unite, Len McLuskey handed over £100m of union members funds to a mate to build a hotel and conference venue valued at £25-£29m.

My point is that there are plenty of folk who want to be MPs – the salary is no deterrent to applicants and there are thousands and thousands of very competent people for whom that would be a huge payrise. folk like headteachers etc

MP salary is £84k. An OECD report in 2021 looked at 36 countries and found state secondary headteachers in UK were paid £102k, with only heads in Luxembourg and Mexico earning more.

MP salaries and even the PM take home is low relative to comparable senior leadership roles in public and private sector. And it’s hard to get a job as an MP. Not defending the culture and conduct of any or all politicians but far easier jobs out there for the money.

Would suggest the Roku. £20, neutral brand with no advertising on the menus, no apple/google/amazon tracking and things like phone screen sharing and Plex work.

Roku has all the main streaming apps – sometimes the apple/amazon/google crowd fall out between each other or change tech, and you can’t get one’s TV on the other’s devices for a while. For example YouTube won’t work on AppleTV other than the very newest one. This seems to be less of a problem on Roku as they aren’t a major content provider so don’t get involved in tit for tat scraps and don’t appear to desire to create walled gardens and appstores.

Not surprised to see people on here recommending Nvidia Shields and Apple for a 10 year old TV, but remember the screen here is likely 1080p and possibly just ‘HD’, so this looks like a job for the cheapest stick/box with the NAS streaming capability the original poster wanted.