jaywalker

You are of course morally admirable, cheque-book in hand, with no axe to grind, taking the objective and balanced position. The world is just too complicated for simpletons like me. But you are prepared to say that the east Europeans are a cause of the current NHS crisis? They are in the queue, so they are obviously a cause. If they were not there then the queue would be shorter. If they did not live here we (i.e. not them) could get treated more quickly. You have not thought beyond this??

Ah, a political post that grinds no axe. Well, in your dreams Nigello. Is your point 'not au fait' so 'a factor in being stretched' simply saying THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE IN LONDON? I think it is: if there are a lot of people then the NHS needs to be resourced appropriately, no? THAT is my axe. The 'reasonable person' would then reject absolutely the idea that because some of the people waiting at A and E are from Eastern Europe that they are somehow the cause of the crisis. They are not 'a factor' at all.

unclegen, what has "East European" got to do with your post? You do not provide any evidence that people from Eastern Europe are a net cost to the economy. I suggest that is because they are not. Try this report: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/brexit05.pdf from the LSE (hardly a hotbed of left-wing thought these days). To quote from the summary: "The big increase in EU immigration occurred after the ?A8? East European countries joined in 2004. In 2015 29% of EU immigrants were Polish. EU immigrants are more educated, younger, more likely to be in work and less likely to claim benefits than the UK-born. About 44% have some form of higher education compared with only 23% of the UK-born. About a third of EU immigrants live in London, compared with only 11% of the UK-born." But you have chosen instead to mention "Eastern Europeans" in your post as naming a cost to us all. I think this is appalling.

Is that a typo uncleglen? Do you mean the NHS in the city is under-resourced? Or is this something to do with a need for better drains? In a word-association game one is straight at Trump Towers with that word now. My experience with NHS England is much the same as stringvest's and also the impressive Birmingham NHS management chief who was on Newsnight last night. A and E (and by no means just in London) is at breaking-point because care in the community has been cut. So people are using A and E as primary contact for what should be provided elsewhere. She was at pains to point out that government know this perfectly well.

socialism

I really like the look of this place: and they've got the major decision absolutely right; a containable freshly cooked menu. What with the accordion lady serenading us to lunch, un petit bout de France to light up these isolationist times.

Could someone tell me where I can get Tyrrell's lobster cocktail crisps? They won a 'good taste' award a couple of years ago; ever since then I've been on the look-out, but never seen them. I just know they are for me.

well I didn't until I was referred for a back one and it cost me 900 quid. Apart from the rather strange position I was levered into, it was not an unpleasant experience: he was a bit of an artist my ordinary dentist said.

crash

Yes, that is exactly right. Poor Donald, death by a thousand cuts. This has 'out of control' written all over it. The various agencies he has infuriated will see to it that he is impeached I think: they have only gotten started. Poor May, too. Was she not briefed?

"But sadly it's not that sort of society any more, nobody (I hope) would think it OK these days to leave a baby outside in their pram while they went into the bank/shops whatever. It's not "victim blaming" to say don't do it, it's just common sense." Hmm. I am not so sure about this as a general point. Of course, I agree social services would 'rescue' the child, and infants are too young to be left alone except in extremis. The reason (I know this post will be unpopular) is that child-abductions and child-murders are pretty much constant over time as a percentage of the population (at least last time I looked up the stats - does anyone have them?). In fact what has changed is visibility and a blame-culture. Rendel, I guess we both ran free as children in London: not a bad thing at all (despite the ensuing mischief). Perhaps it would be better if parents and dog owners DID revert to practices that were normal a few decades ago. Children, it seems to me, are quite likely to be damaged by constant surveillance and care. Having said that, I'm not sure my mother would have left me in a pram alone outside a shop in the 1960s - she always had a nanny or au pair girl on tap :-). So there is a danger of blaming social class here too.

ah, Flynn has the 'full confidence of the President'. Well, we will see.

coupon

Beej is right: a specialist is only really necessary for non-central teeth. I have had central root canals by ordinary dentist (no problem) but referrals to specialists for difficult to access ones (again, nothing to worry about). Dentistry is not like it was in my childhood: my dentist then was a maniac.

It is because of market segmentation. They are middle range crisps: above generic supermarket own-label but below up-market (hand cooked etc) ones. So the margins are not that great but the cooking oil is probably more palatable than with the lowest tier. Same as with washing powder etc. People say there is no class system in the UK but you only have to look in shopping baskets.

It is certainly a tedious sidetrack. However, if you use this defence you risk certain things. X is an A, now I will point out the general flaws of A's; but it has, of course, nothing to do with X personally; its just a generic argument. Well, where else have I heard that kind of reasoning? Moving on, we are in for an interesting day tomorrow, with new immigration orders.

fund

BNG you are no doubt right about the majority of Leave voters (although there are reliability issues in terms of what people say when interviewed and what they say when they know they are off the record - here my experience is the same as KidKruger's I fear). However, the popular press and their stupid headlines, together with some leave voters (not a majority, but enough to be salient even on the streets of ED) who cause an enormous amount of distress both in public (spitting on people is the least of it) and in what they take to be the anonymity of internet forums such as the BBC News website, express hate enough for you not to grow indifferent to it. My neighbour (who was born in a foreign country) tells me she has been repeatedly abused on the street. I only have to scan the headlines in the press or posts on the internet to realise this is a sick country. Reducing this to a 'tiresome meme' is a little optimistic, even if we are all fatigued by it.

Well enough of this. Two 'you's in two successive sentences in one paragraph, the first explicitly indexing me, but you say the second refers explicitly not to me? Crikey.

Well said Rahrahrah, Tiddles and Kidkruger. Politicians are running scared of all this. For me, they do have leadership responsibility (though I know many think to insist on this is paternalistic or anti-democratic). If you accept political office you have both statutory and ethical responsibilities that must do more than reflect the apparent will of the people (i.e. the rabid outpourings of the disgraceful national press) as if you were some automaton. Otherwise 'democracy' is reduced to its first form (votes by a public show of hands) but without the Greek constraint that you had to actually meet and look people in the eye to vote in city states that were small enough for this to act as a check - as how you voted would be known by your neighbours - (and, when we talk about 'pure democracy' we should always remember, only if you were male and not a slave etc). 'Democracy' as reflected will of a populist press is not at all the same thing. Rather, representative government had evolved as an autonomous power (against the monarchy, judiciary and the press, both of the latter at least in turn rightly against them): but now the estates are simply collapsing into one thing. Everytime someone uses the word 'democracy' they are furthering this. That this government is actually amplifying those press outpourings for naked political advantage (see forthcoming by-elections) is unspeakable.

It looks increasingly likely they will lose Stoke to UKIP. Very incisive on the ground report in the FT today - their campaign in total disarray. FT thinks they might even lose the other one to the Tories. Time for the reasonable ones to rally round Clarke and form a centre party. The days of the dual-party system are coming to a rapid end.

Loz, I know we live in a post-truth world, but ???? wrote: "You can hate the tories, you can think they are divisive and mean and bad for society - but they are NOT totalitarian. That's kindergarten student politics." Now, why did you not refer to that in your post about my being unable to read?

????, I am glad you do not think Trump and May are Totalitarian as that is exactly what I wrote: 'it is not that Trump is currently totalitarian'. I think sometimes in your rush to trade insults (now I am a child I see) you simply don't pause to read what people write. It is interesting I think to consider what kind of policies lead in the direction of totalitarianism (something we should perhaps always be vigilant about). I have had enough of Trump but briefly for me these move in the wrong direction: Cancelling refugee rights Cancelling promises on child refugee rights Calling judges 'so-called' Not standing up for the independence of the judiciary after the High Court ruling Building walls against migrants Building walls in Calais to stop migrants Surrounding yourself with an inner circle of acolytes and giving them extra-ordinary power (powers normally held by ministers or the civil service - the case in both countries) To add to this, the surveillance society and the May sponsored Internet Bill that has just become law (no idea what Trump will do with this as he has fallen out with the security services). BTW I see that we will now be required to surrender our EDF passwords to immigration control travelling to the USA. Not at all a worrying development, of course.

Well, I would want to see a replicable controlled experiment (not a manifesto from global warming inc.) - and it would need to survey all contributors and differentiate between DEFRA allowed and not-allowed devices and legal (kiln dried) and not-kiln dried wood. Until then this is all hot air (as it were).

titch juicy asked why uncleglen wrote 'NO'. Who knows. But I recognise that these signifiers were quite provocative to anyone qualifying as a Ruritanian (in the sense defined by Gellner in Nations and Nationalism): Invest in someone's future Sanctuary displaced and dispossessed vulnerable people higher education forced migration solidarity inclusive and diverse space Sociology & Anthropology stance against social exclusion, racism and xenophobia people to flourish both personally and academically "There is no love, there are only the various envies, all of them sad." (Auden)