Today's discussion about the news
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I'm not sure there would be an option UNESCO wouldn't mind. I've worked on relatively small schemes within UNESCO heritage sites and some just outside. On one I designed a road just outside the heritage site for Pontcysyllte Aqueduct where we had to have a parapet on a large retaining wall. The wall itself had to be clad in local stone and the parapet, rather than being a factory made steel version (painted as required) had to be built in reinforced concrete then clad in local stone with a fancy 'cock and hen' capping. We were permitted to use an open steel parapet on a very short section to protect a visibility splay but that had to be custom fabricated to an approved design as none of the off-the-peg options were acceptable. The aqueduct itself is about a mile a way and the site is somewhere behind the trees in the photo below (the sewage farm obviously enhances the World Heritage Site).
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I believe current thinking is that it wasn't remote at the time.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Sounds like some cars need to be sold. It's always the solution.
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I was there about three weeks ago - camping in the next field. It knocks Stonehenge into a cocked hat for sure and, as you say, you can walk amongst, touch, lean against the stones etc. The "avenues" of stones leading to/from the main circle are also both very apparent.
No orange paint at time of visit.
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
Plus you have Silbury Hill and West Kennet Long Barrow within walking distance.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Sure - that area of Wiltshire is really rich with this "type of thing" and I do find it very interesting. There's also three more standing stone sites within walking distance of Callanish too.
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
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Taking the French election thing back into the news thread...
So, record-breaking turnout (about 76%, I think), and lots of constituencies with three candidates over the 12.5% lower limit to pass to the second round of voting. A lot of horse-trading to go on between now and then, given there is a majority of voters who are anti-Penists, but the hard left Mélenchon is almost as nuts (Corbyn with nobs on).
So the horse trading will be about whether the lowest candidate in the 'triangular' constituencies will drop out so that the anti-Pen vote isn't split.
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What a choice - Corbyn with knobs on or Farage with knobs on.
I heard that there is a meeting scheduled between senior government members of the UK and France in late July; could be 'interesting', especially if it's Starmer and Lammy meeting Le Pen and Bardella. They'll get on like a house on fire 🙂
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
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That didn't take long: the Républicains' candidate has already withdrawn from the 'triangular' contest in my area, so I suspect nearly all of his 19% from the first round will go to Pochon, as will all the leftist candidates' smaller shares.
If that's repeated across the country, it could well prevent Le Pen getting into power, but I can't see how it plays out longer term in subsequent elections... it won't be a sustainable alliance, given the fractiousness of the left in France. It's not clear how the centrists can win back what they had, without some radical rethinking of how to defuse the threat of the far right and their populism.
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I see they have finally called of the search for that lad in Tenerife. Am I the only one who finds it a bit odd? I can't understand why someone would try walking 25 miles rather than wait 2 hours for the next bus.
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I don't understand French politics but isn't there a reasonable risk that those who would normally vote for a centre right / right wing Party are more likely to move to Le Pen's lot than a centre left / left wing Party? It certainly doesn't feel like you can assume the votes would go against Le Pen.
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Somebody will make a killing in France by selling 'MEGA' baseball caps. And quite a few other countries in Europe by the look of it.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Tragic thing is that France's economic performance, working conditions etc are all better than the UK. Not giving out much hope is it? And it's the young people who are voting Le Pen too
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Alcohol. No money. Poor decision making of youth?
I've been to that village and there is one road that is similar to Sa Colabra. It is probably 3 or 4 miles to the next village either side but bloody hard to get lost.
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Guy in my class in 6th form left a new year's party in the middle of the countryside to "walk home".
He was later found in a field. He'd passed out and landed in such a way that the bloody supply to his head was limited and then the cold of the night killed him off.
People do stupid things when shitfaced.
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I suspect that part of Macron's gamble was that if they see the stark choice is Le Pen v Everyone Else Who's Not Far Right, that they will go against Le Pen. Maybe the parallel is with Cameron and the referendum, though that seemed not as risky as Macron's gamble, and worked out OK for the Tories themselves in the short term.
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If you don't fix housing or job opportunities or indeed the prospect of out-earning your parents young people will vote against you.
In the UK that means voting the populist brexiters out. In France that means voting the centre right out
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There's such a back story to this that I feel its more than him just gone missing. Time will tell.
I've ridden the Masca Valley and it a pretty brutal place.
2020/2021/2022 Metric Century Challenge Winner0 -
It's not worked out well in the long term now though, has it? 👹
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
It also tends to lead to support for the far right as we saw back in the 30s. It's easy to pass off all of a country's ills on 'others'. We seem to be reasonably lucky on that front although it was quite a factor in the EU referendum.
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Yup - and we've had a really good taste of what populism and unicorn-based policies can do, hence the likely electoral turnaround here. The trouble is that elections tend to be won on 'dreams', whereas actually government is about mostly about messy compromises and pragmatism.
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What metrics are you using there?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I would say that a lot of people in France have a massive sense of entitlement when it comes to stuff they think the state and their employers owe them. Which unfortunately is not long term affordable. Which Macron (for all his faults) realised and tried to donsomething about, although probably not enough even if he had been successful.
And the main political choices they have now both intend to spend more. Germany won't and probably can't bail out France so this will be fun for the EU and the single currency
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
The director of the al-Shifa hospital has just been released without charge. He was detained in Nov 23.
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Interesting take on French situation.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
I don't do twitter, can you post the plot for France?
I would also be curious to see what ours looks like....
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