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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Telegraph piece backs 400/1 shot Mark Francois to be next CON

SystemSystem Posts: 11,002
edited April 2019 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Telegraph piece backs 400/1 shot Mark Francois to be next CON leader

Telegraph piece backs Mark Francois for leader https://t.co/pBOEsYH9Qd

Read the full story here


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Comments

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    edited April 2019
    No thanks - I'd not be able to enjoy the money if I won even at such odds*. And it's not because he's a Brexiteer, since I also cannot stand his more urbane, effective counterpart, Dominic Grieve.

    *untrue, obviously.
  • Harris_TweedHarris_Tweed Posts: 1,300
    I'm not sure it's any more ridiculous than the prospect of Corbyn leading Labour 6 months before it happened!
  • DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300
    After reading the Telegraph piece, I really cannot see where it backs Francois for leader.
  • Well Jez was 200/1 to be Labour leader three months before he became Labour leader.
  • philiphphiliph Posts: 4,704
    No, his face is as punchable as that of Mr Gove. Therefore his views are irrelevant as well as overly Brexity.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745

    I'm not sure it's any more ridiculous than the prospect of Corbyn leading Labour 6 months before it happened!

    One is a thick posho from Islington who is utterly clueless about everything and dabbles with extremists while giving the impression of being unfit to run a post office.

    And the other - is the leader of the Labour Party.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,164
    FPT:
    tlg86 said:

    rpjs said:

    ydoethur said:

    viewcode said:

    I did Virgin West Coast the year the RSS conference was in Glasgow. London Euston to Glasgow Central by train. The scenery was spectacular - the Borders region is really nice - and the seat adequate, but again: overcrowding. Standing in a commuter train is one thing, but for a five-hour journey, oy... :(

    I first went to Glasgow by coach when I was a student in London. Most of the details have been thankfully wiped from my mind, but give me an overcrowded train for a few hours over a stinking coach for > 10 hours (roadworks and crash).

    Having said that, more needs to be done to try to ease overcrowding on trains. But that's not necessarily an easy thing to fix in these days of fixed formation trains ...
    What does this tell us?

    It tells us fixed formation trains are a very silly idea...
    Much as I despise Mr Branson's Pendolinos, but aren't they so long now that they wouldn't fit on the platforms if they had any more cars added.
    A few years ago Virgin purchased a further four Pendolinos and at the time added two cars to a number of sets. But they had the option to lengthen all of them to 11 cars but chose not to on the grounds of cost. So what you now have is a mixed fleet, which means when there is disruption, the fleet gets mixed up and services allocated 11 car trains get nine car trains and vice versa.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,911
    It's a two quid bet at those odds, for sure. How quickly we forget... Did anybody really see Corbyn coming?
  • kyf_100 said:

    It's a two quid bet at those odds, for sure. How quickly we forget... Did anybody really see Corbyn coming?

    Diane Abbott did.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081
    edited April 2019
    If every Tory was like Francois, Brexit would have gone down the toilet way back.

    Things were loopy enough when Jake Mogg became favourite. Back Francois, everyone, please, until the odds are worth a lay.

    Edit/Telegraph readers are already doing it, and he is now 100
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745
    edited April 2019

    kyf_100 said:

    It's a two quid bet at those odds, for sure. How quickly we forget... Did anybody really see Corbyn coming?

    Diane Abbott did.
    You know, that is a mental image I really could have done without.
  • Danny565Danny565 Posts: 8,091
    Theresa May's era is going to look like the halcyon days before long isn't it....
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,911

    kyf_100 said:

    It's a two quid bet at those odds, for sure. How quickly we forget... Did anybody really see Corbyn coming?

    Diane Abbott did.
    Well, I walked into that one :D
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,014
    The Telegraph needs saving from itself.
  • ydoethur said:

    kyf_100 said:

    It's a two quid bet at those odds, for sure. How quickly we forget... Did anybody really see Corbyn coming?

    Diane Abbott did.
    You know, that is a mental image I really could have done without.
    Sorry, not sorry.
  • philiphphiliph Posts: 4,704

    The Telegraph needs saving from itself.

    Why would you miss it?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    kyf_100 said:

    It's a two quid bet at those odds, for sure. How quickly we forget... Did anybody really see Corbyn coming?

    He was 100/1 on Betfair for a good couple of hours after the nominations closed. Pretty much everyone on here that day managed to get a bet on. Best tenner I ever spent!
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,765

    I think the Conservative party would do better under the worm mentioned by Josias Jessop who wears a monocle and says "quack quack."
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,014
    philiph said:

    The Telegraph needs saving from itself.

    Why would you miss it?
    10 years ago it was a series paper on par with The Times. I’d buy both.

    Since then, the Times has got a bit better and The Telegraph much worse.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745
    That's almost as bad as TSE's faux pas...
  • mattmatt Posts: 3,789

    The Telegraph needs saving from itself.

    It’s clear that it’s little more than a vehicle for its owners to pursue their obsessions and vendettas. One might say that the former isn’t unusual (I think it is though and rarely so aggressively). The latter hasn’t been seen since The Observer, Rowland and Harrods/Fayed.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,911
    kyf_100 said:

    It's a two quid bet at those odds, for sure. How quickly we forget... Did anybody really see Corbyn coming?

    On a similar note, Buttigieig now the same odds on BF exchange as Beto O'Rourke and not far off Joe Biden. Would anybody have guessed that a month ago?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603
    The death of the party.
  • The internet should be turned off for the rest of 2019 as a suitable punishment for that Telegraph article.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603
    It would be interesting if Macron was saying it. This is just Ireland trying to get Jezza's deal over the line.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,014
    matt said:

    The Telegraph needs saving from itself.

    It’s clear that it’s little more than a vehicle for its owners to pursue their obsessions and vendettas. One might say that the former isn’t unusual (I think it is though and rarely so aggressively). The latter hasn’t been seen since The Observer, Rowland and Harrods/Fayed.
    It’s the in-house mag for the ERG.
  • felixfelix Posts: 15,124
    Tis a problem when pensioners have too much money to burn it in this way... :)
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,014
    MaxPB said:

    It would be interesting if Macron was saying it. This is just Ireland trying to get Jezza's deal over the line.
    Varadkar doesn’t say or do anything without checking it off with his gimp masters first.

    That said, I think Macron genuinely does want us to fuck off. Not only does it play well in France domestically but he sees a revoking UK as an obstacle to his federalist vision for Europe.

  • France and Germany are understood to be at loggerheads over both the length of the extension and the conditions that the EU should put on a delay to Brexit.

    The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is arguing that a short extension to 30 June is unlikely to provide enough time for the impasse in Westminster to be broken, and Berlin is seeking an extension until 31 December.

    Germany believes that the biggest incentive for Conservative MPs to back the Brexit deal is the threat of holding European elections.

    The French president, Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, is understood to looking at a very short extension, possibly up until immediately before the European elections, sources have said. There could be a further extension if the UK signs up to stringent conditions, Macron has said.

  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,911

    MaxPB said:

    It would be interesting if Macron was saying it. This is just Ireland trying to get Jezza's deal over the line.
    Varadkar doesn’t say or do anything without checking it off with his gimp masters first.

    That said, I think Macron genuinely does want us to fuck off. Not only does it play well in France domestically but he sees a revoking UK as an obstacle to his federalist vision for Europe.
    Macron is probably one of the few EU leaders to be smart enough to realise that if we remain inside the tent, we'll be on the inside, but still pissing in.
  • AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    I’ve made wilder bets, but I don’t immediately recall them.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745

    The internet should be turned off for the rest of 2019 as a suitable punishment for that Telegraph article.

    That mental image TSE gave me has turned me off for the next five years.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745

    I’ve made wilder bets, but I don’t immediately recall them.

    Why? Were you very drunk at the time?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    edited April 2019


    France and Germany are understood to be at loggerheads over both the length of the extension and the conditions that the EU should put on a delay to Brexit.

    The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is arguing that a short extension to 30 June is unlikely to provide enough time for the impasse in Westminster to be broken, and Berlin is seeking an extension until 31 December.

    Germany believes that the biggest incentive for Conservative MPs to back the Brexit deal is the threat of holding European elections.

    The French president, Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, is understood to looking at a very short extension, possibly up until immediately before the European elections, sources have said. There could be a further extension if the UK signs up to stringent conditions, Macron has said.

    Hate to say it, but I think Macron is more realistic in this respect. I see no reason why the impasse would be broken even up to December if it cannot be broken before June with a ticking clock, so a very short extension with tough conditions for another one is not an unreasonable stance I think. I don't see why the EP elections are a threat to those that matter - most of those opposing the deal now want to remain, or want something that requires a long extension and therefore have no worry about EP elections.

    But at the end of the day longer is easier and keeps more options open so I would think would carry the day.
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,009


    France and Germany are understood to be at loggerheads over both the length of the extension and the conditions that the EU should put on a delay to Brexit.

    The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is arguing that a short extension to 30 June is unlikely to provide enough time for the impasse in Westminster to be broken, and Berlin is seeking an extension until 31 December.

    Germany believes that the biggest incentive for Conservative MPs to back the Brexit deal is the threat of holding European elections.

    The French president, Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, is understood to looking at a very short extension, possibly up until immediately before the European elections, sources have said. There could be a further extension if the UK signs up to stringent conditions, Macron has said.

    That's tricky for Theresa May if her strategy was to ask for a short extension in the hope of having a longer one forced on her.
  • glwglw Posts: 9,535

    philiph said:

    The Telegraph needs saving from itself.

    Why would you miss it?
    10 years ago it was a series paper on par with The Times. I’d buy both.

    Since then, the Times has got a bit better and The Telegraph much worse.
    I do like the sport section, but I now read very little of the paper itself.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,958
    kyf_100 said:

    MaxPB said:

    It would be interesting if Macron was saying it. This is just Ireland trying to get Jezza's deal over the line.
    Varadkar doesn’t say or do anything without checking it off with his gimp masters first.

    That said, I think Macron genuinely does want us to fuck off. Not only does it play well in France domestically but he sees a revoking UK as an obstacle to his federalist vision for Europe.
    Macron is probably one of the few EU leaders to be smart enough to realise that if we remain inside the tent, we'll be on the inside, but still pissing in.
    Not just pissing. And not just projectile vomiting either.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,695
    Mark Francois looks like he could be pretty hypertensive and a heart attack waiting to happen....
  • The_TaxmanThe_Taxman Posts: 2,979


    France and Germany are understood to be at loggerheads over both the length of the extension and the conditions that the EU should put on a delay to Brexit.

    The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is arguing that a short extension to 30 June is unlikely to provide enough time for the impasse in Westminster to be broken, and Berlin is seeking an extension until 31 December.

    Germany believes that the biggest incentive for Conservative MPs to back the Brexit deal is the threat of holding European elections.

    The French president, Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, is understood to looking at a very short extension, possibly up until immediately before the European elections, sources have said. There could be a further extension if the UK signs up to stringent conditions, Macron has said.

    I am not so sure the Germans are reading this right on the European election view as being a way for Tory MPs to back the TM deal. I watched a TV program in the last few days in which Andrew Bridgen MP stated that the UK must take part in Euro elections if the UK is still in the EU as we would be lacking representation for the taxation we pay! I was surprised by his view and he seemed less strident in advocating this point. I think Layla Moran MP was also involved in this TV program.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,695
    GIN1138 said:

    Mark Francois looks like he could be pretty hypertensive and a heart attack waiting to happen....

    Oh and he looks like my uncle. Not sure if I've mentioned that before. :D
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,195

    kyf_100 said:

    MaxPB said:

    It would be interesting if Macron was saying it. This is just Ireland trying to get Jezza's deal over the line.
    Varadkar doesn’t say or do anything without checking it off with his gimp masters first.

    That said, I think Macron genuinely does want us to fuck off. Not only does it play well in France domestically but he sees a revoking UK as an obstacle to his federalist vision for Europe.
    Macron is probably one of the few EU leaders to be smart enough to realise that if we remain inside the tent, we'll be on the inside, but still pissing in.
    Not just pissing. And not just projectile vomiting either.
    Burn the place down baby :-)
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    Mark Francois is 130 / 600 with Betfair Exchange.

    https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.125574963
  • I’ve made wilder bets, but I don’t immediately recall them.

    Can you beat this?

    http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/01/08/why-ive-backed-diane-abbott-to-be-next-labour-leader/
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,723

    philiph said:

    The Telegraph needs saving from itself.

    Why would you miss it?
    10 years ago it was a series paper on par with The Times. I’d buy both.

    Since then, the Times has got a bit better and The Telegraph much worse.
    30 years ago I used to buy Telegraph

    10 years ago I was a Times subscriber

    Now its the Morning Star
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,674

    I’ve made wilder bets, but I don’t immediately recall them.

    Can you beat this?

    http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/01/08/why-ive-backed-diane-abbott-to-be-next-labour-leader/
    nobody could beat that
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745

    I’ve made wilder bets, but I don’t immediately recall them.

    Can you beat this?

    http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/01/08/why-ive-backed-diane-abbott-to-be-next-labour-leader/
    I'm relieved that was written before her series of extraordinary media gaffes.

    I wonder if she still intends to pay police officers £30 a year and make them walk round stark naked?
  • mattmatt Posts: 3,789

    philiph said:

    The Telegraph needs saving from itself.

    Why would you miss it?
    10 years ago it was a series paper on par with The Times. I’d buy both.

    Since then, the Times has got a bit better and The Telegraph much worse.
    30 years ago I used to buy Telegraph

    10 years ago I was a Times subscriber

    Now its the Morning Star
    Losing brain cells and childlike regression as one ages is an acknowledged event.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,065
    GIN1138 said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Mark Francois looks like he could be pretty hypertensive and a heart attack waiting to happen....

    Oh and he looks like my uncle. Not sure if I've mentioned that before. :D
    I am sorry to hear that...
  • rpjsrpjs Posts: 3,787
    tlg86 said:

    rpjs said:

    ydoethur said:

    viewcode said:

    I did Virgin West Coast the year the RSS conference was in Glasgow. London Euston to Glasgow Central by train. The scenery was spectacular - the Borders region is really nice - and the seat adequate, but again: overcrowding. Standing in a commuter train is one thing, but for a five-hour journey, oy... :(

    I first went to Glasgow by coach when I was a student in London. Most of the details have been thankfully wiped from my mind, but give me an overcrowded train for a few hours over a stinking coach for > 10 hours (roadworks and crash).

    Having said that, more needs to be done to try to ease overcrowding on trains. But that's not necessarily an easy thing to fix in these days of fixed formation trains ...
    What does this tell us?

    It tells us fixed formation trains are a very silly idea...
    Much as I despise Mr Branson's Pendolinos, but aren't they so long now that they wouldn't fit on the platforms if they had any more cars added.
    A few years ago Virgin purchased a further four Pendolinos and at the time added two cars to a number of sets. But they had the option to lengthen all of them to 11 cars but chose not to on the grounds of cost. So what you now have is a mixed fleet, which means when there is disruption, the fleet gets mixed up and services allocated 11 car trains get nine car trains and vice versa.
    Huh, I had thought they had all been lengthened to eleven cars. That is indeed very silly.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    I have a couple of quid on Steve Baker :D
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 2,869

    MaxPB said:

    It would be interesting if Macron was saying it. This is just Ireland trying to get Jezza's deal over the line.
    Varadkar doesn’t say or do anything without checking it off with his gimp masters first.

    That said, I think Macron genuinely does want us to fuck off. Not only does it play well in France domestically but he sees a revoking UK as an obstacle to his federalist vision for Europe.
    Since General de Gaulle kept the UK out of the Common Market for quite a long time, it would be very appropriate if M. Macron played a major part in getting the UK out of the EU.

    Good evening, everyone.
  • MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    EXactly 10 years ago the Telegraph was right in the middle of its MPs expenses scandal revelations which arguably changed the face of British politics for good.
  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    What time do our EU masters tell us when we have to vote to extend again ?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745

    EXactly 10 years ago the Telegraph was right in the middle of its MPs expenses scandal revelations which arguably changed the face of British politics for good.

    Well, for ever.

    I'm not sure it's changed it for 'good' looking at the current shitshow umm, situation.
  • OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143
    edited April 2019

    Well Jez was 200/1 to be Labour leader three months before he became Labour leader.

    How much did Margaret Beckett put on him to win?
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,674
    Foxy said:

    GIN1138 said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Mark Francois looks like he could be pretty hypertensive and a heart attack waiting to happen....

    Oh and he looks like my uncle. Not sure if I've mentioned that before. :D
    I am sorry to hear that...
    Hopefully you do not look like your uncle
  • ydoethur said:

    The internet should be turned off for the rest of 2019 as a suitable punishment for that Telegraph article.

    That mental image TSE gave me has turned me off for the next five years.
    TSE has a natural flair for that....
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,958

    felix said:

    Tis a problem when pensioners have too much money to burn it in this way... :)

    The peculiar electorate

    Well Jez was 200/1 to be Labour leader three months before he became Labour leader.

    How much did Margaret Beckett put on him to win?
    Politics today only makes sense as a betting coup.

    I reckon May must be waiting to have a few grand on No Deal.....
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081
    TGOHF said:

    What time do our EU masters tell us when we have to vote to extend again ?

    There isn't a vote this time.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,723
    matt said:

    philiph said:

    The Telegraph needs saving from itself.

    Why would you miss it?
    10 years ago it was a series paper on par with The Times. I’d buy both.

    Since then, the Times has got a bit better and The Telegraph much worse.
    30 years ago I used to buy Telegraph

    10 years ago I was a Times subscriber

    Now its the Morning Star
    Losing brain cells and childlike regression as one ages is an acknowledged event.
    Presumably explains why oldies are Tories
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745

    ydoethur said:

    The internet should be turned off for the rest of 2019 as a suitable punishment for that Telegraph article.

    That mental image TSE gave me has turned me off for the next five years.
    TSE has a natural flair for that....
    Too much information...
  • _Anazina__Anazina_ Posts: 1,810
    Reporting here from planet normal (I’m with the in laws). Seems to me that most nonpolitical people have now largely forgotten about Brexit and assume it’s no longer happening.

    Anecdotal, obviously,
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,074

    kyf_100 said:

    It's a two quid bet at those odds, for sure. How quickly we forget... Did anybody really see Corbyn coming?

    Diane Abbott did.
    Naughty!
  • Francois is a perfectly sensible option for the Conservatives when searching for a unifying candidate to pull the party back together and move on from Brexit
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,695
    _Anazina_ said:

    Reporting here from planet normal (I’m with the in laws). Seems to me that most nonpolitical people have now largely forgotten about Brexit and assume it’s no longer happening.

    Anecdotal, obviously,

    They probably don't want to have a row with you about it and are too polite to tell you... ;)
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 14,912
    https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/pizza-pineapple-is-it-acceptable-chefs-expert-opinion-a8074571.html#Echobox=1554917100

    Apparently, if you like pineapple on pizza then it is OK. And if you don't, then don't eat it.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,074

    Francois is a perfectly sensible option for the Conservatives when searching for a unifying candidate to pull the party back together and move on from Brexit


    If by "move on" you mean "move on into the wilderness for years and years" then, yes, you are probably right.
  • _Anazina__Anazina_ Posts: 1,810
    GIN1138 said:

    _Anazina_ said:

    Reporting here from planet normal (I’m with the in laws). Seems to me that most nonpolitical people have now largely forgotten about Brexit and assume it’s no longer happening.

    Anecdotal, obviously,

    They probably don't want to have a row with you about it and are too polite to tell you... ;)
    Nobody even seems to mention it anymore. Strange!
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 18,231
    _Anazina_ said:

    Reporting here from planet normal...

    What's it like? Are there trees? Flowers?

  • Cyclefree said:

    kyf_100 said:

    It's a two quid bet at those odds, for sure. How quickly we forget... Did anybody really see Corbyn coming?

    Diane Abbott did.
    Naughty!
    Yes I'm sure she was
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745
    Cyclefree said:

    Francois is a perfectly sensible option for the Conservatives when searching for a unifying candidate to pull the party back together and move on from Brexit


    If by "move on" you mean "move on into the wilderness for years and years" then, yes, you are probably right.
    We thought that with Corbyn. Didn't turn out that way.
  • anothernickanothernick Posts: 3,545
    _Anazina_ said:

    Reporting here from planet normal (I’m with the in laws). Seems to me that most nonpolitical people have now largely forgotten about Brexit and assume it’s no longer happening.

    Anecdotal, obviously,

    At my work management meeting on Tuesday we agreed to drop Brexit risks from one of the 5 biggest risks facing the business down to 20th on the grounds that it was not imminent and might never happen. Nobody dissented from that analysis.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745
    edited April 2019
    Labour have cornered that one.

    Edit - likewise the Liberal Democrats and Greens.

    We're screwed.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 48,917
    rpjs said:

    tlg86 said:

    rpjs said:

    ydoethur said:

    viewcode said:

    I did Virgin West Coast the year the RSS conference was in Glasgow. London Euston to Glasgow Central by train. The scenery was spectacular - the Borders region is really nice - and the seat adequate, but again: overcrowding. Standing in a commuter train is one thing, but for a five-hour journey, oy... :(

    I first went to Glasgow by coach when I was a student in London. Most of the details have been thankfully wiped from my mind, but give me an overcrowded train for a few hours over a stinking coach for > 10 hours (roadworks and crash).

    Having said that, more needs to be done to try to ease overcrowding on trains. But that's not necessarily an easy thing to fix in these days of fixed formation trains ...
    What does this tell us?

    It tells us fixed formation trains are a very silly idea...
    Much as I despise Mr Branson's Pendolinos, but aren't they so long now that they wouldn't fit on the platforms if they had any more cars added.
    A few years ago Virgin purchased a further four Pendolinos and at the time added two cars to a number of sets. But they had the option to lengthen all of them to 11 cars but chose not to on the grounds of cost. So what you now have is a mixed fleet, which means when there is disruption, the fleet gets mixed up and services allocated 11 car trains get nine car trains and vice versa.
    Huh, I had thought they had all been lengthened to eleven cars. That is indeed very silly.
    There are still 21 nine-car trains. 35 eleven-car trains. One 9-car train was lost at Greyrigg.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_390


  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 48,917
    AnneJGP said:

    MaxPB said:

    It would be interesting if Macron was saying it. This is just Ireland trying to get Jezza's deal over the line.
    Varadkar doesn’t say or do anything without checking it off with his gimp masters first.

    That said, I think Macron genuinely does want us to fuck off. Not only does it play well in France domestically but he sees a revoking UK as an obstacle to his federalist vision for Europe.
    Since General de Gaulle kept the UK out of the Common Market for quite a long time, it would be very appropriate if M. Macron played a major part in getting the UK out of the EU.

    Good evening, everyone.
    France should have joined the Commonwealth :lol:
  • The_TaxmanThe_Taxman Posts: 2,979
    ydoethur said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Francois is a perfectly sensible option for the Conservatives when searching for a unifying candidate to pull the party back together and move on from Brexit


    If by "move on" you mean "move on into the wilderness for years and years" then, yes, you are probably right.
    We thought that with Corbyn. Didn't turn out that way.
    Labour are still in the wilderness, they have also lost about 20 MPs who no longer take the whip and many more who do as they please! That is not to say the Tories are any better as a collective madness seems to have taken hold. Brexit and Corbyn have destroyed the political parties and the only thing that keeps them together is weakness.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,395

    rpjs said:

    tlg86 said:

    rpjs said:

    ydoethur said:

    viewcode said:

    I did Virgin West Coast the year the RSS conference was in Glasgow. London Euston to Glasgow Central by train. The scenery was spectacular - the Borders region is really nice - and the seat adequate, but again: overcrowding. Standing in a commuter train is one thing, but for a five-hour journey, oy... :(

    I first went to Glasgow by coach when I was a student in London. Most of the details have been thankfully wiped from my mind, but give me an overcrowded train for a few hours over a stinking coach for > 10 hours (roadworks and crash).

    Having said that, more needs to be done to try to ease overcrowding on trains. But that's not necessarily an easy thing to fix in these days of fixed formation trains ...
    What does this tell us?

    It tells us fixed formation trains are a very silly idea...
    Much as I despise Mr Branson's Pendolinos, but aren't they so long now that they wouldn't fit on the platforms if they had any more cars added.
    A few years ago Virgin purchased a further four Pendolinos and at the time added two cars to a number of sets. But they had the option to lengthen all of them to 11 cars but chose not to on the grounds of cost. So what you now have is a mixed fleet, which means when there is disruption, the fleet gets mixed up and services allocated 11 car trains get nine car trains and vice versa.
    Huh, I had thought they had all been lengthened to eleven cars. That is indeed very silly.
    There are still 21 nine-car trains. 35 eleven-car trains. One 9-car train was lost at Greyrigg.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_390


    Plus they run Voyagers under the wires all the way from London to Scotland.
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    ydoethur said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Francois is a perfectly sensible option for the Conservatives when searching for a unifying candidate to pull the party back together and move on from Brexit


    If by "move on" you mean "move on into the wilderness for years and years" then, yes, you are probably right.
    We thought that with Corbyn. Didn't turn out that way.
    Labour are still in the wilderness, they have also lost about 20 MPs who no longer take the whip and many more who do as they please! That is not to say the Tories are any better as a collective madness seems to have taken hold. Brexit and Corbyn have destroyed the political parties and the only thing that keeps them together is weakness.
    Though Labour have a 9% lead in one poll today!
  • dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786
    Anecdote anecdata. Talking to mum about the current situation. Shes a working class lady of the Maggie's Tories variety, nan was local organizer for the Tories from the council house Maggie let her buy and grandad dug trenches for the GPO and voted labour without telling her. The first political comment i ever heard was my mum saying 'God help us if labour get back in'. Shes voted Tory at every local, national and euro election since forever. Asked her who shes voting for in the locals. Suffice to say shes sitting on her hands at them and any GE.
    If my ma isn't voting Tory they are in serious serious doodoo. Grey vote strike incoming.........
    Farage wont benefit. She thinks he is a dodgy car salesman.
    Ok a family story but I never ever thought I'd see a day my mum wouldn't get up the polling station for the blue team. They have a problem.
  • dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786
    justin124 said:

    ydoethur said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Francois is a perfectly sensible option for the Conservatives when searching for a unifying candidate to pull the party back together and move on from Brexit


    If by "move on" you mean "move on into the wilderness for years and years" then, yes, you are probably right.
    We thought that with Corbyn. Didn't turn out that way.
    Labour are still in the wilderness, they have also lost about 20 MPs who no longer take the whip and many more who do as they please! That is not to say the Tories are any better as a collective madness seems to have taken hold. Brexit and Corbyn have destroyed the political parties and the only thing that keeps them together is weakness.
    Though Labour have a 9% lead in one poll today!
    15% lead in the same companies euro poll. Which sounds, ummmmm, optimistic
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709
    Francois v Corbyn would be quite a general election
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603

    Anecdote anecdata. Talking to mum about the current situation. Shes a working class lady of the Maggie's Tories variety, nan was local organizer for the Tories from the council house Maggie let her buy and grandad dug trenches for the GPO and voted labour without telling her. The first political comment i ever heard was my mum saying 'God help us if labour get back in'. Shes voted Tory at every local, national and euro election since forever. Asked her who shes voting for in the locals. Suffice to say shes sitting on her hands at them and any GE.
    If my ma isn't voting Tory they are in serious serious doodoo. Grey vote strike incoming.........
    Farage wont benefit. She thinks he is a dodgy car salesman.
    Ok a family story but I never ever thought I'd see a day my mum wouldn't get up the polling station for the blue team. They have a problem.

    I'm not going to vote for the Tories in a GE. Not that it will make any difference where I live, I don't think I can bring myself to vote for the party which has failed the people on so many levels.
  • AndrewAndrew Posts: 2,900
    Corbyn and Trump have proven that the most ridiculous outcome you can think of is a solid betting option.

    Francois 4 PM!
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 48,917

    rpjs said:

    tlg86 said:

    rpjs said:

    ydoethur said:

    viewcode said:

    I did Virgin West Coast the year the RSS conference was in Glasgow. London Euston to Glasgow Central by train. The scenery was spectacular - the Borders region is really nice - and the seat adequate, but again: overcrowding. Standing in a commuter train is one thing, but for a five-hour journey, oy... :(

    I first went to Glasgow by coach when I was a student in London. Most of the details have been thankfully wiped from my mind, but give me an overcrowded train for a few hours over a stinking coach for > 10 hours (roadworks and crash).

    Having said that, more needs to be done to try to ease overcrowding on trains. But that's not necessarily an easy thing to fix in these days of fixed formation trains ...
    What does this tell us?

    It tells us fixed formation trains are a very silly idea...
    Much as I despise Mr Branson's Pendolinos, but aren't they so long now that they wouldn't fit on the platforms if they had any more cars added.
    A few years ago Virgin purchased a further four Pendolinos and at the time added two cars to a number of sets. But they had the option to lengthen all of them to 11 cars but chose not to on the grounds of cost. So what you now have is a mixed fleet, which means when there is disruption, the fleet gets mixed up and services allocated 11 car trains get nine car trains and vice versa.
    Huh, I had thought they had all been lengthened to eleven cars. That is indeed very silly.
    There are still 21 nine-car trains. 35 eleven-car trains. One 9-car train was lost at Greyrigg.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_390


    Plus they run Voyagers under the wires all the way from London to Scotland.
    But sometimes, they run only a 5-car Voyager between Brum and London! If they run two in tandem, it's a 10-car train.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081
    Latest BBC update: range of views on length of extension, believes six months to end summer is in play as a possible compromise option. France pushing for tougher conditions. No indication when the summit will conclude.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,623

    _Anazina_ said:

    Reporting here from planet normal (I’m with the in laws). Seems to me that most nonpolitical people have now largely forgotten about Brexit and assume it’s no longer happening.

    Anecdotal, obviously,

    At my work management meeting on Tuesday we agreed to drop Brexit risks from one of the 5 biggest risks facing the business down to 20th on the grounds that it was not imminent and might never happen. Nobody dissented from that analysis.
    OK, what's the 19th biggest risk facing the business??
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    Maverick backbenchers with non mainstream views never become party leaders. Ignore.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,395

    rpjs said:

    tlg86 said:

    rpjs said:

    ydoethur said:

    viewcode said:

    I did Virgin West Coast the year the RSS conference was in Glasgow. London Euston to Glasgow Central by train. The scenery was spectacular - the Borders region is really nice - and the seat adequate, but again: overcrowding. Standing in a commuter train is one thing, but for a five-hour journey, oy... :(

    I first went to Glasgow by coach when I was a student in London. Most of the details have been thankfully wiped from my mind, but give me an overcrowded train for a few hours over a stinking coach for > 10 hours (roadworks and crash).

    Having said that, more needs to be done to try to ease overcrowding on trains. But that's not necessarily an easy thing to fix in these days of fixed formation trains ...
    What does this tell us?

    It tells us fixed formation trains are a very silly idea...
    Much as I despise Mr Branson's Pendolinos, but aren't they so long now that they wouldn't fit on the platforms if they had any more cars added.
    A few years ago Virgin purchased a further four Pendolinos and at the time added two cars to a number of sets. But they had the option to lengthen all of them to 11 cars but chose not to on the grounds of cost. So what you now have is a mixed fleet, which means when there is disruption, the fleet gets mixed up and services allocated 11 car trains get nine car trains and vice versa.
    Huh, I had thought they had all been lengthened to eleven cars. That is indeed very silly.
    There are still 21 nine-car trains. 35 eleven-car trains. One 9-car train was lost at Greyrigg.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_390


    Plus they run Voyagers under the wires all the way from London to Scotland.
    But sometimes, they run only a 5-car Voyager between Brum and London! If they run two in tandem, it's a 10-car train.
    Chiltern is the smart choice between Birmingham and London. I paid £7 one way last week - booked less than a week in advance.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,745
    Jonathan said:

    Maverick backbenchers with non mainstream views never become party leaders. Ignore.

    The sarcasm positively drips from that post...
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,395
    If the 27 grant an extension they want us to leave. If they wanted us to stay they would make us revoke on Friday.
  • MikeLMikeL Posts: 7,281
    edited April 2019

    _Anazina_ said:

    Reporting here from planet normal (I’m with the in laws). Seems to me that most nonpolitical people have now largely forgotten about Brexit and assume it’s no longer happening.

    Anecdotal, obviously,

    At my work management meeting on Tuesday we agreed to drop Brexit risks from one of the 5 biggest risks facing the business down to 20th on the grounds that it was not imminent and might never happen. Nobody dissented from that analysis.
    It's going to be interesting to see how Brexit features in the news media going forward.

    For a long time now, it's been the number 1 story on TV news almost every single day.

    But TV news editors must be conscious that people have short attention spans and will be getting bored.

    If there's a short extension then of course it'll remain prominent. But if there's a long extension I do wonder whether TV news editors are going to dramatically reduce its prominence - and if they do then to some extent it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy - less publicity = people lose interest = people move onto other things = politicians move onto other things. And it's then less of a stretch to just not bother - forget it and abandon it.
This discussion has been closed.