cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 07/10/2026That circle also contains 'people outraged by any alteration to the triple-lock'. 000
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 07/10/2026If that is above the threshold, the 40% inheritance tax will be £382,500. So the total disincentive to move is £426,250 of the £1 million in value that is unlocked. The older you are, the greater the disincentive. There will be yet more old couples in 6 bed houses and families of 5 in 3 bed flats. 000
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Yet further. If a 75 year old couple live in a house worth £2 million, and downsize to a flat worth £1 million (a) they will incur stamp duty of £43,750 on the transaction (ignoring legal fees etc.), and (b) the remaining £956,250 which could be passed tax free will be part of the taxable estate. 100
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 07/10/2026I am afraid that automatically, now, when I see "UN Special Rapporteur" my brain substitutes in "total nutter". On any issue, I would be more likely to rely on the word of a person randomly selected off the street. 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Serbia: never, ever beating the allegations. 000
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 06/10/2026The idea that multiculturalism was only "done" to working class areas is both untrue, and an attempt to cloak prejudice in class authenticity. It is a modern version of the socialism of fools. 130
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 06/10/2026The leafy suburbs of North West London are incredibly ethnically mixed due to immigration. They have very substantial populations of Jewish and South Asian (Hindu, Muslim and Sikh) and East African (Asian and Black) and West African and French and German and Polish and everything else. 220
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 05/10/2026My "France is not Greece during the Eurozone crisis" T-Shirt ... etc and so on. 020
Reposted by @cardinal1608.bsky.socialJared Wade @jaredwade.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Maturity is recognizing that Jackie Brown is Quentin's best movie 4151
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I am prone to accidentally causing members of the public to look at me like I am insane by saying "to the best of my knowledge and belief", and not meaning it as a joke. 050
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Absolutely brilliant. We now pine for the arrangement which we had and could still have, but rejected and gave up and cannot now get back, but do not want either our current situation or the arrangement we could now have. 110
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I think they are beyond the carrier bag. Your really committed vexatious litigant brings his loose papers in a bin bag. 011
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I have never understood why fans of other clubs did not support whoever was challenging City. I - an Arsenal fan - always wanted Liverpool to get the better of City. Liverpool may not be my club, but it is a real club and deserved support for that reason. 030
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 27/09/2026This isn't that surprising: London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels obviously have fewer football fields *per 1000 people* than less dense cities! 020
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 27/09/2026I am not sure this is showing something useful. It seems to just be a measure of population density (more density = fewer fields per 1000). Netherlands, Belgium and Paris region all show fewer football fields than average, and are (a) densely populated, (b) produce lots of footballers. 120
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 26/09/2026All the deals with Girona should be presumed attempts to evade the rules until proven otherwise. 030
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Most importantly, do we now have to start calling them 114 FC? 000
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 25/09/2026That has always beeen the right answer. It was blocked by a very successful NIMBY campaign then, and we have been reaping the bad outcomes ever since. 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The Roskill Commission correctly identified in 1971 that Britain should have a major airport at Cublington in Buckinghamshire (between Luton, Aylesbury and Milton Keynes), on fast road and rail routes between London and Birmingham (and, now, HS2 and Oxford-Cambridge). 120
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 25/09/2026It mught be an early indicator that (perhaps unsurprisingly) it isn't possible for the Greens to hold together a coalition of Cotswolds Tories who don't want a solar farm in their county and tankies from Haringey who want to invade Israel. 3373
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Bagpipes were a big deal in Hong Kong, the big trading houses were Scottish, and the Black Watch handed over the territory in 1997. zolimacitymag.com/scottish-hon...zolimacitymag.comScottish Hong Kong: The Uncertain Future of Hong Kong's BagpipesBagpipes have become a part of Hong Kong culture – but now their associations with British rule means their legacy is at risk 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 23/09/2026I grew up in a number of (then) present former colonies. There, both Britishness and in particular the Scottish component of Britishness were much more visible, I think because the Empire was a very "British" enterprise, and the Scots particularly active in that enterprise. 120
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Selective pressures cause all crustaceans to evolve into crabs, and the existence of Russia inexorably leads to the reconstitution of the Habsburg Empire. 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 18/09/2026The way Americans strike up conversations in bars and diners and on public transport never fails to surprise and disconcert. What is wrong with either (a) ambient fuck off vibes, or (b) nodding vaguely at the same person for a decade, but never speaking to them or finding out their name? 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 17/09/2026It is a glorious contrapasso that a man who did so much damage by his manipulation of senate procedural bullshit should spend the last days of his life being tortured by his supposed friends and allies to achieve small procedural advantages. 000
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 17/09/2026The interview with him doing the rounds was a rich, rich text. My personal highlight was the explanation of the right to protect against immigrants of "every man and his woman". Why is it (rhetorically, we all know!) that every anti-immigrant rabble rouser needs to be taken straight to family court? 050
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 16/09/2026And if thet want to FA any more, there is always demand for an extra landfill gas power plant. 000
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 16/09/2026It looks like a lovely site for a combined solar and wind, modular nuclear reactor for baseload, and BESS. The government needs to make sure that people experience way more of the "find out" phase than they do currently. 110
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Scottish people (i.e. people who live in Scotland) would understand implicitly what it means that Clan Mackay were loyalists who fought for William of Orange against the Jacobites. Katie, which of your loyalist, Orange Order ancestors bequeathed your genetic predisposition to support the SNP? 020
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 14/09/2026They would still have reaved us, but at least they wouldn't have been so pompous about the whole business. 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 14/09/202644% just wanted to be ruled by Harald Hardrada, and his manly Varangian guard Northern lads. 110
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Once you love whisky highballs you are fully prepared for Japanese salaryman drinking, which is - of course - the finest of all forms of drinking. 030
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Are you saying Presidents shouldn't encourage people to participate in democratic processes? 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Lordy, that is some truly dreadful writing. If you didn't know better, you might think it was written by someone who only became a prominent journalist by sucking up to Evgeny Lebedev, and who isn't actually very talented at all. 072
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 09/09/2026I am really surprised not to see Zubimendi. Surprised and a bit worried. 000
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 05/09/2026I am absolutely certain that Geoffrey Boycott opposes immigration to "protect our women and girls". 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Truth. I don't think that Rogers is either better than Eze or more of a left-winger - Arsenal didn't need to spend £100m plus on another left-10. Barcola clearly is both a winger and excellent, but I think Arsenal needed Bruno and Konsa and I don't think all three was affordable. 110
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 29/08/2026I have never understood why the Oktoberfest doesn't recruit in Cork. They could get staff who are prepared for the work at helix level. 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 27/08/2026And because he (and Mary, mainly her!) wrote exactly one per year, you can feel the gradual changes year by year. 4/4 110
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 27/08/2026So many similar things. As your excellent observations identify - such a rich sociological source. Because they are popular fiction, it identifies things widely enough understood for very general readership. 3/4 210
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 27/08/2026One of the early books, I recall, is specifically concerned with a scheme to evade currency controls (by smuggling horses, obvs) which were obviously driving everyone batty. 2/4 210
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 27/08/2026I did this once. I was fascinated by how much one could learn about the social and economic history of Britain. E.g. the way the early books are so shot through with the consequences of ultra-high taxes, and the efforts (honest and dishonest, by both heroes and villains) to mitigate them. 1/ 4 120
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 25/08/2026This is the absolute worst. It makes me feel deeply unwell every time I hear it. 010
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 19/08/2026I am devastated to find that this Applebee's has shut down. The players now have the choice of Barrel House Kitchen & Bar, Popeyes and Waffle House. Personally, I think if you can't perform at elite level fueled by covered hash browns and a Texas Sausage Melt, you should lose your place on the Tour. 000
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 19/08/20264/4 TL;DR: Jolyon is both a terrible person and an incompetent advocate. But then how could you be a competent advocate for your cause when you are so high on your own narcissistic supply that you cannot understand how you appear to others? 4/4 1121
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 19/08/2026As described by JM (whether or not accurately), JA is depicted knowingly to have made false claims about Lanre Bakare being biased against him so as to try and gain leverage to kill reporting by a journalist who was being scrupulously fair. 3/4 181
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 19/08/2026And - perhaps a sign of what dreadful judgement JM has - nothing has done more to make me less sympathetic to Jason Arday than Jolyon's writing. 2/4 181
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 19/08/2026I think it is worse than anything I have seen from Carter Ruck. Making insinuations of malice and bias which you refuse to particularise against a journalist to undermine reporting which you have already admitted is substantively fair is just so unpleasant and intellectually dishonest. 1/4 1123
cardinal1608.bsky.social @cardinal1608.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Fear the reverse hijack: apparently Konsa is the anti-Eze - a childhood Sp*rs fan! 110
