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I'll write some guff about how i've been thinking about recording lately - or maybe that's best posted on the production thread (although what I do hardly seems to qualify and seems a better fit here tbh).

I've really enjoyed these posts and I'm really enjoying the new Elvers too. I've also really admired your approach to production - you're much more about capturing the cool stuff as much as possible, whereas my tradition comes from the old rock way of double tracking everything, approaching it more as a construction. I've tried to take more of your approach for my acoustic stuff, because I think that's where it works best - we have traditions in music and we should either deliberately respect them or deliberately fuck with them, but we should imo always do either one deliberately.

I'd love to see you guys at one of the folk nights at the Rose and Crown in Walthamstow if you ever fancied it - people go there specifically for the tunes, so it avoids a lot of the awkwardness, which I also hate.

The last gig I did was at a crusty bar in South London and I could hear the table in front of me's conversation more than I could hear my songs. So do you chuck a rock star fit and tell them to shut the fuck up? Can't do that. But do you soldier on when no-one can hear shit? Bit undignified at nearly 50. I'm just past that I think - I might do another Barrack Room Ballads record (I had the whole thing ready to go last year but my dad died and I found myself completely bereft of anything to say that wasn't grief) but I'm not sure I ever want to play those songs live.

But I've started picking a guitar up again recently and I realised I'm like you. I like making music - outside my wife and my family and my dog, it's the only thing that gives my life proper weight and texture. And I like the camaraderie of being in a band. I like the ritual of meeting up on a Saturday and going out for a beer afterward. I like making stuff. I even like the gigging, as long as the table at the front isn't louder than I am.

Tbh I would've preferred to see Blair expend his political capital on bringing our utilities back into public hands, or legalising assisted suicide, or sorting out social / end of life care, that kind of thing - stuff that helps people longer term. That's even more important now. A democratic refresh is important but for Starmer to prioritise it now would feel like fiddling while London is burning, unless they're simultaneously doing an AWFUL lot to help normal people as well.

I do like PR but it does favour far right populist parties - if we had PR in 2015, UKIP would've been the third largest party with 86 seats. If the tories in coalition with the Lib Dems was bad, imagine what Cameron would've done with Farage in his earhole. Yeuch.

no other left of centre party in any advanced economy had 13 years of continuous power in order to transform our society forever

To be fair, in a parliamentary democracy no parliament can ever make laws which constrain a subsequent parliament. By definition no change can be forever.

But I agree he had more latitude to make more positive change than most PMs and he didn't take the opportunity to build anything as legacy-orientated as the NHS or what have you.

I took your advice and re-started - it made a big difference, the story makes a little more sense now, and I understand how to balance out the party. I think part of what I found difficult was that my Tav build was basically the same as Astarion and there was quite a bit of redundancy. It's a lot easier now and I've got a lot further. I still find the combat wheels awkward but I'm getting the hang of it. Thanks for the advice!

Yeah I think this is exactly it - I was playing on PS5 and those character wheels are awkward to get to on stick. I imagine on keyboard it'd reward exploration.

I really love the story and the acting though. I reckon I might give it another bash today.

Yeah I don't think it was the turn based combat, which I quite like, so much as the complexity - there were too many different attack / defense options there were for each character, many unique, and how clunky the interface felt to get to them. Then combined with the fact that your characters can move or not move and I'm not clear if or how it helps. I don't feel I add much value to the combat, I'd prefer it if it just did the combat automatically.

Totally get it. I bought Baldur's Gate and loved the story but found the combat so clunky I put it down and didn't come back to it. I'm going to need to go back to it just so I don't feel like I've wasted £60.

Ha same. Gotta say the Playstation version is much more engaging (for me at least) than the various versions I have on mobile devices - it really encourages you to learn the stages to the level of perfection, which feels very on brand for R Type, and unlocking the ships is incredibly fun.

I'm probably a little late on this but I've been rinsing the hell out of R Type Final 2 recently. It's not perfect but it was such a huge part of my childhood and I'm so happy I get to deep dive on it. I've unlocked 100 of 101 ships, and I've no idea how to get the last one.

genuine question - would be interested in what these are that aren't just vibes

https://www.publicfirst.co.uk/labour-policies.html

Though this doesn't include the worker protections which are covered in more detail on the main Labour website.

do you think this is all smart politics and Starmer will unveil some progressive policies when he's in power?

I think he already has, and people who can't tell the difference between Starmer's Labour and Sunak's Tories need their heads (or, at least, their media sources) examined.

I get that he's playing it safe, and that's frustrating. I'd prefer him to be braver too. But I also get why - he's like a man carrying a ming vase across a slippery floor. And ultimately getting into government is the number one priority of an opposition party - everything else is secondary.

The gap between left and right is not as large as I might want - but millions of people live and die in that gap.

Saying nothing is suspect, yes, but does not provide evidence of actively backing a state committing war crimes.

Milne and Murray's pro-Russian (or anti-west, if you prefer) tendencies are a matter of public record.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2018/04/if-jeremy-corbyn-opposes-intervention-syria-he-should-have-more-say-about-russia
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/07/syria-intervention-escalate-killing
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/sep/12/highereducation.historyandhistoryofart
https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2019-03-20/stalinists-under-siege

OJ is not stupid, nor is he callous - he didn't actively back Russia's war crimes in Syria. He wasn't part of that Milne/Murray/Stop The War aligned left denying the chemical attacks in Douma, referring to the Syrian rebels as 'terrorists' and backing up the Kremlin line. But those in charge of his Labour faction were, and did. And he knew this.

I'm not saying he approved of it. I'm sure he didn't. But he didn't say a fucking word about it, and he certainly didn't tear up his Labour membership card. He just kept cashing the cheques.

“Man in democracy stops voting for party I like” is no reason for comments like that.

That's true. But Owen Jones' astonishing hypocrisy on this issue would certainly be a justification imo.

It's great that OJ is so pissed off about the bombings in Israel. Rightous fury. But when Andrew Murray and Seamus Milne were in charge of the Labour Party, and defended/minimised/denied Russia's war crimes in Syria, chemical attacks, indiscriminate bombings, easily the equal of what's happening in Israel - he didn't say a fucking word. Why? Because his ideological allies didn't want him to.

I've no problem with anyone not voting for anyone - no party owes them a vote. But for OJ to pose as though this is some kind of unique moral principle being breached by Starmer is hypocrisy and it's bullshit and he can fuck all the way off.

I really liked my Hot Rod Deluxe. Not the hippest amp, quite vanilla, but it's great as a big clean amp platform. Loves pedals.

Thanks for the tag @tonylast. @Howard also really good on this stuff.

I've never gone full freehold purchase, where you take over the freehold AND the management of the building, and you upgrade each lease so each gets a share of the freehold, but I have done the Right To Manage where you take over management of the building, but you still pay your ground rent etc to a third party freeholder. It's cheaper and easier and for us it was enough to stop the nonsense major works and spiralling service charges etc.

If you want to connect me to your friend I'm happy to share my experience and resources.

I moved to a freehold property last year and I can't believe the difference it's made. Haven't thought about leasehold in months.

senior Labour staff members have been complicit in the bullying of Dianne Abbott including using racist tropes to describe her so it's a bit galling for them to use her experiences as a basis to fundraise

Would be a fair point if any of those members still worked for the party but Corbyn had successfully ejected them by 2019.

Gotta say I've got a real soft spot for those Tag Heuer SEL watches with the bulbous links like that. If I ever see one in the wild for cheaps I am grabbing it - pure 90s retro cool, nothing like that will ever be made again. It's the opposite of 2020s good taste and I am here for it.

Has anyone had any experience of getting a builder in to install a decking project?

I've got a crazy paved patio in our back garden, about 5m x 3m, which looks ugly as hell, and slopes away from the house and down to the grass via a shambles of loose breeze blocks and concrete semi circles. I'd like to replace the whole thing with decking, with a proper staircase down to the garden, and ideally a frame for putting up a pergola / gazebo.

It looks like a huge project and while I like woodwork, I'm not sure I've got the skill to achieve it. Is it worth getting someone in? Anyone have any ideas of cost in That London?

you're right! Completely missed that. i'll edit.

Well (and this goes to @hurricane_run's point too) in the UK our leaders since Cameron have focussed on making things worse for ideological enemies - 'benefit scroungers', immigrants, asylum seekers, the EU, people on long term sick, remoaners, metropolitan liberal elites, the national trust, etc.

What these kinds of politicians offer is not a positive offer: "we will make your life better". It's it's a negative offer: "we will punish the people you don't like". For leaders like Trump and Johnson, that comes with a side order of 'especially if you let me get away with pursuing my own grim personal agenda in the meantime' but that's not a necessary component.

But the key bit is that because we were so early doors on a lot of this right wing flood the zone culture war shit, I think we've collectively begun to realise that while it might be an entertaining diversion to have a two minute hate when you're comfortable, it's scant consolation when you can't get a doctors appointment, your kids can't afford their mortgage if they're lucky enough to have one, and your elderly parents are dying in a drafty NHS corridor. I wonder if the US would be considering giving Trump another term if he'd managed to win another one the first time and presided over the kind of recession we've ended up with.

I wouldn't say we'd woken up and smelt the coffee. But there does seem to be a bit of a feeling in the air that the people who spearheaded this kind of stuff and seemed to have some momentum a few years ago, don't really anymore. They have a hardcore following that's getting harder, but it's also shrinking - there's no novelty in it, it's just Reform supporting swivel eyed pub bores who'll never be satisfied with any concession.

Shame we had to leave the EU to realise it tho.

Is that really the case or is the Rishi fella just really good at losing?

I think it's both, but I'd always rather a lucky general than a good one. Theresa May wasn't exactly setting the world on fire with her charisma and ability but we still managed to trail her for most of her premiership.

I think the real thing that's changed is that we as a society have undergone a shift. We've realised, for the most part, that political parties based on the idea of making things worse for people we don't like improve our lives much less than parties based on the idea of making things better for everyone. It's one of those epochal shifts.

I was there in 1997, first election I could vote in. The country feels the same. We're sick of it. We may not be excited about Starmer the way some of us were about Blair, but we are actively scared of / hostile to Sunak and his pals, and as a country we are just tired and bored and exhausted by it.

Tories suffer two by-election defeats with big swings to Labour

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-68277176

I mean, go for it. I'm not remotely defensive about any of this stuff - I've always tried to avoid defending stuff in an ideological ally that I wouldn't tolerate in an enemy. I won't say I always get it right but at least I try.

No. It's a pre-emptive strike at the Centrist-dads before they start justifying Starmer's reaction from a realpolitik pov.

I don't think we would, would we? I think some things should be beyond realpolitik and (justifying, excusing, turning a blind eye to) bigotry is one of them. But even from a realpolitik perspective, Starmer's made a complete hash of this - he should've removed the whip from Ali within 24 hours, not wasted days defending him. He's damaged his own reputation on antisemitism and allowed the conversation to resurface when it had been more or less put to bed.

Equivocation on antisemitism is equally vile irrespective of whether it's Starmer or Corbyn doing it. Say what you like about us centrist dads, we do at least try to work from a position of principle.

Once the candidate is selected by the CLP (and there are loads of ways for a leader to influence which option get put in front of a CLP) there's not much Starmer can do about it apart from remove the whip, tell everyone that he no longer represents Labour, and stop campaigning for him. It was obvious that this needed to happen 36 hours ago and the sorry sight of Labour reps going out to bat for the guy over the last 48 hours was utterly awful.

I don't actually think the benefit of the doubt extended to this guy is due to factionalism. I think Galloway is a bigger factor here than factionalism. But god knows I can't blame anyone on the left of the party who sees it that way - it would be entirely reasonable to do so. What a mess.