bovril

The really important question is when did the Roman empire end?

Founding of the US is 1776. UK 1707 or 1801, so not a massive difference. European nations are obviously older but the states themselves usually aren't. And Americans are mostly descendants of those European nations anyway, so I always think it's a bit unfair to claim they're a 'young' country.

Which is why I said UK of GB and NI which is either 1801 or 1922 depending on how you look at it. Technically as a state the US is older. Also I might be wrong but I think universal suffrage was achieved in the US before the UK

I can't resist the need here to be very pedantic and point out it's older than many states in Europe including the United Kingdom of Great Britain and (Northern) Ireland.

Not sure if I agree with this to be honest. I think personality plays a part but policy is much more influential. People ultimately vote for stuff they want.

Sure but I would've thought they'd be swayed by the potential policies, not who is leading the Democrats. Never been to the US though and know very little about its politics.

Probably being very naive and British here but when I look at the current Republican party I still don't really see why the Democrat nominee matters that much. There appears to be a pretty stark ideological divide between the two parties no matter who is actually running for president.

Picked a good moment to pop into the Marvel thread for the first time

She was like 30/1 a few months ago when I was thinking of putting a tenner on

You know more about US politics than me. However Biden has seemingly endorsed her and surely it's the easiest choice this late.

His campaign has been crap and even after heroically dodging the bullet last week, he's still barely polling ahead of a guy who is struggling to speak coherently. I think Harris will win it.

I think it's more that mainstream politicians proved themselves mostly incapable of responding to post 2008 challenges and so inevitably many people started drifting towards traditionally more extreme political positions.

Those first two... #WhenTaken #145 (21.07.2024) I scored 702/1000 🎉 1️⃣ 📍 17100 km - 🗓️ 6 yrs - ⚡ 93 / 200 2️⃣ 📍 16472 km - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 97 / 200 3️⃣ 📍 2 km - 🗓️ 4 yrs - ⚡ 196 / 200 4️⃣ 📍 1751 km - 🗓️ 1 yrs - ⚡ 154 / 200 5️⃣ 📍 680 km - 🗓️ 11 yrs - ⚡ 162 / 200 https://whentaken.com/

Just scraped over 900 #WhenTaken #144 (20.07.2024) I scored 901/1000 🎉 1️⃣ 📍 2 km - 🗓️ 12 yrs - ⚡ 179 / 200 2️⃣ 📍 264 km - 🗓️ 7 yrs - ⚡ 182 / 200 3️⃣ 📍 27.5 metres - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 198 / 200 4️⃣ 📍 198 km - 🗓️ 11 yrs - ⚡ 175 / 200 5️⃣ 📍 1117 km - 🗓️ 1 yrs - ⚡ 167 / 200 https://whentaken.com

The French reputation for unfriendliness is undeserved in my experience

re the Roma. I have spent quite a lot of time amongst them in Europe, or at least more than some I guess. I generally found them pretty sound on an individual level and certainly not as lazy as some make out, but frankly there is a tolerance in their community to what most people in Europe would consider child abuse, or at the very least neglect.

I mean in this country people jump on shit like that as quickly as they can to make a point, so I'm not sure it's the greatest example.

Yeah I'm a full on Vardy happy clapper. Only go to 3-4 home games a year now and seeing him score from an Albrighton cross in the cup was absolutely my personal highlight of last season.

Not an exaggeration to say outside my family his goals have been the constant theme in my adult life. Actually even including my close family, which has increased in number by four since he scored against Torquay.

A year married to Sophie Marceau is still better than a lifetime with a stay at home fishwife from Stoke.

Yes but more understandable. I think it's very difficult to gauge whether different decisions from the government could've lead to better outcomes. One thing I'd say is that so many European countries having such long and severe lockdowns (even schools ffs) is a failure in itself.

Per capita the death toll here was somewhere in the middle of Europe and there anyway are many factors at play other than just government decisions. I agree the first lock down was late and by that time there was probably little point locking down anyway. I actually think the handling of the pandemic from early 2021 onwards was one of the better things the Conservatives did over the last 14 years.

It wasn't.

Drive up fifteen minutes to the Norfolk side of the Waveney. Very pretty around there and superior beer!

I think bottled ale has improved massively over the last couple of decades so that it's often better than cask that's not in top condition. I've often found that with Adnams in particular.