leicsmac

If that were the most important factor, the trend would be felt more evenly outside the cities ULEZ was implemented in, rather than apparently more tangibly in the cities it has been.

One might hope so, or at least ones that don't have the most exacting filter systems imaginable, at least.

It really is. I guess it just comes down to how and where that cynicism is applied.

In other news, the Beeb aren't folding like Trump expected to wrt the lawsuit, so now he's going on about his family being "harassed" during the usual process of discovery in the case. You know, Don, you could always simply drop it and hope the Beeb aren't minded to go after you for costs incurred.

Cynicism is the language of the Internet and almost always has been tbh. Mostly because it's easy and self-serving.

I dunno, the Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society would have worked rather well imo.

Very true. "Us". Well, I appreciate the basic honesty of purpose regarding the death and suffering of other human beings, in any case. Most people try to dress it up in some form of self-serving justification or deny it entirely ("that's not what I said" etc).

I mean, making the assumption that the cultural judgement here is true we could also leave them to stew in their own ways of horrible suffering while avidly backing foreign policy decisions that greatly enlarge that suffering because they're them, we're us and clearly they don't know any better. That's clearly another option on the table here.

A pretty obvious false attribution fallacy, to be specific.

Making a few good entertaining starts , but really not pushing on.

Wonder if a hat trick ball immediately at the start of a Test session has ever happened before...

I think that really rather depends on the individual circumstances, but point taken.

Just goes to show that when it comes to at least some environmental public health matters, perhaps it's better to proceed with policy first and ask for forgiveness (if it's needed) later.

Still doing it.

Conditions play a part too. Facing England seamers emboldened by bowling first under grey skies and with a greenish deck and I can imagine there's not many more difficult places to bat.

Ollie Robinson has some of the Broad about him in that he can go on a rampage with seemingly no warning.

You're right to not attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance (and as you infer, that's not wholly the beholders fault here either). That being said, in this case the results of both ignorance and malice on the topic are the same.

More on this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1l1r1zne1ro And yet there were and are still those who apparently believe in their personal freedom to wreck childrens lungs with their specific cars.

As much as I think this sentiment may be true, the fact that we're all still here means that it doesn't hold true universally or even often. If it was, then the lights would have gone on in 1962, or 1983, or any other similar situation in history where the Russians thought they teetered on the edge of destruction. But maybe the above is due to blind luck and one day our luck will run out. Who knows? NB. They're unfortunately not the only nuclear armed power to have that mentality, either. The Samson Option is very explicit about both its execution and its results.

I would, if it weren't in German (which, sadly, I'm only mildly proficient in). In any case, the point has been obvious for the last 70 odd years; if two nuclear armed powers go to direct war with each other, then either sooner or just a little later both lose along with everyone else. Mutually assured destruction has, and does, hold. The Russians know this as well as anyone. So, unless they are wanting the downfall of their opponents, their own nation and a lot more besides (which fits the description of insanity imo), then that is a line they will not cross.

In other news, the "Burnham bounce"(?) still having a clear effect on current polling, but there's still nearly three years until the next GE, so who knows what might happen?

Counterpoint; Putin, while a bad hombre, is not certifiably insane.

... which is still better in pretty much every conceivable outcome than being boiling hot on that matter with that man.

Unfortunately that self centred, "prosperity gospel" mentality has been with us in society for rather a long time. It did look like we were finally overcoming it (to a degree) in the last few decades, but it seems that we may be backsliding again (for several reasons).

One thing the last few years has unfortunately shown me is that there are more unrepentant sadists out there than I might have expected, and quite a few of them either have or are making a good attempt to have the levers of power to apply that sadism. Which, of course, is not great for quite a few reasons.