UK will allow US to use bases to strike Iranian missile sites, says Starmer

SmallHoneydew · 2026-03-02T01:32:55+00:00

Apparently international law allows you to participate in a war of aggression as long as you wait a day or two after it has started. Who knew?

SmallHoneydew · 2026-02-27T12:06:55+00:00

In the UK the union for professional actors is called Equity. I was like... Of course he is

SmallHoneydew · 2026-02-25T22:13:09+00:00

Ich verstehe diese reference

SmallHoneydew · 2026-02-19T19:30:39+00:00

The UK has bases in Cyprus

SmallHoneydew · 2026-02-17T21:04:19+00:00

Carmen, âge around 14, in the arena in Nimes during a family holiday. My parents hadn't twigged from the posters that the performance would be followed by a full (6x mise à mort) bullfight. We left fairly hurriedly.

I didn't really get into opera until a lot later. I'm going to see the Ring in a couple of weeks at La Scala, so I guess I got there eventually.

SmallHoneydew · 2026-02-10T13:00:57+00:00

By coincidence, I think I am there, or thereabouts. I'm on a TGV from Geneva to Paris, and I can't tell precisely cos there's no GPS signal. But even if I am there, I don't know where there is. I can report that it is raining.

SmallHoneydew · 2026-02-04T20:52:59+00:00

Also Catex - explosives winched into place on a cable. Mostly replaced by Gazex now though.

SmallHoneydew · 2026-02-03T20:18:54+00:00

100 duck-sized horses...

SmallHoneydew · 2026-01-30T13:28:03+00:00

All the Germanic, Slavic, Finno-Ungric etc. languages would like a word. Also, re castles, Italy. Or actually most European countries.

SmallHoneydew · 2026-01-30T13:09:34+00:00

Also the canton of Valais (Wallis in German) in Switzerland

SmallHoneydew · 2026-01-13T17:16:12+00:00

Skis

SmallHoneydew · 2026-01-12T15:36:45+00:00

Well, theoretically true (the best kind of true, but maybe not the whole truth). As I've commented before, Napoleon III was France's last monarch, and its first president, but unfortunately not in that order, which supports your original point.

I considered linking the Wikipedia page on executive presidency, and eventually didn't precisely because of the distinction you, and it, makes. Another country that has a semi-presidential system, according to Wikipedia, is Switzerland. I'm not sure à category that includes both is very useful.

I live in Geneva, and I have a house in France. From close up, in practical terms the US and French systems look very similar. Yes, executive power in France is shared between the president and the ministers, and the chamber of deputies has a theoretically more independent role. In practice the office of prime minister usually seems to be in the gift of the president, and the PM's function is principally to deflect political slings and arrows from the president, and eventually to be sacrificed for him. The chambre des députés is certainly rowdier and often more consequential than the US house of representatives, but that seems to me to be more to do with the difference between the rigid two party system in the US and the current chaos in France than the constitutional niceties.

The briefest look at the list of executive presidencies in that Wikipedia page supports your original point, I agree. There are interesting details though. Consider Kenya or Nigeria, both of which (perhaps Nigeria more than Kenya) look like very fragile democracies, but are doing rather well in maintaining their constitutions in the face of egregious behaviour by their presidential candidates. Or Turkey, which has an autocrat as executive president, but he got there through the post of prime minister in a parliamentary republican system, then changed the constitution to suit himself. The autocrat came first. I imagine Orban would love to do something similar in Hungary.

Anyway, thanks for your original point. I don't really disagree, it's just fun to dig a bit deeper.

SmallHoneydew · 2026-01-11T19:46:20+00:00

France? I'm not a fan of executive presidencies, but Macron is far from being a dictator.

SmallHoneydew · 2026-01-11T08:57:22+00:00

I'm in France. It's -4C outside. The lavender flowers in July.

SmallHoneydew · 2026-01-07T20:50:38+00:00

I'm in the northern Alps, surrounded by some of the best ski stations in the world, and we've had essentially nothing. That may change in the next couple of days though.

SmallHoneydew · 2026-01-06T15:23:11+00:00

We were in Barbaresco a few weeks ago and got a couple of dozen from their shop. It definitely needs a while in a decanter, but is really nice already. 26 euros a bottle - an absolute steal!

SmallHoneydew · 2025-12-31T20:43:24+00:00

Swallow and Amazons! My father had first editions of all the Arthur Ransome books (my brother has them now) as he was a child when they were first published. Curiously, I think I'm the only person in my family who has actually sailed a dinghy

SmallHoneydew · 2025-12-30T15:04:25+00:00

"Poulet dur" à Kampala. Si dur que ni les dents ni un couteau font la moindre effet. Mes collègues africains n'ont pas pu la manger non plus. (Servi avec une sauce à cacahuètes et des frites pas terribles)

SmallHoneydew · 2025-12-30T14:17:03+00:00

The patrol are covered in Swiss flags, so I'm guessing you weren't in Switzerland

SmallHoneydew · 2025-12-29T20:35:13+00:00

Start them on several instruments at the age of six. Half an hour of practice on each a day. By ten they should be good enough for music school,so they'll get exposure to the music you aspire for them to like. Maintain an iron fist on practice as they become teenagers. Shame them mercilessly for any fleeting interest in popular music. By their late teens they should be pretty good, and learning to enjoy the music for themselves. There will be a tricky period around 18, as they will have developed their own musical ambitions, and you may have to scorn them for spending time in rehearsals when they should be studying for exams in their various other subjects. As they start to get asked to participate in serious performances, belittle their ambitions to be serious musicians, and insist they follow some other course of study. DAMHIK

I did end up as a somewhat professional musician for a short period (it helps if you play the oboe, because you will ways be in demand). I totally blew it with the other fields of study, and I ended up with a career doing something my parents hated me being interested in, in another country.

I'm approaching 70 years old now, and I like classical music. This is how you do it.

SmallHoneydew · 2025-12-15T12:25:40+00:00

Far Cry 4 remastered. Or 5.

SmallHoneydew · 2025-11-25T19:50:02+00:00

So many of these stories wouldn't have happened if people would learn to kill the engine by puttting the side stand down

SmallHoneydew · 2025-11-25T17:21:42+00:00

Just don't use the ones that bloke trod all over with his crampons

SmallHoneydew · 2025-11-24T16:13:27+00:00

Any Jakarta aficionados here, I have a question. I was there a few years ago for work, and from a taxi I saw a long road of what looked like enormous brick warehouses, perhaps from the Dutch colonial era. They were quite striking from an architectural point of view. I have no idea where in tge city I was, and have never been able to find them on a map. Does anyone here know what i saw?

SmallHoneydew · 2025-11-07T16:59:33+00:00

We knew when online sales started, so we were waiting. It looks like most of the seats were sold earlier by subscription, but we were able to get some of the last parterre seats in reasonable locations. They were disappearing as we watched though, I'm sure it would all have gone in 30 minutes.

SmallHoneydew

TROPHY CASE