Big J

Totally agree, but didn't we hear enough from so called experts in the run up to the Brexit referendum? I think it was in the news this week that the OBR stated that Brexit has caused a 15% reduction in export activity. Damn those experts - why didn't they warn us of this? Oh wait.....

To explain what I believe a cynical take on a rational position, I'll make a series of statements. Let me know if you disagree with any of them: The US political system is disfunctional, corrupt and anti-democratic It's also corrupted by undue and ridiculous religious influence Despite the clear and obvious differences between the candidates, there will be a continuation of the status quo (to a greater or lesser degree). Trump is an awful human being, by any measure. Harris is not an awful human being. I am not saying that this is how I feel. I believe that a Trump presidency presents a clear and obvious danger to the world, but I'm making the above list from a deeply cynical standpoint. Trump is awful. Harris is not. Any idiot can see that.

You don't really understand how the weather works, do you? Wonderful how you bring in some conspiracy theory into climate science too. Marvellous.

Human caused climate change? It's irrefutable. I have a good friend in Devon who is a deputy chief forecaster at the Metoffice. Sometimes he's the acting chief, depending on shift patterns. I chat to him a lot about climate and weather and the rate at which the climate is changing is horrifying. It's not gradual or something that's tied to any natural process. It's rapid, it's accelerating and it's something that's self evident even over our lifetimes. For reference, the last time that the world had the same CO2 levels as are found today (3 million years ago), it was 2-3c warmer than it is today. There is a lot of scope for it to get a lot warmer. With the advancing and accelerating melting of the ice caps, global sea rises will cause vast issues for tens of millions of people in low lying regions, resulting in mass migration. Similarly, advancing desertificiation in regions experiencing increasing temperatures and reduced rainfall will result in tens of millions of refugees. I would have thought that it would serve the white nationalist agenda of people like Trump to try to do all that is possible to keep the darkies in their own countries 😄 🤪

The UK system of first past the post is also a poor representation of democracy, but it's positively wonderful compared to the UK electoral college system. At least in the UK, Labour got the most votes and formed a government. In the US, it's perfectly possible to lose the popular vote (by millions) and still win the electoral college. As regards Biden's cognitive decline - yes, it's definitely happened and I think it happened quite quickly. I think that there was a culture of denialism within the Dems about that and they should have been more forthright and much sooner. I'm not defending that. But I'd far rather see a good man suffering the ill-effects of old age in the White House than a narcisistic scumbag with dementia. As regards how Trump is a fascist? John Kelly, Trumps former chief of staff has stated, on the record that he meets all the criteria of a fascist. His statement has been backed by 13 former Trump officials. It is noteable that virtually no one from Trump's former administration is backing him, and many have spoken out against him. I don't like the state of US politics at all. I don't especially like Harris and I wish the situation were different. The best politicians in US politics don't make it to the top due to the sheer weight of corporate interest in the system (Bernie Sanders being a case in point - a top bloke). The situation with next month's election cannot be overstated. If Trump is elected, there will be long lasted and catastrophic consequences for the world. People like to say that the previous four years weren't so bad but what they don't realise is that he never expected to win in 2016, and as such, he had no time to pick toadies and yes men to enact his will. During 2017-2021, most of his administration acted as a buffer, a restraint, a check on his impulses and desires. There were management strategies in place in the White House to distract and divert his attention away from his more extreme whims. In 2025, none of that would exist. The whole Project 2025 document outlines exactly how they'd dismantle the federal state, replacing apolitical positions with Trump loyalists. It's f**king frightening, and directly out of Hitler's (who Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for) playbook.

I do agree that the Dems have a habit of picking candidates who are suboptimal. I would have liked to have seen Pete Buttigieg, but there are too many people in the US who wouldn't elect a gay guy. And whilst I'm no huge fan of Harris, compared to the alternative, she's the obvious choice. The entire American political system is totally f**ked. It is completely dominated by money and inevitably doesn't serve the people. The electoral college system is anti-democratic and the country is so starkly divided along party lines that the notion of it being a United States of America is laughable. I read recently that congressmen/women spend fully 50% of their time fund raising. It's insane.

It's a depressing indictment of the state of the US that the election is on a knife edge between a former prosecutor/long time public servant and someone who is: A convicted felon, with many, many more court cases to come A fascist In cognitive decline Has no interest in serving anyone but himself Is genuinely the worst person that I can think of who has ever stained public life If he wins, I will incredible pity for the more than 50% of Americans who didn't vote for him. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in a country where Trump is the head of state. What a gigantic, unforgivable skidmark of a human being. Completely unrelated - why doesn't America have more talented would-be assassins?

Unusually warm here today at 16c. Quite grey, but it isn't usually this warm here in late October. Still decent chanterelle picking to be had too. My wife and I got over a kilo this morning.

I take your point, and I am much the same. Spent my childhood outside, fishing, cycling, climbing trees and such like. I'm not saying that it's impossible to be outside in all weathers in the UK, only that it's not very pleasant. And then when you're on a forestry job, a night of heavy rain is the difference between the work being a breeze or a total nightmare. Similar for many outdoor trades. But 4 years of forestry in Devon scarred me. It was really good fun when the weather went our way, but more often than not, it coincided with summer when all the lardy-da's wanted a complete stop because of nesting pigeons or other such nonsense. The weather still obviously affects things here as well, but really very rarely. Given that I largely work indoors now, my primary interaction with the outdoors is through cycling, and it's very rarely the kind of weather that makes you rethink whether to go out or not. Whereas I was in the UK for two weeks at Easter and it rained solidly for ten days, including two named storms. I fully realise that moaning about the weather is pointless. I should try to be more positive about it, so I will say that I greatly appreciate that we have defined seasons here, that it rarely rains, that it's often very sunny and that the sandy soil means that even if it does rain, it's not muddy

Haha! You have my sympathies. Very much the same issues there, albeit at least (I assume) that it's not filled with people who have retired there from London and who object to any kind of rural work!

Maybe, but it's a bit like growing up in a cage and thinking that's normal too. It's just objectively miserable. You don't quite realise how much it negatively affects your life until you get away from it. Being able to plan an outdoor activity without having to worry about rain and wind, or covering everything you own in mud. I know that I'm negative as f**k about the West Country, but it left a deep and lasting impression on me, and it wasn't a good one.

My four years there was a real eye opener. You think the weather is bad in Scotland, but just west of Edinburgh (where we lived for 13 years) it's a lot less severe than the SW. Summer was never guaranteed in Scotland though. You'd get to September sometimes and realise that you'd only had a handful of days over 20c. I swim outdoors a lot and recall one year where the lake temperatures didn't exceed 15c. We had 24c here this year at the end of May! Everyone lives for the summer in Devon. Those hot, balmy days that you invariably get where the county looks lush and everyone is happy. You then just spend the remaining 9 months of the year in wellies washing mud out of every orifice, counting the days until the rain stops, the wind settles down and being outside isn't some form of purgatory! 😄 I was out with the missus this afternoon on the gravel bikes. Had this lake to ourselves, and again saw a white tailed eagle. Saw one car in 1.5hrs.

There is so much forest here and so few people, I don't think it really matters about the guts. Additionally, there are large predators here that can deal with them - lynx, occasionally wolves, eagles etc. I don't miss working in the forest at all. I have been cycling 10-15hrs a week since moving here, so I see a lot of the forest and not having to make a living off it is a lot less stressful. I love working at the sawmill, but unfortunately they are having a raw materials issue (not enough timber in) so I am currently home (as of Tuesday). It seems that the timber industry is almost as unstable here as the UK. But it's not a big issue - I am a jack of all trades (master of none!) so I have other irons in the fire. I did do a day felling and stacking small trees on Tuesday and despite being quite ridiculously fit at the moment (aged 40, and fitter than I've ever been), it still bloody hurt the day after. It's amazing how specific forestry fitness is. I've been working physically at the sawmill for 1.5 years now, I train weights, cycle more than anyone reasonably needs to do and 4.5hrs of swinging around a 346xp and I feel like a newbie again! 😄

Within a month I'd expect. Autumn really has been bloody beautiful this year. Incredible colours and apart from a few isolated days with heavy rain, very sunny indeed. I was out this afternoon on the bike with a friend on the gravel roads. Saw three white tailed eagles (I've only seen three in total up to now, so to see them all together today was stunning). My friend reckoned that they were loitering because of the remains of a moose. The hunting season has started now, and the hunters tend to leave the entrails in the forest. Hence the eagles and also a lot of ravens. When I initially saw them, it was a pair flying along the track ahead of us. Their wingspan is close to 8ft, so almost as wide as the road. The photo is from the area where the eagles were, but my crappy camera didn't get a great photo of them.

I keep a close eye on the weather there through my friend's website/weather station. He's a deputy chief forecaster at the MetOffice, so the data is detailed. Starlings Roost Weather STARLINGSROOST.DDNS.NET It wasn't far into September before I concluded that I was incredibly grateful that I no longer to have to work in forestry in Devon this winter. When the rain hits that early, you're basically screwed for the next 6 months. We have had a lot of rain here in the last week (about 70mm), which is quite unusual. The soil is sandy though, so it disappears almost immediately. I was out for a 101km gravel cycle ride yesterday (almost entirely on gravel and dirt roads) and the bike is hardly mucky. A friend at work watches a lot of English football and he often remarks that it never seems to stop raining. The climate in the west of the UK is certainly not extreme like many parts of the world, but it is probably one of the most miserable in Europe. For context, in September here was 2.5c warmer than Cullompton (in Devon), had 35% of the rainfall and was 3 times sunnier. Photo is from a bike ride 10 days ago locally. We've had days with heavy rain, but the sunny days in between have outnumbered them and have been glorious.