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@JohnRentoul Some referendums are more important than others, it seems Or just another example of a certain part of the English right seeing the Union as a possession, not a partnership

This is interesting. Not with the herd

@Groves17Diana @keyyrun0 @iocmedia @CindyNgamba @RefugeesOlympic She should be allowed to choose her favourite song

@keyyrun0 @iocmedia @CindyNgamba @RefugeesOlympic Not sure.What music would be appropriate?

With her win over Davina Michel (FRA), boxer @CindyNgamba (EOR) has just made history by guaranteeing a first-ever Olympic medal for the IOC @RefugeesOlympic Team! #Paris2024 #OlympicGames

@3YearLetterman Sounds like perfect preparation to be assistant president

The job of a good assistant football coach is to give the HEAD coach full and complete credit for all wins and championships. The assistants take the blame for the losses Tom Walsh isn’t remotely prepared to be VP if he doesn’t understand this fundamental power dynamic

@jillongovt @instituteforgov The weather and people choosing to take offence aren't exactly in their control. The bits that were seemed to go smoothly from the off - even if the opening ceremony was baffling for outsiders, the locals seemed to love it

@iamalsoabot @instituteforgov the railway sabotage... the rain drenching crowds was surely not what they wanted.... ... the farce at the football before it started.... and they have offended some of the Catholic church... "shaky" seems fair to me for the start...

Despite rain soaking the controversial opening ceremony and attempts at sabotaging the rail network, @jillongovt – freshly returned from the French capital – argues that Paris is making a success of the logistical feat of hosting the Olympic Games instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/paris-…

@timoconnorbl Wonder if Lin decided not to appeal/Khelif decided to withdraw their appeal against the IBA decision because they knew the IBA was losing its ability to determine Olympic entries around then?

@Samfr Is that subtracting the relay medals, which were won by the team, or are you giving him full credit for those?

Michael Phelps is still the 43rd most successful country at the summer olympics - when adding medals from all games together.

Our archers have discovered some form in the individual competition. Meg Havers has won two matches to go through to the last 16 of the women's competition.

@Pflax1 @winkybiker2 Well, Leon Marchand sorted that out this evening! This does tend to even out across the Games Agree generally, but you could argue that Japan have been better at turning their medal chances into wins

@iamalsoabot @winkybiker2 I think the US total medal conceit is stupid. I think saying Japan should be on top of France doesn't make a ton of sense. But that's just me. I think if winning gold was the only point, they wouldn't award silver and bronze.

I've seen all the discourse on how Olympic medal tables are screwed up. Does the IOC have a rule about this? Say 3 points for gold, 2 for silver, 1 for bronze. Seems like if it's codified like it is in some sports then the charts would be unified globally.

@Pflax1 @winkybiker2 The medal table isn't a competition. Countries are in different nos of events, not like leagues where all play the same no of games So there are 2 tables: the US one, which ranks by total medals, and the everybodyelse one, which ranks by golds, because winning gold is the point

@winkybiker2 There are rules for this shit in every sport and competition. Even if you remove a most or total medals column, what is best practices? How do you properly order countries? Is a country with one gold and nothing else lower or higher than a country with zero gold and 10 silvers?

@agirlcalledlina And they were running in the middle of the day because the e.coli levels had forced them to postpone the race from the previous morning So 90 mins of full exertion in 30+ heat; I wouldn't last long enough to throw up

@simongerman600 And did surprisingly well in the relays

The nation “Michael Phelps” is very successful.

@daraobriain Job done. Thanks, Dara, we can probably switch the Internet off now that's sorted.

A little clarification, since this is a topic that people are surprisingly passionate about: “Next Sunday” is in 6 days. Because it is the next Sunday. “This Sunday” is also in 6 days. They are the same day. So is “Sunday coming”. Same day. However, If you have already referred to Sunday coming as “this Sunday”, you may then refer to “THE next Sunday” as the following Sunday after that, but that does not make it “next Sunday” Generally though, If you want to talk about the Sunday after the next one, you should say “Sunday Week”. Hope this clarifies matters, and resolves the issue in a way that requires no further discussion.

@JohnRentoul @HenryNewman Given how often NEDs are the mates of Ministers placed on the board as a thank you for favours, its not a massive surprise tbf

The purge of Whitehall non-executive directors – @HenryNewman whitehallproject.substack.com/p/the-whitehal…

@Luiseach Wales' best game of the competition tbf

ok now I understand what you were all talking about with your Williams man, his parents have done that deliberately to specifically confuse me at that very moment there

just had a very confusing conversation with my bf where it was explained to me that someone called ‘Rodri’ played for Spain and wasn’t Welsh. my bf is a Man City fan and I have heard of this Rodri character for years, I just assumed that was ‘Rhodri’ and he was…well…Welsh

@DavidMuttering @carlgardner Think who gets appointed is a different question from how long their appointment lasts. Not all of the last 14 years' peers have been Tories

@iamalsoabot @carlgardner But give much more power to incumbent governments. If that were presently the case at 20 years we’d have a near 75% rate of appointments from the last Conservative government.

I think removing the hereditaries is a good policy—unfinished business, and the sort of sensible piecemeal constitutional reform that we should have. I don't understand the compulsory retirement age idea, though. It seems against today's non-discriminatory ethic.

@DavidMuttering @carlgardner Term limit: 15-20 years, say, would achieve much the same goal

@carlgardner I can see some logic as it reinforces the idea that being a member of the HoL is a thing that you do not a thing that you are. Judges have (much earlier) retirement ages, so why not peers.

@pseaward1 And going back 370 years takes you to the English Parliament rather than the UK one?

@iamalsoabot Well there are the cases mentioned above where it has, but you have to go back 370 years or so. And before that the data isn't always good enough to tell.

In fact you have to go back to the 1650s before you find a parliament in which more than 50% of its members had not previously sat in the House of Commons: true of the Short Parliament of April 1640 (261/486); of the Nominated Assembly of 1653 ....

@sundersays You made the semis in 1968 too

"Semi-finals have lost their rarity value", Philip notes, correctly. (1966 ... 1990 ... 1996 ... 2018 + 2021 + 2024)

@twlldun Our local candidate had a very weird photo which made him look like he was AI generated

Why on earth would they invent people, what’s the theory here, they didn’t have 500 odd people willing to stand? That’s just silly.