Ohio?

I've had skyline when I was over there, it's decent! Like spicy bolognese.

I'm originally from the Manchester area, (Bedford)

Yeah, that phrase confused me a lot as an Englishman.

The Magic Roundabout, and it's cousin in Hemel Hempstead, are best treated as if you've come up to one little roundabout that exits almost immediately onto another.

This just happens several times over, but you only need concern yourself with one at a time.

I think the problem with that one is the off-centered middle, lack of funneling Island and lack of road markings. In a country where people aren't familiar with them, those things are especially important.

It's maddening, isn't it?

Like, I kind of get why on a micro-scale some people might want a break on immigration, like Shirebrook in Derbyshire had a massive population influx of Eastern European workers, radically changing the character and nature of the town. If you were a local resident and suddenly your kid couldn't get a school place, or you couldn't get a job or a house to rent, I would maybe understand why you might see immigration as a negative.

But outside of that narrow set of personal circumstances, it's just bonkers.

So far you've got to 2 of 2, are you from the future?

Less effective, yes.

Lovely threaded ball through to Doherty there.

Not exactly our finest hour.

Yes and no. There is the time limited nature of it to skew it towards regular savers rather than a single aid to millionaires.

There's ways of doing that still. For example, here in the UK, you can save up to £20,000 a year (up from £10k when the scheme started in 1999) in an Individual Savings Account, or ISA. These savings can be split across cash savings or stocks & shares, or two other specialist similar products. The key feature is that once the money is paid into the ISA system, any withdrawals, interest, gains or dividends etc are free of all taxes. Once money is in, you can also move it between the different types maintain tax-exempt status.

Any investment outside of thay system is taxable, so those living off dividends etc. from massive investments still pay tax.

I would personally argue the annual allowance increase has turned it from a good individual saving scheme to a method to help the wealthy shelter their wealth over time, but overall it's a system that works well and is straightforward.

(This explanation is simplified, before anyone jumps on me for not going into the long grass on LISAs, JISAs, the old PEP system or flexible ISAs.)

I know you mean cons in general, but I'm laughing at how implausible the mental image I now have of basically any Conservative voter I know ordering nachos is.

Eventually people get fed up of Tories bumbling from fuck-up to fuck-up, and Labour from in-fighting drama to in-fighting drama. Once the Lib Dems evidentally where able to win something (Chesham and Amersham by-election), I guess some people have thought they might be worth voting for again.

FPTP is garbage. I thought it was garbage before I could vote and now I've been voting for well over a decade and living in various parts of the country (and other countries), I think it's even more garbage.

Discrimination against Brits and Aussies. ☹️

How can there be world hunger when I just had chili nachos for lunch?

I'm a Brit, so not exactly a benchmark for accurate knowledge of Ireland, but I've always known it as roughly "Don-E-gall".

If I can get that close without even asking, I'd have hoped proudly "Irish" Americans would get it more or less right.

What is Qatar trying to do at this point? Buy a team in every major league in Europe?

Yep, apparently so.

Reputation laundering, and potentially a good way of diversifying assets away from hydrocarbons but still being high-status.

Yes officer, this comment here.

In instinct is to recoil, but I think I kind of get it?

Red sugar gloop.

I mean, let people eat what they want, but I absolutely judge people who have ketchup with everything.

Pasta? Ketchup. Curry? Ketchup. Roast dinner? Ketchup.

It's like they're having different textures to go with their ketchup (and yes I absolutely have a couple of former housemates in mind...)

Agree about the sausage rolls, but their sausage, beam and cheese slices are nice (in the same way, other fast food is nice, but not top quality).

Wait, people don't do that already?

I thought it was basically universal, like salt and vinegar on chip shop-chips?

Under FPTP unless you live in a marginal constituency, voting for the incumbent, voting for the closest second, voting for another party, spoiling the ballot and not voting at all are all de facto the same option.

FPTP disenfranchises people, but people aren't prepared to admit it.

I'm surprised by Bangladesh, and several areas of North Eastern India which borders much of it, are extremely Christian. Nagaland, Mizoram have Meghalaya have outright Christian majorities, and Manipur had a Christian plurality. I'd have thought that would have "bled" across the border somewhat.