Assuming you haven't seen this on my FB. a sort of post about idioms.

A few idioms come to mind
... in a cleft stick
... between a rock and a hard place
... between the hammer and the anvil
... between Scylla and Charybdis
... between the devil and the deep blue sea
... damned if you do, damned if you don't
What brings them to mind is the suggestion that pubs might have to charge £20 (Just over $23 at today's rate) a pint to pay their fuel bills.
If they charge sensible (or less ridiculous at least) prices they will lose money and have to close.
If they charge £20 they will have no customers and have to close.
I'll bet Boris might call it "between Scylla and Charybdis". I'd be surprised if Liz Truss understands any of these idioms. Whichever idiom you choose it seems there may be no pubs left by the time I return to England. Thank goodness, encouraged by the poor quality of Chinese beer, I gave up drinking altogether about two years ago.

Why, when B J was so awful, did another dingbat assume the role of PM? Who decides this stuff?

PS: I rather like Tsingtao, but then I have no taste.

PPS: Did you ever se the movie, "Red Sorghum?" It explains the taste of Chinese beer at one point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sorghum_(film)

This one I can answer and sit down because it's really quite shocking in what is in theory a democracy.

The population of the UK is about 66 million.
Of those about 46 million are eligible to vote.
Of those about 170,000 are registered members of the the Tory party and only those are able to vote on choosing a party leader.
Of those only about 140,000 actually voted.
Of those only 81,000 voted for Liz Truss.

So the short answer to your question is that less than a quarter of one per cent of the country's electorate chose the new leader and a new leader chosen mid term is de facto Prime Minister without 99.75 % of the electorate having any say at all in the matter. Teresa May and Boris Johnson both came to power this way too though thanks to his amazing capacity for lying Johnson did actually subsequently win an election.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
I rather like Tsingtao, but then I have no taste.

Neither does Tsingtao.

(In the interests of accuracy I believe the export product is not the same as the locally sold product which is only 3.2 % and tastes like slightly sour water.)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

quote:

Originally posted by BobHale:
Of those only 81,000 voted for Liz Truss

”Majority Rule" by Piet Hein

His party was the Brotherhood of Brothers,
And there were more of them than of the others.
That is, they constituted that minority,
Which formed the greater part of the majority.
Within the party, he was of the faction,
That was supported by the greater fraction.
And in each group, within each group, he sought
The group that could command the most support.
The final group had finally elected,
A triumvirate whom they all respected.
Now of these three, two had the final word,
Because the two could overrule the third.
One of these two was relatively weak,
So one alone stood at the final peak.
He was: THE GREATER NUMBER of the pair
Which formed the most part of the three that were
Elected by the most of those whose boast
It was to represent the most of most
Of most of most of the entire state -
Or of the most of it at any rate.
He never gave himself a moment's slumber
But sought the welfare of the greatest number.
And all the people, everywhere they went,
Knew to their cost exactly what it meant
To be dictated to by the majority.
But that meant nothing, - they were the minority.

Sums it up pretty well.

Under the term system in the UK she doesn't HAVE to hold an election until 24 January 2025 though if she thinks conditions are favourable for a win she can call one at any time before then. That's how Boris won by constantly feeding scare stories about an opposition that was already weak with an unpopular leader (Jeremy Corbin) and choosing the moment when they were at an all time low in the polls. (And by lying about everything but with Boris saying he was lying is like saying he was breathing.)

Where did you come across that poem? It's not one that I have seen before.