Envoirment

Sad to see Peppermint gone :( Although pleasantly surprised to see Darienne back! Honeslty I don't see Bosco or Aja dominating. You have quite a lot of queens who will be good at specific challenges that will likely win over them both - Acid Betty in design challenges, Denali/Coco in dance/performance challenges and Darienne in comedy challenges. Plus you have queens like Olivia Lux who did really well on their season and could easily dominate if they've had a good glow up! Not to mention some potential dark horses in Irene & Aiden as I can see both doing better than people expect! Aiden's had a particularly great glow up since season 12 and could see them having some incredible runways (their original runways in season 12 they made themselves with limited funds, their S12 finale look was great and I hope we can expect more of that!). Not to say I don't see Bosco or Aja getting some challenge wins - this could actually be a very even playing field amongst the queens if the challenges are well balanced! Whilst I would love to see Darienne win, I think that's very unlikely!

Hope that means we'll get a music video for the song soon! Love it, one of my favourite songs of the album. :wub:

I agree/disagree. I do agree that not all spending is created equal. And so many people/the media missing the distinction is what has caused HS2 to become what it has... A project which will not reap the maximum long term benefits. I'm hopeful that Labour will adopt some of the policies that the likes of the Lib Dems and Greens have put forward, particularly those that appear popular with the public and shouldn't be too difficult to implement (wealth tax being 1). Although I think the main issue is that in order for Labour to get public services back to funding levels seen pre-austerity, they will need to spend quite a vast amount of money. I believe preventing more cuts and starting to increase funding gradually during their term would be the financially better thing to do. So that they can start to improve services, grow the economy and set themselves up for a better 2nd term. I'm hoping the NHS will see the yearly budget increases back to pre-tory levels. One thing I think will benefit from Labour are infrastructure projects. The large housebuilding goal, if they do indeed manage to only complete 75% of it, will be huge. With a Labour government I believe Sadiq Khan and TFL will have much easier time than they have had previously so that projects like the Bakerloo extension and Crossrail 2 will hopefully proceed/be in progress by the end of the decade. And that they then do a proper "leveling up" of the north that the conservatives failed on with better transport links between northern cities to mirror at least a fraction of the investment the southeast gets. Also more focus on East to West connections. I'm personally feeling a little optimistic about labour, particularly if they the Lib Dems in opposition. I disagree that labour will be "essentially the same" as the tory government of the last 14 years considering all that has happened. One of the things I like about the Labour manifesto is the setting up of a Ethics and Integrity Commission in regards to the house of commons to reduce corruption and ensure MPs are serving their constituents with stricter rules around second jobs for MPs. Perhaps I'm being too optomistic and will be let down, but I can see 5 years of labour improving various things that the conservatives have ruined/destroyed.

Because, aside from the Attlee government, all of those labour governments inherited economies with debt to GDP ratios of less than 50% - plenty of room for them to borrow and spend in order to better people's lives. Whereas currently labour will inherit the worst debt to gdp ratio since the second world war. And unlike the 1950s where a number of factors aligned to have the debt to gdp ratio fall quite quickly, that isn't something that any government will be able to do via spending currently. Additionally, last year the UK government paid over £100 billion on interest of the government debt, ~4.4% of GDP which is a record. The unfortunate reality is that unless you want to pull a Liz Truss and scare the financial markets, Labour don't have much choice but to keep spending fairly restrictive. I believe they will be able to commit to spending more once the economy grows some more and the debt to gdp ratio decreases. Likely their second term will be more transformative than their first. I think for the moment it's a case of trying to better people's lives without spending too much in their first term and then hopefully people will feel the benefit from this to vote them in for another term. Although they could adopt policies similar to the greens to create a small wealth tax to raise additional money for spending.

Amazon 1. Eminem - "Houdini" (+34) 2. Sabrina Carpenter - "Please Please Please" 3. Hozier - "Too Sweet" 4. Shaboozey - "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" (+134) 5. Billie Eilish - "LUNCH" 6. Myles Smith - "Stargazing" 7. Benson Boone - "Beautiful Things" (+52) 8. Central Cee & Lil Baby - "BAND4BAND" (+102) 9. Sabrina Carpenter - "Espresso" (+141) 10. Billie Eilish - "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" 11. Billie Eilish - "CHIHIRO" 17. Shaboozey - "My Fault (feat. Noah Cyrus)" 19. Benson Boone - "Slow It Down" 22. Taylor Swift - "Cruel Summer" 28. Chappell Roan - "Good Luck, Babe!" 29. Billie Eilish - "WILDFLOWER" 30. Zack Bryan "Pink Skies" 37. Orville Peck, Kylie Minogue & Diplo - "Midnight Ride" 38. Jason Derulo, Cheat Codes, De La Ghetto & Galantis - "Morning" 40. twenty one pilots - "The Craving" 41. Taylor Swift - "...Ready For It?" 50. Marshmellow & Kane Brown - "Miles On It" 53. Fred again.. & Anderson .Paak - "places to be" 57. Billie Eilish - "L'AMOUR DE MA VIE" 60. Bebe Rexha - "Chase It (Mmm Da Da Da)" 68. RAYE - "Genesis" 73. Teddy Swims - "The Door" 74. Billie Eilish - "BLUE" 76. Alex Warren - "Carry You Home" 79. Chris Stapleton, Dua Lipa - "Think I’m In Love With You" 86. Billie Eilish - "THE GREATEST" 92. Forest Blakk - "The Anchor & The Kite" 98. Luke Combs - "The Man He Sees in Me" 99. GloRilla – Wanna Be (Remix) (feat. Megan Thee Stallion & Cardi B) 100. Dua Lipa - Illusion (Regard Remix - Amazon Music Original) 111. Perrie - "Forget About Us" 113. Taylor Swift - "Lover" 120. Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seeds - "Three Lions (Football's Coming Home)" 121. Ella Henderson & Switch Disco & Alok - "Under The Sun (With Alok)" 130. AURORA - "To Be Alright" 167. P!nk - "When I Get There" 173. Billie Eilish - "SKINNY" 188. Charli xcx - "Everything is romantic" 205. Doja Cat - "Shutcho (feat. The Joy)" 214. Alicia Keys - "Best Of Me (Unlocked)" 216. Billie Eilish - "L'AMOUR DE MA VIE 228. Charli xcx - "So I" 235. Chappell Roan - "HOT TO GO!" 260. Billie Eilish - "THE DINER" 298. Mariah Carey - "Portrait (Hopeful Child Remix [from Audible Words + Music])" (16 minutes long!)

Really impressed with Labour's manifesto. Quite balanced with a lot of policies which should help improve the lives of many people across the UK. I can see Labour staying in power if they implement their manifesto well, even if it's only ~50% of it by the end of their term in government. Really like a number of policies from the Lib Dems and Greens as well. Hoping we'll get a Labour government with a Lib Dem opposition and the greens getting their 2nd MP.

:lol: If reforms' current polling numbers continue into the actual election and a decent amount of people vote tactically for Lib dems/Labour, we could see the conservatives quite easily below 100 seats...!

I think autoplay. I've had "Talk Talk" pop up for me the last day or so. Really like it so have added to my general playlist too!

Spotify has been growing quite a lot the last year or so, in part due to their aggressive marketing. This is for Q1 2024: Spotify’s total number of Monthly Active Users, which combine paying users and ad-supported users, grew 19% YoY to 615 million. That was up 13 million MAUs from the 602 million reported for the prior quarter (Q4 2023) https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spot...arterly-profit/ That's globally, but it would translate quite well to the UK numbers. I also think there's a lot more big releases/excitement around new music this year than last which is why so many songs are doing big numbers.

OMG!!! Peppermint finally here to have the Season 9 top 4 all winners!!! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: Honestly I think that's a really strong cast. Even Irene - she had so much potential/amazing outfits to show for her original season. I think she'll do really well on All Stars. Really interested to see Acid Betty back as well. I can just tell the runways for the season are going to be top notch *_*

:lol: I was thinking the same thing. So happy for Plastique though! And the DRAMA when Roxxxy turned around and it was Angeria. :lol: Thought the episode was decent, but it just doesn't really feel at a level like previous All Stars? Half the cast just feel like they're coasting/doing the same on what they did on their original seasons without much of a glow up. Although it's for charity so there's that too I guess!

I wonder how high she will go. She has 3 says in Wembley on the 21-23, so think that's when we'll see the peak of the eras tour boost. Although she will get another large boost in August as she'll be doing a further 5 days at Wembley on the 15-20/8. We may see her have 3+ albums in the top 10 in the charts at some point. Do we know what the record is for most albums top 10 in the same week?

Amazing numbers for "BIRDS OF A FEATHER". I really hope it might be able to challenge for #1 in the future, but looks like it may get stuck behind Eminem. Hopefully they will release a music video for the song to give it a boost in the coming weeks!

Taylor's discography rising quite a lot on Apple Music with the first UK date of the tour today. 36 of the top 200 are Taylor songs, expecting that to rise to 50+.

Whilst I am happy for this massive own goal by Rishi, it makes me sad to think we have someone in charge of the country who can't even do the bare minimum for something as important as the D-Day anniversary, particularly as it is the 80th one. I really hope this causes further discourse within the conservative party and gives Reform/Labour/Lib Dems/Greens etc more ammo against the conservatives to make sure they get as few seats as possible.

This is really nice, should be a hit with the momentum of "Espresso". I think she sounds a little like Dolly Parton in some parts of the song.

Dont' know if it's just me but seems there's a genuine buzz/excitement around Katy in general in the run up to the album? I believe her discography has increased streaming-wise most noticeably Teenage Dream. If the album is strong with lots of bops, I wouldn't be surprised if she manages another big hit era *_*

Found it on Amazon for the first time at #522. Quite low but it's been added to the Amazon Top 50 most played playlist a couple hours ago when it updated for the week - which I believe is the biggest playlist on Amazon. So with the album release and extra playlist support hopefully it'll rise a decent amount of streaming services to climb into the top 40! :cheer: Also noticed HHUK has updated and "360" is #40 in the playlist. Not sure if this is the first time it's on there or if it's moved up though?

I would say they're pushing the album in its entirety. They also released "L'AMOUR DE MA VIE (OVER NOW EXTENDED VERSION)" not long after the album came out. Great move of them tbh with the album only being 10 tracks. I hope they end up release music videos for all songs from the album at some point!

Billie has released the music video for "CHIHIRO" BY_XwvKogC8 Love it. Got chills at the end. *_* Hope it gives the song a nice boost.

I quite like it. Aside from the first song or two being ones that are pushed by spotify (usually enjoy them though), the songs after are generally aligned to my listening habits and I often get a mix of songs I haven't listened to in a while but love (Ariana Grande - "Into You" & Lizzo - "Juice" as examples from today, infact I ended up putting "Into You" on repeat a few times :lol:) and then every now and then a new song in the mix that I haven't heard before - recent example being The Marias - "Run Your Mouth" or from a few years ago Japanese Breakfast's - "Be sweet".

Is another else getting "Red Wine Supernova" & "HOT TO GO!" on autoplay? I seem to be getting that now quite a bit (not that I'm complaining!) which is why I assume they're rising? Hoping 1 or both can go top 40 at some point in the charts!

I will give the album a few spins this week. So many bops. "Alice" the hit that got away. *_* :clap:

Amazon: 2. "LUNCH" (-1) 12. "CHIHIRO" (-4) 13. "WILDFLOWER" (+6) 17. "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" (+9) 64. "BLUE" (+6) 116. "THE GREATEST" (+15) 124. "L'AMOUR DE MA VIE" (+47) 188. "SKINNY" (=) 282. "THE DINER" (+60) 395. "BITTERSUITE" (+82) Quite a few of the tracks rising on Amazon since Saturday too.

@1797659498427154538 Also interesting to see the marginal seats. Hopefully most if not all go to Labour/Lib Dems: @1797661262618444189