Best Of

F*** me!

I'm in Widnes tonight, anyone know where I can get an after hours tat to blend in?

I was less nervous when a hooker I had declined pulled a knife on me in Ikeja Island, Lagos, and a Nairobi taxi driver wanted to pick up his mate between the Nairobi Club and the Lillian Towers hotel. The Toby Inn in Widnes is far, far scarier. Presumably this national decline is post July 4th.

You Northerners really are brave!

Chin up and make yourself useful. Paul Simon made a career and a fortune out of his desire to be away from Widnes.
What's more it's solid middle class compared to Ashington.

I wish I was homeward bound.

Cathy I said as we sat in the Toby in Widnes ... Bridlington seems like a dream to me now

"ITV’s Anushka Asthana says the Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed 100% take-up [of Pension Credit] would eliminate any [WFA] savings."

Guardian blog.

FFS.

Why's that a bad thing? A much more efficient use of money; instead of funding millionaires, the cash is going to the pensioners who really need it (might even freeze to death according to the Telegraph).

I am increasingly baffled by the Conservative approach to all this. It's blatant pandering to literal benefit scroungers.

Likewise. I know several pensioners who used the WFA to pay for trips during their cruise. These sorts of bribes are extremely poor value for money. People used to say that the costs of administrating universal benefits saved the difference but that is nonsense. Who really thinks that taking CB away from those earning over £100k, like me, cost the state money? Of course it didn't. It cost me money but I was fortunate enough to afford it.

And as for the non take up of Pension credit, its a national disgrace and any government with a hint of decency would be looking to make it easier for those entitled to do so. If this achieves that purpose it is a double win.

BTW, given we seem to have a thread header out most times when there is negative polling for Trump, maybe we can have one for balance's sake as to the significance of the NYT / Siena poll.

@HYFUD highlighted it yesterday but the usual suspects who highlight every poll that is positive for Harris seem to have gone unusually quiet.

The poll says Trump should be favourite. Trump is favourite. Where's the betting angle? It's not like PBers get to vote in November, what with 1776 and all that.

Trump 1.9
Kamala 2.2

The betting angle might be Betfair's market on the popular vote winner:-
Dem 1.37
Rep 3.6

This site doesn't discuss anything that's "good" for Trump, which is unforgiveable on a betting site.

It could lose people an awful lot of money come November.

There’s a few of us who try to add some balance in US reporting. @Alanbrooke @Driver @williamglenn @Luckyguy1983 and others actually read both sides of the American news. I try and post items of interest and especially to betting, rather than anything too hyperbolic or partisan nonesense.

Ignoring one side of the debate because you think the guy is Hitler, isn’t conducive to working out what might actually be happening on the ground, when it’s clear that damn nearly half the country actually likes the guy.

Personally I’m paying a lot of attention to anything out of Pennsylvania, as I think that state holds the key to the election. Not sure that there’s many people who wil change their mind in the next couple of months, so it’s now mostly about voter registration and then getting the vote out on the day.