Best Of

Dictatorship, you say, Victor ?

Today, the Brusselians are crossing the Rubicon. At noon, a written vote will take place that will cause irreparable damage to the Union.

The subject of the vote is the frozen Russian assets, on which the EU member states have so far voted every 6 months and adopted a unanimous decision. With today’s procedure, the Brusselians are abolishing the requirement of unanimity with a single stroke of the pen, which is clearly unlawful.

With today’s decision, the rule of law in the European Union comes to an end, and Europe’s leaders are placing themselves above the rules. Instead of safeguarding compliance with the EU treaties, the European Commission is systematically raping European law. It is doing this in order to continue the war in Ukraine, a war that clearly isn't winnable. All this is happening in broad daylight, less than a week before the meeting of the European Council, the Union’s most important decision-making body, bringing together heads of state and government. With this, the rule of law in the European Union is being replaced by the rule of bureaucrats. In other words, a Brusselian dictatorship has taken hold.

Hungary protests this decision and will do everything in its power to restore a lawful order.
https://x.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/1999358779763183953

If you're not too addicted to EU funding, there's a simple solution on offer.

Dear Mr Orban,

If you don't like it, you can always leave.

Sincerely yours,

rcs1000

Dictatorship, you say, Victor ?

Today, the Brusselians are crossing the Rubicon. At noon, a written vote will take place that will cause irreparable damage to the Union.

The subject of the vote is the frozen Russian assets, on which the EU member states have so far voted every 6 months and adopted a unanimous decision. With today’s procedure, the Brusselians are abolishing the requirement of unanimity with a single stroke of the pen, which is clearly unlawful.

With today’s decision, the rule of law in the European Union comes to an end, and Europe’s leaders are placing themselves above the rules. Instead of safeguarding compliance with the EU treaties, the European Commission is systematically raping European law. It is doing this in order to continue the war in Ukraine, a war that clearly isn't winnable. All this is happening in broad daylight, less than a week before the meeting of the European Council, the Union’s most important decision-making body, bringing together heads of state and government. With this, the rule of law in the European Union is being replaced by the rule of bureaucrats. In other words, a Brusselian dictatorship has taken hold.

Hungary protests this decision and will do everything in its power to restore a lawful order.
https://x.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/1999358779763183953

If you're not too addicted to EU funding, there's a simple solution on offer.

Weirdly, Mr Orban has never had any problems with putting himself above laws. Or indeed, his mates Mr Putin and Mr Trump putting themselves above laws.

Of course Muslims can assimilate, and do.
This site wouldn’t run without an assimilated Muslim!
(That sounds vaguely offensive, apologies if so).

However, the larger the overall “Muslim” population, the slower that assimilation is going to take.

Thats why I generally favor a near-halt on migration from largely Muslim countries (Pakistan, Nigeria etc), save for the truly highly-skilled.

Careful they'll be calling you "islamophobic" next for this outbreak of sensible policy.

In my time on PB, I’ve been called an immigrant-hugging loon, a Britain-basher, a China-lover, an anti-Semite, and who knows, Islamophobic.

I am large, I contain multitudes!

I’ve been called far-right and a leftie by some of the more dim posters.

Somebody once complained to OGH about me being an Islamophobe because I once posted I didn’t want to live next door to a family of Muslims.

It was for their benefit, I didn’t want them feeling bad when they realise I am such a pious/devout Muslim and they couldn’t match my devotion.

@Foxy , @MattW , @rcs1000 etc - just caught up on your comments from last night: fair enough, I hold my hand up: the figure I had for 1995 was clearly erroneous. On which basis I am wrong.

Thank-you for that. Looking at the estimates no one seems particularly clear before 2001, when a question came into the census. For 1990 Google AI seems to give a range of 500k to 1000k, which is a huge error margin. Plus of course there has always been a significant group of people not here legally.

Just as background context from earlier - I was in Bradford 1985-1988 and at that time I think between 1/3 and 1/4 of the city was the population fraction described as Muslim. This was pre-Satanic Verses of course. There were harder line organisations being developed in places like Dewsbury some with explicit Middle Eastern links or funding, but also more ideologically open versions of Islam such as Ahmadiyya with open centres to visit in BD7 near the University.

The main numerical work I am familiar with from that sort of period was being done by the likes of Peter Brierley, then of Marc Europe (which was spun out of the BIble Society) and later of Christian Research. Their main activity was publication of a thing called the UK Christian Handbook, which was an enormous directory and reference volume from an Evangelical base, but covering the whole UK Christian sector. They were basically a resource and research organisation for churches and mission, from an evangelical focus but working across the piece.

They did a pioneering survey of Mosques and Mosque attendance in the second half of the 1980s, where one interesting number was Mosque attendance in the UK was around half of the adherent community - an interesting early number pointing at "drift". This is one reason I have always thought that the Muslim-background community is far broader than is readily admitted, whilst being less diffuse than the Christian-background community.

The mantle of Peter Brierley, who is still going as a consultant after starting in this arena in the mid-1970s, has been picked up by groups such as the Religion in Numbers project at Lancaster University, and Prof Linda Woodhead.

Half of Muslims never going to Mosque does fit with this survey:

https://pollingreport.uk/articles/nop-poll-of-british-muslims

I have some very pious Muslim friends, and others that never go at all, being "culturally Muslim" in the same way many "Christian" Brits are.

I watch Carols at Kings every Christmas and retain from childhood an emotional connection to the Nativity story. Also like poking around churches and graveyards. So I wouldn't reject a label of 'cultural Christian'.

I played a Wise Man at a school nativity play in 1982 when I was seven. The one who carried myrrh. My only acting credit to date!

I was cast as the inn-keeper. My sole contribution was to utter the word 'No'. I kept forgetting to do this and was replaced. The humiliation is still keenly-felt after 70 years. Bah humbug.

Peston: The only silver lining is that the Bank of England will undoubtedly cut interest rates next week by 0.25%


Andrew Sentance
@asentance

A cut in interest rates is not a “silver lining” when inflation is running persistently above target and unlikely to fall significantly next year.

https://x.com/asentance/status/1999404212501762380

Either the decline in the economy in October is terrible news for Reeves

"UK economy shrank unexpectedly by 0.1% in October - BBC News" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyp7v7r28yo

Doesn't stack up with the assumptions that underpinned her Budget last month. Ooops.

It starts (again). Sigh. Allowing planned borrowing to increase this year on a set of assumptions that might well prove optimistic for any number of reasons was not prudent, or wise or even rational.

And yet, she was called on to resign by all the opposition parties as she put up taxes which the opposition claimed were not needed according to the OBR.

No, the calls for her to resign were because she lied about whether there was another £20bn hole which did not in fact exist and which she knew did not exist on the basis of the figures provided by the OBR. Increasing taxes to improve her headroom was a sensible move and I said so at the time. Ensuring that total spending was reduced at the same time reducing borrowing rather than increasing it would have been even more sensible. Not finding yet more freebies not paid for by cuts elsewhere would have been more sensible still.

I'm inclined to the view that the actual black hole that exists is not just in the finances, and includes for example the parts of the progressive cuts of 1/4 or 1/3 of local Government expenditure over 12-14 years that has not been invested in local facilities. I'd say the actual black holes is well into the 100s of billions.

The maintenance that has not been done on roads and footpaths, which has resulted in a dangerous moonscapes in our towns, is part of the black hole that we will have to fill. And now it will need many -places rebuilding far more heavily, and not just repairing.

As is, for example, the 6 Type 26 frigates which do not exist in our navy, being cancelled by Blair, then later Cameron. The people who seem to have the best strategy on this one are the Japanese, who build one submarine a year and flex it by deployment lifetime rather than by starving the businesses to death and destroying the industry and workforce. I think we may have learnt that one lesson (at least until we forget again).

@Foxy , @MattW , @rcs1000 etc - just caught up on your comments from last night: fair enough, I hold my hand up: the figure I had for 1995 was clearly erroneous. On which basis I am wrong.

Thank-you for that. Looking at the estimates no one seems particularly clear before 2001, when a question came into the census. For 1990 Google AI seems to give a range of 500k to 1000k, which is a huge error margin. Plus of course there has always been a significant group of people not here legally.

Just as background context from earlier - I was in Bradford 1985-1988 and at that time I think between 1/3 and 1/4 of the city was the population fraction described as Muslim. This was pre-Satanic Verses of course. There were harder line organisations being developed in places like Dewsbury some with explicit Middle Eastern links or funding, but also more ideologically open versions of Islam such as Ahmadiyya with open centres to visit in BD7 near the University.

The main numerical work I am familiar with from that sort of period was being done by the likes of Peter Brierley, then of Marc Europe (which was spun out of the BIble Society) and later of Christian Research. Their main activity was publication of a thing called the UK Christian Handbook, which was an enormous directory and reference volume from an Evangelical base, but covering the whole UK Christian sector. They were basically a resource and research organisation for churches and mission, from an evangelical focus but working across the piece.

They did a pioneering survey of Mosques and Mosque attendance in the second half of the 1980s, where one interesting number was Mosque attendance in the UK was around half of the adherent community - an interesting early number pointing at "drift". This is one reason I have always thought that the Muslim-background community is far broader than is readily admitted, whilst being less diffuse than the Christian-background community.

The mantle of Peter Brierley, who is still going as a consultant after starting in this arena in the mid-1970s, has been picked up by groups such as the Religion in Numbers project at Lancaster University, and Prof Linda Woodhead.

Half of Muslims never going to Mosque does fit with this survey:

https://pollingreport.uk/articles/nop-poll-of-british-muslims

I have some very pious Muslim friends, and others that never go at all, being "culturally Muslim" in the same way many "Christian" Brits are.

The optimistic scenario is that the upcoming generation assimilates and many of them become less overtly religious, as has been the case with previous immigrations to our country. The time I spent with Muslim teenagers during my many years as a councillor in east London tended me towards an optimistic outlook, since they seemed acutely aware of their responsibility to find a reconciliation between the attitudes of their home environment and the cultural values they were coming to understand and appreciate at school and as British citizens.

Law firm sets up OnlyFans team

A law firm has set up a specialist service to models and agencies working with 'adult sites' such as OnlyFans.

Blackmont Legal, based in Manchester, already provides legal advice to social media influencers who make money on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.

The firm is also eyeing up adult site creators (so to speak), by launching dedicated legal services for OnlyFans models and agencies.

Spotting the "rise" in this area (get your mind out of the gutter, please), Blackmont Legal noted that there are almost 23,000 Only Fans creators in the UK, and that top performers can earn in excess of £20,000 monthly.

The firm said the growth of subscription-based content has resulted in a so-called 'under economy' where workers earn significant sums but function outside traditional employment frameworks. As a result, many of them can lack business support, operating without VAT registration or proper contracts.

https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/exclusive-law-firm-sets-onlyfans-team

Good luck with your new firm!