Best Of

Bought two nice rib eye steaks for tea tonight.

Told the guy in the farm shop I was going to cut it into slices and cook it in a jar of Dolmio.

For a brief moment he believed me !

Ah shaddap-a you face!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Kept Vienna from the top spot. Rightfully so.

Quality over Midge Ure every time. He has committed unforgivable sins against music in his time

Forever and Ever by Slik, however, is a timeless classic.

As is Hymn by Ultravox.

I have to disagree on Forever and Ever I'm afraid!

No problem. Vive La Difference

Some people hold white working class people in incredibly low regard.
Almost as if they're a different species.

Not me, I hold all members of the working classes in incredibly low regard.

Have you ever considered standing for political office?

I have in the past but realised my sense of humour would get me into trouble.

You could be a Cameroon populist who tells it like it is and who people would like to have a pint with.

I am not a populist, I am commendably/recklessly honest.

'His outfit costs more than my second home but he looks like a Nov 5th Guy in it' quipped backbencher Woolie

It's funny you mention that, main (of the many) reasons my father-in-law to be didn't like me was that I drove a vehicle that cost more than his house.

His view was that nobody normal needs to spend that much on a vehicle.

It was a mystery why a working class Scouse/Irish heritage guy didn't like me, this brash, privately educated Tory.

I mean its an absolute mystery why you weren't more popular with him. You had so many characteristics famously so loved by scousers.

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Ridiculous to see hundreds arrested for holding up a banner supporting Palestine Action . A total waste of police time and all caused by this moronic government labelling a group who might be guilty of criminal damage but in what world can they be labelled as a terrorist group .

A world in which they're terrorists as defined by law.

Change the law if you're unhappy with it.

That's inaccurate.

It's a world where a Home Secretary can declare a group to be terrorists if a few if their members commit serious criminal damage.

That is not the same thing at all.

That is the same thing.

Serious criminal damage falls within Blair's Terrorism laws.

You miss the point completely.

Absent the Home Secretary's decision to turn them into terrorists, the law does not for a moment define them as terrorists.

That is the same for any number of organised pressure groups whose members have committed serious criminal damage. Who have not been so proscribed.

"Terrorism" is a heavily charged term, whose legal definition varies widely between jurisdictions.
Our current law leans too far in the direction of that used in authoritarian states. And I think the Jone Secretary has got herself into a serious mess here.

The law defines their action as terrorism with or without the Home Secretary's involvement.

The group are proscribed terrorists because the Home Secretary proscribed them following their acts of terrorism but the actions of a terrorist are terrorism whether or not they are members of a proscribed terrorist group.

A lone wolf who engages in terrorism is a terrorist despite not being a member of any proscribed group. And PAs actions met Blair's law's definition of terrorism before the Home Secretary acted.

Ridiculous to see hundreds arrested for holding up a banner supporting Palestine Action . A total waste of police time and all caused by this moronic government labelling a group who might be guilty of criminal damage but in what world can they be labelled as a terrorist group .

A world in which they're terrorists as defined by law.

Change the law if you're unhappy with it.

Most people think of terrorist groups as threatening the lives of the public not daubing paint on some military aircraft . They should be done for criminal damage , that’s it .

Palestine Action do more than just throw paint.

Well, actually they do mostly throw paint.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Action#:~:text=In June 2025, the Home,spraying paint into their engines.

Not my cup of tea, but not terrorism, unless you completely debase the meaning of the term.

That's the problem, isn't it really: the UK terrorism legislation debases the meaning of the term. 100% clear that what PA did meets the legal definition, but doesn't meet most people's assumption of what the definition would be

Strangely nobody seemed bothered when a load of far right wing groups got banned for racist social media activities under the same use of this law. Hizb ut-Tahrir are devotedly non-violent and also got banned it seems again mostly for spreading their ideology of an Islamic Caliphate and entryism.

Its far from the first time the government have used this legislation to proscribe troubling groups. But they weren't a load of middle class protestors having a go at playing as freedom fighters, which has included more than spraying paint.

I think it is a tricky case, as were the likes of Hizb ut-Tahrir. One thing we don't know is the full extent of the intelligence the authorities have on PA, the Telegraph clearly have a mole and were in on meetings when they captured evidence that the organisers were discussing plans to repeat raids on a load of other military bases.

Which particular far right groups do you think should not be on the list? There aren't many far right groups in the list and those that are are in plotting-to-kill-a-police-officer territory.

I didn't say they shouldn't be. My point was there is a number that got banned for troubling racist social media activity without actually carrying out a violent act. You don't need to blow anything up to be proscribed. Hizb ut-Tahrir were / are also a very troubling group.

I imagine PA overstepped the mark in a way that JSO haven't by raiding a military base and there is evidence this was just the start.

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Ridiculous to see hundreds arrested for holding up a banner supporting Palestine Action . A total waste of police time and all caused by this moronic government labelling a group who might be guilty of criminal damage but in what world can they be labelled as a terrorist group .

A world in which they're terrorists as defined by law.

Change the law if you're unhappy with it.

A tall ask, that, for nico67.

And not your normal MO to say the letter of the law is the sole arbiter of what's right or wrong.

I never said anything about right or wrong, merely what the law is.

I'm entirely comfortable with people choosing to break the law if they are prepared to face the consequences for doing so. The consequences in this case are terrorism charges.

I'm also comfortable with campaigning to change and liberalise the law.

What I'm not comfortable with is authoritarian laws being passed on a nod and a wink that they won't be applied to people we like but will be applied to others instead. That's not on.

Under the law Blair passed these guys are absolutely 100% terrorists. Repeal Blair's law or campaign against it if it was wrong, don't act like the law doesnt exist or should be selectively applied.

Selective application of authoritarian laws is the worst of all worlds.

Sure. But your reaction was driven by your passionate support for Israel and corresponding antipathy to anything pro Palestine.

It'd be a bit like me getting pissed off with all the PB hating on the OSA and blurting, "It's the law. If you don’t like it change it."

Might do that actually, next time it crops up. Yes, you've sold me.

Quite - BartholomewRoberts is trying to reconcile his usual strident defence of free speech with his hatred for anyone opposing Israel's ethnic cleansing of Gaza by hiding behind "it's the law bro".

I actually entirely agree with and follow his logic - Palestine Action are a terrorist group under the law as written, the Home Secretary was likely within her rights to proscribe them, and therefore support for them is a offence too.

But it's absurd. The people cutting down bus lane cameras in Edinburgh have caused serious and expensive criminal damage, motivated by their politics. They are therefore terrorists. The Home Secretary could proscribe them with no consultation with parliament. Anyone wearing a t-shirt with the name of that group, or defending their actions on facebook, could also be arrested under the Terrorism Act.

No, I think the Home Secretary has to lay a statutory instrument before Parliament to add a group to the list.

As was done in this case.

Following the same procedures that are followed in other cases too.

Surprising to see that Tommy Robinson has a 24% popularity rating, with a further 14% being neutral.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/international/explore/public_figure/Tommy_Robinson

I'd add further adjectives to "surprising" - but yes it is.

I'd have guessed 15%.

it's 2025 and racism is in

Yep. But it's usually that 15%. The ones who 'strongly approve' of Donald Trump. That's a good cypher for how big the racist vote is here (since it's never self reported for obvious reasons).

So this 24% is a nasty surprise to me. Thought I had a handle on it. Haven't.

Given Reform are on 30% then virtually all of those 24% will be voting Reform unsurprisingly, which is why Farage cannot distance himself from Robinson too much even if he needs more than Robinson fans for Reform to win most seats

I note approval is 20% for Badenoch, 15% for Jenrick. Stride doesn't seem to be rated.

I note this ranking is derived from the yougov ratings quickfire round that is optional at the end of their surveys, so I don't think is population weighted like their regular polls

Stride has a net approval of -18% compared to -35% for Badenoch, -44% for Starmer, -31% for Farage and -37% for Corbyn and -6% for Davey in the latest weighted Yougov favourability ratings survey

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/52586-political-favourability-ratings-july-2025

Very naughty! Stride has the lowest favourable rating of any of them, at 6%. The only reason his net approval isn't so bad is because 70% haven't heard of him.

Big potential volatility here. Almost three quarters of the population have the experience of getting to know Mel Stride ahead of them.

'I'd like to talk to you about Mel Stride. Have you considered having a Mel Stride installed? Would you like a brochure detailing the optional extras that come with a Mel Stride? 6% of people who already have a Mel Stride like their Mel Stride, only 24% are dissatisfied with their Stride. Mel Stride!'