Best Of

Per Telegraph:
"Benefit claimants could receive free television licences under sweeping BBC reforms being considered by Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary."
So the actual license payer will not just be stumping up for Trump's amour propre

Why not just give everyone a free TV licence?

That's the 'fund from general taxation' option. Then like schools, hospitals etc it's free at the point of delivery.

Latest logic in PPE land:

1. Everyone under 25, just about, is a NEET - a whole generation does nothing. Life on benefits until they make state pension if they do thanks to all the pizza consumption.

2. No one under 25 watches TV

3. Let's give TV licence for free to people on benefits.

Telegraph though. They don't report they create.

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Just had the interesting experience of being present for a rare political discussion among a couple of my older relatives, which gave me a different peception on things. Key details included:

• The government is deliberately trying to destroy the NHS (reasons unclear)
  
• Politicians don't care about old people (that's news to me)
  
• Older people should not have to pay tax (naturally)
  
• Colonel Gaddafi did a lot of good actually (ok, that was a surprising inclusion)
  
• Roads used to be better (might be true for all I know)
  

Interesting indeed. I'm old and I wouldn't agree with any of those (except to say I know little of Col. Gaddafi and for all I know he may have been a genial chap to his friends).

After Gaddafi rather a lot of Libyans migrated to the U.K…

Wasn't Stalin supposed to be a doting uncle or similar?

Stalin became Uncle Joe as soon as Hitler invaded and the USSR became our besties.

Ah, I'd forgotten the 'Uncle Joe' title, but I thought I'd read he was genuinely fond of children, or animals, or something very touchy-feely; which somehow made up for all the mass slaughter.

Stalin was ladykiller when young, and a complete party animal.

He graduated to killing ladies (and gents) on an epic scale. And used parties as a kind of punishment for his coterie - force people who didn’t like drinking to drink etc

I don't remember hearing about that. Maybe my recollection about the other things is quite wrong then.

His pre-revolution exploits would make a pretty good film. Handsome, reckless, a criminal with a cause. I'm amazed no-ones done it.

I have a cake in the oven, which is nice.

Also, Brent crude is below $60 for the first time since early 2021. If course the Russians have to sell at a discount, although so much of their oil is floating in tablets on the ocean that it looks like they are struggling to find buyers, even at a discount.

What is the breakeven POO for Russia?

It depends.

There is a big difference between the fully loaded cost of oil, and the immediate cash cost.

Russia's cash cost of oil is probably around $35.

The fully loaded cost, when you include capital expenditure required to maintain production, is probably going toi be north of $75, and may well be nearer to $90, given a lack of access to Western equipment suppliers.

Which creates a bit of fucked up dynamic for Moscow: they don't have many other generators of foreign currency, so the more the oil price falls, the more they have to sell, despite the fact that it's below the fully loaded cost of production.

@George_Osborne
Hi, some personal news - I’m changing job. I recently asked myself the question: what’s the most exciting and promising company in the world right now? The answer I believe is OpenAI. So it’s a privilege to be going to work for OpenAI as managing director and head of OpenAI for countries, based here in London. In my conversations with Sam Altman, Brad Lightcap, and other senior colleagues, it’s clear they are exceptionally impressive leaders and that they care very deeply about their mission to ensure the power of artificial intelligence is developed responsibly, and the benefits are felt by all. That’s exactly what the OpenAI for Countries initiative intends to achieve, helping societies around the world share the opportunity this powerful technology brings. Am honorored to join the team.

Narrator: Last week Osborne failed to secure the chairmanship of HSBC.

Just to be clear, we used to get this man's skills and efforts for about £200k a year. Theresa May did a lot of incredibly stupid and damaging things but driving Osborne out of politics was arguably the most damaging.

Jeremy Hunt, a former Chancellor himself, commended Osborne for pinning blame for the GFC on Labour but said the politician he'd most changed his mind about was the ‘brilliant’ Gordon Brown.

NYT article: The Trump administration intervened to get Andrew Tate released from custody in Romania.

Mr. Tate and his brother, Tristan, swaggering influencers in the so-called manosphere, had been under criminal investigation in Romania since 2022, accused of coercing women into pornography. Andrew was also accused of rape and of having sex with and beating a 15-year-old. The brothers, American and British citizens, had been barred from leaving Romania while prosecutors built their case.
Now, in a Jan. 14 text message, Mr. Tate indicated that help was on the way.
“I had word from The Trump admin that theyre on top of things,” Mr. Tate wrote to someone close to him, in a message reviewed by The New York Times. “Ive been told ill be free soon but Trump needs to see me in Miami,” he added.
The next month, an extraordinary order came down from the highest levels of the Romanian government, a Times investigation found. The prosecutors were told to find a compromise with the Tates. Despite their misgivings, they lifted the travel restrictions, a move that Romania’s prime minister thought would appease the Trump administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/us/andrew-tate-barron-trump-romania.html

(No full article link - sorry.)

@PippaCrerar

EXCL: An agreement to rejoin Erasmus – the EU’s student exchange programme – set to be announced on Wednesday as part of UK government’s drive towards closer relations with Brussels.

https://x.com/PippaCrerar/status/2000992877443231788?s=20

Is this where we give the EU what they want and they fuck us up the ass.

SKS would pay full price for a Dominos pizza

Brexit was just a spiteful destruction of opportunity voted for by people who'd had their time and had no plan for the aftermath.
It's been left to the people who voted against it to make the best of the mess left behind, turns out that means trying to recover the benefits at greater cost as was said at the time.
Suck it up.

Standard drivel.

Brexit opened doors. Doors can allow you to leave the house, have fun, get a job, or meet the love of your life. Or you can stand at the threshold in the stiff breeze rooted to the spot, reminiscing about how great it was when the door was closed.

Now that's the standard drivel.