Best Of

Sadly I was not able to catch much of the Reform conference footage.

Was it established whether it is official policy that vaccines gave the King and Princess of Wales cancer?

I don't think it is. They put Dr Assem Malhotra on the platform. Here's his speech (the Telegraph have the whole thing recorded live). 15 mniutes long.

https://youtu.be/bX9BB0anXks?t=11022

Ref UK have distance themselves:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62z4rd87nlo

WTF did they expect by putting a vax denier on stage at their conference?
Pretty sure it’s a cynical strategy, ie continually flash some fruitcake, loony and closet racist leg then look all innocent when it goes over the edge.

Yes, that's very much the strategy. A bit like the Tories in 2005 "are you thinking what we're thinking?" Only much darker.

A Dutch salute to the conspiracy theorists, but deniability to the media.

MAGA style "dictator on day one" is to be kept under cover, at least for now.

How does this correspond to 2005?

That was the Tory campaign slogan in 2005.

Yes. And what are you reading into it wrt the current situation?

That Reform are happy to have conspiracy theorists on side (thanks to Social Media these are 15%+ of the electorate) by platforming these people, but maintaining plausible deniability when called out on it.

You see a cunning plan. I reckon it is simply that Nigel Farage has spent too much time in America and has forgotten Reform followers are not MAGA.

Where did Farage’s girlfriend, Laure Ferrari, get enough money to buy an £850k flat outright?

When Farage met her she was a waitress, and she has spent such career as she’s had in the not-overly-remunerative world of think tanks, such as the Eurosceptic IDDE, where she diverted £400k of EU grant to UKIP in 2017.

Farage’s finances are extremely irregular.

Probably why he didn’t call for Rayner to be sacked because of her tax affairs, and doesn’t do so for anyone else. The difference is he’s not going to be sacked if it turns out he has ducked & dived

Surely when he becomes a Minister he will be measured on exactly the same metrics as Rayner. If he breaks the Ministerial code for irregularities on the flat purchase (I am sure he hasn't- sniggle) we would all demand his resignation. N'est pas?

Depends who ‘we’ is. I doubt Reform voters care, and the rest of his MPs would be unlikely to demand it either. Other parties may do, but I reckon he’d ignore them.

Though Farage has boasted that he plans to fill government jobs with Trump style appointments from outside Parliament. That leaves around 300 restive Reform backbenchers. All of his previous vehicles have been given with spats and splits, and he has already lost 40% of the MPs that were elected as Reform just a year ago.

I suspect that a minority Reform government will struggle to outlast a lettuce, but even a majority one might struggle to outlast a cabbage.

Sadly I was not able to catch much of the Reform conference footage.

Was it established whether it is official policy that vaccines gave the King and Princess of Wales cancer?

I don’t know much at all about cellular mechanisms and mRNA so find it very hard to have an opinion beyond what we are told is the accepted view, which seems to be that the vaccines saved a lot of lives in the older age groups but should certainly not have been pushed out universally to children and younger adults.

But I have found it notable that more than one practicing doctor has wondered allowed to me at social events over the last couple of years whether there is a link to the mRNA vaccine tech and cancer.

We know who's had the vaccine. We know who gets cancer. You can look for any association. There is no link.

Your assertion isn’t quite right @moonshine

vaccines saved a lot of lives in the older age groups but should certainly not have been pushed out universally to children and younger adults.

Rather, below about the age of 40, on an individual level the risk-benefit analysis was pretty marginal (and unfavourable as you got younger). However the benefits to society were significant (herd effect).

“Certainly not” is way too strong

There's also the point that the personal benefits of vaccines for younger cohorts were different at different times: is COVID rampant, with hospitals full and paxlovid still on the horizon? At which point, if vaccines were available, I suspect they would have been a net positive for almost everyone.

Alternatively, are we in a world where almost everyone has had Covid, and therefore viral shedding is likely to be more modest, where paxlovid is widely available, and where there is plenty of hospital capacity. That's a very different situation.

Sadly I was not able to catch much of the Reform conference footage.

Was it established whether it is official policy that vaccines gave the King and Princess of Wales cancer?

I don't think it is. They put Dr Assem Malhotra on the platform. Here's his speech (the Telegraph have the whole thing recorded live). 15 mniutes long.

https://youtu.be/bX9BB0anXks?t=11022

Ref UK have distance themselves:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62z4rd87nlo

WTF did they expect by putting a vax denier on stage at their conference?
Pretty sure it’s a cynical strategy, ie continually flash some fruitcake, loony and closet racist leg then look all innocent when it goes over the edge.

…

Where did Farage’s girlfriend, Laure Ferrari, get enough money to buy an £850k flat outright?

When Farage met her she was a waitress, and she has spent such career as she’s had in the not-overly-remunerative world of think tanks, such as the Eurosceptic IDDE, where she diverted £400k of EU grant to UKIP in 2017.

Farage’s finances are extremely irregular.

Probably why he didn’t call for Rayner to be sacked because of her tax affairs, and doesn’t do so for anyone else. The difference is he’s not going to be sacked if it turns out he has ducked & dived

Surely when he becomes a Minister he will be measured on exactly the same metrics as Rayner. If he breaks the Ministerial code for irregularities on the flat purchase (I am sure he hasn't- sniggle) we would all demand his resignation. N'est pas?

Depends who ‘we’ is. I doubt Reform voters care, and the rest of his MPs would be unlikely to demand it either. Other parties may do, but I reckon he’d ignore them.

Sorry. "We" the voters.

I don’t think there is a collective ‘we’ that would

If checks and balances are ignored "we" have anarchy and/or Dictatorship.

I doubt it would have been anarchy or a dictatorship had Angela Rayner stayed in post. Why would there? Boris ignored the ethics committee and there wasn’t

Because after trying to buck the checks and balances system, Johnson was chucked out for bucking the checks and balances system.

See my answer to Josias Jessop… and when I’ve got yourself and him interrogating me I know my best course of action.

See you all later!

The odd thing is that @Mexicanpete and myself don't agree on much!

Perhaps he could simply have flagged me today like everyone else has done rather than take his bat and ball home.

I suspect calling out Farage when the time comes will have much the same result.

I haven't flagged you, nor would I because I do not use the flag button

Indeed in the years on this forum I haven't even thought of using it

I've never intended to use the flag button but my finger often catches it whilst scrolling.

I doubt you have. The double click safeguard is almost foolproof. An accidental flag brings up a "troll" bar. If you ignore that the flag doesn't register. So in order to flag, the flagger would have to press the safeguard "troll" bar as well as the first tap.

Thanks for the info. A relief to my mind.

…

Where did Farage’s girlfriend, Laure Ferrari, get enough money to buy an £850k flat outright?

When Farage met her she was a waitress, and she has spent such career as she’s had in the not-overly-remunerative world of think tanks, such as the Eurosceptic IDDE, where she diverted £400k of EU grant to UKIP in 2017.

Farage’s finances are extremely irregular.

Probably why he didn’t call for Rayner to be sacked because of her tax affairs, and doesn’t do so for anyone else. The difference is he’s not going to be sacked if it turns out he has ducked & dived

Surely when he becomes a Minister he will be measured on exactly the same metrics as Rayner. If he breaks the Ministerial code for irregularities on the flat purchase (I am sure he hasn't- sniggle) we would all demand his resignation. N'est pas?

Depends who ‘we’ is. I doubt Reform voters care, and the rest of his MPs would be unlikely to demand it either. Other parties may do, but I reckon he’d ignore them.

Sorry. "We" the voters.

I don’t think there is a collective ‘we’ that would

If checks and balances are ignored "we" have anarchy and/or Dictatorship.

I doubt it would have been anarchy or a dictatorship had Angela Rayner stayed in post. Why would there? Boris ignored the ethics committee and there wasn’t

Because after trying to buck the checks and balances system, Johnson was chucked out for bucking the checks and balances system.

See my answer to Josias Jessop… and when I’ve got yourself and him interrogating me I know my best course of action.

See you all later!

The odd thing is that @Mexicanpete and myself don't agree on much!

Perhaps he could simply have flagged me today like everyone else has done rather than take his bat and ball home.

I suspect calling out Farage when the time comes will have much the same result.

I haven't flagged you, nor would I because I do not use the flag button

Indeed in the years on this forum I haven't even thought of using it

I've never intended to use the flag button but my finger often catches it whilst scrolling.

I doubt you have. The double click safeguard is almost foolproof. An accidental flag brings up a "troll" bar. If you ignore that the flag doesn't register. So in order to flag, the flagger would have to press the safeguard "troll" bar as well as the first tap.

…

Where did Farage’s girlfriend, Laure Ferrari, get enough money to buy an £850k flat outright?

When Farage met her she was a waitress, and she has spent such career as she’s had in the not-overly-remunerative world of think tanks, such as the Eurosceptic IDDE, where she diverted £400k of EU grant to UKIP in 2017.

Farage’s finances are extremely irregular.

Probably why he didn’t call for Rayner to be sacked because of her tax affairs, and doesn’t do so for anyone else. The difference is he’s not going to be sacked if it turns out he has ducked & dived

Surely when he becomes a Minister he will be measured on exactly the same metrics as Rayner. If he breaks the Ministerial code for irregularities on the flat purchase (I am sure he hasn't- sniggle) we would all demand his resignation. N'est pas?

Depends who ‘we’ is. I doubt Reform voters care, and the rest of his MPs would be unlikely to demand it either. Other parties may do, but I reckon he’d ignore them.

Sorry. "We" the voters.

I don’t think there is a collective ‘we’ that would

If checks and balances are ignored "we" have anarchy and/or Dictatorship.

I doubt it would have been anarchy or a dictatorship had Angela Rayner stayed in post. Why would there? Boris ignored the ethics committee and there wasn’t

Because after trying to buck the checks and balances system, Johnson was chucked out for bucking the checks and balances system.

See my answer to Josias Jessop… and when I’ve got yourself and him interrogating me I know my best course of action.

See you all later!

The odd thing is that @Mexicanpete and myself don't agree on much!

Perhaps he could simply have flagged me today like everyone else has done rather than take his bat and ball home.

I suspect calling out Farage when the time comes will have much the same result.

I haven't flagged you, nor would I because I do not use the flag button

Indeed in the years on this forum I haven't even thought of using it

…

Where did Farage’s girlfriend, Laure Ferrari, get enough money to buy an £850k flat outright?

When Farage met her she was a waitress, and she has spent such career as she’s had in the not-overly-remunerative world of think tanks, such as the Eurosceptic IDDE, where she diverted £400k of EU grant to UKIP in 2017.

Farage’s finances are extremely irregular.

Probably why he didn’t call for Rayner to be sacked because of her tax affairs, and doesn’t do so for anyone else. The difference is he’s not going to be sacked if it turns out he has ducked & dived

Surely when he becomes a Minister he will be measured on exactly the same metrics as Rayner. If he breaks the Ministerial code for irregularities on the flat purchase (I am sure he hasn't- sniggle) we would all demand his resignation. N'est pas?

Depends who ‘we’ is. I doubt Reform voters care, and the rest of his MPs would be unlikely to demand it either. Other parties may do, but I reckon he’d ignore them.

Sorry. "We" the voters.

I don’t think there is a collective ‘we’ that would

If checks and balances are ignored "we" have anarchy and/or Dictatorship.

I doubt it would have been anarchy or a dictatorship had Angela Rayner stayed in post. Why would there? Boris ignored the ethics committee and there wasn’t

Because after trying to buck the checks and balances system, Johnson was chucked out for bucking the checks and balances system.

See my answer to Josias Jessop… and when I’ve got yourself and him interrogating me I know my best course of action.

See you all later!

The odd thing is that @Mexicanpete and myself don't agree on much!