Best Of

So the BBC is going to fight - fight like hell - and I'll be there with them. They should crowdfund the cost of the case. Allow people to contribute if they are so inclined. Put me down for £500. I'll give up nuts for a year. It's a no brainer.

There was some stuff from Newsmax on the BBC this morning saying both that the BBC couldn't afford to fight the case (£50m plus) versus settling (maybe £10-15m) .. and that they would be embarrassed by the discovery process.

I'm with you in saying bollocks to that.
The BBC's own right to discovery is likely to be very interesting in what it might turn up. And I'm happy to help pay to defend such a transparently nonsense lawsuit.

It's important, I think. People talk a lot about "British values" and if not giving in to extortion by malevolent foreigners isn't one of them it jolly well should be. I also like the calculus of it. IMO the potential damage to Donald Trump of having this litigated in open court in the US is greater than that to the BBC.

I'm on the side of freedom of speech here, and in that case that means I'm 100% behind the BBC in this case.

US law should be on their side here too - far more than if the case was going to be heard in the libel capital of the world, London...

They should not settle, Trump has an extraordinarily high bar to pass in the US court system. And any halfway competent attorney ought to be able to defend them quite honestly.

Newsmax guy agreed that it was a weak case, but seemed to think we'd just settle on pragmatic (ie monetary) grounds, since a successful defence might still cost £50m plus.
I guess someone working for Newmax places very little value on journalistic independence, so he might even have been commenting honestly.

BBC v Trump

Like Neil Hamilton v Al Fayed.

Can’t they both lose ?

However anything that undermines the license fee is all well and good.

Anyone need a recently graduated physicist? My eldest is struggling to find anything except very occasional short term temp jobs.

Hopefully things will pick up for him, but it’s very demoralising to be stuck in your parents home.

What part of the UK ?

Oxfordshire. He had mixed A-levels (ABCC) & ended up going to Swansea where he got his head down & was given a first (yes, I know a first isn’t hat it used to be, but still) & the prize for best experimental thesis in his year.

He’s never going to be the first pick for the plum jobs - those will go to the Oxbridge/London grads with impeccable CVs - but he’s just getting nothing at all. Any suggestions that I can point him to are most gratefully received - he’s personable & does the work, but he can’t demonstrate that if no one will even interview him.

I’m sure something will turn up eventually, but leads are a bit thin on the ground.

He's not doing anything silly like listing the A level grades on his CV is he?

He probably is. If he cuts them out won’t employers draw the obvious conclusion?

Degree erases A levels. His academic performance as a child is not really relevant. If an employer really wants to know they can ask. But many more would be put off by seeing them than would ask, I would imagine.

Edit: also, if they ask, it gives him a chance at giving an explanation, which can't really be done on a CV.

Triumphant Political Vetting:

December 3: Rear Admiral Chris Parry (Times Radio talking head, pilot on South Georgia operation in 1982) selected to be a candidate for Mayor of Hampshire, IOW and the Solent.

December 5: It turns out that in Feb 2025 Parry remarked that David Lammy should "go home" to the Caribbean. *

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly3n624wn5o
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/b645a82d279f4523

(* Lammy was born in Archway, London.)

This wouldn’t happen to be a Reform candidate by any chance 🤞

Triumphant Political Vetting:

December 3: Rear Admiral Chris Parry (Times Radio talking head, pilot on South Georgia operation in 1982) selected to be a candidate for Mayor of Hampshire, IOW and the Solent.

December 5: It turns out that in Feb 2025 Parry remarked that David Lammy should "go home" to the Caribbean. *

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly3n624wn5o
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/b645a82d279f4523

(* Lammy was born in Archway, London.)

This wouldn’t happen to be a Reform candidate by any chance 🤞

Yes.

He was the pilot who forced the Argentine submarine Santa Fe to surrender.

See this comic exchange - https://x.com/drchrisparry/status/1918436557155107059?s=46&t=BXfRXqZ4RcCOdvlSgUjZSg

3 year driving ban is absurd for the Liverpool Parade driver. If that's not a life ban, what is? We should not be expected up share the road with someone like this.

Government should pass some urgent legislation that ensures life ban from driving if a vehicle is used as a weapon.

Is that AFTER the 21 years in prison? (Ok I know he will be out sooner, but still).

After. I still thinks it's completely absurd, the idea that someone with a history of using a car as weapon again hundreds of people, including children in prams, should be allowed behind the wheel again? It's an outrage.

The safety of those using Liverpool's streets far outweighs this man's right to drive a car. The judge will look like a complete muppet if in 20 years time the red mist descends again and some poor kid is smashed to pieces on a zebra crossing.

Ukraine starting to lose German and French voter support which is pretty concerning. I suspect we shall get a bad peace deal in 2026, which will give the global economy a temporary boost but at the expense of emboldening Putin and might is right generally.

https://www.politico.eu/article/french-and-germans-lean-toward-dialing-back-ukraine-support-new-international-politico-poll-shows/

We won’t, Zelensky will only accept a ceasefire on current lines and Putin will only accept a ceasefire with Russia getting given more Ukrainian territory

A settlement on current lines wouldn't be good for VVP. Odessa might just make it all worth it. It was the Kulkovye Polye protests/massacre and subsequent firestorm of disinformation from both sides in 2014 that so inflamed Russian ire and germinated the conflict. Getting Katherine's city back would be the sort of sentimental symmetry that nourishes the Slavic psyche.

I see Big Z has now given up on joining NATO so you can sort of see the hazy outlines of a deal that could emerge. Russia will need more though.

Given the state of the Russian Black Sea fleet, Odessa looks unattainable.

Russian navy down one submarine, taken out by Ukranian suicide drone sub while in port at Novorossiysk.

https://x.com/girkingirkin/status/2000583441344028779

Stand by for a few more Ukranian drone subs heading for Novorossiysk in the coming days and weeks.

I was watching video of that yesterday. The drone rounded several ships and harbour fittings before hitting the submarine. It was seriously impressive but also a bit scary. I really wonder if the RN would have fared any better if facing such an attack.

Very scary. This new drone is basically a navigable torpedo that can go anywhere.

One assumes that the Royal Navy takes port security a little more seriously than the Russians, and can spot an enemy vessel approaching!

That's the rational for the sea drones the RN is testing. But it would require an awful lot of them, and I doubt the MoD has the money.

They surely need satellites to navigate and I imagine in a big war scenario those satellites will be gone in minutes?

There’s probably an inertia/star chart/object recognition/local radio towers based solution that doesn’t need satellites.

Some combination of INS and sea bed mapping.

Whatever this was, it wasn't a Sea Baby/Magura 5 as they 6m long surface vessels and there is nothing like that on the video.

The Ukranians were obviously active inside the port because they had that camera feed so it might be covert mine laying marketed as a new wonder drone for PR purposes.

A submersible drone is not really a massive advance on previously deployed technology, but it's definitely +1 for Ukraine that there's one less submarine to launch Kalibr cruise missiles.

In all the previous sea drone attacks, they used Starlink to control them.

It’s not hard to imagine a submersible drone that runs inertially, then comes up for orders.

The mini-Starlink dishes are pretty small now and the quality of the “lock” is crazy. In the US, the standard land based ones were getting popular with private pilots, before SpaceX clamped down on max speed) and there is a thing for mounting them for off road motorcycle races.

Good morning

Poor economic news this morning but absolutely no surprise

Handing huge public sector pay rises whilst at the same time clobbering business with additional taxes and awarding massive increases in the minimum wage to young workers results in devastating employment and prospects especially for the young

Why would any business employ young workers when they can, for the same wage engage mature and experience staff

Labour often talk about Truss, but Starmer and Reeves have done far more long term damage to the economy and it will be very difficult to reverse

Add in the workers rights bill and the country can now see why ''Labour is not working'

The workers rights bill has largely been fixed. 6 months before full rights kick in is fine. Day 1 was worse than 2 years, but 6 months is better than both.

Most companies I know had a 3 month/6 month trial period and a review at the end of the trial to decide if the job was working out. This should now mean the end-of-trial review will become key to any continuation of employment. Makes sense to review after 3/6 months as it minimises the damage to the company from a poor performer or those unhappy in a role.

Oh great. My daughter helped draft that. [Buffs nails with pride.] Probably means she'll have some time free to see us this Christmas.

In the US, some companies ditched the ever increasing number of rounds of interviews. One interview to get a guesstimate of usefulness, 3 month contract as probation followed (or not) by a permanent role.

Generally received well - both by potential employees and the people working with new hires.

In some areas Starbucks have the principle of first person to ask about the job gets it...

Meanwhile, this being a Labour government, UK unemployment continues to rise: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98nqe0m008o

And sometimes words just fail me:

"Annual average earnings growth was 3.9% for the private sector and 7.6% for the public sector, across the three-month period."

Isn't it the case that public sector wages lag private sector wages - pay settlements tend to be based on historic rates of inflation. In fact, you can see that quite clearly here in Figure 4/5, with public sector wages well behind private sector during the post-COVID period: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/december2025

add pension contributions , cushy number , conditions etc and it is the opposite.

I think it very much depends where you are. In most of Scotland public sector pay is actually substantially ahead of what the private sector is offering. So, for example, a one year qualified solicitor in the private sector will earn somewhere between £40 and £50k outside the most demanding areas. A procurator fiscal with the same qualifications will be paid £52-54K plus the extras that come from the public sector such as pension rights, more holidays, better sick pay, greater security of employment etc.

This is a problem for the private firms and more generally it is a real problem for the economy since the cream of the crop are tempted to the public sector where their skills are not necessarily fully utilised. This makes growing businesses in Scotland, and in other areas with depressed earnings, much more difficult and removes potential innovators or entrepreneurs from the scene.

In contrast, in more affluent areas we see the public sector really struggling to get qualified staff at all because they cannot compete with what is on offer.

The combination of these effects are to depress growth, entrepreneurship and investment in our poorer areas and to increase these in the richer ones. This is one of the major reasons so much money invested in "levelling up" , regional investment funds etc has simply not worked. Ironically, given this money is public sector driven, it can aggravate the problem rather than address it. Do you want a safe, secure, well paid job in some "enterprise company" or take your chances with a dodgy start up?

I think it is a major factor in our economic performance because we create this huge drag factor. Only existing hot spots can create the opportunities and employment needed for growth. Everywhere else the dead hand of an overheavy, over paid public sector destroys growth.

The trouble is the solution doesn't work either - it's incredibly difficult to get doctors to move to the Highlands for example - my partner turned down a £20k golden handshake. You can also argue that the public sector underpins much economic demand in poorer/rural areas, because those teachers/doctors/lawyers are spending money in the local economy.

And the inverse is true in somewhere like Edinburgh - if you boosted salaries here relative to Glasgow all you'd do is concentrate even more economic demand on the east coast.

Anyone need a recently graduated physicist? My eldest is struggling to find anything except very occasional short term temp jobs.

Hopefully things will pick up for him, but it’s very demoralising to be stuck in your parents home.

What part of the UK ?

Oxfordshire. He had mixed A-levels (ABCC) & ended up going to Swansea where he got his head down & was given a first (yes, I know a first isn’t hat it used to be, but still) & the prize for best experimental thesis in his year.

RAF Engineering loves these types. A few short years hence he could be on the Moray Riviera trying to stop somebody from attempting to fix a P-8 with a hammer.

Anyone need a recently graduated physicist? My eldest is struggling to find anything except very occasional short term temp jobs.

Hopefully things will pick up for him, but it’s very demoralising to be stuck in your parents home.

What part of the UK ?

Oxfordshire. He had mixed A-levels (ABCC) & ended up going to Swansea where he got his head down & was given a first (yes, I know a first isn’t hat it used to be, but still) & the prize for best experimental thesis in his year.

He’s never going to be the first pick for the plum jobs - those will go to the Oxbridge/London grads with impeccable CVs - but he’s just getting nothing at all. Any suggestions that I can point him to are most gratefully received - he’s personable & does the work, but he can’t demonstrate that if no one will even interview him.

I’m sure something will turn up eventually, but leads are a bit thin on the ground.

Ah, okay. I’m a few hundred miles away. Cannot help or suggest.

He could try a Biopharma Distributor in Abingdon looking for someone to do office work, but a leg up to Biopharma systems work as there will be more technical jobs available in future as they expand. Biopharma Dynamics. Think the job is still open. Saw it on LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago.

Good luck to him anyway.

No worries. Thanks for the pointer.