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Re: FINALLY! – politicalbetting.com
Thank you Cyclefree. It's writing like this that makes the site worth reading. All the best to you.
Re: Improving public services, Labour’s best hope? – politicalbetting.com
UK ‘woefully’ unprepared for Chinese and Russian undersea cable sabotage, says reportMaybe I am old fashioned but in what way is this not warfare? And why do we still trade with people who behave like this as if they were normal? We really need to get much more realistic about how the world is as opposed to how we would like it to be.
CSRI finds China and Russia may be coordinating ‘grey zone’ tactics against vulnerable western infrastructure
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/15/uk-woefully-ill-protected-against-chinese-and-russian-undersea-cable-sabotage
DavidL
6
Re: FINALLY! – politicalbetting.com
Why did feminists not speak up?
Well some did - Julie Bindel, for one. She is not just a feminist but is prepared to do the hard work ferreting out the stories and the evidence. That takes time and money and not many press publications were willing to publish the stories. Nor are many journalists or feminists willing to or able to do that work. Anna Hall made a documentary in 2004. Ann Cryer MP was raising this in 2003. So were social workers and policewomen.
But look at the response they got - either silence or attacked as being bigoted or anti-Muslim or on the far-right. Andrew Norfolk who did so much to bring this to national attention delayed writing about this precisely for this reason. Fellow Labour MPs attacked Ann Cryer. Naz Shah said that people should be quiet for the sake of good community relations etc. And some will have ignored it because their feminism was skin deep or only applied to middle class women or because they did not want to be trouble-makers or for the good of their careers etc etc
This is a wider point but whenever women raise issues affecting them, the responses have all too often been very personal vicious personalised attacks. And then later they get attacked for not having done more.
As for my prejudices showing, whoever raised that is showing his prejudices. I deliberately widened it out to make the point that our society is simply unwilling to take seriously the steps needed to prevent or limit opportunities for sexual harassment, one of which is the push for unisex facilities when there is loads of evidence that this increases such crimes. Hence also my reference to the broken promises about indecent exposure. If we cannot be bothered to take this seriously, we are not in a good position to lecture migrants about their failures to comply with our values. When we promote those who presided over decades of failure in local authorities on this (hello Mrs Hodge) what message does that send out?
One final point: we have as I have stated ad nauseam underfunded the criminal justice system for years. We do not need a multi-year inquiry to tell us that if we properly funded social work, police, prosecutors, forensic services, the courts etc., and expected high quality work from them, it would be easier to catch those who commit these appalling crimes.
Instead we do nothing, then have a moral panic, concentrate on finding someone politically expedient to blame, kick the whole thing into the long grass, ignore all recommendations and do precisely f*** all for the victims.
Well some did - Julie Bindel, for one. She is not just a feminist but is prepared to do the hard work ferreting out the stories and the evidence. That takes time and money and not many press publications were willing to publish the stories. Nor are many journalists or feminists willing to or able to do that work. Anna Hall made a documentary in 2004. Ann Cryer MP was raising this in 2003. So were social workers and policewomen.
But look at the response they got - either silence or attacked as being bigoted or anti-Muslim or on the far-right. Andrew Norfolk who did so much to bring this to national attention delayed writing about this precisely for this reason. Fellow Labour MPs attacked Ann Cryer. Naz Shah said that people should be quiet for the sake of good community relations etc. And some will have ignored it because their feminism was skin deep or only applied to middle class women or because they did not want to be trouble-makers or for the good of their careers etc etc
This is a wider point but whenever women raise issues affecting them, the responses have all too often been very personal vicious personalised attacks. And then later they get attacked for not having done more.
As for my prejudices showing, whoever raised that is showing his prejudices. I deliberately widened it out to make the point that our society is simply unwilling to take seriously the steps needed to prevent or limit opportunities for sexual harassment, one of which is the push for unisex facilities when there is loads of evidence that this increases such crimes. Hence also my reference to the broken promises about indecent exposure. If we cannot be bothered to take this seriously, we are not in a good position to lecture migrants about their failures to comply with our values. When we promote those who presided over decades of failure in local authorities on this (hello Mrs Hodge) what message does that send out?
One final point: we have as I have stated ad nauseam underfunded the criminal justice system for years. We do not need a multi-year inquiry to tell us that if we properly funded social work, police, prosecutors, forensic services, the courts etc., and expected high quality work from them, it would be easier to catch those who commit these appalling crimes.
Instead we do nothing, then have a moral panic, concentrate on finding someone politically expedient to blame, kick the whole thing into the long grass, ignore all recommendations and do precisely f*** all for the victims.
Cyclefree
16
Re: FINALLY! – politicalbetting.com
All,
Thanks for your comments on this and generally your good wishes. The cancer is too far advanced for a cure but the doctors are reasonably hopeful that if I respond well to the treatment, it can be kept under control and maybe even shrunk so that I can live with it, for a good number of years (no number given). And if not there are more intrusive treatments available. There is obviously a risk that none of this will work. I have lived with dodgy lungs and peculiar blood all my life so this is just one more thing to add to the list. I am not belittling its seriousness but I am glad I am not being given false reassurance (unlike the screening programme - grrr!). And there are plenty of doctors in the family so yes I will ask questions etc but no I am not going in for snake oil miracle cures
And day to day I feel absolutely fine - no different to how I felt this time last year - so I am concentrating on living as well as possible, while the doctors and drugs do their stuff to the stalker unaccountably attached to my body. And, yes, I am eating well and taking exercise. But I've done this all my life so sometimes - despite that - shit happens.
I am focusing on things that are Important rather than Urgent as too often in life it becomes the other way around. So 5 roses bought this week!
Also I am doing a work webinar with the London Stock Exchange and AI experts on Surveillance in the Workplace on the 24th so if anyone wants a link let me know.
Thanks for your comments on this and generally your good wishes. The cancer is too far advanced for a cure but the doctors are reasonably hopeful that if I respond well to the treatment, it can be kept under control and maybe even shrunk so that I can live with it, for a good number of years (no number given). And if not there are more intrusive treatments available. There is obviously a risk that none of this will work. I have lived with dodgy lungs and peculiar blood all my life so this is just one more thing to add to the list. I am not belittling its seriousness but I am glad I am not being given false reassurance (unlike the screening programme - grrr!). And there are plenty of doctors in the family so yes I will ask questions etc but no I am not going in for snake oil miracle cures
And day to day I feel absolutely fine - no different to how I felt this time last year - so I am concentrating on living as well as possible, while the doctors and drugs do their stuff to the stalker unaccountably attached to my body. And, yes, I am eating well and taking exercise. But I've done this all my life so sometimes - despite that - shit happens.
I am focusing on things that are Important rather than Urgent as too often in life it becomes the other way around. So 5 roses bought this week!
Also I am doing a work webinar with the London Stock Exchange and AI experts on Surveillance in the Workplace on the 24th so if anyone wants a link let me know.
Cyclefree
29
Re: FINALLY! – politicalbetting.com
I'd just like to point out that the inquiry should not just cover the abuse of girls: boys are routinely abused as well. As Ms Free said above: "No-one seems to care about how women and girls in migrant communities are treated by those abusing white girls. Nor about girls trafficked here from other countries to be abused. Nor about the sexual abuse of boys."
Yes, the numbers are smaller: estimates say 1 in 20 boys s experience child sexual abuse before the age of 16, whereas for girls it is 1 in 6 (1), but that does not mean that the abuse of boys should be ignored by the inquiry.
All too often, boys and men are seen only as the abusers, not as the abused.
I'd also point out that she's spot-on about the lack of care for the vulnerable in other communities. All too often, the talk becomes of "white girls" being the victims, instead of "children". The background of the child should be irrelevant: abuse is abuse.
(1) The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Yes, the numbers are smaller: estimates say 1 in 20 boys s experience child sexual abuse before the age of 16, whereas for girls it is 1 in 6 (1), but that does not mean that the abuse of boys should be ignored by the inquiry.
All too often, boys and men are seen only as the abusers, not as the abused.
I'd also point out that she's spot-on about the lack of care for the vulnerable in other communities. All too often, the talk becomes of "white girls" being the victims, instead of "children". The background of the child should be irrelevant: abuse is abuse.
(1) The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Re: FINALLY! – politicalbetting.com
Actually, at the risk of making @Sunil_Prasannan jealous I am catching a train from Perth to Inverness this morning. It’s a beautiful day so the views should be spectacular.
DavidL
6
Re: Improving public services, Labour’s best hope? – politicalbetting.com
I've been thinking about my attitude towards Trump, and it's interesting how it has changed.
I'm disgusted by him and how he acts, that's a constant and a given, of course. And I'm still scared of what he might choose to do, or allow to be done in his name.
The thing that has changed is that my dominant feeling is one of contempt for his weakness. His slogan is to "Make America Great Again" but in everything that he does he actually is making America weak. We see this today with him bigging up Putin as a mediator in the Israel/Iran war - way to go to make an adversary of America stronger and diplomatically more important! His social media message about Putin wishing him a happy birthday on the phone was just cringe. It's like Trump thinks people should be impressed that a world leader spoke to him on the phone. Hello! You're the President of the United States. Of course other world leaders will speak to you on the phone. Stop fawning over them when they do so.
It's so deeply lame and pathetic.
I'm disgusted by him and how he acts, that's a constant and a given, of course. And I'm still scared of what he might choose to do, or allow to be done in his name.
The thing that has changed is that my dominant feeling is one of contempt for his weakness. His slogan is to "Make America Great Again" but in everything that he does he actually is making America weak. We see this today with him bigging up Putin as a mediator in the Israel/Iran war - way to go to make an adversary of America stronger and diplomatically more important! His social media message about Putin wishing him a happy birthday on the phone was just cringe. It's like Trump thinks people should be impressed that a world leader spoke to him on the phone. Hello! You're the President of the United States. Of course other world leaders will speak to you on the phone. Stop fawning over them when they do so.
It's so deeply lame and pathetic.
Re: Improving public services, Labour’s best hope? – politicalbetting.com
...
Its not just the U-Turn, it is the stupidity of the initial policy, the ridiculous justification given at the time and the idiotic new policy....see WFA, initially targeted too many poor OAPs, but if they didn't do it, it would crash the pound of something despite borrowing £20bn for the NHS and promise to splash £20bn on carbon capture, and now will end up not saving a penny (in fact probably require more paper pushers to process everything).It also sticks somewhat in the craw that they execute these u-turns and instead of saying 'hands up we got it wrong', they insist on these bizarre lies that 'we can do this because we steadied the ship' - nobody believes this.
Re: Improving public services, Labour’s best hope? – politicalbetting.com
I'm disappointed that he didn't thank me for my attention on this matter.https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1934245361239110011I wonder who types all this up for Trump.
Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal, just like I got India and Pakistan to make, in that case by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP! Also, during my first term, Serbia and Kosovo were going at it hot and heavy, as they have for many decades, and this long time conflict was ready to break out into WAR. I stopped it (Biden has hurt the longer term prospects with some very stupid decisions, but I will fix it, again!). Another case is Egypt and Ethiopia, and their fight over a massive dam that is having an effect on the magnificent Nile River. There is peace, at least for now, because of my intervention, and it will stay that way! Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place. I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!
And whether he reads his own account.
RobD
6