There's a bit of a "silly season" vibe to politics going on.
Not making light of the sleaze stuff at all, and Boris has been very silly and made a bad situation much worse.
But after the last few years of intense politics this little of policy rather than personal issues being debated at the moment.
For most policy issues we seem in a bit of an interregnum.
Covid is going ok and we're ready for the winter and will see what happens there. Brexit we are waiting to see what happens when Article 16 is invoked. COP26 is ongoing but nobody credible is going to argue that climate change isn't real, or that Britain isn't already doing what needs to be done and it's really the USA and China etc that will matter there.
After perpetually having years of Covid or Brexit to debate, there's not much happening now policy wise.
I'm feeling worried this morning. Johnson will look for something big to take focus in a different direction and I note that the Netherlands has just set a precedent for lockdowns again, thus giving cover in a way to other governments. It is worrying because when you look at the Dutch stats their deaths from Covid now are a small fraction of what they were in April 2020 and Jan 2021 yet have brought in these measures because of high infections. The effects of the vaccines (i.e. the weakening of the link between infection and illness) are not being recognised.
I still think that it’s not helpful for everyone to go for Geoffrey Cox, who’s done nothing wrong except to have a great job that pays him a fortune on an hourly basis. The focus on Cox is distracting from other, potentially more serious offences that involve a genuine conflict of interest.
Cox is an excellent target for the media and the opposition because it's a visceral image that even Red Wall morons stood in the queue at Gregg's can understand.
You've got this utter monstrosity of a human being sat on his massive fucking arse in the Caribbean making piles of cash advising arseholes about wank while he's supposed to be an MP. No nuance required.
Yes, but his stuff was all declared and it's clear what he was up to for the money. Failings to declare or utter non entities getting big cash with no clear non shady reason to justify it are another level.
We know that Cox declared everything - you are missing the point. The image is the Tory pig with its snout in the trough eating money. Someone who is still paid as an MP but has essentially retired (1 contribution in the Commons in 18 months) and earns unfathomable amounts on top in a luxury Caribbean paradise just winds people up.
He is a totem that sells newspapers and keeps fuelling their longer harder investigations through the really murky waters to the genuinely Bad Stuff.
Speaking in the commons is only a fraction of the work that MPs do, although @NickPalmer would know better than me
Yes, I agree, though once in two years is a bit extreme - I'd expect any MP to be interested in *something* and find an opportunity to raise it in public, as part of a wider effort. No sane person is interested in everything - in 13 years I never took part in a single debate on the fishing industry.
If Cox were to say that he'd pursued issue X vigorously and had N meetings with interested groups and several meetings with Ministers, after which a useful amendment had been introduced by the Government, that'd be fine. But merely saying "I'm doing invisible stuff, trust me", is pushing your luck, and if it turns out you're partly doing it from the Virgin Islands, you're on thin ice in terms of public credibility.
Well he could argues it counts as invisible earnings.
I’m going to make a guess that the swing back to Labour in the red wall is higher than elsewhere and possibly now not reversible as the Tories have lost their chance to appear different
My guess is that the Red Wall, as a psephological monolith, does not actually exist.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
Not least because he would have to declare it on his tax return, for one thing.
I’m going to make a guess that the swing back to Labour in the red wall is higher than elsewhere and possibly now not reversible as the Tories have lost their chance to appear different
My guess is that the Red Wall, as a psephological monolith, does not actually exist.
Hi mate how are you, thanks for your support of late
I’m going to make a guess that the swing back to Labour in the red wall is higher than elsewhere and possibly now not reversible as the Tories have lost their chance to appear different
You may be right. Not sure.
Do we have any polling?
Thanks for your kind comments recently Stocky. You are a good friend
Not sure if you listen to the Red Box podcast but you should catch up with the last three or four months Focus Group episodes. One per month. They interview a random selection of floating voters, particularly regarding their views of Johnson and Starmer. They used to be run by Mattison.
I listen to these every month and they have been clearly more pro-Johnson than pro-Starmer. The October edition was brutal for Starmer, the November edition slightly less so. The December edition will be very interesting ...
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
It is a massive disconnect that MPs think that £81k pa is not a lot of money versus normal people who think it is a vast income. What is median income at the moment, £24k, something, like that? I know people who think £24k pa is huge.
They are so out of touch with reality and as we see many of them hardly turn up to do the job as they are too busy being elsewhere earning even more. Sure there are plenty who are conscientious and put in the hours but there are some real roasters milking it who give them all such a bad name.
Good morning everybody. Quite a pleasant morning, weather-wise.
From his post earlier today, it seems Dura Ace has been fraternising with Malc! Mr A is often abusive but his 6.42 post does seem a bit rich, even for him.
Is use of that sort of language why some posters have recently reduced their activity?
Good morning
We have seen the loss of several posters recently and it may be to do with the unrelenting anti HMG threads, but to be honest Boris and others have opened the door wide with his and their idiotic actions
As far as @Dura_Ace comments are concerned they do not contribute to the discussions but like @malcolmg are designed to be provocative and are best ignored
Who has been driven away? It is not always easy to spot someone who isn't posting so that is a genuine question.
I note that @Casino_Royale hasn't been around and is missed. Any know if he is ok?
SquareRoot was driven off and I played my part in that, but he deserved the responses he got here because his posts were so unpleasant, content free and with no humour to compensate.
Yes, CR posts most days on Twitter, as does @AlastairMeeks. Indeed so does Tim.
For all its faults, I do like twitter as it keeps comments concise. Sometimes the effort needed to continue an intelligent and civil argument on PB gets a bit wearing.
Yes, you can get in a tangle on here. One that sticks in my mind was a few months ago on the BAME topic and whether it applied to Ed Miliband. It was getting a right old pasting from people, as a term, and I posted against the grain, saying I personally found it ok as a word for non-white people in the UK, therefore not suitable for Ed, and that if we needed such a word, which we sometimes probably did, it seemed as good as any other I could think of. This triggered a volcanic intervention from one poster demanding of me "what, so Jews don't count then?" and many posts were then exchanged as I sought to show that my use and understanding of 'BAME' did not reveal an undercurrent of raging antisemitism. I emerged from this, bruised but just about intact, only for a different poster to open up another flank, telling me with quite some agency that Jews were BAME since they all originated from the Middle East. I bit back something flip about Woody Allen and Yasser Arafat and took stock. This was getting truly harrowing now. The casual little paddle I'd intended had become quite the epic voyage and I was absolutely spent. An exit was urgently needed. So I did the only thing I could (short of abruptly logging off, which should be kept for genuine emergencies), I did the 'anodyne closer'. I also made a firm resolution to avoid getting into such a situation on PB again, and by and large I haven't.
That said people predicting the political demise of Boris De Pfeffel are jumping the gun methinks...
Absolutely correct. Lots of wishful thinking by the army of Boris detractors on here
I'm amazed by the variety of Boris worshippers there are on PB and the eclectic mix Who'd have thought that BJO the arch Corbynista and ISAM the last of the Powellites could both share a passion for the same politician.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
This would be the same man who made it clear that (unlike Salmond and other SNP MPs) he would only take one salary and sought to decline his MSP salary? And when he was told that that wasn't possible donated his entire MSP salary to local charities? That "creep"?
David, you well know Salmond donated his to charity and declared it as well.
Yes, the "Mary Salmond Trust"
The SNP weren't impressed:
An SNP source said: “Salmond has his Putin-backed Russian telly show and he still picks up a wedge from his time in government.
There's a bit of a "silly season" vibe to politics going on.
Not making light of the sleaze stuff at all, and Boris has been very silly and made a bad situation much worse.
But after the last few years of intense politics this little of policy rather than personal issues being debated at the moment.
For most policy issues we seem in a bit of an interregnum.
Covid is going ok and we're ready for the winter and will see what happens there. Brexit we are waiting to see what happens when Article 16 is invoked. COP26 is ongoing but nobody credible is going to argue that climate change isn't real, or that Britain isn't already doing what needs to be done and it's really the USA and China etc that will matter there.
After perpetually having years of Covid or Brexit to debate, there's not much happening now policy wise.
I'm feeling worried this morning. Johnson will look for something big to take focus in a different direction and I note that the Netherlands has just set a precedent for lockdowns again, thus giving cover in a way to other governments. It is worrying because when you look at the Dutch stats their deaths from Covid now are a small fraction of what they were in April 2020 and Jan 2021 yet have brought in these measures because of high infections. The effects of the vaccines (i.e. the weakening of the link between infection and illness) are not being recognised.
Not even Johnson is stupid enough to think that a lockdown would strengthen his position in the Tory party.
I’m going to make a guess that the swing back to Labour in the red wall is higher than elsewhere and possibly now not reversible as the Tories have lost their chance to appear different
My guess is that the Red Wall, as a psephological monolith, does not actually exist.
Hi mate how are you, thanks for your support of late
Good to hear from you. Trust you are feeling a little better? If so, great. If not, well, that's OK too.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
It is a massive disconnect that MPs think that £81k pa is not a lot of money versus normal people who think it is a vast income. What is median income at the moment, £24k, something, like that? I know people who think £24k pa is huge.
Reminds me of the time a BBC presenter was taken apart by an expert when talking about "typical second home owners" to be told there's nothing remotely "typical" about a second home owner.
Instead of think Boris is doomed / Boris will survive, why don't we think about what he can do to help his and his party's ratings. What options are open to him from here?
A few people have mentioned distraction / dead cats, which is an obvious and cynical possibility. But is there some kind of policy announcement that could move the conversation on in a way that will help the Conservatives? Something fresh and interesting?
I still think that it’s not helpful for everyone to go for Geoffrey Cox, who’s done nothing wrong except to have a great job that pays him a fortune on an hourly basis. The focus on Cox is distracting from other, potentially more serious offences that involve a genuine conflict of interest.
Cox is an excellent target for the media and the opposition because it's a visceral image that even Red Wall morons stood in the queue at Gregg's can understand.
You've got this utter monstrosity of a human being sat on his massive fucking arse in the Caribbean making piles of cash advising arseholes about wank while he's supposed to be an MP. No nuance required.
Yes, but his stuff was all declared and it's clear what he was up to for the money. Failings to declare or utter non entities getting big cash with no clear non shady reason to justify it are another level.
We know that Cox declared everything - you are missing the point. The image is the Tory pig with its snout in the trough eating money. Someone who is still paid as an MP but has essentially retired (1 contribution in the Commons in 18 months) and earns unfathomable amounts on top in a luxury Caribbean paradise just winds people up.
He is a totem that sells newspapers and keeps fuelling their longer harder investigations through the really murky waters to the genuinely Bad Stuff.
Speaking in the commons is only a fraction of the work that MPs do, although @NickPalmer would know better than me
Yes, I agree, though once in two years is a bit extreme - I'd expect any MP to be interested in *something* and find an opportunity to raise it in public, as part of a wider effort. No sane person is interested in everything - in 13 years I never took part in a single debate on the fishing industry.
If Cox were to say that he'd pursued issue X vigorously and had N meetings with interested groups and several meetings with Ministers, after which a useful amendment had been introduced by the Government, that'd be fine. But merely saying "I'm doing invisible stuff, trust me", is pushing your luck, and if it turns out you're partly doing it from the Virgin Islands, you're on thin ice in terms of public credibility.
Well he could argues it counts as invisible earnings.
Gives a new definition to Working From Home, though!
I’m going to make a guess that the swing back to Labour in the red wall is higher than elsewhere and possibly now not reversible as the Tories have lost their chance to appear different
My guess is that the Red Wall, as a psephological monolith, does not actually exist.
Hi mate how are you, thanks for your support of late
Good to hear from you. Trust you are feeling a little better? If so, great. If not, well, that's OK too.
Bit better thanks after seeing doctor and counsellor
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
It is a massive disconnect that MPs think that £81k pa is not a lot of money versus normal people who think it is a vast income. What is median income at the moment, £24k, something, like that? I know people who think £24k pa is huge.
Plus an effective equivalent to ~50k extra on the salary to pay for accommodation in London.
I think all this 'how can Boris possibly survive such polling?' stuff is rather over-egging it. The Tories' blood lust for ditching leaders is something of a myth: yes they famously ousted Maggie and (less famously) IDS, but all the other leaders were able to survive mid-term polling slumps. Boris will probably be okay.
They were pretty brutal to Theresa at the end too...
But yeah. I think everyone has got a little carried away lol!
I will, if I may, bring up the name of Kevin Rudd. Many here will know him as a former Australian Prime Minister. He was elected as the leader of the Australian Labor Party because he was seen as an election winner, which is more or less the reason why Boris Johnson was elected leader of the Conservative Party in July 2019.
What else do Rudd and Johnson have in common? They both enjoyed/enjoy little natural support within their respective parliamentary parties. Rudd was held up for several years by impressive polling figures. Once they started to turn sour, he was ousted as leader.
Food for thought and all of that.
In many ways Rudd is the sort of politician I should like - reasonable, liberal, cosmopolitan and intelligent. But he is spectacularly boring. Much as I dislike Johnson, he's not really boring.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
It is a massive disconnect that MPs think that £81k pa is not a lot of money versus normal people who think it is a vast income. What is median income at the moment, £24k, something, like that? I know people who think £24k pa is huge.
Reminds me of the time a BBC presenter was taken apart by an expert when talking about "typical second home owners" to be told there's nothing remotely "typical" about a second home owner.
TBH that's a misunderstanding of the language. While I agree that second home owners are not at all typical of the population in general, among second home owners there are some common features, which might be said to demonstrate typicality among that class.
I Have to say that the latest revelations on Tory Sleaze -Notably Douglas Ross who according to the BBC website failed to declare earnings as an MSP ( which salary is a matter of Public Record) and his honarium acting as A Football Referee - start to undermine the sleeve argument.
The is clearly parts of the world were corruption is a major obstacle to justice and good management of a country. but promoting the line that Politicians are corrupt for having life experience and in Ross’s case being a football referee risk’s endangering trust in politics ( which is generally a good thing in a democracy if we want to encourage participation ) after all the public often just see the title of a story not it’s content.
I understand Boris is to face the select committee chairs on Wednesday to what is expected to be a brutal session
I want him replaced as soon as possible, but there does seem to be quite a lot of speculation on here that this is the end for Boris and the conservatives
I expect things will worsen for a while for him, but once Chris Bryant and his committee address the issues , you can expect, as always in politics, something else will come along, be it A16 or far more serious the dreadful border happenings in Poland which has already seen a token force of 10 REME deployed to the front line
Then covid is still an issue as is the economy
And the election is now further away and certainly post boundary changes
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
It is a massive disconnect that MPs think that £81k pa is not a lot of money versus normal people who think it is a vast income. What is median income at the moment, £24k, something, like that? I know people who think £24k pa is huge.
Reminds me of the time a BBC presenter was taken apart by an expert when talking about "typical second home owners" to be told there's nothing remotely "typical" about a second home owner.
TBH that's a misunderstanding of the language. While I agree that second home owners are not at all typical of the population in general, among second home owners there are some common features, which might be said to demonstrate typicality among that class.
The context was that "this is something terrible which will affect lots of people (like me and my friends and colleagues)" - when in fact it affected very few people (3% of households) in the grand scheme of things.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
This would be the same man who made it clear that (unlike Salmond and other SNP MPs) he would only take one salary and sought to decline his MSP salary? And when he was told that that wasn't possible donated his entire MSP salary to local charities? That "creep"?
David, you well know Salmond donated his to charity and declared it as well.
Yes, the "Mary Salmond Trust"
The SNP weren't impressed:
An SNP source said: “Salmond has his Putin-backed Russian telly show and he still picks up a wedge from his time in government.
Tory upset that SNP Scottish politician donates to charity rather than milking money. Tries to imply it is dodgy simply because he named teh charity after his mother, how low can a Tory cult member get , apparently lower than a rattlesnake's belly in a rut. Shameful post.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
It is a massive disconnect that MPs think that £81k pa is not a lot of money versus normal people who think it is a vast income. What is median income at the moment, £24k, something, like that? I know people who think £24k pa is huge.
Plus an effective equivalent to ~50k extra on the salary to pay for accommodation in London.
Take us all day to list their perks, they don't have to pay for anything personally it seems, anything can be claimed back it seems.
I think all this 'how can Boris possibly survive such polling?' stuff is rather over-egging it. The Tories' blood lust for ditching leaders is something of a myth: yes they famously ousted Maggie and (less famously) IDS, but all the other leaders were able to survive mid-term polling slumps. Boris will probably be okay.
They were pretty brutal to Theresa at the end too...
But yeah. I think everyone has got a little carried away lol!
They backed May for years past the point she should have been ousted, even giving her a confidence vote at the end of 2018 ... Leaving her to lead the party to a single digit percentage point share in her final national election!
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
This would be the same man who made it clear that (unlike Salmond and other SNP MPs) he would only take one salary and sought to decline his MSP salary? And when he was told that that wasn't possible donated his entire MSP salary to local charities? That "creep"?
David, you well know Salmond donated his to charity and declared it as well.
Yes, the "Mary Salmond Trust"
The SNP weren't impressed:
An SNP source said: “Salmond has his Putin-backed Russian telly show and he still picks up a wedge from his time in government.
Tory upset that SNP Scottish politician donates to charity rather than milking money. Tries to imply it is dodgy simply because he named teh charity after his mother, how low can a Tory cult member get , apparently lower than a rattlesnake's belly in a rut. Shameful post.
I think all this 'how can Boris possibly survive such polling?' stuff is rather over-egging it. The Tories' blood lust for ditching leaders is something of a myth: yes they famously ousted Maggie and (less famously) IDS, but all the other leaders were able to survive mid-term polling slumps. Boris will probably be okay.
They were pretty brutal to Theresa at the end too...
But yeah. I think everyone has got a little carried away lol!
They backed May for years past the point she should have been ousted, even giving her a confidence vote at the end of 2018 ... Leaving her to lead the party to a single digit percentage point share in her final national election!
That's true. They should really have ousted her on or soon after 8th/9th June 2017...
I Have to say that the latest revelations on Tory Sleaze -Notably Douglas Ross who according to the BBC website failed to declare earnings as an MSP ( which salary is a matter of Public Record) and his honarium acting as A Football Referee - start to undermine the sleeve argument.
The is clearly parts of the world were corruption is a major obstacle to justice and good management of a country. but promoting the line that Politicians are corrupt for having life experience and in Ross’s case being a football referee risk’s endangering trust in politics ( which is generally a good thing in a democracy if we want to encourage participation ) after all the public often just see the title of a story not it’s content.
Doesn't it strike at the idea of competence when you fail to make the necessary declarations? When we're trying to stamp out sleaze, we do need politicians to competently and honestly make the statutory declarations.
I understand Boris is to face the select committee chairs on Wednesday to what is expected to be a brutal session
I want him replaced as soon as possible, but there does seem to be quite a lot of speculation on here that this is the end for Boris and the conservatives
I expect things will worsen for a while for him, but once Chris Bryant and his committee address the issues , you can expect, as always in politics, something else will come along, be it A16 or far more serious the dreadful border happenings in Poland which has already seen a token force of 10 REME deployed to the front line
Then covid is still an issue as is the economy
And the election is now further away and certainly post boundary changes
Boris just needs to be Boris for that - bluster, jape, obfuscate and make the Labour worthies look pissed off. The tribe will soon rally around again.
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
It is a massive disconnect that MPs think that £81k pa is not a lot of money versus normal people who think it is a vast income. What is median income at the moment, £24k, something, like that? I know people who think £24k pa is huge.
Reminds me of the time a BBC presenter was taken apart by an expert when talking about "typical second home owners" to be told there's nothing remotely "typical" about a second home owner.
TBH that's a misunderstanding of the language. While I agree that second home owners are not at all typical of the population in general, among second home owners there are some common features, which might be said to demonstrate typicality among that class.
The context was that "this is something terrible which will affect lots of people (like me and my friends and colleagues)" - when in fact it affected very few people (3% of households) in the grand scheme of things.
Ah, I see. Context makes all. They weren't discussing the fact that the A12 in Essex is regularly blocked on spring and summer evenings by people heading to the Suffolk coast, were they? Bane of my life when my journey home from work involved that trip.It was sometimes worth hanging on at work on a Friday night to avoid the rush.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
This would be the same man who made it clear that (unlike Salmond and other SNP MPs) he would only take one salary and sought to decline his MSP salary? And when he was told that that wasn't possible donated his entire MSP salary to local charities? That "creep"?
David, you well know Salmond donated his to charity and declared it as well.
Yes, the "Mary Salmond Trust"
The SNP weren't impressed:
An SNP source said: “Salmond has his Putin-backed Russian telly show and he still picks up a wedge from his time in government.
Tory upset that SNP Scottish politician donates to charity rather than milking money. Tries to imply it is dodgy simply because he named teh charity after his mother, how low can a Tory cult member get , apparently lower than a rattlesnake's belly in a rut. Shameful post.
Instead of think Boris is doomed / Boris will survive, why don't we think about what he can do to help his and his party's ratings. What options are open to him from here?
A few people have mentioned distraction / dead cats, which is an obvious and cynical possibility. But is there some kind of policy announcement that could move the conversation on in a way that will help the Conservatives? Something fresh and interesting?
He takes to the no 10 lectern and says to the nation he was wrong over Paterson and is genuinely sorry and apologises
He then says that he will support Chris Bryant's work wholeheartedly and that lobbying will be banned, both for companies and unions
And in an ideal world he will have a cabinet reshuffle and send JRM onto the backbenches
However, while this is the right thing to do he just has not got the instinct of courage to say sorry, and this is his weakness alongside the desire to be liked
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
I Have to say that the latest revelations on Tory Sleaze -Notably Douglas Ross who according to the BBC website failed to declare earnings as an MSP ( which salary is a matter of Public Record) and his honarium acting as A Football Referee - start to undermine the sleeve argument.
The is clearly parts of the world were corruption is a major obstacle to justice and good management of a country. but promoting the line that Politicians are corrupt for having life experience and in Ross’s case being a football referee risk’s endangering trust in politics ( which is generally a good thing in a democracy if we want to encourage participation ) after all the public often just see the title of a story not it’s content.
Doesn't it strike at the idea of competence when you fail to make the necessary declarations? When we're trying to stamp out sleaze, we do need politicians to competently and honestly make the statutory declarations.
Yep, what a stupid fcuker is the main takeaway from this particular case.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
This would be the same man who made it clear that (unlike Salmond and other SNP MPs) he would only take one salary and sought to decline his MSP salary? And when he was told that that wasn't possible donated his entire MSP salary to local charities? That "creep"?
David, you well know Salmond donated his to charity and declared it as well.
Yes, the "Mary Salmond Trust"
The SNP weren't impressed:
An SNP source said: “Salmond has his Putin-backed Russian telly show and he still picks up a wedge from his time in government.
Tory upset that SNP Scottish politician donates to charity rather than milking money. Tries to imply it is dodgy simply because he named teh charity after his mother, how low can a Tory cult member get , apparently lower than a rattlesnake's belly in a rut. Shameful post.
Salmond's still in the SNP? Huge if true.....
For our malc Salmond is the SNP.
Sturgeon is an imposter.
If you follow my new meme calling them "SNP Types" covers all bases
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
A fine example of Brutalist architecture
I seem to recall that Jonathan Meades extolled the Brutalist virtues of Flak towers in one of his programmes.
I Have to say that the latest revelations on Tory Sleaze -Notably Douglas Ross who according to the BBC website failed to declare earnings as an MSP ( which salary is a matter of Public Record) and his honarium acting as A Football Referee - start to undermine the sleeve argument.
The is clearly parts of the world were corruption is a major obstacle to justice and good management of a country. but promoting the line that Politicians are corrupt for having life experience and in Ross’s case being a football referee risk’s endangering trust in politics ( which is generally a good thing in a democracy if we want to encourage participation ) after all the public often just see the title of a story not it’s content.
Chris Bryant makes a similar point in a Guardian article this morning.
And surprisingly, given it's the Guardian, avoids the Tory 'sleeve' typo.
Although there's no real scandal in the Douglas Ross thing, it strikes me as rather bizarre. Everybody knows he's an MSP and does a bit of refereeing on the side. So why didn't he declare it in the Register? I understand that each month MPs are asked to update their Register entry, if necessary - so he's had lots of prompts. And if he genuinely 'forgot', which seems a bit odd in the current climate, why didn't one of his mates or an HoC official give him a gentle reminder? As I say, a bit bizarre.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
It is a massive disconnect that MPs think that £81k pa is not a lot of money versus normal people who think it is a vast income. What is median income at the moment, £24k, something, like that? I know people who think £24k pa is huge.
I'll have you know that 80 grand a year doesn't even put you in the top 50% never mind the top 5%
One of the most excruciating QT audience interactions of all time. Which the Question Time Twiiter account tweeted out without the context that he was a moron who was utterly wrong.
Instead of think Boris is doomed / Boris will survive, why don't we think about what he can do to help his and his party's ratings. What options are open to him from here?
A few people have mentioned distraction / dead cats, which is an obvious and cynical possibility. But is there some kind of policy announcement that could move the conversation on in a way that will help the Conservatives? Something fresh and interesting?
He takes to the no 10 lectern and says to the nation he was wrong over Paterson and is genuinely sorry and apologises
He then says that he will support Chris Bryant's work wholeheartedly and that lobbying will be banned, both for companies and unions
And in an ideal world he will have a cabinet reshuffle and send JRM onto the backbenches
However, while this is the right thing to do he just has not got the instinct of courage to say sorry, and this is his weakness alongside the desire to be liked
This comes down to Boris being a brand rather than a person. And Boris the brand is built partly on never apologising, so he will always choose instead to evade or bluster when he can, even if it is damaging.
Continuing the UK/France spat suits both Boris and Macron very well at the moment, even if it is equally bad for UK and French people and businesses. I will be pretty surprised if that does not dominate the headlines again at some point in November, once we move away from cop and sleaze.
Instead of think Boris is doomed / Boris will survive, why don't we think about what he can do to help his and his party's ratings. What options are open to him from here?
A few people have mentioned distraction / dead cats, which is an obvious and cynical possibility. But is there some kind of policy announcement that could move the conversation on in a way that will help the Conservatives? Something fresh and interesting?
Polishes up the family Luger and says "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
A fine example of Brutalist architecture
I seem to recall that Jonathan Meades extolled the Brutalist virtues of Flak towers in one of his programmes.
Eew, that is almost as bad as the Hotel Merde. At the cost of putting the old St James's Centre on top instead of the gilded turd.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
This would be the same man who made it clear that (unlike Salmond and other SNP MPs) he would only take one salary and sought to decline his MSP salary? And when he was told that that wasn't possible donated his entire MSP salary to local charities? That "creep"?
David, you well know Salmond donated his to charity and declared it as well.
Yes, the "Mary Salmond Trust"
The SNP weren't impressed:
An SNP source said: “Salmond has his Putin-backed Russian telly show and he still picks up a wedge from his time in government.
Tory upset that SNP Scottish politician donates to charity rather than milking money. Tries to imply it is dodgy simply because he named teh charity after his mother, how low can a Tory cult member get , apparently lower than a rattlesnake's belly in a rut. Shameful post.
Salmond's still in the SNP? Huge if true.....
For our malc Salmond is the SNP.
Sturgeon is an imposter.
If you follow my new meme calling them "SNP Types" covers all bases
No offence intended but it looks really silly to write that.
A meme catches on and is spread by others, I don't think yours will ever be a meme.
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
Well, it's got plenty of thermal mass - 200 kilotons of concrete.
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
This would be the same man who made it clear that (unlike Salmond and other SNP MPs) he would only take one salary and sought to decline his MSP salary? And when he was told that that wasn't possible donated his entire MSP salary to local charities? That "creep"?
David, you well know Salmond donated his to charity and declared it as well.
Yes, the "Mary Salmond Trust"
The SNP weren't impressed:
An SNP source said: “Salmond has his Putin-backed Russian telly show and he still picks up a wedge from his time in government.
Although there's no real scandal in the Douglas Ross thing, it strikes me as rather bizarre. Everybody knows he's an MSP and does a bit of refereeing on the side. So why didn't he declare it in the Register? I understand that each month MPs are asked to update their Register entry, if necessary - so he's had lots of prompts. And if he genuinely 'forgot', which seems a bit odd in the current climate, why didn't one of his mates or an HoC official give him a gentle reminder? As I say, a bit bizarre.
When it is as straightforward as this seems to be claiming stupidity is the only defence (since there seems nothing he has actually sought to hide, so there's nothing nefarious). Often people will claim things are just too complicated - see election returns etc, even though the parties have the resources to train people to navigate them).
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
This would be the same man who made it clear that (unlike Salmond and other SNP MPs) he would only take one salary and sought to decline his MSP salary? And when he was told that that wasn't possible donated his entire MSP salary to local charities? That "creep"?
David, you well know Salmond donated his to charity and declared it as well.
Yes, the "Mary Salmond Trust"
The SNP weren't impressed:
An SNP source said: “Salmond has his Putin-backed Russian telly show and he still picks up a wedge from his time in government.
Tory upset that SNP Scottish politician donates to charity rather than milking money. Tries to imply it is dodgy simply because he named teh charity after his mother, how low can a Tory cult member get , apparently lower than a rattlesnake's belly in a rut. Shameful post.
Salmond's still in the SNP? Huge if true.....
For our malc Salmond is the SNP.
Sturgeon is an imposter.
If you follow my new meme calling them "SNP Types" covers all bases
I just learnt that Muckle Flugga in the Shetlands is further North than parts of Kujalleq in Greenland
Muckle Flugga? God I love place names.
Been there, or at least Hermaness NNR (the nearest bit of Unst, where we stayed in what must have been the most northerly B&B in the UK - wonder what Cyclefree would make of the sheep baaing at what felt like 3am in the midsummer dawn).
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
A fine example of Brutalist architecture
I seem to recall that Jonathan Meades extolled the Brutalist virtues of Flak towers in one of his programmes.
Eew, that is almost as bad as the Hotel Merde. At the cost of putting the old St James's Centre on top instead of the gilded turd.
One shudders to think that the hotel might be themed - The Lancaster Suite, the Pathfinder Cocktail Bar etc. Probably a crass step too far, particularly for Hamburgers, but they'd do a roaring trade with Farageist Brits.
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
A fine example of Brutalist architecture
I seem to recall that Jonathan Meades extolled the Brutalist virtues of Flak towers in one of his programmes.
It's a pity a Grand Slam never landed on one.
The damage would have been an interesting experiment, all other things aside.
The profile of Germany's historic C02 emissions is notable
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
Well, it's got plenty of thermal mass - 200 kilotons of concrete.
'It was 1947/48, before the British Army blew up the tower complex. The smaller ‘L’ tower was blown up successfully on the first attempt on July 28, 1947. The larger ‘G’ tower required far more effort and explosives than the British engineers had expected. Initially, the G-tower was packed with 25 tons of explosives, and press had gathered to watch the demolition. The explosives were set off at 16:00 hours on August 30; however, when the dust cleared, the G tower still stood. One US journalist is reported to have remarked "Made in Germany".'
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
A fine example of Brutalist architecture
I seem to recall that Jonathan Meades extolled the Brutalist virtues of Flak towers in one of his programmes.
It's a pity a Grand Slam never landed on one.
The damage would have been an interesting experiment, all other things aside.
The profile of Germany's historic C02 emissions is notable
I just learnt that Muckle Flugga in the Shetlands is further North than parts of Kujalleq in Greenland
Yes, the southern tip of Greenland is about level with Fair Isle
I like this map showing all the places as north as Scotland
Rather like maps showing the voyages of the Vikings. Underlines how (relatively) close they were to their destinations, when compared to a Mercators projection, as in old-fashioned (do they still have them?) school atlases.
I just learnt that Muckle Flugga in the Shetlands is further North than parts of Kujalleq in Greenland
Yes, the southern tip of Greenland is about level with Fair Isle
I like this map showing all the places as north as Scotland
Rather like maps showing the voyages of the Vikings. Underlines how (relatively) close they were to their destinations, when compared to a Mercators projection, as in old-fashioned (do they still have them?) school atlases.
Though Miklagard/Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul looks well outside their comfort zone.
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
Well, it's got plenty of thermal mass - 200 kilotons of concrete.
'It was 1947/48, before the British Army blew up the tower complex. The smaller ‘L’ tower was blown up successfully on the first attempt on July 28, 1947. The larger ‘G’ tower required far more effort and explosives than the British engineers had expected. Initially, the G-tower was packed with 25 tons of explosives, and press had gathered to watch the demolition. The explosives were set off at 16:00 hours on August 30; however, when the dust cleared, the G tower still stood. One US journalist is reported to have remarked "Made in Germany".'
It's an interesting account of how the USSR dealt with them in Berlin.
Basically the same way the US dealt with Japanese occupied islands, and the UK the Channel Islands.
I just learnt that Muckle Flugga in the Shetlands is further North than parts of Kujalleq in Greenland
Yes, the southern tip of Greenland is about level with Fair Isle
I like this map showing all the places as north as Scotland
Rather like maps showing the voyages of the Vikings. Underlines how (relatively) close they were to their destinations, when compared to a Mercators projection, as in old-fashioned (do they still have them?) school atlases.
Though Miklagard/Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul looks well outside their comfort zone.
River voyages. No need to go around when you have two pretty hefty rivers to take you most of the way there. Kiev was founded by such river-bothering Nordics.
Mr. Divvie, the river approach mentioned by Mr. Farooq is quite correct, and they had substantial rewards awaiting them once the Varangian Guard was instigated. Quite a few Anglo-Saxons who fled Norman England joined up too.
I just learnt that Muckle Flugga in the Shetlands is further North than parts of Kujalleq in Greenland
Yes, the southern tip of Greenland is about level with Fair Isle
I like this map showing all the places as north as Scotland
Rather like maps showing the voyages of the Vikings. Underlines how (relatively) close they were to their destinations, when compared to a Mercators projection, as in old-fashioned (do they still have them?) school atlases.
Though Miklagard/Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul looks well outside their comfort zone.
Yes, that was an odd one. Of course not all the Vikings were raiders; many, probably the majority, were traders. And of course we tend to forget that it was a lot easier to travel down rivers and along coasts than through forests.
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
Well, it's got plenty of thermal mass - 200 kilotons of concrete.
'It was 1947/48, before the British Army blew up the tower complex. The smaller ‘L’ tower was blown up successfully on the first attempt on July 28, 1947. The larger ‘G’ tower required far more effort and explosives than the British engineers had expected. Initially, the G-tower was packed with 25 tons of explosives, and press had gathered to watch the demolition. The explosives were set off at 16:00 hours on August 30; however, when the dust cleared, the G tower still stood. One US journalist is reported to have remarked "Made in Germany".'
It's an interesting account of how the USSR dealt with them in Berlin.
Basically the same way the US dealt with Japanese occupied islands, and the UK the Channel Islands.
ie Sit and wait.
I once sat all day on an Alderney beach (with occasional forays for sustenance) and watched someone with a tractor try to destroy a 'derelict' German blockhouse. It was largely undamaged at the end of the day.
I did see, elsewhere, someone suggest an almost amusing part-remedy for MPs with outside earnings: apply the UC taper to their MP salary.
So 55% of any excess they bring in (above an amount equal to the current UC threshold as it would apply to them) gets deducted from their salary, all the way down to zero if necessary.
True, it would impose a colossal effective tax rate on that income, but that’s no different from a lot of their constituents.
Right, before people pile on, can I make it clear that Dom Cummings is a) a mendacious idiot, not to be believed, and b) out for revenge. But nevertheless, I found this interesting:
It sounds vaguely believable, doesn't it? The 'trolley' got bored quickly once Brexit was done, needed more money, and wanted to write about Shakespeare - i.e. earn more money. If, and it's a big if, anybody more trustworthy than Dom could corroborate that Boris missed early Covid Cobra meetings in Feb 2020 because he was writing at Chevening, that may be rather damaging.
Priced in, surely? Everyone already knows Boris is lazy with no grasp of detail. And unless everyone in Number 10 is very stupid, the Shakespeare book will not see the light of day until Boris leaves.
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
Well, it's got plenty of thermal mass - 200 kilotons of concrete.
'It was 1947/48, before the British Army blew up the tower complex. The smaller ‘L’ tower was blown up successfully on the first attempt on July 28, 1947. The larger ‘G’ tower required far more effort and explosives than the British engineers had expected. Initially, the G-tower was packed with 25 tons of explosives, and press had gathered to watch the demolition. The explosives were set off at 16:00 hours on August 30; however, when the dust cleared, the G tower still stood. One US journalist is reported to have remarked "Made in Germany".'
It says a lot for the complacent amateurishness of Regime Boris that they did not skewer Ian Blackford with that in the Commons; on a quick search level, it was a matter of 30s to discover that Scotland has twice as many combined sewer / drain outfalls per pop than England.
That doesn't make the case. However they should have been on it.
I did see, elsewhere, someone suggest an almost amusing part-remedy for MPs with outside earnings: apply the UC taper to their MP salary.
So 55% of any excess they bring in (above an amount equal to the current UC threshold as it would apply to them) gets deducted from their salary, all the way down to zero if necessary.
True, it would impose a colossal effective tax rate on that income, but that’s no different from a lot of their constituents.
That is an absolutely fantastic solution. 🤣
Would make them properly understand the impact of their policies on constituents too to be in the same book.
I just learnt that Muckle Flugga in the Shetlands is further North than parts of Kujalleq in Greenland
Yes, the southern tip of Greenland is about level with Fair Isle
I like this map showing all the places as north as Scotland
Rather like maps showing the voyages of the Vikings. Underlines how (relatively) close they were to their destinations, when compared to a Mercators projection, as in old-fashioned (do they still have them?) school atlases.
Though Miklagard/Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul looks well outside their comfort zone.
Yes, that was an odd one. Of course not all the Vikings were raiders; many, probably the majority, were traders. And of course we tend to forget that it was a lot easier to travel down rivers and along coasts than through forests.
And interesting fact is that in the Viking era, bridges across rivers were not just means of crossing from one bank to another, but a means of preventing raiding ships from incursions. A notable effort was made along the Seine to prevent Vikings from being able to reach Paris, which is why Normandy is Normandy. The settlers that came in the wake of the raiders went so far and not farther upstream. Alternative histories with a Norman-lead court in Paris could have been interesting.
I did see, elsewhere, someone suggest an almost amusing part-remedy for MPs with outside earnings: apply the UC taper to their MP salary.
So 55% of any excess they bring in (above an amount equal to the current UC threshold as it would apply to them) gets deducted from their salary, all the way down to zero if necessary.
True, it would impose a colossal effective tax rate on that income, but that’s no different from a lot of their constituents.
I suggested MPs excess earnings should be the highest marginal rate anyone in the country has to pay, so potentially higher than the UC taper rate. (And capped at 500 hrs per year).
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
Well, it's got plenty of thermal mass - 200 kilotons of concrete.
'It was 1947/48, before the British Army blew up the tower complex. The smaller ‘L’ tower was blown up successfully on the first attempt on July 28, 1947. The larger ‘G’ tower required far more effort and explosives than the British engineers had expected. Initially, the G-tower was packed with 25 tons of explosives, and press had gathered to watch the demolition. The explosives were set off at 16:00 hours on August 30; however, when the dust cleared, the G tower still stood. One US journalist is reported to have remarked "Made in Germany".'
Well that's an impartial source citing opinions as facts.
The spin that Humza put on the Care Inspectorate report was extraordinary. He claimed vindication but what the Inspectorate said was that they found no evidence of racism at all. What they did find was that some of the paperwork by the nursery could have been clearer and they gave them a period of time in which to improve that. The improvements were related to data being recorded so that they could vouch and demonstrate their equality principles. There has been a lot of support locally for the nursery.
Reports are always all about the spin. No-one has time to read them with press deadlines in an hour. No-one knows that McPherson did not say all coppers are racist or that Butler condemned Blair. Corbynites still moan that their man was not found to be antisemitic by the EHRC report. It does not matter. It's too late. No-one is going to go back and read the fine print. The point was well-made in the metadioxin episode of Yes, Minister. It's the summary and press release that are crucial.
It says a lot for the complacent amateurishness of Regime Boris that they did not skewer Ian Blackford with that in the Commons; on a quick search level, it was a matter of 30s to discover that Scotland has twice as many combined sewer / drain outfalls per pop than England.
That doesn't make the case. However they should have been on it.
Population density; the drain from a small settlement of 15 houses is counted the same as one from a large city suburb. Very difficult to compare (either way).
Yes, his work as a referee certainly hasn't been a secret. It simply appears he hasn't been registering it properly. Now don't get me wrong, he should have been and he deserves a rap across the knuckles for not doing so. But it's hardly a hanging offence.
Just another bent as a three bob bit Tory who only remembers they earned £30K on the side when it appears in the newspapers. These are the creeps that voted to take £20 quid a week off people who were getting £75 a week saying they could work 2 hours a week and make it up. How do these evil gits sleep at night.
For once I agree with malcolmg - THAT is the issue that will really wind up people in difficulty.
The poor cannot imagine earning that much never mind forgetting they earned it on top of their £81K salary. How does anyone forget they earned almost £30K.
It is a massive disconnect that MPs think that £81k pa is not a lot of money versus normal people who think it is a vast income. What is median income at the moment, £24k, something, like that? I know people who think £24k pa is huge.
I'll have you know that 80 grand a year doesn't even put you in the top 50% never mind the top 5%
One of the most excruciating QT audience interactions of all time. Which the Question Time Twiiter account tweeted out without the context that he was a moron who was utterly wrong.
Though, to be charitable to the guy, listening to the whole clip I think it becomes clear that he is thinking about overall wealth not solely income. So if he earns £80k pa from employment but it is all committed and has no assets (retained wealth) to speak of he doesn't regard himself as wealthy at all let alone in the top 5%.
The panel didn't clarify their terms well enough, and the guy obviously believes that the LP "tax the top 5%" policy should be based on overall wealth not income and the fact that it is based solely on income is because it is easier to tax via PAYE than wealth is.
I did see, elsewhere, someone suggest an almost amusing part-remedy for MPs with outside earnings: apply the UC taper to their MP salary.
So 55% of any excess they bring in (above an amount equal to the current UC threshold as it would apply to them) gets deducted from their salary, all the way down to zero if necessary.
True, it would impose a colossal effective tax rate on that income, but that’s no different from a lot of their constituents.
After the recent stushy about Edinburgh's Hotel Jobby, interesting to see this happening in Hamburg. While I accept that it would be preferrable not to have a history that had necessitated huge Flaktürme in your major cities, not sure building crappy looking hotels on top of them is the way ahead.
Before
After
Well, it's got plenty of thermal mass - 200 kilotons of concrete.
'It was 1947/48, before the British Army blew up the tower complex. The smaller ‘L’ tower was blown up successfully on the first attempt on July 28, 1947. The larger ‘G’ tower required far more effort and explosives than the British engineers had expected. Initially, the G-tower was packed with 25 tons of explosives, and press had gathered to watch the demolition. The explosives were set off at 16:00 hours on August 30; however, when the dust cleared, the G tower still stood. One US journalist is reported to have remarked "Made in Germany".'
My late father spent the last 6 or so months of his WWII service destroying German military equipment in N Denmark. Some was blown up but some was dumped at sea.
Off topic (sorry) but on the issue of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and the linking of the 400m debt to Iran is there the possibility that the UK govt pays the funds into escrow with the UN on the basis that when sanctions etc allow the UN will release the funds to Iran.
This would then remove it as an issue as the UK govt can say “see, we want to pay it but technically cannot give it to you but when you sort out your issues you get it” and so it takes away a stick for Iran to beat the UK with in the eyes of the world….
Or alternatively the UK could buy Iran 400m of vaccines and have them delivered as surely the Iranian govt would love to use the money to help their people and not use it for nefarious means….!!
Do you trust the UN not to release it immediately and say “oops sorry?”
Who would care? Saudi Arabia? The FCO will blame the UN and then we can get on with our lives, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. If you want to be cynical, does Boris want to risk NZR's release being the trigger for pull-out supplements and television drama-docs telling the whole story of NZR's imprisonment and Boris's role in it?
I'm assuming this one of those deals where the publisher pays an advance for the publicity not expecting to recoup it on sales? Would anyone here hold their hand up and say they'd buy this, or at least before it hit the remainder bin?
It says a lot for the complacent amateurishness of Regime Boris that they did not skewer Ian Blackford with that in the Commons; on a quick search level, it was a matter of 30s to discover that Scotland has twice as many combined sewer / drain outfalls per pop than England.
That doesn't make the case. However they should have been on it.
Population density; the drain from a small settlement of 15 houses is counted the same as one from a large city suburb. Very difficult to compare (either way).
Yep. True.
And also perhaps the relative number of rivers (?).
It still stands that there was an opportunity to skewer, and no one had done the homework. Given Mr Blackford's political strategy, they should have a box of those under the table in the Commons.
Comments
I hear Paris is nice at this time of the year.
Could win back TSE that way.
Tory coalition is falling apart and so is the Tory lead
Labour now in the position to tell the SNP to go away
I listen to these every month and they have been clearly more pro-Johnson than pro-Starmer. The October edition was brutal for Starmer, the November edition slightly less so. The December edition will be very interesting ...
Kelner always good
I'm amazed by the variety of Boris worshippers there are on PB and the eclectic mix Who'd have thought that BJO the arch Corbynista and ISAM the last of the Powellites could both share a passion for the same politician.
The SNP weren't impressed:
An SNP source said: “Salmond has his Putin-backed Russian telly show and he still picks up a wedge from his time in government.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/alex-salmond-urged-give-up-23832200
If so, great.
If not, well, that's OK too.
And misses out the more important part, that cutting the iniquitous interest rates is being considered.
(Though we need to know what the change is - a change to CPI+3 would be a good start, or better CPI+1.)
I'd say change to a standard graduate tax.
A few people have mentioned distraction / dead cats, which is an obvious and cynical possibility. But is there some kind of policy announcement that could move the conversation on in a way that will help the Conservatives? Something fresh and interesting?
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19714105.scotland-way-behind-england-solving-problems-sewage-spills-rivers/
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/13/universal-credit-claimants-were-sent-unlawful-demands-to-repay-says-charity
But yeah. I think everyone has got a little carried away lol!
The is clearly parts of the world were corruption is a major obstacle to justice and good management of a country. but promoting the line that Politicians are corrupt for having life experience and in Ross’s case being a football referee risk’s endangering trust in politics ( which is generally a good thing in a democracy if we want to encourage participation ) after all the public often just see the title of a story not it’s content.
I want him replaced as soon as possible, but there does seem to be quite a lot of speculation on here that this is the end for Boris and the conservatives
I expect things will worsen for a while for him, but once Chris Bryant and his committee address the issues , you can expect, as always in politics, something else will come along, be it A16 or far more serious the dreadful border happenings in Poland which has already seen a token force of 10 REME deployed to the front line
Then covid is still an issue as is the economy
And the election is now further away and certainly post boundary changes
Before
After
Bane of my life when my journey home from work involved that trip.It was sometimes worth hanging on at work on a Friday night to avoid the rush.
Sturgeon is an imposter.
He then says that he will support Chris Bryant's work wholeheartedly and that lobbying will be banned, both for companies and unions
And in an ideal world he will have a cabinet reshuffle and send JRM onto the backbenches
However, while this is the right thing to do he just has not got the instinct of courage to say sorry, and this is his weakness alongside the desire to be liked
And surprisingly, given it's the Guardian, avoids the Tory 'sleeve' typo.
You'd think one would have raised a smile, but no pun in ten did.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/question-time-video-man-top-earners-tax-percent-80000-explained-a9213351.html
One of the most excruciating QT audience interactions of all time. Which the Question Time Twiiter account tweeted out without the context that he was a moron who was utterly wrong.
https://twitter.com/bbcquestiontime/status/1197651546940608514?t=uhG5wppi8KolA7o2TKFpDg&s=19
Continuing the UK/France spat suits both Boris and Macron very well at the moment, even if it is equally bad for UK and French people and businesses. I will be pretty surprised if that does not dominate the headlines again at some point in November, once we move away from cop and sleaze.
A meme catches on and is spread by others, I don't think yours will ever be a meme.
Could be used as a heat storage facility.
I can but try.
The damage would have been an interesting experiment, all other things aside.
The profile of Germany's historic C02 emissions is notable
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo_Tower
Berlin Tiergarten:
'It was 1947/48, before the British Army blew up the tower complex. The smaller ‘L’ tower was blown up successfully on the first attempt on July 28, 1947. The larger ‘G’ tower required far more effort and explosives than the British engineers had expected. Initially, the G-tower was packed with 25 tons of explosives, and press had gathered to watch the demolition. The explosives were set off at 16:00 hours on August 30; however, when the dust cleared, the G tower still stood. One US journalist is reported to have remarked "Made in Germany".'
Basically the same way the US dealt with Japanese occupied islands, and the UK the Channel Islands.
ie Sit and wait.
And of course we tend to forget that it was a lot easier to travel down rivers and along coasts than through forests.
It was largely undamaged at the end of the day.
So 55% of any excess they bring in (above an amount equal to the current UC threshold as it would apply to them) gets deducted from their salary, all the way down to zero if necessary.
True, it would impose a colossal effective tax rate on that income, but that’s no different from a lot of their constituents.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39590752
That doesn't make the case. However they should have been on it.
Would make them properly understand the impact of their policies on constituents too to be in the same book.
It's always a mistake after the event comes to light, isn't it?
Though, to be charitable to the guy, listening to the whole clip I think it becomes clear that he is thinking about overall wealth not solely income. So if he earns £80k pa from employment but it is all committed and has no assets (retained wealth) to speak of he doesn't regard himself as wealthy at all let alone in the top 5%.
The panel didn't clarify their terms well enough, and the guy obviously believes that the LP "tax the top 5%" policy should be based on overall wealth not income and the fact that it is based solely on income is because it is easier to tax via PAYE than wealth is.
Dan Bloom
@danbloom1
Matt Hancock 'considering £100,000 deal on book called How I Won the Covid War'
And also perhaps the relative number of rivers (?).
It still stands that there was an opportunity to skewer, and no one had done the homework. Given Mr Blackford's political strategy, they should have a box of those under the table in the Commons.
https://twitter.com/GuidoFawkes/status/1459471252792434690?t=F4o_W0750O4GUxTJvd9ZhA&s=19