Harry Cole @MrHarryCole Tricky to see how Douglas Ross, Ben Bradley, Dan Jarvis etc who all have big public jobs away from Westminster as an MSP, Council chief or Mayor will get past the Government's adoption of Standards Committee recommendation one: that they "prioritise" the Commons.
How will any Tory manage the conversion from "prioritising themselves"
I changed my betting position from Tory hold to Tory loss/Lab gain the other day because the Tory candidate is an utter bellend. Why would you say this during the current climate? No matter how many clarifications he issues these comments will be raised a lot by Labour.
The Bexley by-election candidate says he might just keep his job as a Mayfair-based fund manager if he gets elected because, don't worry, he's not a "career politician"
One thing that I have encountered is that in parts of India people have only one name. I have a colleague known as Kumar, or more formally Dr Kumar. This presented a problem in England as forms require a forename and a surname, so he had to invent one, and adopted his father's name as a forename. It was only after 10 years of working with him that he told me, so I had been misnaming for an embarrassingly long time.
There was a good sketch in Goodness Gracious Me on the subject of names:
Watching cricket one often sees different names on Indian or Pakistani players shirts from those on the scorecard, as a result of trying to fit people's names into 'our' cultural norm. Of course, in much of the British Isles, surnames, as we understand them now, are a comparatively recent invention. Does the same apply elsewhere in Europe?
Well, depends what you mean by recent. There are a few family names that can be traced to before the Conquest (Hatt, Wollstonecraft). Patronymic names, such as Macdonald or Fitzwalter can be traced 900-1000 years (and sometimes longer by legend) and by the 14th century surnames, whether patronym, place name (eg Bruce, Whittington), trade (eg Taylor, Clark, Smith), or personal charactoristic (Campbell, Brown) were fairly universal.
In Turkey, however, Surnames were only made compulsory under Ataturk and many people adopted quite comic names because they thought it was just a passing fad. In Estonia nature names are very common and were often adopted in the thirties when many Swedish and German names were Estonianised, so for example Johanson became Juhasoo ("Spring-marsh").
Has anyone managed to work out this 'Kevin' thing? I haven't seen any definitive explanation.
I wondered if it was related to call centres (legitimate or otherwise) in India giving their staff English aliases. I've definitely spoken to a 'Kevin' more than once. Did it come from from that, I wonder?
On the by-election I can see a big vote for staying at home. What are the odds on turnout?
It doesn't say why 'Kevin' specifically. Maybe there was no particular reason.
Assigning English names is bad enough, but assigning a single English name to all is obviously worse.
Dear friend of mine who recently passed away, a little old Chinese American lady originally from Hong Kong, came back from her first day at her new school, which was run by English-speaking Irish nuns.
She told her mother that the nuns had told her class it was too difficult for them to learn all the Chinese names of all their Chinese students. So they instructed the girls to go home, think about it overnight, and come back the next day having picked their Anglo name.
Her mom thought for a bit, then gave her daughter two alternatives: Bridget or Colleen. She chose the latter, as being easier prettier and easier to say. Must say, her mother was clearly no dummy; not only gave the little girl a choice of two options that were BOTH calculated to please the Irish sisters!
And Colleen was how the English-speaking world knew her for the next seventy-plus years.
That’s still surprisingly common among Chinese expatriates. I once worked at an hotel, where there were a number of Chinese staff and they all had Western names - so you’d get an email from ‘Lin Chi Han (Sophie). Marketing Executive, Asia’. Took a while to get used to it.
Many of our Hong Kong students do this. I am currently supervising one who is called Jason to me, but something else to native speakers. No bother, as long as you know what they prefer to be called.
So similar to pronouns - just call people what they want to be called…
I changed my betting position from Tory hold to Tory loss/Lab gain the other day because the Tory candidate is an utter bellend. Why would you say this during the current climate? No matter how many clarifications he issues these comments will be raised a lot by Labour.
The Bexley by-election candidate says he might just keep his job as a Mayfair-based fund manager if he gets elected because, don't worry, he's not a "career politician"
Has anyone managed to work out this 'Kevin' thing? I haven't seen any definitive explanation.
I wondered if it was related to call centres (legitimate or otherwise) in India giving their staff English aliases. I've definitely spoken to a 'Kevin' more than once. Did it come from from that, I wonder?
On the by-election I can see a big vote for staying at home. What are the odds on turnout?
It doesn't say why 'Kevin' specifically. Maybe there was no particular reason.
Assigning English names is bad enough, but assigning a single English name to all is obviously worse.
Dear friend of mine who recently passed away, a little old Chinese American lady originally from Hong Kong, came back from her first day at her new school, which was run by English-speaking Irish nuns.
She told her mother that the nuns had told her class it was too difficult for them to learn all the Chinese names of all their Chinese students. So they instructed the girls to go home, think about it overnight, and come back the next day having picked their Anglo name.
Her mom thought for a bit, then gave her daughter two alternatives: Bridget or Colleen. She chose the latter, as being easier prettier and easier to say. Must say, her mother was clearly no dummy; not only gave the little girl a choice of two options that were BOTH calculated to please the Irish sisters!
And Colleen was how the English-speaking world knew her for the next seventy-plus years.
That’s still surprisingly common among Chinese expatriates. I once worked at an hotel, where there were a number of Chinese staff and they all had Western names - so you’d get an email from ‘Lin Chi Han (Sophie). Marketing Executive, Asia’. Took a while to get used to it.
Many of our Hong Kong students do this. I am currently supervising one who is called Jason to me, but something else to native speakers. No bother, as long as you know what they prefer to be called.
My son did a bit of tutoring while at Imperial. The Chinese students were both surprised and pleased when he asked and learned their actual names. (No criticism implied, though.)
One does wonder if the practice will survive the twin challenges of President Xi's Chinese nationalism and well-meaning (and, separately) woke Westerners telling them Chinese names are best. A bit like how we worry about using Mumbai and Uluru but don't give a thought to London being called Londres or indeed calling Roma Rome. A Boris by any other name...
I don't think it's particularly woke to take the trouble to learn someone's name. But it's a complex subject. Korean names, for example, can be a minefield given the different modes of address depending on social heirarchy.
Minor op tomorrow. With a General Anaesthetic. Ugh. Taxi at 6:30am.
Good luck this morning!
I’m in tomorrow morning for something minor, really hate hospitals.
My brother, who is seriously ill, now has Covid. He almost certainly got it on his hospital trips since he doesn't go out otherwise. Hospitals are best stayed away from at the moment.
I changed my betting position from Tory hold to Tory loss/Lab gain the other day because the Tory candidate is an utter bellend. Why would you say this during the current climate? No matter how many clarifications he issues these comments will be raised a lot by Labour.
The Bexley by-election candidate says he might just keep his job as a Mayfair-based fund manager if he gets elected because, don't worry, he's not a "career politician"
Off-topic, but has anyone seen a hitchiker in the last ten years? I can't remember the last time I did. In my late teens, I'd hitchike regularly, and when I had a car, I'd pick them up on a regular basis.
I remember well the last four Yorkshiremen I picked up.
Today, the government will bring in new rules on second jobs for MPs, including clear provisions in response to revelations about Geoffrey Cox earning millions while living in the Caribbean. And the minister doing the media round for it is denying Geoffrey Cox did anything wrong.
We will make sure nothing like this ever happens again. But no one has done anything wrong
Boris seems to have shot Labour's fox but do we know the details? I expect there will be another row and u-turn later on when Boris is sat on by well-remunerated colleagues, especially if they see an exception for book royalties!
I changed my betting position from Tory hold to Tory loss/Lab gain the other day because the Tory candidate is an utter bellend. Why would you say this during the current climate? No matter how many clarifications he issues these comments will be raised a lot by Labour.
The Bexley by-election candidate says he might just keep his job as a Mayfair-based fund manager if he gets elected because, don't worry, he's not a "career politician"
Well, what with second (and, I believe, on occasion third' jobs and the furore over cricket there's plenty for the papers to get their teeth into. The Essex supporters site is quite supportive of those who are complaining, although does wonder if some of the puddings are rather over-egged.
Essex is of course a bit like Yorkshire - it's probably equally split between its urban area in the East End and the rural area where it has traditionally also recruited players from Herts and Suffolk. So you would suspect a big urban Asian component and then maybe a lot of people in the sticks who just don't understand. Having said that, it is the county of Nasser Hussain so you would have thought that would give people a better attitude. But then I believe the player recently complaining was of Afro-Caribbean origin and this probably isn't just about Asian players
Nazis based their elite schools on top British private schools Eton and Harrow among those whose ‘character-building’ qualities were admired by German educators in 1930s and 1940s
They particularly admired the institutional racism.
I'm not sure the Nazis embraced multiculturalism before visiting Eton.
The Nazis banned fox hunting. *Before* setting up Dachau.
Mind you, this is the same bunch that attempted to prosecute the commandant of Auschwitz for...... sadism and murder.
One thing that I have encountered is that in parts of India people have only one name. I have a colleague known as Kumar, or more formally Dr Kumar. This presented a problem in England as forms require a forename and a surname, so he had to invent one, and adopted his father's name as a forename. It was only after 10 years of working with him that he told me, so I had been misnaming for an embarrassingly long time.
There was a good sketch in Goodness Gracious Me on the subject of names:
Watching cricket one often sees different names on Indian or Pakistani players shirts from those on the scorecard, as a result of trying to fit people's names into 'our' cultural norm. Of course, in much of the British Isles, surnames, as we understand them now, are a comparatively recent invention. Does the same apply elsewhere in Europe?
Well, depends what you mean by recent. There are a few family names that can be traced to before the Conquest (Hatt, Wollstonecraft). Patronymic names, such as Macdonald or Fitzwalter can be traced 900-1000 years (and sometimes longer by legend) and by the 14th century surnames, whether patronym, place name (eg Bruce, Whittington), trade (eg Taylor, Clark, Smith), or personal charactoristic (Campbell, Brown) were fairly universal.
In Turkey, however, Surnames were only made compulsory under Ataturk and many people adopted quite comic names because they thought it was just a passing fad. In Estonia nature names are very common and were often adopted in the thirties when many Swedish and German names were Estonianised, so for example Johanson became Juhasoo ("Spring-marsh").
Wins a prize for today's most esoteric contribution from PB's brains trust - really interesting.
My own name apparently comes from a profession of mercenary European pilgrims, which sounds the sort of thing you'd accuse a Rejoiner to be. The Church used to insist that landowners made a pilgrimage to Rome every year. Naturally they thought that a tiresome distraction from counting their money, so they persuaded the bishops to allow them to delegate it. Thus you could make a decent living as a p(s)almer, commuting to Rome and singing psalms on behalf of Baron X.
Speaking of Eton in a non-Godwin context, has it been noted the players at the centre of the Owen Paterson botched rescue all went to the same school? Boris, Kwasi (who did the media tour), JRM and Charles Moore, whose brainchild it might have been.
Off-topic, but has anyone seen a hitchiker in the last ten years? I can't remember the last time I did. In my late teens, I'd hitchike regularly, and when I had a car, I'd pick them up on a regular basis.
I remember well the last four Yorkshiremen I picked up.
All at once?
I used to have a mini which was twitchy in high winds in the motorway, and selectively pick up fatties as ballast.
Minor op tomorrow. With a General Anaesthetic. Ugh. Taxi at 6:30am.
Good luck this morning!
I’m in tomorrow morning for something minor, really hate hospitals.
My brother, who is seriously ill, now has Covid. He almost certainly got it on his hospital trips since he doesn't go out otherwise. Hospitals are best stayed away from at the moment.
Bit of a problem for me!
LOL There are a remarkable number of doctors who seem to manage it at Ninewells and are still working from home. I have been told that my follow up from my little excitement in June with blood clots etc won't be until the New Year. Its a bit disappointing to be honest.
Sympathies to you and your brother - I hope the issues clear up soon.
Has anyone managed to work out this 'Kevin' thing? I haven't seen any definitive explanation.
I wondered if it was related to call centres (legitimate or otherwise) in India giving their staff English aliases. I've definitely spoken to a 'Kevin' more than once. Did it come from from that, I wonder?
On the by-election I can see a big vote for staying at home. What are the odds on turnout?
It doesn't say why 'Kevin' specifically. Maybe there was no particular reason.
Assigning English names is bad enough, but assigning a single English name to all is obviously worse.
Dear friend of mine who recently passed away, a little old Chinese American lady originally from Hong Kong, came back from her first day at her new school, which was run by English-speaking Irish nuns.
She told her mother that the nuns had told her class it was too difficult for them to learn all the Chinese names of all their Chinese students. So they instructed the girls to go home, think about it overnight, and come back the next day having picked their Anglo name.
Her mom thought for a bit, then gave her daughter two alternatives: Bridget or Colleen. She chose the latter, as being easier prettier and easier to say. Must say, her mother was clearly no dummy; not only gave the little girl a choice of two options that were BOTH calculated to please the Irish sisters!
And Colleen was how the English-speaking world knew her for the next seventy-plus years.
That’s still surprisingly common among Chinese expatriates. I once worked at an hotel, where there were a number of Chinese staff and they all had Western names - so you’d get an email from ‘Lin Chi Han (Sophie). Marketing Executive, Asia’. Took a while to get used to it.
Many of our Hong Kong students do this. I am currently supervising one who is called Jason to me, but something else to native speakers. No bother, as long as you know what they prefer to be called.
My son did a bit of tutoring while at Imperial. The Chinese students were both surprised and pleased when he asked and learned their actual names. (No criticism implied, though.)
One does wonder if the practice will survive the twin challenges of President Xi's Chinese nationalism and well-meaning (and, separately) woke Westerners telling them Chinese names are best. A bit like how we worry about using Mumbai and Uluru but don't give a thought to London being called Londres or indeed calling Roma Rome. A Boris by any other name...
I don't think it's particularly woke to take the trouble to learn someone's name. But it's a complex subject. Korean names, for example, can be a minefield given the different modes of address depending on social heirarchy.
Simplist is to ask!
Though English names also have curious etiquette depending on hierarchy. Most of the staff at the hospital call me Dr Foxy* even when I call them by the first name, even when I ask them to call me by my forename. There are exceptions, so the ward receptionist calls me by my first name as we have known each other nearly 30 years in differing roles.
*not my real name, but a self chosen one for here.
I changed my betting position from Tory hold to Tory loss/Lab gain the other day because the Tory candidate is an utter bellend. Why would you say this during the current climate? No matter how many clarifications he issues these comments will be raised a lot by Labour.
The Bexley by-election candidate says he might just keep his job as a Mayfair-based fund manager if he gets elected because, don't worry, he's not a "career politician"
Minor op tomorrow. With a General Anaesthetic. Ugh. Taxi at 6:30am.
Good luck this morning!
I’m in tomorrow morning for something minor, really hate hospitals.
My brother, who is seriously ill, now has Covid. He almost certainly got it on his hospital trips since he doesn't go out otherwise. Hospitals are best stayed away from at the moment.
Best wishes to your brother. Have been putting it off for a while, definitely didn’t want to go to the hospital when there was a nasty virus going around, and people were going there and getting sick rather than better.
I get the impression that Labour is making an effort here but not so much in North Shropshire, and the LibDems the reverse. Not based on much, but I'm getting WhatsApp messages urging me to Bexley, and nobody's mentioned Shropshire at all. As a Lomdoner at heart I know how to get to Bexley, whereas tbh I couldn't find Shropshire on a map without help. Er, NW Midlands or something?
Like Foxy I expect a Bexley Con hold though, but a reasonable swing to Labour.
Shropshire is the bit between Birmingham and Wales.
Get to Shrewsbury on the train from New Street to Aberystwyth.
Too complicated, will leave it to the LibDems to find
Boris Johnson faces a confrontation with his backbenchers today as he pushes for MPs to be banned from taking on second jobs as consultants.
The prime minister gave in yesterday to pressure over sleaze by proposing that MPs be barred from acting as paid political consultants. He also called for a limit on the amount of time MPs can spend on outside interests.
He will push his plans to a vote in the Commons today in an attempt to outflank Labour. The move represents a significant shift in Johnson’s position a fortnight after his botched attempt to block the suspension of Owen Paterson, a former cabinet minister.
There was a backlash yesterday from Tory MPs with outside interests, who accused him of “capitulation”. One said: “It’s pouring petrol on to the flames. He’s caved to the left. Now if you have a consultancy it will be assumed you’re evil.”
Another MP said that Johnson announced the plans because he was concerned about being embarrassed during an appearance before the liaison committee of MPs this afternoon. “There’s a lot of unease. It’s the lurching, the U-turning, the lack of consultation.”
One thing that I have encountered is that in parts of India people have only one name. I have a colleague known as Kumar, or more formally Dr Kumar. This presented a problem in England as forms require a forename and a surname, so he had to invent one, and adopted his father's name as a forename. It was only after 10 years of working with him that he told me, so I had been misnaming for an embarrassingly long time.
There was a good sketch in Goodness Gracious Me on the subject of names:
Watching cricket one often sees different names on Indian or Pakistani players shirts from those on the scorecard, as a result of trying to fit people's names into 'our' cultural norm. Of course, in much of the British Isles, surnames, as we understand them now, are a comparatively recent invention. Does the same apply elsewhere in Europe?
In the Netherlands (much like the rest of Europe I assume) they used patronyms or job titles until the 19th century. After Napoleon took over the Netherlands in 1811 he insisted on the proper recording of a registry of births, marriages and deaths and insisted on the introduction of the French system of family names. So this is where many of the Dutch names based on towns or villages comes from. There is an urban myth in the Netherlands that this is where a lot of the strange Dutch surnames come from as they were intended as a rebellion against the Napoleonic system. But most of the strange sounding Dutch surnames have rather prosaic origins.
One thing that I have encountered is that in parts of India people have only one name. I have a colleague known as Kumar, or more formally Dr Kumar. This presented a problem in England as forms require a forename and a surname, so he had to invent one, and adopted his father's name as a forename. It was only after 10 years of working with him that he told me, so I had been misnaming for an embarrassingly long time.
There was a good sketch in Goodness Gracious Me on the subject of names:
Watching cricket one often sees different names on Indian or Pakistani players shirts from those on the scorecard, as a result of trying to fit people's names into 'our' cultural norm. Of course, in much of the British Isles, surnames, as we understand them now, are a comparatively recent invention. Does the same apply elsewhere in Europe?
Well, depends what you mean by recent. There are a few family names that can be traced to before the Conquest (Hatt, Wollstonecraft). Patronymic names, such as Macdonald or Fitzwalter can be traced 900-1000 years (and sometimes longer by legend) and by the 14th century surnames, whether patronym, place name (eg Bruce, Whittington), trade (eg Taylor, Clark, Smith), or personal charactoristic (Campbell, Brown) were fairly universal.
In Turkey, however, Surnames were only made compulsory under Ataturk and many people adopted quite comic names because they thought it was just a passing fad. In Estonia nature names are very common and were often adopted in the thirties when many Swedish and German names were Estonianised, so for example Johanson became Juhasoo ("Spring-marsh").
Wins a prize for today's most esoteric contribution from PB's brains trust - really interesting.
My own name apparently comes from a profession of mercenary European pilgrims, which sounds the sort of thing you'd accuse a Rejoiner to be. The Church used to insist that landowners made a pilgrimage to Rome every year. Naturally they thought that a tiresome distraction from counting their money, so they persuaded the bishops to allow them to delegate it. Thus you could make a decent living as a p(s)almer, commuting to Rome and singing psalms on behalf of Baron X.
There are worse jobs.
Mentioned in the Canterbury Tales prologue. Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
Off-topic, but has anyone seen a hitchiker in the last ten years? I can't remember the last time I did. In my late teens, I'd hitchike regularly, and when I had a car, I'd pick them up on a regular basis.
I remember well the last four Yorkshiremen I picked up.
The only hitch-hikers I know of are the cheapstake car delivery drivers who used to then hitchhike to their next job.
I even picked one up once as he went from here to Rothwell as it was on my way to Manchester (although checking the date that was in 2009 for the first day of that Pet Shop Boys tour).
Well, what with second (and, I believe, on occasion third' jobs and the furore over cricket there's plenty for the papers to get their teeth into. The Essex supporters site is quite supportive of those who are complaining, although does wonder if some of the puddings are rather over-egged.
Essex is of course a bit like Yorkshire - it's probably equally split between its urban area in the East End and the rural area where it has traditionally also recruited players from Herts and Suffolk. So you would suspect a big urban Asian component and then maybe a lot of people in the sticks who just don't understand. Having said that, it is the county of Nasser Hussain so you would have thought that would give people a better attitude. But then I believe the player recently complaining was of Afro-Caribbean origin and this probably isn't just about Asian players
Yes, Essex and Yorkshire are culturally similar. Both have urban areas, Yorkshire has Sheffield, Bradford and Leeds and Essex is right on the edge of London with parts of South Essex effectively outer London. Both also have large rural areas and villages and farming communities. Both also have a high percentage of white working class residents as well as BAME residents.
Both were also strongly for Brexit. Every area in Essex voted Leave and every area in Yorkshire voted Leave apart from Leeds
A well-to-do female doctor neighbour had a Chinese manservant known to all as "Whitey". His initials were YT. Many Chinese students adopted that kind of initialism for their names.
The Government’s commitment to the Bank of England’s operational independence and the current regime of flexible inflation targeting, with an operational target of 2% CPI inflation, remains absolute.
Sunak started the budget by saying he'd written to the BoE to reaffirm the 2% target.
Has anyone managed to work out this 'Kevin' thing? I haven't seen any definitive explanation.
I wondered if it was related to call centres (legitimate or otherwise) in India giving their staff English aliases. I've definitely spoken to a 'Kevin' more than once. Did it come from from that, I wonder?
On the by-election I can see a big vote for staying at home. What are the odds on turnout?
It doesn't say why 'Kevin' specifically. Maybe there was no particular reason.
Assigning English names is bad enough, but assigning a single English name to all is obviously worse.
Dear friend of mine who recently passed away, a little old Chinese American lady originally from Hong Kong, came back from her first day at her new school, which was run by English-speaking Irish nuns.
She told her mother that the nuns had told her class it was too difficult for them to learn all the Chinese names of all their Chinese students. So they instructed the girls to go home, think about it overnight, and come back the next day having picked their Anglo name.
Her mom thought for a bit, then gave her daughter two alternatives: Bridget or Colleen. She chose the latter, as being easier prettier and easier to say. Must say, her mother was clearly no dummy; not only gave the little girl a choice of two options that were BOTH calculated to please the Irish sisters!
And Colleen was how the English-speaking world knew her for the next seventy-plus years.
That’s still surprisingly common among Chinese expatriates. I once worked at an hotel, where there were a number of Chinese staff and they all had Western names - so you’d get an email from ‘Lin Chi Han (Sophie). Marketing Executive, Asia’. Took a while to get used to it.
Many of our Hong Kong students do this. I am currently supervising one who is called Jason to me, but something else to native speakers. No bother, as long as you know what they prefer to be called.
My son did a bit of tutoring while at Imperial. The Chinese students were both surprised and pleased when he asked and learned their actual names. (No criticism implied, though.)
One does wonder if the practice will survive the twin challenges of President Xi's Chinese nationalism and well-meaning (and, separately) woke Westerners telling them Chinese names are best. A bit like how we worry about using Mumbai and Uluru but don't give a thought to London being called Londres or indeed calling Roma Rome. A Boris by any other name...
I don't think it's particularly woke to take the trouble to learn someone's name. But it's a complex subject. Korean names, for example, can be a minefield given the different modes of address depending on social heirarchy.
*not my real name, but a self chosen one for here.
I’m disappointed. I thought they were all PB readers!
Speaking of Eton in a non-Godwin context, has it been noted the players at the centre of the Owen Paterson botched rescue all went to the same school? Boris, Kwasi (who did the media tour), JRM and Charles Moore, whose brainchild it might have been.
They should have taken outside advice from the Archbishop of C, or the last PM but one...
It is odd how not the public schools generally but Eton specifically dominates public life. Makes one idly wonder why one sends ones children elsewhere. Eton doesn't cost markedly more
Speaking of Eton in a non-Godwin context, has it been noted the players at the centre of the Owen Paterson botched rescue all went to the same school? Boris, Kwasi (who did the media tour), JRM and Charles Moore, whose brainchild it might have been.
They should have taken outside advice from the Archbishop of C, or the last PM but one...
It is odd how not the public schools generally but Eton specifically dominates public life. Makes one idly wonder why one sends ones children elsewhere. Eton doesn't cost markedly more
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Can you explain why you say that inflation is spiralling out of control?
All the mainstream media reporting is that this is mainly one-off factors (like the rise in energy costs), or related to post-pandemic disruption (like the increase in prices for second-hand cars), or people spending money they saved during lockdown (which they can only spend once), so you'd expect inflation to come back down next year without a rate rise.
What are the signals that inflation is spiralling?
I'd not be surprised if there was lots the media was missing.
I suppose the only other point I'd make is that the national insurance tax rise would be expected to have a deflationary impact, as it's taking money out of the economy.
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Ah but what is causing this inflation? The economy was deliberately shrunk by governments in the face of the Covid pandemic. Contraction was not caused by lack of demand, money supply, or the economic cycle. The risk is surely that central bankers' traditional toolkit and analysis are ill-suited to today's unique conditions.
I agree that Labour are in with a chance, though it is still a 2 horse race. The photos in the tweets are interesting. Group Tory photos always either look as if every Tory supporter is old and mad, slightly younger but fond of making money out of dodgy schemes and dining with bores, or, a Tory speciality, a mix of posh, red trouser, bimbo and neo fascist under 30s. Part of the charm of our ancient unwritten constitution is that this combination of eccentrics collectively decide who has the power to destroy Moscow in a nuclear attack. As right now.
It's like USA politics only funnier.
Group Labour photos always look as if there might be someone in it worth chatting up if you were to study it carefully, but when you do, like Arsenal it flatters to deceive, and they turn out to be a Stalinist member of the Friends of North Korea.
I have dipped a toe in the water behind Labour at OB&S, but that Brexit thingy + old people turning out could save the Tories.
The Paterson by election is also interesting. I think it is unreadable at the moment, and in the absence of better data Tories should come home in a small turnout. Why are the LDs so short odds when they came a very bad third?
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Can you explain why you say that inflation is spiralling out of control?
All the mainstream media reporting is that this is mainly one-off factors (like the rise in energy costs), or related to post-pandemic disruption (like the increase in prices for second-hand cars), or people spending money they saved during lockdown (which they can only spend once), so you'd expect inflation to come back down next year without a rate rise.
What are the signals that inflation is spiralling?
I'd not be surprised if there was lots the media was missing.
I suppose the only other point I'd make is that the national insurance tax rise would be expected to have a deflationary impact, as it's taking money out of the economy.
Energy costs aren't going to drop, demand is still rising and supply simply can't (because it already would have done if it could).
The issue here is that people are going to expect another large wage increase and it's wage driven inflation that you need to watch out for here (as it can easily become perpetual / staginflation)
Ah but what is causing this inflation? The economy was deliberately shrunk by governments in the face of the Covid pandemic. Contraction was not caused by lack of demand, money supply, or the economic cycle. The risk is surely that central bankers' traditional toolkit and analysis are ill-suited to today's unique conditions.
What is causing it? The price of bloody everything going up. There's swathes of real shortages out there and what you can get has had a whopping price increase. Which means the cost of getting work done, things produced or shipped etc etc etc has gone up.
A 27% swing in the inflation rate in a month is Not Good.
A well-to-do female doctor neighbour had a Chinese manservant known to all as "Whitey". His initials were YT. Many Chinese students adopted that kind of initialism for their names.
I used to work with a guy known to all as CS.
Mind you, Consultants at work have a 3 letter code. Most are based on their 3 initials, but mine isn't, as someone else already had my initials. Hence I have worked for 20 years with an incorrect middle initial, and get correspondence including an imaginary middle initial. It is mildly irksome as my true middle initial has a long heritage in my family.
Has anyone managed to work out this 'Kevin' thing? I haven't seen any definitive explanation.
I wondered if it was related to call centres (legitimate or otherwise) in India giving their staff English aliases. I've definitely spoken to a 'Kevin' more than once. Did it come from from that, I wonder?
On the by-election I can see a big vote for staying at home. What are the odds on turnout?
It doesn't say why 'Kevin' specifically. Maybe there was no particular reason.
Assigning English names is bad enough, but assigning a single English name to all is obviously worse.
Dear friend of mine who recently passed away, a little old Chinese American lady originally from Hong Kong, came back from her first day at her new school, which was run by English-speaking Irish nuns.
She told her mother that the nuns had told her class it was too difficult for them to learn all the Chinese names of all their Chinese students. So they instructed the girls to go home, think about it overnight, and come back the next day having picked their Anglo name.
Her mom thought for a bit, then gave her daughter two alternatives: Bridget or Colleen. She chose the latter, as being easier prettier and easier to say. Must say, her mother was clearly no dummy; not only gave the little girl a choice of two options that were BOTH calculated to please the Irish sisters!
And Colleen was how the English-speaking world knew her for the next seventy-plus years.
That’s still surprisingly common among Chinese expatriates. I once worked at an hotel, where there were a number of Chinese staff and they all had Western names - so you’d get an email from ‘Lin Chi Han (Sophie). Marketing Executive, Asia’. Took a while to get used to it.
Many of our Hong Kong students do this. I am currently supervising one who is called Jason to me, but something else to native speakers. No bother, as long as you know what they prefer to be called.
My son did a bit of tutoring while at Imperial. The Chinese students were both surprised and pleased when he asked and learned their actual names. (No criticism implied, though.)
One does wonder if the practice will survive the twin challenges of President Xi's Chinese nationalism and well-meaning (and, separately) woke Westerners telling them Chinese names are best. A bit like how we worry about using Mumbai and Uluru but don't give a thought to London being called Londres or indeed calling Roma Rome. A Boris by any other name...
I don't think it's particularly woke to take the trouble to learn someone's name. But it's a complex subject. Korean names, for example, can be a minefield given the different modes of address depending on social heirarchy.
Simplist is to ask!
Though English names also have curious etiquette depending on hierarchy. Most of the staff at the hospital call me Dr Foxy* even when I call them by the first name, even when I ask them to call me by my forename. There are exceptions, so the ward receptionist calls me by my first name as we have known each other nearly 30 years in differing roles.
*not my real name, but a self chosen one for here.
As a Uni academic I much prefer to be addressed by students using my first name, not as Dr Turbotubbs, or worse, Sir.
I get the impression that Labour is making an effort here but not so much in North Shropshire, and the LibDems the reverse. Not based on much, but I'm getting WhatsApp messages urging me to Bexley, and nobody's mentioned Shropshire at all. As a Lomdoner at heart I know how to get to Bexley, whereas tbh I couldn't find Shropshire on a map without help. Er, NW Midlands or something?
Like Foxy I expect a Bexley Con hold though, but a reasonable swing to Labour.
Shropshire is the bit between Birmingham and Wales.
Get to Shrewsbury on the train from New Street to Aberystwyth.
Too complicated, will leave it to the LibDems to find
They will be arriving en masse in a fleet of narrowboats.
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
Speaking of Eton in a non-Godwin context, has it been noted the players at the centre of the Owen Paterson botched rescue all went to the same school? Boris, Kwasi (who did the media tour), JRM and Charles Moore, whose brainchild it might have been.
They should have taken outside advice from the Archbishop of C, or the last PM but one...
It is odd how not the public schools generally but Eton specifically dominates public life. Makes one idly wonder why one sends ones children elsewhere. Eton doesn't cost markedly more
Some parents cannot deal with sending their kids to boarding schools.
On the names front, we should also remember that many Jewish names were adopted from packing cases or shop signs to satisfy immigration officials.
Or like my wife's family taken from the surname of an old Tsar so as not to sound "too jewish" during one of Stalin's fits of temper in the 50's - of course they were still jews so my mother in law wasn't allowed to go to Moscow University as they had filled their 'jew quota' at the time
FREDERIKSBERG has a social democrat mayor - perhaps only Nick Palmer will appreciate what a shock this is and shows how demographic change is sending the Copenhagen area redder than ever - his old chums in Enhedslisten (lightweight communists with ponytails) also THRASHED the social democrats in Copenhagen - the "mink scandal" hit the social democrats very hard and they had their worst night in decades and the Konservative had their best night
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Can you explain why you say that inflation is spiralling out of control?
All the mainstream media reporting is that this is mainly one-off factors (like the rise in energy costs), or related to post-pandemic disruption (like the increase in prices for second-hand cars), or people spending money they saved during lockdown (which they can only spend once), so you'd expect inflation to come back down next year without a rate rise.
What are the signals that inflation is spiralling?
I'd not be surprised if there was lots the media was missing.
I suppose the only other point I'd make is that the national insurance tax rise would be expected to have a deflationary impact, as it's taking money out of the economy.
Spot on. Inflation is a dynamic process with feedbacks between sectors, not just a sequence of explicable one-off price rises.
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Ah but what is causing this inflation? The economy was deliberately shrunk by governments in the face of the Covid pandemic. Contraction was not caused by lack of demand, money supply, or the economic cycle. The risk is surely that central bankers' traditional toolkit and analysis are ill-suited to today's unique conditions.
If so better to err on the side of caution with interest rates slightly too high, than on let things get out of hand.
The issue here is that we don't know what the natural rate of interest should be nowadays - it may be 1% (in which case it's low but fixable low) it may be 3% in which case we are going to see a lot of rapid rises...
On the names front, we should also remember that many Jewish names were adopted from packing cases or shop signs to satisfy immigration officials.
Or like my wife's family taken from the surname of an old Tsar so as not to sound "too jewish" during one of Stalin's fits of temper in the 50's - of course they were still jews so my mother in law wasn't allowed to go to Moscow University as they had filled their 'jew quota' at the time
FREDERIKSBERG has a social democrat mayor - perhaps only Nick Palmer will appreciate what a shock this is and shows how demographic change is sending the Copenhagen area redder than ever - his old chums in Enhedslisten (lightweight communists with ponytails) also THRASHED the social democrats in Copenhagen - the "mink scandal" hit the social democrats very hard and they had their worst night in decades and the Konservative had their best night
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Can you explain why you say that inflation is spiralling out of control?
All the mainstream media reporting is that this is mainly one-off factors (like the rise in energy costs), or related to post-pandemic disruption (like the increase in prices for second-hand cars), or people spending money they saved during lockdown (which they can only spend once), so you'd expect inflation to come back down next year without a rate rise.
What are the signals that inflation is spiralling?
I'd not be surprised if there was lots the media was missing.
I suppose the only other point I'd make is that the national insurance tax rise would be expected to have a deflationary impact, as it's taking money out of the economy.
Energy costs aren't going to drop, demand is still rising and supply simply can't (because it already would have done if it could).
The issue here is that people are going to expect another large wage increase and it's wage driven inflation that you need to watch out for here (as it can easily become perpetual / staginflation)
Labour shortages across pretty much all sectors and across all levels of relative seniority are also a contributory factor. This is causing wage inflation which then feeds into costs. Brexit combined with the pandemic are not the the only causes but they certainly haven't helped
Speaking of Eton in a non-Godwin context, has it been noted the players at the centre of the Owen Paterson botched rescue all went to the same school? Boris, Kwasi (who did the media tour), JRM and Charles Moore, whose brainchild it might have been.
They should have taken outside advice from the Archbishop of C, or the last PM but one...
It is odd how not the public schools generally but Eton specifically dominates public life. Makes one idly wonder why one sends ones children elsewhere. Eton doesn't cost markedly more
Because, at heart, the overwhelming majority of people don't want a family life and lifestyle with the world of Eton and Etonians at the centre of it. It is part of the misunderstanding of celebrity culture generally; most people like and follow many aspects of the lives of elites in showbiz, money, fame, power, networking and all that, but truly don't want it for themselves, even if they think they do.
Character is destiny, and to be sent to Eton means that both your genetic inheritance and your surrounding culture has probably formed you to keep up your membership of the group.
Interest rates need to go up in spite of inflation. We were at 0.75% before the pandemic. The pandemic is now over (from an economic point of view), so they should go back to 0.75% as a first move. Then the MPC can assess how things go from there.
Speaking of Eton in a non-Godwin context, has it been noted the players at the centre of the Owen Paterson botched rescue all went to the same school? Boris, Kwasi (who did the media tour), JRM and Charles Moore, whose brainchild it might have been.
They should have taken outside advice from the Archbishop of C, or the last PM but one...
It is odd how not the public schools generally but Eton specifically dominates public life. Makes one idly wonder why one sends ones children elsewhere. Eton doesn't cost markedly more
Not all boys are suitable characters for Eton. Some are not particularly bright and might suit Millfield, some might be wanting to go onto the Royal Agricultural at Cirencester to learn to run the estate and so Stowe might be a better fit, some might be very musical and suit Bedales and some might fit a future as a cad and a bounder so Harrow is perfect…… (obviously the examples are not overly serious…).
A lot of friends who had OE fathers said their fathers had a grim time at Eton so didn’t want them to go there.
St Paul’s and Westminster suit London based parents who are opposed to their children boarding but want them to have a great education and future network.
Some parents might just not want their sons to be rubbish politicians and so reduce the chances by sending them elsewhere!
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Can you explain why you say that inflation is spiralling out of control?
All the mainstream media reporting is that this is mainly one-off factors (like the rise in energy costs), or related to post-pandemic disruption (like the increase in prices for second-hand cars), or people spending money they saved during lockdown (which they can only spend once), so you'd expect inflation to come back down next year without a rate rise.
What are the signals that inflation is spiralling?
I'd not be surprised if there was lots the media was missing.
I suppose the only other point I'd make is that the national insurance tax rise would be expected to have a deflationary impact, as it's taking money out of the economy.
Energy costs aren't going to drop, demand is still rising and supply simply can't (because it already would have done if it could).
The issue here is that people are going to expect another large wage increase and it's wage driven inflation that you need to watch out for here (as it can easily become perpetual / staginflation)
Employment figures also indicate a tighter labour market than forecast, which may well contribute to that.
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
Has anyone managed to work out this 'Kevin' thing? I haven't seen any definitive explanation.
I wondered if it was related to call centres (legitimate or otherwise) in India giving their staff English aliases. I've definitely spoken to a 'Kevin' more than once. Did it come from from that, I wonder?
On the by-election I can see a big vote for staying at home. What are the odds on turnout?
It doesn't say why 'Kevin' specifically. Maybe there was no particular reason.
Assigning English names is bad enough, but assigning a single English name to all is obviously worse.
Dear friend of mine who recently passed away, a little old Chinese American lady originally from Hong Kong, came back from her first day at her new school, which was run by English-speaking Irish nuns.
She told her mother that the nuns had told her class it was too difficult for them to learn all the Chinese names of all their Chinese students. So they instructed the girls to go home, think about it overnight, and come back the next day having picked their Anglo name.
Her mom thought for a bit, then gave her daughter two alternatives: Bridget or Colleen. She chose the latter, as being easier prettier and easier to say. Must say, her mother was clearly no dummy; not only gave the little girl a choice of two options that were BOTH calculated to please the Irish sisters!
And Colleen was how the English-speaking world knew her for the next seventy-plus years.
That’s still surprisingly common among Chinese expatriates. I once worked at an hotel, where there were a number of Chinese staff and they all had Western names - so you’d get an email from ‘Lin Chi Han (Sophie). Marketing Executive, Asia’. Took a while to get used to it.
Many of our Hong Kong students do this. I am currently supervising one who is called Jason to me, but something else to native speakers. No bother, as long as you know what they prefer to be called.
My son did a bit of tutoring while at Imperial. The Chinese students were both surprised and pleased when he asked and learned their actual names. (No criticism implied, though.)
One does wonder if the practice will survive the twin challenges of President Xi's Chinese nationalism and well-meaning (and, separately) woke Westerners telling them Chinese names are best. A bit like how we worry about using Mumbai and Uluru but don't give a thought to London being called Londres or indeed calling Roma Rome. A Boris by any other name...
I don't think it's particularly woke to take the trouble to learn someone's name. But it's a complex subject. Korean names, for example, can be a minefield given the different modes of address depending on social heirarchy.
Simplist is to ask!
Though English names also have curious etiquette depending on hierarchy. Most of the staff at the hospital call me Dr Foxy* even when I call them by the first name, even when I ask them to call me by my forename. There are exceptions, so the ward receptionist calls me by my first name as we have known each other nearly 30 years in differing roles.
*not my real name, but a self chosen one for here.
As a Uni academic I much prefer to be addressed by students using my first name, not as Dr Turbotubbs, or worse, Sir.
Yes but that doesn't matter. In some circumstances, how people are addressed conveys information that can be crucial in high-pressure situations, such as police or army ranks. Hospitals too, I'd have thought, so Dr Foxy should be called Dr Foxy and not Aloysius or whatever is his given name. The receptionist knows he is a doctor but new patients won't.
Wasn't there a fuss when New Labour used names rather than job titles for Cabinet meetings? Was this changed back by the Conservatives?
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Can you explain why you say that inflation is spiralling out of control?
All the mainstream media reporting is that this is mainly one-off factors (like the rise in energy costs), or related to post-pandemic disruption (like the increase in prices for second-hand cars), or people spending money they saved during lockdown (which they can only spend once), so you'd expect inflation to come back down next year without a rate rise.
What are the signals that inflation is spiralling?
I'd not be surprised if there was lots the media was missing.
I suppose the only other point I'd make is that the national insurance tax rise would be expected to have a deflationary impact, as it's taking money out of the economy.
Energy costs aren't going to drop, demand is still rising and supply simply can't (because it already would have done if it could).
The issue here is that people are going to expect another large wage increase and it's wage driven inflation that you need to watch out for here (as it can easily become perpetual / staginflation)
Employment figures also indicate a tighter labour market than forecast, which may well contribute to that.
Johnson's legacy could well be a return to the inflation mess of the 70s and 80s.
The Tories once again showing they cannot be trusted with the economy.
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay?
A well-to-do female doctor neighbour had a Chinese manservant known to all as "Whitey". His initials were YT. Many Chinese students adopted that kind of initialism for their names.
I used to work with a guy known to all as CS.
Mind you, Consultants at work have a 3 letter code. Most are based on their 3 initials, but mine isn't, as someone else already had my initials. Hence I have worked for 20 years with an incorrect middle initial, and get correspondence including an imaginary middle initial. It is mildly irksome as my true middle initial has a long heritage in my family.
Can’t you self ID with your correct initials, Foxy? I also worked with a firm who used the 3 initials letter code. A friend and colleague had no middle name, but ummd and errd a lot in his speech. His 3 letter code was IRJ.
As the Commons debates MPs' second jobs today, is there another potential scandal waiting to happen? @bbcnews looks at the activities and funding of informal 'all party parliamentary groups', while the Standards committee conducts an inquiry https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59307270
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay?
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
Never mind that. Why is the Telegraph so mealy-mouthed? "The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack" makes it sound like the bomber was an innocent bystander, and also that the "suicide" part of the mission failed.
Harry Cole @MrHarryCole Tricky to see how Douglas Ross, Ben Bradley, Dan Jarvis etc who all have big public jobs away from Westminster as an MSP, Council chief or Mayor will get past the Government's adoption of Standards Committee recommendation one: that they "prioritise" the Commons.
How will any Tory manage the conversion from "prioritising themselves"
How is the man that you idolise so managing his "conversion". I am speaking of the man who was referred to by his QC as a "bully and a sex pest".
Speaking of Eton in a non-Godwin context, has it been noted the players at the centre of the Owen Paterson botched rescue all went to the same school? Boris, Kwasi (who did the media tour), JRM and Charles Moore, whose brainchild it might have been.
They should have taken outside advice from the Archbishop of C, or the last PM but one...
It is odd how not the public schools generally but Eton specifically dominates public life. Makes one idly wonder why one sends ones children elsewhere. Eton doesn't cost markedly more
Not all boys are suitable characters for Eton. Some are not particularly bright and might suit Millfield, some might be wanting to go onto the Royal Agricultural at Cirencester to learn to run the estate and so Stowe might be a better fit, some might be very musical and suit Bedales and some might fit a future as a cad and a bounder so Harrow is perfect…… (obviously the examples are not overly serious…).
A lot of friends who had OE fathers said their fathers had a grim time at Eton so didn’t want them to go there.
St Paul’s and Westminster suit London based parents who are opposed to their children boarding but want them to have a great education and future network.
Some parents might just not want their sons to be rubbish politicians and so reduce the chances by sending them elsewhere!
I switched from my own school because I had a relatively grim time there and didn't want to be exchanging insincere chitchat with members of my own cohort as fellow-parents 8 times a year.
Harry Cole @MrHarryCole Tricky to see how Douglas Ross, Ben Bradley, Dan Jarvis etc who all have big public jobs away from Westminster as an MSP, Council chief or Mayor will get past the Government's adoption of Standards Committee recommendation one: that they "prioritise" the Commons.
Ben Bradley the supposed MP for Mansfield officially declares that he works 60 hours a week in his two other jobs which includes being leader of Nottinghamshire County Council.
Full time job making sure impoverished parents aren’t spending their kids’ dinner money in crack dens.
Ah but what is causing this inflation? The economy was deliberately shrunk by governments in the face of the Covid pandemic. Contraction was not caused by lack of demand, money supply, or the economic cycle. The risk is surely that central bankers' traditional toolkit and analysis are ill-suited to today's unique conditions.
What is causing it? The price of bloody everything going up. There's swathes of real shortages out there and what you can get has had a whopping price increase. Which means the cost of getting work done, things produced or shipped etc etc etc has gone up.
A 27% swing in the inflation rate in a month is Not Good.
Shipping costs, though, appear to be unsustainably high. While there are barriers to entry into the market, they could swing downwards over time. Similarly, how long will the 'real shortages' last ? Markets tend to correct such things.
Speaking of Eton in a non-Godwin context, has it been noted the players at the centre of the Owen Paterson botched rescue all went to the same school? Boris, Kwasi (who did the media tour), JRM and Charles Moore, whose brainchild it might have been.
They should have taken outside advice from the Archbishop of C, or the last PM but one...
It is odd how not the public schools generally but Eton specifically dominates public life. Makes one idly wonder why one sends ones children elsewhere. Eton doesn't cost markedly more
Because, at heart, the overwhelming majority of people don't want a family life and lifestyle with the world of Eton and Etonians at the centre of it. It is part of the misunderstanding of celebrity culture generally; most people like and follow many aspects of the lives of elites in showbiz, money, fame, power, networking and all that, but truly don't want it for themselves, even if they think they do.
Character is destiny, and to be sent to Eton means that both your genetic inheritance and your surrounding culture has probably formed you to keep up your membership of the group.
There's also a wider spectrum of etonians than people think, they aren't all in the Cabinet.
The worst thing about the place is Pop which seems to me utterly pernicious: basically Pop is to Etonians what Etonians are to the rest of the world, so a sort of blueprint of snobby elitism .
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay?
Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.
Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....
One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.
Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
FREDERIKSBERG has a social democrat mayor - perhaps only Nick Palmer will appreciate what a shock this is and shows how demographic change is sending the Copenhagen area redder than ever - his old chums in Enhedslisten (lightweight communists with ponytails) also THRASHED the social democrats in Copenhagen - the "mink scandal" hit the social democrats very hard and they had their worst night in decades and the Konservative had their best night
Looking at the detailed results, what stands out is a swing from far right (the Danish People's Party were halved) to mainstream conservatives, and from social democrats to parties to their left. Enhedslisten now lead in Copenhagewn as kingbongo says, and, bizarrely to me, Bornholm, which in my recollection is as intellectual and working-class as, say, the Isle of Wight. What's happened there, kingobongo?
On the names front, we should also remember that many Jewish names were adopted from packing cases or shop signs to satisfy immigration officials.
Or like my wife's family taken from the surname of an old Tsar so as not to sound "too jewish" during one of Stalin's fits of temper in the 50's - of course they were still jews so my mother in law wasn't allowed to go to Moscow University as they had filled their 'jew quota' at the time
FREDERIKSBERG has a social democrat mayor - perhaps only Nick Palmer will appreciate what a shock this is and shows how demographic change is sending the Copenhagen area redder than ever - his old chums in Enhedslisten (lightweight communists with ponytails) also THRASHED the social democrats in Copenhagen - the "mink scandal" hit the social democrats very hard and they had their worst night in decades and the Konservative had their best night
Very interesting (to me), thanks!
Traditionally, Ottomans did not have surnames. In the 1930s Ataturk 'westernised' the newly-found republic of Turkey, and this included everyone choosing their surnames. Ataturk himself was 'given' his surname: it means 'Father of the Turks'.
Can you imagine having to choose a surname that will be passed own through the generations?
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
Never mind that. Why is the Telegraph so mealy-mouthed? "The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack" makes it sound like the bomber was an innocent bystander, and also that the "suicide" part of the mission failed.
The stitched-in-and-forced-into-it hypothesis is not dead; on life support, admittedly.
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay?
I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay?
Golly, email from Amazon saying you can't pay by visa credit card as from january
Unless it's a Nigerian prince wanting some alternative card details from me
Nope was about to report the same.
It seems Mastercard have cut Amazon a discounted rate that Visa weren't willing to match. Visa Debit cards aren't impacted but I don't have 1 anymore as I discovered to my cost when Ticketmaster weren't accepting Mastercard a while back.
Ah but what is causing this inflation? The economy was deliberately shrunk by governments in the face of the Covid pandemic. Contraction was not caused by lack of demand, money supply, or the economic cycle. The risk is surely that central bankers' traditional toolkit and analysis are ill-suited to today's unique conditions.
What is causing it? The price of bloody everything going up. There's swathes of real shortages out there and what you can get has had a whopping price increase. Which means the cost of getting work done, things produced or shipped etc etc etc has gone up.
A 27% swing in the inflation rate in a month is Not Good.
Shipping costs, though, appear to be unsustainably high. While there are barriers to entry into the market, they could swing downwards over time. Similarly, how long will the 'real shortages' last ? Markets tend to correct such things.
Global supply chains were shut down. To fully re-open them will take at least a year. The problem is that the supply chains are essentially a set of queues - and from queuing theory, we can expect a lot of oscillations. One part of the system will come up to speed, but be blocked by issues further down the system, get hit by back pressure.....
"Our governments have no desire to be adversarial, or seek in any way to strategically encircle or undermine the Russian Federation. We are concerned by Russia’s military build-up and activity around the borders of Ukraine."
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Ah but what is causing this inflation? The economy was deliberately shrunk by governments in the face of the Covid pandemic. Contraction was not caused by lack of demand, money supply, or the economic cycle. The risk is surely that central bankers' traditional toolkit and analysis are ill-suited to today's unique conditions.
If so better to err on the side of caution with interest rates slightly too high, than on let things get out of hand.
The issue here is that we don't know what the natural rate of interest should be nowadays - it may be 1% (in which case it's low but fixable low) it may be 3% in which case we are going to see a lot of rapid rises...
Erring on the side of caution might mean not risking choking off the recovery. We already have very high tax rates (as a percentage taken, not the nominal rates) and on the other hand, record government support of the private sector. We are not in Kansas any more.
Time for the governor to convene the MPC in an emergency meeting and put rates up. We can't wait now, inflation is spiralling out of control.
Can you explain why you say that inflation is spiralling out of control?
All the mainstream media reporting is that this is mainly one-off factors (like the rise in energy costs), or related to post-pandemic disruption (like the increase in prices for second-hand cars), or people spending money they saved during lockdown (which they can only spend once), so you'd expect inflation to come back down next year without a rate rise.
What are the signals that inflation is spiralling?
I'd not be surprised if there was lots the media was missing.
I suppose the only other point I'd make is that the national insurance tax rise would be expected to have a deflationary impact, as it's taking money out of the economy.
Energy costs aren't going to drop, demand is still rising and supply simply can't (because it already would have done if it could).
The issue here is that people are going to expect another large wage increase and it's wage driven inflation that you need to watch out for here (as it can easily become perpetual / staginflation)
Over the past few decades high energy prices have always lead to more investment in marginal sources of supply which has them brought prices down.
The media reporting is that wages won't keep pace with inflation, which makes sense to me because we have weak trade unions and global supply chains.
Comments
In Turkey, however, Surnames were only made compulsory under Ataturk and many people adopted quite comic names because they thought it was just a passing fad. In Estonia nature names are very common and were often adopted in the thirties when many Swedish and German names were Estonianised, so for example Johanson became Juhasoo ("Spring-marsh").
Korean names, for example, can be a minefield given the different modes of address depending on social heirarchy.
(My double vaxxed brother also has it)
I remember well the last four Yorkshiremen I picked up.
Mind you, this is the same bunch that attempted to prosecute the commandant of Auschwitz for...... sadism and murder.
Those won't meet the "Loud shoes in a built up area" criteria......
My own name apparently comes from a profession of mercenary European pilgrims, which sounds the sort of thing you'd accuse a Rejoiner to be. The Church used to insist that landowners made a pilgrimage to Rome every year. Naturally they thought that a tiresome distraction from counting their money, so they persuaded the bishops to allow them to delegate it. Thus you could make a decent living as a p(s)almer, commuting to Rome and singing psalms on behalf of Baron X.
There are worse jobs.
If so, fantastic news well done.
If not, “Stop Cambo” doesn’t get us very far. In fact, it gets us unemployment and more imported oil for decades.
https://twitter.com/Fergoodness/status/1460750263577456640?s=20
I used to have a mini which was twitchy in high winds in the motorway, and selectively pick up fatties as ballast.
"Clothes are preferred"
Though English names also have curious etiquette depending on hierarchy. Most of the staff at the hospital call me Dr Foxy* even when I call them by the first name, even when I ask them to call me by my forename. There are exceptions, so the ward receptionist calls me by my first name as we have known each other nearly 30 years in differing roles.
*not my real name, but a self chosen one for here.
Boris Johnson faces a confrontation with his backbenchers today as he pushes for MPs to be banned from taking on second jobs as consultants.
The prime minister gave in yesterday to pressure over sleaze by proposing that MPs be barred from acting as paid political consultants. He also called for a limit on the amount of time MPs can spend on outside interests.
He will push his plans to a vote in the Commons today in an attempt to outflank Labour. The move represents a significant shift in Johnson’s position a fortnight after his botched attempt to block the suspension of Owen Paterson, a former cabinet minister.
There was a backlash yesterday from Tory MPs with outside interests, who accused him of “capitulation”. One said: “It’s pouring petrol on to the flames. He’s caved to the left. Now if you have a consultancy it will be assumed you’re evil.”
Another MP said that Johnson announced the plans because he was concerned about being embarrassed during an appearance before the liaison committee of MPs this afternoon. “There’s a lot of unease. It’s the lurching, the U-turning, the lack of consultation.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-moves-to-ban-mps-from-lobbying-rlhjqhc9x
Or don’t you own a simple pair of black work shoes?
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
Apart from my morning suit, I have no remotely black suits, and I only wear black shoes with black suits.
I even picked one up once as he went from here to Rothwell as it was on my way to Manchester (although checking the date that was in 2009 for the first day of that Pet Shop Boys tour).
The MPC really are completely useless unless they've been given a different agenda.
Both were also strongly for Brexit. Every area in Essex voted Leave and every area in Yorkshire voted Leave apart from Leeds
Many Chinese students adopted that kind of initialism for their names.
The Government’s commitment to the Bank of England’s operational independence and the current regime of flexible inflation targeting, with an operational target of 2% CPI inflation, remains absolute.
Sunak started the budget by saying he'd written to the BoE to reaffirm the 2% target.
It is odd how not the public schools generally but Eton specifically dominates public life. Makes one idly wonder why one sends ones children elsewhere. Eton doesn't cost markedly more
All the mainstream media reporting is that this is mainly one-off factors (like the rise in energy costs), or related to post-pandemic disruption (like the increase in prices for second-hand cars), or people spending money they saved during lockdown (which they can only spend once), so you'd expect inflation to come back down next year without a rate rise.
What are the signals that inflation is spiralling?
I'd not be surprised if there was lots the media was missing.
I suppose the only other point I'd make is that the national insurance tax rise would be expected to have a deflationary impact, as it's taking money out of the economy.
It's like USA politics only funnier.
Group Labour photos always look as if there might be someone in it worth chatting up if you were to study it carefully, but when you do, like Arsenal it flatters to deceive, and they turn out to be a Stalinist member of the Friends of North Korea.
I have dipped a toe in the water behind Labour at OB&S, but that Brexit thingy + old people turning out could save the Tories.
The Paterson by election is also interesting. I think it is unreadable at the moment, and in the absence of better data Tories should come home in a small turnout. Why are the LDs so short odds when they came a very bad third?
The issue here is that people are going to expect another large wage increase and it's wage driven inflation that you need to watch out for here (as it can easily become perpetual / staginflation)
A 27% swing in the inflation rate in a month is Not Good.
Mind you, Consultants at work have a 3 letter code. Most are based on their 3 initials, but mine isn't, as someone else already had my initials. Hence I have worked for 20 years with an incorrect middle initial, and get correspondence including an imaginary middle initial. It is mildly irksome as my true middle initial has a long heritage in my family.
The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.
The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.
The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/
It was years before I found out that the A is not his given first name, but his middle initial.
FREDERIKSBERG has a social democrat mayor - perhaps only Nick Palmer will appreciate what a shock this is and shows how demographic change is sending the Copenhagen area redder than ever - his old chums in Enhedslisten (lightweight communists with ponytails) also THRASHED the social democrats in Copenhagen - the "mink scandal" hit the social democrats very hard and they had their worst night in decades and the Konservative had their best night
I have really wide feet so I'm limited in my choice of footwear.
The issue here is that we don't know what the natural rate of interest should be nowadays - it may be 1% (in which case it's low but fixable low) it may be 3% in which case we are going to see a lot of rapid rises...
Character is destiny, and to be sent to Eton means that both your genetic inheritance and your surrounding culture has probably formed you to keep up your membership of the group.
A lot of friends who had OE fathers said their fathers had a grim time at Eton so didn’t want them to go there.
St Paul’s and Westminster suit London based parents who are opposed to their children boarding but want them to have a great education and future network.
Some parents might just not want their sons to be rubbish politicians and so reduce the chances by sending them elsewhere!
F1: still remains uncertain whether Saudi Arabia will be ready in time:
https://twitter.com/autosport/status/1460574130479194113
That could decide who wins the title.
Wasn't there a fuss when New Labour used names rather than job titles for Cabinet meetings? Was this changed back by the Conservatives?
The Tories once again showing they cannot be trusted with the economy.
I also worked with a firm who used the 3 initials letter code. A friend and colleague had no middle name, but ummd and errd a lot in his speech. His 3 letter code was IRJ.
Apols for my ignorance, is the use of "Kevin" as a derogatory term something unique to YCC or a wider issue?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59307270
It is up to the Home Office to identify and deport those asylum seekers and immigrants who are a security risk, not the Church
While there are barriers to entry into the market, they could swing downwards over time.
Similarly, how long will the 'real shortages' last ? Markets tend to correct such things.
The worst thing about the place is Pop which seems to me utterly pernicious: basically Pop is to Etonians what Etonians are to the rest of the world, so a sort of blueprint of snobby elitism
.
Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....
One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.
Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
*shudder*
That’s like buying Irish wine, or American cheese
Unless it's a Nigerian prince wanting some alternative card details from me
Can you imagine having to choose a surname that will be passed own through the generations?
It seems Mastercard have cut Amazon a discounted rate that Visa weren't willing to match. Visa Debit cards aren't impacted but I don't have 1 anymore as I discovered to my cost when Ticketmaster weren't accepting Mastercard a while back.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-by-defence-secretary-ben-wallace-and-ukraine-defence-minister-oleksii-yuriyovych-reznikov
"Our governments have no desire to be adversarial, or seek in any way to strategically encircle or undermine the Russian Federation. We are concerned by Russia’s military build-up and activity around the borders of Ukraine."
The media reporting is that wages won't keep pace with inflation, which makes sense to me because we have weak trade unions and global supply chains.
What part of that orthodoxy is wrong?