Katy Balls: When Johnson addressed MPs at the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers last night, the unease in the party was clear. The prime minister’s voice barely held out as he offered what one MP describes as a half apology – telling colleagues he crashed “the car into a ditch” but that he would get it out.
“He kept trying to crack jokes but most of us have heard them before and were not laughing,” says a senior Tory. “The joke is wearing thin.” When he said “we got Brexit done” – normally one of his most reliable applause lines – only a handful of MPs cheered.
The question MPs are starting to ask is: who is in charge? In the past week, MPs have started trying to work out who exactly does what in Downing Street. Finding answers isn’t easy.
What all this points to is the fact that Johnson’s authority is diminished. MPs – particularly the new intake – had been broadly happy until now to take the prime minister at his word and presume that, as an election winner, his calls are the right ones. This is beginning to change.
Good morning everyone. Looks a s though the (wether) clouds might break at some point today, although they seem to be rolling in from all directions in other matters. I don't think I've ever posted anything anywhere that might cause trouble for me, although I don't think anyone outside my family would care! There are advantages in being 'one of the ordinary'
Good morning everyone. Looks a s though the (wether) clouds might break at some point today, although they seem to be rolling in from all directions in other matters. I don't think I've ever posted anything anywhere that might cause trouble for me, although I don't think anyone outside my family would care! There are advantages in being 'one of the ordinary'
The blessed joys of anonymity.
When I think of the thousands (tens of thousands?) of instant messages I’ve sent in my life, there’s bound to be a treasure trove of out of context (and sometimes in context) comments for the tabloids if I were ever in the public eye. Same for most people under 45 I think.
Which is why society needs to grow up a little bit and better differentiate between thought crimes that have no consequence and public utterances and actions that do. Rafiq has highlighted well that we all need to be more generous in how we treat each other.
Always knew he was a wrong 'un and would bring pain to Australia.
Turns out there was a reason his fingers were crooked?
Terrible news for England though. Cummins as captain and Carey as keeper and the Aussies look a much more formidable side.
Yup but we were going to lose anyway, just hoping to avoid a 5 nil.
I'm thinking not losing 6-0 with the Aussies being given retrospective bonus points because all their five wins were by more than an innings and 500 runs is the first target.
Apparently Sir Alistair Cook is now being criticised in the Torygraph because he won't give an interview about racism. Although it's behind a paywall so I can't read the whole article.
This is not to excuse the cricketer in question, but when I was at secondary school* "Don't be a Jew" was used by almost every kid when attempting to cadge chocolate or crisps off a school friend.
In retrospect, it rather makes me wince.
* In Horsham. And I don't think there were any Jews in the school.
That’s interesting, because such stereotypes weren’t in our thinking at my secondary school.
But I agree that Rafiq doesn’t deserve too much criticism (certainly no more than Ollie Robinson deserves). The YCCC story is awful because it is a bullying scandal.
And because the institution refused to accept anything needed changing (which is Rafiq's main point). I was at school in the 70s, and casual racism was not at all uncommon. I can't recall anyone using the racist 'Jew' stereotype either.
It was widely used the way @rcs1000 describes at my high school in Atlanta, where there were a significant number of Jews. I never heard it used that way in my British schools, though plenty of other racist, homophobic and misogynistic terms were commonly used, with intent varying from jokes to bullying.
I didn't realise he was still alive news announcement of the day: playing games on mobile phones while driving to be banned.
Isn't it already banned?
Touching your phone while driving is already banned. Unless there's handsfree games I'm unaware of, what's getting banned?
The law was previous phone calls and messaging so there was a grey area that offered a potential get-out clause, which is now being removed.
So browsing the internet and reading PB.com would be legal?
Certainly wasn't my understanding of the law. I thought all actions on the phone were illegal, which kind of makes controlling phone-based Satnavs a bit murky (that's the only thing I'll touch my phone while driving for).
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
I didn't realise he was still alive news announcement of the day: playing games on mobile phones while driving to be banned.
Isn't it already banned?
Touching your phone while driving is already banned. Unless there's handsfree games I'm unaware of, what's getting banned?
The law was previous phone calls and messaging so there was a grey area that offered a potential get-out clause, which is now being removed.
So browsing the internet and reading PB.com would be legal?
Certainly wasn't my understanding of the law. I thought all actions on the phone were illegal, which kind of makes controlling phone-based Satnavs a bit murky (that's the only thing I'll touch my phone while driving for).
Quite. We can couple our phone to an 'infotainment' device in the car and use that as the satnav.
I didn't realise he was still alive news announcement of the day: playing games on mobile phones while driving to be banned.
Isn't it already banned?
Touching your phone while driving is already banned. Unless there's handsfree games I'm unaware of, what's getting banned?
The law was previous phone calls and messaging so there was a grey area that offered a potential get-out clause, which is now being removed.
So browsing the internet and reading PB.com would be legal?
Certainly wasn't my understanding of the law. I thought all actions on the phone were illegal, which kind of makes controlling phone-based Satnavs a bit murky (that's the only thing I'll touch my phone while driving for).
R5 had something about interactivity. So browsing the internet was always a no, but taking a photo was allowed (or not explicitly banned). And choosing music from a playlist was not specifically banned.
I didn't realise he was still alive news announcement of the day: playing games on mobile phones while driving to be banned.
Isn't it already banned?
Touching your phone while driving is already banned. Unless there's handsfree games I'm unaware of, what's getting banned?
The law was previous phone calls and messaging so there was a grey area that offered a potential get-out clause, which is now being removed.
It's a shame. I like to play Fortnite on the A1(M) and Tetris on the B1174.
Is the driver still allowed to hit someone when playing the Yellow Car game?
Wow your yellow car game involves violence! It's a much more peaceful, albeit still highly competitive, activity in our car. Mind you, we also attempt to harmonise to the "cloudy to clear" adverts on Magic so are clearly an odd family.
I think the playlist restriction will be the one most required to get people not to touch their phones while driving.
Although still plenty of fumbling to switch channels on car radios.
Yes, there's an illogic with allowing people to do lots of stuff provided their phone is cradled, or if it is fitted to the car. My brother's Tesla has this massive laptop-sized touch screen facing the driver that you could happily spend hours fiddling with, were it not for the need to glance out of the window now and again to see where you are going.
I'm struggling with the blacking up issue. There are clearly times when it's offensive, but dressing up as a known character or person for a fancy dress party, why is that offensive? If I dress up as Billy Bunter is that anti fat, if I dress up as Humpty Dumpty is that anti egg?
This is the utter stupidity from the government - and frankly from their few remaining PB Parrots. You can't say "this plan is quicker" when then plan says it isn't. You can't say "this plan prioritises regional connectivity" when the plan leaves whole sections out completely, relegates others to a future study and the rest remains subject to both a viable business case and then treasury approval.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
Always knew he was a wrong 'un and would bring pain to Australia.
Turns out there was a reason his fingers were crooked?
Terrible news for England though. Cummins as captain and Carey as keeper and the Aussies look a much more formidable side.
Yup but we were going to lose anyway, just hoping to avoid a 5 nil.
I'm thinking not losing 6-0 with the Aussies being given retrospective bonus points because all their five wins were by more than an innings and 500 runs is the first target.
Anything else is gravy.
Nah, it is going to be like that tour in the mid to late eighties where we were expected to do nothing and won handsomely. Broad got a few tons IIRC.
"Gay" was still used widely when I was at school, but teacher friends say that's no longer the case.
Anyone who has played Fifa will have used "Jew goal" too. I regret it now.
I remember being on our school (brass) band coach on our way to a gig in London going through Golders Green. We were winding up one of the boys about bagels - not because he was Jewish but because he *looked* Jewish. Frankly I am not sure I had ever even eaten a bagel at that point.
At that age a lot of terms and words and phrases get thrown about because someone has heard them. They might not know what they mean, or if they do won't get the wider context. But its cool to be in so the words get used.
As a very leftfield example, that South Park episode World Wide Recorder Concert (where they play the brown note and make the world crap itself). These New Yorker kids start calling the South Park kids "Queef" and "Mung" and then laugh at them because they have no idea what it means. Of course Stan etc then say they do know and start using the same...
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
What you do not say is the daily mail's leader is supportive of the proposals as a pragmatic answer in the financial circinstances
What I don’t understand is how anyone buys the latest promise from this government. The idea that this government won’t roll back further and this is now the one true plan is absurd.
I'm struggling with the blacking up issue. There are clearly times when it's offensive, but dressing up as a known character or person for a fancy dress party, why is that offensive? If I dress up as Billy Bunter is that anti fat, if I dress up as Humpty Dumpty is that anti egg?
You will continue to struggle. That is what you are meant to do. It is hard for democratic rational freedom loving liberals to set rules that are clear and equally applied. The idea that clear and equal rules can be established by an alliance of the grievance industry, the mob and wokery is fanciful.
It is important for us little people to understand that anything you say or so can put you in the wrong, and that silence and inaction is complicity with racism and fascism.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
They haven't scrapped it. HS2 East still exists even though they have decided not to build it.
What does that mean? The people who protested against it because it went through their land / houses are still blighted. The land remains safeguarded, the houses remain worthless, their lives remain ruined.
"Gay" was still used widely when I was at school, but teacher friends say that's no longer the case.
Anyone who has played Fifa will have used "Jew goal" too. I regret it now.
I remember being on our school (brass) band coach on our way to a gig in London going through Golders Green. We were winding up one of the boys about bagels - not because he was Jewish but because he *looked* Jewish. Frankly I am not sure I had ever even eaten a bagel at that point.
At that age a lot of terms and words and phrases get thrown about because someone has heard them. They might not know what they mean, or if they do won't get the wider context. But its cool to be in so the words get used.
As a very leftfield example, that South Park episode World Wide Recorder Concert (where they play the brown note and make the world crap itself). These New Yorker kids start calling the South Park kids "Queef" and "Mung" and then laugh at them because they have no idea what it means. Of course Stan etc then say they do know and start using the same...
Mung is a type of bean as far as I am aware. Queef !!!!!!
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
This is the utter stupidity from the government - and frankly from their few remaining PB Parrots. You can't say "this plan is quicker" when then plan says it isn't. You can't say "this plan prioritises regional connectivity" when the plan leaves whole sections out completely, relegates others to a future study and the rest remains subject to both a viable business case and then treasury approval.
People are not stupid.
The basic fact is that the revised plan does absolutely nothing to improve capacity between Leeds/Manchester or Leeds/Sheffield - two of the most congested sections of the network.
I don't know who David Herdson is, but I fully support his right to totally waste his vote.
That's what the kind ones used to say about the SNP. I'm not so sure that the events of the last few days haven't put the collar on the whippet for a lot of Yorkshire folk.
They are getting a taste of what Scotland gets every day and finding they don't like it, perhaps they will not be so dismissive of Scotland in future.
I experienced casual anti semitism at school including holocaust references etc. Kids will be kids…
There was a German boy at the school I went to. He had to put up with references to Germany in WW2 for his entire time there including from his good friends. From my recollection (30 years ago now) it was all good natured but looking back it must have been difficult for him. Kids being kids.
I'm struggling with the blacking up issue. There are clearly times when it's offensive, but dressing up as a known character or person for a fancy dress party, why is that offensive? If I dress up as Billy Bunter is that anti fat, if I dress up as Humpty Dumpty is that anti egg?
It isn't. Otoh if you want to black up because lol black people, the obvious cover story is you were dressing up as Othello. The bloke in question also had a black dog, coincidentally called Kevin. Coincidentally.
At my school I think casual homophobia was far more common than casual racism. Anything uncool was "gay".
This was very much the case when I was at school in the 1990s. I don't think anyone gave it too much thought at the time. It became just a word to describe something that wasn't cool but obviously now it would not be acceptable.
No, he has confirmed it is, and is ashamed of his behaviour. What more do you want him to do?
A good apology too.
There's a difference between bad remarks made by people years ago that they apologise for when brought up - and doing racist stuff today and covering it up when people complain.
Sure, but isn't this whole story about what people did years ago?
No, the Rafiq stuff is about now.
You've got people in charge at Yorkshire right now who think using Zimbo for Zimbabwe is racist and worth of disciplinary action but calling someone a Paki isn't.
The problem with this 'find the racist game' is that it's open to any number of players and can veer in unexpected directions as Rafiq is now finding out. His testimony has effectively wrecked the career of an ex England captain and exposed himself as not only a racist but a hypocrite so will probably wreck his own future career as well.
These witch hunts are extremely ugly and should be stopped before they get out of hand. An unpopular cricketer was bullied under the noses of his employers and for this they have questions to answer. But leave the racism out of it.
How does one separate the racism from the bullying when the nature of the bullying was racist?
For me that Rafiq has said antisemitic things has no bearing on what he's revealed about racism in cricket. What it does do is provide material for the next muslim-baiting Rod Liddle column. He'll be tapping away now, I imagine.
IMV it does have bearing. It shows that the problems with racism might be (ahem) more multi-faceted than he was willing to share. Racism may not just be a problem towards people from the India/Pakistan region, or Muslims, but towards other groups as well.
That's important.
It also shows he's somewhat hypocritical, and perhaps not the most reliable witness to events.
It shows he is an arsehole of the worst kind , an out and out racist whining about people being racist towards him. He is obviously extremely stupid to boot in thinking that it would not come out.
I didn't realise he was still alive news announcement of the day: playing games on mobile phones while driving to be banned.
Isn't it already banned?
Touching your phone while driving is already banned. Unless there's handsfree games I'm unaware of, what's getting banned?
The law was previous phone calls and messaging so there was a grey area that offered a potential get-out clause, which is now being removed.
It's a shame. I like to play Fortnite on the A1(M) and Tetris on the B1174.
Yes, if you set up Fortnite with motion controls you could affix your phone to your steering wheel, and dodge left and right in the game and real life at the same time.
This is the utter stupidity from the government - and frankly from their few remaining PB Parrots. You can't say "this plan is quicker" when then plan says it isn't. You can't say "this plan prioritises regional connectivity" when the plan leaves whole sections out completely, relegates others to a future study and the rest remains subject to both a viable business case and then treasury approval.
People are not stupid.
The basic fact is that the revised plan does absolutely nothing to improve capacity between Leeds/Manchester or Leeds/Sheffield - two of the most congested sections of the network.
If I were in Manchester or anywhere served by the revised plan, I would be hugely sceptical that it would actually be delivered as promised. Based on the evidence this is the first of many cuts to follow.
I don't know who David Herdson is, but I fully support his right to totally waste his vote.
Herdson was a regular poster here and a strong Conservative until they were taken over by clowns and ne'er-do-wells at which point he left the Party writing a very eloquent resignation letter. He is also an astute political obserever. In things Consevative probably the most astute on PB.
Herdson for Mayor!
Big G will be along to say that Boris is great , Tories are popular and Scotland has fast trains so nothing to worry about.
I experienced casual anti semitism at school including holocaust references etc. Kids will be kids…
There was a German boy at the school I went to. He had to put up with references to Germany in WW2 for his entire time there including from his good friends. From my recollection (30 years ago now) it was all good natured but looking back it must have been difficult for him. Kids being kids.
"Two world wars and one world cup... do dah... do dah..."
Do they have West Yorkshire seats they want to keep? Michael Green needs to restrain himself with his stupider claims. Lets take Leeds - Bradford. he states "In Bradford you'll have a 12-minute journey time to Leeds".
Says who? Not the report. Not Network Rail. The wording is: "Network Rail is also being asked to take forward an upgrade of the line between Bradford and Leeds via New Pudsey to include speed improvements and electrification. The aim would be to deliver a non-stop journey time between the cities potentially as low as 12 minutes (subject to business case)"
So NR don't even have a plan for this. Its "potentially as low" as 12 minutes assuming there is a way to physically build that (which there isn't) that would get past "subject to business case" which it won't.
As anyone with basic understanding knows, Leeds station and its approaches are a massive bottleneck. Trains sitting awaiting a platform for many minutes is common. NPR / HS2 would have fixed this by building a new station and approaches for HS services. Instead there is £100m for a study of the capacity issue now to be made even worse, of the previously studied and cancelled tram system and of the wider "Mass Transit System" which is patently impossible due to the cancellation of all HS lines in and around Leeds.
German Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who's expected to succeed Merkel: "To get through the winter, we'll see drastic measures that have not been taken before" - REU
No, he has confirmed it is, and is ashamed of his behaviour. What more do you want him to do?
A good apology too.
There's a difference between bad remarks made by people years ago that they apologise for when brought up - and doing racist stuff today and covering it up when people complain.
Sure, but isn't this whole story about what people did years ago?
No, the Rafiq stuff is about now.
You've got people in charge at Yorkshire right now who think using Zimbo for Zimbabwe is racist and worth of disciplinary action but calling someone a Paki isn't.
The problem with this 'find the racist game' is that it's open to any number of players and can veer in unexpected directions as Rafiq is now finding out. His testimony has effectively wrecked the career of an ex England captain and exposed himself as not only a racist but a hypocrite so will probably wreck his own future career as well.
These witch hunts are extremely ugly and should be stopped before they get out of hand. An unpopular cricketer was bullied under the noses of his employers and for this they have questions to answer. But leave the racism out of it.
How does one separate the racism from the bullying when the nature of the bullying was racist?
For me that Rafiq has said antisemitic things has no bearing on what he's revealed about racism in cricket. What it does do is provide material for the next muslim-baiting Rod Liddle column. He'll be tapping away now, I imagine.
IMV it does have bearing. It shows that the problems with racism might be (ahem) more multi-faceted than he was willing to share. Racism may not just be a problem towards people from the India/Pakistan region, or Muslims, but towards other groups as well.
That's important.
It also shows he's somewhat hypocritical, and perhaps not the most reliable witness to events.
It shows he is an arsehole of the worst kind , an out and out racist whining about people being racist towards him. He is obviously extremely stupid to boot in thinking that it would not come out.
Unless someone at the Wuhan Institute of Virology comes out and says "yes, it was a lab leak", then I doubt it will ever be definitely known. All we have are probabilities.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
What you do not say is the daily mail's leader is supportive of the proposals as a pragmatic answer in the financial circinstances
What I don’t understand is how anyone buys the latest promise from this government. The idea that this government won’t roll back further and this is now the one true plan is absurd.
That remains to be seen but the mails leader this morning provided a balanced view and only 28% in the YouGov poll saw the cancellation of HS2E as a negative
This forum does not seem to be representative of yesterday announcement and it is permitted to agree with the proposals without being targeted as stupid or other such insults because you have a different opinion
This forum's strength is its wide political spread and it would be a shame if some voices were drowned out by others because you do not agree
This is not to excuse the cricketer in question, but when I was at secondary school* "Don't be a Jew" was used by almost every kid when attempting to cadge chocolate or crisps off a school friend.
In retrospect, it rather makes me wince.
* In Horsham. And I don't think there were any Jews in the school.
That’s interesting, because such stereotypes weren’t in our thinking at my secondary school.
But I agree that Rafiq doesn’t deserve too much criticism (certainly no more than Ollie Robinson deserves). The YCCC story is awful because it is a bullying scandal.
In my far off, misspent youth I heard the N-word fairly frequently at school in my small, rural-industrial hometown in West Virginia. Despite the near-total absence of Black people, just one woman, a doctor's maid who I never actually saw.
BTW never heard the n-word from my parents or friends parents (except to warn against it) when I was a kid, and seldom as an adult myself from other adults. At school can't recall hearing it used by or around girls, always just among boys.
Think uttering the N-word was partly reflection of what some kids heard at home or from relatives & family friends, but also some kids wanting to sound tough, edgy, cool or all of the above, among ourselves if not others.
In other words, locker room talk. To which jocks are especially, occupationally susceptible?
Which is a different thing from institutionalized racism and bullying. Albeit very much related, however connections are not always straightforward.
We live, learn . . . and improve. (The Whig Theory of Progress!)
This sportsman has fessed up and repented. His sport should start doing the same.
Actually, he didn’t confess. He was found out. Had he confessed to the select committee that he’d made such comments when he was younger, he’d look incredibly virtuous. But he didn’t.
Whatever individuals may have said/written in public/private or not, Yorkshire Cricket has still got a long way to go and blaming the whistleblower as a tactic is never good.
Not when it is a racist whistleblower, all he has done is start a woke racisthunt. English cricket is f***ed, the do gooders will all be trying to outdo each other in the racist hunting. Who will be the racist finder General appointed to clear out the stables. There will be a few nice sinecures for some yahoos for sure.
Construction will last for nearly 20 years, and will cause extensive damage and pollution of almost every conceivable type to our communities, schools and businesses. I believe that is wholly unacceptable. I speak to each and every one of my constituents in saying I will stand with them and fight with them over the wholly unacceptable damage that HS2 will bring to our communities.
Got to say, if the imbecile is still in place and we actually have the Yorkshire audience Question Time leader election specials then Boris Johnson is going to have a rough old time.
This is the utter stupidity from the government - and frankly from their few remaining PB Parrots. You can't say "this plan is quicker" when then plan says it isn't. You can't say "this plan prioritises regional connectivity" when the plan leaves whole sections out completely, relegates others to a future study and the rest remains subject to both a viable business case and then treasury approval.
People are not stupid.
The basic fact is that the revised plan does absolutely nothing to improve capacity between Leeds/Manchester or Leeds/Sheffield - two of the most congested sections of the network.
If I were in Manchester or anywhere served by the revised plan, I would be hugely sceptical that it would actually be delivered as promised. Based on the evidence this is the first of many cuts to follow.
Widely reported on Twitter by rail journalists that Shapps Green was saying very negative things about Transport for the North. So its worth noting that yesterday scrapped the detailed NPR route between Liverpool and Manchester and replaced it with one drawn with crayons.
Supposedly they have just committed to a revised HS line running via Warrington Bank Quay low level. The first stage from Lime Street to Ditton is simple enough - albeit with a "you scousers will need a new station to make this work and you can have one if you pay for it". Then it gets silly - how are they planning to smooth out the tight and confined twisting route through Wazza or solve the ship canal bridge issue or clear all the houses that are then in the way of any crayon line towards the airport where a biiiiig sweeping curve will be destructively needed to intersect HS2?
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
What you do not say is the daily mail's leader is supportive of the proposals as a pragmatic answer in the financial circinstances
Doesn't mean anything. DM has just gone very right wing. Changed editor. Of course "the sun shines out of Boris's fundament".
Next editorial will be: "When is Boris going to lift the restrictions on baby-eating?"
Strange how may times the mail has been sighted recently when it was attacking the government and now it supports it it gets a full right wing broadside
The accusation is the most significant of China’s #MeToo movement, which has struggled to gain traction in the face of strict censorship, an opaque justice system, and social and political hostility. No public accusation has been levelled against a senior official of the Chinese Communist party before, let alone one as high-ranking as Zhang.
How did China react? The post was deleted by China’s strict censors in less than 30 minutes, but nonetheless went viral...
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
What you do not say is the daily mail's leader is supportive of the proposals as a pragmatic answer in the financial circinstances
What I don’t understand is how anyone buys the latest promise from this government. The idea that this government won’t roll back further and this is now the one true plan is absurd.
That remains to be seen but the mails leader this morning provided a balanced view and only 28% in the YouGov poll saw the cancellation of HS2E as a negative
This forum does not seem to be representative of yesterday announcement and it is permitted to agree with the proposals without being targeted as stupid or other such insults because you have a different opinion
This forum's strength is its wide political spread and it would be a shame if some voices were drowned out by others because you do not agree
You lost me at Daily Mail and balance. Good grief.
I experienced casual anti semitism at school including holocaust references etc. Kids will be kids…
There was a German boy at the school I went to. He had to put up with references to Germany in WW2 for his entire time there including from his good friends. From my recollection (30 years ago now) it was all good natured but looking back it must have been difficult for him. Kids being kids.
From my time at school I never remember bullying or abuse about peers’ skin colour or ethnicity however if you were German/French (not so much other Europeans for some reason) you got teased/grief and if you were ginger it must have been hell. Kids are generally horrid!!
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
What you do not say is the daily mail's leader is supportive of the proposals as a pragmatic answer in the financial circinstances
Doesn't mean anything. DM has just gone very right wing. Changed editor. Of course "the sun shines out of Boris's fundament".
Next editorial will be: "When is Boris going to lift the restrictions on baby-eating?"
Strange how may times the mail has been sighted recently when it was attacking the government and now it supports it it gets a full right wing broadside
That's bewcause it was so out of character in recent months under the previous editor. The telly has been thumped on the top and normal service has been resumed.
This is the utter stupidity from the government - and frankly from their few remaining PB Parrots. You can't say "this plan is quicker" when then plan says it isn't. You can't say "this plan prioritises regional connectivity" when the plan leaves whole sections out completely, relegates others to a future study and the rest remains subject to both a viable business case and then treasury approval.
People are not stupid.
There are some on here that disprove your theory unfortunately.
I don't know who David Herdson is, but I fully support his right to totally waste his vote.
That's what the kind ones used to say about the SNP. I'm not so sure that the events of the last few days haven't put the collar on the whippet for a lot of Yorkshire folk.
They are getting a taste of what Scotland gets every day and finding they don't like it, perhaps they will not be so dismissive of Scotland in future.
Construction will last for nearly 20 years, and will cause extensive damage and pollution of almost every conceivable type to our communities, schools and businesses. I believe that is wholly unacceptable. I speak to each and every one of my constituents in saying I will stand with them and fight with them over the wholly unacceptable damage that HS2 will bring to our communities.
You do know that he was speaking as the Holborn & St Pancras MP? About the communities the Euston station plan proposed at the time would bulldose?
You do also know that those plans have now been scaled back and some communities now not suffering said unacceptable damage?
At my school I think casual homophobia was far more common than casual racism. Anything uncool was "gay".
This was very much the case when I was at school in the 1990s. I don't think anyone gave it too much thought at the time. It became just a word to describe something that wasn't cool but obviously now it would not be acceptable.
From back in the 50's I don't recall many (???any) non-white children around. There were quite a few Jews though; quite a big community in part of Southend. As I recall the main issue any of us raised was after we were about 15 and there would be no chance of going out with an attractive girl from the school next 'because she was Jewish' and the same applied to the girls. No point in getting romantic with a. Jewish boy; he'll only marry in the faith. I really don't recall much else.
I don't know who David Herdson is, but I fully support his right to totally waste his vote.
Herdson was a regular poster here and a strong Conservative until they were taken over by clowns and ne'er-do-wells at which point he left the Party writing a very eloquent resignation letter. He is also an astute political obserever. In things Consevative probably the most astute on PB.
Herdson for Mayor!
Big G will be along to say that Boris is great , Tories are popular and Scotland has fast trains so nothing to worry about.
He’s already done it. “But the Daily Mail said it was great!”
Got to say, if the imbecile is still in place and we actually have the Yorkshire audience Question Time leader election specials then Boris Johnson is going to have a rough old time.
I don't know who David Herdson is, but I fully support his right to totally waste his vote.
That's what the kind ones used to say about the SNP. I'm not so sure that the events of the last few days haven't put the collar on the whippet for a lot of Yorkshire folk.
They are getting a taste of what Scotland gets every day and finding they don't like it, perhaps they will not be so dismissive of Scotland in future.
Except that transport is devolved, isn’t it?
We were - certainly I was - talking and thinking of the wider electoral implications of a successful Yorkshire party. Not specifically transport.
Construction will last for nearly 20 years, and will cause extensive damage and pollution of almost every conceivable type to our communities, schools and businesses. I believe that is wholly unacceptable. I speak to each and every one of my constituents in saying I will stand with them and fight with them over the wholly unacceptable damage that HS2 will bring to our communities.
This is the utter stupidity from the government - and frankly from their few remaining PB Parrots. You can't say "this plan is quicker" when then plan says it isn't. You can't say "this plan prioritises regional connectivity" when the plan leaves whole sections out completely, relegates others to a future study and the rest remains subject to both a viable business case and then treasury approval.
People are not stupid.
The basic fact is that the revised plan does absolutely nothing to improve capacity between Leeds/Manchester or Leeds/Sheffield - two of the most congested sections of the network.
If I were in Manchester or anywhere served by the revised plan, I would be hugely sceptical that it would actually be delivered as promised. Based on the evidence this is the first of many cuts to follow.
This is not to excuse the cricketer in question, but when I was at secondary school* "Don't be a Jew" was used by almost every kid when attempting to cadge chocolate or crisps off a school friend.
In retrospect, it rather makes me wince.
* In Horsham. And I don't think there were any Jews in the school.
That’s interesting, because such stereotypes weren’t in our thinking at my secondary school.
But I agree that Rafiq doesn’t deserve too much criticism (certainly no more than Ollie Robinson deserves). The YCCC story is awful because it is a bullying scandal.
And because the institution refused to accept anything needed changing (which is Rafiq's main point). I was at school in the 70s, and casual racism was not at all uncommon. I can't recall anyone using the racist 'Jew' stereotype either.
It was widely used the way @rcs1000 describes at my high school in Atlanta, where there were a significant number of Jews. I never heard it used that way in my British schools, though plenty of other racist, homophobic and misogynistic terms were commonly used, with intent varying from jokes to bullying.
In 60's and 70's anything was fair game and no-one even thought there was racism , homophobia or misogyny it was part of normal standards. Today's snowflakes would have been fainting on a regular basis.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
This is not to excuse the cricketer in question, but when I was at secondary school* "Don't be a Jew" was used by almost every kid when attempting to cadge chocolate or crisps off a school friend.
In retrospect, it rather makes me wince.
* In Horsham. And I don't think there were any Jews in the school.
That’s interesting, because such stereotypes weren’t in our thinking at my secondary school.
But I agree that Rafiq doesn’t deserve too much criticism (certainly no more than Ollie Robinson deserves). The YCCC story is awful because it is a bullying scandal.
And because the institution refused to accept anything needed changing (which is Rafiq's main point). I was at school in the 70s, and casual racism was not at all uncommon. I can't recall anyone using the racist 'Jew' stereotype either.
It was widely used the way @rcs1000 describes at my high school in Atlanta, where there were a significant number of Jews. I never heard it used that way in my British schools, though plenty of other racist, homophobic and misogynistic terms were commonly used, with intent varying from jokes to bullying.
In 60's and 70's anything was fair game and no-one even thought there was racism , homophobia or misogyny it was part of normal standards. Today's snowflakes would have been fainting on a regular basis.
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing 'Hallelujah.'
I experienced casual anti semitism at school including holocaust references etc. Kids will be kids…
There was a German boy at the school I went to. He had to put up with references to Germany in WW2 for his entire time there including from his good friends. From my recollection (30 years ago now) it was all good natured but looking back it must have been difficult for him. Kids being kids.
From my time at school I never remember bullying or abuse about peers’ skin colour or ethnicity however if you were German/French (not so much other Europeans for some reason) you got teased/grief and if you were ginger it must have been hell. Kids are generally horrid!!
My brother had an Argentinian friend at school. In 1982. From what I was told, the school made it very clear that any bullying of him was unacceptable. Given the other bullying that was apparently going on at the time, it seems an odd exception ...
I don't know who David Herdson is, but I fully support his right to totally waste his vote.
Herdson was a regular poster here and a strong Conservative until they were taken over by clowns and ne'er-do-wells at which point he left the Party writing a very eloquent resignation letter. He is also an astute political obserever. In things Consevative probably the most astute on PB.
Herdson for Mayor!
Big G will be along to say that Boris is great , Tories are popular and Scotland has fast trains so nothing to worry about.
Right on cue! He's read the Daily Mail and Guido and he's raring to go!
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claims it is "not accurate" to suggest the eastern leg of HS2 has been scrapped - despite confirming that the majority of the project had been axed in yesterday's House of Commons announcement.
They haven't scrapped it. HS2 East still exists even though they have decided not to build it.
What does that mean? The people who protested against it because it went through their land / houses are still blighted. The land remains safeguarded, the houses remain worthless, their lives remain ruined.
Vote Conservative!
My local news last night was dominated by happy people in various locations that now think they have been spared and the planning 'blight' is over.
I don't know who David Herdson is, but I fully support his right to totally waste his vote.
That's what the kind ones used to say about the SNP. I'm not so sure that the events of the last few days haven't put the collar on the whippet for a lot of Yorkshire folk.
They are getting a taste of what Scotland gets every day and finding they don't like it, perhaps they will not be so dismissive of Scotland in future.
Except that transport is devolved, isn’t it?
Pity they did not devolve the cash to build it , isn't it. Why do you think they were talking about HS2 yesterday and it was never ever coming to Scotland.
I experienced casual anti semitism at school including holocaust references etc. Kids will be kids…
There was a German boy at the school I went to. He had to put up with references to Germany in WW2 for his entire time there including from his good friends. From my recollection (30 years ago now) it was all good natured but looking back it must have been difficult for him. Kids being kids.
From my time at school I never remember bullying or abuse about peers’ skin colour or ethnicity however if you were German/French (not so much other Europeans for some reason) you got teased/grief and if you were ginger it must have been hell. Kids are generally horrid!!
My brother had an Argentinian friend at school. In 1982. From what I was told, the school made it very clear that any bullying of him was unacceptable. Given the other bullying that was apparently going on at the time, it seems an odd exception ...
I can't think of any protected characteristic which did not attract bullying at my school (except sex, and that only because nobody was overtly female/trans)
I experienced casual anti semitism at school including holocaust references etc. Kids will be kids…
There was a German boy at the school I went to. He had to put up with references to Germany in WW2 for his entire time there including from his good friends. From my recollection (30 years ago now) it was all good natured but looking back it must have been difficult for him. Kids being kids.
From my time at school I never remember bullying or abuse about peers’ skin colour or ethnicity however if you were German/French (not so much other Europeans for some reason) you got teased/grief and if you were ginger it must have been hell. Kids are generally horrid!!
My brother had an Argentinian friend at school. In 1982. From what I was told, the school made it very clear that any bullying of him was unacceptable. Given the other bullying that was apparently going on at the time, it seems an odd exception ...
I never heard of anyone being bullied for having red hair, nor did my wife (who had, at the time). Nor did our children, two of whom did. However a grandson and great-nephew both did, one at school in Lancashire and the other in Kent.
So what do you think that about the fact that SKS voted against HS2 ?
Lets reverse it - what do YOU think we should think? Or better still what do you think red wall voters should think?
I'll give you a clue - this doesn't get Boris and the Tories off the hook.
Im not a politician and I don't really know enough about HS2 , but when a senior politician says "I speak to each and every one of my constituents in saying I will stand with them and fight with them over the wholly unacceptable damage that HS2 will bring to our communities." and then tries to score political points but stating that he would fully implement HS2, hypocrisy comes to mind. If HS2 was that terrible in 2016, surely it still is now.
My main recollection of HS2 is reading post after post on here over the past few years from all sides saying what a complete waste of money HS2 is and how it will not work. Now the Government have taken a bit of it away to spend the money on other local lines, that is now a terrible thing.
I think the poll showing only 28% of people disapproving of the Government action shows that HS2 is not as universally popular as HS2 has become on this site since the Government decided to remove a bit of it.
Strange and slightly unpleasant comparison. 2015 tweet. Starmer was opposed to HS2 then because his constituency was. Two things have changed. 1) HS2 (London to Birmingham) is happening. 2) Starmer is no longer a backbench MP fighting for his constituency, he's now national leader. No hypocrisy here.
This is the utter stupidity from the government - and frankly from their few remaining PB Parrots. You can't say "this plan is quicker" when then plan says it isn't. You can't say "this plan prioritises regional connectivity" when the plan leaves whole sections out completely, relegates others to a future study and the rest remains subject to both a viable business case and then treasury approval.
People are not stupid.
The basic fact is that the revised plan does absolutely nothing to improve capacity between Leeds/Manchester or Leeds/Sheffield - two of the most congested sections of the network.
If I were in Manchester or anywhere served by the revised plan, I would be hugely sceptical that it would actually be delivered as promised. Based on the evidence this is the first of many cuts to follow.
Widely reported on Twitter by rail journalists that Shapps Green was saying very negative things about Transport for the North. So its worth noting that yesterday scrapped the detailed NPR route between Liverpool and Manchester and replaced it with one drawn with crayons.
Supposedly they have just committed to a revised HS line running via Warrington Bank Quay low level. The first stage from Lime Street to Ditton is simple enough - albeit with a "you scousers will need a new station to make this work and you can have one if you pay for it". Then it gets silly - how are they planning to smooth out the tight and confined twisting route through Wazza or solve the ship canal bridge issue or clear all the houses that are then in the way of any crayon line towards the airport where a biiiiig sweeping curve will be destructively needed to intersect HS2?
It won't even make the detailed planning stage.
As a matter of interest, what 'detailed NPR route' have they scrapped? AFAIAA all we had was a series of possible squiggles on paper as a framework.
Comments
“He kept trying to crack jokes but most of us have heard them before and were not laughing,” says a senior Tory. “The joke is wearing thin.” When he said “we got Brexit done” – normally one of his most reliable applause lines – only a handful of MPs cheered.
The question MPs are starting to ask is: who is in charge? In the past week, MPs have started trying to work out who exactly does what in Downing Street. Finding answers isn’t easy.
What all this points to is the fact that Johnson’s authority is diminished. MPs – particularly the new intake – had been broadly happy until now to take the prime minister at his word and presume that, as an election winner, his calls are the right ones. This is beginning to change.
Terrible news for England though. Cummins as captain and Carey as keeper and the Aussies look a much more formidable side.
He said yesterday "under the original scheme, the HS2 track would not have reached the east midlands and the north until the early 2040s".
But this from the IRP shows the HS2 track not reaching East Mids or North until... er the 2040s... https://twitter.com/robpowellnews/status/1461590759921094659/photo/1
I don't think I've ever posted anything anywhere that might cause trouble for me, although I don't think anyone outside my family would care!
There are advantages in being 'one of the ordinary'
When I think of the thousands (tens of thousands?) of instant messages I’ve sent in my life, there’s bound to be a treasure trove of out of context (and sometimes in context) comments for the tabloids if I were ever in the public eye. Same for most people under 45 I think.
Which is why society needs to grow up a little bit and better differentiate between thought crimes that have no consequence and public utterances and actions that do. Rafiq has highlighted well that we all need to be more generous in how we treat each other.
Touching your phone while driving is already banned. Unless there's handsfree games I'm unaware of, what's getting banned?
Anything else is gravy.
Although it's behind a paywall so I can't read the whole article.
Certainly wasn't my understanding of the law. I thought all actions on the phone were illegal, which kind of makes controlling phone-based Satnavs a bit murky (that's the only thing I'll touch my phone while driving for).
Read more: https://trib.al/KMCt5VR https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1461596997748670469/video/1
I'll just leave this here from the Daily Mail Henry Deedes sketch this morning... https://twitter.com/robpowellnews/status/1461599678873673731/photo/1
Anyone who has played Fifa will have used "Jew goal" too. I regret it now.
Although still plenty of fumbling to switch channels on car radios.
Looks like the wet market after all for covid:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm4454
People are not stupid.
At that age a lot of terms and words and phrases get thrown about because someone has heard them. They might not know what they mean, or if they do won't get the wider context. But its cool to be in so the words get used.
As a very leftfield example, that South Park episode World Wide Recorder Concert (where they play the brown note and make the world crap itself). These New Yorker kids start calling the South Park kids "Queef" and "Mung" and then laugh at them because they have no idea what it means. Of course Stan etc then say they do know and start using the same...
It is important for us little people to understand that anything you say or so can put you in the wrong, and that silence and inaction is complicity with racism and fascism.
What does that mean? The people who protested against it because it went through their land / houses are still blighted. The land remains safeguarded, the houses remain worthless, their lives remain ruined.
Vote Conservative!
Says decision yesterday from Govt showed levelling up "is just a slogan"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics
Next editorial will be: "When is Boris going to lift the restrictions on baby-eating?"
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/coronavirus-italy-covid-19-pandemic-europe-date-antibodies-study/
Such a shame it is to be banned.
https://twitter.com/keir_starmer/status/595716500461346816?s=21
Says who? Not the report. Not Network Rail. The wording is: "Network Rail is also being asked to take forward an upgrade of the line between Bradford and Leeds via New Pudsey to include speed improvements and electrification. The aim would be to deliver a non-stop journey time
between the cities potentially as low as 12 minutes (subject to business case)"
So NR don't even have a plan for this. Its "potentially as low" as 12 minutes assuming there is a way to physically build that (which there isn't) that would get past "subject to business case" which it won't.
As anyone with basic understanding knows, Leeds station and its approaches are a massive bottleneck. Trains sitting awaiting a platform for many minutes is common. NPR / HS2 would have fixed this by building a new station and approaches for HS services. Instead there is £100m for a study of the capacity issue now to be made even worse, of the previously studied and cancelled tram system and of the wider "Mass Transit System" which is patently impossible due to the cancellation of all HS lines in and around Leeds.
Its a lie.
Wasn’t Sheffield supposedly a winner from yesterdays review? Well this is the local paper
And the actual news reporting is very different to that editorial.
This forum does not seem to be representative of yesterday announcement and it is permitted to agree with the proposals without being targeted as stupid or other such insults because you have a different opinion
This forum's strength is its wide political spread and it would be a shame if some voices were drowned out by others because you do not agree
Construction will last for nearly 20 years, and will cause extensive damage and pollution of almost every conceivable type to our communities, schools and businesses. I believe that is wholly unacceptable.
I speak to each and every one of my constituents in saying I will stand with them and fight with them over the wholly unacceptable damage that HS2 will bring to our communities.
The emotional damage from being labelled a Tory is hard to estimate. I fear some went on to lead very damaged lives, possibly in the House of Commons.
Supposedly they have just committed to a revised HS line running via Warrington Bank Quay low level. The first stage from Lime Street to Ditton is simple enough - albeit with a "you scousers will need a new station to make this work and you can have one if you pay for it". Then it gets silly - how are they planning to smooth out the tight and confined twisting route through Wazza or solve the ship canal bridge issue or clear all the houses that are then in the way of any crayon line towards the airport where a biiiiig sweeping curve will be destructively needed to intersect HS2?
It won't even make the detailed planning stage.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/nov/19/the-disappearance-of-peng-shuai-what-happened-to-the-chinese-tennis-star
...In her Weibo post, Peng said she couldn’t produce any evidence of her accusation but was determined to voice them. “Like an egg hitting a rock, or a moth to the flame, courting self-destruction, I’ll tell the truth about you,” she wrote.
The accusation is the most significant of China’s #MeToo movement, which has struggled to gain traction in the face of strict censorship, an opaque justice system, and social and political hostility. No public accusation has been levelled against a senior official of the Chinese Communist party before, let alone one as high-ranking as Zhang.
How did China react?
The post was deleted by China’s strict censors in less than 30 minutes, but nonetheless went viral...
I'll give you a clue - this doesn't get Boris and the Tories off the hook.
You do also know that those plans have now been scaled back and some communities now not suffering said unacceptable damage?
As I recall the main issue any of us raised was after we were about 15 and there would be no chance of going out with an attractive girl from the school next 'because she was Jewish' and the same applied to the girls. No point in getting romantic with a. Jewish boy; he'll only marry in the faith.
I really don't recall much else.
“But the Daily Mail said it was great!”
Let the salami slicing begin.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-59339868
https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/joe-biden-administration-approval-ratings-and-hypothetical-voting-intention-15-november-2021/
My main recollection of HS2 is reading post after post on here over the past few years from all sides saying what a complete waste of money HS2 is and how it will not work. Now the Government have taken a bit of it away to spend the money on other local lines, that is now a terrible thing.
I think the poll showing only 28% of people disapproving of the Government action shows that HS2 is not as universally popular as HS2 has become on this site since the Government decided to remove a bit of it.
It's not difficult.
(Incidentally, NPR are so competent that when I load their website, it asks me for a login... https://transportforthenorth.com/northern-powerhouse-rail/ )