“Devastating surge of #COVID19 emerging in France 🇫🇷, where cases are near/at record highs. Cases also surging much faster & steeper than previous waves—especially in young children age 6-10. Similar spikes in other countries. May our children forgive us. HT @nicolasberrod”
The flingle-dingle-dongle is overdoing it for now. Their levels of hospital patients are about 2/3 lower in France than eg in Germany.
trend...
France has a trend of switchbacks.
France has been produced very strange figures throughout this pandemic, they have regularly had far less cases than the UK but many more people in hospital with Covid
Probably different testing regimes and also criteria for hospital admission?
I was just pondering idly that if we go full vaxports actual vaxports (rather than -ve LFTs) then half the premiership (and more?) would be banned from the ground and from playing for their own teams.
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
That's the interesting thing about whatshisface- you remember, scruffy bloke who drove around to test his eyes. Dave? Dick?
He had a brilliant plan- use Boris as the frontman for his re-engineering of the nation. Because nobody in their right mind would vote for him. But he got conned, humped and dumped by BoJo. And one one level, he recognises this, hence the fury. But he can't totally admit that, because it makes him the mug, and mugs never want to admit that to themselves. That's why conmen get away with it.
(I saw the Soup Dragon yesterday, so I have some Moon Rabbit soup for lunch today. Complete with the green string they used to trap it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRyP_I0OOA)
Oh wow. That’s the stuff. Magical. 🥰
Bllllllllllllllllluh (Translated: without packing out Ukrainian with NATO troops, looks like the West have agree to let Putin invade without a fight)
On a separate note, one of my Ts has reported a rat nibbling a hole through a brick plinth to get into the warmth under the foundations.
So I now have to get it dealt with pronto. We have super-rats around here. But lots of rat-men.
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
If i was in Boris position now i would step down to spend more time with family and do a teary interview saying never fully recovered from COVID, i suffer brain fog, forgetting exact details, etc etc, it gets better for a bit, then when work load piles on, i go backwards, my doctors have advised me that i can't carry on pushing myself like this...
That’s also likely true. He looks pretty fucked. His mumbling is worse. Peppa Pig. Etc
Bugger covid, he is getting on a bit and struggling to keep up with the booze and, ahem, caffeine intake of a funlovin' party animal 20 years his junior, plus babycare.
“Devastating surge of #COVID19 emerging in France 🇫🇷, where cases are near/at record highs. Cases also surging much faster & steeper than previous waves—especially in young children age 6-10. Similar spikes in other countries. May our children forgive us. HT @nicolasberrod”
The flingle-dingle-dongle is overdoing it for now. Their levels of hospital patients are about 2/3 lower in France than eg in Germany.
trend...
France has a trend of switchbacks.
France has been produced very strange figures throughout this pandemic, they have regularly had far less cases than the UK but many more people in hospital with Covid
Indeed. Ditto other countries. My theory on that is that here we are more thoroughly geared up for day cases, and for checking people out more quickly.
The local by-elections today could be difficult for the Conservatives. They are defending in Bracknell Forest, two wards in Rotherham, and two in Tonbridge and Malling. There is also an Ind defence in Torridge.
“Devastating surge of #COVID19 emerging in France 🇫🇷, where cases are near/at record highs. Cases also surging much faster & steeper than previous waves—especially in young children age 6-10. Similar spikes in other countries. May our children forgive us. HT @nicolasberrod”
The flingle-dingle-dongle is overdoing it for now. Their levels of hospital patients are about 2/3 lower in France than eg in Germany.
trend...
France has a trend of switchbacks.
France has been produced very strange figures throughout this pandemic, they have regularly had far less cases than the UK but many more people in hospital with Covid
Probably different testing regimes and also criteria for hospital admission?
I really don't know, but at the moment despite have far less cases than the UK over the past 8 weeks they have 13044 in hospital, which is nearly double the UK's number
Honestly Nick?!? Being a vocal fan of Franco, advocating armed invasion of Scotland and cheering police brutality against voting grannies is OK with a former Labour MP? I thought better of you and your party.
I'm in favour of freedom of speech, so long as the opinions expressed are legal. If they're expressed politely, as HYUFD does, so much the better (I don't think I've heard him on the subject of brutality to grannies). As you'd expect, I disagree with almost everything he says (except his judgement on polls which is often quite sharp), but I like that he's willing to say what he thinks. None of us on PB should feel cowed.
What is an "illegal opinion"? It can't mean an opinion that would be illegal to put into effect - like that face coverings should always be discretionary or that the urban speed limit should be 35 mph. Which are the opinions that it is against the law to hold? This is a genuine question.
Anything Rod Liddle says at Durham Students’ Union, or Dave Chappelle on stage at a comedy club?
I don't think everything Rod Liddle said at Durham South College was illegal, however it does seem close to equality Act.
Durham is actually interesting as it seems to be two different sets of people with different arguments. The Free Speech are going - it's great how dare Mr Luckhurst be attacked while Durham University is going HOW many parts of his employment contract did he break and can we fix it before more students remove Durham as their first choice.
It very sad, that university authorities now appear to have a problem with inviting speakers who challenge the viewpoint of some of the students.
Isn’t having your horizons opened, and your views challenged, supposed to be the whole point of university?
Again you are missing the context which is both Mr Luckhurst's fault and will be his downfall.
Mr Liddle was invited to a formal as the speaker without revealing to anyone who the guest was (because if he had few people would have attended). Now the formal was in South College so the College Principal (Mr Luckhurst) basically invited his mate to insult all the students he has a pastoral care responsibility for in his role as College Principal.
It's also worth adding that there is no right of response or even right to exit the room (even to go to the toilet) and doing so could be subject to disciplinary measures up to expulsion from Durham.
So that's the first problem Durham University has to deal with. The second one is that it's now also been made into a Free Speech political football to try and project Mr Luckhurst who seems to breached numerous parts of his employment contract.
And from what I gather it's not doing recruitment any good - UCAS forms are in and this is the exact time students finalise their choices.
The problem there, is rules that say one can be disciplined for leaving the room at an event.
Students need to spend a lot more time listing to opinions with which they disagree, because that’s what will happen when they enter the real world.
Which is what the Free Speech people are trying to argue when Mr Luckhurst's problem is that he's basically broken whole sections of his employment contract while bringing his employer into disrupt.
The one thing Free Speech activists seem to forget is that while you have Free Speech on a personal level, chances are you've willingly signed other contracts that may impact what you can say or do - see @Casino_Royale keeping quiet about his old employer.
What does his employment contract say, no speakers to the right of Jeremy Corbyn? There’s clearly something missing from the story.
As College Principal he was Duty of care responsibility to the students who call South College their home for the years they are at Durham.
And you then just compare the speech to Durham University's Bullying policy and reflect upon that policy and Mr Luckhurst's position within South College.
I haven't seen any of the policies or the speeches, but I would be inclined to interpret "Duty of Care" to include exposing them to ideas they have a prejudice against to help them grow up.
The stuff by Ms Luckhurst seemed a touch marginal, perhaps.
"I don’t want to get into an argument about Liddle’s views on colonisation, transphobia or sex work. That he wilfully misinterpreted the support and guidance provided by Durham’s student union (note: the student union, not the university) to students considering taking up sex work as offering “courses in the various forms of harlotry” is not my concern – it’s not my job to teach a 61-year-old how to read. Nor are his views on women (and, lest we forget, underage girls) my concern here. He is free to write what he wants within reason – and, indeed, to speak at any event to which he is invited."
And previously Mr L in the Speccy - no wonder the students reacted to finding the unexpected bombe surprise on the menu:
"Exciting news from Durham University, which is helping its students to become ‘sex workers’. This noble institution is offering two courses in the various forms of harlotry. My only concern is that at present they do not actually offer an academic qualification in these subjects — at the very least an undergraduate degree in, say, Practical Whoring. Perhaps followed by an MA in Deconstructing the Topless Hand-Shandy1897-1913. Such courses would probably result in more lucrative career opportunities than many of the more traditional subjects which students pay through the nose to study. I am attending a dinner at Durham University next month and fervently hope that some of the ambitious young ladies on these courses will be in attendance."
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
On topic I think it's easy to see how Boris recovers from this. He does nothing much, there are some bad headlines, maybe he loses a by-election or maybe he doesn't. Then he waits for another issue where the Tory press are back on his side, and the Tory press are back on his side.
Can easily see that. You might be right.
I think the emotional connection for many voters is broken now though. People knew he lies but the ongoing denials are taking the piss and people don't like being taken for fools. It feels a lot like Brown pretending he was never going to have an election.
Lord Geidt’s entire basis for absolving Boris Johnson over the flat was that the PM told him he didn’t know where the money was coming from until February 2021.
It was why he was just “unwise”.
And, according to the Electoral Commission, it was not true
(I saw the Soup Dragon yesterday, so I have some Moon Rabbit soup for lunch today. Complete with the green string they used to trap it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRyP_I0OOA)
Oh wow. That’s the stuff. Magical. 🥰
Bllllllllllllllllluh (Translated: without packing out Ukrainian with NATO troops, looks like the West have agree to let Putin invade without a fight)
Smokey Joe does seem to be being a little dim. 'No, we won't send our military in', essentially. I thought the idea was to leave them wondering.
Though the forces of Ukraine are a lot bigger and a lot better than they were before. It would be interesting if the Russkies tried and were sent back in underpants and flip-flops.
That’s seriously worrying.
If the Russkis go over the border, threatening to take Ukraine and leave a massive border between Russia and NATO, how are the NATO countries supposed to respond to Ukraine’s cry for help?
Grow a pair, Sleepy Joe. Tell them they can expect to be bombed back to Moscow.
I don't know, though I was surprised how much training has been done by Western forces since 2015 - mainly UKUSCA afaics. 30-40k Ukranian troops have been trained, but the West has been hung up on "non-lethal" aid, which won't hack it.
Though I'm not really convinced that the West is good at the sort of resistance that would be required.
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
That's the interesting thing about whatshisface- you remember, scruffy bloke who drove around to test his eyes. Dave? Dick?
He had a brilliant plan- use Boris as the frontman for his re-engineering of the nation. Because nobody in their right mind would vote for him. But he got conned, humped and dumped by BoJo. And one one level, he recognises this, hence the fury. But he can't totally admit that, because it makes him the mug, and mugs never want to admit that to themselves. That's why conmen get away with it.
I'm not sure about that. Cummings wants to improve - vastly - the competence of politicians (and civil servants) and couldn't resist the chance to observe more closely from within No 10. He left at at time of his own choosing, having gained the insight and ammunition he needed and having his worst fears about UK governance confirmed.
Now he is deploying that insight in the most effective way he can in order to to bring Johnson down.
Can Boris actually be enjoying his job? My impression has for some time been that he’s clinging on for dear life for covid to pass so he can steer us all into the sunlit uplands and go back to jaunty buffoonery whilst everyone laughs and calls him a card.
I struggle to see what motivates him now (beyond the pursuit of personal popularity which is well known). Brown and May had torrid times in office, but they were kept going at least in part by a sense of duty.
That very lack of a strong moral compass has lead him to the precipice now. He has for some time been known to take a hands off approach to management, allowing underlings to do what they will. Fine if you’re surrounded by competent, managerial types. Less so when you’re surrounded by opportunists and chancers.
Being Boris he probably wants to leave office on a high note, but is there any chance of that now?
If i was in Boris position now i would step down to spend more time with family and do a teary interview saying never fully recovered from COVID, i suffer brain fog, forgetting exact details, etc etc, it gets better for a bit, then when work load piles on, i go backwards, my doctors have advised me that i can't carry on pushing myself like this...
That’s also likely true. He looks pretty fucked. His mumbling is worse. Peppa Pig. Etc
Bugger covid, he is getting on a bit and struggling to keep up with the booze and, ahem, caffeine intake of a funlovin' party animal 20 years his junior, plus babycare.
Yes. He has the toughest job in the country during a global plague PLUS all the other stuff. A new dad at 57. A lively young wife who wants to party. Endless lies to remember. A dose of covid. As someone who has experienced some of these things I say Fuck that for a game of soldiers. It could literally kill him
Honestly Nick?!? Being a vocal fan of Franco, advocating armed invasion of Scotland and cheering police brutality against voting grannies is OK with a former Labour MP? I thought better of you and your party.
I'm in favour of freedom of speech, so long as the opinions expressed are legal. If they're expressed politely, as HYUFD does, so much the better (I don't think I've heard him on the subject of brutality to grannies). As you'd expect, I disagree with almost everything he says (except his judgement on polls which is often quite sharp), but I like that he's willing to say what he thinks. None of us on PB should feel cowed.
What is an "illegal opinion"? It can't mean an opinion that would be illegal to put into effect - like that face coverings should always be discretionary or that the urban speed limit should be 35 mph. Which are the opinions that it is against the law to hold? This is a genuine question.
Anything Rod Liddle says at Durham Students’ Union, or Dave Chappelle on stage at a comedy club?
I don't think everything Rod Liddle said at Durham South College was illegal, however it does seem close to equality Act.
Durham is actually interesting as it seems to be two different sets of people with different arguments. The Free Speech are going - it's great how dare Mr Luckhurst be attacked while Durham University is going HOW many parts of his employment contract did he break and can we fix it before more students remove Durham as their first choice.
It very sad, that university authorities now appear to have a problem with inviting speakers who challenge the viewpoint of some of the students.
Isn’t having your horizons opened, and your views challenged, supposed to be the whole point of university?
Again you are missing the context which is both Mr Luckhurst's fault and will be his downfall.
Mr Liddle was invited to a formal as the speaker without revealing to anyone who the guest was (because if he had few people would have attended). Now the formal was in South College so the College Principal (Mr Luckhurst) basically invited his mate to insult all the students he has a pastoral care responsibility for in his role as College Principal.
It's also worth adding that there is no right of response or even right to exit the room (even to go to the toilet) and doing so could be subject to disciplinary measures up to expulsion from Durham.
So that's the first problem Durham University has to deal with. The second one is that it's now also been made into a Free Speech political football to try and project Mr Luckhurst who seems to breached numerous parts of his employment contract.
And from what I gather it's not doing recruitment any good - UCAS forms are in and this is the exact time students finalise their choices.
The problem there, is rules that say one can be disciplined for leaving the room at an event.
Students need to spend a lot more time listing to opinions with which they disagree, because that’s what will happen when they enter the real world.
Which is what the Free Speech people are trying to argue when Mr Luckhurst's problem is that he's basically broken whole sections of his employment contract while bringing his employer into disrupt.
The one thing Free Speech activists seem to forget is that while you have Free Speech on a personal level, chances are you've willingly signed other contracts that may impact what you can say or do - see @Casino_Royale keeping quiet about his old employer.
What does his employment contract say, no speakers to the right of Jeremy Corbyn? There’s clearly something missing from the story.
As College Principal he was Duty of care responsibility to the students who call South College their home for the years they are at Durham.
And you then just compare the speech to Durham University's Bullying policy and reflect upon that policy and Mr Luckhurst's position within South College.
I haven't seen any of the policies or the speeches, but I would be inclined to interpret "Duty of Care" to include exposing them to ideas they have a prejudice against to help them grow up.
The stuff by Ms Luckhurst seemed a touch marginal, perhaps.
If you look at the policies and the bits of the speech I've seen - you can literally match the clause to the paragraph of the speech.
If i was in Boris position now i would step down to spend more time with family and do a teary interview saying never fully recovered from COVID, i suffer brain fog, forgetting exact details, etc etc, it gets better for a bit, then when work load piles on, i go backwards, my doctors have advised me that i can't carry on pushing myself like this...
That’s also likely true. He looks pretty fucked. His mumbling is worse. Peppa Pig. Etc
Bugger covid, he is getting on a bit and struggling to keep up with the booze and, ahem, caffeine intake of a funlovin' party animal 20 years his junior, plus babycare.
Yes. He has the toughest job in the country during a global plague PLUS all the other stuff. A new dad at 57. A lively young wife who wants to party. Endless lies to remember. A dose of covid. As someone who has experienced some of these things I say Fuck that for a game of soldiers. It could literally kill him
I’ve experienced literally none of those things. As a result I should be PM.
Who could possibly have predicted that the Conservatives choosing as leader and PM a mendacious, amoral, untrustworthy, disorganised, self-centred buffoon, with the attention-span of a gnat, would lead to chaotic and dysfunctional government, and wouldn't even be in the long-term interests of the Conservative Party?
They don't even have the excuse that they mistakenly projected their hopes on to a blank slate. This slate was already very well-scribbled over; there can't have been a single member of the party who wasn't perfectly aware by 2019 that Boris was totally unsuited to high office.
If it was not for Boris the Tories would not have a majority of 80, Brexit would still not have got done and Corbyn would still be leader of the Labour Party
“Devastating surge of #COVID19 emerging in France 🇫🇷, where cases are near/at record highs. Cases also surging much faster & steeper than previous waves—especially in young children age 6-10. Similar spikes in other countries. May our children forgive us. HT @nicolasberrod”
The flingle-dingle-dongle is overdoing it for now. Their levels of hospital patients are about 2/3 lower in France than eg in Germany.
trend...
France has a trend of switchbacks.
France has been produced very strange figures throughout this pandemic, they have regularly had far less cases than the UK but many more people in hospital with Covid
Probably different testing regimes and also criteria for hospital admission?
I really don't know, but at the moment despite have far less cases than the UK over the past 8 weeks they have 13044 in hospital, which is nearly double the UK's number
Over the last weeks, the divide between Northern Surge and Southern Flat profiles has been at the France-Belgium France-Germany border.
Something about warm and cold climates, and length of summer?
Can Boris actually be enjoying his job? My impression has for some time been that he’s clinging on for dear life for covid to pass so he can steer us all into the sunlit uplands and go back to jaunty buffoonery whilst everyone laughs and calls him a card.
I struggle to see what motivates him now (beyond the pursuit of personal popularity which is well known). Brown and May had torrid times in office, but they were kept going at least in part by a sense of duty.
That very lack of a strong moral compass has lead him to the precipice now. He has for some time been known to take a hands off approach to management, allowing underlings to do what they will. Fine if you’re surrounded by competent, managerial types. Less so when you’re surrounded by opportunists and chancers.
Being Boris he probably wants to leave office on a high note, but is there any chance of that now?
TSE claimed last week that Boris basically has dates he wishes to pass for various reasons (August 2022 to pass May, sometime in 2026 to pass Cameron).
It's the bit I don't get, you've done Brexit, we've gone through Covid surely Boris would want to leave on high (any level of high) and earn real money.
On the Ukraine, an interesting comparison with Jimmy Carter and stopping the proposed invasion of Poland in 1980. By the son of Z Brezinski (sp?).
Foreign ministers, meanwhile, reviewed a set of firm economic and diplomatic sanctions that were provided to the press. They included:
terminating all large-scale economic projects, including a new natural gas pipeline linking Siberia and Western Europe; suspending economic credits to the Soviet Union and Poland; imposing a full grain embargo on the Soviet Union; ending all shipments of machinery and electronic equipment; imposing a total trade boycott; banning Soviet ships from Western ports; suspending arms-control talks; recalling Allied ambassadors from Moscow; and curtailing political and cultural/social contacts with the Soviet Union.
So, if Labour win most seats at the next GE, with the Tories having been 2/5 in the market at one point, are we going to pretend that Labour had been favourites all along and they didn't really achieve anything much?
I don't think Labour will have done anything special. Their plan, rightly, has been to be a moderate and yes boring alternative to the government. Whether they win or lose, their performance will be similar.
Their win or loss depends perhaps 80-90% on how the Tories do and 10-20% on what they achieve themselves.
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
“Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
Can Boris actually be enjoying his job? My impression has for some time been that he’s clinging on for dear life for covid to pass so he can steer us all into the sunlit uplands and go back to jaunty buffoonery whilst everyone laughs and calls him a card.
I struggle to see what motivates him now (beyond the pursuit of personal popularity which is well known). Brown and May had torrid times in office, but they were kept going at least in part by a sense of duty.
That very lack of a strong moral compass has lead him to the precipice now. He has for some time been known to take a hands off approach to management, allowing underlings to do what they will. Fine if you’re surrounded by competent, managerial types. Less so when you’re surrounded by opportunists and chancers.
Being Boris he probably wants to leave office on a high note, but is there any chance of that now?
TSE claimed last week that Boris basically has dates he wishes to pass for various reasons (August 2022 to pass May, sometime in 2026 to pass Cameron).
It's the bit I don't get, you've done Brexit, we've gone through Covid surely Boris would want to leave on high (any level of high) and earn real money.
Ego.
He's had a rivalry with Dave going back decades.
Dave got a first, Boris did not.
(It'd be August/September 2025 to overtake Dave.)
Ultimately, his entire life has been about becoming PM, he doesn't want it to be fleeting. One person who knows him well says the reason he won't give Scotland indyref2 on his watch? If Scotland votes Yes, then that, not Brexit will be the first line of Boris Johnson's obituary, and his ego won't allow him to sit out indyref2, in the way Dave let the Scots get on with it in indyref2.
(I saw the Soup Dragon yesterday, so I have some Moon Rabbit soup for lunch today. Complete with the green string they used to trap it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRyP_I0OOA)
Oh wow. That’s the stuff. Magical. 🥰
Bllllllllllllllllluh (Translated: without packing out Ukrainian with NATO troops, looks like the West have agree to let Putin invade without a fight)
Smokey Joe does seem to be being a little dim. 'No, we won't send our military in', essentially. I thought the idea was to leave them wondering.
Though the forces of Ukraine are a lot bigger and a lot better than they were before. It would be interesting if the Russkies tried and were sent back in underpants and flip-flops.
That’s seriously worrying.
If the Russkis go over the border, threatening to take Ukraine and leave a massive border between Russia and NATO, how are the NATO countries supposed to respond to Ukraine’s cry for help?
Grow a pair, Sleepy Joe. Tell them they can expect to be bombed back to Moscow.
I don't know, though I was surprised how much training has been done by Western forces since 2015 - mainly UKUSCA afaics. 30-40k Ukranian troops have been trained, but the West has been hung up on "non-lethal" aid, which won't hack it.
Though I'm not really convinced that the West is good at the sort of resistance that would be required.
The Ukrainians have been trained, but the majority of their kit is well behind Western standards. As is a lot of their oppenents’ kit, of course.
It would quickly become an air war, where the West has a massive superiority. The Russkis will say they have thousands of planes and bombs, but can probably only find a few dozen serviceable ships for any given mission. That’s where the US comes in.
Can Boris actually be enjoying his job? My impression has for some time been that he’s clinging on for dear life for covid to pass so he can steer us all into the sunlit uplands and go back to jaunty buffoonery whilst everyone laughs and calls him a card.
I struggle to see what motivates him now (beyond the pursuit of personal popularity which is well known). Brown and May had torrid times in office, but they were kept going at least in part by a sense of duty.
That very lack of a strong moral compass has lead him to the precipice now. He has for some time been known to take a hands off approach to management, allowing underlings to do what they will. Fine if you’re surrounded by competent, managerial types. Less so when you’re surrounded by opportunists and chancers.
Being Boris he probably wants to leave office on a high note, but is there any chance of that now?
TSE claimed last week that Boris basically has dates he wishes to pass for various reasons (August 2022 to pass May, sometime in 2026 to pass Cameron).
It's the bit I don't get, you've done Brexit, we've gone through Covid surely Boris would want to leave on high (any level of high) and earn real money.
Ego.
He's had a rivalry with Dave going back decades.
Dave got a first, Boris did not.
(It'd be August/September 2025 to overtake Dave.)
Ultimately, his entire life has been about becoming PM, he doesn't want it to be fleeting. One person who knows him well says the reason he won't give Scotland indyref2 on his watch? If Scotland votes Yes, then that, not Brexit will be the first line of Boris Johnson's obituary, and his ego won't allow him to sit out indyref2, in the way Dave let the Scots get on with it in indyref2.
Quite right too. If the SNP want an indyref2 they will have to get a UK Labour government reliant on their support, they will not get another indyref while the Tories are in power.
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
His view sways around wildly depending on the last person to give him a nudge.
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
Some of his previous children were also born to a previous wife of Boris - but that marriage didn't have a Catholic Wedding so he was able to give Carrie the white wedding she demanded.
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
He veers all over the place crashing into everything.
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
His view sways around wildly depending on the last person to give him a nudge.
The trolleys I use usually have a least one wonky wheel
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
He's like a shopping trolley, darting clumsily from one side to the other trying to keep on-board with popular opinion rather than basing decisions on logic and principle. He is the ultimate political weathervane, prone to the shallow brain-farts of the lumpen.
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
You insert money into him for exclusive use of him for as long as you like
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
It was a marriage, just not a catholic one.
And he signed a form saying he had not been validly married - the form uses those exact words.
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
He veers all over the place crashing into everything.
“Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”
He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.
It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
His view sways around wildly depending on the last person to give him a nudge.
Yes very good - Orwell's sheep in Animal Farm come to mind.
The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.
The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
I am not exactly going to be surprised if we find lots of them actually had "business meetings" around this time.
Indeed. Had the government line last week simply been "people were working long hours and we are very sorry if what was intended as a business meeting progressed into something people might view as a party, we will do better in future" instead of "there was no party and even if there was then no rules were broken, but we wont tell you why it is within the rules" we would no longer be talking about it.
“Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”
He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.
It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
I don't know why we don't have Council Tax Bands that go above, e.g. £3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
“Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”
He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.
It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
I don't know why we don't have Council Tax Bands that go above, e.g. £3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
I have maintained that for years - more upper band rates are needed to reflect fairness
Mind you here in Wales the labour green coalition have announced a wide sale review into council tax
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
Sounds a bit like Henry the 8th not really being married for 20 years to Catherine of Aragon.
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
Nice deadpan. I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake. A neatish arbitrage ?
Someone the other day was saying Omicron might help to fix inflation.
It's just occured to me the BoE will be delighted at the latest excuse to delay rate rises.
And if you actually think about where the inflation has come from, it's primarily driven by people spending 2 years piling up savings whilst the quantity of goods produces stagnated, so now we have too much money chasing too few goods. Another round on this nonsense is not going to help in the least.
(I saw the Soup Dragon yesterday, so I have some Moon Rabbit soup for lunch today. Complete with the green string they used to trap it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRyP_I0OOA)
Oh wow. That’s the stuff. Magical. 🥰
Bllllllllllllllllluh (Translated: without packing out Ukrainian with NATO troops, looks like the West have agree to let Putin invade without a fight)
Smokey Joe does seem to be being a little dim. 'No, we won't send our military in', essentially. I thought the idea was to leave them wondering.
Though the forces of Ukraine are a lot bigger and a lot better than they were before. It would be interesting if the Russkies tried and were sent back in underpants and flip-flops.
That’s seriously worrying.
If the Russkis go over the border, threatening to take Ukraine and leave a massive border between Russia and NATO, how are the NATO countries supposed to respond to Ukraine’s cry for help?
Grow a pair, Sleepy Joe. Tell them they can expect to be bombed back to Moscow.
I don't know, though I was surprised how much training has been done by Western forces since 2015 - mainly UKUSCA afaics. 30-40k Ukranian troops have been trained, but the West has been hung up on "non-lethal" aid, which won't hack it.
Though I'm not really convinced that the West is good at the sort of resistance that would be required.
Note that Biden has said only that he won't take unilateral action without NATO. And that the US sent troops to Ukraine on a training exercise last week. I think sleepy Joe is perhaps playing a smarter game than he's given credit for.
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
Nice deadpan. I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake. A neatish arbitrage ?
Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children
To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
Sounds a bit like Henry the 8th not really being married for 20 years to Catherine of Aragon.
Yes, we've got a bad record for fat male leaders who think the rules don't apply to them.
The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.
The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
I am not exactly going to be surprised if we find lots of them actually had "business meetings" around this time.
My Company did, we all bought in food and sat around having a laugh for an afternoon.
Im sure lots of Companies did.
Indeed. There’s Christmas Parties, and Christmas Parties.
I can imagine that the journalists are thinking that the Downing St ‘parties’ must have been at least as much fun as their own.
I imagine that anyone who comes in to the No10 complex has to sign in and out and go through security. So if lots of people all turned up for a 9pm party would it not be easy to prove?
I thought the MET statement yesterday was interesting as I imagine that the police "guarding" Number 10 are from the MET. So if there was a party then the MET would know.
First thing the cleaner said this morning “bloody Boris Johnson I hate that man. What a liar. And to think I said goodbye to my dying father on an iPad for him”.
Cut through. Conservative MPs would be wise to move swiftly or the next election will already be lost.
“Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”
He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.
It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
I don't know why we don't have Council Tax Bands that go above, e.g. £3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
"Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"
Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
His view sways around wildly depending on the last person to give him a nudge.
Or perhaps it's just that he can rapidly accommodate large quantities of food and wine ?
First thing the cleaner said this morning “bloody Boris Johnson I hate that man. What a liar. And to think I said goodbye to my dying father on an iPad for him”.
Cut through. Conservative MPs would be wise to move swiftly or the next election will already be lost.
She said goodbye to her dying father on an iPad for Boris Johnson?
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
Nice deadpan. I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake. A neatish arbitrage ?
Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
Nice deadpan. I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake. A neatish arbitrage ?
Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
What happens, points-wise, if they take each other out?
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
Nice deadpan. I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake. A neatish arbitrage ?
Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
The thing that worries me right now about the Betfair market.
In a race, they pay out on podium places as per the three chaps who actually stand on the podium. If one of those gets a penalty which takes them out of a podium place then they don't payout if your promoted chap who has now finished in the top three.
Now if Verstappen takes out Hamilton but he gets a subsequent penalty which hands the title to Hamilton what will Betfair do?
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
Nice deadpan. I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake. A neatish arbitrage ?
Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
What happens, points-wise, if they take each other out?
MV wins the championship, as he has one more win than LH - the race that never was, in Belgium.
The worry is, that MV now has an incentive to do just that.
Perhaps No 10 staff might present Boris and Carrie Johnson framed copies of today's front pages to celebrate the arrival of their new daughter, at today's birthday celebration party.
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
Nice deadpan. I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake. A neatish arbitrage ?
Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
The thing that worries me right now about the Betfair market.
In a race, they pay out on podium places as per the three chaps who actually stand on the podium. If one of those gets a penalty which takes them out of a podium place then they don't payout if your chap who has now finished in the top three.
Now if Verstappen takes out Hamilton but he gets a subsequent penalty which hands the title to Hamilton what will Betfair do?
It could be the POTUS market all over again.
The champion isn’t actually crowned until the FIA annual dinner, which is a couple of weeks away. Any sort of appeal before the race result is final, and yes it could drag on for a while.
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
Nice deadpan. I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake. A neatish arbitrage ?
Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
Perhaps No 10 staff might present Boris and Carrie Johnson framed copies of today's front pages to celebrate the arrival of their new daughter, at today's birthday celebration party.
“Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”
He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.
It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
I don't know why we don't have Council Tax Bands that go above, e.g. £3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
First thing the cleaner said this morning “bloody Boris Johnson I hate that man. What a liar. And to think I said goodbye to my dying father on an iPad for him”.
Cut through. Conservative MPs would be wise to move swiftly or the next election will already be lost.
She said goodbye to her dying father on an iPad for Boris Johnson?
Yes, he stood up in front of the nation and described the restrictions as a moral imperative, and put the teeth of criminal law behind him too. Because it was apparently so important they were followed to the letter with no room for compassion at all.
The anger among the apolitical population at large is as great as any I have seen in my lifetime.
Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.
I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.
We need him on this site.
I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
Nice deadpan. I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake. A neatish arbitrage ?
Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
Why would that be a worry for me ?
You’re right, I got it the wrong way round. Am stressed at the moment, waiting for bloody covid test result that’s required to turn up tonight for a walk around the circuit.
“Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”
He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.
It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
I don't know why we don't have Council Tax Bands that go above, e.g. £3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
I have maintained that for years - more upper band rates are needed to reflect fairness
Mind you here in Wales the labour green coalition have announced a wide sale review into council tax
It will be fascinating to see which parts of the very ambitious Labour/PC programme actually get carried out.
The agreement included moves to establish rent controls; the extension of free school meals to all primary school pupils; childcare for all two-year-olds; creation of a National Care Service; limits on second-home ownership; a replacement for council tax; the creation of a publicly owned construction company and an energy company; changes to the Senedd’s size and electoral system, including a statutory guarantee of gender balance; and measures to promote the Welsh language
The one thing that I am confident about is that increasing the size of the Senedd will happen
Comments
He had a brilliant plan- use Boris as the frontman for his re-engineering of the nation. Because nobody in their right mind would vote for him. But he got conned, humped and dumped by BoJo. And one one level, he recognises this, hence the fury. But he can't totally admit that, because it makes him the mug, and mugs never want to admit that to themselves. That's why conmen get away with it.
So I now have to get it dealt with pronto. We have super-rats around here. But lots of rat-men.
https://www.newstatesman.com/society/2021/12/if-rod-liddle-has-the-right-to-lecture-durham-students-about-sex-work-wheres-my-invitation-to-talk-about-cats
"I don’t want to get into an argument about Liddle’s views on colonisation, transphobia or sex work. That he wilfully misinterpreted the support and guidance provided by Durham’s student union (note: the student union, not the university) to students considering taking up sex work as offering “courses in the various forms of harlotry” is not my concern – it’s not my job to teach a 61-year-old how to read. Nor are his views on women (and, lest we forget, underage girls) my concern here. He is free to write what he wants within reason – and, indeed, to speak at any event to which he is invited."
And previously Mr L in the Speccy - no wonder the students reacted to finding the unexpected bombe surprise on the menu:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-importance-of-stigma/amp
"Exciting news from Durham University, which is helping its students to become ‘sex workers’. This noble institution is offering two courses in the various forms of harlotry. My only concern is that at present they do not actually offer an academic qualification in these subjects — at the very least an undergraduate degree in, say, Practical Whoring. Perhaps followed by an MA in Deconstructing the Topless Hand-Shandy1897-1913. Such courses would probably result in more lucrative career opportunities than many of the more traditional subjects which students pay through the nose to study. I am attending a dinner at Durham University next month and fervently hope that some of the ambitious young ladies on these courses will be in attendance."
If he asked the PM "Did you ask Lord Brownlow for money?" and was lied to, he needs to make that clear. And probably resign to maintain his honour.
If he didn't ask such an obvious question and/or check phones to confirm or not what people told him, he should resign for being incompetent.
Though I'm not really convinced that the West is good at the sort of resistance that would be required.
Now he is deploying that insight in the most effective way he can in order to to bring Johnson down.
I struggle to see what motivates him now (beyond the pursuit of personal popularity which is well known). Brown and May had torrid times in office, but they were kept going at least in part by a sense of duty.
That very lack of a strong moral compass has lead him to the precipice now. He has for some time been known to take a hands off approach to management, allowing underlings to do what they will. Fine if you’re surrounded by competent, managerial types. Less so when you’re surrounded by opportunists and chancers.
Being Boris he probably wants to leave office on a high note, but is there any chance of that now?
Something about warm and cold climates, and length of summer?
It's the bit I don't get, you've done Brexit, we've gone through Covid surely Boris would want to leave on high (any level of high) and earn real money.
https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/
The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.
Foreign ministers, meanwhile, reviewed a set of firm economic and diplomatic sanctions that were provided to the press. They included:
terminating all large-scale economic projects, including a new natural gas pipeline linking Siberia and Western Europe;
suspending economic credits to the Soviet Union and Poland;
imposing a full grain embargo on the Soviet Union;
ending all shipments of machinery and electronic equipment;
imposing a total trade boycott;
banning Soviet ships from Western ports;
suspending arms-control talks;
recalling Allied ambassadors from Moscow;
and curtailing political and cultural/social contacts with the Soviet Union.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/nato-thwarted-a-russian-invasion-in-1980-could-its-playbook-work-today/
Their win or loss depends perhaps 80-90% on how the Tories do and 10-20% on what they achieve themselves.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html
https://amp.ft.com/content/68b06c6d-5a72-4eed-86d0-6cdc90f99fcb
“Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”
He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.
He's had a rivalry with Dave going back decades.
Dave got a first, Boris did not.
(It'd be August/September 2025 to overtake Dave.)
Ultimately, his entire life has been about becoming PM, he doesn't want it to be fleeting. One person who knows him well says the reason he won't give Scotland indyref2 on his watch? If Scotland votes Yes, then that, not Brexit will be the first line of Boris Johnson's obituary, and his ego won't allow him to sit out indyref2, in the way Dave let the Scots get on with it in indyref2.
It would quickly become an air war, where the West has a massive superiority. The Russkis will say they have thousands of planes and bombs, but can probably only find a few dozen serviceable ships for any given mission. That’s where the US comes in.
To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
Im sure lots of Companies did.
https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1468926474132594692
I can imagine that the journalists are thinking that the Downing St ‘parties’ must have been at least as much fun as their own.
£3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
Mind you here in Wales the labour green coalition have announced a wide sale review into council tax
I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake.
A neatish arbitrage ?
It's just occured to me the BoE will be delighted at the latest excuse to delay rate rises.
And if you actually think about where the inflation has come from, it's primarily driven by people spending 2 years piling up savings whilst the quantity of goods produces stagnated, so now we have too much money chasing too few goods. Another round on this nonsense is not going to help in the least.
I think sleepy Joe is perhaps playing a smarter game than he's given credit for.
I thought the MET statement yesterday was interesting as I imagine that the police "guarding" Number 10 are from the MET. So if there was a party then the MET would know.
Cut through. Conservative MPs would be wise to move swiftly or the next election will already be lost.
In a race, they pay out on podium places as per the three chaps who actually stand on the podium. If one of those gets a penalty which takes them out of a podium place then they don't payout if your promoted chap who has now finished in the top three.
Now if Verstappen takes out Hamilton but he gets a subsequent penalty which hands the title to Hamilton what will Betfair do?
It could be the POTUS market all over again.
Do I get banned for asking?!
The worry is, that MV now has an incentive to do just that.
Why? They argue PM knew Lord Brownlow was HANDLING the money, but not the SOURCE of the money.
https://twitter.com/benrileysmith/status/1468927765068095490
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-accused-lying-probe-25655522?!11
The anger among the apolitical population at large is as great as any I have seen in my lifetime.
The agreement included moves to establish rent controls; the extension of free school meals to all primary school pupils; childcare for all two-year-olds; creation of a National Care Service; limits on second-home ownership; a replacement for council tax; the creation of a publicly owned construction company and an energy company; changes to the Senedd’s size and electoral system, including a statutory guarantee of gender balance; and measures to promote the Welsh language
The one thing that I am confident about is that increasing the size of the Senedd will happen