It might be better for Boris to have a VONC now than in avoid it and face one in May when the Tories might see heavy losses on current polls, especially in London.
If a VONC is held now and he wins it he is safe for a year.
Portillo on GB news now says he thinks Boris is safer than yesterday. Davis looked pompous and Wakeford defecting has brought Tory unity
That 'year' is set in instant whip. The 1922 can change the rules, and will if they think it needed, as said several times by others on PB.
If Boris wins a VONC he also likely has a majority on the 1922
The 1922 Committee arranges the rules around votes of no confidence and the first stage of a Conservative leadership contest. These rules are not published in the public domain. They can also be changed at any time by the 1922’s Executive Committee, in consultation with the Conservative Party Board, which consists of representatives from each section – voluntary, political and professional – of the party. For example, this means that the rule stating a new vote of no confidence cannot be triggered for 12 months could be removed with little to no notice.
The rules on a VONC were set up under Hague though and can only be changed with the support of the party board as well as the 1922. If he wins a VONC, even narrowly, Boris almost certainly has a majority still on the 1922 too
I suspect that, unlike other leaders, if Johnson wins a VOC narrowly he would stay on even if just by one vote.
That's how votes work.
May stayed on when she won hers and was forced out by 92% of the voting public rejecting her rather than a new confidence vote.
No, because she resigned. Under Tory rules May could have chosen not to resign even after the locals and Europeans and not faced another VONC until December 2019
Don't be ridiculous, she resigned because she had no choice but to resign. The voting public gave her no choice, despite you being in the 8% of voters who backed her.
Had she chosen not to resign the 1922 could and would have changed the rules.
No. The public were not relevant until the December 2019 general election.
Yep. When a coup fails, the leaders and fellow travellers of that coup are in trouble, as the enemy is still in power and will be very cross.
Poor Pork Pie Woman! Poor Rishi!
Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason.
Sounds as if there's an element of panic in ranks of Boris's enemies. Boris might just have played a blinder here. He's certainly changing the narrative - hunting down the plotters, talk of grisly reprisals. For Boris, looking ruthless is far preferable to looking hapless. Nasty Boris might even prove rather seductive to some of his MPs.
'Grisly reprisals' might just lead to floor-crossing. Again
Finally this government does something train users approve of.
What's the problem? Don't people want to know that their train is arriving at Manc Piccadilly rather than Bristle Parkway?
I already know what train I'm on what the stops are.
Usually I'm sat in first class so I have at seat dining, I don't need them repeatedly telling the plebs that that there's trolley with drinks and light refreshments is on board and/or there's a cafe/restaurant in coach D.
Displays cover it for most use cases for those unfamiliar with the journey. Hard for the sight-impaired of course...
Do German intercity trains still have a print out of the stops and times left at each seat? That was handy if you didn't have a clue, you could simply get off by time (and the times were generally near correct).
In new @ONS stats published today, we show that the UK is about mid-pack in the G7 in terms of labour #productivity.
UK is more productive than Japan and Canada, similar to (probably more than) Italy, probably less than Germany, and definitely less than France and the US.
Ha ha, it is one of those statistics that drives English people mad, but the French are incredibly productive. They achieve this in part by less productive people not working, however.
Yes, that's the thing with productivity statistics. Cut the least productive (note: not necessarily least hard-working), and your productivity goes up.
Because of the cost of employment in France - direct and indirect (once you have an employee, getting rid of them is... complex) - *and* favourable taxation, investment in automation and productivity enhancing machinery is high.
Hence if you go to a French domestic building site, almost the first thing they put up is a mini-crane.
On the UK equivalent building site you see ridiculous things done by hand. Just add more Polish blokes....
There’s also huge unemployment in France, relative to the UK, which skews the productivity stats even further in their favour.
Yes, the way the UK improves productivity is to invest in capital rather than throwing cheap labour at the problem. Cranes on building sites, and more automation of minimum-wage jobs.
Indeed one thing that completely skews and misleads the stats is comparing countries with different labour market participation rates.
In the UK even the lowest skilled can be fully employed which lowers unemployment but depresses productivity.
Would we as a nation be better off if we had more people on the dole? Probably not, but that would boost productivity.
We do need to improve productivity in this country and Brexit will probably help with that, but international comparisons can be very misleading.
President Macron, why? Western unity is the most important asset we have against Russian aggression. - Macron floats EU security pact with Russia in split from US calls for ‘unity’
France and Germany competing to see who can kiss Putin’s arse the most, just as he rollls the tanks towards Kiev. I’m not sure most of the Eastern European countries are too happy with that.
Those wanting peace, if this come to war, will get
- A split in NATO. - The Eastern Europeans will either cuddle up to Moscow or try and get an alliance of those who will back them. - Everyone will assume Ukraine is not the "last territorial demand". So those not wanting to be ruled by Moscow will arm themselves. And how - Ukraine was promised that if they gave up nuclear weapons, they would be guaranteed their territorial integrity by Russia, NATO - everyone. - So the message will go out. Very loud and very clear. Get nuclear weapons. Keep them. Worldwide. - Ukraine has multiple nuclear reactors and a lot of burned up fuel. Yes, civil "grade" plutonium. But that can be processed, fairly simply, if it is old enough. That would make a nice present for someone.
So if Russia takes some more chunks out of Ukraine, we are looking at a world where nuclear proliferation switches into high gear. Where NATO/EU splits. Where a chunk of Eastern Europe gears up ready for the next war. And maybe start thinking that they should get themselves some really, really Big Sticks.
Oh, and a whole bunch of legless teenagers begging on the streets of St Petersburg. Again.
France and Germany need to think hard about the consequences of what is essentially appeasement - a term which is bandied about far too often, but which fits here. Except that in this case, Ukraine will fight regardless - and their stance makes war more, not less likely, I think.
I read that this morning, it's a really good and fairly neutral take on the situation. The French proposal for an EU-Russia pact is actually appeasement. It's a proposal to let the Russians do what they want and suffer no consequences from Europe.
The EU is very quickly proving that it is not to be trusted without the UK in it. Something a lot of us said would happen and was denied by the more ardent EUphiles who have idealised the EU as some bastion of liberal democracy when the reality is very different.
Looks like a disastrous strategic mistake for us to have lost our influence from within the EU then.
Alternatively it's shown the rest of the world exactly the kind of shit we had to deal with time and again when it came to putting up sanctions on markets to which Germany had significant exports. The view in the UK has always understood that Germany doesn't give a fuck about anyone else's freedoms as long as they can sell dishwashers but the rest of the world didn't realise this until now. What they project to the world as being peaceful is actually appeasement. I think it's a net good that we've got that out in the open.
Maybe the Germans agree with Margaret Thatcher that sanctions don't work and should never be used however odious the regime. Even an apartheid one?
It's a good job the UK government cracked down so hard on Russians laundering money in London.
While subsidising the Russian space program through OneWeb/British Leyland In Space.
It might be better for Boris to have a VONC now than in avoid it and face one in May when the Tories might see heavy losses on current polls, especially in London.
If a VONC is held now and he wins it he is safe for a year.
Portillo on GB news now says he thinks Boris is safer than yesterday. Davis looked pompous and Wakeford defecting has brought Tory unity
That 'year' is set in instant whip. The 1922 can change the rules, and will if they think it needed, as said several times by others on PB.
If Boris wins a VONC he also likely has a majority on the 1922
The 1922 Committee arranges the rules around votes of no confidence and the first stage of a Conservative leadership contest. These rules are not published in the public domain. They can also be changed at any time by the 1922’s Executive Committee, in consultation with the Conservative Party Board, which consists of representatives from each section – voluntary, political and professional – of the party. For example, this means that the rule stating a new vote of no confidence cannot be triggered for 12 months could be removed with little to no notice.
The rules on a VONC were set up under Hague though and can only be changed with the support of the party board as well as the 1922. If he wins a VONC, even narrowly, Boris almost certainly has a majority still on the 1922 too
I suspect that, unlike other leaders, if Johnson wins a VOC narrowly he would stay on even if just by one vote.
That's how votes work.
May stayed on when she won hers and was forced out by 92% of the voting public rejecting her rather than a new confidence vote.
No, because she resigned. Under Tory rules May could have chosen not to resign even after the locals and Europeans and not faced another VONC until December 2019
Don't be ridiculous, she resigned because she had no choice but to resign. The voting public gave her no choice, despite you being in the 8% of voters who backed her.
Had she chosen not to resign the 1922 could and would have changed the rules.
No. The public were not relevant until the December 2019 general election.
Says the man who loves to quote opinion polls.
In terms of choosing which Tory was PM and if the Tory PM leading a Tory government backed by the DUP stayed or was replaced by another Tory MP they weren't until the next general election
We need to abolition the term 'blackmail' as it is clearly racist and I prefer the term 'incentive based decision making.'
"Mail of colour"?
It's odd, of course, how much of our language counts 'black' as bad, but I assume the origins are more in day and night than in ethnicity. Being 'blackballed' is one of my favourites.
Recently we changed the list of approved websites at work from 'White list' to 'Approved list'.
In new @ONS stats published today, we show that the UK is about mid-pack in the G7 in terms of labour #productivity.
UK is more productive than Japan and Canada, similar to (probably more than) Italy, probably less than Germany, and definitely less than France and the US.
Ha ha, it is one of those statistics that drives English people mad, but the French are incredibly productive. They achieve this in part by less productive people not working, however.
Yes, that's the thing with productivity statistics. Cut the least productive (note: not necessarily least hard-working), and your productivity goes up.
Because of the cost of employment in France - direct and indirect (once you have an employee, getting rid of them is... complex) - *and* favourable taxation, investment in automation and productivity enhancing machinery is high.
Hence if you go to a French domestic building site, almost the first thing they put up is a mini-crane.
On the UK equivalent building site you see ridiculous things done by hand. Just add more Polish blokes....
There’s also huge unemployment in France, relative to the UK, which skews the productivity stats even further in their favour.
Yes, the way the UK improves productivity is to invest in capital rather than throwing cheap labour at the problem. Cranes on building sites, and more automation of minimum-wage jobs.
Let's the blunt that's the way the UK should improve productivity. We just haven't done that because minimum wage jobs were easily filled by Eastern Europeans so productivity improvements were avoided as they require actual capital.
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
No, I don't suppose anyone inclined towards supporting the Tories finds it at all entertaining.
We need to abolition the term 'blackmail' as it is clearly racist and I prefer the term 'incentive based decision making.'
"Mail of colour"?
It's odd, of course, how much of our language counts 'black' as bad, but I assume the origins are more in day and night than in ethnicity. Being 'blackballed' is one of my favourites.
It's an old Scottish Borders term - effectively black + mail, mail being rent. Definitely the black = bad equation here. Unlike the Black Bitch at Linlithgow or the Black Bull at Lauder.
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
We need to abolition the term 'blackmail' as it is clearly racist and I prefer the term 'incentive based decision making.'
"Mail of colour"?
It's odd, of course, how much of our language counts 'black' as bad, but I assume the origins are more in day and night than in ethnicity. Being 'blackballed' is one of my favourites.
The IT industry is also full of it.
We now have woke firewalls, with allowlists and denylists in place of whitelists and blacklists; and now have primary and secondary servers, rather than master and slave.
Well what do you mean that Stalinism was never tried properly? What did he not get to do? Seriously?
Stalinism absolutely succeeded. All enemies within and without routed. The Soviet Union transformed from feudal agrarianism to nuclear armed, space faring superpower.
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
The one who is ludicrous here is yourself
You are blind to the implosion of the party under toxic Boris which is handing GE24 to Labour
There are many thousands who will return to a credible conservative party led by a serious politician with serious policies
Whips threatening to leak damaging stories about MPs in order to get their votes in parliament?
I am shocked. Shocked to the core.
It's only been standard procedure for about 300 years.
Yes, and this lot sound pretty ineffective. In the good old days, the whips threatened to expose MPs' visits to ladies in basement flats and gay sex encounters.
It is a potentially interesting question in law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail#Construction ...The law considers a "demand with menaces" to always be "unwarranted" (unjustified), unless the perpetrator actually believed that his/her demand had reasonable grounds, and also actually believed that the menace was a proper way to reinforce that demand. These tests relate to the actual belief of the perpetrator, not the belief of an ordinary or reasonable person. Therefore, tests related to what a "reasonable" person might think, and tests of dishonesty, are not often relevant - the matter hinges upon the actual and honest beliefs and knowledge of the perpetrator him/herself. ..
Typical Johnson get out then: "I should have found some other way to coerce them and I should have recognised that even if the coercion could be said technically to fall within the law - given I believed it a proper way to enforce my demands of loayalty - there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way"
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
Anna Soubry was on Woman's Hour this am, not to everyone's taste I know, and she sees any tiny piece of silence as an opportunity to fill with wurdz. When asked if she would ever consider rejoining the Tories she said no, the rise of the Brexiteers obviously hastened her departure but BJism had permanently killed it for her.
Interestingly on the period leading up to her crossing the floor and receiving abuse, death threats etc she said the absence of support from her colleagues on the blue benches was striking compared to expressions of sympathy from Lab, LD, SNP etc mps.
Mrs DA just asked if I had put 'car stuff' in the oven while sniffing the air suspiciously. I had - Porsche 924 front hubs for bearing installation. I said that I took the allegations very seriously but the appropriate thing to was to let Sue Gray finish the investigation before commenting. She went fucking mad. IT DOESN'T WORK!
Happy days. Before my partner moved in I had a 748 in the living room and a 900ss engine in its frame in a spare bedroom. Can't even clean an engine cover in the dishwasher now.
I get told off if I put the toothbrush-holder in the dishwasher.
In new @ONS stats published today, we show that the UK is about mid-pack in the G7 in terms of labour #productivity.
UK is more productive than Japan and Canada, similar to (probably more than) Italy, probably less than Germany, and definitely less than France and the US.
Ha ha, it is one of those statistics that drives English people mad, but the French are incredibly productive. They achieve this in part by less productive people not working, however.
Yes, that's the thing with productivity statistics. Cut the least productive (note: not necessarily least hard-working), and your productivity goes up.
Because of the cost of employment in France - direct and indirect (once you have an employee, getting rid of them is... complex) - *and* favourable taxation, investment in automation and productivity enhancing machinery is high.
Hence if you go to a French domestic building site, almost the first thing they put up is a mini-crane.
On the UK equivalent building site you see ridiculous things done by hand. Just add more Polish blokes....
There’s also huge unemployment in France, relative to the UK, which skews the productivity stats even further in their favour.
Yes, the way the UK improves productivity is to invest in capital rather than throwing cheap labour at the problem. Cranes on building sites, and more automation of minimum-wage jobs.
Indeed one thing that completely skews and misleads the stats is comparing countries with different labour market participation rates.
In the UK even the lowest skilled can be fully employed which lowers unemployment but depresses productivity.
Would we as a nation be better off if we had more people on the dole? Probably not, but that would boost productivity.
We do need to improve productivity in this country and Brexit will probably help with that, but international comparisons can be very misleading.
Yes, more people on the dole would likely boost the “productivity” stats, in the same way as increased unemployment in 2009 meant there were fewer people “living in poverty”, according to the statistics.
I think that article puts the kibosh on any attempts by Spencer to dilute the legislation given everyone will be on high alert.
Mrs Ed is involved in the anti-BSL for dogs. They are now on something like their 3rd or 4th petition that is pass 100K signatures. Some signs the Government is getting tired of having to constantly defend its position (though DEFRA remain opposed to repeal).
On topic: The ever-perceptive @AlastairMeeks has I think got this right in a tweet:
An exclusive preview of the Sue Gray report.
It will say: there were parties The PM attended one or more He was, it seems, told what was going on but tells me he didn't appreciate what was said There should not have been parties
MPs can decide now what they want to do next.
The only thing which I'd add is that it's of course possible that she will have found one or more emails which directly contradict the PM's account of things, and that would make it harder for Tory MPs to find excuses for Boris.
Hope you're right. That's at the bleaker end for Johnson. What I more fear and expect is a different 3rd line. "The PM says he was not informed and I found no hard evidence proving otherwise".
Given him surviving is a 50/50 imo, I think that's the value bet at current prices.
Pesto saying Gray has the email, is good news. Even if not true.
I bet it is true. Sue "must go where she needs to go" is the mantra so I'm sure she's gone there. But the email is to the PPS. Is this chap - this Martin Reynolds CMG - going to testify to SG that he checked with the PM and the PM okayed it. Logic says this is what happened but will he say that? Or will he take it all upon himself and say "I didn't" or "I don't recall" or "I did but I implied it was within the rules", in a show of 'greater love hath no servant than this, that he lay down his job and his reputation for his master'.
President Macron, why? Western unity is the most important asset we have against Russian aggression. - Macron floats EU security pact with Russia in split from US calls for ‘unity’
France and Germany competing to see who can kiss Putin’s arse the most, just as he rollls the tanks towards Kiev. I’m not sure most of the Eastern European countries are too happy with that.
Those wanting peace, if this come to war, will get
- A split in NATO. - The Eastern Europeans will either cuddle up to Moscow or try and get an alliance of those who will back them. - Everyone will assume Ukraine is not the "last territorial demand". So those not wanting to be ruled by Moscow will arm themselves. And how - Ukraine was promised that if they gave up nuclear weapons, they would be guaranteed their territorial integrity by Russia, NATO - everyone. - So the message will go out. Very loud and very clear. Get nuclear weapons. Keep them. Worldwide. - Ukraine has multiple nuclear reactors and a lot of burned up fuel. Yes, civil "grade" plutonium. But that can be processed, fairly simply, if it is old enough. That would make a nice present for someone.
So if Russia takes some more chunks out of Ukraine, we are looking at a world where nuclear proliferation switches into high gear. Where NATO/EU splits. Where a chunk of Eastern Europe gears up ready for the next war. And maybe start thinking that they should get themselves some really, really Big Sticks.
Oh, and a whole bunch of legless teenagers begging on the streets of St Petersburg. Again.
France and Germany need to think hard about the consequences of what is essentially appeasement - a term which is bandied about far too often, but which fits here. Except that in this case, Ukraine will fight regardless - and their stance makes war more, not less likely, I think.
I read that this morning, it's a really good and fairly neutral take on the situation. The French proposal for an EU-Russia pact is actually appeasement. It's a proposal to let the Russians do what they want and suffer no consequences from Europe.
The EU is very quickly proving that it is not to be trusted without the UK in it. Something a lot of us said would happen and was denied by the more ardent EUphiles who have idealised the EU as some bastion of liberal democracy when the reality is very different.
Looks like a disastrous strategic mistake for us to have lost our influence from within the EU then.
Alternatively it's shown the rest of the world exactly the kind of shit we had to deal with time and again when it came to putting up sanctions on markets to which Germany had significant exports. The view in the UK has always understood that Germany doesn't give a fuck about anyone else's freedoms as long as they can sell dishwashers but the rest of the world didn't realise this until now. What they project to the world as being peaceful is actually appeasement. I think it's a net good that we've got that out in the open.
Maybe the Germans agree with Margaret Thatcher that sanctions don't work and should never be used however odious the regime. Even an apartheid one?
It's a good job the UK government cracked down so hard on Russians laundering money in London.
While subsidising the Russian space program through OneWeb/British Leyland In Space.
- OneWeb is about to go into operation - The next generation of satellites will fly on Indian launchers, after the existing, contracted, launches had been completed. Rogozin was going mental about that.
Finally this government does something train users approve of.
What's the problem? Don't people want to know that their train is arriving at Manc Piccadilly rather than Bristle Parkway?
I already know what train I'm on what the stops are.
Usually I'm sat in first class so I have at seat dining, I don't need them repeatedly telling the plebs that that there's trolley with drinks and light refreshments is on board and/or there's a cafe/restaurant in coach D.
Displays cover it for most use cases for those unfamiliar with the journey. Hard for the sight-impaired of course...
Do German intercity trains still have a print out of the stops and times left at each seat? That was handy if you didn't have a clue, you could simply get off by time (and the times were generally near correct).
I can really only see justification for two scheduled announcements per stop: on approach "we will shortly be arriving at X" and when the doors open at X "this is X, this train is for Y calling at A, B, C..." - the latter mostly for the benefit of people getting on.
Sure, commuters don't need the stop announcements, if you're in a hurry you're probably tracking it on RTT anyway. But even people who are taking a journey for the thousandth time once took it for the first time.
Mrs DA just asked if I had put 'car stuff' in the oven while sniffing the air suspiciously. I had - Porsche 924 front hubs for bearing installation. I said that I took the allegations very seriously but the appropriate thing to was to let Sue Gray finish the investigation before commenting. She went fucking mad. IT DOESN'T WORK!
Post of the year candidate.
Got a feeling 2022 is gonna be an absolute corker.
I think that article puts the kibosh on any attempts by Spencer to dilute the legislation given everyone will be on high alert.
Mrs Ed is involved in the anti-BSL for dogs. They are now on something like their 3rd or 4th petition that is pass 100K signatures. Some signs the Government is getting tired of having to constantly defend its position (though DEFRA remain opposed to repeal).
Dogs are taught British Sign Language (or not as the case may be)? What have we missed?
Well what do you mean that Stalinism was never tried properly? What did he not get to do? Seriously?
Stalinism absolutely succeeded. All enemies within and without routed. The Soviet Union transformed from feudal agrarianism to nuclear armed, space faring superpower.
At the cost of millions of lives.
And environmental destruction on an epic scale....
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
Then you have not read his posts and the nuance of his comments
You are an embarrassment to the conservative party
Yep. When a coup fails, the leaders and fellow travellers of that coup are in trouble, as the enemy is still in power and will be very cross.
Poor Pork Pie Woman! Poor Rishi!
Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason.
Sounds as if there's an element of panic in ranks of Boris's enemies. Boris might just have played a blinder here. He's certainly changing the narrative - hunting down the plotters, talk of grisly reprisals. For Boris, looking ruthless is far preferable to looking hapless. Nasty Boris might even prove rather seductive to some of his MPs.
Absolutely spot on. Is it Machiavelli who asks “is it better to be feared or loved?” Boris conceivably becomes more popular and secure for the firmness he slaps back. Please tell me I’m wrong. I mean, please do 😕
Finally this government does something train users approve of.
What's the problem? Don't people want to know that their train is arriving at Manc Piccadilly rather than Bristle Parkway?
I already know what train I'm on what the stops are.
Usually I'm sat in first class so I have at seat dining, I don't need them repeatedly telling the plebs that that there's trolley with drinks and light refreshments is on board and/or there's a cafe/restaurant in coach D.
Displays cover it for most use cases for those unfamiliar with the journey. Hard for the sight-impaired of course...
Do German intercity trains still have a print out of the stops and times left at each seat? That was handy if you didn't have a clue, you could simply get off by time (and the times were generally near correct).
I can really only see justification for two scheduled announcements per stop: on approach "we will shortly be arriving at X" and when the doors open at X "this is X, this train is for Y calling at A, B, C..." - the latter mostly for the benefit of people getting on.
Sure, commuters don't need the stop announcements, if you're in a hurry you're probably tracking it on RTT anyway. But even people who are taking a journey for the thousandth time once took it for the first time.
That said, announcements of the next stop, destination and so on can be better made on digital displays like they do in that there London.
In new @ONS stats published today, we show that the UK is about mid-pack in the G7 in terms of labour #productivity.
UK is more productive than Japan and Canada, similar to (probably more than) Italy, probably less than Germany, and definitely less than France and the US.
Ha ha, it is one of those statistics that drives English people mad, but the French are incredibly productive. They achieve this in part by less productive people not working, however.
Yes, that's the thing with productivity statistics. Cut the least productive (note: not necessarily least hard-working), and your productivity goes up.
Because of the cost of employment in France - direct and indirect (once you have an employee, getting rid of them is... complex) - *and* favourable taxation, investment in automation and productivity enhancing machinery is high.
Hence if you go to a French domestic building site, almost the first thing they put up is a mini-crane.
On the UK equivalent building site you see ridiculous things done by hand. Just add more Polish blokes....
There’s also huge unemployment in France, relative to the UK, which skews the productivity stats even further in their favour.
Yes, the way the UK improves productivity is to invest in capital rather than throwing cheap labour at the problem. Cranes on building sites, and more automation of minimum-wage jobs.
Let's the blunt that's the way the UK should improve productivity. We just haven't done that because minimum wage jobs were easily filled by Eastern Europeans so productivity improvements were avoided as they require actual capital.
When Sunak increased the incentives for investing in plant and machinery, the order books for labour saving machinery zoomed upward. Try buying a mini-digger from JCB..... Last I heard they were talking about working three shifts for the demand....
Mr. Rabbit, the answer is both but if you can only choose one then feared, because men choose who love but have fear, usually, imposed upon them.
From memory, anyway. Which reminds me, in Civ VI the Machiavelli quotes are from the wrong books (pretty sure, I recall the charming line "Men must be pampered or annihilated" from The Prince).
We need to abolition the term 'blackmail' as it is clearly racist and I prefer the term 'incentive based decision making.'
"Mail of colour"?
It's odd, of course, how much of our language counts 'black' as bad, but I assume the origins are more in day and night than in ethnicity. Being 'blackballed' is one of my favourites.
The IT industry is also full of it.
We now have woke firewalls, with allowlists and denylists in place of whitelists and blacklists; and now have primary and secondary servers, rather than master and slave.
There were plenty of white slaves. The Barbary Coast slavers raided as far north as Iceland, and of course, the ancestors of those raided in Iceland had themselves taken slaves from what we now know as Russia.
Yep. When a coup fails, the leaders and fellow travellers of that coup are in trouble, as the enemy is still in power and will be very cross.
Poor Pork Pie Woman! Poor Rishi!
Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason.
Sounds as if there's an element of panic in ranks of Boris's enemies. Boris might just have played a blinder here. He's certainly changing the narrative - hunting down the plotters, talk of grisly reprisals. For Boris, looking ruthless is far preferable to looking hapless. Nasty Boris might even prove rather seductive to some of his MPs.
'Grisly reprisals' might just lead to floor-crossing. Again
The Wragg story is quite astonishing. It's a long-standing nasty observation that Government money is directed to marginal seats that they hope to hold, which is as he says improper (though not surprising to hardened observers) but accusing Ministers or whips of criminal blackmail seems difficult to reconcile with still taking the Conservative whip.
The allegation is breach of ministerial code - and 'potential' blackmail, so not quite the same thing.
Though plenty of divisions in the Roman Catholic Church between conservatives supportive of Benedict and the more Liberal current Pope Francis and his supporters.
On topic: The ever-perceptive @AlastairMeeks has I think got this right in a tweet:
An exclusive preview of the Sue Gray report.
It will say: there were parties The PM attended one or more He was, it seems, told what was going on but tells me he didn't appreciate what was said There should not have been parties
MPs can decide now what they want to do next.
The only thing which I'd add is that it's of course possible that she will have found one or more emails which directly contradict the PM's account of things, and that would make it harder for Tory MPs to find excuses for Boris.
Hope you're right. That's at the bleaker end for Johnson. What I more fear and expect is a different 3rd line. "The PM says he was not informed and I found no hard evidence proving otherwise".
Given him surviving is a 50/50 imo, I think that's the value bet at current prices.
Pesto saying Gray has the email, is good news. Even if not true.
I bet it is true. Sue "must go where she needs to go" is the mantra so I'm sure she's gone there. But the email is to the PPS. Is this chap - this Martin Reynolds CMG - going to testify to SG that he checked with the PM and the PM okayed it. Logic says this is what happened but will he say that? Or will he take it all upon himself and say "I didn't" or "I don't recall" or "I did but I implied it was within the rules", in a show of 'greater love hath no servant than this, that he lay down his job and his reputation for his master'.
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
The one who is ludicrous here is yourself
You are blind to the implosion of the party under toxic Boris which is handing GE24 to Labour
There are many thousands who will return to a credible conservative party led by a serious politician with serious policies
I think that's right. There's not much enthusiasm for Starmer and Labour, although that could slowly start to change if he continues to make progress, which is why Tory MPs need to grasp the nettle now.
A Sunak premiership which concentrates on delivering the levelling-up agenda could really do quite well. Boris aside, the Govt has a quite defensible record. And, as we saw in 1992, if the economy becomes problematic, the electorate is quite likely to cling to nurse even if the Tories have been in power for some time.
But if Boris hangs around, the voters patience will well and truly run out, and that will be curtains for the Tories.
We need to abolition the term 'blackmail' as it is clearly racist and I prefer the term 'incentive based decision making.'
"Mail of colour"?
It's odd, of course, how much of our language counts 'black' as bad, but I assume the origins are more in day and night than in ethnicity. Being 'blackballed' is one of my favourites.
The IT industry is also full of it.
We now have woke firewalls, with allowlists and denylists in place of whitelists and blacklists; and now have primary and secondary servers, rather than master and slave.
TBF the woke terms are better. Your firewall rules aren't thing like 192.168.1.0/24 * WHITE and a slave isn't a person who spends all day copying what the master does so they can take over as the new master if the master suddenly dies.
He was around 5-6, I think, before this kicked off.
May be a good bet if you think Boris can survive until 2023/4.
Lkely tradeable too, if Johnson survives in the short term.
(At least, I hope so - I've got some on Starmer, longest at just under 10 just before the eve of Prince Philip's funreal party story broke, d'oh. But I've been slightly unconvinced on Johnson's iminent demise, so I held on to it rather than trade out on a loss.)
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
I agree with HY on this one. Conservative Party leadership is a party matter at the end of the day, the view of us non Conservative voters at present or non party members is pretty meaningless?
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
Anna Soubry was on Woman's Hour this am, not to everyone's taste I know, and she sees any tiny piece of silence as an opportunity to fill with wurdz. When asked if she would ever consider rejoining the Tories she said no, the rise of the Brexiteers obviously hastened her departure but BJism had permanently killed it for her.
Interestingly on the period leading up to her crossing the floor and receiving abuse, death threats etc she said the absence of support from her colleagues on the blue benches was striking compared to expressions of sympathy from Lab, LD, SNP etc mps.
I wouldn't mind seeing her joining Labour despite our history (we never managed to hit it off as I did with all the other Tories that I've fought) - she's a formidable character and brave in standing up for her opinions.
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
The one who is ludicrous here is yourself
You are blind to the implosion of the party under toxic Boris which is handing GE24 to Labour
There are many thousands who will return to a credible conservative party led by a serious politician with serious policies
I think that's right. There's not much enthusiasm for Starmer and Labour, although that could slowly start to change if he continues to make progress, which is why Tory MPs need to grasp the nettle now.
A Sunak premiership which concentrates on delivering the levelling-up agenda could really do quite well. Boris aside, the Govt has a quite defensible record. And, as we saw in 1992, if the economy becomes problematic, the electorate is quite likely to cling to nurse even if the Tories have been in power for some time.
But if Boris hangs around, the voters patience will well and truly run out, and that will be curtains for the Tories.
We need to abolition the term 'blackmail' as it is clearly racist and I prefer the term 'incentive based decision making.'
"Mail of colour"?
It's odd, of course, how much of our language counts 'black' as bad, but I assume the origins are more in day and night than in ethnicity. Being 'blackballed' is one of my favourites.
The IT industry is also full of it.
We now have woke firewalls, with allowlists and denylists in place of whitelists and blacklists; and now have primary and secondary servers, rather than master and slave.
TBF the woke terms are better. Your firewall rules aren't thing like 192.168.1.0/24 * WHITE and a slave isn't a person who spends all day copying what the master does so they can take over as the new master if the master suddenly dies.
We need to abolition the term 'blackmail' as it is clearly racist and I prefer the term 'incentive based decision making.'
"Mail of colour"?
It's odd, of course, how much of our language counts 'black' as bad, but I assume the origins are more in day and night than in ethnicity. Being 'blackballed' is one of my favourites.
Recently we changed the list of approved websites at work from 'White list' to 'Approved list'.
Does make sense, imho. More descriptive name that actually tells you what it means if you're not familiar with the terminology.
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
Then you have not read his posts and the nuance of his comments
You are an embarrassment to the conservative party
Is there any sense in the position Big G where rebels say, we got him where we want him now, we will ease off for the time being?
I mean the Malmesbury quote “only if you succeed it’s not treason” is heavily influencing the media backers of Boris, like the Mail, Express, Sun who are presenting plotters as figures to hate the longer this goes on. And of course, Team Boris have all the power to retaliate
The quote on here “we’ve got him where we want him, it’s all planned out, waiting till after May elections” it’s like a suicide note 😟
Regarding masking – my son's headmaster has just written to all parents saying that they are keeping the masks in classrooms due to local authority guidance. Is this commonplace? Seems ludicrous to me that the rule is dropped but schools keep it anyway!
Finally this government does something train users approve of.
What's the problem? Don't people want to know that their train is arriving at Manc Piccadilly rather than Bristle Parkway?
I already know what train I'm on what the stops are.
Usually I'm sat in first class so I have at seat dining, I don't need them repeatedly telling the plebs that that there's trolley with drinks and light refreshments is on board and/or there's a cafe/restaurant in coach D.
Displays cover it for most use cases for those unfamiliar with the journey. Hard for the sight-impaired of course...
Do German intercity trains still have a print out of the stops and times left at each seat? That was handy if you didn't have a clue, you could simply get off by time (and the times were generally near correct).
I can really only see justification for two scheduled announcements per stop: on approach "we will shortly be arriving at X" and when the doors open at X "this is X, this train is for Y calling at A, B, C..." - the latter mostly for the benefit of people getting on.
Sure, commuters don't need the stop announcements, if you're in a hurry you're probably tracking it on RTT anyway. But even people who are taking a journey for the thousandth time once took it for the first time.
That said, announcements of the next stop, destination and so on can be better made on digital displays like they do in that there London.
Those can scroll continuously in transit (along with everything else they want to say), but the two in question are definitely helped by an audible confirmation.
On topic: The ever-perceptive @AlastairMeeks has I think got this right in a tweet:
An exclusive preview of the Sue Gray report.
It will say: there were parties The PM attended one or more He was, it seems, told what was going on but tells me he didn't appreciate what was said There should not have been parties
MPs can decide now what they want to do next.
The only thing which I'd add is that it's of course possible that she will have found one or more emails which directly contradict the PM's account of things, and that would make it harder for Tory MPs to find excuses for Boris.
Hope you're right. That's at the bleaker end for Johnson. What I more fear and expect is a different 3rd line. "The PM says he was not informed and I found no hard evidence proving otherwise".
Given him surviving is a 50/50 imo, I think that's the value bet at current prices.
Pesto saying Gray has the email, is good news. Even if not true.
I bet it is true. Sue "must go where she needs to go" is the mantra so I'm sure she's gone there. But the email is to the PPS. Is this chap - this Martin Reynolds CMG - going to testify to SG that he checked with the PM and the PM okayed it. Logic says this is what happened but will he say that? Or will he take it all upon himself and say "I didn't" or "I don't recall" or "I did but I implied it was within the rules", in a show of 'greater love hath no servant than this, that he lay down his job and his reputation for his master'.
This is exactly the point I was making yesterday
He'll fudge it - 'Don't recall discussing it with PM...very busy...other things more important.'
He will then be sacked and in due course rewarded with a nice job and a gong.
Regarding masking – my son's headmaster has just written to all parents saying that they are keeping the masks in classrooms due to local authority guidance. Is this commonplace? Seems ludicrous to me that the rule is dropped but schools keep it anyway!
I've no doubt that our University will carry on with masks too, much to my annoyance.
Regarding masking – my son's headmaster has just written to all parents saying that they are keeping the masks in classrooms due to local authority guidance. Is this commonplace? Seems ludicrous to me that the rule is dropped but schools keep it anyway!
Sadiq is doing the same with public transport in London.
I’m generally in favour of mask wearing, but not compulsion now we are all vaccinated, and with exceptions for places such as schools where verbal communication is important and masks cause confusion and distraction.
Mrs DA just asked if I had put 'car stuff' in the oven while sniffing the air suspiciously. I had - Porsche 924 front hubs for bearing installation. I said that I took the allegations very seriously but the appropriate thing to was to let Sue Gray finish the investigation before commenting. She went fucking mad. IT DOESN'T WORK!
Happy days. Before my partner moved in I had a 748 in the living room and a 900ss engine in its frame in a spare bedroom. Can't even clean an engine cover in the dishwasher now.
I get told off if I put the toothbrush-holder in the dishwasher.
I have to accept that there are dishwasher protocols that will forever be mysterious to me. 'But there weren't any dishes in with it' not an acceptable defence apparently.
Yep. When a coup fails, the leaders and fellow travellers of that coup are in trouble, as the enemy is still in power and will be very cross.
Poor Pork Pie Woman! Poor Rishi!
Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason.
Sounds as if there's an element of panic in ranks of Boris's enemies. Boris might just have played a blinder here. He's certainly changing the narrative - hunting down the plotters, talk of grisly reprisals. For Boris, looking ruthless is far preferable to looking hapless. Nasty Boris might even prove rather seductive to some of his MPs.
'Grisly reprisals' might just lead to floor-crossing. Again
The Wragg story is quite astonishing. It's a long-standing nasty observation that Government money is directed to marginal seats that they hope to hold, which is as he says improper (though not surprising to hardened observers) but accusing Ministers or whips of criminal blackmail seems difficult to reconcile with still taking the Conservative whip.
The allegation is breach of ministerial code - and 'potential' blackmail, so not quite the same thing.
His words as quoted by the BBC were that it "would seem to constitute blackmail". And he apparently encouraged those targetted to contact the Speaker and the Metropolitan Police.
I think that article puts the kibosh on any attempts by Spencer to dilute the legislation given everyone will be on high alert.
Mrs Ed is involved in the anti-BSL for dogs. They are now on something like their 3rd or 4th petition that is pass 100K signatures. Some signs the Government is getting tired of having to constantly defend its position (though DEFRA remain opposed to repeal).
Dogs are taught British Sign Language (or not as the case may be)? What have we missed?
Breed Specific Legislation in animal welfare circles old chap...
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
Then you have not read his posts and the nuance of his comments
You are an embarrassment to the conservative party
Is there any sense in the position Big G where rebels say, we got him where we want him now, we will ease off for the time being?
I mean the Malmesbury quote “only if you succeed it’s not treason” is heavily influencing the media backers of Boris, like the Mail, Express, Sun who are presenting plotters as figures to hate the longer this goes on. And of course, Team Boris have all the power to retaliate
The quote on here “we’ve got him where we want him, it’s all planned out, waiting till after May elections” it’s like a suicide note 😟
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
Then you have not read his posts and the nuance of his comments
You are an embarrassment to the conservative party
Is there any sense in the position Big G where rebels say, we got him where we want him now, we will ease off for the time being?
I mean the Malmesbury quote “only if you succeed it’s not treason” is heavily influencing the media backers of Boris, like the Mail, Express, Sun who are presenting plotters as figures to hate the longer this goes on. And of course, Team Boris have all the power to retaliate
The quote on here “we’ve got him where we want him, it’s all planned out, waiting till after May elections” it’s like a suicide note 😟
EDIT: The question is when it gets to the tipping point. Open knowledge that 54+ letters are in. Then it becomes a landslide quickly. And Treason stops being Treason....
Whips threatening to leak damaging stories about MPs in order to get their votes in parliament?
I am shocked. Shocked to the core.
It's only been standard procedure for about 300 years.
Yes, and this lot sound pretty ineffective. In the good old days, the whips threatened to expose MPs' visits to ladies in basement flats and gay sex encounters.
It is a potentially interesting question in law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail#Construction ...The law considers a "demand with menaces" to always be "unwarranted" (unjustified), unless the perpetrator actually believed that his/her demand had reasonable grounds, and also actually believed that the menace was a proper way to reinforce that demand. These tests relate to the actual belief of the perpetrator, not the belief of an ordinary or reasonable person. Therefore, tests related to what a "reasonable" person might think, and tests of dishonesty, are not often relevant - the matter hinges upon the actual and honest beliefs and knowledge of the perpetrator him/herself. ..
Typical Johnson get out then: "I should have found some other way to coerce them and I should have recognised that even if the coercion could be said technically to fall within the law - given I believed it a proper way to enforce my demands of loayalty - there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way"
There's an exemption if blackmail is work-related, isn't there?
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
I agree with HY on this one. Conservative Party leadership is a party matter at the end of the day, the view of us non Conservative voters at present or non party members is pretty meaningless?
The views of people who might vote Conservative at the next election are surely relevant. I paid my £3 to vote against Corbyn because I knew that with him as leader I couldn't possibly vote for Labour but with another leader I could.
President Macron, why? Western unity is the most important asset we have against Russian aggression. - Macron floats EU security pact with Russia in split from US calls for ‘unity’
France and Germany competing to see who can kiss Putin’s arse the most, just as he rollls the tanks towards Kiev. I’m not sure most of the Eastern European countries are too happy with that.
Those wanting peace, if this come to war, will get
- A split in NATO. - The Eastern Europeans will either cuddle up to Moscow or try and get an alliance of those who will back them. - Everyone will assume Ukraine is not the "last territorial demand". So those not wanting to be ruled by Moscow will arm themselves. And how - Ukraine was promised that if they gave up nuclear weapons, they would be guaranteed their territorial integrity by Russia, NATO - everyone. - So the message will go out. Very loud and very clear. Get nuclear weapons. Keep them. Worldwide. - Ukraine has multiple nuclear reactors and a lot of burned up fuel. Yes, civil "grade" plutonium. But that can be processed, fairly simply, if it is old enough. That would make a nice present for someone.
So if Russia takes some more chunks out of Ukraine, we are looking at a world where nuclear proliferation switches into high gear. Where NATO/EU splits. Where a chunk of Eastern Europe gears up ready for the next war. And maybe start thinking that they should get themselves some really, really Big Sticks.
Oh, and a whole bunch of legless teenagers begging on the streets of St Petersburg. Again.
France and Germany need to think hard about the consequences of what is essentially appeasement - a term which is bandied about far too often, but which fits here. Except that in this case, Ukraine will fight regardless - and their stance makes war more, not less likely, I think.
I read that this morning, it's a really good and fairly neutral take on the situation. The French proposal for an EU-Russia pact is actually appeasement. It's a proposal to let the Russians do what they want and suffer no consequences from Europe.
The EU is very quickly proving that it is not to be trusted without the UK in it. Something a lot of us said would happen and was denied by the more ardent EUphiles who have idealised the EU as some bastion of liberal democracy when the reality is very different.
Looks like a disastrous strategic mistake for us to have lost our influence from within the EU then.
Alternatively it's shown the rest of the world exactly the kind of shit we had to deal with time and again when it came to putting up sanctions on markets to which Germany had significant exports. The view in the UK has always understood that Germany doesn't give a fuck about anyone else's freedoms as long as they can sell dishwashers but the rest of the world didn't realise this until now. What they project to the world as being peaceful is actually appeasement. I think it's a net good that we've got that out in the open.
Maybe the Germans agree with Margaret Thatcher that sanctions don't work and should never be used however odious the regime. Even an apartheid one?
It's a good job the UK government cracked down so hard on Russians laundering money in London.
While subsidising the Russian space program through OneWeb/British Leyland In Space.
Regarding masking – my son's headmaster has just written to all parents saying that they are keeping the masks in classrooms due to local authority guidance. Is this commonplace? Seems ludicrous to me that the rule is dropped but schools keep it anyway!
Sadiq is doing the same with public transport in London.
I’m generally in favour of mask wearing, but not compulsion now we are all vaccinated, and with exceptions for places such as schools where verbal communication is important and masks cause confusion and distraction.
Indeed – why not just make it voluntary? Those who are worried can wear an FFP3 mask – that's a much more rational policy.
He was around 5-6, I think, before this kicked off.
Yes, and I've done some of that. 33-40% chance of the GE being Johnson v Starmer. If it is, a 40-50% chance of Lab winning enough seats for Starmer PM. So 11 is good.
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
Then you have not read his posts and the nuance of his comments
You are an embarrassment to the conservative party
Is there any sense in the position Big G where rebels say, we got him where we want him now, we will ease off for the time being?
I mean the Malmesbury quote “only if you succeed it’s not treason” is heavily influencing the media backers of Boris, like the Mail, Express, Sun who are presenting plotters as figures to hate the longer this goes on. And of course, Team Boris have all the power to retaliate
The quote on here “we’ve got him where we want him, it’s all planned out, waiting till after May elections” it’s like a suicide note 😟
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
Then you have not read his posts and the nuance of his comments
You are an embarrassment to the conservative party
Is there any sense in the position Big G where rebels say, we got him where we want him now, we will ease off for the time being?
I mean the Malmesbury quote “only if you succeed it’s not treason” is heavily influencing the media backers of Boris, like the Mail, Express, Sun who are presenting plotters as figures to hate the longer this goes on. And of course, Team Boris have all the power to retaliate
The quote on here “we’ve got him where we want him, it’s all planned out, waiting till after May elections” it’s like a suicide note 😟
I hope not
I hope next week sees the 54 letters delivered
If they are not, and especially if transpires (somehow) that, say, 30 were actually delivered I would expect the Whips to be giving some careful explanation to members about WHY the project planned for their constituency is not now going ahead. And why their pet project is very definitely OFF the agenda.
Finally this government does something train users approve of.
What's the problem? Don't people want to know that their train is arriving at Manc Piccadilly rather than Bristle Parkway?
I already know what train I'm on what the stops are.
Usually I'm sat in first class so I have at seat dining, I don't need them repeatedly telling the plebs that that there's trolley with drinks and light refreshments is on board and/or there's a cafe/restaurant in coach D.
Displays cover it for most use cases for those unfamiliar with the journey. Hard for the sight-impaired of course...
Do German intercity trains still have a print out of the stops and times left at each seat? That was handy if you didn't have a clue, you could simply get off by time (and the times were generally near correct).
I can really only see justification for two scheduled announcements per stop: on approach "we will shortly be arriving at X" and when the doors open at X "this is X, this train is for Y calling at A, B, C..." - the latter mostly for the benefit of people getting on.
Sure, commuters don't need the stop announcements, if you're in a hurry you're probably tracking it on RTT anyway. But even people who are taking a journey for the thousandth time once took it for the first time.
That said, announcements of the next stop, destination and so on can be better made on digital displays like they do in that there London.
Those can scroll continuously in transit (along with everything else they want to say), but the two in question are definitely helped by an audible confirmation.
When have station announcements been audible or intelligible?
The displays added to the outside of the trains themselves as well as inside are the best answer to the problem.
As an aside, listening to some of the rebellious Red Wall MPs - well, they don't sound like your archetypal rebels. They are sincere in wanting what's best for their constituents and working hard to improve the lot of the people they represent. You could almost call them One Nation Conservatives.
That's what this is about though, isn't it - the battle for the Conservative soul. The ideologues around Johnson now realise those they helped get elected in 2019 aren't like them at all - instead, they are more like those who Johnson turfed out of the party after becoming leader.
Yes, the problem with Stalinism is that it was never tried properly.
Thats not right. Stalinism was tried extensively, as the millions dead in USSR territories will attest. You mean communism...
Thank you for telling me what I mean. What a thicko I am. Jolly lucky I’ve got a benevolent paternalist to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Well what do you mean that Stalinism was never tried properly? What did he not get to do? Seriously?
Well what does Matt Goodwin mean that Cummings-Johnsonianism was never tried properly? What did they not get to do? Seriously?
Perhaps he just has a sense of humour ?
I think that was the joke the original poster (Gordon Guthrie, an ex New Lab strategist to SNP as it happens) who quote tweeted Goodwin's tweet was making. Goodwin's tweet is just plain barking, one to be added to the pile of Trump sympatico stuff he deleted.
Redwall poll by JL Partners/Channel 4 News; 6-16 January
Lab 48% Con 37% LD 8% oth 7%
Odd the LDs are so high there.
I'm a bit surprised the Tory share is as high as 37% TBH. Suspect the LibDems, if squeezed, would break to Tories, as they are probably many of them 2019 Tory voters. And then there's the 7% "others" too. The Tories aren't doomed as they were post Black Wednesday and facing Blair. They just need to bin Boris.
Mrs DA just asked if I had put 'car stuff' in the oven while sniffing the air suspiciously. I had - Porsche 924 front hubs for bearing installation. I said that I took the allegations very seriously but the appropriate thing to was to let Sue Gray finish the investigation before commenting. She went fucking mad. IT DOESN'T WORK!
Happy days. Before my partner moved in I had a 748 in the living room and a 900ss engine in its frame in a spare bedroom. Can't even clean an engine cover in the dishwasher now.
I get told off if I put the toothbrush-holder in the dishwasher.
I have to accept that there are dishwasher protocols that will forever be mysterious to me. 'But there weren't any dishes in with it' not an acceptable defence apparently.
It’s the handbag protocols that I just can’t get my head around.
Why do 50% of the adult population have to go about their daily business with one and a half kilos of junk attached to their shoulder?
People in hospital *for* COVID decreasing, people in hospital *with* COVID still going up. Almost 50% of all patients in hospital wrt COVID are now there for something else.
Next week we might even see incidental admissions overtake non-incidentals. The ONS death certificate stats have decoupled from the dashboard because of very high incidence over the last 28 days as well. The dashboard might be overstating daily hospitalisations as much as 50% and daily deaths by as much as 30% at the moment.
As an aside, listening to some of the rebellious Red Wall MPs - well, they don't sound like your archetypal rebels. They are sincere in wanting what's best for their constituents and working hard to improve the lot of the people they represent. You could almost call them One Nation Conservatives.
That's what this is about though, isn't it - the battle for the Conservative soul. The ideologues around Johnson now realise those they helped get elected in 2019 aren't like them at all - instead, they are more like those who Johnson turfed out of the party after becoming leader.
No. They were Remainers. These are Leavers.
I suppose if there is a Red Wall archetype it's a fairly socially conservative, economically leftwing, pro-nationalisation, anti-woke Leaver.
In years gone by, many such people would have been in the Labour party – many still are.
Finally this government does something train users approve of.
What's the problem? Don't people want to know that their train is arriving at Manc Piccadilly rather than Bristle Parkway?
I already know what train I'm on what the stops are.
Usually I'm sat in first class so I have at seat dining, I don't need them repeatedly telling the plebs that that there's trolley with drinks and light refreshments is on board and/or there's a cafe/restaurant in coach D.
Displays cover it for most use cases for those unfamiliar with the journey. Hard for the sight-impaired of course...
Do German intercity trains still have a print out of the stops and times left at each seat? That was handy if you didn't have a clue, you could simply get off by time (and the times were generally near correct).
I can really only see justification for two scheduled announcements per stop: on approach "we will shortly be arriving at X" and when the doors open at X "this is X, this train is for Y calling at A, B, C..." - the latter mostly for the benefit of people getting on.
Sure, commuters don't need the stop announcements, if you're in a hurry you're probably tracking it on RTT anyway. But even people who are taking a journey for the thousandth time once took it for the first time.
That said, announcements of the next stop, destination and so on can be better made on digital displays like they do in that there London.
Those can scroll continuously in transit (along with everything else they want to say), but the two in question are definitely helped by an audible confirmation.
When have station announcements been audible or intelligible?
The displays added to the outside of the trains themselves as well as inside are the best answer to the problem.
The recorded announcements on the trains I've been on have generally been pretty good. Live announcements, like announcements on stations, are much more variable - but I don't think the latter is what's under discussion by the government at the moment?
When I travel on trains I tend to read, and a "ping! we're now approaching X" announcement is useful because it means I don't have to look up every time the train decelerates to see where I am.
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
I love you HY. You are the ideal opponent. You really go the extra mile to make prospective supporters flee in the opposite direction. It is a pleasure to see you in action.
Farooq has never expressed a single conservative view on here as far as I can see, it would not be a Conservative party if he ever voted for it
Then you have not read his posts and the nuance of his comments
You are an embarrassment to the conservative party
Is there any sense in the position Big G where rebels say, we got him where we want him now, we will ease off for the time being?
I mean the Malmesbury quote “only if you succeed it’s not treason” is heavily influencing the media backers of Boris, like the Mail, Express, Sun who are presenting plotters as figures to hate the longer this goes on. And of course, Team Boris have all the power to retaliate
The quote on here “we’ve got him where we want him, it’s all planned out, waiting till after May elections” it’s like a suicide note 😟
I hope not
I hope next week sees the 54 letters delivered
Not. Going. To. Happen.
The PCP is weak, weak, weak.
I am of the opinion you hope it won't happen because a new leader of the conservative party, especially Rishi, would make the prospect of a Labour government in 24 less likely
It's a sad, but also richly entertaining, day when a senior Tory backbencher encourages his colleagues to go to the Metropolitan Police and seek a criminal charge of blackmail against government ministers.
I am not entertained. I'm extremely worried. This has the risk of turning into a generation-level crisis. I think I'm just about done with the Conservatives for life now. I don't see a way back for me now. Previously I thought it was just a case of we needed to get Boris and his small group toxic idiots out, but it's much more profound now.
The idea that you would ever vote Conservative ever is ludicrous anyway
The one who is ludicrous here is yourself
You are blind to the implosion of the party under toxic Boris which is handing GE24 to Labour
There are many thousands who will return to a credible conservative party led by a serious politician with serious policies
I think that's right. There's not much enthusiasm for Starmer and Labour, although that could slowly start to change if he continues to make progress, which is why Tory MPs need to grasp the nettle now.
A Sunak premiership which concentrates on delivering the levelling-up agenda could really do quite well. Boris aside, the Govt has a quite defensible record. And, as we saw in 1992, if the economy becomes problematic, the electorate is quite likely to cling to nurse even if the Tories have been in power for some time.
But if Boris hangs around, the voters patience will well and truly run out, and that will be curtains for the Tories.
President Macron, why? Western unity is the most important asset we have against Russian aggression. - Macron floats EU security pact with Russia in split from US calls for ‘unity’
France and Germany competing to see who can kiss Putin’s arse the most, just as he rollls the tanks towards Kiev. I’m not sure most of the Eastern European countries are too happy with that.
Those wanting peace, if this come to war, will get
- A split in NATO. - The Eastern Europeans will either cuddle up to Moscow or try and get an alliance of those who will back them. - Everyone will assume Ukraine is not the "last territorial demand". So those not wanting to be ruled by Moscow will arm themselves. And how - Ukraine was promised that if they gave up nuclear weapons, they would be guaranteed their territorial integrity by Russia, NATO - everyone. - So the message will go out. Very loud and very clear. Get nuclear weapons. Keep them. Worldwide. - Ukraine has multiple nuclear reactors and a lot of burned up fuel. Yes, civil "grade" plutonium. But that can be processed, fairly simply, if it is old enough. That would make a nice present for someone.
So if Russia takes some more chunks out of Ukraine, we are looking at a world where nuclear proliferation switches into high gear. Where NATO/EU splits. Where a chunk of Eastern Europe gears up ready for the next war. And maybe start thinking that they should get themselves some really, really Big Sticks.
Oh, and a whole bunch of legless teenagers begging on the streets of St Petersburg. Again.
France and Germany need to think hard about the consequences of what is essentially appeasement - a term which is bandied about far too often, but which fits here. Except that in this case, Ukraine will fight regardless - and their stance makes war more, not less likely, I think.
I read that this morning, it's a really good and fairly neutral take on the situation. The French proposal for an EU-Russia pact is actually appeasement. It's a proposal to let the Russians do what they want and suffer no consequences from Europe.
The EU is very quickly proving that it is not to be trusted without the UK in it. Something a lot of us said would happen and was denied by the more ardent EUphiles who have idealised the EU as some bastion of liberal democracy when the reality is very different.
Looks like a disastrous strategic mistake for us to have lost our influence from within the EU then.
Alternatively it's shown the rest of the world exactly the kind of shit we had to deal with time and again when it came to putting up sanctions on markets to which Germany had significant exports. The view in the UK has always understood that Germany doesn't give a fuck about anyone else's freedoms as long as they can sell dishwashers but the rest of the world didn't realise this until now. What they project to the world as being peaceful is actually appeasement. I think it's a net good that we've got that out in the open.
Maybe the Germans agree with Margaret Thatcher that sanctions don't work and should never be used however odious the regime. Even an apartheid one?
It's a good job the UK government cracked down so hard on Russians laundering money in London.
While subsidising the Russian space program through OneWeb/British Leyland In Space.
It's the UK government and the Indians calling the shots - Eutelsat is getting grief from certain quarters in the EU for "defecting" to a non-European constellation. Particularly now it is clear that they are not gong to use either European launchers or launchers provided via Europe (the Russian connection).
Redwall poll by JL Partners/Channel 4 News; 6-16 January
Lab 48% Con 37% LD 8% oth 7%
Odd the LDs are so high there.
Burnley was a LD seat in 2010.
A lot of Red Wall seats will have a baseline of 4-5% Lib Dem support. That 8% isn't completely insane if there are pockets where the Lib Dems have a 10% or so baseline in previous say 2015 elections.
Now granted in a Labour / Tory swing seat a Lib Dem vote is a complete waste of a vote but that doesn't seemingly stop people voting for them.
President Macron, why? Western unity is the most important asset we have against Russian aggression. - Macron floats EU security pact with Russia in split from US calls for ‘unity’
France and Germany competing to see who can kiss Putin’s arse the most, just as he rollls the tanks towards Kiev. I’m not sure most of the Eastern European countries are too happy with that.
Those wanting peace, if this come to war, will get
- A split in NATO. - The Eastern Europeans will either cuddle up to Moscow or try and get an alliance of those who will back them. - Everyone will assume Ukraine is not the "last territorial demand". So those not wanting to be ruled by Moscow will arm themselves. And how - Ukraine was promised that if they gave up nuclear weapons, they would be guaranteed their territorial integrity by Russia, NATO - everyone. - So the message will go out. Very loud and very clear. Get nuclear weapons. Keep them. Worldwide. - Ukraine has multiple nuclear reactors and a lot of burned up fuel. Yes, civil "grade" plutonium. But that can be processed, fairly simply, if it is old enough. That would make a nice present for someone.
So if Russia takes some more chunks out of Ukraine, we are looking at a world where nuclear proliferation switches into high gear. Where NATO/EU splits. Where a chunk of Eastern Europe gears up ready for the next war. And maybe start thinking that they should get themselves some really, really Big Sticks.
Oh, and a whole bunch of legless teenagers begging on the streets of St Petersburg. Again.
France and Germany need to think hard about the consequences of what is essentially appeasement - a term which is bandied about far too often, but which fits here. Except that in this case, Ukraine will fight regardless - and their stance makes war more, not less likely, I think.
I read that this morning, it's a really good and fairly neutral take on the situation. The French proposal for an EU-Russia pact is actually appeasement. It's a proposal to let the Russians do what they want and suffer no consequences from Europe.
The EU is very quickly proving that it is not to be trusted without the UK in it. Something a lot of us said would happen and was denied by the more ardent EUphiles who have idealised the EU as some bastion of liberal democracy when the reality is very different.
Looks like a disastrous strategic mistake for us to have lost our influence from within the EU then.
Alternatively it's shown the rest of the world exactly the kind of shit we had to deal with time and again when it came to putting up sanctions on markets to which Germany had significant exports. The view in the UK has always understood that Germany doesn't give a fuck about anyone else's freedoms as long as they can sell dishwashers but the rest of the world didn't realise this until now. What they project to the world as being peaceful is actually appeasement. I think it's a net good that we've got that out in the open.
Maybe the Germans agree with Margaret Thatcher that sanctions don't work and should never be used however odious the regime. Even an apartheid one?
It's a good job the UK government cracked down so hard on Russians laundering money in London.
While subsidising the Russian space program through OneWeb/British Leyland In Space.
Mrs DA just asked if I had put 'car stuff' in the oven while sniffing the air suspiciously. I had - Porsche 924 front hubs for bearing installation. I said that I took the allegations very seriously but the appropriate thing to was to let Sue Gray finish the investigation before commenting. She went fucking mad. IT DOESN'T WORK!
Happy days. Before my partner moved in I had a 748 in the living room and a 900ss engine in its frame in a spare bedroom. Can't even clean an engine cover in the dishwasher now.
I get told off if I put the toothbrush-holder in the dishwasher.
I have to accept that there are dishwasher protocols that will forever be mysterious to me. 'But there weren't any dishes in with it' not an acceptable defence apparently.
It’s the handbag protocols that I just can’t get my head around.
Why do 50% of the adult population have to go about their daily business with one and a half kilos of junk attached to their shoulder?
Comments
The occupant of 10 Downing Street perhaps?
Do German intercity trains still have a print out of the stops and times left at each seat? That was handy if you didn't have a clue, you could simply get off by time (and the times were generally near correct).
In the UK even the lowest skilled can be fully employed which lowers unemployment but depresses productivity.
Would we as a nation be better off if we had more people on the dole? Probably not, but that would boost productivity.
We do need to improve productivity in this country and Brexit will probably help with that, but international comparisons can be very misleading.
Gloria de Piero interviewing Lee Anderson MP about Christian Wakeford's defection from Tory to Labour.
https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1483771448607006720
https://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/view/id/5303
We now have woke firewalls, with allowlists and denylists in place of whitelists and blacklists; and now have primary and secondary servers, rather than master and slave.
You are blind to the implosion of the party under toxic Boris which is handing GE24 to Labour
There are many thousands who will return to a credible conservative party led by a serious politician with serious policies
"I should have found some other way to coerce them and I should have recognised that even if the coercion could be said technically to fall within the law - given I believed it a proper way to enforce my demands of loayalty - there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way"
Interestingly on the period leading up to her crossing the floor and receiving abuse, death threats etc she said the absence of support from her colleagues on the blue benches was striking compared to expressions of sympathy from Lab, LD, SNP etc mps.
Mrs Ed is involved in the anti-BSL for dogs. They are now on something like their 3rd or 4th petition that is pass 100K signatures. Some signs the Government is getting tired of having to constantly defend its position (though DEFRA remain opposed to repeal).
I thought everyone apart from the Tories might lose their deposits but maybe UKIP could hold theirs now?
There could be a record low turnout or at least lowest since Manchester Central in 2012.
Con 80%
UKIP 10%
Others 10%
Turnout 20% (-47)
He was around 5-6, I think, before this kicked off.
- The next generation of satellites will fly on Indian launchers, after the existing, contracted, launches had been completed. Rogozin was going mental about that.
Sure, commuters don't need the stop announcements, if you're in a hurry you're probably tracking it on RTT anyway. But even people who are taking a journey for the thousandth time once took it for the first time.
Ex-pope Benedict failed to act over four child abuse cases when he was archbishop of Munich, German probe into Catholic Church finds
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60070132
Got a feeling 2022 is gonna be an absolute corker.
And environmental destruction on an epic scale....
You are an embarrassment to the conservative party
Lab 48%
Con 37%
LD 8%
oth 7%
That LD 8% is interesting. By definition, these are straight Con-Lab fights. That 8% is ripe for Starmer to squeeze.
(Very NSFW song)
From memory, anyway. Which reminds me, in Civ VI the Machiavelli quotes are from the wrong books (pretty sure, I recall the charming line "Men must be pampered or annihilated" from The Prince).
As Rochdale etc showed, Islam also has had issues
A Sunak premiership which concentrates on delivering the levelling-up agenda could really do quite well. Boris aside, the Govt has a quite defensible record. And, as we saw in 1992, if the economy becomes problematic, the electorate is quite likely to cling to nurse even if the Tories have been in power for some time.
But if Boris hangs around, the voters patience will well and truly run out, and that will be curtains for the Tories.
(At least, I hope so - I've got some on Starmer, longest at just under 10 just before the eve of Prince Philip's funreal party story broke, d'oh. But I've been slightly unconvinced on Johnson's iminent demise, so I held on to it rather than trade out on a loss.)
Do you believe me yet?
The next Tory manifesto is going to go down in history.
I mean the Malmesbury quote “only if you succeed it’s not treason” is heavily influencing the media backers of Boris, like the Mail, Express, Sun who are presenting plotters as figures to hate the longer this goes on. And of course, Team Boris have all the power to retaliate
The quote on here “we’ve got him where we want him, it’s all planned out, waiting till after May elections” it’s like a suicide note 😟
Absolute Monarchy first, of course. With myself as the Absolute Monarch......
He will then be sacked and in due course rewarded with a nice job and a gong.
I’m generally in favour of mask wearing, but not compulsion now we are all vaccinated, and with exceptions for places such as schools where verbal communication is important and masks cause confusion and distraction.
I hope next week sees the 54 letters delivered
On the subject at hand - building a rebel coalition is a tricky business. Lots of conversations in odd corners etc.
Granitia is shut, though... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blair–Brown_deal
EDIT: The question is when it gets to the tipping point. Open knowledge that 54+ letters are in. Then it becomes a landslide quickly. And Treason stops being Treason....
Pinocchio Johnson has a suspiciously long snout…
It's now largely a Franco/Indian/South Korean venture.
https://spacenews.com/eutelsat-ups-its-oneweb-stake-with-additional-165-million/
Going.
To.
Happen.
The PCP is weak, weak, weak.
The displays added to the outside of the trains themselves as well as inside are the best answer to the problem.
Why do 50% of the adult population have to go about their daily business with one and a half kilos of junk attached to their shoulder?
People in hospital *for* COVID decreasing, people in hospital *with* COVID still going up. Almost 50% of all patients in hospital wrt COVID are now there for something else.
Next week we might even see incidental admissions overtake non-incidentals. The ONS death certificate stats have decoupled from the dashboard because of very high incidence over the last 28 days as well. The dashboard might be overstating daily hospitalisations as much as 50% and daily deaths by as much as 30% at the moment.
In years gone by, many such people would have been in the Labour party – many still are.
When I travel on trains I tend to read, and a "ping! we're now approaching X" announcement is useful because it means I don't have to look up every time the train decelerates to see where I am.
And my popcorn stockpile is absolutely humongous.
Now granted in a Labour / Tory swing seat a Lib Dem vote is a complete waste of a vote but that doesn't seemingly stop people voting for them.
15-20% and a Golden Share iirc. And £2.3 billion of investment if reports are correct.
No idea if UK Gov have further call options, or guarantees of part of the capacity.