Covid cases again flat compared to last week. All other stats are down. (Edit: Deaths up a tad)
Covid anecdote. I have heard today of several people who now have Covid having also had it in the second half of last year. First time I am personally aware of reinfections. All are fine.
I know of several of my friends who have had it twice now, where as I seem to be the one of the very few I know that have never knowingly had Covid.
Are MBAs still a thing?
I had a colleague who did one and said “all I got was “older””
Was your colleague in same class as You Know Who at Wharton School of Univ of Penn?
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Lol!
You never met Colin W, or Martin Day, or one or two others whose splenetic provocations regularly attracted the ban hammer.
The multi-faceted Leon is a delight when you get used to him and know how to approach the creature. I suggest wit, and intelligence if you can muster enough. You can argue with him too, but he's slippery, so watch it; bit like wrestling with a pig: you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
Above all, don't take it too seriously. It's a blog, not The Bloody Assizes.
Non-technical people, in the world of default cloud backup, and social media? Ha Ha.. There are 137 billion copies of those photos out there, for sure.
It's almost as funny as the people who think that Bitcoin guarantees anonymity.
Then again, some people have been claiming that No 10 is a no personal phone zone. So does this mean *official* phones?
I’d love to know the actual phone/laptop/camera protocols in place for:
Ministers SpAds Permanent Civil Servants MPs Carrie Non-Gov staff such as police Public Visitors
I’ll take a good guess there’s a lot of holes in all of them.
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free
But I'd draw the line at posters who call for other posters to be banned.
So, we should ban posters who call for other posts to be banned?
Covid cases again flat compared to last week. All other stats are down. (Edit: Deaths up a tad)
Covid anecdote. I have heard today of several people who now have Covid having also had it in the second half of last year. First time I am personally aware of reinfections. All are fine.
I know of several of my friends who have had it twice now, where as I seem to be the one of the very few I know that have never knowingly had Covid.
Are MBAs still a thing?
I had a colleague who did one and said “all I got was “older””
Was your colleague in same class as You Know Who at Wharton School of Univ of Penn?
Voldemoort graduated Wharton in 1968. We have a few, but not many, that old on here.
BTW, did you see my wife's Prince Albert story from yesterday?
I've said before she's crap. Hopefully the Tory membership are stupid enough to elect her as BJ's replacement.
She's another unserious politician, albeit without afaik the moral vacancy of BJ. Her attempts to do serious statesman (statesperson?) are about as convincing as BJ's, and on the once bitten principle..
By the way, I wouldn't want to push this argument all the way but the fact remains that under our electoral system we elect a Member of Parliament. We don't elect a party.
Hence no requirement for a by-election. The Member of Parliament was elected and is still the same person representing his people.
No requirement, you're right. But the argument that "we elect a member not a party" is utterly disconnected from what motivates people at the ballot box. Surely some people vote for the man or woman, but most are putting a cross next to the party. In the basis of ideology, manifesto, leader. Legal fact is political fiction in this case. We need system that reflects this better.
For many, you're right but I do happen to know people including a close friend who votes for a Labour MP even though my friend is a diehard tory. Why? Because he says the MP in question "is a brilliant constituency Member of Parliament who serves our community, as well as being moderate which helps".
Interesting isn't it?
Yes, it's certain that some people are motivated to vote for the person. And on here, I suspect a higher proportion than is normal would say so. Lots of you seem to have met your MP. But that's not really normal for the laity.
Personal vote is probably pretty small in most cases and won't make a difference, and of course it is correct that in practice a lot of people decide their vote on the basis of the rosette. But whether that is what they are doing in or not, fact is that is not what they are actually doing.
Since I'm in favour of a more proportional system anyway I'm more up for considering all manner of potential improvements, but until there is support for changes, and changes enacted, politicians making the 'should resign' argument is just tiresome, since they know better.
I don't think it's at all tiresome. Both sides of the argument are valid. Legally no need to call a by-election. Politically, it's a way of avoiding voters being upset that their Conservative vote is now giving them a Labour MP. I'm on the fence about it.
The same poll concludes Boris/Rishi can still win GE 24
Yes, but I was really surprised to see that Rishi polls little better than Boris. That suggests that the problem is the Party rather than the leader. That's not what I would have expected.
Am I misreading something? If I am not, your team's problems may run deeper than I thought.
After 10 years in power most parties in government lose.
Major's Tories were the exception in 1992 but he had a major policy difference from Thatcher in that he dumped the poll tax. What is the major policy difference between Sunak and Boris?
If kinabalu is a 'liberal racist', as alleged, does that make Tommy Robinson an 'illiberal racist' and me a secret Tory? Utter piffle.
In other news from the right, I've learnt today that food banks are A Good Thing in a rich country such as ours, and the more food banks the merrier.
On the latter point, apparently I am giving to my local food bank so the ones who say it is a Good Thing don't have to pay so much tax. But the wine calls.
How much tax would you need to pay to ensure that food banks were not necessary? That someone has not had bad luck, or made poor life choices, that has led them to have not enough money for essentials such as food?
This is why charities are vital IMV. The state is a big broadsword, making big swipes but missing many important things. charities are a dirk or scalpel, getting to the bits the state can not.
The state can never catch everyone, which means there will always be a role for charities to act as a fallback. Systems that try to do it all with the state cause mass hardship.
I can't remember where but there are European Countries (I think one is Denmark) where the Government supports Food Banks because there are always gaps that create problems so it's best to have them as a fallback if everything else has gone wrong.
That's very true - and it works as long as the government gives the required funding. But if it does not, then the system falls down. Or the government says the funding solves the problem, when in reality there are people still in need. Or governments start making criteria on to how the funding is spent.
Charities are vital IMO. I don't trust government (tm) that much.
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free
But I'd draw the line at posters who call for other posters to be banned.
So, we should ban posters who call for other posts to be banned?
No, you should ban posters who call for other posters to be banned for calling for other posters to be banned.
The same poll concludes Boris/Rishi can still win GE 24
Yes, but I was really surprised to see that Rishi polls little better than Boris. That suggests that the problem is the Party rather than the leader. That's not what I would have expected.
Am I misreading something? If I am not, your team's problems may run deeper than I thought.
After 10 years in power most parties in government lose.
Major's Tories were the exception in 1992 but he had a major policy difference from Thatcher in that he dumped the poll tax. What is the major policy difference between Sunak and Boris?
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Non-technical people, in the world of default cloud backup, and social media? Ha Ha.. There are 137 billion copies of those photos out there, for sure.
It's almost as funny as the people who think that Bitcoin guarantees anonymity.
Then again, some people have been claiming that No 10 is a no personal phone zone. So does this mean *official* phones?
I’d love to know the actual phone/laptop/camera protocols in place for:
Ministers SpAds Permanent Civil Servants MPs Carrie Non-Gov staff such as police Public Visitors
I’ll take a good guess there’s a lot of holes in all of them.
Well, yes. You need a hole for the camera, the charging cable, headphones, HDMI, USB, ...
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Lol!
You never met Colin W, or Martin Day, or one or two others whose splenetic provocations regularly attracted the ban hammer.
The multi-faceted Leon is a delight when you get used to him and know how to approach the creature. I suggest wit, and intelligence if you can muster enough. You can argue with him too, but he's slippery, so watch it; bit like wrestling with a pig: you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
Above all, don't take it too seriously. It's a blog, not The Bloody Assizes.
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free
But I'd draw the line at posters who call for other posters to be banned.
So, we should ban posters who call for other posts to be banned?
I reckon we should ban posters who ask whether posters who call for other posters to be banned should be banned. But then there'd be no-one to do site tech upkeep.
By the way, I wouldn't want to push this argument all the way but the fact remains that under our electoral system we elect a Member of Parliament. We don't elect a party.
Hence no requirement for a by-election. The Member of Parliament was elected and is still the same person representing his people.
No requirement, you're right. But the argument that "we elect a member not a party" is utterly disconnected from what motivates people at the ballot box. Surely some people vote for the man or woman, but most are putting a cross next to the party. In the basis of ideology, manifesto, leader. Legal fact is political fiction in this case. We need system that reflects this better.
There could be an Act of Parliament mandating a by-election when an MP changes party. It could be based on the Private Members Bill introduced in 2020 which was co-sponsored by, erm, Christian Wakeford...
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
By the way, I wouldn't want to push this argument all the way but the fact remains that under our electoral system we elect a Member of Parliament. We don't elect a party.
Hence no requirement for a by-election. The Member of Parliament was elected and is still the same person representing his people.
No requirement, you're right. But the argument that "we elect a member not a party" is utterly disconnected from what motivates people at the ballot box. Surely some people vote for the man or woman, but most are putting a cross next to the party. In the basis of ideology, manifesto, leader. Legal fact is political fiction in this case. We need system that reflects this better.
There could be an Act of Parliament mandating a by-election when an MP changes party. It could be based on the Private Members Bill introduced in 2020 which was co-sponsored by, erm, Christian Wakeford...
By the way, I wouldn't want to push this argument all the way but the fact remains that under our electoral system we elect a Member of Parliament. We don't elect a party.
Hence no requirement for a by-election. The Member of Parliament was elected and is still the same person representing his people.
No requirement, you're right. But the argument that "we elect a member not a party" is utterly disconnected from what motivates people at the ballot box. Surely some people vote for the man or woman, but most are putting a cross next to the party. In the basis of ideology, manifesto, leader. Legal fact is political fiction in this case. We need system that reflects this better.
There could be an Act of Parliament mandating a by-election when an MP changes party. It could be based on the Private Members Bill introduced in 2020 which was co-sponsored by, erm, Christian Wakeford...
By the way, I wouldn't want to push this argument all the way but the fact remains that under our electoral system we elect a Member of Parliament. We don't elect a party.
Hence no requirement for a by-election. The Member of Parliament was elected and is still the same person representing his people.
No requirement, you're right. But the argument that "we elect a member not a party" is utterly disconnected from what motivates people at the ballot box. Surely some people vote for the man or woman, but most are putting a cross next to the party. In the basis of ideology, manifesto, leader. Legal fact is political fiction in this case. We need system that reflects this better.
There could be an Act of Parliament mandating a by-election when an MP changes party. It could be based on the Private Members Bill introduced in 2020 which was co-sponsored by, erm, Christian Wakeford...
Even Mark Reckless had the guts to submit himself back to the people who elected him, when he decided to cross the floor.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
By the way, I wouldn't want to push this argument all the way but the fact remains that under our electoral system we elect a Member of Parliament. We don't elect a party.
Hence no requirement for a by-election. The Member of Parliament was elected and is still the same person representing his people.
No requirement, you're right. But the argument that "we elect a member not a party" is utterly disconnected from what motivates people at the ballot box. Surely some people vote for the man or woman, but most are putting a cross next to the party. In the basis of ideology, manifesto, leader. Legal fact is political fiction in this case. We need system that reflects this better.
For many, you're right but I do happen to know people including a close friend who votes for a Labour MP even though my friend is a diehard tory. Why? Because he says the MP in question "is a brilliant constituency Member of Parliament who serves our community, as well as being moderate which helps".
Interesting isn't it?
Yes, it's certain that some people are motivated to vote for the person. And on here, I suspect a higher proportion than is normal would say so. Lots of you seem to have met your MP. But that's not really normal for the laity.
Personal vote is probably pretty small in most cases and won't make a difference, and of course it is correct that in practice a lot of people decide their vote on the basis of the rosette. But whether that is what they are doing in or not, fact is that is not what they are actually doing.
Since I'm in favour of a more proportional system anyway I'm more up for considering all manner of potential improvements, but until there is support for changes, and changes enacted, politicians making the 'should resign' argument is just tiresome, since they know better.
I don't think it's at all tiresome. Both sides of the argument are valid. Legally no need to call a by-election. Politically, it's a way of avoiding voters being upset that their Conservative vote is now giving them a Labour MP. I'm on the fence about it.
The arguments are valid, I find it tiresome from politicians because they know the rules of the game and their positions are transparently only about if it benefits them or not on this occasion, so it is extremely phony. They don't care about the arguments, they would be stupid to risk a new seat by sticking to a principle, and the other side stupid not to make the attempt to win it back.
So it is like watching a badly acted play as they parrot the expected lines with no real passion or engagement.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
The same poll concludes Boris/Rishi can still win GE 24
Yes, but I was really surprised to see that Rishi polls little better than Boris. That suggests that the problem is the Party rather than the leader. That's not what I would have expected.
Am I misreading something? If I am not, your team's problems may run deeper than I thought.
I do not think anyone can be sure the outcome of GE24 with either Boris or Rishi as this poll states, but at this moment in time the conservative party looks unelectable and the future is far from certain as is their recovery
Wasn't trying to call the next GE, Big G.
As it happens a ten point deficit is about par for a mid-term Government and in itself wouldn't be especially worrying for it. It's the context that is troubling.
Personally I'm a great believer in good Opposition so the idea of a Tory meltdown in two years time is not my ideal scenario. I think there is a danger that Boris takes the Blue Team there. It's avoidable though and I would like to see it avoided.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
I've said before she's crap. Hopefully the Tory membership are stupid enough to elect her as BJ's replacement.
She's another unserious politician, albeit without afaik the moral vacancy of BJ. Her attempts to do serious statesman (statesperson?) are about as convincing as BJ's, and on the once bitten principle..
By the way, I wouldn't want to push this argument all the way but the fact remains that under our electoral system we elect a Member of Parliament. We don't elect a party.
Hence no requirement for a by-election. The Member of Parliament was elected and is still the same person representing his people.
No requirement, you're right. But the argument that "we elect a member not a party" is utterly disconnected from what motivates people at the ballot box. Surely some people vote for the man or woman, but most are putting a cross next to the party. In the basis of ideology, manifesto, leader. Legal fact is political fiction in this case. We need system that reflects this better.
There could be an Act of Parliament mandating a by-election when an MP changes party. It could be based on the Private Members Bill introduced in 2020 which was co-sponsored by, erm, Christian Wakeford...
What happened to that private members bill?
What usually happens.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress.
By the way, I wouldn't want to push this argument all the way but the fact remains that under our electoral system we elect a Member of Parliament. We don't elect a party.
Hence no requirement for a by-election. The Member of Parliament was elected and is still the same person representing his people.
No requirement, you're right. But the argument that "we elect a member not a party" is utterly disconnected from what motivates people at the ballot box. Surely some people vote for the man or woman, but most are putting a cross next to the party. In the basis of ideology, manifesto, leader. Legal fact is political fiction in this case. We need system that reflects this better.
There could be an Act of Parliament mandating a by-election when an MP changes party. It could be based on the Private Members Bill introduced in 2020 which was co-sponsored by, erm, Christian Wakeford...
What happened to that private members bill?
What usually happens.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
"he founded a not-for-profit organization in Montgomery County, Maryland called Damascus Energy"
I live in the town of Damascus, in the county of Montgomery, in the state of Maryland.
I always like the semi-urban legend that his eventual PhD consisted of one page of paper, which (essentially) read - "We can't tell you anything about what he's done, but give him a PhD, signed {insert names famous for Nobels for Physics}"
The same poll concludes Boris/Rishi can still win GE 24
Yes, but I was really surprised to see that Rishi polls little better than Boris. That suggests that the problem is the Party rather than the leader. That's not what I would have expected.
Am I misreading something? If I am not, your team's problems may run deeper than I thought.
I do not think anyone can be sure the outcome of GE24 with either Boris or Rishi as this poll states, but at this moment in time the conservative party looks unelectable and the future is far from certain as is their recovery
Wasn't trying to call the next GE, Big G.
As it happens a ten point deficit is about par for a mid-term Government and in itself wouldn't be especially worrying for it. It's the context that is troubling.
Personally I'm a great believer in good Opposition so the idea of a Tory meltdown in two years time is not my ideal scenario. I think there is a danger that Boris takes the Blue Team there. It's avoidable though and I would like to see it avoided.
So Boris does better in the redwall than every other Tory alternative except Sunak then. However even Sunak still loses most of the redwall to Starmer.
Suggests Sunak would make it closer but still not win the next general election even if Boris was removed
Again, you're assuming two things:
1. That nothing will change between now and the next election - which may well still be further into the future than GE2019 is in the past 2. That various of the less well known candidates who do rather badly against Starmer in this wholly theoretical scenario suffer from being viewed as inferior to the Labour leader, rather than from being unknown
Boris Johnson is a known but discredited quantity. Rishi Sunak and no more than a handful of other senior ministers (Gove, Patel, Javid, perhaps Raab?) are vaguely known. However, I should imagine that most of the electorate has no fixed idea about what the majority of the cabinet stand for, even if they recognise their names in the first place. The very similar numbers for all potential successors not called Sunak may, at least in part, be the product of this.
Zahawi, who has been high-profile for about five minutes does terribly in the poll; other potential dark horse candidates like Wallace aren't even considered. Yet for all we know, they could turn out to be effective and put the boot into Labour as it comes to terms with its own internal splits and problem policy areas.
These sorts of exercises are great fun, I'm sure, but the information that they give us is necessarily limited.
The same poll concludes Boris/Rishi can still win GE 24
Yes, but I was really surprised to see that Rishi polls little better than Boris. That suggests that the problem is the Party rather than the leader. That's not what I would have expected.
Am I misreading something? If I am not, your team's problems may run deeper than I thought.
After 10 years in power most parties in government lose.
Major's Tories were the exception in 1992 but he had a major policy difference from Thatcher in that he dumped the poll tax. What is the major policy difference between Sunak and Boris?
Well if pushed I'd be inclined to say that Sunak would tend to promote policies that were good for the Country, whereas Boris prefers policies that are good for Boris, but that may be a bit simplistic.
I've said before she's crap. Hopefully the Tory membership are stupid enough to elect her as BJ's replacement.
She's another unserious politician, albeit without afaik the moral vacancy of BJ. Her attempts to do serious statesman (statesperson?) are about as convincing as BJ's, and on the once bitten principle..
The same poll concludes Boris/Rishi can still win GE 24
Yes, but I was really surprised to see that Rishi polls little better than Boris. That suggests that the problem is the Party rather than the leader. That's not what I would have expected.
Am I misreading something? If I am not, your team's problems may run deeper than I thought.
After 10 years in power most parties in government lose.
Major's Tories were the exception in 1992 but he had a major policy difference from Thatcher in that he dumped the poll tax. What is the major policy difference between Sunak and Boris?
It’s more a case of a human tongue versus one with a fork in it. 😀
I jest. I agree with you. This is the key question. What is the major policy difference between Sunak and Boris?
When my Dad told me before I came back down to London that the plan to oust Boris was going to happen, he explained it was because of policy. Boris does big brush slogan policy that isn’t policy at all. He has no policy detail, whilst Conservatives have always been about policy detail and delivery.
Around the time of the Party Conference the policy was economically illiterate and unachievable. That’s the real reason this is happening, get their hands on the policy board to chalk something sane up there.
Does that make sense, have I explained it clearly?
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free
But I'd draw the line at posters who call for other posters to be banned.
So, we should ban posters who call for other posts to be banned?
I reckon we should ban posters who ask whether posters who call for other posters to be banned should be banned. But then there'd be no-one to do site tech upkeep.
I have no desire to frequent any board that allows the likes of me to keep posting
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
The Survation poll another very strong Labour poll it seems with perhaps the Conservatives rallying slightly off their very low numbers from last week.
It's still a 10-point Labour lead and an 11.5% swing from Conservative to Labour from 2019. Add in tactical voting and basically any Conservative facing a Labour swing of less than 15% is in big trouble.
The Redfield & Wilton "Red Wall" poll seems to confirm this. Although Rishi Sunak does slightly better than the Prime Minister, with him as leader the Conservatives trail by 12 having won the seats by, I would guess, a similar number.
The problem for Conservatives wanting rid of Johnson but not enamoured of Sunak as a successor is none of the other potential candidates poll anywhere near as well. From Liz Truss onward, it's varying shades of disaster with deficits of 20 to 27 points which would mean all the 40 seats going back into the Labour column.
Some remarkably short private memebr bills out there - one at the moment on increasing the age of criminal responsibility to 12 the content is only twice the length of the 'Be it enacted' opener.
By the way, I wouldn't want to push this argument all the way but the fact remains that under our electoral system we elect a Member of Parliament. We don't elect a party.
Hence no requirement for a by-election. The Member of Parliament was elected and is still the same person representing his people.
No requirement, you're right. But the argument that "we elect a member not a party" is utterly disconnected from what motivates people at the ballot box. Surely some people vote for the man or woman, but most are putting a cross next to the party. In the basis of ideology, manifesto, leader. Legal fact is political fiction in this case. We need system that reflects this better.
There could be an Act of Parliament mandating a by-election when an MP changes party. It could be based on the Private Members Bill introduced in 2020 which was co-sponsored by, erm, Christian Wakeford...
"he founded a not-for-profit organization in Montgomery County, Maryland called Damascus Energy"
I live in the town of Damascus, in the county of Montgomery, in the state of Maryland.
I always like the semi-urban legend that his eventual PhD consisted of one page of paper, which (essentially) read - "We can't tell you anything about what he's done, but give him a PhD, signed {insert names famous for Nobels for Physics}"
Oppenheimer, Lawrence, Feynman, Bethe and Fermi? (Not that they all got a Nobel, but their word would carry weight)
Non-technical people, in the world of default cloud backup, and social media? Ha Ha.. There are 137 billion copies of those photos out there, for sure.
It's almost as funny as the people who think that Bitcoin guarantees anonymity.
Then again, some people have been claiming that No 10 is a no personal phone zone. So does this mean *official* phones?
But it’s not on the phone though? She’ll need more than asking to see the phone is my point.
When someone says they didn’t see an email, can the server logs prove they are lying?
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
Valid point, but people I know changed their behaviour in the run up to Christmas anyway, and would have irrespective of plan B.
There was a general feeling of "I'm not going to the work Christmas party / out with mates this weekend because I don't want to get it and end up in isolation over xmas / not be able to go home to see family / don't want to give it to Gran etc" - so hospitality was buggered whatever happened.
In happier news. My 100% record of having mildly disappointing food (on my one previous Sri Lankan trip) has been easily shattered. It’s all good so far. Black Pork Curry lunch here was absolutely excellent
Colombo is a strange city. Poor, scruffy, yet in places intensely civilised. And stunned by the sun and heat into an amiable complacency
Are there still lots of stray dogs lining the streets? Was when I was there. Plagued with them - a bit off-putting.
Not one that I’ve seen. Not cats. In fact a decided absence by “3rd World” standards (are we still allowed to say 3rd World? What’s the replacement?)
The Global South. Not to be confused with the pop group of that name.
The Global South is surely far more insulting than “3rd World” (which is an antique Cold War term, I readily confess)
For a start there are plenty of once-developing countries in the “Global South” which would really resent that characterization;. Chileans are quite haughty about being compared to Argentina, let alone Sudan. Indonesia is equally proud, likewise Costa Rica, the Maldives, Mauritius, what even is “the Global South”?
You asked what the term now is and I told you - The Global South. But please note it doesn't mean below the equator. It's pretty much a straight replacement for 3rd World. It's a development measure not a geographic one. Insulting? No, the whole point is that 3rd World was, but this isn't. Everyone is happy and onboard with it.
Third World originates in the division between the Communist block and the capitalist democracies, hence Third World. S such it is obsolete for the fall of the Soviet Union.
Quite. I don’t think @kinabalu grasps the basic etymology of “3rd World”
Of course I grasp. Obsolete, as I said, and the term now is Global South. Although Francis Urquhart informs us there has been a further evolution. If so, fine. Language lives, it doesn't atrophy. One of its many charms. Surf it, don't fight it. Surprised I have to tell a pro writer this.
But this is exactly the same issue as with all the synonyms for non-white. It's the concept behind the description that people don't like, not the latest iteration.
Well sometimes you need a general description for something, don't you? Avoid sloppy generalizations, yes, but sometimes a term is needed.
TBH, the people on here who get hung up about this stuff are not the ones agonizing over the "correct" term to use. Hardly anybody does that. I certainly don't. No, the ones for whom this is a matter of great concern are those forever keen to eye-roll about how "difficult" and "illogical" it all is.
It's just virtue signalling, where the virtue being signalled is "Ooo I'm a free-thinking, intellectually muscular type, me."
You need to use a specific term for the countries you want to refer to, otherwise it's just an example of lazy thinking and othering.
So for vaccines you can specifically refer to countries that don't have domestic vaccine production capacity, or the cash to pay for vaccines manufactured elsewhere. Because this will be a different group of countries, not involving India for example, than if you want to talk about countries where a large proportion of the country still lacks basic sanitation or electricity (which does include a lot of rural India still).
Your approach is a hangover from Colonialism. It betrays a Colonialist mindset. It divides the world between those countries that are strong enough to colonize others and those that would be better off if they were still colonised. You need to free yourself from that paradigm of thinking.
My approach? C'mon. I tend to say something like "poorer countries" when I'm referring to what used to be called the 3rd World and is now (I believe) often referred to as the Global South. Indeed you'll struggle to find much use of any of these so-called woke terms in my posts at all. MY approach - honestly!
You probably have a point about the mindset of some of those for whom these "defined as opposite to the norm" terms slip easily off the tongue. Ingrained superiority syndrome maybe? Yes, maybe. But my point is different. I mean, are the people who are forever eye-rolling about this stuff - the "oh god what do we call it/them now?" merchants - doing it as a pushback against ingrained superiority syndrome? I rather doubt it.
Tell the woke halfwits to take a hike an dpeddle their crap elsewhere, you call them exactly wht you want to and take mince from no man or woman
Not used to having your support on this topic, Malcolm!
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
Valid point, but people I know changed their behaviour in the run up to Christmas anyway, and would have irrespective of plan B.
There was a general feeling of "I'm not going to the work Christmas party / out with mates this weekend because I don't want to get it and end up in isolation over xmas / not be able to go home to see family / don't want to give it to Gran etc" - so hospitality was buggered whatever happened.
In fact, the government were being ridiculed on here and in the press, for advise that people were reading as “Don’t go to the office, but do go to the office party”. Government in England were trying to keep hospitality busy, but as you say people changed their behaviours anyway, in the face of rising infections.
I've said before she's crap. Hopefully the Tory membership are stupid enough to elect her as BJ's replacement.
She's another unserious politician, albeit without afaik the moral vacancy of BJ. Her attempts to do serious statesman (statesperson?) are about as convincing as BJ's, and on the once bitten principle..
Unserious politician that got elected.
Golly, has that combo ever happened before?
What do you suppose we should do about it.
Who's we?
If you don't mind politicans being unserious vote for them, if you do mind, don't. Being elected doesn't vouchsafe very much, and discussion of qualifications to be eg pm is open season (or this site wouldn't exist).
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free
But I'd draw the line at posters who call for other posters to be banned.
So, we should ban posters who call for other posts to be banned?
I reckon we should ban posters who ask whether posters who call for other posters to be banned should be banned. But then there'd be no-one to do site tech upkeep.
I have no desire to frequent any board that allows the likes of me to keep posting
It's a political blog. You're supposed to quote Karl, not Groucho.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free
But I'd draw the line at posters who call for other posters to be banned.
So, we should ban posters who call for other posts to be banned?
I reckon we should ban posters who ask whether posters who call for other posters to be banned should be banned. But then there'd be no-one to do site tech upkeep.
I have no desire to frequent any board that allows the likes of me to keep posting
It's a political blog. You're supposed to quote Karl, not Groucho.
Groucho was a great reader and his political philosophy that all politicians are clueless batshit crazy morons has stood the test of time far better than 'Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch!'
I mean, people still watch Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera.
Are you following me? Well, stop following me or I'll have you arrested.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Canada presumably - I'll go Toronto
Not Canada. In this city it's used as a Lingala Franca.
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free
But I'd draw the line at posters who call for other posters to be banned.
So, we should ban posters who call for other posts to be banned?
I reckon we should ban posters who ask whether posters who call for other posters to be banned should be banned. But then there'd be no-one to do site tech upkeep.
I have no desire to frequent any board that allows the likes of me to keep posting
It's a political blog. You're supposed to quote Karl, not Groucho.
I’ve seen Ayn Rand quoted approvingly on here but not Marx.
The same poll concludes Boris/Rishi can still win GE 24
Yes, but I was really surprised to see that Rishi polls little better than Boris. That suggests that the problem is the Party rather than the leader. That's not what I would have expected.
Am I misreading something? If I am not, your team's problems may run deeper than I thought.
I do not think anyone can be sure the outcome of GE24 with either Boris or Rishi as this poll states, but at this moment in time the conservative party looks unelectable and the future is far from certain as is their recovery
Wasn't trying to call the next GE, Big G.
As it happens a ten point deficit is about par for a mid-term Government and in itself wouldn't be especially worrying for it. It's the context that is troubling.
Personally I'm a great believer in good Opposition so the idea of a Tory meltdown in two years time is not my ideal scenario. I think there is a danger that Boris takes the Blue Team there. It's avoidable though and I would like to see it avoided.
Agreed
Noted with thanks, BigG.
Btw, I just caught your earlier response about parties and agreed with that too. I did misread your post and we seem to be very much on the same page.....so much so that we had better discontinue this dialogue before people start talking about us.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Off topic, but TIL. Anne Frank and Martin Luther King were born in the same year (1929). Three years after HM Queen. They'd be 94 this year.
I found a discussion on the Today programme this week on who was responsible for dobbing in the Frank family to the Gestapo slightly weird. Obviously it's of interest but there seemed to be a discomfiting need to find who was to blame.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Canada presumably - I'll go Toronto
Not Canada. In this city it's used as a Lingala Franca.
I would guess Kinshasa. Hopefully will get there next year. Was due to go during the last Ebola outbreak, but it ended before I got my visa.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
You're missing a vital point: were you correct for the correct reasons.
In December, I could have thrown a coin to decide whether Omicron had less lethality than Delta. A simple, random two-way choice. Say it came up as being 'less'. I could then go on here and crow how I was 'right', even though my choice had zero intelligence behind it, and try retrofitting my choice behind a whole load of data.
At the time, we knew Omicron was spreading fast. We had far less data on the lagging metrics of illness and deaths. People in the UK were having to make decisions based on that data - and not make random choices.
Why does this matter? Take the initial outbreak of Covid in February/March 2020. China was saying: "Nothing to see here, please move along." And we (the world) foolishly believed them, with notable exceptions such as Taiwan. I'd never claim that SA were purposefully lying, but the data we needed was not in - although there were positive indications.
And this is where the problem for decision makes comes in. We 'knew' it was massively more infectious than Delta. We did not 'know' how illness or death happened with it - there were only indications, which might not match UK experience anyway.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Canada presumably - I'll go Toronto
Not Canada. In this city it's used as a Lingala Franca.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
LOL how the mighty have fallen. He can’t even put his camera the right way round.
Now, Cameo was a funny pandemic-era way to get an out-of-work actor or comedian to say happy birthday to your friend, but surely this sort of stunt raises all sorts of questions about advertising regulations?
It's amusing as I've said before I think we pay our politicians too much and it'd be better if their pay was more closely linked to citizens pay in general. I believe in the 90s an MP typically got two times average income and now it's three times and I don't think that's healthy.
Others have said they think MPs are underpaid compared to the private sector.
While a tiny, tiny minority of the private sector may be worth more than MPs that's far from the case for all MPs as the likes of Bercow etc whoring themselves post politics helps demonstrate. As does the desperation in many MPs to do anything to stay loyal to the Party and keep their seat, because if they lose their seat they lose their job and there £84k+ salary they'd never achieve in the real world.
Above average intelligence, middle class background at least, graduate from good uni, driven and ambitious, energetic, robust and thick skinned, gift of the gab, alert to opportunities to get ahead.
The above being the typical profile of an MP, there's little doubt in my mind that most of them would have been able to earn more if they'd choosen a career in the private sector.
I am actually quite surprised the average is that high after 5 years.
I do wonder whether the base stats are on all degrees, including Masters (and MBAs) and PhDs etc. That would boost the numbers up a bit. Depending on data too, if it's survey based (how else?) then likely to be a differential response with lower earners less responsive? Don't account for that and you get high numbers.
Five years after first graduating I was doing a PhD on a £15k stipend, so I'm happy to believe those numbers are high
So 22 years after PhD I'm just touching 50K, but thats a middle ranking academic salary. Just shows that I do it for love and not for the cash...
Sounds familiar. I got my Ph.D. in 1973 and when I retired in 2001 as a progressed PL I had just reached 40K.
Glad I didn't go the PhD route, then.
But you do miss out on people sneering that you are not a real doctor as its not medicine...
Unless one is a surgeon in which case it is Mr/Mrs/Ms etc. Friend of mine became a surgeon and I used to razz him that he wasn't a real doctor, until he got his MD ...
FYI dentists are increasingly called doctors these days. Not sure why.
Here in the US, MDs, surgeons, dentists and even vets are all called "doctor". As well as PhD holders too.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Canada presumably - I'll go Toronto
I doubt Toronto qualifies as French is a minority language even though the country is officially bilingual.
The list I have has Montreal at number 4 (Paris at 2).
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Somewhere in Africa. Kinshasa I would wager.
Absilytely
There's a grim irony that the world's most populous French speaking city is Kinshasa, given the number of Congolese murdered by Leopold of Belgium.
In happier news. My 100% record of having mildly disappointing food (on my one previous Sri Lankan trip) has been easily shattered. It’s all good so far. Black Pork Curry lunch here was absolutely excellent
Colombo is a strange city. Poor, scruffy, yet in places intensely civilised. And stunned by the sun and heat into an amiable complacency
Are there still lots of stray dogs lining the streets? Was when I was there. Plagued with them - a bit off-putting.
Not one that I’ve seen. Not cats. In fact a decided absence by “3rd World” standards (are we still allowed to say 3rd World? What’s the replacement?)
The Global South. Not to be confused with the pop group of that name.
The Global South is surely far more insulting than “3rd World” (which is an antique Cold War term, I readily confess)
For a start there are plenty of once-developing countries in the “Global South” which would really resent that characterization;. Chileans are quite haughty about being compared to Argentina, let alone Sudan. Indonesia is equally proud, likewise Costa Rica, the Maldives, Mauritius, what even is “the Global South”?
You asked what the term now is and I told you - The Global South. But please note it doesn't mean below the equator. It's pretty much a straight replacement for 3rd World. It's a development measure not a geographic one. Insulting? No, the whole point is that 3rd World was, but this isn't. Everyone is happy and onboard with it.
"Everyone is happy and onboard with it."
Not true....its far from settled issue.
‘Global South’, a term frequently used on websites and in papers related to academic and ‘predatory’ publishing, may represent a form of unscholarly discrimination. Arguments are put forward as to why the current use of this term is geographically meaningless, since it implies countries in the southern hemisphere, whereas many of the entities in publishing that are referred to as being part of the Global South are in fact either on the equator or in the northern hemisphere. Therefore, academics, in writing about academic publishing, should cease using this broad, culturally insensitive, and geographically inaccurate term.
Erondu says she's embarrassed if she inadvertently uses the term during a workshop in one of the countries in Africa where she works on health care issues. Why? "Because people in Nigeria don't refer to themselves as the 'global south.' It's something someone named them."
I could go on and on. Third world is a no no, describing in terms of income is problematic and global south many don't like either.
I see. So what's a better term then? What gets your stamp of approval? Or let's put it this way. What term do YOU use when needing one for referring to the relatively impoverished parts of the world?
Eg, complete this sentence - The pandemic will soon be over in the rich nations of the West but will rage on for a long time in ????????? unless vaccines are rolled out there as a matter of priority.
I still use third world. This isn't me being deliberately old-fashioned or deliberately refusing to use the woke term. It would never occur to me that third world was unwoke. Actually, I might use developing world. Which itself is a polite euphemism which replaced the earlier and more pejorative 'undeveloped world' despite it being glaringly apparently that many parts of the undeveloped world were not developing. I suppose - if it occurred to me, because it's not a phrase that ever really does occur to me - you could use 'global south' to include countries like Chile whereas third world brings to mind more countries like Benin.
And I tend to say "poorer countries". Whatever, I don't find it a big deal. All that happened here was @Leon asked what was the modern term for 3rd World and I replied to him - being the helpful sort - with what I believe is the answer, Global South.
From this we get to him - Leon - telling me I'm hung up about "woke" and that I act like some sort of language policema ... person, and now we have @MaxPB crashing in and saying I'm worse than a racist!
Utterly bizarrio. And on a day that Meat Loaf died too. Chilean Red and Bag of Nuts time cannot come too soon for me today, I tell you.
It's the same reason that SA Omicron data was dismissed. You and liberal racists have othered them with some new term that makes them different to us because they're poor, not white or both. The "global south" is stupid term.
Ah, so that's me AND "liberal racists". Seems I'm off the hook. Phew.
And I should be off the hook too. This hook anyway. Because the one & only time I've used the wicked othering term Global South is today in response to someone specifically asking about it.
I found it strange that we got so rapidly from "global south" to "disease" and "spear chuckers". And from what I've read, that was nothing to do with you.
Yes, just generally lots going on and not that much of it sequitorial. Like a rumbustious dinner party with everyone in super 'project & talk' mode and nobody listening. Which is ok, I suppose. In fact great if you're in the mood.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
F*** me! French!
Have we rejoined?
The most populous Francophone city is not in the EU...
Somewhere in Africa. Kinshasa I would wager.
Is the right answer. It only recently overtook Paris, AIUI.
Amazing to think that some PBers are still unwilling to admit that the South Africans were dismissed in December. They absolutely were dismissed. Better to admit it and move on rather than swear white is black.
I bow to your authoritarian desire that your belief is king.
Even when you're wrong.
I’m often wrong.
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Yes
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
Nevertheless, the South African Medical Association told us, repeatedly, emphatically, that omicron was milder. And they were right.
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
Non-technical people, in the world of default cloud backup, and social media? Ha Ha.. There are 137 billion copies of those photos out there, for sure.
It's almost as funny as the people who think that Bitcoin guarantees anonymity.
Then again, some people have been claiming that No 10 is a no personal phone zone. So does this mean *official* phones?
But it’s not on the phone though? She’ll need more than asking to see the phone is my point.
When someone says they didn’t see an email, can the server logs prove they are lying?
Ditto, if anything is deleted?
I'd be extremely doubtful about trying to delete an email. You'd want to erase the HD of every server and client that ever had sight of it. Only way to be sure.
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free
But I'd draw the line at posters who call for other posters to be banned.
Can we ban all the posters calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned for calling for people to be banned......
Actually - what we need are more people who get the question "Is the glass half empty or half full?" right.
I know this one...
An optimist says that the glass is half full.
A pessimist says that the glass is half empty.
An engineer says that the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
Must say I’m struggling to parse Leon’s dichotomy. Western superiority complex vs racism. Hmm.
Glad I'm not the only one having problems following exactly what is being argued about.
Haven't been following the pile-on on poor Kinabulu, but there is most certainly a distinction between being an ethnocentrist ('my way of life or religion is best') and being a racist ('my race is superior'). For instance, Frederick Douglass the ex-slave AIUI preferred the Christian American life (apart from the racism!) to the pagan life in Africa, but he was no racist.
Not for the first time it's Fruity Leon's fault. He set a trap - asking me what the modern term for 3rd World is - and I walked right into it by answering. Live and learn.
I don't know why Leon (Sean T) is allowed to keep causing all this trouble on this site. He's a really unpleasant character who thinks he's funny, constantly winding people up deliberately - usually on the back of alcohol or some other substance(s) - and thinks most of us have the time of day for his proclivities.
He should face a ban for considerably longer than 24 hours. For the sake of the rest of this forum.
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free
But I'd draw the line at posters who call for other posters to be banned.
So, we should ban posters who call for other posts to be banned?
I reckon we should ban posters who ask whether posters who call for other posters to be banned should be banned. But then there'd be no-one to do site tech upkeep.
I have no desire to frequent any board that allows the likes of me to keep posting
It's a political blog. You're supposed to quote Karl, not Groucho.
Groucho was a great reader and his political philosophy that all politicians are clueless batshit crazy morons has stood the test of time far better than 'Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch!'
I mean, people still watch Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera.
Are you following me? Well, stop following me or I'll have you arrested.
We are so far off thread now that I'll mention my favorite Groucho story.
Apparently he was a great admirer of TS Eliot. The poet likewise loved Groucho's films, and invited him to dinner. Apparently it was a disaster because all Groucho wanted to do was talk about poetry, and Eliot...well you've got it.
I've said before she's crap. Hopefully the Tory membership are stupid enough to elect her as BJ's replacement.
She's another unserious politician, albeit without afaik the moral vacancy of BJ. Her attempts to do serious statesman (statesperson?) are about as convincing as BJ's, and on the once bitten principle..
Unserious politician that got elected.
Golly, has that combo ever happened before?
What do you suppose we should do about it.
Who's we?
If you don't mind politicans being unserious vote for them, if you do mind, don't. Being elected doesn't vouchsafe very much, and discussion of qualifications to be eg pm is open season (or this site wouldn't exist).
Every politician who makes it onto the ballot paper is intensely serious and has been to get to that point.
Not your flavour? Fair enough.
Liz Truss or David Lammy would make mincemeat of you on any chosen topic under the sun.
Comments
kle4, expert strategist.
You never met Colin W, or Martin Day, or one or two others whose splenetic provocations regularly attracted the ban hammer.
The multi-faceted Leon is a delight when you get used to him and know how to approach the creature. I suggest wit, and intelligence if you can muster enough. You can argue with him too, but he's slippery, so watch it; bit like wrestling with a pig: you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
Above all, don't take it too seriously. It's a blog, not The Bloody Assizes.
Ministers
SpAds
Permanent Civil Servants
MPs
Carrie
Non-Gov staff such as police
Public Visitors
I’ll take a good guess there’s a lot of holes in all of them.
Ted Taylor would be so happy that his MICE* finally got to play. Or not, probably.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Taylor_(physicist)
BTW, did you see my wife's Prince Albert story from yesterday?
Major's Tories were the exception in 1992 but he had a major policy difference from Thatcher in that he dumped the poll tax. What is the major policy difference between Sunak and Boris?
Charities are vital IMO. I don't trust government (tm) that much.
I know it is not policy but it is the difference
And when I am, I always admit it openly on here, unlike most PBers.
But I was right in this case, and you were wrong.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
Better to admit it than pompously pretend otherwise.
Denmark health institute says no increase in hospitalizations seen for Omicron sub-variant BA.2 compared to BA.1
Anyone need anything?
But then there'd be no-one to do site tech upkeep.
"he founded a not-for-profit organization in Montgomery County, Maryland called Damascus Energy"
I live in the town of Damascus, in the county of Montgomery, in the state of Maryland.
@Benpointer is another one who always will.
Even @Leon has his moments in this regard.
So it is like watching a badly acted play as they parrot the expected lines with no real passion or engagement.
It was a cheap gag, and I was wrong to post it. Like I'm wrong about everything else.
As it happens a ten point deficit is about par for a mid-term Government and in itself wouldn't be especially worrying for it. It's the context that is troubling.
Personally I'm a great believer in good Opposition so the idea of a Tory meltdown in two years time is not my ideal scenario. I think there is a danger that Boris takes the Blue Team there. It's avoidable though and I would like to see it avoided.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress.
https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2773/news
That’s silly. Stupid.
Let’s move immediately back to Plan B.
Only socialise if you absolutely have to.
@JosiasJessop will agree, I’m sure.
Hypocrisy is a two way street.
Most of us could list a dozen serious possible confounders which meant Omicron might be worse news for the UK, without drawing breath. You don't give the impression of understanding what a confounder is
And as for pomposity, no other poster has had the self important effrontery to demand that OGH should permanently pin a particularly bloviatory example of their output to the top of the site. A real first.
1. That nothing will change between now and the next election - which may well still be further into the future than GE2019 is in the past
2. That various of the less well known candidates who do rather badly against Starmer in this wholly theoretical scenario suffer from being viewed as inferior to the Labour leader, rather than from being unknown
Boris Johnson is a known but discredited quantity. Rishi Sunak and no more than a handful of other senior ministers (Gove, Patel, Javid, perhaps Raab?) are vaguely known. However, I should imagine that most of the electorate has no fixed idea about what the majority of the cabinet stand for, even if they recognise their names in the first place. The very similar numbers for all potential successors not called Sunak may, at least in part, be the product of this.
Zahawi, who has been high-profile for about five minutes does terribly in the poll; other potential dark horse candidates like Wallace aren't even considered. Yet for all we know, they could turn out to be effective and put the boot into Labour as it comes to terms with its own internal splits and problem policy areas.
These sorts of exercises are great fun, I'm sure, but the information that they give us is necessarily limited.
Someone
I jest. I agree with you. This is the key question. What is the major policy difference between Sunak and Boris?
When my Dad told me before I came back down to London that the plan to oust Boris was going to happen, he explained it was because of policy. Boris does big brush slogan policy that isn’t policy at all. He has no policy detail, whilst Conservatives have always been about policy detail and delivery.
Around the time of the Party Conference the policy was economically illiterate and unachievable. That’s the real reason this is happening, get their hands on the policy board to chalk something sane up there.
Does that make sense, have I explained it clearly?
And yet when Whitty stood up in front of the UK public he said everything we knew about omicron was bad.
Which wasn’t true.
But this is getting boring now. It seems those PBers who argued then that we should have moved to Plan B, thus writing millions off the hospitality trade, will forever deny that they were wrong.
C’est la vie.
It's still a 10-point Labour lead and an 11.5% swing from Conservative to Labour from 2019. Add in tactical voting and basically any Conservative facing a Labour swing of less than 15% is in big trouble.
The Redfield & Wilton "Red Wall" poll seems to confirm this. Although Rishi Sunak does slightly better than the Prime Minister, with him as leader the Conservatives trail by 12 having won the seats by, I would guess, a similar number.
The problem for Conservatives wanting rid of Johnson but not enamoured of Sunak as a successor is none of the other potential candidates poll anywhere near as well. From Liz Truss onward, it's varying shades of disaster with deficits of 20 to 27 points which would mean all the 40 seats going back into the Labour column.
It's not over by any means.
Anne Frank and Martin Luther King were born in the same year (1929).
Three years after HM Queen.
They'd be 94 this year.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60083474
When someone says they didn’t see an email, can the server logs prove they are lying?
Ditto, if anything is deleted?
There was a general feeling of "I'm not going to the work Christmas party / out with mates this weekend because I don't want to get it and end up in isolation over xmas / not be able to go home to see family / don't want to give it to Gran etc" - so hospitality was buggered whatever happened.
https://twitter.com/MattCartoonist/status/1484593882579017731
If you don't mind politicans being unserious vote for them, if you do mind, don't. Being elected doesn't vouchsafe very much, and discussion of qualifications to be eg pm is open season (or this site wouldn't exist).
What is tonight;s subject? I started reading it but it made no sense
Have we rejoined?
That's not the subject but it can be now if you want it.
I mean, people still watch Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera.
Are you following me? Well, stop following me or I'll have you arrested.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10427127/Traumatised-model-secretly-filmed-nude-senior-Met-Police-officer.html
Detective Inspector, no less, posing as a photographer to film women changing. How many more dodgy coppers in that force?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/21/wilderness-wildfires-and-pop-music-how-zara-rutherford-flew-into-record-books
Btw, I just caught your earlier response about parties and agreed with that too. I did misread your post and we seem to be very much on the same page.....so much so that we had better discontinue this dialogue before people start talking about us.
Mind you, I've seen her block her ears when I'm playing the organ, if that counts.
Edit, no it was not my playing, some twat with a mike walked in front of a speaker.
In December, I could have thrown a coin to decide whether Omicron had less lethality than Delta. A simple, random two-way choice. Say it came up as being 'less'. I could then go on here and crow how I was 'right', even though my choice had zero intelligence behind it, and try retrofitting my choice behind a whole load of data.
At the time, we knew Omicron was spreading fast. We had far less data on the lagging metrics of illness and deaths. People in the UK were having to make decisions based on that data - and not make random choices.
Why does this matter? Take the initial outbreak of Covid in February/March 2020. China was saying: "Nothing to see here, please move along." And we (the world) foolishly believed them, with notable exceptions such as Taiwan. I'd never claim that SA were purposefully lying, but the data we needed was not in - although there were positive indications.
And this is where the problem for decision makes comes in. We 'knew' it was massively more infectious than Delta. We did not 'know' how illness or death happened with it - there were only indications, which might not match UK experience anyway.
I've tried 2 continents - I give up.
I like to see women doing well.
The list I have has Montreal at number 4 (Paris at 2).
An optimist says that the glass is half full.
A pessimist says that the glass is half empty.
An engineer says that the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
We need more engineers!
Apparently he was a great admirer of TS Eliot. The poet likewise loved Groucho's films, and invited him to dinner. Apparently it was a disaster because all Groucho wanted to do was talk about poetry, and Eliot...well you've got it.
Not your flavour? Fair enough.
Liz Truss or David Lammy would make mincemeat of you on any chosen topic under the sun.