The State Department ordered diplomats' families Sunday afternoon to depart the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, amid heightened fears of a Russian attack on the country.
The embassy has also authorized non-emergency employees to depart, according to an internal cable obtained by ABC News.
It won't be Idris Elba now for James Bond. He is coming up 50 and they will want to ensure that the new James Bond can do another 4-5 movies over the course of 10+ years. Daniel Craig was really pushing it at 53 in the last movie.
Roger Moore must have been older than that by the end of his Bond career no? I was watching an old episode of The Saint the other day, series 5 I think, and they were already contrasting Moore's 'old-school' Simon Templar with the long-haired 'young 'uns'. Quite funny to think that he still had The Persuaders and then Bond all ahead of him at that time.
Moore’s last film was when he was 58 - they had the older Patrick MacNee as his side kick to help make him appear younger.
And No Time To Die box office $774m Alas, I think this tired old franchise will keep on keeping on until that number is less attractive.
A franchise is as good as its films. The last one was utter tripe, as have been a good few before it. That doesn't mean the franchise should be binned any more than it should have been after Die Another Day.
For me the end of the last film was a perfectly fitting conclusion to a very tired and deeply old fahioned franchise which has lived on well beyond its sell by date. Enough.
That's what they said.
Then Brosnan came along.
That's what they said. Again.
Then Daniel Craig came along.
Now they say....
EDIT: The last film was a pile of junk, though.
It wasn't a pile of junk, it was merely horrendously overlong. (As indeed have most of the Craig outings.)
You could easily take 40 minutes out of NTTD. If you did that, it would stand up there with some of the best films in the series.
Boris needs to be PM for another 39 days to beat Percval, and 136 days to beat Brown. Surely the latter is a bare minimum.
On Bond, Rege-Jean Page was one suave gentleman, but people seem to like grizzled Bonds.
I think the recent Bond films have been particularly good earners, since Skyfall made almost twice what QoS did, which seem slike they'd want to make them come out more regularly, but even without Covid they have been quite slow.
Quantum of Solace was a truly dreadful movie, though: a charisma-less baddy combined with a incomprehensible plot.
The lead in Bridgerton. Displayed his bottom a lot in some very unconvincing sex scenes. Had absolutely no chemistry with the lead actress. A bit wooden, to my mind.
The scene where he as an 18th century Duke explains female masturbation to a young unmarried girl during a garden party was utterly hilarious. Unintentionally so I imagine.
Bridgerton is better than James Bond. This would be a step down for him, artistically.
???? Seriously???? Bridgerton was utter tripe. Entertaining when you're locked in a barn unable to go out because of Covid. But tripe nonetheless.
I enjoyed it, but I agree it was a bit lightweight and unreal, and I do prefer drama a bit more heavier. I can’t wait for Conversations With Friends
Some years ago in the days of USENET, someone posted a series of brilliant mashups of Terminator with Jane Austen.
"The arrival of Mr Terminus at the garden party was event the Season did not forget."
For me the end of the last film was a perfectly fitting conclusion to a very tired and deeply old fahioned franchise which has lived on well beyond its sell by date. Enough.
That's what they said.
Then Brosnan came along.
That's what they said. Again.
Then Daniel Craig came along.
Now they say....
EDIT: The last film was a pile of junk, though.
It wasn't a pile of junk, it was merely horrendously overlong. (As indeed have most of the Craig outings.)
You could easily take 40 minutes out of NTTD. If you did that, it would stand up there with some of the best films in the series.
I agree that less of it would have helped, but only in the sense that half a shit sandwich is better than the whole thing. Everything was just so hideously misconceived - it reminded me of those old Carlsberg adverts 'This Bond film is not ready yet'.
Case in point - the evil henchman. The point of the evil henchman is to be at least a bit of a threat - Jaws, Odd-job, Mayday - you have to at least think 'Mmm, Bond has got a job on his hands here'. The scariest thing about this evil henchman was his brightly coloured jacket. He never looked for a second like he could lay a finger on Bond, and his 'special feature' was a squiffy eye that he could remove and pointlessly film things with.
This lead directly to the ruining of another Bond staple - the ingenious kill followed by grim pun. The form is usually that Bond is about to bite it but suddenly fires a gun at a chopper or chucks a toaster in a bath to win the day. In this instance he has said crappy henchman in a headlock - he literally has him beaten. He explodes the poor guy's shitty mechanical eye for no other reason than to be a nasty twunt.
The whole film is full of these shit the bed moments where the screen writers clearly thought they were being terribly clever. It's the basement baby of Bond films.
Boris needs to be PM for another 39 days to beat Percval, and 136 days to beat Brown. Surely the latter is a bare minimum.
On Bond, Rege-Jean Page was one suave gentleman, but people seem to like grizzled Bonds.
I think the recent Bond films have been particularly good earners, since Skyfall made almost twice what QoS did, which seem slike they'd want to make them come out more regularly, but even without Covid they have been quite slow.
Quantum of Solace was a truly dreadful movie, though: a charisma-less baddy combined with a incomprehensible plot.
Bond is one of the few people who can shift high-value discretionary spend to men. There is no doubt that the Bond franchise sells clothes, alcohol and luxury goods to a wide range of men, from the old and rich to the young and aspirational. And unlike many franchises, it is far from dependent on Chinese ticket sales which are collapsing for foreign movies in the age of ultra-nationalism. Europe and UK/Commonwealth each have generate more Bond revenue than China. So Bond will no more be retired than the Simpsons, which remains one of Fox's most popular shows among young and marketable viewers. By the same token, though, this insane marketing success may make producers think twice about any radical change from stereotypical English-looking buff bloke.
Worst wordle start ever...2 guesses, total of 1 yellow, a vowel, after trying all vowels in 2 guesses.....
3rd guess nailed it.
Took me six today. But then, being infantile, I always start with PENIS. Not a bad word, but not good for today’s.
Took me six attempts tonight too, and three attempts in I only had one yellow, (and a fairly good idea on the vowel situation)...I was suitably depressed. (I was pleased with myself yesterday, got it in 3...usually it takes me about 4).
Boris needs to be PM for another 39 days to beat Percval, and 136 days to beat Brown. Surely the latter is a bare minimum.
On Bond, Rege-Jean Page was one suave gentleman, but people seem to like grizzled Bonds.
I think the recent Bond films have been particularly good earners, since Skyfall made almost twice what QoS did, which seem slike they'd want to make them come out more regularly, but even without Covid they have been quite slow.
Quantum of Solace was a truly dreadful movie, though: a charisma-less baddy combined with a incomprehensible plot.
I really liked that one.
Hang on: the villain in QoS was the least scary across the whole Bond franchise. Dominic Greene eating an apple.
"Downing Street police who were on duty when the alleged lockdown-breaking gatherings took place have given 'extremely damning' evidence to Sue Gray, according to a source. Police officers from the Metropolitan Police's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, who were guarding Downing Street when the illegal gatherings allegedly took place, have provided their accounts to Ms Gray.
Ms Gray is the second permanent secretary at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and is the senior civil servant tasked with investigating whether several gatherings held at Downing Street were in contravention of Covid lockdown rules. The testimonies, which come just days before Ms Gray releases the findings of her report, have now been described as 'extremely damning', according to a source. The source went on to claim that while officers could not be compelled to speak to Ms Gray they were 'only too willing' to provide cooperate with the probe. "
Bond is one of the few people who can shift high-value discretionary spend to men. There is no doubt that the Bond franchise sells clothes, alcohol and luxury goods to a wide range of men, from the old and rich to the young and aspirational. And unlike many franchises, it is far from dependent on Chinese ticket sales which are collapsing for foreign movies in the age of ultra-nationalism. Europe and UK/Commonwealth each have generate more Bond revenue than China. So Bond will no more be retired than the Simpsons, which remains one of Fox's most popular shows among young and marketable viewers. By the same token, though, this insane marketing success may make producers think twice about any radical change from stereotypical English-looking buff bloke.
For US audiences, an English accent is quite enough, provided you've got some buff of some sort in their capable of sustaining the athletic expectations.
In fact, a Black Englishman would probably be a plus with the likes of us, provided he had a recognizable, intelligible (at least to us) accent.
Throw in a few cups of tea and a crumpet or two, and we'll be all in to his Englishness.
Asylum system is totally broken. From day one its clear they were lying and yet 7 years later still lodging appeals and in the UK.
Every system is broken. The BBC's news page carries a plug for Panorama about how anti-social behaviour, linked to deaths in extreme cases and, like much else, exacerbated by Covid, is not being tackled. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60102528
Then there is partygate, or the chap who held up the Texas synagogue despite being known to MI5, and Rotherham and Savile and every miscarriage of justice.
The questions are how broken, one-off or repeated failure, and what can be fixed.
Asylum system is totally broken. From day one its clear they were lying and yet 7 years later still lodging appeals and in the UK.
Why on earth are the courts entertaining these endless appeals.
Because the asylum system is massively underfunded, and the chances of HMG's representative even turning up to the court hearing is probably no better than 50/50.
Isn't there already a big load of affordability checks that has been brought in recently?
There are affordability and KYC (know your customer) checks. These can be quite intrusive (passport, bank statements, payslips etc) and iirc the NCSC (National CyberSecurity Centre) has expressed concern about the security of uploaded documents. It has also been suggested operators might share information. I'm not sure these are very recent but are becoming more commonly applied.
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
Isn't there already a big load of affordability checks that has been brought in recently?
There are affordability and KYC (know your customer) checks. These can be quite intrusive (passport, bank statements, payslips etc) and iirc the NCSC (National CyberSecurity Centre) has expressed concern about the security of uploaded documents. It has also been suggested operators might share information. I'm not sure these are very recent but are becoming more commonly applied.
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
I’m sure it’s half the point of all the processes they keep adding, but it’s now pretty much impossible to maintain an account with a UK bookie without proof of residency and income. I’m pretty much done with everyone except Betfair, and that’s only a matter of time.
More serious than keeping expatriates out, is the targeting of winning punters, who get ‘profiled’ and barred from internet betting, and are reduced to going to shops with cash to get on. It does appear that financial and money laundering regulations are being used to get rid of ‘unprofitable’ customers, rather than offering odds to anyone who wants them.
Isn't there already a big load of affordability checks that has been brought in recently?
There are affordability and KYC (know your customer) checks. These can be quite intrusive (passport, bank statements, payslips etc) and iirc the NCSC (National CyberSecurity Centre) has expressed concern about the security of uploaded documents. It has also been suggested operators might share information. I'm not sure these are very recent but are becoming more commonly applied.
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
I’m sure it’s half the point of all the processes they keep adding, but it’s now pretty much impossible to maintain an account with a UK bookie without proof of residency and income. I’m pretty much done with everyone except Betfair, and that’s only a matter of time.
More serious than keeping expatriates out, is the targeting of winning punters, who get ‘profiled’ and barred from internet betting, and are reduced to going to shops with cash to get on. It does appear that financial and money laundering regulations are being used to get rid of ‘unprofitable’ customers, rather than offering odds to anyone who wants them.
Maybe. You are right about targeting profitable and even just clued-up punters but bookmakers could do this anyway, and to some extent were. It must be ten years or so since I was "restricted" by one bookmaker, but two more have joined in the last few months. I suspect it is a by-product of bookmakers having developed new systems to profile customers, as a result of the legislation. So a side-effect rather than a primary one. Of course, the other reason they can be cavalier about barring even profitable customers is they are raking in so much from FOBTs and casino-type games.
ETA the new cash cows are football punters doing in-game accumulators (West Ham to win with 2 yellow cards, Rice to score, and so on) and billion dollar buy-outs from Uncle Sam.
What a grey day! Again. Inclined, as a very occasional gambler, with Mr Sandpit; only taking bets from people who historically are likely to lose must take the fun out of it.
They should give the next three at least to Steve McQueen. As for Bond they either continue the serious sub-Bourne type or go back to a self-deprecating Roger Moore approach.
I'd love to see John Boyega but McQueen and Boyega would drive many people bonkers not least on PB.
Isn't there already a big load of affordability checks that has been brought in recently?
There are affordability and KYC (know your customer) checks. These can be quite intrusive (passport, bank statements, payslips etc) and iirc the NCSC (National CyberSecurity Centre) has expressed concern about the security of uploaded documents. It has also been suggested operators might share information. I'm not sure these are very recent but are becoming more commonly applied.
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
I’m sure it’s half the point of all the processes they keep adding, but it’s now pretty much impossible to maintain an account with a UK bookie without proof of residency and income. I’m pretty much done with everyone except Betfair, and that’s only a matter of time.
More serious than keeping expatriates out, is the targeting of winning punters, who get ‘profiled’ and barred from internet betting, and are reduced to going to shops with cash to get on. It does appear that financial and money laundering regulations are being used to get rid of ‘unprofitable’ customers, rather than offering odds to anyone who wants them.
An @isam special subject he has written a blog about it. .
I've been sent a screen grab of today's Telegraph front page. They quote the usual unnamed senior Downing Street source who says the police / swipe card info gathered by Ms Gray is so damning that they expect the PM to be gone by the end of the week.
Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
Isn't there already a big load of affordability checks that has been brought in recently?
There are affordability and KYC (know your customer) checks. These can be quite intrusive (passport, bank statements, payslips etc) and iirc the NCSC (National CyberSecurity Centre) has expressed concern about the security of uploaded documents. It has also been suggested operators might share information. I'm not sure these are very recent but are becoming more commonly applied.
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
I’m sure it’s half the point of all the processes they keep adding, but it’s now pretty much impossible to maintain an account with a UK bookie without proof of residency and income. I’m pretty much done with everyone except Betfair, and that’s only a matter of time.
More serious than keeping expatriates out, is the targeting of winning punters, who get ‘profiled’ and barred from internet betting, and are reduced to going to shops with cash to get on. It does appear that financial and money laundering regulations are being used to get rid of ‘unprofitable’ customers, rather than offering odds to anyone who wants them.
An @isam special subject he has written a blog about it. .
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I've been sent a screen grab of today's Telegraph front page. They quote the usual unnamed senior Downing Street source who says the police / swipe card info gathered by Ms Gray is so damning that they expect the PM to be gone by the end of the week.
Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
And all this is before Sue Gray has interviewed Dominic Cummings, which is apparently scheduled for today.
I don't know if there's anything in it, and I can't find the tweet which I read that suggested it, but might there have been a Chinese hand in Nus Ghani's demotion?
The suggestion was that it may have been related to Gardiner's chum Christine Lee. She, or another not yet revealed, passed on the message to their Tory contacts that Ghani's stance on the Uyghurs wasn't popular among the Chinese expats and any donations would dry up while she was in place.
That would have something to do with her 'Muslimness'.
I don't know if there's anything in it, and I can't find the tweet which I read that suggested it, but might there have been a Chinese hand in Nus Ghani's demotion?
The suggestion was that it may have been related to Gardiner's chum Christine Lee. She, or another not yet revealed, passed on the message to their Tory contacts that Ghani's stance on the Uyghurs wasn't popular among the Chinese expats and any donations would dry up while she was in place.
That would have something to do with her 'Muslimness'.
One does have to wonder whether our security services have been so preoccupied by monitoring bedroom terrorists that they’ve completely dropped the ball on the hybrid war that China and Russia are engaged in against us.
I've been sent a screen grab of today's Telegraph front page. They quote the usual unnamed senior Downing Street source who says the police / swipe card info gathered by Ms Gray is so damning that they expect the PM to be gone by the end of the week.
Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
There's only one front page that is of relevance to PB - and that is The Star's.
I've been sent a screen grab of today's Telegraph front page. They quote the usual unnamed senior Downing Street source who says the police / swipe card info gathered by Ms Gray is so damning that they expect the PM to be gone by the end of the week.
Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
And all this is before Sue Gray has interviewed Dominic Cummings, which is apparently scheduled for today.
I think the damage for the party is this: So many MPs, ministers, cabinet secretaries have refused to accept the evidence in front of their faces and said "we need to wait for the Sue Gray enquiry". Then they get asked if they personally were there and respond "we need to wait for the Sue Gray enquiry". As the enquiry validates the stuff that has already been in the press and worse, this line just makes the Tory parrots look even more culpable than before.
To add to the fun we now have the wider mess of the BJ administration. Whips allegedly saying "vote with us or your constituents get it". Whips allegedly sacking people for being too muslim. OK there are several non-white faces in Cabinet in senior positions. That hardly exonerates the party from inbuilt racism which others have accused it of previously.
"Do you think we're all stupid" is the line thats been thrown at various ministers / BJ during this, and as they clearly DO think we're stupid I think this could be the lasting damage that really screws them up once BJ has been handed the pearl revolver.
When you defend the indefensible, when you keep insisting that black is white and that thing you can clearly see you can't see until someone confirms it in their enquiry - that's when you lose trust. And they're doing it again and again and again.
I don't know if there's anything in it, and I can't find the tweet which I read that suggested it, but might there have been a Chinese hand in Nus Ghani's demotion?
The suggestion was that it may have been related to Gardiner's chum Christine Lee. She, or another not yet revealed, passed on the message to their Tory contacts that Ghani's stance on the Uyghurs wasn't popular among the Chinese expats and any donations would dry up while she was in place.
That would have something to do with her 'Muslimness'.
Appalling if so.
Nus Ghani has been very sound on China's persecution of the Uighurs.
I've been sent a screen grab of today's Telegraph front page. They quote the usual unnamed senior Downing Street source who says the police / swipe card info gathered by Ms Gray is so damning that they expect the PM to be gone by the end of the week.
Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
And all this is before Sue Gray has interviewed Dominic Cummings, which is apparently scheduled for today.
Yes I must admit to being faintly astonished that it was all apparently damming before she had even interviewed him.
Dominic Cummings will have masses of damming proof of the PM's complicity: emails, WhatsApps, photographs, texts ...
You just have to study the character of the man and what he has been doing since he was fired. Boris Johnson made a huge mistake when he made an enemy of Cummings, who is a far smarter and more clinical political operator.
Cummings' evidence will termintate Boris Johnson's premiership. The leadership race will begin
The only way out for Johnson is somehow to get to Sue Gray before she reports.
I've been sent a screen grab of today's Telegraph front page. They quote the usual unnamed senior Downing Street source who says the police / swipe card info gathered by Ms Gray is so damning that they expect the PM to be gone by the end of the week.
Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
He may be gone as a result but this is the sort of hyperbole we’ve heard a few times before and it has not come to pass.
Whether or not he knew anything about it this all happened on his watch, he was at the head of the team. He has to take accountability for whatever is found.
Amusing header, and agree with the analysis of the market.
Yes highly enjoyable! To play counter to the assumption that they won’t announce for ages so lay all the faves. Amazon is now the junior partner to the Broccols in the franchise and may be more aggressive in arguing for a quick reset than MGM were in the past.
And secondly we’ve already had two years since No Time to Die was supposed to have premiered, with principal photography wrapping in Oct 2019, itself much delayed due to the change in director and the back and forth with Craig.
Personally I would be highly surprised if the new bond wasn’t announced this calendar year, the 60th anniversary of Dr No. Which would mean the winner is almost certainly among the current riders.
My favoured path was ruled out last week in an interview with Barbs Brocoli and Craig - a 60s set Cold War period piece, with a coherent 5 film arc planned from the start rather than show horned together on the fly as with the Craig films.
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I think you're both on the wrong end of that.
If Putin is going to ramp up his existing war on Ukraine - remember he has invaded and occupied parts of it, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer undermining his leverage etc.
Isn't there already a big load of affordability checks that has been brought in recently?
There are affordability and KYC (know your customer) checks. These can be quite intrusive (passport, bank statements, payslips etc) and iirc the NCSC (National CyberSecurity Centre) has expressed concern about the security of uploaded documents. It has also been suggested operators might share information. I'm not sure these are very recent but are becoming more commonly applied.
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
I’m sure it’s half the point of all the processes they keep adding, but it’s now pretty much impossible to maintain an account with a UK bookie without proof of residency and income. I’m pretty much done with everyone except Betfair, and that’s only a matter of time.
More serious than keeping expatriates out, is the targeting of winning punters, who get ‘profiled’ and barred from internet betting, and are reduced to going to shops with cash to get on. It does appear that financial and money laundering regulations are being used to get rid of ‘unprofitable’ customers, rather than offering odds to anyone who wants them.
Maybe. You are right about targeting profitable and even just clued-up punters but bookmakers could do this anyway, and to some extent were. It must be ten years or so since I was "restricted" by one bookmaker, but two more have joined in the last few months. I suspect it is a by-product of bookmakers having developed new systems to profile customers, as a result of the legislation. So a side-effect rather than a primary one. Of course, the other reason they can be cavalier about barring even profitable customers is they are raking in so much from FOBTs and casino-type games.
ETA the new cash cows are football punters doing in-game accumulators (West Ham to win with 2 yellow cards, Rice to score, and so on) and billion dollar buy-outs from Uncle Sam.
Yes, the in-game accumulators are all incredibly poor value - but when one punter in the pub has a 20/1 winner come in from the day first match, everyone in the pub probably bets on the second one. Notice how the ubiquitous ads from them during the match, show people in the pub on their phones. That’s the behaviour they’re trying to encourage.
TIL Barry Gardiner's son, Jacob Gardiner-Smith, is a footballer formerly with Wycombe Wanderers but now a free agent, who spent his youth career at CSKA Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg .
Basically a Vietnamese woman who had leave to remain got convicted of a drug offence for which she got 4 years. The SoS decided to remove her and won the case but didn't. After a period of time she sought to make a fresh application because her daughter has serious health issues. The SoS refused that application and the Tribunal agreed but the Court of Session has decided that her decision should be quashed because insufficient consideration was given to the child. We now have to go through the procedure again, no doubt with further appeals.
None of this latter procedure would have happened if the woman had been removed once the SoS decided to remove her as a foreign criminal. The decision was made but it was not acted upon. Hence another £20-30k is spent on another court case that should never have happened.
Isn't there already a big load of affordability checks that has been brought in recently?
There are affordability and KYC (know your customer) checks. These can be quite intrusive (passport, bank statements, payslips etc) and iirc the NCSC (National CyberSecurity Centre) has expressed concern about the security of uploaded documents. It has also been suggested operators might share information. I'm not sure these are very recent but are becoming more commonly applied.
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
I’m sure it’s half the point of all the processes they keep adding, but it’s now pretty much impossible to maintain an account with a UK bookie without proof of residency and income. I’m pretty much done with everyone except Betfair, and that’s only a matter of time.
More serious than keeping expatriates out, is the targeting of winning punters, who get ‘profiled’ and barred from internet betting, and are reduced to going to shops with cash to get on. It does appear that financial and money laundering regulations are being used to get rid of ‘unprofitable’ customers, rather than offering odds to anyone who wants them.
An @isam special subject he has written a blog about it. .
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I think you're both on the wrong end of that.
If Putin is going to ramp up his war on Ukraine, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer etc.
Yes, Putin has a short window of opportunity, a month or so, maybe six weeks at the most before the thaw starts. He’ll also want the maximum pressure on European gas supply to co-incide, just so Germany knows for sure who’s the new king of Europe. There’s an awful lot of anti-tank weaponry and expertise heading to Kiev at the moment, which as you say won’t be getting weaker any time soon.
I've been sent a screen grab of today's Telegraph front page. They quote the usual unnamed senior Downing Street source who says the police / swipe card info gathered by Ms Gray is so damning that they expect the PM to be gone by the end of the week.
Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
He may be gone as a result but this is the sort of hyperbole we’ve heard a few times before and it has not come to pass.
Whether or not he knew anything about it this all happened on his watch, he was at the head of the team. He has to take accountability for whatever is found.
It's not that long ago that BoJo's approach to scandal was (roughly) to say "I've looked at it, I don't care, and I'm the bally Prime Minister, so there." Bonkers, really, but he kept it up for what seemed a long time.
Boris needs to be PM for another 39 days to beat Percval, and 136 days to beat Brown. Surely the latter is a bare minimum.
On Bond, Rege-Jean Page was one suave gentleman, but people seem to like grizzled Bonds.
I think the recent Bond films have been particularly good earners, since Skyfall made almost twice what QoS did, which seem slike they'd want to make them come out more regularly, but even without Covid they have been quite slow.
Quantum of Solace was a truly dreadful movie, though: a charisma-less baddy combined with a incomprehensible plot.
Even worse for me, because I watched it before I saw Casino Royale. Blofeld's re-incarnations aside, I thought Bond films were stand alone.
Hurrah for John Lewis in saying they will not cut sick pay for unvaccinated staff and saying it is wrong to do so . Shows the value in workers cooperatives than more (increasingly) wanky right-on corporates
Basically a Vietnamese woman who had leave to remain got convicted of a drug offence for which she got 4 years. The SoS decided to remove her and won the case but didn't. After a period of time she sought to make a fresh application because her daughter has serious health issues. The SoS refused that application and the Tribunal agreed but the Court of Session has decided that her decision should be quashed because insufficient consideration was given to the child. We now have to go through the procedure again, no doubt with further appeals.
None of this latter procedure would have happened if the woman had been removed once the SoS decided to remove her as a foreign criminal. The decision was made but it was not acted upon. Hence another £20-30k is spent on another court case that should never have happened.
Considering the current SoS is Priti Patel you can understand why you'd want every decision she makes to be reviewed by the courts.
I don't know if there's anything in it, and I can't find the tweet which I read that suggested it, but might there have been a Chinese hand in Nus Ghani's demotion?
The suggestion was that it may have been related to Gardiner's chum Christine Lee. She, or another not yet revealed, passed on the message to their Tory contacts that Ghani's stance on the Uyghurs wasn't popular among the Chinese expats and any donations would dry up while she was in place.
That would have something to do with her 'Muslimness'.
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I think you're both on the wrong end of that.
If Putin is going to ramp up his war on Ukraine, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer etc.
Yes, Putin has a short window of opportunity, a month or so, maybe six weeks at the most before the thaw starts. He’ll also want the maximum pressure on European gas supply to co-incide, just so Germany knows for sure who’s the new king of Europe. There’s an awful lot of anti-tank weaponry and expertise heading to Kiev at the moment, which as you say won’t be getting weaker any time soon.
For me the end of the last film was a perfectly fitting conclusion to a very tired and deeply old fahioned franchise which has lived on well beyond its sell by date. Enough.
That's what they said.
Then Brosnan came along.
That's what they said. Again.
Then Daniel Craig came along.
Now they say....
EDIT: The last film was a pile of junk, though.
It really wasn't the case at the end of Dalton's era, so much so that they wanted him back in the first instance.
I've been sent a screen grab of today's Telegraph front page. They quote the usual unnamed senior Downing Street source who says the police / swipe card info gathered by Ms Gray is so damning that they expect the PM to be gone by the end of the week.
Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
And all this is before Sue Gray has interviewed Dominic Cummings, which is apparently scheduled for today.
I think the damage for the party is this: So many MPs, ministers, cabinet secretaries have refused to accept the evidence in front of their faces and said "we need to wait for the Sue Gray enquiry". Then they get asked if they personally were there and respond "we need to wait for the Sue Gray enquiry". As the enquiry validates the stuff that has already been in the press and worse, this line just makes the Tory parrots look even more culpable than before.
To add to the fun we now have the wider mess of the BJ administration. Whips allegedly saying "vote with us or your constituents get it". Whips allegedly sacking people for being too muslim. OK there are several non-white faces in Cabinet in senior positions. That hardly exonerates the party from inbuilt racism which others have accused it of previously.
"Do you think we're all stupid" is the line thats been thrown at various ministers / BJ during this, and as they clearly DO think we're stupid I think this could be the lasting damage that really screws them up once BJ has been handed the pearl revolver.
When you defend the indefensible, when you keep insisting that black is white and that thing you can clearly see you can't see until someone confirms it in their enquiry - that's when you lose trust. And they're doing it again and again and again.
Rishi Sunak's interview last week (I think it was last week, the one where he tried to leave with a hot mic) was interesting for me. He came out and said that he believes the PM is telling the truth, in addition to waiting for the results of the enquiry. I think he is very much on manoeuvres (I should charge for this stunning political insight /s), making much of the honesty of a PM who is a known liar. If it comes out the PM lied then this is Sunak's casus belli. If it's a convincing white wash, then Sunak lives to fight another day. If I were an influential Tory MP, Minister perhaps, with more ambition than morality, I too would be extolling the honesty of Boris Johnson, a man incapable by nature of dissembling, his name synonymous with facts and truth who just simply would not lie... And then, unfortunately, inevitably, when it is shown that he has, I would have, with a heavy heart, no choice but to resign and stand for the leadership.
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I think you're both on the wrong end of that.
If Putin is going to ramp up his war on Ukraine, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer etc.
Yes, Putin has a short window of opportunity, a month or so, maybe six weeks at the most before the thaw starts. He’ll also want the maximum pressure on European gas supply to co-incide, just so Germany knows for sure who’s the new king of Europe. There’s an awful lot of anti-tank weaponry and expertise heading to Kiev at the moment, which as you say won’t be getting weaker any time soon.
The FCO sent out a travel advisory for Ukraine at the weekend - essential travel only. Up to that point it was "be careful, have an escape plan, be prepared to get out quickly"
Isn't there already a big load of affordability checks that has been brought in recently?
There are affordability and KYC (know your customer) checks. These can be quite intrusive (passport, bank statements, payslips etc) and iirc the NCSC (National CyberSecurity Centre) has expressed concern about the security of uploaded documents. It has also been suggested operators might share information. I'm not sure these are very recent but are becoming more commonly applied.
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
I’m sure it’s half the point of all the processes they keep adding, but it’s now pretty much impossible to maintain an account with a UK bookie without proof of residency and income. I’m pretty much done with everyone except Betfair, and that’s only a matter of time.
More serious than keeping expatriates out, is the targeting of winning punters, who get ‘profiled’ and barred from internet betting, and are reduced to going to shops with cash to get on. It does appear that financial and money laundering regulations are being used to get rid of ‘unprofitable’ customers, rather than offering odds to anyone who wants them.
Maybe. You are right about targeting profitable and even just clued-up punters but bookmakers could do this anyway, and to some extent were. It must be ten years or so since I was "restricted" by one bookmaker, but two more have joined in the last few months. I suspect it is a by-product of bookmakers having developed new systems to profile customers, as a result of the legislation. So a side-effect rather than a primary one. Of course, the other reason they can be cavalier about barring even profitable customers is they are raking in so much from FOBTs and casino-type games.
ETA the new cash cows are football punters doing in-game accumulators (West Ham to win with 2 yellow cards, Rice to score, and so on) and billion dollar buy-outs from Uncle Sam.
Yes, the in-game accumulators are all incredibly poor value - but when one punter in the pub has a 20/1 winner come in from the day first match, everyone in the pub probably bets on the second one. Notice how the ubiquitous ads from them during the match, show people in the pub on their phones. That’s the behaviour they’re trying to encourage.
i half agree in the sense they are very much mug bets in terms of value- But betting with friends in pubs watching a game is actually a way to get enjoyment out of betting (as opposed to beting on your own or even in betting shops) and that should be the point of betting that you lose a bit for entertainment. As a 30 year long punter my best memories of the scene are sat in sports cafes on a Saturday punting with mates . Those were the days - put bets on (in cash mainly) , go to sports cafe , drink all day , get burghers and chips , go onto casino , kebab! bed
They should give the next three at least to Steve McQueen. As for Bond they either continue the serious sub-Bourne type or go back to a self-deprecating Roger Moore approach.
I'd love to see John Boyega but McQueen and Boyega would drive many people bonkers not least on PB.
Henry Golding would be my pick, young enough to do a good few films, got a few good films under his belt including an action one, think he's got that effortless thing about him to do it.
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I think you're both on the wrong end of that.
If Putin is going to ramp up his war on Ukraine, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer etc.
Yes, Putin has a short window of opportunity, a month or so, maybe six weeks at the most before the thaw starts. He’ll also want the maximum pressure on European gas supply to co-incide, just so Germany knows for sure who’s the new king of Europe. There’s an awful lot of anti-tank weaponry and expertise heading to Kiev at the moment, which as you say won’t be getting weaker any time soon.
The FCO sent out a travel advisory for Ukraine at the weekend - essential travel only. Up to that point it was "be careful, have an escape plan, be prepared to get out quickly"
Did that student make it out of Afghanistan? Ukraine next on his list?
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I know destabilising democracies is his thing, but it seems somewhat fanciful that Putin would move a third of his entire ground forces to the Ukraine border just to keep Boris as PM.
On @BBCr4today@nadhimzahawi just reminded everyone (twice) that Nus Ghani said yday "I don't even know" if the words said about her were "by members of the Conservative party". Begs Q: who in No10 at time was not a member of the party, and likely to be in reshuffle discussions? https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1485527549052690435
Basically a Vietnamese woman who had leave to remain got convicted of a drug offence for which she got 4 years. The SoS decided to remove her and won the case but didn't. After a period of time she sought to make a fresh application because her daughter has serious health issues. The SoS refused that application and the Tribunal agreed but the Court of Session has decided that her decision should be quashed because insufficient consideration was given to the child. We now have to go through the procedure again, no doubt with further appeals.
None of this latter procedure would have happened if the woman had been removed once the SoS decided to remove her as a foreign criminal. The decision was made but it was not acted upon. Hence another £20-30k is spent on another court case that should never have happened.
Considering the current SoS is Priti Patel you can understand why you'd want every decision she makes to be reviewed by the courts.
But none of it matters if her decisions are not implemented. And in that respect she is no more effective than her predecessors. It's really a scandal but there is a conspiracy of silence about it because the right like her rhetoric and the left have no inclination to show that our harsh and evil immigration system is actually based on a second rate Ealing comedy.
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I think you're both on the wrong end of that.
If Putin is going to ramp up his war on Ukraine, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer etc.
Yes, Putin has a short window of opportunity, a month or so, maybe six weeks at the most before the thaw starts. He’ll also want the maximum pressure on European gas supply to co-incide, just so Germany knows for sure who’s the new king of Europe. There’s an awful lot of anti-tank weaponry and expertise heading to Kiev at the moment, which as you say won’t be getting weaker any time soon.
The FCO sent out a travel advisory for Ukraine at the weekend - essential travel only. Up to that point it was "be careful, have an escape plan, be prepared to get out quickly"
I've been sent a screen grab of today's Telegraph front page. They quote the usual unnamed senior Downing Street source who says the police / swipe card info gathered by Ms Gray is so damning that they expect the PM to be gone by the end of the week.
Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
He may be gone as a result but this is the sort of hyperbole we’ve heard a few times before and it has not come to pass.
Whether or not he knew anything about it this all happened on his watch, he was at the head of the team. He has to take accountability for whatever is found.
It's not that long ago that BoJo's approach to scandal was (roughly) to say "I've looked at it, I don't care, and I'm the bally Prime Minister, so there." Bonkers, really, but he kept it up for what seemed a long time.
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I think you're both on the wrong end of that.
If Putin is going to ramp up his war on Ukraine, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer etc.
Yes, Putin has a short window of opportunity, a month or so, maybe six weeks at the most before the thaw starts. He’ll also want the maximum pressure on European gas supply to co-incide, just so Germany knows for sure who’s the new king of Europe. There’s an awful lot of anti-tank weaponry and expertise heading to Kiev at the moment, which as you say won’t be getting weaker any time soon.
The FCO sent out a travel advisory for Ukraine at the weekend - essential travel only. Up to that point it was "be careful, have an escape plan, be prepared to get out quickly"
Ordering non-essential embassy personal and diplomats families to leave a potential conflict zone is standard stuff. And has been for many many years.
The fact is that as a chap said on the R4 the other day, Putin has marched his army up the hill (like the Grand Old Duke Of York). Either
1) he accepts a considerable loss of face, and marches them all back down again 2) gets some concessions that are a big deal in Russia. 3) starts a war.
The problem with the 2) is that what he wants is incompatible with what Ukraine wants. Completely. And no Western politician wants to play Chamberlain vs Benes.
I don't know if there's anything in it, and I can't find the tweet which I read that suggested it, but might there have been a Chinese hand in Nus Ghani's demotion?
The suggestion was that it may have been related to Gardiner's chum Christine Lee. She, or another not yet revealed, passed on the message to their Tory contacts that Ghani's stance on the Uyghurs wasn't popular among the Chinese expats and any donations would dry up while she was in place.
That would have something to do with her 'Muslimness'.
Appalling if so.
Nus Ghani has been very sound on China's persecution of the Uighurs.
Timing is wrong. She was sacked Feb 2020. She has brought it up again now because kicking Boris and the whips in the balls is the only game in town this week and she hates Boris because of kabul, uighurs, probably nzr and lots of other stuff
Isn't there already a big load of affordability checks that has been brought in recently?
There are affordability and KYC (know your customer) checks. These can be quite intrusive (passport, bank statements, payslips etc) and iirc the NCSC (National CyberSecurity Centre) has expressed concern about the security of uploaded documents. It has also been suggested operators might share information. I'm not sure these are very recent but are becoming more commonly applied.
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
I’m sure it’s half the point of all the processes they keep adding, but it’s now pretty much impossible to maintain an account with a UK bookie without proof of residency and income. I’m pretty much done with everyone except Betfair, and that’s only a matter of time.
More serious than keeping expatriates out, is the targeting of winning punters, who get ‘profiled’ and barred from internet betting, and are reduced to going to shops with cash to get on. It does appear that financial and money laundering regulations are being used to get rid of ‘unprofitable’ customers, rather than offering odds to anyone who wants them.
An @isam special subject he has written a blog about it. .
Asylum system is totally broken. From day one its clear they were lying and yet 7 years later still lodging appeals and in the UK.
Why on earth are the courts entertaining these endless appeals.
Appeals are fine. What is not fine is delayed justice. Blame cuts and cuts and cuts
Such a silly policy, and just counter productive. It's not much in the grand scheme, it's the right thing to do, and it will have quick effect to fund things properly.
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I think you're both on the wrong end of that.
If Putin is going to ramp up his war on Ukraine, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer etc.
Yes, Putin has a short window of opportunity, a month or so, maybe six weeks at the most before the thaw starts. He’ll also want the maximum pressure on European gas supply to co-incide, just so Germany knows for sure who’s the new king of Europe. There’s an awful lot of anti-tank weaponry and expertise heading to Kiev at the moment, which as you say won’t be getting weaker any time soon.
The FCO sent out a travel advisory for Ukraine at the weekend - essential travel only. Up to that point it was "be careful, have an escape plan, be prepared to get out quickly"
Kyiv is about 110 miles from the northern border. If it were to kick off (and none of us really knows just how likely that is) it wouldn't be possible to evacuate, so this is merely sensible precaution.
They should give the next three at least to Steve McQueen. As for Bond they either continue the serious sub-Bourne type or go back to a self-deprecating Roger Moore approach.
I'd love to see John Boyega but McQueen and Boyega would drive many people bonkers not least on PB.
Henry Golding would be my pick, young enough to do a good few films, got a few good films under his belt including an action one, think he's got that effortless thing about him to do it.
Definitely. Elba is still possible as he doesn't look as old as he is, but it doesn't seem likely.
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
Agree; as far as UK is concerned I suspect much of the hype is a diversionary tactic to 'Save Big Dog'!
I think you're both on the wrong end of that.
If Putin is going to ramp up his war on Ukraine, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer etc.
Yes, Putin has a short window of opportunity, a month or so, maybe six weeks at the most before the thaw starts. He’ll also want the maximum pressure on European gas supply to co-incide, just so Germany knows for sure who’s the new king of Europe. There’s an awful lot of anti-tank weaponry and expertise heading to Kiev at the moment, which as you say won’t be getting weaker any time soon.
The FCO sent out a travel advisory for Ukraine at the weekend - essential travel only. Up to that point it was "be careful, have an escape plan, be prepared to get out quickly"
Ordering non-essential embassy personal and diplomats families to leave a potential conflict zone is standard stuff. And has been for many many years.
The fact is that as a chap said on the R4 the other day, Putin has marched his army up the hill (like the Grand Old Duke Of York). Either
1) he accepts a considerable loss of face, and marches them all back down again 2) gets some concessions that are a big deal in Russia. 3) starts a war.
The problem with the 2) is that what he wants is incompatible with what Ukraine wants. Completely. And no Western politician wants to play Chamberlain vs Benes.
There is a possible role for Germany here as good cop to the UK/US bad cop. Sufficient concessions from Germany with respect to trade may be enough to allow Putin to save enough face for option 2. The carrot and stick approach, as it were.
Comments
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qX5CO8yWVko
The State Department ordered diplomats' families Sunday afternoon to depart the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, amid heightened fears of a Russian attack on the country.
The embassy has also authorized non-emergency employees to depart, according to an internal cable obtained by ABC News.
You could easily take 40 minutes out of NTTD. If you did that, it would stand up there with some of the best films in the series.
Case in point - the evil henchman. The point of the evil henchman is to be at least a bit of a threat - Jaws, Odd-job, Mayday - you have to at least think 'Mmm, Bond has got a job on his hands here'. The scariest thing about this evil henchman was his brightly coloured jacket. He never looked for a second like he could lay a finger on Bond, and his 'special feature' was a squiffy eye that he could remove and pointlessly film things with.
This lead directly to the ruining of another Bond staple - the ingenious kill followed by grim pun. The form is usually that Bond is about to bite it but suddenly fires a gun at a chopper or chucks a toaster in a bath to win the day. In this instance he has said crappy henchman in a headlock - he literally has him beaten. He explodes the poor guy's shitty mechanical eye for no other reason than to be a nasty twunt.
The whole film is full of these shit the bed moments where the screen writers clearly thought they were being terribly clever. It's the basement baby of Bond films.
Romo giving Butker the big build up with the inevitable jinx...
Woooohhhh... scary.
"Downing Street police who were on duty when the alleged lockdown-breaking gatherings took place have given 'extremely damning' evidence to Sue Gray, according to a source. Police officers from the Metropolitan Police's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, who were guarding Downing Street when the illegal gatherings allegedly took place, have provided their accounts to Ms Gray.
Ms Gray is the second permanent secretary at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and is the senior civil servant tasked with investigating whether several gatherings held at Downing Street were in contravention of Covid lockdown rules. The testimonies, which come just days before Ms Gray releases the findings of her report, have now been described as 'extremely damning', according to a source. The source went on to claim that while officers could not be compelled to speak to Ms Gray they were 'only too willing' to provide cooperate with the probe. "
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60091127
Asylum system is totally broken. From day one its clear they were lying and yet 7 years later still lodging appeals and in the UK.
In fact, a Black Englishman would probably be a plus with the likes of us, provided he had a recognizable, intelligible (at least to us) accent.
Throw in a few cups of tea and a crumpet or two, and we'll be all in to his Englishness.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60102528
Then there is partygate, or the chap who held up the Texas synagogue despite being known to MI5, and Rotherham and Savile and every miscarriage of justice.
The questions are how broken, one-off or repeated failure, and what can be fixed.
(Yet the headline is that they damn nearly lost it, shipping 28 off the last over to win by one run!).
https://www.racingpost.com/news/members/comment/boris-johnson-is-hunting-easy-prey-and-racing-could-become-one-of-his-victims/533513 (£££)
Then bookmakers can bar anyone who looks at all shrewd (and me, who is not shrewd). Actual bans are rare but restrictions of stakes to pennies is as good as, and allows bookmakers to mislead government and regulators that they are not barring punters.
More serious than keeping expatriates out, is the targeting of winning punters, who get ‘profiled’ and barred from internet betting, and are reduced to going to shops with cash to get on. It does appear that financial and money laundering regulations are being used to get rid of ‘unprofitable’ customers, rather than offering odds to anyone who wants them.
ETA the new cash cows are football punters doing in-game accumulators (West Ham to win with 2 yellow cards, Rice to score, and so on) and billion dollar buy-outs from Uncle Sam.
What a grey day! Again.
Inclined, as a very occasional gambler, with Mr Sandpit; only taking bets from people who historically are likely to lose must take the fun out of it.
I'd love to see John Boyega but McQueen and Boyega would drive many people bonkers not least on PB.
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Would be funny but I rather doubt it. Even if it was proven that a whole orchestra of knocked-up russian musicians had been escorted in and out for bung-bunga parties, Jizz would still do his best Benny Hill impression and give us that laughably insincere sorrynotsorry apology. And his apologists would say "see, he didn't know anything about parties or russian musicians or who knocked them up, time to move on, we all did that in lockdown, so what...
“The US has ordered the relatives of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave amid rising tension in the region.
The State Department also warned people not to travel to Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing tension and "potential for harassment against US citizens".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60106416
Biden is seriously scarred by the Afghanistan shambles. I think analysts are wrong to read too much into there being specific intel.
I think the chance of Russia fully invading Ukraine is remote, and the chance of significant Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine is much lower than the media hysteria would lead us to believe.
It’s in everyone’s interests to hype this up.
Calm down, people.
https://aboutasfarasdelgados.blogspot.com/2014/08/you-dont-have-to-be-hypocritical-coward.html
The suggestion was that it may have been related to Gardiner's chum Christine Lee. She, or another not yet revealed, passed on the message to their Tory contacts that Ghani's stance on the Uyghurs wasn't popular among the Chinese expats and any donations would dry up while she was in place.
That would have something to do with her 'Muslimness'.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-60106377
"A quarter of all UFO sightings happen outside the pub."
To add to the fun we now have the wider mess of the BJ administration. Whips allegedly saying "vote with us or your constituents get it". Whips allegedly sacking people for being too muslim. OK there are several non-white faces in Cabinet in senior positions. That hardly exonerates the party from inbuilt racism which others have accused it of previously.
"Do you think we're all stupid" is the line thats been thrown at various ministers / BJ during this, and as they clearly DO think we're stupid I think this could be the lasting damage that really screws them up once BJ has been handed the pearl revolver.
When you defend the indefensible, when you keep insisting that black is white and that thing you can clearly see you can't see until someone confirms it in their enquiry - that's when you lose trust. And they're doing it again and again and again.
Nus Ghani has been very sound on China's persecution of the Uighurs.
Dominic Cummings will have masses of damming proof of the PM's complicity: emails, WhatsApps, photographs, texts ...
You just have to study the character of the man and what he has been doing since he was fired. Boris Johnson made a huge mistake when he made an enemy of Cummings, who is a far smarter and more clinical political operator.
Cummings' evidence will termintate Boris Johnson's premiership. The leadership race will begin
The only way out for Johnson is somehow to get to Sue Gray before she reports.
Whether or not he knew anything about it this all happened on his watch, he was at the head of the team. He has to take accountability for whatever is found.
And secondly we’ve already had two years since No Time to Die was supposed to have premiered, with principal photography wrapping in Oct 2019, itself much delayed due to the change in director and the back and forth with Craig.
Personally I would be highly surprised if the new bond wasn’t announced this calendar year, the 60th anniversary of Dr No. Which would mean the winner is almost certainly among the current riders.
My favoured path was ruled out last week in an interview with Barbs Brocoli and Craig - a 60s set Cold War period piece, with a coherent 5 film arc planned from the start rather than show horned together on the fly as with the Craig films.
If Putin is going to ramp up his existing war on Ukraine - remember he has invaded and occupied parts of it, it is rational for him to do it ASAP. Ukraine's defences are not going to get weaker from now on in. And NATO expenditure which turned in 2014 or so, will see some things coming through (slowly).
Plus hard ground for tanks, gas demand reduced in summer undermining his leverage etc.
Just a typical example taken from the recent cases of the Court of Session:
https://scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2022csoh5.pdf?sfvrsn=6ad5127b_1
Basically a Vietnamese woman who had leave to remain got convicted of a drug offence for which she got 4 years. The SoS decided to remove her and won the case but didn't. After a period of time she sought to make a fresh application because her daughter has serious health issues. The SoS refused that application and the Tribunal agreed but the Court of Session has decided that her decision should be quashed because insufficient consideration was given to the child. We now have to go through the procedure again, no doubt with further appeals.
None of this latter procedure would have happened if the woman had been removed once the SoS decided to remove her as a foreign criminal. The decision was made but it was not acted upon. Hence another £20-30k is spent on another court case that should never have happened.
Will @Isam be unbanned soon?
https://twitter.com/tamcohen/status/1485524725543677956
https://twitter.com/lbc/status/1485242385768529921
Nusrat Ghani: PM orders Cabinet Office to investigate 'Muslimness' claim
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60108377
That must reduce the probability enormously.
He was also utterly magnificent as Prince Hal/Henry V in the Henriad/Hollow Crown.
Begs Q: who in No10 at time was not a member of the party, and likely to be in reshuffle discussions?
https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1485527549052690435
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ukraine
The fact is that as a chap said on the R4 the other day, Putin has marched his army up the hill (like the Grand Old Duke Of York). Either
1) he accepts a considerable loss of face, and marches them all back down again
2) gets some concessions that are a big deal in Russia.
3) starts a war.
The problem with the 2) is that what he wants is incompatible with what Ukraine wants. Completely. And no Western politician wants to play Chamberlain vs Benes.
Good for her btw. No complaints from me.
If it were to kick off (and none of us really knows just how likely that is) it wouldn't be possible to evacuate, so this is merely sensible precaution.
"Garden Girl" from Foundation would be good.