We're at risk of losing our moorings here. Best, imo, if exactly where people stand on the L to R via C spectrum is determined by somebody who is known for being objective to a fault. Therefore me, I suppose. Do I have the time? Yes, I think so. And if not I'll do some juggling to create it.
But what political spectrum is that ?
Economic issues, social issues, environmental issues, international issues etc.
Which can be further subdivided for example some right wingers support low taxation above all while others support balanced budgets.
And that can be further subdivided for examples some people prefer taxation on income while others prefer taxation on wealth.
Indeed. The left right continuum is far too simplistic for modern politics, unless you view the world through HYUFD's upside down monochrome binoculars.
No, you're a 65. Nothing simplistic there.
Not sure I understand. Is that where you think I am on the continuum (15 points right of the median)?
Yep. Bringing all of your views together - each being a point in their own right - 65 emerges as the single weighted average measure. In words - an inhabitant of the centre ground just as and slightly before it starts to merge into more clearly right wing territory. House prices are quite high there, above the national average.
It may be a fair assessment lol. Where are you? about 45?
I do have a score - a fair and accurate one which is lower than 45 - but as the person running the show I have to keep it to myself. For obvious reasons. If I were to disclose it and people violently disagreed they'd start disputing their own scores and the whole system would be undermined.
It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity. Chelsea FC recognises that such an outcome would have a huge impact on Middlesbrough and its supporters, as well as our own fans who have already bought the limited number of tickets that were sold before the licence was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.
Not the smartest of moves.
Err, that match is in Middlesbrough. What possible reason does Chelsea have for playing in an empty stadium?
It's a cup game, so normally the away team would be entitled to (IIRC) 45% of the gate receipts. So this looks like a child smashing up his brother's toy - if I can't have it, you can't have it either.
The issue is that Chelsea can't handle money so they can't sell the away tickets.
That means they will be in a stadium full of Boro supporters with no Chelsea supporters - but am at a loss as to what the actual problem is.
Russia is preparing a mass deforestation of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories, said the Ministry of Defense, citing a letter from Sergei Shoigu to Putin, Russia is planning to cut down greenery of “any age, regardless of ownership and land zoning.” https://mobile.twitter.com/Hromadske/status/1503694649436819463
I think Russia is trying to recreate the entire Vietnam war - only with an incredibly accelerated timeline.
It got a bit silly towards the end though - for example, when they rescued a troupe of go-go dancers who then participated in combat scenarios wearing high heels and miniskirts.
To be serious for a sec, I'm firmly left, almost all my instincts are, but my nagging suspicion that capitalism is easier to critique than to viably replace keeps me out of the very low numbers. However I do have strong and sincere egalitarian views, some of them quite outlier, and this plops me solidly in the 20s. But I must keep the exact number a secret as explained.
Go for the Scandi model then: let capitalism rip but then tax it ‘till the pips squeak.
Edit: not sure where pops came from…
We could be heading there, I guess, if we find a way to tax wealth. If we don't I think we're heading the other way - to a smaller state.
As for 'scoring' posters on here, bit of fun mainly, obvs, but it does throw up interesting points.
Eg ydoether is my benchmark straight up 50. There's just nothing left or right about this poster. The instincts don't fall one way and neither do the more reasoned opinions. Yet he will often be very passionate about things.
Then there's BJO. This is our most left wing poster really. He's a full monty old school socialist. He'd be in single digits except for one bizarre thing - he's a big fan of a certain Tory PM with a deceptively high muscle/fat ratio. Go figure.
@emilykschrader Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says his models for how to win against all odds are Israel – a country he has visited and admires – and the IDF. “We have to learn from Israel how to defend our country, with every citizen”
The UK evacuated 3,750,000 people internally and 14,000 children into other countries: I have no problem with Ukraine doing the same. If it had been possible for the people of Britain to simply cross the border into a safe country with a much higher standard of living, how do you think WWII would have panned out?
There's two key differences - Britain was never invaded in WW2, and men of fighting age aren't allowed to leave Ukraine.
The bulk of Ukraine hasn't been invaded either, and the 'men of fighting age' point is a distraction. We now allow women to join the military, educated women contribute just as much to the dislocation of the civilian economy and the 'brain drain' as do men, and those 'men of fighting age' will be eligible to join their families in the West via family reunification rules as soon as they can make it here.
Why must I stay put? Because in France, Holland and Belgium, the Germans were helped by the people who took flight before them. Great crowds of refugees blocked all the roads. The soldiers who could have defended them could not get at the enemy... Stay put. It’s easy to say. When the time comes it may be hard to do. But you have got to do it; and in doing it you will be fighting Britain’s battle as bravely as a soldier.
Those who have seen the many videos of Ukrainian drivers almost being killed in attacks on military hardware may well agree with the eighty-year old advice that If you do not stay put you will stand a very good chance of being killed.
That isn't exactly an option in the UK (well it may be now via the Channel Tunnel but it wasn't in 1940)..
As I said: If it had been possible for the people of Britain to simply cross the border into a safe country with a much higher standard of living, how do you think WWII would have panned out?
Trains from Lviv to Kyiv appear to take around 7 and a half hours. So a visit to Kyiv and back by the three leaders is not just a quick in and out but probably a couple of days including travel?
It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity. Chelsea FC recognises that such an outcome would have a huge impact on Middlesbrough and its supporters, as well as our own fans who have already bought the limited number of tickets that were sold before the licence was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.
Not the smartest of moves.
Err, that match is in Middlesbrough. What possible reason does Chelsea have for playing in an empty stadium?
It's a cup game, so normally the away team would be entitled to (IIRC) 45% of the gate receipts. So this looks like a child smashing up his brother's toy - if I can't have it, you can't have it either.
The issue is that Chelsea can't handle money so they can't sell the away tickets.
That means they will be in a stadium full of Boro supporters with no Chelsea supporters - but am at a loss as to what the actual problem is.
I wonder if there is an issue that the rules say they are entitled to 45% of gate reciepts - entirely unconnected with who sells tickets / away allocations - so the only way of ensuring that they don't get any money is to have no crowd. I wonder if Boro will try and suggest in response that they open the gates for free and have a full and very partisan crowd and then a large amount of drink/pie expenditure.
@emilykschrader Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says his models for how to win against all odds are Israel – a country he has visited and admires – and the IDF. “We have to learn from Israel how to defend our country, with every citizen”
It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity. Chelsea FC recognises that such an outcome would have a huge impact on Middlesbrough and its supporters, as well as our own fans who have already bought the limited number of tickets that were sold before the licence was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.
Not the smartest of moves.
Err, that match is in Middlesbrough. What possible reason does Chelsea have for playing in an empty stadium?
So Chelsea can play at home in front of their season ticket holders and those who had bought advance tickets, but Middlesbrough, who have done nothing wrong, cannot have their own fans and Chelsea fans in attendance? This because the revenue in the FA Cup is split to home and away (and the FA)? Easy - give the Chelsea money to the FA to distribute as they see fit.
Trains from Lviv to Kyiv appear to take around 7 and a half hours. So a visit to Kyiv and back by the three leaders is not just a quick in and out but probably a couple of days including travel?
It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity. Chelsea FC recognises that such an outcome would have a huge impact on Middlesbrough and its supporters, as well as our own fans who have already bought the limited number of tickets that were sold before the licence was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.
Not the smartest of moves.
Err, that match is in Middlesbrough. What possible reason does Chelsea have for playing in an empty stadium?
So Chelsea can play at home in front of their season ticket holders and those who had bought advance tickets, but Middlesbrough, who have done nothing wrong, cannot have their own fans and Chelsea fans in attendance? This because the revenue in the FA Cup is split to home and away (and the FA)? Easy - give the Chelsea money to the FA to distribute as they see fit.
Yes, makes sense when one remembers that the teams split the gate from cup games.
Does the match also go un-televised, so that Chelsea don’t make money from the TV rights?
At what point does the FA just throw them out of the competition, for being unable to comply with the commercial rules of it?
Covid anecdote. Lots of it going around where I am (Bucks). My 86yo father-in-law (triple jabbed and got Delta last Autumn) met up with 6 other friends of similar ages last week. 5 of them got Covid afterwards (not him) but are all fine. I also know quite a few people of my age (40s) who have caught it recently but all seem to be the ones who had somehow managed to avoid getting it previously. Aligns with lots of Covid cases but hopefully not going to have a massive impact on hospitalisations.
That sounds promising. The only question I have (expert anywhere?) is about vaccines waning. I had my booster over six months ago, and have some health fragilities as well as knocking on a bit. Are there any plans to add another jab for those outside the really old/vulnerable? Or should I be confident that the six-month old booster is still protecting me fine? A bit more government communication on this would be helpful.
I am due to visit Sicily in June. The Italian authorities are relaxing their rules for the six month plus boostered so long as the three vaccines have been mix and matched. I am thrice Pfizered, and will not be allowed in as fully vaccinated on current terms.
Difficult to keep track of travel requirements. Also going to Italy in June, arriving by car via France & Switzerland. Have had the 3 jabs 2 AZ, 1 Pfizer. As it stands can I just enter Italy without doing anything but having proof of our vax? I'm being lazy you sound as though you have researched the issue!
As has been mentioned Sicily has specific conditions. I believe with mix and matched vaccines you can download the code to get into venues in Italy. If your booster is less than six months old you are fine anyway.
Still not sure where you are getting anything about needing mix and match vaccines from, I've not heard this from anyone, and I have immediate family living in Italy, as well as having visited myself recently. Anyone boosted (with any EU approved vaccines) is indefinitely fine afaik. You just need a QR code showing your boosted status.
You might have to fill in passenger locator forms, and maybe there are antigen tests on arrival in some places though I saw no evidence of this, except the Foreign Office advice linked to earlier.
The Telegraph has corrected and apologised for another untrue claim about Imperial #COVID19 epidemiology. It's the 16th time they have had to correct or clarify false or misleading reporting on Imperial coronavirus research.
The newspaper falsely claimed that following a ‘brief spike in cases during summer 2021’ Prof Neil Ferguson predicted that ‘Britain would soon hit one million infections a day'. He and his Imperial team made no such prediction.
The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen. It was nothing of the sort.
I love watching Russell Brand videos. And I mean watching; I have to turn the sound off for the enjoyment to begin.
His mad gesticulatory displays are like a bizarre fusion of conducting an orchestra, sign language and 90s rave dancing. I might have to put him to music.
I post the bulk of this article, because the full horror of what is coming down the pipeline with this stuff and tax rises is now being mentioned to me by resolutely non-political people. This could be very, very serious indeed for the government. And currently they seem inclined to just let this stuff rip:
'Into the mix of the spiralling energy cost crisis came two opinions that were fascinating for different reasons. The first was from the radical accountant Richard Murphy, a professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University Management School, who did a breakdown of energy costs, trying to get to the bottom of why prices were rising so precipitously. I assumed that his thoughts would contain a lot of graphs, which I would fast cease to comprehend the minute they stopped being pie charts, but in fact it was devastatingly simple. Only 36% of “a typical bill” comprises the actual cost of energy, the rest being tax, delivery, billing, customer services, environmental schemes and profit. So even if the price of gas doubles, triples, goes wild, only just over a third of your bill should double, triple or go wild, the other costs being static, give or take inflation. Murphy posed a second question, why should people who get their energy from renewables suffer the same hikes? He ran some speculative numbers on how much of your new bill would go towards energy company profits. He could find no explanation for the coming price rises, beyond exploitation.
'The other opinion was from Martin Lewis, the founder of Money Saving Expert, a far less political figure than Murphy. It takes a certain sort of sober person to bring his amount of seriousness and purpose to making sure you’re on exactly the right mobile phone tariff. Speaking to the Today programme last week, he was absolutely fiery. He would not stand by and listen to a Conservative minister blaming the war in Ukraine for the cost of living crisis. He would not accept that anyone could weather the coming squeeze with a bit of planning and tweaking. His predictions were absolutely stark – without serious intervention by the chancellor, poverty was set to become so severe that civil unrest would follow.
'When financial experts are this interesting, it is time to really worry. But, also, thank God for interesting accountants dragging corporate flam-flam and political diversion tactics back to reality.'
The Telegraph has corrected and apologised for another untrue claim about Imperial #COVID19 epidemiology. It's the 16th time they have had to correct or clarify false or misleading reporting on Imperial coronavirus research.
The newspaper falsely claimed that following a ‘brief spike in cases during summer 2021’ Prof Neil Ferguson predicted that ‘Britain would soon hit one million infections a day'. He and his Imperial team made no such prediction.
The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen. It was nothing of the sort.
'In Chernihiv oblast, 🇷🇺 invaders broke into the building of local hunting society & demanded the list of members (hunters conduct guerrilla fight). Chairman Anatoliy Kulgeiko blew up a grenade - killing himself & the enemy. Glory to heroes!'
The Telegraph has corrected and apologised for another untrue claim about Imperial #COVID19 epidemiology. It's the 16th time they have had to correct or clarify false or misleading reporting on Imperial coronavirus research.
The newspaper falsely claimed that following a ‘brief spike in cases during summer 2021’ Prof Neil Ferguson predicted that ‘Britain would soon hit one million infections a day'. He and his Imperial team made no such prediction.
The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen. It was nothing of the sort.
Am I mistaken in thinking that when the meme of the media having had a terrible COVID has been repeated by certain PBers that the Tele has not usually been the target of their ire?
We're at risk of losing our moorings here. Best, imo, if exactly where people stand on the L to R via C spectrum is determined by somebody who is known for being objective to a fault. Therefore me, I suppose. Do I have the time? Yes, I think so. And if not I'll do some juggling to create it.
But what political spectrum is that ?
Economic issues, social issues, environmental issues, international issues etc.
Which can be further subdivided for example some right wingers support low taxation above all while others support balanced budgets.
And that can be further subdivided for examples some people prefer taxation on income while others prefer taxation on wealth.
Indeed. The left right continuum is far too simplistic for modern politics, unless you view the world through HYUFD's upside down monochrome binoculars.
No, you're a 65. Nothing simplistic there.
Not sure I understand. Is that where you think I am on the continuum (15 points right of the median)?
Yep. Bringing all of your views together - each being a point in their own right - 65 emerges as the single weighted average measure. In words - an inhabitant of the centre ground just as and slightly before it starts to merge into more clearly right wing territory. House prices are quite high there, above the national average.
It may be a fair assessment lol. Where are you? about 45?
I do have a score - a fair and accurate one which is lower than 45 - but as the person running the show I have to keep it to myself. For obvious reasons. If I were to disclose it and people violently disagreed they'd start disputing their own scores and the whole system would be undermined.
Ah yes, that old chestnut. If I'm not around that's the next best thing for checking who and what you are.
You can argue about the calibration - where you end up on each axis... As a general system it has stood the test of time better than a single axis.
The attempts to go multi axis - spider plots - haven't really caught on either, though.
EDIT: What's your score?
I seem to be skewed Left and Libertarian 6.38 and 6.41 respectively. About in the middle of the bottom left box.
I think the Political Compass is a fun website, but I’m dubious that it has much real psephological value. But, as a bit of fun…
Economic Left/Right: -6.13 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.64
… so, close to kinabalu.
I would say that the calibration is off, as in the location of centre (from a UK context).
But in terms of grouping people, it works quite well.
-4.75, -6.1 - and I agree. For grouping it's useful, but I see myself as more centrist (on left v right) than that implies. I'd describe myself as liberal, mainly, so I'm content to be well towards libertarian rather than authoritarian. Interesting that I'm less libertarian than the two above. Must be my conservative upbringing! Or my tendency not to strongly agree (or disagree) with such absolute statements as in many of them there are shades of grey.
The Telegraph has corrected and apologised for another untrue claim about Imperial #COVID19 epidemiology. It's the 16th time they have had to correct or clarify false or misleading reporting on Imperial coronavirus research.
The newspaper falsely claimed that following a ‘brief spike in cases during summer 2021’ Prof Neil Ferguson predicted that ‘Britain would soon hit one million infections a day'. He and his Imperial team made no such prediction.
The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen. It was nothing of the sort.
Am I mistaken in thinking that when the meme of the media having had a terrible COVID has been repeated by certain PBers that the Tele has not usually been the target of their ire?
It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity. Chelsea FC recognises that such an outcome would have a huge impact on Middlesbrough and its supporters, as well as our own fans who have already bought the limited number of tickets that were sold before the licence was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.
Not the smartest of moves.
Err, that match is in Middlesbrough. What possible reason does Chelsea have for playing in an empty stadium?
So Chelsea can play at home in front of their season ticket holders and those who had bought advance tickets, but Middlesbrough, who have done nothing wrong, cannot have their own fans and Chelsea fans in attendance? This because the revenue in the FA Cup is split to home and away (and the FA)? Easy - give the Chelsea money to the FA to distribute as they see fit.
I don't know the rules at Chelsea, but at Leicester Cup and European matches are not included, though we do get priority for our seats. So I wouldn't think Chelsea season ticket holders would be able to attend either.
Presumably a problem for their Champions League campaign too. Are they going to insist on empty stadia for those too?
The Telegraph has corrected and apologised for another untrue claim about Imperial #COVID19 epidemiology. It's the 16th time they have had to correct or clarify false or misleading reporting on Imperial coronavirus research.
The newspaper falsely claimed that following a ‘brief spike in cases during summer 2021’ Prof Neil Ferguson predicted that ‘Britain would soon hit one million infections a day'. He and his Imperial team made no such prediction.
The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen. It was nothing of the sort.
Am I mistaken in thinking that when the meme of the media having had a terrible COVID has been repeated by certain PBers that the Tele has not usually been the target of their ire?
Covid anecdote. Lots of it going around where I am (Bucks). My 86yo father-in-law (triple jabbed and got Delta last Autumn) met up with 6 other friends of similar ages last week. 5 of them got Covid afterwards (not him) but are all fine. I also know quite a few people of my age (40s) who have caught it recently but all seem to be the ones who had somehow managed to avoid getting it previously. Aligns with lots of Covid cases but hopefully not going to have a massive impact on hospitalisations.
That sounds promising. The only question I have (expert anywhere?) is about vaccines waning. I had my booster over six months ago, and have some health fragilities as well as knocking on a bit. Are there any plans to add another jab for those outside the really old/vulnerable? Or should I be confident that the six-month old booster is still protecting me fine? A bit more government communication on this would be helpful.
I am due to visit Sicily in June. The Italian authorities are relaxing their rules for the six month plus boostered so long as the three vaccines have been mix and matched. I am thrice Pfizered, and will not be allowed in as fully vaccinated on current terms.
Difficult to keep track of travel requirements. Also going to Italy in June, arriving by car via France & Switzerland. Have had the 3 jabs 2 AZ, 1 Pfizer. As it stands can I just enter Italy without doing anything but having proof of our vax? I'm being lazy you sound as though you have researched the issue!
As has been mentioned Sicily has specific conditions. I believe with mix and matched vaccines you can download the code to get into venues in Italy. If your booster is less than six months old you are fine anyway.
Still not sure where you are getting anything about needing mix and match vaccines from, I've not heard this from anyone, and I have immediate family living in Italy, as well as having visited myself recently. Anyone boosted (with any EU approved vaccines) is indefinitely fine afaik. You just need a QR code showing your boosted status.
You might have to fill in passenger locator forms, and maybe there are antigen tests on arrival in some places though I saw no evidence of this, except the Foreign Office advice linked to earlier.
And himself back in 2015 and 2016. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-claims-west-made-26469747 ...“What worries me now is that it is the EU’s pretensions to run a foreign policy and a defence policy that risk undermining Nato. We saw what happened in Bosnia, we’ve seen what happened in the Ukraine…
“All the EU can do in this question, in my view, is cause confusion and, as we’ve seen in the Balkans, I’m afraid a tragic incident, and in the Ukraine things went wrong as well.”
Former Swedish PM Carl Bildt hit out at Boris Johnson on Twitter at the time, saying: “I’m sorry to say, but @BorisJohnson is totally ignorant of the facts on Ukraine, EU and Russia. Apologist for Putin.”
In a December 2015 article, Boris Johnson said Britain should "deal with the devil" Putin, despite the Russian President being a "ruthless and manipulative tyrant"...
@emilykschrader Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says his models for how to win against all odds are Israel – a country he has visited and admires – and the IDF. “We have to learn from Israel how to defend our country, with every citizen”
The Telegraph has corrected and apologised for another untrue claim about Imperial #COVID19 epidemiology. It's the 16th time they have had to correct or clarify false or misleading reporting on Imperial coronavirus research.
The newspaper falsely claimed that following a ‘brief spike in cases during summer 2021’ Prof Neil Ferguson predicted that ‘Britain would soon hit one million infections a day'. He and his Imperial team made no such prediction.
The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen. It was nothing of the sort.
Am I mistaken in thinking that when the meme of the media having had a terrible COVID has been repeated by certain PBers that the Tele has not usually been the target of their ire?
Only because we don't read the Telegraph
Fair enough. On the PB Rantometer it appears the Guardian, the National, Handelsblatt, and the NYT are big faves on here.
The Telegraph has corrected and apologised for another untrue claim about Imperial #COVID19 epidemiology. It's the 16th time they have had to correct or clarify false or misleading reporting on Imperial coronavirus research.
The newspaper falsely claimed that following a ‘brief spike in cases during summer 2021’ Prof Neil Ferguson predicted that ‘Britain would soon hit one million infections a day'. He and his Imperial team made no such prediction.
The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen. It was nothing of the sort.
Now that is some cherry picking. The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen...
Covid anecdote. Lots of it going around where I am (Bucks). My 86yo father-in-law (triple jabbed and got Delta last Autumn) met up with 6 other friends of similar ages last week. 5 of them got Covid afterwards (not him) but are all fine. I also know quite a few people of my age (40s) who have caught it recently but all seem to be the ones who had somehow managed to avoid getting it previously. Aligns with lots of Covid cases but hopefully not going to have a massive impact on hospitalisations.
That sounds promising. The only question I have (expert anywhere?) is about vaccines waning. I had my booster over six months ago, and have some health fragilities as well as knocking on a bit. Are there any plans to add another jab for those outside the really old/vulnerable? Or should I be confident that the six-month old booster is still protecting me fine? A bit more government communication on this would be helpful.
I am due to visit Sicily in June. The Italian authorities are relaxing their rules for the six month plus boostered so long as the three vaccines have been mix and matched. I am thrice Pfizered, and will not be allowed in as fully vaccinated on current terms.
Difficult to keep track of travel requirements. Also going to Italy in June, arriving by car via France & Switzerland. Have had the 3 jabs 2 AZ, 1 Pfizer. As it stands can I just enter Italy without doing anything but having proof of our vax? I'm being lazy you sound as though you have researched the issue!
As has been mentioned Sicily has specific conditions. I believe with mix and matched vaccines you can download the code to get into venues in Italy. If your booster is less than six months old you are fine anyway.
Still not sure where you are getting anything about needing mix and match vaccines from, I've not heard this from anyone, and I have immediate family living in Italy, as well as having visited myself recently. Anyone boosted (with any EU approved vaccines) is indefinitely fine afaik. You just need a QR code showing your boosted status.
You might have to fill in passenger locator forms, and maybe there are antigen tests on arrival in some places though I saw no evidence of this, except the Foreign Office advice linked to earlier.
I saw it when researching the "Super Green Pass".
Hmmm probably fake news, most people in Italy I know have 3 pfizer jabs, and super green passes.
To be serious for a sec, I'm firmly left, almost all my instincts are, but my nagging suspicion that capitalism is easier to critique than to viably replace keeps me out of the very low numbers. However I do have strong and sincere egalitarian views, some of them quite outlier, and this plops me solidly in the 20s. But I must keep the exact number a secret as explained.
Go for the Scandi model then: let capitalism rip but then tax it ‘till the pips squeak.
Edit: not sure where pops came from…
We could be heading there, I guess, if we find a way to tax wealth. If we don't I think we're heading the other way - to a smaller state.
As for 'scoring' posters on here, bit of fun mainly, obvs, but it does throw up interesting points.
Eg ydoether is my benchmark straight up 50. There's just nothing left or right about this poster. The instincts don't fall one way and neither do the more reasoned opinions. Yet he will often be very passionate about things.
Then there's BJO. This is our most left wing poster really. He's a full monty old school socialist. He'd be in single digits except for one bizarre thing - he's a big fan of a certain Tory PM with a deceptively high muscle/fat ratio. Go figure.
Tricky, this. You put yourself in the 20s earlier on, but at the same time confessed that even as a socialist you see no viable alternative to a capitalist economic model, if I understood correctly. Sorry, but I reckon anyone who supports capitalism has to be a minimum of 35. Though I suspect me and you are pretty close.....
I post the bulk of this article, because the full horror of what is coming down the pipeline with this stuff and tax rises is now being mentioned to me by resolutely non-political people. This could be very, very serious indeed for the government. And currently they seem inclined to just let this stuff rip:
'Into the mix of the spiralling energy cost crisis came two opinions that were fascinating for different reasons. The first was from the radical accountant Richard Murphy, a professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University Management School, who did a breakdown of energy costs, trying to get to the bottom of why prices were rising so precipitously. I assumed that his thoughts would contain a lot of graphs, which I would fast cease to comprehend the minute they stopped being pie charts, but in fact it was devastatingly simple. Only 36% of “a typical bill” comprises the actual cost of energy, the rest being tax, delivery, billing, customer services, environmental schemes and profit. So even if the price of gas doubles, triples, goes wild, only just over a third of your bill should double, triple or go wild, the other costs being static, give or take inflation. Murphy posed a second question, why should people who get their energy from renewables suffer the same hikes? He ran some speculative numbers on how much of your new bill would go towards energy company profits. He could find no explanation for the coming price rises, beyond exploitation.
'The other opinion was from Martin Lewis, the founder of Money Saving Expert, a far less political figure than Murphy. It takes a certain sort of sober person to bring his amount of seriousness and purpose to making sure you’re on exactly the right mobile phone tariff. Speaking to the Today programme last week, he was absolutely fiery. He would not stand by and listen to a Conservative minister blaming the war in Ukraine for the cost of living crisis. He would not accept that anyone could weather the coming squeeze with a bit of planning and tweaking. His predictions were absolutely stark – without serious intervention by the chancellor, poverty was set to become so severe that civil unrest would follow.
'When financial experts are this interesting, it is time to really worry. But, also, thank God for interesting accountants dragging corporate flam-flam and political diversion tactics back to reality.'
There is an obvious and immediate error in Murphy's assessment.
"Only 36% of “a typical bill” comprises the actual cost of energy, the rest being tax, delivery, billing, customer services, environmental schemes and profit. So even if the price of gas doubles, triples, goes wild, only just over a third of your bill should double, triple or go wild, the other costs being static, give or take inflation."
Well to start with how many of those additional costs are charged as a % of the basic energy cost? Certainly that applies to tax.
And himself back in 2015 and 2016. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-claims-west-made-26469747 ...“What worries me now is that it is the EU’s pretensions to run a foreign policy and a defence policy that risk undermining Nato. We saw what happened in Bosnia, we’ve seen what happened in the Ukraine…
“All the EU can do in this question, in my view, is cause confusion and, as we’ve seen in the Balkans, I’m afraid a tragic incident, and in the Ukraine things went wrong as well.”
Former Swedish PM Carl Bildt hit out at Boris Johnson on Twitter at the time, saying: “I’m sorry to say, but @BorisJohnson is totally ignorant of the facts on Ukraine, EU and Russia. Apologist for Putin.”
In a December 2015 article, Boris Johnson said Britain should "deal with the devil" Putin, despite the Russian President being a "ruthless and manipulative tyrant"...
I'm surprisingly confident that if Russia and China team up against the West they'll both end up losing, and the West will come out of it stronger than before.
Unless there is a nuclear holocaust in which case nobody will be stronger than before by my understanding of the term
South Africa?
This, ladies and gentlemen, is an excellent example of HYUFD's thought: That the destruction of Western and Eastern countries "strengthens" those not directly destroyed because they would power on up the ranks. Never mind the fact that the biosphere would be a fucking state and the world economy would head backwards a number of centuries. Rank is what matters in HYUFD's Trumpist view, and a negative sum game makes sense if only the others get hurt much more than you do.
HYUFD would cut his leg off if he knew everybody else would lose both legs.
Well the South African President has taken a neutral stance between Russia and NATO not wholly without self interest.
I would prefer him to be in the NATO camp but that is the reality
Given you don't think some countries already in it should have been allowed to join NATO I am surprised you would advocate for others to either join or be allied to it.
I refer you to my earlier post. HYUFD would be happy for South Africa to join because he fancies our chances of beating Eswatini in a war. Russia's a big boy, so we shouldn't meddle. Rank rank rank. Hit the little guy, give your lunch money to the big guy. No need to mess around with principles or whatever.
It is only NATO and the Anglosphere which help us to contain the big boys of Russia and China.
Yes we can defend the Falklands and Gibraltar and deal with Nationalists within our own islands but we cannot contain Putin and Xi alone
I would suggest that Japan and South Korea - neither of which are either NATO nor Anglosphere are very much holding their end up as well.
To an extent but as you say they are not in NATO nor are they in the AUKUS security agreement either
You really are out of touch if you think that AUKUS would take action without the approval and engagement of South Korea and Japan
Explicitly so, in fact. I even linked to the joint announcement from the three leaders for him.
The five power defence agreement sort of does, if you squint, but there’s not the same assumed compulsion to act like there is with NATO. And I’m not sure how real it is for Malaysia or Singapore.
The USA is not even in the five power defence agreement, so that is not of much real use in containing China unlike AUKUS
Five Powers was not intended and is not intended as a China containment pact.
Indeed Singapore and Malaysia would not wish to be part of something perceived as containing China; Singapore especially prizes it’s independence as the regions leading entrepôt (especially with HK in decline).
It’s more joint training and perhaps some tech sharing.
It was also set up in 1971, and is to do with covering the hole left when the UK withdrew from East of Suez.
So no reason for the USA to be involed anyway; Canada is not.
The city of Hanover said that they would withdraw Gerhard Schröder's honorary citizenship (like freedom of the city) if he didn't distance himself from Putin, and in response Schröder chose to give it up.
Do you think Schroder is planning on being a character witness for Putin in The Hague?
(How much do you think a Schroder costs? Maybe PB can get together and buy one.)
The city of Hanover said that they would withdraw Gerhard Schröder's honorary citizenship (like freedom of the city) if he didn't distance himself from Putin, and in response Schröder chose to give it up.
Do you think Schroder is planning on being a character witness for Putin in The Hague?
(How much do you think a Schroder costs? Maybe PB can get together and buy one.)
Could be a handy new unit of cost. Bigger than the hip replacement, so more manageable numbers:
Today, the the UK Prime Minister promised to spaff up the wall a further £20 billion200 million HPEs (hipe replacement equivalents 40 thousand Schroeders on NHS Track and Trace.
Edit: And I've found myself on the old thread. D'oh!
EU diplomats "privately fuming" about the Polish, Czech and Slovenian PMs visiting Ukraine:
@DaveKeating Other EU perm reps here in Brussels privately fuming about this visit, which risks being the “spark for World War 3” as one official put it.
It was apparently both uncoordinated with other allies and, astonishingly, pre-announced before they left on the train across Ukraine.
Ah, maybe not warned then. Crossed fingers for things going to plan...
What? How is this the spark for World War III ? Is that just someone in Brussels having a brainstorm?
Pre-announcing sounds extremely sensible, as it prevents Putin attacking them unless it is deliberate.
Weren't these 3 part of the larger faction of the EU which had a clue what was going on and supported Ukraine, whilst those who mainly influence the public agenda - Paris, Berlin and a couple of others - were dancing attendance on Mr Putin right up to the invasion itself?
Russia is preparing a mass deforestation of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories, said the Ministry of Defense, citing a letter from Sergei Shoigu to Putin, Russia is planning to cut down greenery of “any age, regardless of ownership and land zoning.” https://mobile.twitter.com/Hromadske/status/1503694649436819463
I think Russia is trying to recreate the entire Vietnam war - only with an incredibly accelerated timeline.
Does anyone have a number for the total of Russian state and oligarch assets currently frozen?
I thought it was about 1/2 - 2/3 of the $600bn "Reserves".
That would go quite a long way towards 'reparations'.
My nags for Day 1 of Cheltenham... as ever back them at your own peril
Each way patent
Hms Seahorse 9/1 16:50 Cheltenham Floueur 7/1 14:50 Cheltenham Blue Lord 9/2 14:10 Cheltenham @stodge@MoonRabbit
*Betting Post 🐎
So here we are. We have finally made it. Sooo excited. Saturday afternoon escapism everyday this week.
I am betting with my heart today. 😍
13:30 constitution hill Impressed by how it won on rules debut I put it in my book. Forgot it was in there, impressed by how it won second race I added it again! It will win for me today and our hearts will beat as one. 🥰
14:10 Riviere D'etel Is there a case for A winner coming from out the top 3 candidates? Billed as Edwardstone the British challenger versus the two from Ireland. Form, going, distance, and class in this company, all three tick the boxes. But is there such a thing as horses for courses - Edwardstones three previous visits to Cheltenham are the three biggest blobs on the record. the two Irish horses blobbed on their only Cheltenham visit too. My heart says Riviere D'etel to make up for disappointment last time.
15:30 Not So Sleepy The first winner I tipped on PB? Not So Sleepy Dead-heated with Epatante in the Fighting Fifth. Betting with my heart here🤣. Except, when I done my analysis for the fighting fifth I thought it would win, and it sort of did, to give itself this moment. If you love an under dog.
16:10 Marie's Rock Going with her on basis her recent form is fine over this distance. This isn’t a 2m race my heart says trust those who love this distance not just the 2m.
Best of luck everyone!
Good start for you and a 2nd as well if you had it EW though price was not great.
To be serious for a sec, I'm firmly left, almost all my instincts are, but my nagging suspicion that capitalism is easier to critique than to viably replace keeps me out of the very low numbers. However I do have strong and sincere egalitarian views, some of them quite outlier, and this plops me solidly in the 20s. But I must keep the exact number a secret as explained.
Go for the Scandi model then: let capitalism rip but then tax it ‘till the pips squeak.
Edit: not sure where pops came from…
We could be heading there, I guess, if we find a way to tax wealth. If we don't I think we're heading the other way - to a smaller state.
As for 'scoring' posters on here, bit of fun mainly, obvs, but it does throw up interesting points.
Eg ydoether is my benchmark straight up 50. There's just nothing left or right about this poster. The instincts don't fall one way and neither do the more reasoned opinions. Yet he will often be very passionate about things.
Then there's BJO. This is our most left wing poster really. He's a full monty old school socialist. He'd be in single digits except for one bizarre thing - he's a big fan of a certain Tory PM with a deceptively high muscle/fat ratio. Go figure.
I'm flattered - I think 🤔
I'm only really passionate about three things though (1) the correct punishment for the DfE (2) the correct way to address certain failed and disgraced overpromoted cadets (3) most importantly, no pineapple on pizza.
Comments
But in terms of grouping people, it works quite well.
That means they will be in a stadium full of Boro supporters with no Chelsea supporters - but am at a loss as to what the actual problem is.
As for 'scoring' posters on here, bit of fun mainly, obvs, but it does throw up interesting points.
Eg ydoether is my benchmark straight up 50. There's just nothing left or right about this poster. The instincts don't fall one way and neither do the more reasoned opinions. Yet he will often be very passionate about things.
Then there's BJO. This is our most left wing poster really. He's a full monty old school socialist. He'd be in single digits except for one bizarre thing - he's a big fan of a certain Tory PM with a deceptively high muscle/fat ratio. Go figure.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says his models for how to win against all odds are Israel – a country he has visited and admires – and the IDF. “We have to learn from Israel how to defend our country, with every citizen”
https://twitter.com/emilykschrader/status/1503650151742808070
Why must I stay put? Because in France, Holland and Belgium, the Germans were helped by the people who took flight before them. Great crowds of refugees blocked all the roads. The soldiers who could have defended them could not get at the enemy... Stay put. It’s easy to say. When the time comes it may be hard to do. But you have got to do it; and in doing it you will be fighting Britain’s battle as bravely as a soldier.
Those who have seen the many videos of Ukrainian drivers almost being killed in attacks on military hardware may well agree with the eighty-year old advice that If you do not stay put you will stand a very good chance of being killed. As I said: If it had been possible for the people of Britain to simply cross the border into a safe country with a much higher standard of living, how do you think WWII would have panned out?
It’s a big country.
(Ukraine railway map)
Does the match also go un-televised, so that Chelsea don’t make money from the TV rights?
At what point does the FA just throw them out of the competition, for being unable to comply with the commercial rules of it?
You might have to fill in passenger locator forms, and maybe there are antigen tests on arrival in some places though I saw no evidence of this, except the Foreign Office advice linked to earlier.
The Telegraph has corrected and apologised for another untrue claim about Imperial #COVID19 epidemiology. It's the 16th time they have had to correct or clarify false or misleading reporting on Imperial coronavirus research.
The newspaper falsely claimed that following a ‘brief spike in cases during summer 2021’ Prof Neil Ferguson predicted that ‘Britain would soon hit one million infections a day'. He and his Imperial team made no such prediction.
The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen. It was nothing of the sort.
https://twitter.com/imperialcollege/status/1503633324132245504
His mad gesticulatory displays are like a bizarre fusion of conducting an orchestra, sign language and 90s rave dancing. I might have to put him to music.
'Into the mix of the spiralling energy cost crisis came two opinions that were fascinating for different reasons. The first was from the radical accountant Richard Murphy, a professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University Management School, who did a breakdown of energy costs, trying to get to the bottom of why prices were rising so precipitously. I assumed that his thoughts would contain a lot of graphs, which I would fast cease to comprehend the minute they stopped being pie charts, but in fact it was devastatingly simple. Only 36% of “a typical bill” comprises the actual cost of energy, the rest being tax, delivery, billing, customer services, environmental schemes and profit. So even if the price of gas doubles, triples, goes wild, only just over a third of your bill should double, triple or go wild, the other costs being static, give or take inflation. Murphy posed a second question, why should people who get their energy from renewables suffer the same hikes? He ran some speculative numbers on how much of your new bill would go towards energy company profits. He could find no explanation for the coming price rises, beyond exploitation.
'The other opinion was from Martin Lewis, the founder of Money Saving Expert, a far less political figure than Murphy. It takes a certain sort of sober person to bring his amount of seriousness and purpose to making sure you’re on exactly the right mobile phone tariff. Speaking to the Today programme last week, he was absolutely fiery. He would not stand by and listen to a Conservative minister blaming the war in Ukraine for the cost of living crisis. He would not accept that anyone could weather the coming squeeze with a bit of planning and tweaking. His predictions were absolutely stark – without serious intervention by the chancellor, poverty was set to become so severe that civil unrest would follow.
'When financial experts are this interesting, it is time to really worry. But, also, thank God for interesting accountants dragging corporate flam-flam and political diversion tactics back to reality.'
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/15/britains-consumer-champions-fiery-martin-lewis-richard-murphy-cost-of-living-crisis
'In Chernihiv oblast, 🇷🇺 invaders broke into the building of local hunting society & demanded the list of members (hunters conduct guerrilla fight). Chairman Anatoliy Kulgeiko blew up a grenade - killing himself & the enemy. Glory to heroes!'
https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/status/1503338513223516161?s=21
Presumably a problem for their Champions League campaign too. Are they going to insist on empty stadia for those too?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-claims-west-made-26469747
...“What worries me now is that it is the EU’s pretensions to run a foreign policy and a defence policy that risk undermining Nato. We saw what happened in Bosnia, we’ve seen what happened in the Ukraine…
“All the EU can do in this question, in my view, is cause confusion and, as we’ve seen in the Balkans, I’m afraid a tragic incident, and in the Ukraine things went wrong as well.”
Former Swedish PM Carl Bildt hit out at Boris Johnson on Twitter at the time, saying: “I’m sorry to say, but @BorisJohnson is totally ignorant of the facts on Ukraine, EU and Russia. Apologist for Putin.”
In a December 2015 article, Boris Johnson said Britain should "deal with the devil" Putin, despite the Russian President being a "ruthless and manipulative tyrant"...
On the PB Rantometer it appears the Guardian, the National, Handelsblatt, and the NYT are big faves on here.
The Telegraph had come up with this claim by picking one of 72 analyses from a study - in this case clearly labelled as 'pessimistic' hypothetical and specific scenarios - and misleadingly presented it as a prediction of what 'would' happen...
"Only 36% of “a typical bill” comprises the actual cost of energy, the rest being tax, delivery, billing, customer services, environmental schemes and profit. So even if the price of gas doubles, triples, goes wild, only just over a third of your bill should double, triple or go wild, the other costs being static, give or take inflation."
Well to start with how many of those additional costs are charged as a % of the basic energy cost? Certainly that applies to tax.
So no reason for the USA to be involed anyway; Canada is not.
(How much do you think a Schroder costs? Maybe PB can get together and buy one.)
Today, the the UK Prime Minister promised to spaff up the wall a further £20 billion 200 million HPEs (hipe replacement equivalents 40 thousand Schroeders on NHS Track and Trace.
Edit: And I've found myself on the old thread. D'oh!
Pre-announcing sounds extremely sensible, as it prevents Putin attacking them unless it is deliberate.
Weren't these 3 part of the larger faction of the EU which had a clue what was going on and supported Ukraine, whilst those who mainly influence the public agenda - Paris, Berlin and a couple of others - were dancing attendance on Mr Putin right up to the invasion itself?
I thought it was about 1/2 - 2/3 of the $600bn "Reserves".
That would go quite a long way towards 'reparations'.
I'm only really passionate about three things though (1) the correct punishment for the DfE (2) the correct way to address certain failed and disgraced overpromoted cadets (3) most importantly, no pineapple on pizza.