The new Electoral registration figures are out for Dec 2021. These are one year since the Dec 2020 figures which are being used for the boundary review.
Overall registration is up 0.4% in Scotland and up 0.1% in Wales (both had elections last year) and up 3.4% in NI (not sure why). On the other hand in England it has fallen -1.0%. What is noticeable is that apart from the university seats the biggest drops in registration have tended to come in Inner London:
Hampstead and Kilburn -8.9% Bermondsey and Old Southwark -6.6% Camberwell and Peckham -5.1% Vauxhall -4.7% Islington North -4.6% Tooting -4.5% Ealing Central and Acton -4.4% Islington South and Finsbury -4.1% Streatham -4.1% Putney -3.4% Dulwich and West Norwood -3.3% Twickenham -3.1% Lewisham East -2.9% Westminster North -2.8% Kensington -2.7% Lewisham, Deptford -2.7% Ealing, Southall -2.7% Finchley and Golders Green -2.6% Ealing North -2.6% Hornsey and Wood Green -2.5%
it will be interesting to see if London recovers at all this year. London is gaining 2 seats in the boundary review based on the 2020 figures but probably wouldn't on the 2021 figures
Somewhat oddly the biggest increase apart from in NI is Holborn and St Pancras up 3.2%, probably due to the massive King's Cross Central development
All those twenty-somethings who used to rent in London and now WFH back at their parents' place.
Good God I never thought of the electoral effect of this. Great spot. Wonder whether it'll show up in the council elections?
In outer London, my neck of the woods Redbridge currently has 51 Labour councillors out of 63, then 11 Tory and 1 Reform UK.
Back in 1978 (when I first moved to Ilford), the council was 50 Conservative, 13 Labour.
Just the one LAB person who has won a GE since 1978
How many days did PBers take to recover from covid? I could almost convince myself that I’m feeling a bit better tonight after three days feeling grotty with it.
9 days, but that was original Omicron not BA.2.
Thanks. Nine days from a positive test or from actual symptoms? (I assume you have to test daily as you are a doctor?)
No, from onset of symptoms. Sore throat, burnt taste in mouth and fatigue.
Thankfully my taste is fine. That was what I was dreading most about covid!
Someone has got it in for Sunak. First, the Winchester school donation. Now the non-dom tax status for his wife.
Cui bono?
And all while he is out of the country at his Californian mansion.
I thought it was an apartment in Santa Monica. (Albeit a rather expensive one.)
He’s muddling up Rishi and Harry - undistinguished beta males with foreign wives and a public school education
iirc the S Times claimed that Sunak had invited Johnson and family to Santa Monica for Easter. It was described as showing how they are still good pals.
That does make me wonder, idly, if any of the Cabinet are actually friends. Someone I don't think Boris is good mates with the guy 16 years younger than him, much wealthier, who didn't go to Eaton.
We have photographic proof Sunak and Javid at the least went to see Star Wars together, so I suppose they might be friendly.
It's an internet panel recruited via mechanical turk with no demographic weighting, so ignore the actual numbers. The interesting part is the difference between the numbers you get with and without the preference-concealment trick, which are 68% vs 53%, ie a 15-point drop.
So when you see polls showing 80% support, it's probably not really 80%... but it's definitely over 50%.
That seems comparable to US polling of the Iraq War, support for a ground invasion seems to have been around 60% before, 70% immediately after.
REPLACING Boris Johnson with one of the frontrunners in contention for the Tory leadership would only serve to boost support for independence in Scotland, a new poll has found...
The poll of 1029 Scottish adults found that should Chancellor Rishi Sunak take over as Prime Minister, 13% of Scots said they would be more likely to support a Yes vote. This is opposed to the 6% who said they’d be more likely to oppose independence.
The effect was even more pronounced should Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, take over from Johnson at the head of the Conservative Party. The YouGov poll found that 15% of Scots would be more likely to support leaving the UK if Truss was at its head, while just 5% would be more likely to vote No.
REPLACING Boris Johnson with one of the frontrunners in contention for the Tory leadership would only serve to boost support for independence in Scotland, a new poll has found...
The poll of 1029 Scottish adults found that should Chancellor Rishi Sunak take over as Prime Minister, 13% of Scots said they would be more likely to support a Yes vote. This is opposed to the 6% who said they’d be more likely to oppose independence.
The effect was even more pronounced should Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, take over from Johnson at the head of the Conservative Party. The YouGov poll found that 15% of Scots would be more likely to support leaving the UK if Truss was at its head, while just 5% would be more likely to vote No.
Seems a bit harsh on Sunak and Truss, it's not like Boris is popular in Scotland after all. You'd think ditching him would be a rare moment of unity.
In polls like this the numbers are small expressing an opinion I.e 19% on Rishi, 20% on Truss and it will be the 80% or so who will be the decisive factor
What is it about these people that, despite having more money than they can ever spend in their lifetime, they put so much effort into avoiding paying their taxes?
REPLACING Boris Johnson with one of the frontrunners in contention for the Tory leadership would only serve to boost support for independence in Scotland, a new poll has found...
The poll of 1029 Scottish adults found that should Chancellor Rishi Sunak take over as Prime Minister, 13% of Scots said they would be more likely to support a Yes vote. This is opposed to the 6% who said they’d be more likely to oppose independence.
The effect was even more pronounced should Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, take over from Johnson at the head of the Conservative Party. The YouGov poll found that 15% of Scots would be more likely to support leaving the UK if Truss was at its head, while just 5% would be more likely to vote No.
Seems a bit harsh on Sunak and Truss, it's not like Boris is popular in Scotland after all. You'd think ditching him would be a rare moment of unity.
It's the exquisite torture of the corner the Conservatives have painted themselves into.
Boris is clearly terrible, but still posesses that animal magnetism. I don't like it, and as a physicist I have a Spock-like immunity to it, but it's there and it's a great thing for a politician to posess.
His possible sucessors gain by being less terrible, but not enough to counter the losses on the animal magnetism front.
It is understood that Mr Sunak made the Cabinet Office aware of his wife's tax status as part of his declaration of interests when he first became a minister in 2018. The Treasury was also made aware of the fact in case there were any conflicts of interest.
Someone has got it in for Sunak. First, the Winchester school donation. Now the non-dom tax status for his wife.
Cui bono?
And all while he is out of the country at his Californian mansion.
I thought it was an apartment in Santa Monica. (Albeit a rather expensive one.)
He’s muddling up Rishi and Harry - undistinguished beta males with foreign wives and a public school education
iirc the S Times claimed that Sunak had invited Johnson and family to Santa Monica for Easter. It was described as showing how they are still good pals.
That does make me wonder, idly, if any of the Cabinet are actually friends. Someone I don't think Boris is good mates with the guy 16 years younger than him, much wealthier, who didn't go to Eaton.
We have photographic proof Sunak and Javid at the least went to see Star Wars together, so I suppose they might be friendly.
If you want a friend in politics, get yourself a dog.
REPLACING Boris Johnson with one of the frontrunners in contention for the Tory leadership would only serve to boost support for independence in Scotland, a new poll has found...
The poll of 1029 Scottish adults found that should Chancellor Rishi Sunak take over as Prime Minister, 13% of Scots said they would be more likely to support a Yes vote. This is opposed to the 6% who said they’d be more likely to oppose independence.
The effect was even more pronounced should Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, take over from Johnson at the head of the Conservative Party. The YouGov poll found that 15% of Scots would be more likely to support leaving the UK if Truss was at its head, while just 5% would be more likely to vote No.
What does it matter? Both would refuse indyref2 like Johnson. While Wallace is now the more likely next Tory leader anyway.
Some good news for Starmer though. The poll finds 12% of Scots would be more likely to oppose independence if he was PM, while just 8% would be more likely to support it
French intelligence isn’t looking so intelligent these days.
The country’s spies have acquired a certain cachet in recent years, thanks to the internationally acclaimed TV series “Le Bureau des Légendes.” But now they stand accused of legendary blunders, most notably failing to anticipate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
That faux pas has alarmed French lawmakers and is particularly embarrassing as the United States warned repeatedly that Russian President Vladimir Putin would launch an attack — and was proved correct.
But it is not the only failure being laid at the door of the French intelligence community. Critics have also blamed the spooks for neglecting to spot that Australia would ditch a major submarine deal with France, and for failing to foresee a coup in Mali.
If the NI hike hasn’t finished off Sunak’s PM chances surely the non-Dom wife will? While there’s nothing illegal or dodgy, the optics are atrocious. From a government which specialises in atrocious optics….
How many days did PBers take to recover from covid? I could almost convince myself that I’m feeling a bit better tonight after three days feeling grotty with it.
My account manager was unwell two weeks ago, felt better but tested positive last week, feels even worse this week.
But who knows. Maybe he had a heavy cold, asymptomatic Covid and now has the flu.
I had lots of symptoms on days 1-2, fewer on day 3 and it was sporadic after that. Tested negative from day 6. Good luck!
I can't help feeling that describing him as Tim B Schmidt of Poco is a bit like saying Joe Walsh of The James Gang. Whilst both are very good in their own right they surely are most famous as members of The Eagles.
Peers inflict defeat on Government over controversial voter ID proposals ... ... peers voted 199 to 170, majority 29, to support an amendment from Tory former minister Lord Willetts to expand the list of accepted identification to include non-photo documents such as birth certificates, bank statements, council tax demands and library cards. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/peers-government-voter-id-proposals-b992933.html
Peers inflict defeat on Government over controversial voter ID proposals ... ... peers voted 199 to 170, majority 29, to support an amendment from Tory former minister Lord Willetts to expand the list of accepted identification to include non-photo documents such as birth certificates, bank statements, council tax demands and library cards. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/peers-government-voter-id-proposals-b992933.html
We don't need voter ID in the first place. Most the voter fraud that takes place is to do with postal voting, not with people showing up in person at the polling station.
** Betting Post All bookies will have special offers for the Grand National on Saturday but Bet365's half your stake back up to £125 on each-way singles, for existing customers but not new ones, is noteworthy. It is half past three in the morning so check the Ts and Cs. They offer 6 places but others might have more. DYOR.
** Betting Post All bookies will have special offers for the Grand National on Saturday but Bet365's half your stake back up to £125 on each-way singles, for existing customers but not new ones, is noteworthy. It is half past three in the morning so check the Ts and Cs. They offer 6 places but others might have more. DYOR.
https://twitter.com/eugene_finkel/status/1510951119991812098 Got questions about why I think it is genocide. Until this morning I resisted applying the term. War crimes? Sure. Heinous rhetoric? You bet. What changed is the combination of more and more evidence, from different places, and even more importantly, explicit official rhetoric /1 The official legal definition of genocide is "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such". When I teach genocide I start by saying that this definition has huge problems because it doesn't give us /2….
What we know now is not yet enough to prosecute people for genocide, but before we even get there we need to call a spade a spade. That’s what I am trying to do. Accountability next. https://twitter.com/eugene_finkel/status/1511450592664817671
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
People promoting Sunak were ‘hard right’. 😂
You are one step removed from believing everyone who disagrees with you is a fascist.
The privatisation of C4 fails on the same lines as Christian Wolmar’s classic question: What is rail franchising for? (The point being nobody can give a good answer).
What is C4 privatisation for?
To distract people whilst their "oh my God HOW MUCH????" new energy bills come in.
It's a dead cat move. As is "lots of nuclear power stations which take 20 years to build as the cheap and clean solution to next year's power shortage"
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
People promoting Sunak were ‘hard right’.
They were. The usual hard right suspects: Felix, Sandpit, MM to name only a few.
So fantastically out of touch with the mood in the nation.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
You are [...] everyone who disagrees [...] fascist.
p.s. I notice on your avatar in bold letters is the word F U M I N G with an angry-shouty face.
REPLACING Boris Johnson with one of the frontrunners in contention for the Tory leadership would only serve to boost support for independence in Scotland, a new poll has found...
The poll of 1029 Scottish adults found that should Chancellor Rishi Sunak take over as Prime Minister, 13% of Scots said they would be more likely to support a Yes vote. This is opposed to the 6% who said they’d be more likely to oppose independence.
The effect was even more pronounced should Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, take over from Johnson at the head of the Conservative Party. The YouGov poll found that 15% of Scots would be more likely to support leaving the UK if Truss was at its head, while just 5% would be more likely to vote No.
What does it matter? Both would refuse indyref2 like Johnson. While Wallace is now the more likely next Tory leader anyway.
Some good news for Starmer though. The poll finds 12% of Scots would be more likely to oppose independence if he was PM, while just 8% would be more likely to support it
It's equally interesting that the poll also includes a split test on the form of question, which makes a significant difference:
"Should Scotland be an independent country?" - Yes = 47%, No = 53%. 'Should Scotland remain in the UK?' - Yes = 59%, No - 41% (*)
The YouGov poll also asked the question of how people would vote in a second referendum, but it split the respondents into two groups. Half of respondents were asked if Scotland should be an independent country (the 2014 question) while half were asked if Scotland should leave or remain in the UK (closer to the EU referendum formulation). Of those asked the 2014 question, 53% said they would vote No and 47% Yes with undecided voters excluded. Of those asked the leave/remain question, 59% said they’d vote remain compared to 41% who’d vote leave, again with undecided voters excluded.
* I think that's the wording - summarised in the report.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
People promoting Sunak were ‘hard right’. 😂
You are one step removed from believing everyone who disagrees with you is a fascist.
That's quite the character assassination from @Heathener.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
You evidently lived through a different 1992-97 to me. I wonder if you were even in the same country...
One thing politics needs to avoid is tribalism. "My side is always right; our opponents are always wrong/evil." This goes for *all* parties. It is a view that leads to excusing your own side when it does wrong. It is easy to point to many occasions between 1997 and 2010 where Labour supporters excused clear Labour wrongdoing. And we saw the same under Jeremy Corbyn.
The same holds true for the Conservatives, Lib Dems, SNP etc. The best thing any supporter of a party can do for their party is to be a supportive critic. Blind support always ends up hurting a party. But sadly, politics is often a little like football: "My team is brilliant; your team stinks", even after 'my team' has had a 5-0 thrashing.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
People promoting Sunak were ‘hard right’.
They were. The usual hard right suspects: Felix, Sandpit, MM to name only a few.
So fantastically out of touch with the mood in the nation.
They were in line with the polling at the time. Sunak was hugely popular when he was handing out cash.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
You are [...] everyone who disagrees [...] fascist.
p.s. I notice on your avatar in bold letters is the word F U M I N G with an angry-shouty face.
Someone has got it in for Sunak. First, the Winchester school donation. Now the non-dom tax status for his wife.
Cui bono?
I am sure it is a total coincidence that Team Lynton are back in the stable of the Big Dog.
Not sure why they are adding layers of mud like this. Bit unnecessary seeing as Sunak has, by his own volition, just delivered the most tin-eared, out of touch, deluded budget in modern times.
They would be better keeping the powder dry just in case somehow he recovers in the autumn by undoing most of this spring budget and starting to help people who are being hammered.
It's a good point. Also, I doubt most voters distinguish much between Sunak versus Johnson; rather they just see it as another mark against the Tories.
It’s the classic story from the sagas; in his quest to see off his rivals and cling to power, the clown will eventually take his own side down with him. If only the likes of HY could look beyond the next opinion poll
What is it about these people that, despite having more money than they can ever spend in their lifetime, they put so much effort into avoiding paying their taxes?
Do they have no shame?
You obviously don't know a lot of rich people if this kind of behaviour is in any way shocking to you.
Although he probably faced around 400 balls for it given the over rates at the time. Still very quick scoring particularly as Headingley isn’t exactly a small ground.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
Does this only affect Brexit supporters in Kent ?
Kent Online has run multiple articles and quotes many vox pops. Brexit not even hinted at never mind mentioned. Outraged IT'S NOT BREXIT comments.
Yes Easter traffic. Yes P&O. Yet Calais and its surroundings are clear. So it's a one-way problem. And that means Brexit.
Dover can't park trucks for the extra time needed to process paperwork. We didn't build the physical infrastructure to park enough of them elsewhere. We didn't build the computer system needed to manage. We didn't hire the customs officials.
Yet we could cure all this almost instantly. The GB and EU remain absolutely aligned. And that isn't about to change. So if we dropped our unilateral demands to be a 3rd country all this would end.
The problem is the people of Kent vote for intellectual types like Elphicke. Because finding MPs who pander to ignorance is more important than fact.
Someone has got it in for Sunak. First, the Winchester school donation. Now the non-dom tax status for his wife.
Cui bono?
And all while he is out of the country at his Californian mansion.
I thought it was an apartment in Santa Monica. (Albeit a rather expensive one.)
He’s muddling up Rishi and Harry - undistinguished beta males with foreign wives and a public school education
iirc the S Times claimed that Sunak had invited Johnson and family to Santa Monica for Easter. It was described as showing how they are still good pals.
That does make me wonder, idly, if any of the Cabinet are actually friends. Someone I don't think Boris is good mates with the guy 16 years younger than him, much wealthier, who didn't go to Eaton.
We have photographic proof Sunak and Javid at the least went to see Star Wars together, so I suppose they might be friendly.
If you want a friend in politics, get yourself a dog.
@MattW (mucked up quotes) * I think that's the wording - summarised in the report.
The wording was: If there was a referendum tomorrow on Scotland's future and this was the question, how would you vote? Should Scotland remain inside or leave the United Kingdom? - Remain inside the UK: 50 - Leave the UK: 35
It’s the NatOnal so no surprise at shoddy reporting!
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
People promoting Sunak were ‘hard right’.
They were. The usual hard right suspects: Felix, Sandpit, MM to name only a few.
So fantastically out of touch with the mood in the nation.
You are clueless and I resent your labelling based on SFA. Desist.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
Does this only affect Brexit supporters in Kent ?
No sadly not, the Brexit shit show is inconveniencing and impoverishing all of us. But you will have to permit us bitter remoaners these fleeting moments of life-affirming schadenfreude, the only Brexit dividend available to us.
Someone has got it in for Sunak. First, the Winchester school donation. Now the non-dom tax status for his wife.
Cui bono?
And all while he is out of the country at his Californian mansion.
I thought it was an apartment in Santa Monica. (Albeit a rather expensive one.)
He’s muddling up Rishi and Harry - undistinguished beta males with foreign wives and a public school education
iirc the S Times claimed that Sunak had invited Johnson and family to Santa Monica for Easter. It was described as showing how they are still good pals.
That does make me wonder, idly, if any of the Cabinet are actually friends. Someone I don't think Boris is good mates with the guy 16 years younger than him, much wealthier, who didn't go to Eaton.
We have photographic proof Sunak and Javid at the least went to see Star Wars together, so I suppose they might be friendly.
If you want a friend in politics, get yourself a dog.
Although he probably faced around 400 balls for it given the over rates at the time. Still very quick scoring particularly as Headingley isn’t exactly a small ground.
They got through 105 overs a day in that 4 day test. He'd have never have got 300 with Stuart Broad in the attack
I don't think anyone in the real world is going to be concerned about who owns channel 4. Most people are more worried about their energy bills doubling.
Yeah, I don't suppose anybody's going to make the issue itself the decider for who they vote for. But will people be pissed off that the government seems to be spending its time on this and not the cost of living crisis? Or maybe it just won't really register...
Though are people really going to be thinking 'if only the government weren't privatising channel 4, it could be passing legislation to make the cost of living less'? The cost of living isn't high because of government inaction or misplaced priorities, it's high because of Ukraine and covid. No amount of government legislation is going to make gas cheaper. Also, I reckon the majority of people would be very surprised to discover that Channel 4 is state owned.
It is high because they rank rotten, useless, money grubbing no users. They are only lining their own pockets.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
Does this only affect Brexit supporters in Kent ?
No sadly not, the Brexit shit show is inconveniencing and impoverishing all of us. But you will have to permit us bitter remoaners these fleeting moments of life-affirming schadenfreude, the only Brexit dividend available to us.
Schadenfreude doesnt help though. We need trade to flow, and the best case scenario here is that they fix CHIEF and we go back to a system that adds huge cost delays and complexity albeit with slightly less traffic chaos.
I do have to ask though what it would take for some people to wipe the scales from their eyes and recognise the reality in front of them. Not because I expect them to change how they vote, but because alt-fact post truth gibberish like has destroyed chunks of America is the road to Gilead.
“Net Clear” How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on: Joining EU: -6 Currency: -46 Border w’ England: -48 Who pays pensions: -54 Spending cuts?: -48 Trident: -18 Nuclear power stations: -38
Although he probably faced around 400 balls for it given the over rates at the time. Still very quick scoring particularly as Headingley isn’t exactly a small ground.
They got through 105 overs a day in that 4 day test. He'd have never have got 300 with Stuart Broad in the attack
It would have been more than that, given that large chunks of Monday and Tuesday were lost to the weather. Probably around 120, which was considered par for that era.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
Does this only affect Brexit supporters in Kent ?
So if we dropped our unilateral demands to be a 3rd country all this would end.
It’s not a “unilateral demand” it’s a “fact of life”. We can’t just rock up to Brussels and say “ok we’re not a third country anymore”. There’s (a lot) more to it than that….
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
You evidently lived through a different 1992-97 to me. I wonder if you were even in the same country...
Yes. That was a far better government despite its failings.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
Does this only affect Brexit supporters in Kent ?
So if we dropped our unilateral demands to be a 3rd country all this would end.
It’s not a “unilateral demand” it’s a “fact of life”. We can’t just rock up to Brussels and say “ok we’re not a third country anymore”. There’s (a lot) more to it than that….
Is there? We are aligned. We are staying aligned. Removing pointless barriers to free trade is what the single market exists for. We should know, we drove it's creation. Yet the children of Thatcher now decry one of her greatest achievements.
BTW it was a unilateral demand. The EU didn't impose this, we demanded it of them. And then chose not to do any of the things needed to make it work.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
You evidently lived through a different 1992-97 to me. I wonder if you were even in the same country...
Yes. That was a far better government despite its failings.
You could say that about pretty much any government since 1760.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
Does this only affect Brexit supporters in Kent ?
So if we dropped our unilateral demands to be a 3rd country all this would end.
It’s not a “unilateral demand” it’s a “fact of life”. We can’t just rock up to Brussels and say “ok we’re not a third country anymore”. There’s (a lot) more to it than that….
Is there? We are aligned. We are staying aligned. Removing pointless barriers to free trade is what the single market exists for. We should know, we drove it's creation. Yet the children of Thatcher now decry one of her greatest achievements.
BTW it was a unilateral demand. The EU didn't impose this, we demanded it of them. And then chose not to do any of the things needed to make it work.
The most remarkable thing about Brexit is how incompetent the Brexiteers still are at implementing it. 6 years on and it is still a total shitshow.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
You evidently lived through a different 1992-97 to me. I wonder if you were even in the same country...
Yes. That was a far better government despite its failings.
You could say that about pretty much any government since 1760.
The Duke of Wellingtons government was pretty crap too.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
You evidently lived through a different 1992-97 to me. I wonder if you were even in the same country...
Yes. That was a far better government despite its failings.
You could say that about pretty much any government since 1760.
The Duke of Wellingtons government was pretty crap too.
It at least ran a tight fiscal ship and managed to deal with the key problem it faced - Catholic emancipation - with determination and maturity.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1511931823999361027 #Moscow Patriarchate tells #Russian troops: “Your task is to wipe the #Ukrainian nation off the face of the earth,” a directive that many Russian soldiers will see as giving them carte blanche as far as violence against the Ukrainian people are concerned.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
Could you define ‘hard right posters’ and say who you mean? I don’t recognise anyone by that description. I also think almost everyone on pb has been saying that his chance has gone for months.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
Does this only affect Brexit supporters in Kent ?
No sadly not, the Brexit shit show is inconveniencing and impoverishing all of us. But you will have to permit us bitter remoaners these fleeting moments of life-affirming schadenfreude, the only Brexit dividend available to us.
I'm shortly off on a spring European trip, and the reports coming in from other folks from Eurotunnel are potentially alarming - over the past couple of weeks there have been delays on the motorway and through checkin of between two and six hours....
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
Could you define ‘hard right posters’ and say who you mean? I don’t recognise anyone by that description. I also think almost everyone on pb has been saying that his chance has gone for months.
I think it's being used (in a tendentious manner) as a synonym for diehard Tories. And even so that's probably not accurate.
Although he probably faced around 400 balls for it given the over rates at the time. Still very quick scoring particularly as Headingley isn’t exactly a small ground.
Edit - 448 balls for the full innings of 334.
Fielding was rather different back then. Fast bowlers didn’t dive to stop a ball. How many overs were there on the day? Now we are lucky to get the 90, so 540 balls (not including wides, no balls etc). Looks like he was a classic ‘counter’, I.e. single off the last of the over... We all know players like that.
My final morning in Kent before heading home. Has there been much talk of the growing catastrophe that is the channel crossings?
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
My heart bleeds for the inconvenience this must be causing Brexit voters in Kent.
Does this only affect Brexit supporters in Kent ?
Kent Online has run multiple articles and quotes many vox pops. Brexit not even hinted at never mind mentioned. Outraged IT'S NOT BREXIT comments.
Yes Easter traffic. Yes P&O. Yet Calais and its surroundings are clear. So it's a one-way problem. And that means Brexit.
Dover can't park trucks for the extra time needed to process paperwork. We didn't build the physical infrastructure to park enough of them elsewhere. We didn't build the computer system needed to manage. We didn't hire the customs officials.
Yet we could cure all this almost instantly. The GB and EU remain absolutely aligned. And that isn't about to change. So if we dropped our unilateral demands to be a 3rd country all this would end.
The problem is the people of Kent vote for intellectual types like Elphicke. Because finding MPs who pander to ignorance is more important than fact.
How does dropping 3rd country status affect our other trade agreements?
https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1511931823999361027 #Moscow Patriarchate tells #Russian troops: “Your task is to wipe the #Ukrainian nation off the face of the earth,” a directive that many Russian soldiers will see as giving them carte blanche as far as violence against the Ukrainian people are concerned.
Not hard to see why there is an ongoing massive exodus of Russia's brightest and best. It has lost its collective mind, its soul and its conscience.
“Net Clear” How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on: Joining EU: -6 Currency: -46 Border w’ England: -48 Who pays pensions: -54 Spending cuts?: -48 Trident: -18 Nuclear power stations: -38
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
People promoting Sunak were ‘hard right’.
They were. The usual hard right suspects: Felix, Sandpit, MM to name only a few.
So fantastically out of touch with the mood in the nation.
"Hard right" = Won't Give An Inch To The Troll
Fair enough. On all other metrics, you are woefully stupid.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1511931823999361027 #Moscow Patriarchate tells #Russian troops: “Your task is to wipe the #Ukrainian nation off the face of the earth,” a directive that many Russian soldiers will see as giving them carte blanche as far as violence against the Ukrainian people are concerned.
Not very Christian perhaps but certainly sounds biblical
“Net Clear” How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on: Joining EU: -6 Currency: -46 Border w’ England: -48 Who pays pensions: -54 Spending cuts?: -48 Trident: -18 Nuclear power stations: -38
Oil extraction not on the list?
Not in that series - it was part of an earlier question:
Of the following issues, which are most important when determining your view on Scottish independence? Please choose up to three. Economy: 52 Joining EU: 36 State Pension: 23 Border w’England: 19 Spending cuts: 17 North Sea Oil: 15
“Net Clear” How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on: Joining EU: -6 Currency: -46 Border w’ England: -48 Who pays pensions: -54 Spending cuts?: -48 Trident: -18 Nuclear power stations: -38
Trident is interesting. Thought that would be up there with joining the EU.
I wonder if people have imposed a bit of their own uncertainty on it - "I know the SNP want to get rid, but what is the realistic chance of getting the warheads down to England any time soon?"
Edit: Also, it's weird how a hard border with England didn't really come up in 2014. Was all about currency then.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1511931823999361027 #Moscow Patriarchate tells #Russian troops: “Your task is to wipe the #Ukrainian nation off the face of the earth,” a directive that many Russian soldiers will see as giving them carte blanche as far as violence against the Ukrainian people are concerned.
Not very Christian perhaps but certainly sounds biblical
Yes, more Old Testament.
The Moscow Patriarch is really unhappy that the Ukranian Orthodox Church formed its own Patriarchate. Ironically, a high proportion of the Russian troops are Muslim, being encouraged in the genocide of Orthodox Christians. He is a Puppet of Putin though.
“Net Clear” How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on: Joining EU: -6 Currency: -46 Border w’ England: -48 Who pays pensions: -54 Spending cuts?: -48 Trident: -18 Nuclear power stations: -38
Trident is interesting. Thought that would be up there with joining the EU.
I wonder if people have imposed a bit of their own uncertainty on it - "I know the SNP want to get rid, but what is the realistic chance of getting the warheads down to England any time soon?"
Edit: Also, it's weird how a hard border with England didn't really come up in 2014. Was all about currency then.
I think it's a far more potent, tangible issue.
When we were both in the EU, the border issue was much less. Brexit is the gift that keeps giving.
“Net Clear” How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on: Joining EU: -6 Currency: -46 Border w’ England: -48 Who pays pensions: -54 Spending cuts?: -48 Trident: -18 Nuclear power stations: -38
Oil extraction not on the list?
Not in that series - it was part of an earlier question:
Of the following issues, which are most important when determining your view on Scottish independence? Please choose up to three. Economy: 52 Joining EU: 36 State Pension: 23 Border w’England: 19 Spending cuts: 17 North Sea Oil: 15
Haha, that's my earlier idea squashed. Border with England pretty inconsequential, apparently (tho surely lots of crossover with Economy?)
Lots of MalcolmG types who are very sensitive over the pension (*old age benefit).
“Net Clear” How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on: Joining EU: -6 Currency: -46 Border w’ England: -48 Who pays pensions: -54 Spending cuts?: -48 Trident: -18 Nuclear power stations: -38
Trident is interesting. Thought that would be up there with joining the EU.
I wonder if people have imposed a bit of their own uncertainty on it - "I know the SNP want to get rid, but what is the realistic chance of getting the warheads down to England any time soon?"
Edit: Also, it's weird how a hard border with England didn't really come up in 2014. Was all about currency then.
I think it's a far more potent, tangible issue.
When we were both in the EU, the border issue was much less. Brexit is the gift that keeps giving.
The difficulty here as always is that you cannot easily disentangle the impact of COVID, with the impact of policies and procedures relating to COVID. Until you fully remove the latter, we can't objectively assess the former.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1511931823999361027 #Moscow Patriarchate tells #Russian troops: “Your task is to wipe the #Ukrainian nation off the face of the earth,” a directive that many Russian soldiers will see as giving them carte blanche as far as violence against the Ukrainian people are concerned.
No wonder the Constantinople Patriarchate thinks they've gone mad. This means decades of cultural isolation, at the least, I think.
New York Times: Pentagon trains small group of Ukrainian soldiers to operate portable armed drones.
Pentagon officials reportedly said on April 6 that the soldiers are on a pre-scheduled educational assignment in the U.S. and are being trained on how to use Switchblade drones.
The U.S. included 100 Switchblade drones for Ukraine as part of a $800 million military aid package to Ukraine.
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
Could you define ‘hard right posters’ and say who you mean? I don’t recognise anyone by that description. I also think almost everyone on pb has been saying that his chance has gone for months.
I think she means those who would support a Blue Rosette even if it was pinned on a donkey.As it was in 2019
“Net Clear” How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on: Joining EU: -6 Currency: -46 Border w’ England: -48 Who pays pensions: -54 Spending cuts?: -48 Trident: -18 Nuclear power stations: -38
Trident is interesting. Thought that would be up there with joining the EU.
I wonder if people have imposed a bit of their own uncertainty on it - "I know the SNP want to get rid, but what is the realistic chance of getting the warheads down to England any time soon?"
Edit: Also, it's weird how a hard border with England didn't really come up in 2014. Was all about currency then.
I think it's a far more potent, tangible issue.
On Trident it’s only one of two SNP policies that even SNP voters are very clear upon - the other being joining the EU (which is ironic as the SNP has gone very opaque on that recently, when the requirements for joining the EU are pointed out).
On the border the headlines from Dover and the problems with NI have probably brought into focus the challenges caused by imposing a hard border with your largest trading partner (which brings us back to the EU……)
New York Times: Pentagon trains small group of Ukrainian soldiers to operate portable armed drones.
Pentagon officials reportedly said on April 6 that the soldiers are on a pre-scheduled educational assignment in the U.S. and are being trained on how to use Switchblade drones.
The U.S. included 100 Switchblade drones for Ukraine as part of a $800 million military aid package to Ukraine.
One of my guilty pleasures is Seals. They used one of these switchblades in a recent episode. It has the attraction of being much smaller than other anti tank systems but with a high degree of accuracy and ability to direct whilst in flight. It also struck me as complex so I imagine that a fair amount of training would be required for deployment which is probably why we have not seen it used yet.
“Net Clear” How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on: Joining EU: -6 Currency: -46 Border w’ England: -48 Who pays pensions: -54 Spending cuts?: -48 Trident: -18 Nuclear power stations: -38
Trident is interesting. Thought that would be up there with joining the EU.
I wonder if people have imposed a bit of their own uncertainty on it - "I know the SNP want to get rid, but what is the realistic chance of getting the warheads down to England any time soon?"
Edit: Also, it's weird how a hard border with England didn't really come up in 2014. Was all about currency then.
I think it's a far more potent, tangible issue.
Slightly off the point, but I wouldn't be surprised if the SNP's opportunistic policies on defence, put people off the idea of Independence. The SNP sound at the moment like complete idiots. They want to provoke a nuclear war with Russia by imposing a no fly zone over Ukraine, whilst abolishing our ability to respond to a nuclear attack by abolishing trident. They are either extremely naive, or think that Scottish people are thick and cannot see the stupidity in such a policy. Either that, or they are just not serious about government.
Comments
We have photographic proof Sunak and Javid at the least went to see Star Wars together, so I suppose they might be friendly.
Got email yesterday morning from my health provider, with number to call for appointment, which I made for next day (today).
Waited on hold on phone to make appointment longer than I had to wait in line for actual jab.
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2022/04/06/do-russians-tell-the-truth-when-they-say-they-support-the-war-in-ukraine-evidence-from-a-list-experiment/
It's an internet panel recruited via mechanical turk with no demographic weighting, so ignore the actual numbers. The interesting part is the difference between the numbers you get with and without the preference-concealment trick, which are 68% vs 53%, ie a 15-point drop.
So when you see polls showing 80% support, it's probably not really 80%... but it's definitely over 50%.
That seems comparable to US polling of the Iraq War, support for a ground invasion seems to have been around 60% before, 70% immediately after.
Wealth-income mismatch: The curious case of India's missing millionaires
https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/wealth-income-mismatch-the-curious-case-of-india-s-missing-millionaires-122032500993_1.html
Boris is clearly terrible, but still posesses that animal magnetism. I don't like it, and as a physicist I have a Spock-like immunity to it, but it's there and it's a great thing for a politician to posess.
His possible sucessors gain by being less terrible, but not enough to counter the losses on the animal magnetism front.
Cricket ain't what it used to be.
Some good news for Starmer though. The poll finds 12% of Scots would be more likely to oppose independence if he was PM, while just 8% would be more likely to support it
French intelligence isn’t looking so intelligent these days.
The country’s spies have acquired a certain cachet in recent years, thanks to the internationally acclaimed TV series “Le Bureau des Légendes.” But now they stand accused of legendary blunders, most notably failing to anticipate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
That faux pas has alarmed French lawmakers and is particularly embarrassing as the United States warned repeatedly that Russian President Vladimir Putin would launch an attack — and was proved correct.
But it is not the only failure being laid at the door of the French intelligence community. Critics have also blamed the spooks for neglecting to spot that Australia would ditch a major submarine deal with France, and for failing to foresee a coup in Mali.
Tim B Schmidt of Poco says they were his Beatles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3zdE8bliGI
...
... peers voted 199 to 170, majority 29, to support an amendment from Tory former minister Lord Willetts to expand the list of accepted identification to include non-photo documents such as birth certificates, bank statements, council tax demands and library cards.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/peers-government-voter-id-proposals-b992933.html
All bookies will have special offers for the Grand National on Saturday but Bet365's half your stake back up to £125 on each-way singles, for existing customers but not new ones, is noteworthy. It is half past three in the morning so check the Ts and Cs. They offer 6 places but others might have more. DYOR.
https://twitter.com/Hromadske/status/1511888989774622720
https://twitter.com/eugene_finkel/status/1510951119991812098
Got questions about why I think it is genocide. Until this morning I resisted applying the term. War crimes? Sure. Heinous rhetoric? You bet. What changed is the combination of more and more evidence, from different places, and even more importantly, explicit official rhetoric /1
The official legal definition of genocide is "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such". When I teach genocide I start by saying that this definition has huge problems because it doesn't give us /2….
What we know now is not yet enough to prosecute people for genocide, but before we even get there we need to call a spade a spade. That’s what I am trying to do. Accountability next.
https://twitter.com/eugene_finkel/status/1511450592664817671
Russian teacher ‘shocked’ as she faces jail over anti-war speech pupils taped
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/06/russian-teacher-shocked-as-she-faces-jail-over-anti-war-speech-pupils-taped
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/06/rishi-sunaks-wife-claims-non-domicile-status
How anyone seriously thought that an ex-hedge fund banker with 4 cars, million pound houses, £300 shoes and a billionaire wife with non-dom status could possibly be suitable to lead this country is baffling. Yet as recently as a fortnight ago he was still being promoted by the hard right posters on here.
The more I see of this Government the more it feels like 1992-7. Boris is making the same mistakes as John Major with his back to basics: a retreat into the core value of the hard right: nastiness.
You are one step removed from believing everyone who disagrees with you is a fascist.
It's a dead cat move. As is "lots of nuclear power stations which take 20 years to build as the cheap and clean solution to next year's power shortage"
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-no-end-in-sight-for-shanghai-lockdown-as-cases-surge-even-higher-12582615
So fantastically out of touch with the mood in the nation.
Your choice of language and picture says so much.
"Should Scotland be an independent country?" - Yes = 47%, No = 53%.
'Should Scotland remain in the UK?' - Yes = 59%, No - 41% (*)
The YouGov poll also asked the question of how people would vote in a second referendum, but it split the respondents into two groups.
Half of respondents were asked if Scotland should be an independent country (the 2014 question) while half were asked if Scotland should leave or remain in the UK (closer to the EU referendum formulation).
Of those asked the 2014 question, 53% said they would vote No and 47% Yes with undecided voters excluded.
Of those asked the leave/remain question, 59% said they’d vote remain compared to 41% who’d vote leave, again with undecided voters excluded.
* I think that's the wording - summarised in the report.
Worth remembering though that Don Bradman scored 300 runs in a day in test cricket. https://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/21-year-old-don-bradman-scores-309-in-a-day-against-england-28827
Astonishing.
It's the perfect storm - trade is picking back up to Spring levels from the winter lulls, P&OF did the Bad Thing, Dover and the inland customs sites never did create a solution to how to manage the checks we chose to impose, and now for shits and giggles the decrepit CHIEF customs computer has been down for the best part of a week. Amazingly enough it has - as HMRC warned this government back in 2016 - collapsed under a workload it was never designed to handle
What that means is that we now have Brock Zero in place. This is the uncontrolled collapse of traffic management as trucks have overtopped the planned storage sites. The front of the queue has been moved forward to J11 which means the whole J8-J11 section of M20 is closed but in practice it's back to J7 already. With the ensuing disastrous effect on Kent traffic that creates.
I am sure that neanderthal Tory MPs like Elphicke will be desperately trying to say this has nothing to do with Brexit despite their government's abject failure to invest in Brexit systems and facilities being at the heart of this disaster.
One thing politics needs to avoid is tribalism. "My side is always right; our opponents are always wrong/evil." This goes for *all* parties. It is a view that leads to excusing your own side when it does wrong. It is easy to point to many occasions between 1997 and 2010 where Labour supporters excused clear Labour wrongdoing. And we saw the same under Jeremy Corbyn.
The same holds true for the Conservatives, Lib Dems, SNP etc. The best thing any supporter of a party can do for their party is to be a supportive critic. Blind support always ends up hurting a party. But sadly, politics is often a little like football: "My team is brilliant; your team stinks", even after 'my team' has had a 5-0 thrashing.
Edit - 448 balls for the full innings of 334.
Yes Easter traffic. Yes P&O. Yet Calais and its surroundings are clear. So it's a one-way problem. And that means Brexit.
Dover can't park trucks for the extra time needed to process paperwork. We didn't build the physical infrastructure to park enough of them elsewhere. We didn't build the computer system needed to manage. We didn't hire the customs officials.
Yet we could cure all this almost instantly. The GB and EU remain absolutely aligned. And that isn't about to change. So if we dropped our unilateral demands to be a 3rd country all this would end.
The problem is the people of Kent vote for intellectual types like Elphicke. Because finding MPs who pander to ignorance is more important than fact.
* I think that's the wording - summarised in the report.
The wording was:
If there was a referendum tomorrow on Scotland's future and this was the question, how would you vote?
Should Scotland remain inside or leave the United Kingdom?
- Remain inside the UK: 50
- Leave the UK: 35
It’s the NatOnal so no surprise at shoddy reporting!
Full results:
https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/0e05zst5xb/TheseIslands_Scotland_Results_220401.pdf
I do have to ask though what it would take for some people to wipe the scales from their eyes and recognise the reality in front of them. Not because I expect them to change how they vote, but because alt-fact post truth gibberish like has destroyed chunks of America is the road to Gilead.
“Net Clear”
How clear are you on the SNP’s policy on:
Joining EU: -6
Currency: -46
Border w’ England: -48
Who pays pensions: -54
Spending cuts?: -48
Trident: -18
Nuclear power stations: -38
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/england-v-australia-1930-151744
That was a far better government despite its failings.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/06/nhs-enormous-strain-england-trusts-declare-critical-incidents
BTW it was a unilateral demand. The EU didn't impose this, we demanded it of them. And then chose not to do any of the things needed to make it work.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1511931823999361027
#Moscow Patriarchate tells #Russian troops: “Your task is to wipe the #Ukrainian nation off the face of the earth,” a directive that many Russian soldiers will see as giving them carte blanche as far as violence against the Ukrainian people are concerned.
The 19th and final #REACT study goes out on a high - literally - with the highest ever recorded prevalence.
At 6.4% it's more than double Feb's figure and 44% higher than Jan, which was at the peak of BA.1.
Funding has now ceased sadly.
1/ https://t.co/0JDf0xfi8D
https://mobile.twitter.com/ShekharGupta/status/1507599385462734849
Where are India's missing millionaires, asks TN Ninan…
Big numbers of rich don't tally with income, spending data, he says
And even so that's probably not accurate.
And lo, it came to pass...
Fair enough. On all other metrics, you are woefully stupid.
Of the following issues, which are most important when determining your view on Scottish independence? Please choose up to three.
Economy: 52
Joining EU: 36
State Pension: 23
Border w’England: 19
Spending cuts: 17
North Sea Oil: 15
I wonder if people have imposed a bit of their own uncertainty on it - "I know the SNP want to get rid, but what is the realistic chance of getting the warheads down to England any time soon?"
Edit: Also, it's weird how a hard border with England didn't really come up in 2014. Was all about currency then.
I think it's a far more potent, tangible issue.
The Moscow Patriarch is really unhappy that the Ukranian Orthodox Church formed its own Patriarchate. Ironically, a high proportion of the Russian troops are Muslim, being encouraged in the genocide of Orthodox Christians. He is a Puppet of Putin though.
Lots of MalcolmG types who are very sensitive over the pension (*old age benefit).
Dangerous, very dangerous.
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1511865932435664901?t=tCSFYFkJbjNTktzramhhEg&s=19
New York Times: Pentagon trains small group of Ukrainian soldiers to operate portable armed drones.
Pentagon officials reportedly said on April 6 that the soldiers are on a pre-scheduled educational assignment in the U.S. and are being trained on how to use Switchblade drones.
The U.S. included 100 Switchblade drones for Ukraine as part of a $800 million military aid package to Ukraine.
On the border the headlines from Dover and the problems with NI have probably brought into focus the challenges caused by imposing a hard border with your largest trading partner (which brings us back to the EU……)